40 Burst results for "Cursed"

Mutually CoDopendent

15:13 min | 2 weeks ago

A highlight from Adam and Jen Vs the Apocalypse

"Hey guys, welcome to Mutually Codependent with Adam and Jen. I'm Jen. I'm Adam. Welcome, welcome, welcome. How is everybody? I hope you're doing well. Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully, hopefully, hopefully, we're going to enjoy this strain of the show, which today is Mac one, uh, which is a short for miracle alien cookies. Yes. All right. Um, Mac one, according to this is an out of the world experience with powerful mood lifting effects and a bodily relaxation. That's cool. Yeah, that's cool. So, uh, it's a labeled as a hybrid. You got another spilled drink. Nope. Just a couple of drops, just a couple of drops. It's just like six counted, um, T H C a 23 .6 % plenty. Little dab will do you, uh, the, uh, Delta nine is a barely legal 0 .29%. That's about as close as you can get. Did you know you can actually go slightly above 0 .3 if it's within the, um, the, the minimum quantification of the tool that you're using. Oh, so, uh, cause there's, each tool has kind of a margin of error, if you will. And if you're within that margin error, then they're like, yeah, it's fine. It makes sense. Yeah, it does. It's, uh, one of the few things that I've been like, oh yeah, that did make sense. Maybe they do know what they're doing. But, uh, yeah, so that's our strain of the show. Mac one, miracle alien cookies. How do you like it? We've had this a few times. Yeah. Not on the show, but we have on the show, but we've personally had it a few times. It's a, it's a good string. I like it. It's a solid hybrid. A solid, it's a solid hybrid as opposed to a liquid. No, like it's a good hybrid. It's not a weak ass hybrid. It's a, it's a good one. I am just looking for my lighter. Cause I want to smoke some. Yeah, you should tell people what, what, what we have coming up for them. Okay. I will do that. So today on mutually codependent Adam and Jen are going to talk about the apocalypse. No, seriously guys. Like a lot of shit has happened in the past three years, like since COVID hit. And like, I don't think our world is ever going to be quote unquote, normal again. And just with everything that is going on with, I mean, for the past year with Ukraine and Russia to Israel and Gaza and the Palestinians, like all the sadness and death and destruction, like I feel as if, and I've seen it on social media. Like there's a lot of people that feel like the apocalypse is inevitable. Like it's coming. The people who aren't crazy. People who aren't crazy, like normal people who are not preppers. They're not people who are just becoming preppers or they're like just normal everyday people that don't buy into any conspiracy theories and stuff. That's what I've been seeing. Like all of those people are starting to be like, what the fuck is happening in our world and should we be afraid? And yes, I think everyone should be, to be honest, I always have trouble getting raps King size lit. So it's taken me a little longer than normal. Not to, not to take away from what you were talking about. That's kind of what the weed does though. Yeah. So we're going to talk about that and we're going to, we can just, we're going to talk. We got a new shit. The kid did. Yeah. We got a new shit. The kid did. I'm going to, I'm going to start with that cause that's super happy. Not that this isn't a happy episode, but cause it's kind of silly, but yeah. Um, so Landon on Saturday, our middle son Landon, he's 17. He has an electric bike that he rides to and from work and going to and from work. He passes by the skate park, which he frequents because he's a skateboard. Um, and he has friends there. Well, their internet was down at his restaurant job on Saturday night. So door dash in like Uber eats, couldn't come pick up their orders. So he took like over well over a hundred dollars worth of food and he just took it and he went to the skate park on his way home and he passed it out to some of the people that he knows that are there staying the night because they're homeless. They don't have anywhere to go and he knows they're hungry. So he went and he passed out this food to them because otherwise it was just going to get thrown away. Yeah. So cause they couldn't come get it and I was really proud of him for that. Cause I feel like, yeah, not all, not everybody would choose to do that. Certainly not every 17 year old, right? He's a good, he's a, he's an amazing kid. Sometimes kids, the shit the kid did is good. It's a good thing. We wanted to have a good, yeah, the kid did good shit. The kid did cause I got a short other shit. The kid did. I went downstairs to make some tea and our coffee maker rinsing out the little bowl, make sure and get all the coffee grounds out so that don't affect my tea. And, uh, I, I, there was a precariously perched pan on the drying rack atop several other pans, all of which was being leaned on by a cutting board. Oh, yeah, that sounds, yeah. And on top of the cutting board was one of my knives. So when I bumped the pan, the knife fell and almost hit my foot. Was that Ben? Yeah. Yeah. He heard me cuss him out from the other room. I didn't even know he was in there the first time. Yeah, no, I didn't cuss him out. I just said, Ben, like you heard that just happened, right? He's like, yeah, it was like, you need to not stack the shits dangerously. Like I need you to do things in a safer way, please. That's what I actually said. That's not what I wanted to say. I wish, I wish we could see both sides of our children. You know, like if, if we had just like, okay, we're in the middle, right? We make these choices back and forth regularly. We're, we're on the mean side. Sometimes we're on the nicer side. Most of the time I want to, I want to view, I want to see what our kids would look like if, if we chose one side strong or the other. Like your light side, dark side child. Um, well, I can tell you how different would your kids be? You think, um, well, if I only chose the dark side, their anxiety would be like way worse and they would hate me probably. Um, but if I only chose the light side, they would just be dirty slobs out of control, like because they wouldn't have learned any kind of discipline, no discipline, no manners, like, so no, that wouldn't have never worked. Yeah. Oh, but I mean, for a lot of, to see what, how bad would they be if we were just like assholes all the time? I don't know, but like people who are terrible to their kids and the kids grew up with like complex PTSD, like it's pretty severe, like it's a constant fucking cycle, like that person then treats their kids shitty and so on and so forth and their friends and their coworkers and the people around them. And so, you know, you have one shitty person, you know, breeds, and then they have a shitty kid and if a person is raised shitty, then they become a shitty person, which affects everybody around them. What I've seen though, like in the past few years, as I've like, as I've spent a lot of time on my personal growth is that a lot of people are breaking that curse, that generational curse of treating their kids badly or being the cycle. They're, they're breaking that and they're trying to be that parent that wasn't there for them because they grew up into this person realizing how desperate they were for attention or love or support or somebody being proud of them. So there's actually a TikToker who is one of my favorites and I've sent her, she has POTS, which is a dysautonomia disease condition. That helped. Um, yes, I know I was going to go. So dysautonomia is a disorder that some people have and it causes like, you can't breathe in the heat, you can't walk upstairs, you'll just randomly faint because of blood flow issues. You're, you're dizzy a lot. It's, it's a, it's pretty severe. It's usually, it affects women, usually younger girls like teenage years, but if you get it when you're older, like you're kind of fucked, which is what happened to my mom and why she's had so many issues. But so this girl named Kimberly is, she has POTS, but she does skits as her cigarette mom. Her mom, both of her parents are dead, but she uses a straw and she acts like her mom did. And it's her way of therapy because she said, I had a horrible childhood. It was abusive. And my parent, my dad was a drunk, my mom was a drunk and they smoked constantly. But like she uses it as like therapy to not, she'd be like, I will never be this shitty person. Like my mom was. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's kind of sad, but I have seen that. I mean, and that's, I thought about that as a kid. Like if I ever had children, I would be the kind of mom that I wanted as a kid. Cause I mean, for lots of reasons, your mom just didn't understand you, let alone have a good idea of how to, you know, raise you. But yeah, I was different. Yeah. Now, now that I'm diagnosed with autism, I look back at my life and I'm like, how in the fuck did people not know? Like my own self, my therapist knew two and a half years before I did. Yeah. Well, and they were pushing for it. They were asking to get a different diagnosis from the beginning. Yeah. I don't think you're bi -boliced. She keeps saying, I just, I don't think you're bi -boliced. Have you ever had a manic episode? No, never got the good stuff. When I was 19 and I had to leave it. We come to, we don't even think it was mania. We just think it was maybe a 19, a little out of control, a little party girl. It wasn't technically like, yeah. So I don't know. Yeah. You, you were just a, a monopolar instead of bipolar. Yeah. Monopole. Monopole. So any who, but yeah. But I think that people are kind of changing that and being better parents now, I hope, I mean, I know some people are still absolutely terrible parents. You know, so I think, uh, our kids' generation are going to be some of the most prepared parents. Well, yeah, I agree. No, but it's not just the most recent magazine that you may or may not have grabbed at the grocery store or picked up at the doctor's office. You know, like that's literally, you know, reading a book on how to raise your kid was like looked down on. Yeah. And, uh, you know, but with us, we've encouraged that kind of behavior and our children will, will encourage it even more. And it's because our world is fucked and our generation and the next generations are seeing that firsthand, how the people before us really screwed things up and not just financially. I'm not talking about economy and politics. I'm talking about mental health, mental health, ethics, the way we live life, the kind of human being you're supposed to be like, that is so much more important than learning some, you know, I wish that that was what was taught to people, like the common sense to be a decent human being that should have been health class. That should be other side of health. I mean, that should, I've always told my boys and you know, I know that you're, you're the same way, like being a good kind person and being nice to people is more important than being right or being really smart or, you know, having a lot of money. I mean, all those things are great, but at the end of the day, the kind of person you are when you go to bed at night is what really matters. I feel like, yeah, your happiness and how appreciative you are of your life or not. Cause it, that reflects outwards. So yeah, I want that for our kids and for people in general and for the future generations, for our grandkids and great grandkids. If we get there. Yeah. Or if the apocalypse comes. Yeah, fun, fun fact. When I was in like sixth, seventh grade, I was so obsessed with Buffy, the vampire Slayer and the apocalypse that I wasn't allowed to say the word in my own home for a few months. The word apocalypse or apocalypse. She, how often were boards banned for certain amounts of time? Like, what is that a regular thing? Yeah. How many words do you think got banned over the years? About 20. Oh yeah. How many of them do you remember? Exuberant. Oh, that's a weird one to say a lot. Five was five. Why your mom started banning words at five? I was younger. Oh gosh. I wasn't allowed to say, um, diaphragm. Oh God. Which I've probably, I may have told you about this. But when I was seven, I drew like a head and like a neck and a chest, like of a person and I drew body parts in it and I was labeling it because I wanted my own little like human poster of somebody. So I like copied it out of the world book and I went to show her and was explaining how your diaphragm works. And she told me that we didn't have a diaphragm in our body, that that was a word again. Who was that? My mother. Your mom. Yeah. Dang. And so that I wasn't allowed to say diaphragm exuberant because I, I looked it up in the dictionary and then I would use it all the time. Um, was your dad upset by these words? I don't think, no, I don't, I, he, he worked so much when I was little. Like, I don't remember him and I have been like a whole lot of heart to heart conversations. I get that. Um, I like, I don't remember what else it was. Lackadaisical. I wasn't allowed to say that for a while. Lackadaisical. And none of these were small words.

Evangelism on SermonAudio

00:11 min | 13 hrs ago

Fresh update on "cursed" discussed on Evangelism on SermonAudio

"Now in our day we'd have all sorts of laws and everything and zoning to take care of those things. But this is how it was working. Rich men were snatching up land and stealing it, effectively, from the poor, pushing out other people. And why were they adding house to house? Just because. Just because they could. Just because they had money. Just because they wanted more stuff. And so that's what materialism is. Materialism is the love of possessions and wanting to get more and more accumulating possessions just because you like getting and having more stuff. Verse eight reminded me of an event that happened when I was about 13 years old. My family had just lived in El Salvador for four years. And El Salvador was a very poor country. Extended families would live together in a tiny house that maybe was like two bedrooms and then a kitchen living area. And that's your house made out of cinder blocks and a tin roof. And you'd have maybe 12, 15 people living in that house. So I lived four years seeing how those people lived. We came back to America for a year when I was 13. And as we were driving down the highway, I saw these cars, Suburbans, Escalades, Hummers drive past us. And I said to my parents, those cars are as big as the houses in El Salvador. And so I started playing a game with my parents. The game was called how many Salvadorans could live in that car. Because three Salvadoran families could live inside what is practically the size of the Cadillac Escalades. And you see one lady driving this Escalade down the highway. And so I'm not saying it's a sin to have an Escalade or a big car or even a big house. But there is a problem with materialism in America. There are people who just love to acquire stuff. And they just want bigger, better, more expensive stuff just because they like to have it. And so, of course, God calls us to be generous and to not set up our treasures on this earth, but our treasures in heaven. And so we need to hear this warning. Woe to those who join house to house, who are accumulating possessions, storing them up on this earth. Well, the second woe is against drunkenness. Drunkenness, down in verse 11. Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry late into the evening as wine inflames them. They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord or see the work of his hands. In this first mention of drunkenness, you see that these men are burning the candle at both ends. They are like hard workers. The hard worker rises early to get to work and stays up late to finish his work. But here in verse 11, the hard workers are hard drinkers. And that's how they're burning the candle at both ends, waking up early and staying up late to drink. They're partying in verse 12. They're throwing big parties and playing loud music. And with their drunkenness, they forget the Lord. They ignore the Lord. So that's the first woe against drunkenness. Then you see it down in verses 22 and 23. Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine. Valiant men in mixing strong drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of his right. And so this next description of drunkenness is talking about strong men, heroes, heroes at how much they can drink. Young men are using their strength, or we could say they are wasting their strength, partying and trying to see who can drink the most. And so other men praise them and look at them and call them heroes because they can chug. Valiant men, brave men are using their bravery to do stupidly risky things. And almost kill themselves drinking. And so Isaiah is trying to say society is in a bad place when men, young men and their bravery and their heroism is not spent defending their country. These men should be fighting for Israel. They should be defending their families. But instead, they're wasting their youth drinking it away, drunk at the frat parties. And isn't that just as applicable in our day? I was just listening a few weeks ago to somebody talking about this sort of crisis that we're in of young men not wanting to join the military. And there are all kinds of reasons that we could talk about and there are political reasons for that. And obviously I'm not saying that every young man has to join the military or anything like that. But it does seem that we are in a cultural crisis of what a young man is supposed to be. We have young men who just want to party, who want to join the fraternities and be at the frat houses and do all these crazy things that young men do. Young men are wasting their strength, wasting their bravery when they could be sacrificing themselves for the good of others, when they could be sacrificing themselves for their families and for the kingdom of God. The church needs young men who will be valiant who will be heroes but who won't take their strength for these silly things but who will use their strength and their youth for serving Christ, serving his kingdom, serving their families, sacrificing for others. That's what a valiant man does. Woe to those young men wasting their lives at the frat houses. Then the third category of woe is to those who are entrenched in their sin. Verses 18 to 19, they're entrenched into their sin. Verse 18, woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin as a sin. As with cart ropes. And so the cord here in verse 18, the first cord is like an image of a well, drawing out a bucket out of a well with a cord. You're pulling a cord. The second image is drawing a cart like an ox with a yoke and he's got these ropes that he's pulling the cart with. And so the point of verse 18 is to show us that sin is hard work. You have to work to continue on in your sin. It's like drawing, pulling a cart with rope. So that's why I would use the word entrenchment. Sinners are so entrenched in their sin that they would rather keep pulling even when it's exhausting, even when it's hard. Jesus comes to the sinner and says, my yoke is easy, my burden is light. And they're like, no, I'd rather pull this cart because I can't let go of my sin. And then verse 19, they're scoffing at God. God says he's gonna come, God says he's gonna judge. Let's see it happen. And so in their scoffing and mockery, they continue entrenched in their sin, pulling it like with a cord. Well then the final category of woe is in verses 20 and 21. The woe of moral confusion. Verse 20, woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Verse 21, woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and shrewd in their own sight. You can pretty much summarize these woes as being self-focused, self-absorbed. Young men are self-absorbed, they seek the pleasures of debauchery and drunkenness. People who, adding house to house, they only care about themselves and acquiring possessions for themselves. People who are entrenched in sin, they don't care about loving others, they care about holding on to their sin. And you can summarize all of that in what we see in verse 20 and 21. Verse 21, they are wise in their own eyes. They're all about themselves. They think they're right about anything and so that leads to verse 20. They call evil good and good evil. People want to call evil good because then they can continue in their sin. They can do whatever they want. It's a way to justify their own self-absorbed life. And so, verse 20, we want to focus on, Isaiah is saying that this nation, society, is confused morally both in public morality and private morality. The metaphor of darkness and light and light and darkness is the public morality. Everybody can tell if it's light outside or dark outside. Everybody these days walks out at five o'clock at night and everybody complains. Everybody says, it's dark outside. It's dark outside and they say it because everybody can see that at five o'clock it's dark. And so here is a public morality, a public situation where everybody somehow gets together and says, hey, yeah, the sky is black now and it's five o'clock but let's call it light. Let's say that it's light outside. So you see they're redefining morality in a public way. But then the second one is in a private way, calling bittersweet and sweet bitter. Some of you, maybe you're chocolate connoisseurs and some of you like the sweet chocolate. Some of you like the more bitter chocolate. The higher the percentage of cocoa that you see on that package of the bar means it's more bitter. It's got less milk and less sugar. Now pretend you can't see like what color the chocolate bar is or anything like that. But for the purposes of what we're talking about here, if I had a chocolate bar in my hand, how could you tell that it was either bitter or sweet? This is not looking at the package, not looking at the color of the bar, but the best way to tell would be to stick it in your mouth and taste it. And when you taste the chocolate, you would know. This is like 90% cocoa or this is like 40%. This is milk chocolate. This is really sweet. And so what he's saying here is that this is morality being redefined on a private, on a personal level. This, yeah, people say that this is sweet. But to me, I decide that this is bitter. And people say that this sin is supposed to be bitter. But you know what? I'm just gonna decide for myself that this is sweet. This makes me feel good. This helps me feel fulfilled. So you see, you have morality redefined privately and publicly. For publicly, people can say, well, you know, it doesn't really matter what my personal opinion is. What matters is that people have the right to choose, that they have the freedom to do what they want and to express themselves. And so publicly, we're all just gonna say that it's light outside. So we can apply this to our day. And I think it's important to apply this, what the word of God says to what we're going through today. And so I wanna focus on the big two issues that you probably all know and know what I'm gonna say. Okay, big two issues in our day where our society defines evil as good and good as evil. And those are the LGBTQ issues and the issue of abortion. And I'm not focusing on these because I think that you all don't believe what the Bible says about these things and that you need to be taught what the Bible says. I know that you agree with this, but it's important that as we come to God's word in such a clear warning like this, that we be reinforced as to what the Bible says about this. And that we reinforce this not just for us, but for the coming generations. And for those of you who are younger, you need to hold fast to these things. This is my hope for you is that you would strongly hold to these truths of God's word when the whole world around you is trying to get you to drink Kool-Aid and is trying to tell you that it's actually light outside. You need to wholeheartedly believe these things that the Bible says. One of the verses that I think is so relevant for our day is in Judges chapter two, verse 10, which talks about how the generation of Joshua dies. And the whole explanation for what happens in the book of Joshua, you can really trace back to verse 10 of Judges chapter two. All that generation were gathered to their fathers, and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. One generation is all it takes to lose the truth of the word of God, because Joshua's generation failed to teach the next one to know the Lord and the work that he had done for Israel. And so parents and members of the church and pastors, we have a responsibility to tell the next generation what the word of God says. And again, I know you all believe these things, but to hold onto these things strongly. And so the first is the whole issue of the LGBT things that are going on in our day. Of course, we all know the Bible says God created man and male and female, that marriage is between one man and one woman for life. That is the clear teaching of the Bible. But how did we get to the day when there are proclaimed Christians and churches, people in the church, who are saying that this whole range of LGBT things is okay, that evil is good, how did we get here? We know that the world is going to say what it's gonna say. We know that there are churches who are false churches, the churches that are flying the rainbow flags outside of their buildings, they denied the gospel, they denied the word of God about 100 years ago or more, by and large. That's why they are where they are. But in our day, there's even among those who are calling themselves evangelicals, who are wrestling and debating and talking about these issues. And so there's a movement going on in our day among people who would call themselves conservative. There is an issue in the PCA, Presbyterian Church of America, they came out with a report on sexuality in 2021. As far as I've read, it does seem like a good report, and so I'm not saying the PCA itself is bad, but they came out with this report because they did this whole investigation, there's this whole controversy, especially over this one particular pastor and church in the PCA who was saying that it is okay to have same-sex attraction, desires, identity, some would say, a lifestyle, some would say, just as long as you're celibate, just as long as you don't act on it. So you're not in a physical relationship, but you can have all the desires. And this is what I want, especially you young people, to be aware of, that this is the way that people in what seem to be conservative churches are calling evil good. There's a lot more we could talk about, and talk one-on-one or whatever, but basically it's what's called Side B Christianity. And so you can read all about Side B Christianity, this argument that it's okay to have this identity or desire as long as you don't act on it. And Isaiah would say, whoa, to those who call this good. No, these desires themselves are sinful, and they're a result of the fog. This is not the way God created man and woman to be, to interact, and God created them male and female. This is how we must live in accordance with what the Bible calls us to do. So there's that issue that we need to be aware of. Then there is the issue of abortion. And here's another area where you think, how did all these people who supposedly call themselves Christians, and we say that we are based on these Christian values and principles, how did we get to this point where now we are enshrining in state constitutions these rights that people say are a right to abortion? Well, I think there are a lot of things that happen, but the bottom line is that people are not fully convinced in their minds of what abortion really is and why it's wrong. Abortion is the killing, it's the murder of innocent people. It's the murder of innocent babies, innocent according to the law of God, the law of the land. They haven't done anything to be punished, to be executed. And they are being killed, and that is wrong. So if we really think this way, if we really talk this way, we don't use this argument with everything else. Yeah, you know, I think people should have the right to kill their spouses when they get angry at them, when they don't want them anymore. Now, I personally think it's wrong, but I think people should have the right to choose that, that ability, and we don't talk that way, right? And so something has happened where we are desensitized to what is actually going on. And so we need to remember, whoa, whoa to those who call this evil good, whoa to those who are calling this darkness light, see past how people are calling this light. See it for the evil that it really is. I remember reading John Owen. He wrote a book called Indwelling Sin, and he wrote this in 1667. One of his proofs that there is indwelling sin in mankind is the reality of abortion. He said, even animals have a natural instinct to care for their young. Even animals are not going to kill their own young, but protect and defend their young. So he says, what would make someone go against this natural instinct that a parent has to take care of his or her child? It has to be this corruption of sin that not only, he says, goes against nature, but propels it past to do something even worse than, oh, I'm not just gonna defend my child, but I'm actually gonna harm them and kill them. Only the power of indwelling sin could make someone do such a thing. So here's one line. He says, sin causes people to deal with their own children in a way that a good man could not be paid to deal with his dog. A good man could not be paid to deal with his dog in the kinds of things that parents do to their children. And so we need to see the woe that comes upon those who call this good. So these are the things that bring woe. These are the things in our day, materialism, drunkenness, entrenchment and sin, moral confusion over sin. Next we wanna see what does this woe mean? And so in verses 13 to 17, in verses 24 to 30, God outlines the judgment that is coming towards Israel because of all of these things that they are doing. He calls woe upon them. The word woe just means anguish. It sounds like the word. It's what someone says when they are suffering, when they are being destroyed. They say woe when they are calling out because of the pain that they're in. They're in woe. And so this is the type of woe that comes upon the people of God. Verses 13 to 17 is the first description of the judgment. He says they will go into exile in verse 13. And then in verse 14 he says, Sheol has enlarged its appetite, opened its mouth beyond measure, and the multitude will go down. The revelers and he who exalts in earth. You see the picture? You see a picture of like the earth being opened up and people just sliding down this hole into Sheol. Sheol is more than just a place of death and the grave, but in verse 16 he says God is exalted in justice. The holy God shows himself wholly in righteousness. And so the purpose, the point here is that he is showing his justice. He's demonstrating his justice by bringing the curse. This is not just the grave, this is hell where God places his curse upon sinners. This is the judgment that sinners face. Back in verse 14 he says, Sheol opens its mouth beyond measure, almost as if there are no borders there. It doesn't mean literally that there are no borders to hell, but he's saying this is so wide, this is such a big place, the broad path to destruction is so broad that it's like you can't even see the borders. This is how big hell is. Multitudes and multitudes are going down to this place where you can't even see the border. Well then the last part where he describes the judgment is verses 24 to 30. 24 and 25 God brings his destruction, his anger. And then verses 26 to 30 are describing the army that's coming in exile, to bring them into exile. And the end is there at the end of verse 30. Darkness and distress, light darkened by its clouds. Those who call darkness light, light darkness, will find light darkened. They will be in darkness and these words are meant to bring back your mind to Genesis one. Before creation when it was nothing, desolation and waste, darkness covered the face of the deep. That's what it's gonna be like again when God's destruction comes. So all of these woes, all of these sins, all these things that bring woe, bring the judgment of God. Now as we come sort of to the end, I just wanna apply then what all this means to us. So I ask the question, where is your woe? And I'm not asking where is your judgment from God? Is the judgment of God coming upon you? Although that's worth thinking about if you're not a Christian. But I'm asking for you the church as Christians, where is your woe in the sense of, do you feel the woe here? Do you feel the pain that Isaiah is meant to bring in front of you? Does it pain you to think about and read about these things? As we talk about the sins of our culture, I don't want you to say, oh yeah, that was great. He really called out those dummies. He really called out those sinners and how they're calling evil good and good evil.

Tech Path Crypto

09:13 min | 2 weeks ago

A highlight from Cardano Summit Was Embarrassing Full Recap_01

"All right, so you guys asked for continued updates on a lot of these projects out there. Cardano is one that we're going to be doing today on their full summit and a breakdown of everything Charles was releasing, give you guys a full array of clips, much like what we did for the Breakpoint deal for sure. We'll just get started. I think you guys are going to love it. My name is Paul Baron. We'll come back in the Tech Path. All right, let's start off with a tweet. This came over from our friends at Digital Asset News for Ghostchain. They sure can throw a party. And of course, right there it is, man. If you look at what's happening at the summit, I've got some photos. One thing is for sure, this is a fantastic location. I love that over the water. Look at the size of this audience right here. These guys really did a good job there. Not bad. There's a lot of people there too. So very, very interesting to watch, you know, in the sense of seeing the clips kind of come together. Just to give you guys an update where Cardano has been here recently, this is the one -month chart right now, 35 % up on the one -month chart. Now, I want to get in on this first clip. This is Charles talking a little bit over about what has been going on over the past seven years. Let's jump to that clip. Welcome to Dubai. Oh, come on, that's not passionate. We had a great vision. We had kind of three principles here. Scalability. We cared a lot about it. Second, we had this concept of governance. And the third idea was interoperability. So if you think about what we've achieved over the last seven years, all these billions of transactions, millions of currencies, NFTs and other things issued on chain, hundreds of dapps, we have all these cool things that are either being incubated or already reached main net. So there's people from the Hydra project here to allow us to scale. We have roll -ups, all kinds of cool zero -knowledge structures, things like that. And when you look at this whole thing, you say to yourself, over the coming months and years, we're going to be all right, we're going to be okay. All right, so I want to jump to this next clip. This kind of jumps into a little bit about Hydra itself because he was kind of focusing in on that one. Let's take a look. There are a few people over the internets who are claiming that there's a great degree of dishonesty for myself in particular, but others in our organization about the throughput of Hydra. Three years have passed. We've all learned lots of things. So what does a thousand TPS mean? Would make sense in a video game. It would make sense in micro tipping. It makes sense for a variety of off -chain applications, but that's not where Cardano's at. So what happened over a three -year period is that Hydra pivoted a little bit and it pivoted into let's build some middleware. People kept trying to advertise in 2000, we have this many TPS and we have this many TPS. What we were trying to say is that's not how these systems work in practice, but we're also looking at roll -ups as an ecosystem, sidechains as an ecosystem, and yes, evolutions of Hydra because you don't have a channel that's running, I guess, spam transactions a thousand per second. Obviously, that's a failed project. Okay. Well, who needs that? Where's that going to come from? What use case is currently in the system that requires that level of throughput? So when people run around and say Hydra has failed, we lied about Hydra, there's no way to achieve any of these performance claims that are said, well, then what they're really doing is they're taking the hard work of dozens of people and everybody building on it and they're saying it just doesn't exist. There are almost 200 papers behind Cardano, a massive ecosystem of researchers and engineers. Were they all just wasting their time? Were all of them just doing nothing? Bitcoin would die to have what we have. And frankly, Ethereum is chasing it and they can't get there because of poor design decisions with the EVM and the account model. It's very easy through sidechains for us to borrow what they have. It's a lot harder for them to get what we have. Again, TPS, yes, I believe it does matter. It's going to be the ultimate game, I think, across all blockchain because at some point we are going to get into a scenario where transactions per second will be the most critical asset that any chain is going to represent. And we've already seen some scenarios of other chains out there that have been able to accelerate past that significant. I don't know if I would consider Hydra a failure, but would you? Would you look at Hydra and say, okay, it just isn't where they thought it was going to go. They talked about it. It did have to change. I'd love to get you guys' feedback. Let's go into this next clip, which is more around the governance of Cardano. Listen in. This year, a huge amount has been done with SIP 1694. It'll get done in one way or another. Might not look exactly the way that everybody thought. Might look that way. The point is that just like scalability, it's no longer a question of can we do this. We'll figure out a way to get good on -chain governance. Turns out that the things around cryptocurrencies are incredibly hard. There's a lot of moving pieces to them. And they're talking a lot about the roadmap of Cardano. So things like the budget, what ought we spend money on to be approved by the government of Cardano? If you want to speed it up, are you okay with spending another $10 million? Maybe five, two and a half, split the difference. Y 'all want Circle support, maybe we pay them. There's lots of stuff there, a lot of moving pieces there. It's complicated stuff. This is Cardano. This is one of the OGs in terms of the crypto space. In fact, probably should be one of the most advanced chains out there overall in terms of collaborations, partnerships. All those things should be well on their way, much like what we've seen with some of these younger chains. If you look at Solana or even Avalanche, both of which have been able to accelerate in their respective areas of interest, I should say. And then obviously the growth of Ethereum, it's not even a comparison. But I think the key here is you have to achieve it and you do have to integrate these kinds of collabs and or these integrations where this stuff starts to expand. And it does get the community on board. I think people would jump on board and maybe I'm wrong on that. Let me know if you guys think that. There's another clip out here that I want to go to. This is a Twitter space example of the community itself and what they were thinking about the current state of Cardano. Listen in. One thing inherently has been a curse for Cardano is our marketing capabilities. Like they're not interested in coming over here because every time I look on my Twitter feed, I see you shooting shots at somebody, so I'm like, goddamn, how is this supposed to work? Well, you know, I feel your pain, man. I really do. And then to have people say we're just a wallet and just to babble like incoherent idiots on Twitter and these other places and reduce it to like a Cardano versus Ethereum, dude, we're not competing with Ethereum. We're not competing with any of these things. We changed the entire game. Cardano is playing a completely different game. All right. So again, back to Charles, I would love to learn what the game is that they are playing because I feel like that most of the initiatives out there within blockchain are fairly clear. Yes, there's been a lot of things that Cardano has put out there that they've been able to achieve to a certain level, but there's also been a lot that they have not been able to get to. So it's kind of an interesting situation. And they're a community member kind of talking about we need to kind of ramp up the front facing side of Cardano. This next clip goes into interoperability. This seems to be one of the biggest things. But back to that clip was that they are. There's also always so much, I would say, discussion coming from Charles, in many cases knocking these other chains. I'm kind of curious if interoperability is impossible. Listen in. And this is really the core of what I'm talking about today is this idea of interoperability. This is something we don't talk too much about and we ought to. Interoperability is the difference between living on an island and living in a world. Interoperability is the difference between your software working and your software not working. We said, hey, this is a problem. We need to solve that. So we saved the best for last. Now let's solve interoperability. Let's teach the rest of the space how to do that well. What else did we do? We looked at Cosmos. We had a whole team of people doing diligence there. And we said, you know, if we take all these guys here, these things, Fabric, Mamba, the EVM stuff, the Yella stuff, if we really squint our eyes and think deeply about it, maybe just maybe we start pulling some things together. And you know what I said? It would be really cool to have a flagship product, something very special and very unique to showcase the power of that type of system. And we call it midnight.

Evangelism on SermonAudio

00:07 min | 14 hrs ago

Fresh update on "cursed" discussed on Evangelism on SermonAudio

"There is an account of a man by the name of Robert Moffat. If you like reading missionary biographies, you will know Robert Moffat as a man who worked as a missionary in Africa. And the way in which he got there was in a small church. One Sunday they were emphasizing missions. And they were passing the church, the plate to the church that someone would be able to give towards the mission efforts around the world and Robert had nothing to give as far as money was concerned. So the story goes that he asked the usher to put the plate on the ground and he put himself in the plate and said, I give myself to missionary service for I am all I have. Now, Robert Moffat might not sound like a name you know, but Robert's daughter married a man that you most likely have heard of, a man by the name of David Livingstone. Who with Robert and his wife led countless souls in Africa to Christ. In fact, when David died, they took his heart and buried it in Africa because the native says that's where it belongs. Without David Moffat, we may not have David Livingstone. The Lord used Robert to bring David along and incredible work was done. We may not have the typical, normal, accepted ideas or abilities or resources when it comes to evangelism. Robert had no money, but he had a willing heart. Many of us have to deal with the fact that we have money, but we don't have that willing heart. And so we need to look at our motivations this morning. We move to that second portion of Acts and we see the preaching in Samaria. It really covers the whole chapter of Acts 8. We're going to look this morning at just verses 4 through 13. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the most powerful message in the universe. Nothing compares. It takes dead, rebellious sinners and turns them into living sacrifices who seek to be holy as God himself is holy. It conforms us to Jesus Christ. It gives us a new heart, new desires, so that the old is gone and the new is now here. The gospel is now beginning to penetrate the world. Moves out of Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria is where it is now. And Luke begins by showing a very broad view of the consequences of the gospels moving out of Jerusalem. You see the consequences in verses 4 through 8. The consequences are absolutely incredible. They are incredible as the gospel is forced out of Jerusalem by Saul and his persecution of the church. There are so many exciting stories that take place at this time that are not recorded for us. When we are in eternity, we will hear some of these other stories. The Holy Spirit in his wisdom has chosen to record for us the account of Philip taking the gospel to Samaria. We see Philip's mission in verses 4 and 5. The word of God says, therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. We see the mission is very simple. It's preaching Christ. That was always the mission. With the apostles and now the deacons, that was the mission. Stephen had the ability to do signs and wonders but that wasn't what got him in trouble. What got him in trouble was the preaching of the gospel. Philip has the ability to do signs and wonders but that's not what draws people to Christ. It's the preaching of the gospel. That's always the mission. The word therefore is bringing about the consequences of the scattering church. And the church went everywhere. North, south, east, and west. We only see this story now in Acts 8 as it goes northwest to Samaria. The people didn't just leave Jerusalem, they went with a purpose. Wherever they went, they went with that purpose of proclaiming the truth. So what you see that they are doing in Jerusalem, they continue doing outside of Jerusalem. That shows a true heart's commitment to the Lord. What is their purpose? They preach the word. That word preaching simply means to communicate good news. That word preaching though is an interesting one. The emphasis is on the impact that the message has. It's implying that those who went out were effectively making disciples. It is similar to Matthew's statement, Wherever you go, go into the world and make disciples. And that word go in the Greek as Matthew writes that has the implication of as you are going or wherever you go, make disciples. Here is a church fulfilling that great commission. Wherever they go, they are making disciples. They spoke what they knew. They didn't know everything. They didn't have the New Testament. New Testament hasn't even really started yet. God hasn't moved James to write or Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. At this point, we don't even know if Luke's converted. What they did was they spoke what they knew. That's so important for you and I this morning, isn't it? You do not have to be a doctor of theology. You don't have to be an apologist. You just need to be faithful and speak that what you know. And yeah, you're going to have questions that are going to come to you and people are going to ask you some questions that are going to sound like, oh, that's a really good question. I don't have the answer to that. That doesn't mean that it completely invalidates your position. It just means you haven't learned that yet. But I promise you this, the word of God is sufficient. And it is sufficient for all life and all godliness. It has the answer for those questions. One of the reasons we're working through church history and Sunday school is so that you can see that there are no new issues. What has been, what is, has always been. And there's answers for that. God has always raised up men to deal with these problems. What are they doing? They're preaching the word. Sometimes little words make all the difference, don't they? They're not just preaching words. They're preaching the word. What's the word? It's the gospel. So the word thus sets word apart from all other words. There are a lot of other words in this world, aren't there? A lot of other belief systems, ways of thinking, ideas, ideals. There's one that has the power to save. And it's the gospel of Jesus Christ. Persecution or difficulty is no excuse not to evangelize. I want you to also add this. Ignorance of all the answers is no reason not to evangelize. Because you don't save anybody. Catch that? You don't save a soul. I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone talk about how they've shared the gospel with someone and they tell me kind of what they said. And I'm like, really? That's what you said? Oh my. And you won't believe it. They got saved. Really? And you meet the person and it's like, wow, they really did get saved. And they walk on it. What happened? Well, what happened is that person spoke what they knew and God moved and brought a dead sinner to life. You don't have to know everything. You need to be faithful and obedient to the word of God. Speak that which you know. I've also heard some people who have this golden tongue and it just sounds amazing. How can anyone not get saved? And people walk away as dead as they were before. A golden tongue saves nobody. The gospel saves. And you have no idea what God will do with your faithful obedience. And so we need to remind ourselves it's not our answers to their questions that save. It's not our ability to debunk their position. It's our faithfulness to preach Christ and Him crucified and risen again that saves souls. Yes, I would encourage you to gain more knowledge. To be able to answer their questions. But not for the sake of knowing. It's for the sake of answering their question because the reality is this. Your answer to their question has to be Jesus. He's the answer. If it's not Jesus, we're just debating. And it becomes a philosophical debate and the world doesn't need more philosophy. They need Jesus. And that is what Philip and these faithful Christians do. They speak what they know about Jesus. They don't know everything but they know this. He died. He was buried. He rose again and He saved them. And He can save you. That's basically the message in a nutshell that they were taking. He's the Messiah. And they went everywhere preaching the Word. Philip is among those who scatter. He leaves Jerusalem. Now, we saw last week the apostles stayed put. So this Philip has to be the Philip who's a deacon. Not Philip the apostle. And we met Philip in Acts 6-5 when the church chose Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas. These men were chosen to be the deacons. This is the same Philip that famously is known for being led by the Spirit to an Ethiopian eunuch. He preaches the gospel to him and he's saved and then all of a sudden Philip is somewhere else and the eunuch is left by himself to go home and preach the Word. We'll get to that in the New Year. That message in the New Year, we'll be seeing that. Now, their going down from Jerusalem is 100% intentional. The active voice of Philip going down to Samaria shows Philip's intentions were to take the gospel as a missionary, not to run and save his skin. Now it's interesting where he goes, isn't it? He goes to Samaria. Philip is a Jew. Going to Samaria of all places? Samaria is the capital city of the region of Samaria in central Palestine. It's northwest of Jerusalem. Look at the map. In looking at the map, it may seem strange why Luke would say Philip went down. If he's going up to northwest, how could he go down? Well, he goes down because Jerusalem is on a mountain. And whether you go northwest, east, or south, you're going down from Jerusalem. And so you see he's going down to Samaria because he's on a higher elevation. Now, remember, Jews and Samaritans did not mingle. They believed different truths about God. They worshiped God in different ways. So what's Philip doing going to Samaria? Well, it could have been a very shrewd move. Thinking Saul's a Jew, he's not coming to Samaria, I'll go to Samaria. And I'll preach the gospel to the Samaritans. So it could have been that Philip is just being shrewd, but he's being faithful. It's also an obedience to the Lord's command, isn't it? You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem. And Jesus specifically states Judea and Samaria. The Holy Spirit led Philip there. And the gospel goes forth. And it is powerfully preached. Because when Philip preached, he publicly announces the gospel. But he's not just preaching truths. He is urging acceptance and compliance. And why are you here this morning? Why did you get up and get dressed? Well you may not feel so good after Thanksgiving having too much pumpkin pie. Why did we get up this morning and shave and put on our best clothes and get in the car when it was 30 degrees and come to church? Why are we here? I don't know why you're here. There's a lot of reasons why people come to church. But as I was thinking through this this week, why do I preach? I don't preach just to fill your heads filled with knowledge. I don't want to make you smart. I mean, I want you to know. I certainly want to increase your knowledge. But if all you're doing is increasing in knowledge, then I have failed my position as your pastor. As I preach, I am urging you to see truth and that you and your heart align with God's Word. Not that you just agree with it. You can agree with God's Word and never let it change you. But if you obey God's Word, you will be different. If you hear and accept and do God's Word, you can't stay the same. That's why I preach that you would be matured. That first you would be saved. Second you'd be matured. And that is why Philip goes to Samaria because he knows there are countless souls there who have been worshiping a false god. And they need Jesus. And he proclaims the truth of the Gospel. Now you see the miracles in verse 6. Look at verse 6. Philip has this incredible gift of miracles. The multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. See we like to take the sensational, don't we, and make that the point. Look, look, he underemphasizes the miracles. He doesn't want his readers getting caught on the woo wow. I mean he tells you what happens. He wants the focus being the Gospel. In our day there's a lot of emphasis on miracles and sensationalism. And when we focus on all of that we miss the truth of the Gospel. We just glaze over it. You want to know why America is so weak spiritually? Because we think that we've got the Gospel down, we've moved on to the higher things. More exciting things. There's nothing more exciting than the Gospel that saves sinners. And I don't believe you ever graduate from the Gospel. The more you meditate upon the Gospel that Jesus Christ comes to save sinners, of whom we are chief, the more you recognize every day without Christ you have nothing. So we need to grow in maturity. Not focusing on the sensational, focusing on the Gospel. But Philip has this incredible ability to do miracles. The people come to Philip and they agree with one accord. They're all in with one mind. Now they're drawn in by the miracles, certainly that helps, but they're changed by the message. He's following Jesus' pattern, isn't he? Jesus goes to the masses and he meets their need physically. And then spiritually he heals their heart. Going to Samaria is similar to the account of the woman at the well who believed Jesus. The woman at the well says to the people, Jesus told me everything that I ever did. And through her testimony, that whole place comes to believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah. Like Jesus, Philip is using miracles to draw people to preach the message. The miracles are there so they are subservient to the Gospel. The miracles take a back seat to the message. Just one of many examples of Jesus doing this is John 2, 23. When he was in Jerusalem at Passover during the feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs which Jesus did. They come in and they see the signs and they're like, wow, this is amazing. And then they hear the truth. The difference is the people rejected Jesus in that moment. They did not agree with him. This is where Jesus says in, you see this temple, I will take this temple in three days. We'll build it back up. And they're like, well, what in the world? They missed the whole point. But Philip's preaching was powerful that when the miracles were done and the preaching began, the miracles weren't what's on their mind. What's on their mind is this amazing Jesus who will save them from their sin. So these people were converted and they were willing to serve the Lord openly knowing what could happen. They heard what was taking place in Jerusalem. You don't think they knew what happened to Stephen? You don't think that they knew what Saul was doing? You better believe they did. News like that travels fast. And that word believed is in the active voice which means these people knew exactly what they were doing. And they believed without regard for their physical safety. That's how convinced they were that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. So you see the mission and the miracles. Now look at the ministry that Philip has in this area. Unclean spirits crying out with a loud voice came out of many who were possessed and many who were paralyzed and the lame were healed and there was great joy in that city. We're given an explanation of what that ministry looked like. Two influences in that area that you need to know. First you've got unclean spirits. We call them demons. Same idea. Supernatural evil supernatural beings that cause a person to be possessed and unclean and under duress. The second influence is a man called Simon Magus. That is what church history calls him. Simon the sorcerer in the book of Acts. The unclean spirits were cast out of people who were possessed who were under that influence of an unclean spirit and they came out with a loud voice. We know that's just par for the course with Jesus isn't it? When he cast out a demon, the demon wanted to talk about Jesus and they weren't whispering. You remember the account in Luke where Jesus cast out the many demons from the man in Gerasenes and they went into the swine. Just following that pattern. Matthew 4.24 Jesus' fame went throughout all of Syria. They brought to him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments and those who were demon possessed, epileptics and paralytics and Jesus healed them. Philip has been given this phenomenal gift and he is just, he's using it properly. He's following the pattern of Jesus. It's not about himself. You're going to see in a moment that Simon was doing the things he was doing for himself. Philip's not doing that. Everything for Philip is about Jesus. Everything for Simon is about himself. Philip is pointing to Jesus. This ministry involves healing those who are paralyzed and lame. Now it might seem strange to use two words that basically speak of the same thing in the English language. Paralyzed means that there was an inability to use a foot or a leg. Perhaps it had been broken and now was dead. Or it had been amputated and needed and you were forever limping on one. Lame meant there was just an imperfection in the leg. A growth or a weakness. And so he was able to heal both. A paralyzed foot or leg and a lame leg. It's very similar to the passage in Luke 5, isn't it? Where Jesus heals the man who was lowered through the ceiling. And the friends lower him down and Jesus says, he saw their faith and he says, son your sins are forgiven. And the Pharisees lose their mind, internally of course. And Jesus knowing their thoughts says, why are you acting like I've said something wrong? What is easier to say? Your sins are forgiven or get up and walk. But that you may know the son of man has the power to forgive sins. He turns to the man and says, get up and walk. And the man does it. I've been to a lot of hospital beds. I've never tried that. Want to know why? I know I don't have the power. I don't have that ability. Jesus had it. Philip knew he had it. And so they did it and they pointed to Jesus. Darkness. See, what we see in these short verses is the powers of darkness cannot overcome the gospel of truth. And the powers of darkness grow dark, but the light shines brightest in the darkness. Perhaps, I don't have an answer, perhaps. One of the reasons that we see this is the Lord is making it impossible for the light to be hidden any longer. Can't hide. Can't be. Just blending in. Are you the Lord's? Do you have the truth? Or do you just simply want to be a part of the excitement and the movement? And when truth really comes down to choose that side. Will you run for the hills or will you stand and be the light? We need men and women to stand for the truth. See, Philip wasn't just casting out demons for the sake of doing good things for people. He wasn't healing limbs for the sake of their life being better. Because here's the reality. A healed limb still belongs to a body cursed by sin and it will die. But a soul that has been saved lives forever. And so what Philip does is he takes the temporary physical and he uses it to point to the eternal. That which is so much more important. And so I will tell you, I see many people here in different walks of life. Some young, some old, some who are healthy, some who are sick. And here's what I will tell you. At some point, every one of us, if Christ does not return, we will end up in a coffin. It doesn't matter how much medicine advancements they make. Your body has been cursed by sin and it will die. What's the state of your soul? See, if your body is healed today, we rejoice. That's good. But if that is all you focus on and you neglect your soul, if you gain the whole world and you lose your soul, what does that gain you? What does it profit a man? Nothing. And so Philip is using that temporary to point to the eternal. We do not do Awana for the sake of doing Awana. We pray every Wednesday night for souls to be saved. We don't do troop for the sake of doing troop. I mean, yeah, we like doing all the activities. We want these kids in our community to know Jesus Christ. We don't do senior saints for the sake of doing senior saints. We do it to sharpen each other. We have friends in this world who believe the same thing that can encourage us as we go through the physical difficulties. So the result of Philip's ministry is seen in verse 8. Great joy is in that city. And here's what you have to recognize. Repentance always produces a godly sorrow that turns to a great joy. That's a principle all throughout Scripture. When you repent, you're going to have sorrow. Why? Because you've been confronted smack in the face with your sin. And it's an offense to the holy God. But when you repent and you turn to the Lord and you deal with that sin, He does what only He can do. And He takes the sorrow and He turns it into joy. Because you've been reconciled with Him. Certainly there are consequences for sin. You have to deal with those issues. But there will be joy in your life. And that's what you see in this city. You see what Jesus spoke of in Matthew 5.4. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. What are they mourning over? Their sin. Who comforts them? God does. So we have seen the consequences. Now we will look at the converts in verses 9 through 13. Philip is faithfully ministering in this city and people are saved. And the converts range from the unknown everyday Joe and Jane to the massively popular. Like Simon the sorcerer. We have verses 9 through 11. There was a certain man called Simon who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria. Claiming that he was someone great. To whom they all gave heed from the least of the greatest saying this man is the power of God. And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. So this is Simon and his influence in Samaria. Church history gives us the name Simon Magus. As we will see him again in a later portion of this chapter. But Simon is a man that everybody knew. I mean if I were to say to you Elon Musk. Everyone is going to go, oh yeah Tesla guy, right? You went to Samaria, you talked about Simon, oh yeah sorcerer guy, right? Everyone knew him. And to not know him was to show you were a stranger. Simon is a man who is all about himself. His sorcery involved supernatural powers which shows he is under the influence of some kind of demonic force. Himself perhaps even possessed by one of these demons. The ability to carry out his sorceries. And before his conversion he went around claiming to be someone great. Now the word claiming centers around being a talker. There are some people in this world who can just talk themselves in and out of anything. And their lips are smooth like butter and you are like wow that's amazing how did you do that? That's Simon. And he was just a talker but you know what he talked about the most? Himself. And everything was about him. I call people like this the me monster. They talk about me. You tell a story about yourself and they've got something way better. It's all about me. That's Simon. It's like the politician who comes around every 2 to 4 years telling you how great they are. And everyone just kind of rolls their eyes. And yet they get voted back in. And then we get annoyed. That's the idea. They're just a bunch of braggarts. No one likes that. But he had people truly astonished. They were just overwhelmed when they were around Simon because he had everybody snookered. They thought that Simon was really great. And Simon is just conjuring up this magic that really wasn't from himself. It was from some kind of demonic power. And the people who saw Simon thought he had the great power of the gods. They thought well hey we can go figure something out. Let's go talk to this Simon guy. I mean he's got this impressive ability to show us what was going to happen. I mean they thought he was a bee's knees. What ends up happening is that people would listen to Simon until Philip shows up. And it is similar to what happens with Jesus. Jesus comes on the scene and the Pharisees are like hey who's this Jesus guy who's taking people away and causing some trouble. People start going to Philip because guess what Philip can do? Miracles and signs and wonders. It's very possible that the reason that God sent Philip to Samaria was to combat the wicked forces of the devil and his sorcery through the light of the gospel. And so now Simon has to deal with what is truly great. People were astonished by Simon's sorceries and now Simon has to deal with true greatness doesn't he? Not Philip but Jesus. He knows he doesn't compare. See what I want you to see is the best the devil can do is counterfeit God's perfect work. The devil creates nothing. He only copies and counterfeits. God alone creates. The devil corrupts. And so as we go into the world and we proclaim the truth of the gospel you may not be received well in certain places or by certain people. But didn't Jesus prepare us for that? When they hate you. Not if they hate you but when it happens. Jump for joy. Leap and rejoice for great is your reward in heaven. Totally different way of thinking. When people are confronted with the truth they have to deal with this truth this reality. All the world's messages. All the world's religions can't make a new convert. They can't bring about a new birth can they? Only God can do that. Only the Holy Spirit brings about the new birth through the gospel message. And so keep that in mind as you evangelize. They may not be converted but you may have planted a seed through the gospel that takes years to sprout. You do your work and you let God do his. Only God can bring about someone being born again. Finally we see the salvation in verses 12 through 13. But when they believe Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. Both men and women were baptized. Now here is a shocker. Here is a stunner. Then Simon himself also believed. And when he was baptized he continued with Philip. And he was amazed seeing the miracles and signs that were done. And so we are going to end this morning with this idea that the power of hell has been thwarted once again by the gospel. And it didn't come with swords. It came with words. And kindness and mercy and love and compassion. Luke brings a strong contrast. The word but shows Philip's preaching accompanied by the miracles completely overruns Simon's sorceries. The word is believed. They knew exactly what they were doing. They knew that their life could be in danger. But they knew the truth when they saw it and they heard it. And they wouldn't accept a counterfeit any longer. The kingdom of God will always prevail over the kingdom of darkness. It may not happen the way you and I think it will. See the world uses physical force that is visible. And the kingdom of God uses spiritual force that we can't always see. It makes itself visible eventually. But we don't always see it. And so we take Jesus' words in Matthew 16, 18 seriously. I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. So continue on Christian. Philip preaches Jesus Christ, the name above all names. And he triumphs over the devil and the demons. Even with Simon. Who is operating under their influence. The people come to become, they become new creations. They are not pawns in a game. They are sinners saved by grace. And to show their new creatures they were baptized. And remember baptism has its roots in the ceremonial law. Now I am not going to go into it this morning. But if you want to know more about the way in which Jewish baptism represented and showed outward repentance. You can go onto our website and find the sermon preached on March 12, 2023. On the text Acts 2, 37-41. Believe and Repent. And I detail in there how the Jewish understanding with repentance was always linked to baptism. Not a work. But an outward showing of repentance. But I will say this this morning. Repentance and baptism for a Jew always went hand in hand. If you were seeing that you needed repentance you were baptized. Now Jesus takes that. New Testament takes that and you are baptized once. Not multiple times. Once. To show your repentance towards Jesus Christ. And in contrast to Saul putting men and women to prison. Philip is leading both men and women to Jesus. And they are being saved. Philip brings about a great growth in the kingdom. Because Jesus Christ uses him. The Holy Spirit uses him. Philip couldn't do that on his own. But Jesus Christ used him. To continue his witness in the world. Notice it's not the healing that's the emphasis here. It's not the miracles. It's the miracle of a changed soul. That's the emphasis. Simon is amazed by what he sees. And he also believes. And that word believe means to believe something is true and trustworthy. It's the same word as anyone else who would believe and be converted. Now Simon presents some problems for us later in the text. And we'll deal with them when we get there. But he continued with Philip meaning he is closely associated with Philip. And I think it's because he wanted to be around that power. To be able to heal people. Who wouldn't? Right? Who doesn't want to be around that? But Philip for Simon for so long was able to do these sorceries. He just wanted to be around Philip who would just out of the kindness of his heart and the power of the Holy Spirit care for people in miraculous ways. But I want you to see as we close a couple of applications. Baptism always accompanies conversion in Acts. Always. There's not a point where someone is converted where baptism is not mentioned. And so if you are here this morning and you are if you've been a Christian for some time and you've not been baptized I want to call you to obedience to be baptized. It shows your commitment to Jesus. It's that outward showing of your inward faith. But if you are a Christian who is baptized what's your message? What are you preaching? You are preaching. You are proclaiming a message. People know what you're all about. What's your message? I pray it's about Jesus Christ. See living in America can make us think that people don't need Jesus because they know. They already know. Do you realize that we're now in a situation where more people are living in darkness and don't even know about Jesus than those who are born again Christians in your country? Your country is not what we grew up thinking it was. Your country now needs to be evangelized. We need missionaries sent to America to proclaim the truth. And you know what's amazing? We've got 130 of them right here. Going to every neighborhood in Trumbull County. Let's go and preach the gospel to those who we know. Be faithful. But let's not lose sight of the fact that when darkness grows God always will have his people to stand and proclaim the truth. You have a copy of God's word in your lap. If you don't have one and you need access to one I promise you someone here today who has an extra copy will gladly give it to you. You can know the truth. And Jesus says you know the truth and the truth sets you free. And so as we come this morning do not lose sight of the fact that though darkness seems to be growing and the storm grows ever darker we know the end of this thing. We know what happens. In the darkest of the darkest days that's when the son returns. And there isn't a single one who can stand against him. So let us be faithful to the one who has saved our soul and who we know will establish his kingdom. Philip moved to Samaria in response to the persecution in Jerusalem. He preached the truth. He sees the Lord's work in powerful ways and he brings many people to faith. That's what Philip did. That's how he did it. What's your message? What are you going about? How are you going about proclaiming the truth? You know how I do it. This is one of many ways I do it. How are you doing it? What's your message? If you need help working through that that's why I'm here to help you. Look to a friend. Come up with ideas. I love it when people come up and say hey what about? Hey that sounds like a great idea. Why don't you take that on? Alright let's go. Don't bring ideas and then think well someone else can do it. You do it. The Lord gave it to you. You do it. What's your message? Where are you going? Where do you live? Who needs to hear? Let's pray. Father as we close this morning I ask that you would take your word planted deep in our hearts. Lord I know there are people here this morning who need to wrestle with this. And while I know the word of God brings peace I ask that you would bring a stirring in their soul that they could not they cannot rest until they deal with this truth. I ask that you would bring us to obedience. We cannot expect others to do the job that you've called us to do. You've placed us in our neighborhood. You've placed us in our county. You've placed us in our assembly. And we need to be the ones who are fulfilling the great commission here. So Lord may we be faithful and do the work you've called us to do and then we rely upon you to do your work. And we know that you will be faithful to do what you said you will do. Give us the desire to be faithful to you. Bring repentance where it needs to come. Give us that desire. Change our hearts. Mature us and conform us to the image of Jesus Christ. That we would be in the perfect will of God. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts

00:57 sec | 3 weeks ago

HH6 The Light at the End of the Tunnel The Heart of Hope w/ Deacon James Keating Ph.D. Discerning Hearts Podcast - burst 1

"Why am I suffering? I'm a good person. Why is he or she suffering? They are innocent. The moment you say that, behold, the lamb of God, you are brought right to Christ. Behold, the wood of the cross. You immediately, and your situation is immediately ushered into the holy. Now of course, we can take it the other way. And it can be an act which raises in within us, the furor, anger, injustice, the desire to curse God and die. But steady, through all those years of receiving the Eucharist, be steady.

Dennis Prager Podcasts

00:11 min | 16 hrs ago

Fresh update on "cursed" discussed on Dennis Prager Podcasts

"The guards couldn't curse. And the prisoners couldn't curse. He put them all, and you didn't have to, but everyone was given the opportunity to get ordained as a minister by studying intensively in the Bible and religion to become a minister. So much so that my wife and I, walking amongst murderers, mostly murderers. Sue was with you? Sue was with me. Wow. Walking, we felt safer there than in downtown LA. Yeah. And I went over to a guy, one of their shops was an auto workshop. I went over to a guy, a black guy, who was serving life in prison for murder. I mean, think about it. When do I get a chance to speak to murderers? And I went over to him, and you know me, I can't make chitchat with anybody, let alone a murderer. What am I saying? How's your day? How's it going in solitary? How do you think the New Orleans Saints are doing? The food is, yeah. So I said, may I ask you, how do you feel about the fact that you will be here for the rest of your life until you die? Which is the same as the rest of your life, but I wanted to bring the point home. And without hesitating, he said, I don't feel nearly as bad as the friends and relatives of the guy I murdered. Wow. That was inculcated by a religious man. That's an astoundingly reformist individual. So listen to this. You'll love this. Afterwards, I was interviewed by some station or podcast or something. It was a video. So Dennis, what did you think? He said, I'm leaving depressed. Which is the last thing that they expected, as you just showed some shock. I said, depressed? You saw something fantastic. I said, that's right. That's why I'm leaving depressed. Because the secular press won't report on it. There's an answer to evil. As I've said all of my life, there is an answer to evil. Ethical monotheism. And the secular media won't report it. What you just said made me think that there is a good, ennobling, religious antidote to the degrading secular status quo that we're seeing. Where we were just talking about how the secular offering of self-esteem has led us into chaos. But the religious offering of self-esteem, I think, will give people a sense of self-respect and dignity and will make them better people. Taking it a step further, secular individuals talk about reform, prison reform. But their idea of reform is so different from the religious reform which is needed. In other words, the point I'm trying to say is that we hear about secular reform. Religion offers reform too. But it's the better kind of reform. It's that kind of reform of teaching these prisoners to have more respect for themselves by not cursing. To do whatever that pastor did to make that murderer answer that question to you in the way that he did. People think like, I just want to highlight that. It struck me as interesting that this pastor did come in and do some kind of criminal reform. And we think of that as only existing on the left or in the secular world. But no, there is a good religious antidote to each of the things that the left is offering. There is only a religious antidote. Sending in more psychiatrists won't do a damn thing. Their problems are not psychological. Mike Lindell has a passion to help you get the best sleep of your life. He didn't stop at the pillow. He also created the Giza Dream bedsheets. These sheets look and feel great, which means an even better night's sleep, which is crucial for our overall health. Mike found the world's best cotton called Giza. It's ultra soft and breathable, but extremely durable. His latest deal is the sale of the year. For a limited time, you'll receive 50% off of the Giza Dream sheets, marking prices down as low as $29.98, depending on the size. Just go to my pillow.com and click on the radio podcast square and use the promo code Hartman. There, you'll find not only this great offer, but also deep discounts on all MyPillow products, including the MyPillow 2.0, the mattress topper, MyPillow kitchen towel sets, and so much more. Call 1-800-566-6745 or go to my pillow.com and use the promo code Hartman.

Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts

08:30 min | 3 weeks ago

A highlight from HH6 The Light at the End of the Tunnel The Heart of Hope w/ Deacon James Keating Ph.D. Discerning Hearts Podcast

"Discerninghearts .com presents The Heart of Hope, Suffering, and the Cross of Christ with Deacon James Keating. Deacon Keating is a professor of spiritual theology and serves as a spiritual director at Kenrick Lenon Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. Deacon Keating has led more than 400 workshops in areas of morality and spirituality and has authored numerous books including The Way of Mystery, Listening for Truth, and Spiritual Fatherhood, The Heart of Hope, Suffering, and the Cross of Christ with Deacon James Keating. I'm your host, Kris McGregor. We've been discussing The Heart of Hope. And again, it's in the context of suffering. And I'll share with you an incident in my own life, a different type of suffering that occurred. And it happens in the hearts of many, many families around the world now. Our only son diagnosed with autism. And in those early years, struggling to first identify how we can help him, struggling with dealing with all the ramifications, not even addressing how can this happen, why would God allow this to occur? He's a complete innocent. We were faithful. Why would he allow this? When he was in kindergarten, I was approached by his principal of the school that he was attending and asked, Mrs. McGregor, do you see a light at the end of this tunnel? Because Michael had been acting out in the classroom. And it so took me aback, this question, do I see a light at the end of this tunnel? What, concerning my son that somehow he'll break through this autism, that someday he will be able to drive a car and have a girlfriend and go to school and college and become a doctor or something like that? No, I'm not even sure how tomorrow is going to be. I don't see a light at the end of this tunnel. I don't even know why I'm in the tunnel. Why he's in the tunnel. And I think at that moment, when I had that question posed to me, I felt there was no hope. Why does this occur? Why does God have us in that tunnel? Well, I think the key areas of pain there are, I was faithful and he is innocent. I was faithful and he was innocent. When suffering befalls us, we so associate suffering with punishment, that we immediately multiply our suffering by becoming conscious of those two realities. I was good, I was a faithful Catholic, I said my prayers, I obeyed the moral law. Why did this happen to me? Why am I being punished when I was good? And secondly, with the innocent, like the children of the world who suffer, it's just a child, baby, a little boy, why? Why do innocent people suffer? Why do faithful people suffer? And this will always be a question, and we should never deny this question from coming to our consciousness in the midst of suffering, because it's the key to the meaning of Christ and our relationship. Because once you say, why am I suffering? I'm a good person. Why is he or she suffering? They are innocent. The moment you say that, behold, the lamb of God, you are brought right to Christ. Behold, the wood of the cross. You immediately, and your situation is immediately ushered into the holy. Now of course, we can take it the other way. And it can be an act which raises in within us, the furor, anger, injustice, the desire to curse God and die. But steady, through all those years of receiving the Eucharist, be steady. You have been receiving this mystery since the second grade. Did you know that? You've been receiving the mystery of I am a good person, and I am innocent, and yet I suffer since the second grade. He has been preparing you that when suffering befalls you, it will not be an occasion for losing communion with him, but it will be the opportunity for deepening it with him. For when we speak the words, I am innocent, and what did I do wrong, we are brought into the closest identification that we can have with the mystery of Jesus' self -offering on the cross. And now he says to us, will you also offer yourself for the love and for the sake of many? And here we are at the very core of redemptive suffering, where we join our suffering to Jesus for the sake of the stranger, and most profoundly, for the sake of the enemy. Cosmically, this is not about your son. In faith, this is Christ, and all of his mysteries being lived over again. In your son. In you. This innocence, this faithfulness, he's not doing it to you, this suffering. He's living it with you, and that's the hope. And deeper and deeper our catechesis must go, deeper and deeper our evangelization must go to this very point of mystery. So that when suffering befalls us, we can know him in the very innocent suffering that we are undergoing. The question then becomes why? Why a God who so loves us that he'll enter into suffering, why does he even allow it? Why does it have to happen? Whether it's a birth of a child in which the world would consider disabled or being relegated to the isolation, loneliness of a nursing home or having to endure a disease or an accident that cripples us. If God so loves us and can do all things, why does it have to happen? Well, that question, of course, is a valid question. No one's really ever been able to answer it, except through what we've mentioned in other conversations, the theological meaning of original sin, the fallenness of the world, limitation, human limitation, human finitude, that this is in fact not heaven. All directions of answers like that. But what's more important when you ask the question, why, why does this innocent suffering have to happen, is not what you would call the philosophical answer to that question. The better answer to that question to meditate on is why, why did this have to happen? So that Jesus could share it with us.

Dennis Prager Podcasts

00:08 min | 16 hrs ago

Fresh update on "cursed" discussed on Dennis Prager Podcasts

"Oh gosh, okay, I have so much to say to this. First of all, see I don't even know where to begin. I really do think that it comes from a religious point of view because if you view your existence as insignificant, then your actions are insignificant, whether they just affect you or they just affect someone else. If you just view yourself as a materialist bundle of cells and you only have a finite amount of time on this earth and you should just use it for your gain or for your pleasure, you're going to be more likely to cheat and to behave in ways that are not dignified because you kind of think your existence is a big effort, if that makes sense. I think a religious point of view, the thing that I love so much about religion and I really can't thank you enough because you are the person who brought me to this and demonstrated to me how powerful it is, is that on the one hand, literally in the Bible, in the first few chapters of Genesis, Adam, or a human in general, is told that they are both made in the image and likeness of God and also dust of the earth. That's an amazing thing and that's a necessary combination. If you think all the time that you're in the image and likeness of God, you'll come to see yourself as more important than you are. But if you just view yourself as dust, then you're going to be more likely to behave in ways that are dust-like because you think you're dust. But religion, I think, keeps you humble, but more than anything else, it gives a meaning to your existence. You were individually made and chosen and created in God's image and likeness. And so what you do with that reflects on your creator. What you do with that is, you know, ripples to everyone else. And I think people who have the greatest sense of dignity and self-respect are the ones who view their existence as consequential. Not that they're put on this earth to be the next king and queen or CEO or whatever, but truly view, again, their existence as having moral cosmic consequence. And I think back, forgive me, dear audience for making it about me for a moment, but it's interesting for me to compare myself to you because you say that you had the, was it Yeshiva? Is that the right name? Yeshiva education that endowed you with a religious view of the world, even if it wasn't always conscious. I didn't really have a religious upbringing, but my parents, I think, suffused Judeo-Christian religious values into my upbringing without packaging it as Judeo-Christian. And a lot of it was my birth story. I was born from a surrogate mother. My mom couldn't bear children after having my two sisters. And it took my parents many, many years to find a surrogate. Several surrogates failed in carrying the child. And my parents always told this birth story as really almost like a biblical religious thing. Not that I was like Christ or the Messiah, but just that God facilitated a miracle here, that despite all these odds and all these impediments, God gave you to us through this woman, which was such a miraculous thing. And we are so grateful. And so growing up, I sort of had this idea that I was a child of God and that God wanted me to be on this earth. That's what religion gives you. That's what my parents, suffusing religion without packaging it as religion, gave me. And I think that gave my sense of dignity that you also had as a kid with your religious upbringing. That's a long-winded way of saying I think a religious viewpoint facilitates this. So you just described totally you just described and I'll make it even clearer with this comment. You just described the crisis of religion. A lot of good people who had religious backgrounds kept the values without the package. And it's photocopy ethics. Yeah, but well, yeah. All right. That's your way of saying the tenth photocopy is not as clear as the first. But I think that's true, although with modern copying machines, it might not be as true as it was once. But the real analogy is the cut flowers, which is not mine. I got it from Will Herberg, who got it from somebody else. By the way, you should read Will Herberg, Judaism in Modern Man. Blow your mind whether you're Jewish or not. And you're not. It's hard for me to remember you're not. I know because Shabbat and all we talk about is Torah. The analogy is, of course, when you cut flowers from their soil, they seem to live. And if you don't know anything about flowers, look, they don't need their soil, but they wither and die after a short period of time. Ethics nurtured in Judeo-Christian soil don't die overnight, but they die. That's just the way it works. That's called cut flower ethics. And it's not my term, but it's a great term. So your parents did what a lot of terrific people of the last generation did. And that is they gave over these great values, what we call Judeo-Christian. But they didn't tell their kids, you know what, they do come from the Bible. They do come from the Ten Commandments. They do come from God. And as a result, vast numbers of my generation and even more vast numbers of your generation came to believe you don't need God or Bible in order to preserve ethics. But look at the West today, and especially in America, where we went from in God we trust as one of our mottos to in studies we trust, or in the New York Times we trust. And look at the chaos, men give birth. Only secular people say that, as I've said a thousand times. So why, going back to that, it's really important. And I don't believe that there is one or even unknowable two answers. I think we can get, so one is yes, I admit it that a part of me thinks God is watching. That I put a note there. A huge part of me thinks that when it happens to me. Right, and that is a good thing. Second is I couldn't live with myself. So let's get even deeper. How do you make a person who can't live with him or herself if they do bad? How do you produce such a person? Well that's of course the question. A lot of it is nature to your point. A lot of it is nature. Which is depressing. It is depressing. Answer my first question. Neither of us knows the answer. Guess. How do we create people who wouldn't live with themselves? What percentage of Americans would leave a note? Oh gosh, it's a shot in the dark. Totally, I know. 25? Okay, we both believe under 50. Yes. Oh yeah. Under 50. I don't think it's five percent. Oh no, I agree with you. But I think people would probably do it because they would think that there are surveillance cameras. Oh that's interesting. Yeah. How many would do it for moral reasons as opposed to there's a camera? Or any reason. Psychological, moral, habit. I think 25 percent. Maybe more, maybe 30. I don't think 50. So when I raise this, the beauty of talk radio is I'll get answers. Like, give me your story. Were you hit and no note? Or were you hit and there was a note? It's unscientific. It's just a handful of people who could reach a radio show. But it will still be interesting to me. And what about my other question? What do you think 60 years ago? Oh gosh, how many? Over 50. That's what I think. Maybe 65 percent? May I cut in? I know it's a little—to use the analogy again, it's like a first cousin of what we were talking about. I sort of want to go back just for a moment to this thing I was developing, however, articulately or inarticulately, about how your sense of dignity comes from, I think, a religious view of yourself as having an existence of consequence. I really want to kind of explore that and hammer that home for a minute, because people, again, people who don't view—you talk a lot about how we have too big of a self-esteem culture. And I agree with you. But human beings need to have the right kind of self-esteem. They need the religious kind of self-esteem to feel like they are in the image and likeness of our creator. And I think a lot of what we are seeing now is that people who have the right kind of self-esteem, in addition to not believing that there's a judge in God who will levy consequences at them for their behavior, I think they also just don't think that their existence matters. They don't think— It doesn't. Right. They don't think there's anything special about them. That's the point. And I'm not saying special like snowflake special. I mean like, I am a human being and I have worth and I have dignity and what I do matters. We are seeing a total collapse of that in society and apropos of our criminal discussion. The thing that to me is very insulting about the left's view of criminals is that by legitimizing and giving a pass to their crime, they're actually in kind of another language saying, I don't believe in you as a human being. I don't think that you have worth. I don't think that you can better yourself. I'm going to— It's like indulging the worst part of that person. When I see a person committing a crime, if I were leading a program in a prison to try to— I wouldn't feed the leftist sludge, oh, this pushed you to commit your crime. I'll go, no, you are a human being. You were created in God's image and likeness. You are better than this. I believe that you can be better than this. This is succumbing to animalistic behavior. You are more dignified than that. And make them feel more special as people. Your point, I totally agree. Self-esteem in and of itself is neutral. That's what you're saying. We have so much self— There's good self-esteem and worthless self-esteem. In some ways, we have a society that is overdosing on self-esteem. But in the critical ways, we actually have a society that has a huge deficit. You don't think highly enough of yourself if you won't steal? That's another contradiction of the modern world. Right, I agree with you. People think that they're grandiose enough to break the law. Did I ever tell you my Angola state prison story? No. Angola state prison? Yes, it's the largest state prison in America. It's in Louisiana. Oh, was this whether you didn't know whether to shake the hand of the— Yes. I read it in one of your books. I went into death row. Wow. How did that come up? How did that get arranged? I was invited to meet with the governor of Louisiana and visit Angola state prison. And the reason? Angola state prison. It's the largest state prison and it was the bloodiest. A vast amount of murders happened there. In the prison? Yes. And they brought in Burl Kane, I think was his name, the warden who was a Christian. And he used Christian biblical principles to change the prison. Did he? Effectively? No murders. He made it, I think, it went from the bloodiest prison to the least bloody prison under his rule. This is a very important story, actually. He is very interesting. He banned cursing.

Evangelism on SermonAudio

09:59 min | 3 weeks ago

A highlight from Foolish Atheism (Partick, Glasgow Street Preaching)

"We read in God's holy and infallible words, from Psalm number 14, the word of God reads, to the chief physician, a psalm of David. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. They're all gone aside, they're all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good, no not one, of all the workers of iniquity, no knowledge, who eat of my people as they eat bread and call none upon the Lord. There were they in great fear, for God is in the generation of the righteous. He has shamed the council of the poor because the Lord is his refuge. Oh, that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion, when the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad. The people of Harvick become as believers in Jesus Christ to share this life -giving message. It is a life -giving message not because it comes from us, it is because it comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. It comes as revealed in the holy and infallible word, holy scripture. And in Psalm 14, it points out our nature. It points out and shows us that all have sinned short of the glory of God. It points out to all of us that it is a foolish thing to reject God. It is a foolish thing to say that there is no God. Psalm 14 verse 1, it says the fool hath said in his heart there is no God. Friends look around you, observe the creation, it has a creator. It has all the marks of a mighty and all -powerful God who made all these things, the sun, the moon and the stars, the clouds and all these good things that we enjoy have been made and ordained by almighty God. The heavens declare the glory of God and they show forth his handiwork that our friends all are without excuse. You look around you, you take a seat on a park bench, you know that somebody has made that. And friends as we look at the creation, at its beauty, its complexity, its order, we see that it has a creator, a wise, good, holy creator. And so it is a foolish thing as the psalmist tells us to say in our hearts that there is no God. That's what sin is friends. It's the rejecting of the rule of God. It's the rebellion against the rule of almighty God. It is saying no to God. And we would rather rule and reign over our own kingdoms rather than submit to holy God. That's resolved by nature. All of us have sinned. All of us fall short of the glory of God. And friends who come sharing a message, what's for the grace of God, so would you be there? You reckon me too would reject God as the psalmist is pointing out. The only way to have wisdom is by the mercy and the grace of God. The blue hat said in his heart there is no God, they are corrupt. That is us all. We have nothing made sinners but born in sin. We have all broken the law of God, born in Adam. And as soon as we come out of the womb, we are at war with God. We need the grace of God. They are corrupt. They have done a vulnerable work. There is none that do us good. Many of us think we're not that bad. Many of us when we look at the perfect righteous and holy standard of God we think, well I can't merit hell can I? But friends that's what we all deserve, myself included. The Christian realizes that by their own works they are corrupt. The Christian realizes that have broken the law of Almighty God. And recognizing their guilt, they see that they cannot save themselves. They deserve the wrath of God. But they can flee to the refuge and the salvation that is found in Jesus Christ alone. And so we come with this message that you too would see. Number one your sin. With number two that there is a Savior, a willing Savior who receives all that was found in Him and in Him alone the Lord Jesus who is the Christ. Because there's none good knowing that one. It says the Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. See friends none of us seek after God. There's none that do us good knowing that one that we may think well that sounds very extreme. It might even sound very harsh. But none of us by nature seek out after God. It is God who changes the sinner. Friends you need Christ and we pray that this day you would have eyes to see and ears to hear. Eyes to see your sin and to see a beauty in the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord looked down from heaven to see if there any that understand. Friends we call upon you to look to Jesus. But why do you need this Savior? What did Jesus do? Jesus who is through God and through men came into the sin cursed world. He suffered throughout his entire life the creator of heaven and earth. He assumed to himself a human nature and as one person through God and through men he suffered upon the cross bearing the wrath of God. It says in Isaiah 53 verse 10 get it please the Lord to bruise him. You see the Lord Jesus Christ took our penalty. He took our sin. He took the wrath of God. He was crushed, bruised for our iniquity so that whosoever looketh upon him shall not have to face eternal death. Friends we pray that you would see your need you would see this corruption in our in your hearts found in every human heart and see the perfect righteousness that Jesus offers to all who look to him and to him alone. Oh friends we pray that you would see this this day that you would see your need and seek after them by grace and by grace alone. They're all gonna sigh the psalmist right. They're all together become filthy. This is every single one. None escapes us. We've all broken the law of God. Part of the law of God says if you love the Lord to God with all your heart with all your mind with all your strength there's not one of us who has done that perfectly. Actually there's not one of us who has done it for any length of time all upon the face of the earth there is only one and that is the Lord Jesus Christ who perfectly loved his father in heaven. There's also the second great commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. And as you go through the commandments the fifth commandment to honor your father and your mother all the way down to thou shall not covet.

The MMQB NFL Podcast

00:06 min | 17 hrs ago

Fresh update on "cursed" discussed on The MMQB NFL Podcast

"We're going to skim through the games here. Just a couple of them because, again, the Thanksgiving and Black Friday kind of pilfered most of the talent away, but we did get what I would say. I mean, the Eagles played in both of the best games of the year. I mean, it's either, you know, it was either last week or this week, but I this is the one game that I have a really significant amount of takeaways from and that it probably sunk Buffalo season. You know, playoffs are pretty much off the table for them, I would assume, if not pretty darn close to being off the table. And the Eagles have just, you know, statistically, they're not better than they were last year, but they are so much more resilient. And I do think that that matters to the point where they're obliterating the idea of a Super Bowl hangover. They're just destroying it. Really quick on the Bills. Like, I think the shame of it, Connor, is like where we're at right now. Like, I do think they look better offensively. Like, it looks to me like Joe Brady's made a difference. I thought Josh Allen was dynamite. Like, I thought he carried the team. I thought he looked great. He was resilient. Like, there are even some drops that he had to fight through. And I think he made a throw at the end that was good enough to be the game winner if Gabe Davis is a little bit more aware on that play. Yep. Like, knowing the blitz is coming. So, like, it looks like the Bills, even at a loss, are starting to come together a little bit. This to me is the cost of losing to the Jets, of losing to the Patriots, of losing to the Broncos, right? Like, this is the cost of losing those games you shouldn't have lost against teams that were inferior to you. The cost is that now you have to win against the Eagles. You have to win against, I believe they get the Chiefs after their buy, right? Their schedule is absolutely brutal. Is it the Niners after that as Chiefs? They get the Chiefs, the Cowboys, the Chargers, the Niners. Cowboys, yeah. And then the Patriots and Dolphins. But, yeah. So, like, that's the cost of it, though. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's the cost is, like, when you lose, again, you lose the game, you shouldn't lose the Jets in the opener when they lose Aaron Rodgers in the first play. You lose the game you shouldn't lose to the Broncos. You lose the game you shouldn't lose to the Patriots. Like, this is the cost of that. Like, that very easily, like, I mean, this probably should have been a 9-2 Buffalo team coming in. Instead, it's a 6-5 team coming in that can't afford to lose to Philly. Because, you know, if you're coming into this 9-2 or 8-3, well, then it's like, okay, we got Philly, Kansas City, and Dallas over the next three games. It's like, if we go 1-2, we'll still be okay. Now, 1-2 kills your season. And, oh, by the way, you're 0-1 already. Right. My one pushback on the Bills looking better, and I'm just curious your take on this, was that Allen ran nine times for 81 yards and two touchdowns. That was precisely, so that was the most rushing attempts he's had all season. Yep. It was precisely what they were trying to avoid, and what Ken Dorsey was sort of tasked to prevent actively. It makes you wonder if that's necessary to them succeeding, right? But I get it. I get why you don't want Josh Allen banging around nine times a game and then getting into the playoffs hurt every year. It makes sense to me. He had a perfect quarterback rating in that win over the Dolphins, which is a good Vic Fangio defense, and he only had to run four times. This time he had an 82 quarterback rating, which is one of his worst games of the year. Statistically, only six yards an attempt, 6.5 yards per attempt. Like, statistically, it's not a great game if you take away the breadth of it, and so much of it is the rushing. And so I'm wondering, like, is Joe Brady fixing it, or are they just letting Josh Allen run again? It might be. You know what I mean? And that was the vehicle behind it the entire time. You know, right. And somebody actually, when I did some research into what other teams think is wrong with the Bills, that was part of it, was that this may not work as well when Josh Allen isn't the run threat, right? And Josh Allen, being a run threat, opens up so many things for them offensively. Do you need that? Now, again, he's going up against a good Eagles defense. He threw for 339 yards. He made big throws throughout the game. So but I do think that there's something to that. Like, he ran the ball nine times and wound up with 81 yards. And, you know, it does make you wonder if, like, a little bit like Cam Newton, you have to have that as part of his game. Yes. And part of his game is that that threat opens so many other things up for him, you know, and maybe mitigate some of the holes in his game. On Philly side, I wrote about this yesterday, like, so if you watch Jake Elliott, my God, if you watch Jake Elliott kick a 59 yard field goal to send the team into overtime in a driving rainstorm with, I think, a six mile an hour crosswind and it looked like my golf shot. I have a bad slice, but it just it was perfect. Like everything was gauged perfectly. He kicks the ball and it's still got a lot of hooking and moving to do. But he just holds his fist in the air. He knew he got it from the second it left his foot. Like everybody from the kicker to the quarterback has complete and total confidence in what they're doing. I've never seen a team like this and I've never seen a team like this post Super Bowl loss. Now, the bills, the first time the bills lost to Super Bowl, they were 10 and one the following year. The Miami Dolphins of 1972 were undefeated, obviously, and that was coming off a Super Bowl loss. But back then, the idea of a Super Bowl curse wasn't even a thing. We were in like the third Super Bowl, fourth Super Bowl. You know what I mean? So well, you and I weren't anywhere for that one, but yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I you know, so to me, it's staggering, right, that we have this mountain of this mountain of a curse, this daunting thing that's staring down at you. And not only are you performing again, I think last year seems a little bit better, but I think you're performing up to that level and you're beating Patrick Mahomes on the road in the rain in a game where you couldn't do anything. And then you're beating Josh Allen at home in the rain in a game where you couldn't do anything. I think they are the only team that is undefeated in the NFL over the last two years. I want to say when trailing at halftime or the last year. And like, there's no, it's like four games in a row now, right? It's wild. And there's no other team that's even comparable in terms of that. It's like this team lost both coordinators. Like you just keep going down the list of how crazy this is. And, you know, I had somebody say, well, you were so hard on the Vikings last year. They're just like the Vikings last year. No, they're not. This is completely different. This is not getting fortuitous circumstances. Overwhelming fortuitous circumstances in tight spots. They just have answers everywhere in the roster. And again, like I hate to circle back to like where, like even down to the kicker, right? Like they've got answers everywhere in the roster. And it's just like, I always think about like how, you know, like as they lost guys in the off season, there was always someone behind that guy. Right. So they lose a Ciamalo, right? Like, and they have Cam Juergens and Landon Dickerson and all these interior offensive linemen in a time when no one's got depth on the offensive line. They lose Javon Hargrave. All right. They got Jordan Davis coming up. They draft Jalen Carter. They have, they lose TJ Edwards. They have Nicobe Dean ready to roll. They, looks like they're going to lose, you know, one or both of their corners and Darrius Slay and James Bradbury. That somehow works out for them. They lose Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. Reed Blankenship's played really well. And then they go and they trade for Kevin Byard to backstop themselves at that position. It, at running back, they lose Miles Sanders. Okay. We have DeAndre Swift, who looks like an upgrade. It's just, it's the way that team is managed and the way they're ready for everything is really, really impressive. And I just, I think so much of it, you know, we can complicate it as much as we want, but I just think it's like, it's always having an answer. You know, it's like their roster has answers for freaking everything. Even a situation where you need a 59 yard field goal in a driving rainstorm. Jake Elliott, man. So you and I are both verbose. We both, we both like to talk. That's why we got into this business, but I will challenge you. We're going to go through the rest of these games. Just give me a sentence. One thought. And I'm going to give you one thought and you give me one thought. I'll start, I'll start with the Ravens and the Chargers. My one thought here is this is going to be, uh, I'm going to keep this as short of a sentence as possible. I think that Brandon Staley was legitimately in almost, I think all but two losses that he's ever had in his NFL career, but, and fixed a lot of the defensive problems from a week ago that, that, that happened in the loss to green Bay, but then didn't get the offensive performance. And I think this is probably the game that did it for him. I think he's, I think this cemented it. I think he's probably out. Lots of comments in that sentence. That was a run on sentence. I know that was David Foster Wallace in length. That was all right. Well, I'll keep this one brief then. The Ravens are the top contenders to the chiefs in the AFC. Nice. Speaking of which chiefs beat the Raiders, um, 31 17. My one thought here is Rashi rice. Finally. Oh, you stole mine. You stole mine. Go ahead. Yes, yes. Yeah. I, I would say yes. The chiefs are a team that has the leeway to build on what they've already got on their roster over the course of the year. And they were probably right to keep investing in young guys that they have there like Kadarius Tony, like sky more. And now it looks like Rashi rice Rams 37 Cardinals 14. My one thought here is that the Rams are going to fulfill my prophecy and they are going to hit the over on that 6.5 win total that I told all of you to bet on before the season. Yeah, we got five. Yeah. So they got two more, two more, two more. Go get, we could do it. Yes, we'll get there. Um, my one thought is the Rams will be set up very nicely in 2024 with a ton of cap space for the first, first round pick for the first time in almost a decade. And what some like promising young players like Puka Nakua and Kyron Williams that seemed to be coming along some good, a young offensive lineman there too. I think there's a lot of talent on that defense also. Broncos 29 Browns 12. Eventually my thought is that I will have to apologize to the Broncos organization publicly for how mean I was during the beginning of the season and that losing miles Garrett for any amount of time is an absolute season under for the Browns. Yep. I'd agree with that. Miles Garrett is basically the Browns quarterback, the value of a quarterback. Like true though. I mean like, uh, so yes, losing miles Garrett would be very difficult for the Browns. And whenever you hear the word pop, that's not good. And that was the word that he used about what happened to his shoulder. Um, yeah, I would say my thought is Vance Joseph has redeemed himself and good on Sean Peyton for being patient with him at a time when the heat was turned way up. Um, you know, I have some good stuff in my column this week about from Justin Simmons on how, uh, dance Joseph was very real with the guys when things were really bad, when the dolphins put 700 yards and 70 points on them. And, um, the patients really paid off there. I think patients with Sean Peyton's program has paid off in a big way across the board for the Broncos. Jaguars 24 Texans 21. Um, anytime a game ends on a doink, it's a, it's pretty sweet. My thought here though is Jaguars are eight and three in record, but I view them as a hard tier below like the top three or four teams. I, I think the, my one thought is that this is going to be a very important game in the NFL of going forward. This rivalry between these two teams is going to be a big one and maybe people don't see it now, but I think in 2024 and 2025, this will be seen as a very important game in the NFL. And I think the way yesterday's game played out was sort of a window into that. Giants 10 Patriots seven, Tommy DeVito of Cedar Grove, New Jersey. Oh, his parents too. His parents, you see them? Yeah. I also saw on Twitter that, uh, our, our mutual friend, Mike Garofalo got like a sub from the, um, like a chicken parm sub from, uh, DeVito's favorite place. I think, I think the sub was called the DeVito. I think that's right. Yeah. That was unearthed by my mentor in this business. Steve Politti of the star legend. Is that right? He discovered the DeVito, which is a chicken parm with vodka sauce instead of marinara, which, um, is absolutely, it's delicious. Yeah. Have you had it? I've had, I've had that sandwich before, um, it wasn't called the DeVito then it almost certainly I'll just have to call my pizza place in order to the DeVito and see what happens. That sounds for them. So is that like a common sandwich to serve in Jersey or. Well, my neighbor started doing it like when, when we would hang out at the park and our kids would be done. I am a big fan of vodka sauce, just to be clear. Yeah. And they started it. And then I was like, I got to get in on this. Cause I love vodka sauce too. And it, it was sort of a game changer. Like to me, regular chicken parm subs are trash compared to a vodka parm sub or a chicken parm sub with hot sauce. Is that what is that? So is that, is the proper name for the DeVito, the vodka parm sub vodka parm sub with a thin, really thin chicken cutlet, which I agree with too. Thick chicken cutlet is a total waste of time. Yeah. Pound it then. Well, I actually grew up like with an Austrian mother. So we had what was called Wiener schnitzel, which I'm sure people out there have heard of, which is basically a veal cutlet pounded very, very thin and then breaded and served with lemon. So that was like my favorite thing growing up. So I, I can definitely, uh, definitely get on board with a cutlet pounded very thin and then breaded. While we're taping this, by the way, Joe Shane, the general manager kind of gave himself a little bit of an out in terms of yes, Daniel Jones is our quarterback, but if the best player on the board in 2024 happens to be a quarterback, I don't know. And so we have that, but we haven't even gotten into this game yet. My takeaway is what a train wreck the Patriots are. This thing has gotten worse than I ever thought it would. It's the one time like, remember when, and I'll expand just for a minute, just because I think it's funny is like Belichick is notoriously terse. And then one day just comes out and recites the entirety of ideal gas law, you know, and then, uh, in defense of what's going on. And then he's terse terse terse. And this is one of those times where your terse ness impacts people's understanding of you. And he said, well, I just told all the quarterbacks to get ready. Well, when did you determine that it would be Mac Jones? I don't remember. Like now he sounds like, you know, someone who doesn't know what he's doing. When he answers questions to the full breadth of his knowledge, there's always a smart reason behind it. But for some reason now he's just like, yeah, I don't care. And it, it sounds bad, right? Like, I actually think like that's like a product of people thinking it was cute for all of those years for him to act that way, which gave him license to conduct himself that way. Normally what would happen if a coach tried to do that, then he would get so beaten down in the press conferences that like eventually he would turn, but bill was so successful in one. So consistently, he was the one doing the wearing out in that equation. He wore out the media. And so he's always had license to conduct himself this way, which I mean, I almost have respect for the fact that he is sticking to his guns and not pandering when things are really bad. Yeah. Like we said, it just, it makes everything seem strange. Like the, you know, the Malik Willis and, you know, Zappi and, you know, uh, Tracy McSorley, like the whole thing now. Like, um, it's like, uh, it's like the fart in stepbrothers, right? Did you throw Malik Willis in there? Oh, uh, gosh, uh, Malik Cunningham. I'm sorry. Yeah, that's right. Yep. You got it. No, all good. All good. Maybe it is a, it is a, it is a weird situation. It's weird that that might be the last game. Bellatrix coaches in East Rutherford, which is obviously a very important place for him. Um, just a strange game. And that is a way they lost is the guy, the kicker he took in the fourth round misses like a 35 yard field goal was bananas too. Oh, um, Titan 17 Panthers 10. Uh, everyone's kind of up in arms about the fourth and six, uh, play call at the end of the game for the Panthers where they run a bubble screen. I'm kind of just like, this is where you're at as a roster. Like you look at the chargers game and they didn't have a hot receiver for Herbert for the blitz. And then he just gets crushed. At least the Panthers got a pass off and you got a shot at picking up the first down. But yeah, you know, that's the loss that ends up, uh, costing Frank Reicke his job. Yep. And, uh, I would say the Titans just watching what I did of that game. It definitely looks like they're going to be in the mix for a quarterback in the first round come April two. So, um, the very least, like, I think based on what they have in the roster, what we've seen from Willis, what we've seen from Levis, there just hasn't been enough there where you wouldn't think with a pick in the top 10, I can't imagine they'll be in the range to get a Drake mayor Caleb Williams, but you know, you would think that they would be thinking along the lines of, all right, we got to at least take a hard look at JJ McCarthy and the rest of them, Bo Nix, Michael Pennix, Steeler 16, Bengals 10, um, uh, some like kind of heat thrown at Matt Canada in the locker room after that one, but like, okay, you scored 16 points. Uh, Kenny Pickett is still statistically one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL, you know? Okay. But like an amazing stat to come from that one 400 yards for the first time since week two of 2020. Wow. Isn't that insane? That is, that is crazy.

The Refiners Furnace

17:55 min | 3 weeks ago

A highlight from THE PROVE OF FAITH

"Hello there. Good morning. You're welcome to the Refiners Faunus podcast once again. And I'm your host, Ebenezer Bassi. Happy new week to you. And I trust that you are, you're doing good. You're doing well. I trust that you are fine and all is well with you. All right. Our God is extremely faithful and we can't but consistently give him all the praise, all the adoration for all that he's been doing for us, all that he's yet to do, and for remaining faithful, even in our extreme faithlessness. All right. You're welcome. Welcome once again, I hope that you are solidifying and sharpening your walk with God as it's going to be extremely detrimental. If you don't know Jesus and if you go to hell, it's going to be extremely detrimental. I trust that God is helping us all. By the message of God, I am praying that we will not make a mess of the grace of God upon our lives. Okay. Okay. I want to thank you for always listening to the Refiners Faunus podcast episodes. And I'm grateful. Like I said last week, I was extremely impressed. I'm having checked the stats and man, I was, I was so impressed. And I want to say thank you. Okay. So to that stat, by the way, I, I want to be talking to us about something very unique today in today's episode. And I really believe that God is going to, God is going to speak to us. And I don't, I'm not here to change what you know, but I just want to share a bit of the buttons of God in my heart. Okay. And like I said, I don't want to change what you know, I just want to share the buttons of God in my heart with you. And I trust that it's going to go a long way to redefine or refine your mindset about this very subject talking about today. Okay. So in a short while, I, I want us to look into the proof of faith or the proof of your faith. So as a believer, what is the proof that you have faith in God? What is the proof that you, you are still standing in faith? What is the proof that you, that you still love God? Okay. What, what can we use to ascertain the fact that you, you're still a child of God. Okay. I hope you understand that I've said this before, the fact that you're a Christian does not mean that tribulations and persecutions will not come. In fact, anyone that told you that you're becoming a Christian is an escape from the afflictions of darkness, the pains of hell. And what I mean, the pains of hell, I'm not talking about hell fire. No, I'm talking about the pains that we experience in this world. Okay. If anyone told you that you're becoming a Christian was to liberate uh, you from all these things. I think, I think that person really lied to you. Okay. Even Jesus said in my name, these are the things you're going to suffer. These are the things you're going to, in fact, the fact that you're a Christian already implicates you. Okay. So you can't come to Jesus Christ and okay. For example, you were broke and all of a sudden you expect to become a multi -millionaire in dollars. Come on now. I'm not saying it's not possible. Of course, it's extremely possible. Okay. But I just want you to understand that the fact that you are in God doesn't mean that, Oh, there will be a smooth living for you. I mean, everything about you be smooth. I mean, no, no tribulation, no persecutions and no, no, no. Okay. So, and I hope you understand. I think you, you, you can bear me witness that a lot of believers when the subject of faith is being mentioned, okay. There's always this idea about self and you see a lot of people extremely self -centered. I'm not saying it's bad actually. We're going to check out some scriptures right now so that I can validate all I'm saying. Okay. I'm not saying that it's bad. You see, an average believer now talking about the subject of faith is to the end that, okay, I have faith that money is going to come to my account. I have faith that this and this and that. I have faith that this and that and that I have it. No, no, I'm not saying it's bad. Okay. But I think that there is more to the subject of faith than just all we can get for our benefits through faith. Okay. Yes. How about the many persecutions? How about the many things that we are willing to go through for Christ? I think that is the highest form of faith. And I talked about something the other time. And I said that the highest form of faith is conviction. Yes. So a lot of Christians talk about how they have so much faith in God that the Lord would do this for them. They even go as fast applying works to their faith, which makes it extremely valid. Okay. I'm not fighting you. I'm not against you, actually. All I'm trying to say is that there is more to the subject of faith than, there's more to the subject of faith than mere confessions, than mere selfish interest. Okay. So let's read a scripture in Hebrews chapter 11. I think when, when the subject of faith is being mentioned, I think it's always the first scriptures that comes up. And by the message of God, I want us to do justice to it from verse one to verse six. So now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not sin. So by it elders obtain the good report elders. Through faith we understand that the walls were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain by which he obtained witness that he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts and by it he being dead yet speaketh. Verse five by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God, verse six as the last. But without faith, it is impossible to please him for he that coming to God must believe that he is and that he is a reward of them that diligently seek him. All right. So, so this is like I said, extremely crucial. And obviously some people might actually misquote me, but I think I have to say what I have to say. And because I know that it's going to be a blessing to someone. All right. I'm not, like I said, I'm not coming to scatter what you know. All right. So no one, no believer wants to go through persecution. No believer wants to go through hard times for the sake of Jesus Christ. But a lot of believers want to enjoy luxury through Jesus Christ. Are you with me now? A lot of people don't want to go through persecution for Jesus Christ, but a lot of people want to enjoy luxury through Jesus Christ. And I noticed that it gets to a point where the expectations are not being made. A lot of people curse God. A lot of people start accusing God. A lot of people start accusing Christianity and then blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm just here to bring more light to this subject of faith. Okay. I think the subject of faith is more about what you can do, not for yourself, but for God than what you can do for yourself. So the Bible says in where we read, is it by faith the elders obtained a good report. For what? Is it for themselves? It's not even about themselves. When you check the reports this elders obtained, you're going to understand with me that everything they did was for, huh? It was for God and the kingdom of God. Yes. It will be impossible for a to man rut such exploit and his name is not mentioned. Of course, if you truly serve God, I tell you the truth. You are also rising. Even as he said, if I be lifted up, I will throw. See, as you're rising, as you're putting the name of the Lord high, I tell you the truth. I tell you nothing but the truth. You are also seen. Are you with me now? Follow me carefully. Follow me carefully. So I'm just against this mentality, this doctrine that when we're talking about faith, faith only has to do with the many things that we can get from believing that God is all we have. Of course, it's a good thing. But have you ever considered the things you can do for God? The things that you can do for God, the things that by faith you can do for God. What is it? Evidence of things. I mean, it's something for evidence of things what not sin. So what is the proof of your faith? Oh, that you prayed for a car and you got a car. Oh, the proof of your faith is that you prayed for the house and wow, the house came. Oh, the proof of your faith is that you were sick and wow, the Lord healed you. The proof of your faith is that, oh, you prayed for a good man to marry and wow, you got married to the best man on earth. Oh, the proof of faith is that you embarked on a PhD program, a master's degree program and let's say professorship and I don't know. And all of a sudden the Lord saw you through and you're now a professor, you're now a doctor, you're now a master's degree holder, you're now a first degree holder, you're now a graduate, you're in the university. I really want to understand. So the proof of your faith now is that, oh, you were broke and you prayed and the Lord gave you money. The Lord made you milonia. The Lord empowered you with wisdom, gave you the power to make wealth and all of a sudden you're now sitting with kings and queens communicating, discussing business and man, you see as beautiful, as beautiful as this is. Child of God, you really need to be careful. You see, we're only having a testimony of what the Lord is doing for you. Dear child of God, what are you doing for God? This might be extremely controversial, but please stay with me, stay with me a while. What are the things you are doing for God? Do we have a track record of the proof of your faith in regards to all you're doing for God and not what God is doing for you? So what did your faith force you to do for the kingdom of God? Where did your faith force you to go and preach for the advancement of this kingdom? Child of God, I want, we are discussing, I told you earlier, there's always a message link attached to every podcast episode. Yes. I've told us before. So I expect a lot of questions. I expect a lot of suggestions, comments. Yes. We really need to talk to ourselves and tell ourselves the truth. This same faith, this same faith, where did it take you to, to evangelize and tell people about this that God whenever you call, He answers you. Oh, your faith is only to stay in the house and then pray for things. And then if it does not come, you accuse God of not answering your prayers. All right. Let's, let's delve a little bit deeper and we'll see how to navigate through this whole subject. So I want you to understand that persecution is the stark reality of living the Christian life. So, so if, if you're not persecuted for the sake or the cause of this Christian faith, you claim to profess, I think there's something we need to check about your life. So, so Christian persecution is to be expected. So apostle Paul warned that everyone who wants to live a Godly life in Jesus Christ will be persecuted. So let's check something in second Timothy chapter three from verse 12. Yeah. And all that will live Godly in Christ, Jesus shall suffer persecution. He said, whoever will live Godly, whoever wants to live Godly in Christ, Jesus must always suffer persecution. Okay. So Jesus said, if they persecute him, they will also persecute his followers. That was John chapter 15 verse 20. He said, remember the word that I said to you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my saying, they will also keep yours also. All right. So Jesus made it clear that those of the world will hate Christians because of, or because the world hates Christ. So if Christians were like the world, that is vain, earthly, sensual, and given to pleasure, wealth, and ambition, the world will not oppose us, but Christians do not belong to the world, which is why the world engages in Christian persecution. So let's read John chapter 15 from verse 18 to 19. The Bible says, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world will love its own, but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. So I am, I am helping us understand that persecution is a part of the Christian living. Okay. Persecution is part of, and to comfortably pay attention, good through persecution is a proof that you have faith in God. Okay. We are not asking God for money. We're not asking God for anything material. Okay. The proof of this faith now, this faith that you profess, Oh, I'm a Christian. The proof of this faith is that you are going through persecution comfortably without complaining all because you go expand to the kingdom of God. So Christians are influenced by different principles from those of the world. So we are motivated by the love of God and holiness while the world is given to the love of sin. It is our very separation from the world that arouses the walls and the monstrosity that's towards Christians. Let's read first Peter chapter four, verse three. So for the time past of our life, may suffice us to have wrought the wheel of the tendrils when we walked in lasciviousness, lost, excess of wine, revelings, banquets, and abominable idolatries, wherein they think it's strange that you run not with them to the same. Okay. So Christians must learn to recognize the value of persecution and even to rejoice in its Amen.

Simply Bitcoin

13:39 min | 3 weeks ago

A highlight from Elizabeth Warren Wants to Criminalize Bitcoin Self-Custody | EP 858

"It's all going to zero against Bitcoin. It's going up for everyone. Bitcoin! You're against Bitcoin, you're against freedom. Yo, welcome to another episode of Simply Bitcoin Live. We are your number one source for the peaceful Bitcoin revolution. We cover breaking news, culture, and matic warfare. We will be your guide through the separation of money and state. And today is one of those episodes where we're going to be talking about the separation of money and state. One of my favorite features about Bitcoin is that eventually it exposes all incentives. And what we've seen over the last two weeks is Elizabeth Warren, her allies in the media, and her allies in government take advantage of the tragedy happening in Palestine and Israel to try to circumvent the legislative process to enact these crazy regulations that attack would essentially Bitcoin, make it very difficult for Bitcoiners, particularly in the US, even though this movement is happening worldwide. Now what happened is that this ended up backfiring, and the reason that ended up backfiring is because social media has allowed the common man, the everyday individual, the rise of media. And that's exactly what happened. The Wall Street Journal conceded on Friday, they retracted their statements, they offered a correction, and the Wall Street Journal article was the pillar of Elizabeth Warren's letter to the White House, which prompted the White House to tap on the Treasury, specifically the FinCEN, to enact these crazy regulations. Now it was exposed, the Wall Street Journal article got it completely wrong, therefore Elizabeth Warren, she was using false information or misrepresenting information in order to achieve a certain political end goal. She was caught in 4K, we said this yesterday. She did not retract her statement, she doubled down. She said, okay, maybe that that article was incorrect, but there's other sources, but she only used one source in that article for the White House, right? Now what happened though, and this is beautiful, and this goes back to my initial statement, is that Bitcoin exposes all incentives. And what we've seen is essentially Elizabeth Warren, first, you know, she lied, first she gets caught lying, then she doubles down, and then she finally says the quiet part out loud. And what is that quiet part? Basically she's making the case to criminalize self -custody. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is where we are in the movie, this is not rhetoric, this is not me exaggerating it in the title, this is exactly what she said in the video. And then that really calls into question the FinCEN proposal and the bipartisan bill that Elizabeth Warren has introduced in the Senate, even though it has a very low likelihood of being passed. But this is what she really wanted. And this coincides with the exact same words coming out of the head of the European Central Bank, who was previously the head of the IMF, who I might add is also a convicted felon, she calls Bitcoin an escape valve. So really what you're seeing from Elizabeth Warren is fear. What you're seeing from Christine Lagarde is fear, because they know that their money cannot compete on the free market with a better money, with a superior money. And why is Bitcoin superior to state -issued currency? Because it does two things that they cannot help themselves but to do. It offers censorship resistance, and it's deflationary. Governments are always going to want to do those two things, they're always going to want to censor, and they're always going to want to inflate, because without inflating they cannot pay for the endless wars, they cannot pay for the things that we cannot afford on income tax alone. The money printing is how the United States continuously spends over a trillion dollars, deficit spending, year after year, even though the government, you know, you hear the rhetoric from the politicians, we must tax the billionaires, we must tax more, tax, tax, tax, tax the income tax. But what they fail to tell you is that the US government collects more tax revenue year after year. But why is it that they want to collect more tax? It's because of the spending. This is why you have to separate money from state. It's a question of aligning incentives. As long as politicians don't have to go to the populace to raise money for any ideas that they have proposed, and instead they can get they can fund it through the hidden tax of inflation, the incentives of society will never be aligned. And I truly believe that's why we're seeing the moral degradation of society. That's why you're seeing the cultural degradation. That's where you're seeing the infrastructure degradation. All these things, because the people in charge are not incentivized to do good by their constituents. They're incentivized to get as close as humanly possible to the money spigot. And they're willing to say anything and everything. But blame themselves for the circumstance, for the situation they themselves have caused for spending money they didn't have and debasing people's money in order not only to enrich themselves, but to pay for the spending that people can't ignore. I mean, for the spending that they cannot afford. But here it is, once again, Honey Badger don't care. And it forced Elizabeth Warren, whether she realized or not, to finally, finally say the quiet part out loud. Self -custody is a crime. If you choose to put your money in a way of which I can't easily seize it, I can't easily confiscate it, I can't easily censor it, that's a problem. And that is a problem for politicians that have been using that privilege, abusing that privilege to not only pay for themselves, I mean, enrich themselves, but also pay for things that we can't afford as a country. And of course, we're speaking from an American sense of view, because we live in the United States. But this applies to all countries around the world. Look at what's happening in Venezuela. Look at what's happening in Argentina. Look at what's happening in Turkey. So this is crazy, and this is a very historical moment. And I'm telling you, in a couple of years, I think they're going to get so desperate that they're going to just keep saying this, that the whole thing of self -custody is dangerous. And if you think about that, like if you think about it from like a foundational level, like that is so absurd, because we can't debase your money, because we can't easily confiscate your money. That is dangerous. And you have to look at the historical precedent here. Back in the 30s or in the Great Depression, FDR implemented the famous 6 -1 -0 -2 order, where he made it illegal for American citizens to own gold. So countries, nation states, have had a history of when they default on their debt, they have a history of confiscating their populace's wealth in order to keep it going. But with Bitcoin, this is why Bitcoin is so unique. This is why Bitcoin changes everything. For the first time in human history, you can store vast sums of wealth, millions, billions, trillions of dollars, by memorizing a 12 to 24 word seed phrase. And that makes it incredibly difficult for government to confiscate on a mass scale, whatever their justification is. And it has them scared shitakulous for the sake of not cursing in the first couple of minutes. So this is crazy. This means we're winning. Let's keep up the pressure. Let's color within the lines. And most importantly, our most important weapon in this narrative trench warfare is just to expose their lies and misrepresentations so that the world can see them for who they are. Anyways, it's going to be a great show. I want to bring up my legendary co -host, always optimistic, giant smile on his face today. How are you doing, Opti? I am doing wonderful. In the face of this very, very sober monologue, I was just thinking, of course, I think my reigning role here on the show is to make light of everything in regards to it getting very serious. And I have officially changed my view on my favorite politician. It is no longer Brad Sherman. It is now officially Elizabeth Warren. Absolutely love to see the politicians, the powers that be, the unproductive class squirm like this. And we say it all the time, Bitcoin exposes people's incentives. And you love when they say the quiet part out loud. And it's not just us like talking about it. It's them actually terrified of what is happening. You just love to see it. You know, it's going to go into what we're going to talk about on the culture. This idea that we're winning so hard, guys, it's absolutely incredible. In the face of all the fear, just remember that Bitcoin just stays winning as long as you are taking Bitcoin into self custody, the game is going along exactly as planned. And you just love to see it. This was inevitable. And it's actually happening a lot quicker than I thought it would, Nico. I'm really surprised that this is where we are. Of course, Elizabeth Warren seems to be the canary in the coal mine for the powers that be. So we'll see who else starts to come out as our also third and fourth and fifth, second or wait, six favorite politicians. You love when politicians get scared. I'd love to see it. Love to see it. Anyways, guys, so in these types of moments in history, right, it has never been a more important time to take self custody. The sponsors that support the show, make this show possible. We're very, very picky who we choose. Right. So, yes, of course. And this all kind of goes to Bitcoin's aligned incentives. We choose to partner up with Bitcoin companies that make it easy for you to stack SATs, make it easy for you to withdraw those stacks from that said exchange. We give you exposure to the best Bitcoin hardware wallets in the industry so that you can take self custody. And we also emphasize the fact of, you know, not your properly securing your Bitcoin wallet backup seed words. Don't store it on paper, store it on metal. And then not to mention the fact that we also bring up, you know, if you got it, you guys want to take the next level, run your own node. If you don't run your own node, you're trusting someone else's. And that's why we love start nine. We have all of that in the video description. So when we're talking about self custody, you guys are covered on all fronts of Bitcoin products to use it to really achieve your sovereignty as an individual. Anyways, everybody, let's jump into the show. I think this is a historical episode. I can't believe this is where we are in the movie. So many things have happened this year. Holy cow. And I suspect my intuition is telling me it will continue to accelerate as we're living through this pivotal moment in human history. We are living through the disintermediation of information and we're living through the disintermediation of money. And it's happening all at the same time. Strap yourself in. It's going to be a hell of a ride. And of course, simply Bitcoin will be here to cover it for you guys. All right, everybody, let's start the show. Let's do it.

Telecom Reseller

03:14 min | Last month

A highlight from The State of Robocalling, Caller ID Reputation Podcast

"This is Doug Green and I'm the publisher of TR Publications, and I'm very pleased to have with us again, Jerry Christiansen, who's the head of partnerships and regulatory compliance for caller ID reputation. Jerry, thank you for joining us. Thank you. It's great to be back. Well, it was great doing our podcast live from Mobile World Congress, doing our little reel and getting folks to maybe come over to the booth and learn more about everything. You know, Jerry, yesterday the FCC had a hearing and if you will, this is sort of what our podcast will be about today, the state of the robocall. So maybe let's just start there. We'll start there and then we'll dive a little bit into what you do and what you guys do at caller ID reputation. So I think everyone's eager to find out what is the state of robocalling right now? Yeah, and I think it is good to discuss this right on the heels of that FCC testimony. I listened to it, not live, but after the fact, it was actually two hours long, so it's quite a bit to listen to, but I think there's some really interesting tidbits in there. So I would encourage anybody that hasn't had a chance to listen to that testimony and I think there's actually one or two places where you can see a transcript of it so you can kind of go directly to parts that might be interesting to you. But in general, there was a lot of good information sharing there. One of the analytics engines was there and some attorneys were providing testimony as well. Josh Berkew of the ITG, which is the industry traceback group, he provided testimony. So much of it was a lot of good data sharing. There was some discussion about potential solutions and technologies that could be used. There was some comments by, I believe it was Senator John Tester. He was extremely animated about the scourge of robocalls and he even likened them to some really egregious crimes like the kind that you have capital punishment for, you know, like he was very animated. So my take on it is it's good to have that kind of testimony. At the same time, it would be good for industry constituents, Colorado Reputation and others, to get together and sort of esprit de corps. And you know, even if that requires coopetition, you know, some of us are competitors and we get together and figure out what does it take to get to the next level where we can not necessarily, it's not like a light switch. We can't just like flip a switch and all of a sudden they stop because as we know, voiceover internet protocol, when it was first put together, it did not have end to end authentication. That's both a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing in the sense that it launched very quickly and enabled us to get to scale and have ridiculously cheap calls. But the unintended consequence of those ridiculously cheap calls is it's really cheap at scale to defraud grandmothers and steal life savings and all these horrible things that we hear about. So now we need to kind of reel things back in a little bit. Maybe go back, maybe regress, so to speak, back to the way things were maybe like 15 years ago when people actually answered the phone.

On The Rekord

18:09 min | Last month

A highlight from Episode 129 - Oct. 29th, 2023 - Special Guest Lady Lilly The Wise Guys Corner Episode

"I got some popcorn for you. I live the life. I live the life. I'm sorry Listen if you're going to be spontaneous on those days, you usually got me during the week and early mornings. There's nobody there See one of those awkward foreign films You know, it's wild though Usually during those days it's almost like nobody there except for maybe one or two old couples. Yep So it's just a wild thing to be doing Yeah, me and this girl want to see the third anniversary of do the right thing It's like me her and some hasidic person in the crowd A jewish guy I messed up that's two curses Uh, they're in the theater only three of us and we were having fun when the guy was like look at the movie Oh my god, these are racist like shut up And we girl having fun and watching the movie and we're talking mad Having a good time. It was dope. We actually had fun another one for the guy Wait, I didn't curse Did I curse no, no. Yes, you did It's like a sign. Yeah, he did. So we had bad fun. We're talking we're talking ish and we're having fun nice If you're going to be frisky and do hanky panky just make sure it's not a harvey wants to Say wow, let's just say All right, put a tarantino film. We got options out here. Don't be doing a Terrible Not me harvey's terrible terrible. Okay, so that was number six So movies for the first day Because also think when the movies you can't you're not talking So you want to communicate with the person you're with During the day so so so you're not going to be into that level of attraction of her focus Versus her asking a bunch of questions and you miss it on the movie Either way the first day for movies is a bad idea No, no, it is it is it is about myself. Honestly. Yeah, you want to get to know the person exactly I want to get to know you so that was that was six, right? Well, that was seven. That was baby. You know your house. No the movie. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. It's number five olive garden I Endless pasta is bad Now wallow you what you're hitting I look at it for mom Three tor Italy for 28 dollars best three She don't fancy the garlic bread with the olive oil I watched some girls on tik tok bring the little tub of what exactly For the endless pasta That's hella great for days. Exactly. That's a big bag. It's a great show, sir Like I said before Didn't get to run up the tab What you mean? Yeah, so you can do it right get up right you walk away and say I gotta get the bathroom The classic dine dash there's nothing wrong with olive garden on the first date No, I like the olive garden. I ain't gonna lie. I don't I don't I don't condone dining dashing But if a girl's being difficult, sometimes she worth it. Oh, oh We're at video we saw in atlanta that girl who polished four dozen oysters And then she said then she said I have my money you damn right you have your own money, you know spend it Because you're a poor you're gonna go out like who's a first date You're living in a dream world mom. Stop it. No, that's lasagna. It ain't more seasoning, but she's living in the loo Especially when they have like the uh, the tortellini joint. Oh my god, or the endless pasta joint with the different flavors I don't know. I mixed the match. I love me some tortellini You did good stuff I had to mix it before and then because I knew the person kind of hit the new person over there And besides you get endless salad exactly Now my breadsticks again like and you can take a free set of breadsticks home, too But but it goes back to like, you know, are you are you here for the meal or are you here for the date? I'm here for both, you know and stuff like that. That's why I brought you to the olive garden We're gonna have a good time sit down and have it and show it to ourselves Dude, you know Even if you have a gluten sensitivity You can get gluten -free pasta from them too, sir. Yeah, sir It's too cost -effective. I done told you this. Well, that was it. Guess what? You can stay on star gates I'm, thanks. Ramadan. Ramadan season, you know what i'm saying? Okay, so that was number five number four was chipotle Overrated Hey, don't rate though, but why overrated? Kedobah's better Because chipotle is like restaurant prices. Yeah, but you're paid for take on me in the fake off me Listen the matter times when I was watching bad tv, um, i .e love and hip -hop anytime. Mr Chipotle around since antenna she got happy as hell People like chipotle she's oh we're going to chipotle. I got a friend of mine Who is number three? I think in the region, but chipotle That's how much chipotle this guy buys. Oh my god I'm, like bro. Did they give you like a plaque or something? No, it's number three They should they should give him a plug But no, I as a first date But I do like to put like I feel like you get chipotle after I don't know a walk in the park or when you do extraneous activity or after your gym date, you know You don't just go to chipotle and then leave listen You set the tone on the date where you where you decide to fly her out to monaco And have champagne and things that you can't pronounce and stuff like that Genuinely don't know where you're finding these women and and then and then and then and then by the third day you try to go Say they're like say to go like in and out burger It ain't happening see what you said about finding these women i'm a dj So i've seen all aspects of women that i've come across i've seen the low of low and the highs of highs So that's why I can I can relate with this country because i've seen girls like i'm not going to chipotle in my first day I'm, not going over here. Hell no, he got taken over here. Um Uh, uh Some some like chain restaurant. No not chain Fancy steakhouse new york city. If you want to take me out, you gotta go here Excuse me. Excuse me Listen, does it come with a bj and a little little tug at the end of the night? you know because Okay, what you got to tell them is listen if at any point you wore timbs in your life and they said you got a Rainbows don't tell me where you're not going Don't tell me where you're not going Okay, i'm sorry You ain't got to go nowhere. You can just fast Dude, yeah, that's my accident. So tell me where you're not going. So so that right there. Nah, shoot And I and I don't even excuse this it'd be one thing if you were a silver spoon kid and all you know is Freaking caviar and stuff like that and you and you're just born in a lifestyle where you where you're accustomed to high fine dining It's a whole nother thing Where where you're like a block away from death and you stepped and got a rainbow something where you're not going And you're and you only when you go to your spot your matches on the floor who you talking to mom who are you? Who are you? Remember calling calling for you by drake. She hit on the oxtail. She ate it on the dough to drink chicken She liked it. She got flown out. She's in a nice spot. She complained about good food and she won but meanwhile aubrey's a villain So that so that right there for number four number three is chilies Listen, I had chilies for the first time again in florida And i'm not gonna lie had a good spread of food got some ribs some chicken tenders some elote For those who don't for those who don't know mexican corn with that cojito cheese And you know, it was decently priced food I have no time for these goof troops who got something against the southwest mac and cheese with the jalapeno when it was available I have no time for it Two for 25. That's all you say Three for ten chilies for the first day If you if if you don't have the funds for like to go out something's really nice and you want to really break the ice Let's go to chili and they got good drinks. You don't gotta go. I'll just go on my own have a good time I can't understand why because It gives like a college vibe. It is a college vibe. But here's the thing Most these women are here talking are young like these are young So what are you talking about? My if you don't if you can't afford it Would you get them at me full of a body for you? You know why because they they got flew out one time and they went to a nice place and all of a sudden That's got to roll with the car bowls. Oh my god. Oh my god. I'm at car mines. Yeah Yeah, right here. Yeah, we know it's all over your IG story. We didn't ask for it. Yeah, they just brought it back So that was chilies number number two was applebees. I know this I just I agree. You know, why those dollar dollaritas? Yeah, that's a that's dangerous for a woman. Yeah Them dollaritas are applebees now. Yeah And this I thought you were coming at me personally. I don't know what happened. No, no, no, I burped. I thought that's all it was I burped that's all I said. Excuse me applebees. It's the first date It's like going to chilies. I don't mind it. I have a very special place in my heart for applebees because Not the dollaritas the dollaritas were mid but they have good drinks nonetheless And they have not better than fridays, but we're actually I don't know anymore I haven't that's fridays back in the day Coming up. What's this ish? You remember back in the day how fridays was oh, it was lit. It was litty man I actually haven't been to friday I'm happy friendlies. It doesn't exist in the capacity. It was because the gloves is gonna the gloves is gonna come off It's a fast food chain. Remember, you know, that's what it is. I see I see one before last week What I see the friendlies last week Well, the one that suffered is now panera, but yeah, no, I mean actual friendly. No, no, we was in New jersey Listen I still enjoy my strawberry shake. I still enjoy that strawberry You know, I I love friendly. Listen. Listen, you could be a bad whatever you want. You know, you don't have to go I know I know i'll be there, you know, to be honest with you. No, no, you'll be friendly yourself You know, i'll enjoy the waffle fries. I'll I'll enjoy the chicken So that so that was that was number two Now the last one on the list, which is number one was cheesecake. Hey, you got to play child play You got to talk about this game. You want to stand down? Why why you gotta argue with me and cheesecake bro? Yeah Where they bring families? I dude was chatting. He's speaking. He's speaking to the field. Let me tell you something ladies and gentlemen out there Okay Oh, there's nothing wrong with cheesecake absolutely not there's a variety list of menus The menus is about the size of an nfl place There's so many selections you can go with listen man somebody scaliwags, you know some avocado toast to the face that's the problem you can't get No, no, no, no they need it to the face But there's a lot even if you don't want cheesecake the next step up from crete from cheesecake is grand luxe exactly They also have prosecco there. I know So they also have good drinks. Yes Yeah, so what are we what are we getting at here? Don't worry. You can get moscato over there, too You know, is it because it's a chain? That's where you feel like that. Oh my god And the cheesecakes are huge. So what what are we doing here? Listen speaking for myself and myself only I was denied Cheesecake factory cheesecake as a child for the longest. Oh So now as an adult I you indulge I oh my god, if if if a man were to ever tell me he's taking me to cheesecake factory, that's a wrap He's getting it plain and simple. Listen, hey there Billy will the person I I I ain't got time for I got some I ain't got time for negative man Somebody turn it red I ain't got time for negative man sees Breathe Debbie downers with me you turn it red. I've never seen you turn it. Yeah, this brother's thirsty Yeah, there's something going on here I don't know about but you know a lot of inside jokes going on right now Get you some cheesecake my guy There's so many different options man, they got some really good cheesecake NFL there playbook are so many selections to pick from what are you talking about? Do you like cheesecake? Even if you do not like cheesecake they have other options for desserts Sure, like there's just there's just happiness happiness happiness. I mean, you know, I mean, it's it's like it's like some women Who are not happy when a guy comes back because he had a good time. That's all it is That's all it is, man So cheesecake to me that that one that you're delusional ma Of course delusional. Yeah, exactly. Ain't no reason why people want to talk about cheesecake about of them Not wanting to go to cheesecake because no why it's not exclusive They can't put it on the ig stories. Oh, we're the cheesecake girl and flex on the other people These type of women that made this list are girls that want to flex on the gram They're the same women that agree with with surely I was whining about trying to go cheesecake. They're like, yeah They're the same type of girls. I'll go to cheesecake. Don't listen to him. Yeah, you know, he got he got No, no, I'm walking. She was she was she was late It messed up the reservation. No, it's taking zero accountability and it's not so dude said f and we're going home Like oh, well, no, no, no, no, no, you're good. You're good. You're trying to shame on camera. You're good You're going home. We're gonna see what the update was next week because I want to hear about the same people, right? They were they were traveling right? But soon to get back home. They have zero dollars in their bank account They're the same exact people. They're like, oh, man, I would travel this there and there and guess what? Damn, bro 25 cents Listen, then the red zone not gonna lead quarterback sometimes But they gotta think out loud and just So cheesecake now, I don't know what you're talking about man. I like cheesecake leave my cheesecake Why we gotta fight for cheesecake great said it Thanks good old -fashioned oreo cheesecake. Let's talk like, you know, dude A question now, let me ask you a question. Yeah Which cheesecake is better juniors or cheetah factory, you know That's a great question because I don't know about juniors anymore, man, because I feel like it's losing its edge Wait, what what were the two juniors juniors or cheesecake factory cheesecake? Okay. I recently had juniors This year you never had juniors because I can't talk on it a friend of mine invited to eat at juniors And so I had their cheesecake because i've never been there as a new yorker Never been there, but that was my first time having it. It's very good. I have not had cheesecake cheesecake in a very long time so Based on my recent knowledge I would have to say Juniors because of the softer filling because I feel like sometimes Cheesecake cheesecake tends to be a little firmer Not necessarily hard but firmer But I do like both I will eat both i've given to me I prefer the cheesecakes cheesecake I mean they have like 10 ,000 different flavors. That's what i'm saying. They have 10 ,000 different flavors You can't go wrong with juniors You know, it's like if we're talking classic cheesecake, that's my answer But since cheesecake has like I love their oreo cheesecake their oreo cheesecake All right, yeah about that time Said he said give him your hand on my boy city 55 my private page city POV my public page and tik tok hasheem eight four five Is my name? There you goes guys. You can now send him to at least one now Give me the tik tok in the social media. I'm gonna slap you with my okay Emperor key man. Give me your hand, bro. Uh emperor key Yeah emperor key you say he wasn't gonna do it, right? I'm good out here I'm good. I'm good out here I am won't man. Give me your handle, bro. Oh, man. Um, I am underscore W -a -l -4t is at the end. Uh -huh. Oh what else my rmb is dead page And my alt is the motion page Okay I am at oh, sorry, uh lady lily Uh, you don't have to you don't want to I don't i'll come back when I want to. Okay, there you go Follow me at dj intense. That's dj I -n -t -e -n -c -e Follow the podcast pager on the record pod. Follow my business page on the record Uh, this is another lovely episode quite long. But hey, man, that's what it is, man. It's good times here good energy Have fun you think you want to split this in two episodes or no? Okay, no i'm saying like two separate ones we have the stories of one half and then we have this the second year So keep it Keep it here. I'll make a special one that has just this one. All right, y 'all see you guys next week And happy halloween be safe out there. Please. No drinking and driving um, it's not fun being inside the uh, the jail The holding room for two days remember waiting for the judge to come back on monday take printed candy. You had a knife in it It would be delicious Yeah, and avoid the stranger's house. That's that's willingly running outside giving you candy Because you know kids don't trick or treat this year. There's gonna be that one guy like come on Take my candy, man. I bought 55 pounds of this stuff I'll trick or treat and i'm grown Here you get the white stuff. Here's a white powder. Trust me. It's good for your nose. Okay. See you guys next week. Bye You all crazy Don't don't listen to emperor key it's nonsense What good night y 'all yeah, we're gonna split in two episodes. See you later.

Spider-Dan And The Secret Bores

13:03 min | Last month

A highlight from Top 5 Witch Movies W/ Lucy Jane Devane & Scott Hodgson

"What's next for you guys then? Maleficent Oh, interesting Interesting choice So do we need to say that We realise that in some circles She's technically Could be cast as a fairy But we think she's a sorceress That's what puts a curse on In the original Sleeping Beauty She's more of a sorceress And she curses the baby I think in some circles There's the succubus Which is the seductive Half demon Or partial demon And I think there's a lot of witches Who are part demon anyway So I think it's kind of all in the same wheelhouse I'll allow it Excellent I really wasn't expecting To like this as much as I did I was quite surprised I'm not a big fan of Sleeping Beauty It's one of the Disney films I wouldn't watch Normally, if it's on There's some like The Lion King Sword in the Stone Pinocchio If it's on, then you'd watch the remainder of it But yeah, Sleeping Beauty Never caught my eye I think Lucy was watching this With her next door neighbour About five, six years ago Ah yes Maybe he was locked out Possibly I think maybe he Sort of saw it on Netflix or something I think he likes Disney He does like Disney films So we were having a bit of a weekend So we thought we'd give it a shot And yeah, it was really good Obviously Angelina Jolie Playing Maleficent And I think she does a brilliant job And it kind of looks like she's having a whale At the time as well Obviously very striking with her cheekbones I think it's With the Disney remakes Recently, they've got Very lazy with them But this, they actually tried something different So obviously, she's the evil Witch in the original But then they've twisted it So we see her backstory Why she is the way she is But then, she's not portrayed As an evil witch She Evil does things, but she also does Good things as well So yeah They put a twist on the original Film which I think they've sort of lost their Lost their balls with all the recent remakes That they've been doing and they've just been Copy and pasting it But yeah, I really didn't expect to like it As much as I did I think there's a real Beautiful element that is that I don't know if it's kind of that Adopted kind of Thing is that you can You can still love someone Or something, even though they're not your own Like they're not your child But she kind of cares for This baby She sort of starts calling it Beastie, which I really kind of like But she can't help herself She can't help herself but care for her And she sees the kind of The kind of haphazard fairies Sort of just making a bit of a hash of it And leaving the baby outside And you know She's watching over her as she grows Up and she's At arms length kind of caring for The baby and watching it grow And then this love sort of Builds and I just think that's a really Powerful thing but You can have so much love For someone who Isn't your You know, you're blood essentially And I think that for me is And it actually makes me cry This film When we know She kind of gets to the end I think it's just so clever how It just flips everything on its head Of what we know about When we were watching Disney films and it's always like The prince kisses The princess and everything Is perfect And actually it just kind of flips all of that On its head and Prince Charming Isn't true love's kiss Sorry spoiler alert You should probably just Spoilers for Maleficent But She's just And I think as well I love that she's The queen of the fairy world In her own right she's got her power And her place and her magic And this kind of stuff And it's when these two worlds collide a little bit But it does, yeah, it kind of makes me cry Maleficent, it's a real Real beautiful moment when You know, it's that kind of True love I guess, it's really sweet That unconditional love I suppose But I like that, I like that again Like you said, it flips it It's not the stereotypical like, oh here comes the bloke Here he comes to save the day It's not the man's story It's this story of kind of Genuine, kind of female Feminine, non romantic love And you see Her kind of melt Because initially she's very nice And then she's robbed of her wings And again she becomes hard Bitter and twisted So much so she's like, curse that child You know, but then even then In this version it's very much like If I remember rightly in the Sleeping Beauty version It's the fairies that stop it From being a death curse But this, she changes her own mind And goes actually, she'll just sleep She'll sleep forever And then like you said, the fairies are A little bit like, a bit useless In the Sleeping Beauty one But then they expand that And make them even more useless than this To give Maleficent her Kind of, her power I guess But I think Angelina Jolie is great in this I think it's one of her stand out performance She clearly cared about the character In this interpretation And like you said, she's putting on all the camp She's loving It's delicious for her She's living deliciously In this film, like she's absolutely loving it Especially towards the end I think it's all her costume changes And it's this sort of like tight black leather piece Oh I bet you like that Scott And then she sort of gets her wings back I really There's like a real, almost like a bit of a Marvel moment Yeah absolutely It feels like a Marvel movie She goes from wearing like dresses To when she gets her wings back And she's in that kind of great hall And she just kind of stands up And you just see her in this like So all of a sudden she's wearing like Head to toe kind of black leather But she's got pants as in like trousers on She's not wearing a dress And these wings sort of This silhouette and she just kind of like rises up And takes everybody out And I was just, said to you I was like, oh it's like, that for me She is like, she's a badass It's great It's definitely going with that vibe She's the hero of this tale And absolutely she's powered up again She's found who she is She knows what she's fighting for She's found herself She's not this evil, dark She does try and lift the curse But she knows it's like a permanent curse There's that moment where she's like, shit it's not working So yeah, I enjoy this as well It's a really good fit We all have a lot of Yeah, a lot of respect for Maleficent It's great I do kind of wish she'd turned into the dragon there Like in the original Yeah, I was sort of waiting for that moment I can understand why they changed it And I guess they don't want this woman to I guess maybe calling a woman a dragon Is kind of an insult I guess Or maybe like a sexist insult So maybe that's why they were like, no she's a fairy She's more angelic She's got horns and everything I don't know I guess she needs someone to talk to That's why the crow became a man I guess I felt that for me Again, it's not his story He's just kind of there He's like, oh I'm the friend, I'm the crow It doesn't really add much to me And Sharto Copley He's not got much dimension to him really I don't think And then his accent's a bit iffy Who's this? The king The king Maybe not his best I was a bit disappointed That accent is like Yeah, all over the show But yeah, Maleficent is the star of the show We were also reading about how there's a little scene Where you have Aurora as a little toddler And the actors that they had for that Who were four or five Wouldn't go near Angelina Jolie in her outfit So in the end they had to use her daughter That little scene where There's only a few minutes Not even that But I mean, she's pretty terrifying Toddlers get a little bit nervous I might not be scared But I'd definitely be intimidated by Angelina Jolie In any form With those horns You can imagine her being pretty scary I thought that was quite cool I quite like the moment as well where she's like Do you know who I am? Do you know what I did to you? Do you know what the story is between me and your dad? And she's like Of course I know who you are, you're my fairy godmother Which is like Well, no But she perceives her that way And that's one of the things that makes her Because she has been watching over her throughout her whole life And she has picked up on that She's magical She's a fairy Makes sense Excellent choice So next up Will be The Old Ways from 2020 So again I've looked at another film From a different part of the world And looking at how they view Witches and witchcraft The Old Ways is a 2020 film And it's about a young reporter Who lived in this Vera Cruz In this jungle area in Mexico On the outskirts And she lived there but her mum was possessed by a demon Or had a horrible medical condition Skeptic Scott Whatever you want to see it as And then she died And she moved away to the city and grew up there She then became a reporter And a drug addict And now she's coming back home To meet her cousin And just kind of find her roots again And investigate some stuff And just do some reporting About the kind of local culture And things and maybe superstitions and stuff She visits a cave Her cousin says Do not fucking go there And she comes out of it And she's been possessed by a demon Now has she been possessed by a demon? Hard to say at the beginning She is chained up in this hut And she's been taken care of By a bruja Which is kind of the Mexican form of the witch Or the name for a witch And she is attempting To exorcise this demon And her son is helping her She's this very old woman half blind And she's basically Torturing her, making her drink this goat milk Like force feeding her goat milk And hurting her Putting needles and pins and stuff in her And the woman just doesn't understand She doesn't get it She's like I don't believe in this stuff This isn't me Well you've forgotten who you are You've forgotten what happened to your mother You've forgotten the old ways You've forgotten our culture Your heritage You're very westernised And you view the world very scientifically And now it's come to haunt you So in this film not only is she fighting An actual demon that's Possessioning her But she's fighting those personal demons she has And that trauma about her mother And what happened there And it's really It's really quite interesting Kind of seeing the Again a different side of that And again these characters in the beginning The Bruja and the son That's assisting are kind of You're looking at them as villains Because you're like I don't believe in this shit I'm just on drugs, I'm fine It's fine, it's just drugs But they're like no no There's something inside you There's an evil inside you It's wanting to get out And then they kind of bar her up There's all this stuff on the walls And they have to try and pinpoint which kind of Demon it is and work out What the problem is and how to get it out of there And what they've got it And then she studies it and starts learning about it as well Going like she starts to Buy into it and believe it But then she's trying to escape as well Trying to get a phone, trying to call her boss So it's kind of A witch film meets Kind of a exorcist film In a way so there's a lot of this Going on but I like how The sceptic of the star becomes More and more kind of Understands more and knows more And kind of appreciates What they're doing.

Mark Levin

01:55 min | Last month

Leaked Audio: Sheila Jackson Lee Cusses Out Staffer

"I need to ensure my schedule and, you know, if Boo Boo did it, S**t did it, S**t Face did it, and nobody knows a damn thing in my office. Okay? Nothing. I gave it to you. Your job was to get it on the calendar, imprint it in your brain, or send me the information back saying, Congresswoman, I made that sure the old guy duck and tell event that you gave me for so -and -so date at 7 is on the F**k out. Now I can't just call Jerome Hanson. Okay? So when I called Jerome, he gonna be sitting up there like a ass fat stupid idiot talking about what F**k he doesn't know. Okay? Both of y 'all are F**ked up and an a**hole. It's the worst s**t that I could ever have put together. You two f**king damn big a** children. F**king idiots. Serve no f**king stands for me. Ain't managing nobody. Nobody's giving s**t about what you're doing. And you ain't doing s**t. And this is an example of it. I gave it to Jerome. This is not child's mortgage. Thank you. There you go. She's a former judge in Houston. And nobody will say anything to her. You can't get away with that in any private sector environment. None. She said so many curse words. You know, I try not to curse, Mr. British, as you well know. The F word is something I don't like. She has said it here more times than I think I've ever heard it in my life. It's unbelievable. And most of these members of Congress are complete frauds and phonies. have They a double life. Conyers had a double life on the list.

Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life

19:27 min | Last month

A highlight from A Rich Mans Poverty

"Welcome to Gospel in Life. This month we're looking at directional signposts through history that point us to Christ. All through the Old Testament from Genesis to Jonah, you see signs that point us to Jesus. Listen now to today's teaching from Tim Keller on pointers to Christ. Job chapter 1, verses 18 to 22. Then the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on earth. He is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. Does Job fear God for nothing, Satan replied? Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face. The Lord said to Satan, Very well, then everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger. Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. One day when Job's sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, a messenger came to Job and said, The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who escaped to tell you. While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who escaped to tell you. And while he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you. And while he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them, and they are dead, and I am the only one who escaped to tell you. At this Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head, and then he fell to the ground in worship and said, Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. May the name of the Lord be praised. And in all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. This is God's word. Now there is absolutely no more important issue spiritually for people than the question of innocent suffering. We don't struggle that much with suffering that comes to people who have brought it on themselves. If you cheat, if you embezzle, if you put together some kind of scheme of fraud, and it all comes down on you, and your whole life falls apart because it's revealed, and you go to jail, no one worries that much about that. There's all sorts of ways in which you can sin, and then you suffer. The real problem is innocent suffering. And so there's many people here, there always are many people here, who are thinking about Christianity and wondering whether they should strengthen or develop or have a relationship with God. And one of the big questions that always comes up is, why do the innocent suffer? Why do the good people suffer? Why do people suffer who seem to be trying very hard to live a good life, while other people who don't seem to be trying nearly as hard seem to have a better life? But it's also true for people inside the faith. Not just people thinking about entering the faith, but people on the inside. There is no more important question. Now I said in the very beginning of the fall, the reason we're looking at these Old Testament narratives, and this is the last one in the series, is because our modern mind is not so much a rational expository mind, but it's a mind of images and sights and sounds. We don't like to think things out rationally as much as we tend to be more intuitive. And there is no better place then to go to understand God than the Old Testament, because in the Old Testament, you very often have depicted, depicted concretely, very profound truths that are expounded in the New Testament by authors who explain them in very rational propositions and very profound ways. But in the Old Testament, they're depicted. And there's probably no place anywhere beyond the book of Job where you have the problem of innocent suffering depicted this way. It's a story, and we learn a lot about it. We learn three things from the story of Job about suffering. From interpretation of suffering we get an understanding of suffering. From Satan we get an understanding of suffering. And from the early Job, we learn how to face suffering. And from the later Job, we learn how to overcome suffering. From Satan we learn how to understand. From the early Job, we learn how to face. From the later Job, we learn how to actually overcome. What do I mean? First of all, Satan, actually, this dialogue with Satan that we read here is actually a very interesting and fascinating and unique way that the Bible uses to teach us a biblical understanding of suffering. You see, when you take a look at this dialogue, we almost always get hung up on the trees rather than standing back to look at the forest. And if somebody has real questions about some things that I just skip over here, we have a question and answer time afterwards during the class time. And you could ask then. But because there's a lot of questions that rise up, what in the world is Satan talking to God for in heaven? Does Satan go to heaven? What is this? Let's stand back and see the point. Here's the point. It's telling us the relationship of God to evil. Now you see, the question that immediately arises in people's minds is, why does God allow evil? And there are three basic answers apart from the biblical one. Three alternate understandings of why God allows evil. There's the fatalistic, the humanistic, the moralistic. The fatalistic says that basically God is the author of evil. God is the life force in everything, and evil is just part of God. And therefore, evil is absolutely inevitable. There's no solution for it. And so the fatalistic approach says, be stoic. That's the stoic approach. Resign yourself to it. Just accept it. Don't cry over it. Keep the stiff upper lip. The fatalistic approach. God is the author of evil. Now the second approach is the humanistic. And the humanistic says that God has nothing to do with it. Now there's, you know, there are people who say there is no God, and therefore evil is completely random. And then there's other people like Rabbi Kushner who wrote that very best -selling book, who says God can't help it. God is a loving God. He's a good God, but he can't stop it. He can't help it. And so the humanistic approach is the opposite. Instead of saying God is the author of evil, the humanistic approach says no, God has nothing to do with evil. It happens without him. It happens apart from his control. And so as opposed to the stoic that says resign, this approach says panic. This isn't the stoic approach to suffering. This is the panic approach to suffering that says avoid it at all costs. Stay away from it. It makes your life meaningless. It has to make your life meaningless because it's at random. There's no plan. There's no meaning to it. Get away from it. And if it happens, kill yourself. Because you see, suffering is meaningless and life with suffering is meaningless. So that's the panic approach, the humanistic approach, which is the most popular approach in the West. But you have the fatalistic and you have the humanistic, but you also have the moralistic. And the moralistic approach is very prominent as well. And the moralistic approach says that this is why God allows evil. He lets bad people suffer, but good people he doesn't. And therefore, if you are suffering, you're not living right. You're doing something wrong. You may not think so, but look at yourself. So you see, whereas the fatalistic approach says be stoic, you know, the stoic approach. And then the humanistic approach gives you the panic attitude. The moralistic approach gives you the groveling attitude. In other words, when things go wrong, beat yourself up. There must be, it must be your fault. There's something wrong with you. Now, most of us, by the way, are not nearly consistent enough. We have done them all. Most of us really, you know, systems, you know, the system that says God is the author of evil, or God has nothing to do with evil, or God punishes people who are bad with evil. They provide will those different responses. The stoic approach, or the panic approach, or the groveling approach, and the beating yourself up approach. Most of us have had more than one. Most of us have gone back and forth. But the Book of Job blows them all apart, and it doesn't blow them apart with three or four interesting propositions. It blows them apart with a story. It blows them apart with this dialogue. Take a look. First of all, who comes up with the idea to really screw Job to the wall? Does God say, hey, I got an idea? No. The cause is the ill will of Satan in the story. And what's so interesting about this, see in verse 11, it's the ill will of Satan is the cause. And there we learn an important point that the Bible says, and that is that God did not make the world to be filled with death and destruction. He didn't create a world with death and destruction. He created a perfect world. But that when we decided to be our own masters, it unleashed the forces of death and disintegration in the world, because the world isn't built to run that way, you see. I mean, if a car is built to run with oil, and you put oil in it, it's fine. But if you refuse to put oil in it, or if you put milk in it instead of oil, everything will fall apart. It's not built to run that way. And when we decided to run our own lives and the world that God gave us, death and destruction, the forces of darkness were released. And God hates those forces of destruction. You know, and one of my favorite passages is a terrible place, actually, but it's in Ezekiel 18, verse 32, where God cries out and says, why will you die? Turn to me and live, for, get this, I take no pleasure in the death of anyone. I take no pleasure in the death of anyone. So first of all, we see God's not the author of evil. But secondly, we are absolutely told here that God is in complete control of it. All right, you see the tension here? Because you see, Satan says, I'm going off to do this to Job. And what does God say in verse 12? In verse 11, it's Satan's idea, but in verse 12, see, this is so perfect. It's depicted narratively. These incredible philosophical theological balances are depicted narratively, so vividly. In verse 12, what does God say? Essentially, he says this, this far, but no further. And this tells us that evil is not out of God's control at all. Oh, not at all. It tells us that God is absolutely in control of evil, and he is, A, overruling it, and B, overcoming it. A, overruling it, B, overcoming it. And you can see that in the story, too. First of all, what do I mean by overruling it? He says this far, no further. He puts a limit to evil. The Bible everywhere says that God is continually keeping the world from being and us from being as miserable and as bad as we otherwise would be, as we could be, as we should be, as we would be. The Bible says continually that nations would be far more violent, that hearts would be far more hard, that families would be far more broken, that civilization would be far more disordered, that if God was not continually saying over and over and over again every day, this far, but no further. He's constantly doing that. See, he's in control of it. He's overruling evil. He's always putting a limit to it. And then secondly, he's overcoming evil. He's always putting a purpose to it. What is Satan's reason? Why does Satan want to let suffering come into Job's life? And you see, it's so interesting because Satan and God have an absolute unity of opinion. There's consensus. Isn't this wonderful? I mean, if Satan and God agree on something, it must be true. And the consensus is what a servant is. God says, have you seen my servant Job? There is none like him in all the earth. And what does Satan say? He contradicts. He says he's not a servant. But the way in which he contradicts, he says, does Job fear God for nothing? Now, they agree on this. If you serve God for the life comforts that you get, you're not serving God at all. Unless you're serving God for nothing, you're not a servant. And unless you're serving God for him, and not just for the life comforts, and not just for the wealth, and not just for the ease, and not just for the health, and not just for the friends, and not... There's a bubble. You're a bubble boy. You are building your life on things that inevitably will burst. And you are fragile, and you are vulnerable, and you are, you know, it's a castle built in the air. It's a house built on the sand. And therefore, here's the question, is Job a servant or not? Is he a fragile, vulnerable person that can be overwhelmed, or is he a strong person with roots? And the answer is, actually, as it turns out, he's partly there, but he's partly not. And therefore, Satan releases the suffering into Job's life to eradicate the servant -ness of his heart, and God allows just a certain amount in order to do the opposite. God only lets Satan do what he does in order to thwart his deepest desires. God only lets Satan do as much and a kind of damage to Job that in the end does no damage to Job. Satan wants to destroy him as a servant. God wants to make him as a servant. Satan wants to take what servant -ness is there and go down to zero. God wants to take what servant -ness is there and put it up to 100%. And therefore, God only, only allows the evil, puts a limit to it, and puts a purpose to it. So you see, God is absolutely in control. So first of all, we see God is not the author of evil, and then secondly, we see God is absolutely in control of evil, absolutely in control of evil, and thirdly, evil does not go out into people's lives on the basis of goodness or badness. In fact, oh, gee, you know, actually, I took this in. This sentence came into my sermon, then I took it out of the sermon, then I put it back in, then I took it out. And actually, I took it out right before I came up here, and now I'm putting it in. If anything, evil is attracted into Job's life, not because he's a bad person, but because he's a better person than others. It's almost like here's a man who says, I most want to be a servant, and if anything, the suffering and the trouble comes into his life because he wants to be a servant and because he is, to a great degree, a servant, and because that's the thing he most wants in life. Now, what do we have here? This absolutely demolishes every single alternative view of evil and suffering and God. Against the fatalistic view, it says he's not the author of evil. Against the humanistic view, he says he's in total control of evil, and against the moralistic view, he says it does not come into people's life on the basis of some nice, neat distribution between good and bad people. And here's what's so interesting, here's what I would like to challenge you with. Every view but the biblical view is a pat answer. People are, I was really looking forward to saying this because everybody says, ah, Christians, you've got pat answers. Pat answers when it comes to these things, fine. In some cases, they seem simpler, but in this case, every alternative view of suffering in the biblical view is a pat answer. What if you have the humanistic view and you say, I can't believe in a God who would allow evil and suffering. He's not good and powerful if there's evil and suffering. So what are you doing? It's a neat answer. You are asked, what you're doing is you're solving it, you're fitting it in. You're saying, well, God can't be this and this happened, and therefore, I won't live with that tension. I'll destroy that mystery. You see? Or the moralist, here's what's so interesting is the secularist says, I can't believe in a God who would allow evil and suffering. In other words, you have to rationally put it all together. And then over on the other hand, you have the moralist that says, well, I absolutely believe that if you're suffering, there's something wrong with you. You're not living right. And you're doing the same thing. Job allows the mystery to stand and Job allows God to be God. Because every alternative view insists on God being the answerer. Every other view puts God in the dock. Every other view says, well, if you give me a rational explanation for what's going on here, I might believe in you. Every other view. But this is the one view that will not. This is the one view that lets God be God. This is the one view that lets suffering remain a mystery. And this is the one view that doesn't go for a pat answer. Nicholas Woldersdorf, a philosopher, lost his son in a mountain climbing accident. I think he was in his 20s. I mean, the son was in his 20s. And afterwards, Woldersdorf wrote a book. And in the book, he says this, he says, I cannot fit it all together by saying he did it. God did it. But neither can I fit it all together by saying there was nothing God could do about it. And then he goes on at one other point and says, neither can I fit it all together by saying, well, there can't be a God if this happens. See, he says, I can't fit it together that way. Every view but the biblical view tries to put God in the dock and say, if I don't have a rational explanation, and you sort of put it together, you neatly put it together. He says, no, no, I can't fit it all together. Seeing God as the agent of death is one way of fitting it together in a rational pattern. But the Bible speaks of God overcoming death, not as an agent of death, not as helpless before death. And if God overcomes it, and if God hates it, and if God is overruling it, then God is God.

The Bill Simmons Podcast

17:24 min | Last month

A highlight from The Philly Decade, Lamar On Fire, the Best Game Curse, NBA Awards, and Guess the Lines With Cousin Sal

"Coming up, Sunday nights with the cuz, we're going to talk some football next. It's the Bill Simmons podcast presented by FanDuel. It's the best time of the year with football in full swing and basketball returning soon. FanDuel, the best place to bet on the action. The app is safe, secure, and easy to use, and when you win, you get paid instantly. Get exclusive offers every day. Jump into the action at any time during the game with quick bets and take home a fast W. Plus, check out the Explore page for the simplest way to start betting. Download the app today. Bet with America's number one sportsbook. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Visit TheRinger .com slash RG to learn more about the resources and help lines available and listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Must be 21 plus and present in select states. Gambling problem, call 1 -800 -GAMBLER or visit TheRinger .com slash RG. This episode is brought to you by our friends at State Farm. There's no playbook when it comes to life or any of the other stressful tasks that adulthood throws your way. So many of us lay awake at night going through a list of what ifs. What if something happens to our home? What if I get into an accident? If life gives you a bad bounce, State Farm has a play for every what if. You can reach them 24 -7, you can file a claim on the State Farm mobile app, or you can simply call your agent with questions about your home or auto coverage. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Call or go to State Farm .com for a quote today. We're also brought to you by The Ringer Podcast Network, where if you missed it, we did the big NBA preview podcast with me and Russell in house last week. We put all of it on YouTube. The entire podcast is on there. All you have to do is go to YouTube .com slash Bill Simmons. We put a lot of video up there. We might start putting up full podcasts on there a little bit after they run here. So stay tuned for that. I don't know. We're messing around. Just trying stuff. It's the end of 2023. You know? I don't know. You just start trying things. Why not? Who cares? Hey, new rewatchables come in Monday night. I'll just tell you what it is. It's a movie from 1993. Yeah, another one. Another one that did really well in the box office. So you'll find out Monday night. It's a good one though. I'm excited to drop it on you. So we did that true crime podcast, Wedding Scammer, hosted and created by Justin Sales. And it did really well. People liked it. And it makes me super happy because Justin Sales is a great guy. And he's been with The Ringer pretty much since the beginning. But it's nice when somebody works their ass off on something and it actually pays off. So I'm glad people like it. Check out the first episode. It's not that long. It's really well done. And you will definitely 100 % enjoy it. Okay. Let's bring in the cuz. Let's talk some football. Let's talk some wound licking with some bets, some Eagles, all kinds of things. It's all next. First, our friends from Pearl Jam. Pearl Jam! All right. We are taping this. It is 830 Pacific time on Sunday night. Cousin Sal is here as always. He's wearing a nice, fresh Oregon hat that I think you probably bought probably this weekend. You went to visit your son? Smells very new. Yeah, I went to visit my son. I'm not happy with the way my hair looks. And I think the hat's an improvement. So what am I going to do? It looks great. We just watched Dolphins Eagles just now. And at the same time, Rangers Astros was happening. And it really felt like, I don't know, it felt like a great October sports night there. And then Texas blew it open in the end. But next week, we'll have basketball. There will be baseball going on. It'll really feel like October. The Eagles though. So right as I start sending texts to Eagles people in my life wondering what's going on with Hurts and what's going on with this team, and then they just turn it on and they win by 14. It's weird. Eye test wise versus the stats and just looking at the standings and stuff. It's a team that doesn't seem like they have all their shit together. And yet it doesn't matter because they have so much talent. They can just kind of pick and choose. And then all of a sudden they win anyway. I know don't what other team in the NFL is like this. Do you see that too? Yeah, absolutely. And it's a bummer because I think you agree. The Dolphins are, I don't know, favorite team to watch if you have to cut everything else out. Best offense, so much going on, like dynamic, Tyreek Hill, anything. Tua. But when they play a game like this, when they go to Buffalo, they're just going to get beat in the trenches. And like what you said is it doesn't really matter if you're so physical, Philadelphia, offensively or defensively. And like Tua's getting swallowed up in the pocket on third and ones. And where Philadelphia could just run that tush push like it or not, it's going to move the chains every time. So, yeah, it sucks. Yeah. The less flashy team wins. And they happen to be in my favorite team's division. But that's what's going to happen in January. Ten turnovers for Hertz. He had eight off last year. There's times where, you know, like sometimes, and I don't know whether he's protecting his body or what's going on, but he'll kind of duck away from taking hits, which is smart. And then he'll have weird throws. And I texted Solak today during third quarter. I'm like, are we going to find out that Hertz has had like torn rib cartilage since week two or, you know, he doesn't look right sometimes. And then in the fourth quarter, all of a sudden looks great. And I don't really know what to make of it. And I can't get a feel for it. But on top of it, they have this tush push thing that in the big drive of the game, they're able to get two straight fourth and ones on their own side of the field. I know we, you and I have talked about it. You've talked about it incessantly. And at the same time, it feels like it is the most important NFL invention in the last five years, this play that nobody can stop ever at any point. If he does, nobody else can do it. I know it's weird. And we likened it to the Tom Brady thing. There was no reason why Tom Brady should convert fourth and one and a half every single time, you know, physically and everything else. But except they had their shit together, the Eagles, they really do. And if he does have cracked ribs, I hope it's from his own teammate, smashing them over the line of scrimmage there. Yeah, it was just wear and tear on the back of his body from several guys. Yeah. So they're performing the Heimlich on him like every eight minutes. So I guess if you're taking the takeaway from the Eagles is nice when they needed to have it, they're also supposed to win. But the AJ Brown piece of it, the fact that they traded, you know, a first round pick basically, and then they paid him. And I don't know, he's one of the four best receivers in the league now. Is he one of the three? He's somewhere on the shortest possible list. I have him on multiple fantasy teams, and it's gotten to the point where I'm just expecting 100 yards in a TD every game. But that turned out to be one of the better trades, I think, of the last 10 years. Just kind of took him from Tennessee. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that was ridiculous. And he is such a great possession receiver. And it's like, it's scary, too, because you'll forget about him, too. You probably put Justin Jefferson in the top three. And then every time Cousins drops back the pass or any snap, you're like, all right, this has to go to Jefferson. Otherwise, it's going to go for nothing out of this offense. And then eight tush pushes in a row. And then you see AJ Brown's like, oh, my God, I forgot about this guy. What? He's got 120 yards. It's nuts. So, yeah, dynamite. I like, yeah, there's like four different kind of catches he can make, too, which I think makes him stand out because they can throw those bubble screens. They can just put them right over the middle, like for seven, eight yards. It seems like whenever they want, they can send him deep down the sidelines, which he seems to love. And then that kind of deep over the middle with two guys on him and he can make plays anyway. But he he has, like, I think the biggest bag of any of the receivers right now. Yeah, personal. I don't know. I got these guys. Yeah. Yeah. I hate this team. I don't know. I don't even know what to say anymore. Like, you know, the Miami have what, 10 or 11 penalties? It's just like it's a it's like a mind fuck, too, when you play him, too, because you can't get out of a can't get out of your own way when you play against them. Kyle, don't turn on the tick tock camera for this. Has Philly replaced Boston for most interesting sports city? Like, look at all the shit they have going right now. Right. Right. They're they're about to make the World Series. They have this Eagles team that made the Super Bowl last year and it feels super relevant again, is definitely going to be a final 14 worst case scenario. And then they have this NBA team with this James Harden saga that God only knows how he's going to sabotage things over the next month. But and then you look at my team where my city where I have the the you know, we have a great NBA team, it looks like. And then other than that, completely forgettable across the board. I think Philly's kind of grabbed the mantle a little bit. I don't like it. I don't like it right now. That's not good. And it's not good for their fans because their fans are supposed to just hate the other team, not supposed to like their team. So it doesn't matter if their team is good. Right. Yeah, I don't know. It's a bummer. Although I'll say that they were in this position last year, too. Right. Phillies win the World Series. The Eagles win the Super Bowl. This has been this is the 2020s has kind of been the Philly decade. I don't like it. It's upsetting to me. And fortunately, the Sixers are it seems like they're going to go in the tank. But I got to say they have great crowds like the the Phillies playoff crowds are way up there. That's about as good of a baseball crowd as you're going to get. It really feels like if they can have like a do or die game or a must win game or a clincher at home, you feel like they're going to get it. And whatever happened with Bryce, you know, pretty special, like to sign that guy from another team and he becomes the signature athlete in your city. We had a little bit of that with Manny Ramirez, where we kind of took him from. We paid for it, but took him from Cleveland and he kind of became one of the symbols of that run. But pretty nuts that they just took him from another team and he became what he became. Yeah, it's a great crowd whenever they I mean, I thought the Rams crowd today was dynamite, too, against the Steelers. I thought they really showed up. It's really loud. Yeah, yeah, it's been proud to be from L .A. Yeah, I have a I know you don't want to talk about Phillies, so I'll move on. I have a Tyree question for you. What's your all time receiver list for receivers you've watched just where you're like, that guy's fucking amazing? Because for me, it was always Rice number one and Moss two and then a drop off. And then some people like Tio's three for me. I'm like, cool. Tio is like an absolute franchise murderer and was a huge head case and you couldn't trust him. And as the years pass, the stats will be great. All the fucking drama that he brought to every situation he's in, that stuff will kind of die off. But for me, I think Tyreek's unequivocally three now for me. Every single game, it just you just feel like he's going to have 250 yards as you're watching it, right? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Unstoppable, Tyreek over Calvin Johnson, that type. Yeah, I think like where you would put him. Yeah, I think for me, he's definitely over Calvin Johnson. Michael Gallup is three, four. I'm trying to see where I would put these people. Yeah, I think you're right. I think you're right. I think he's got to be number three. Although if you look at like Antonio Brown, who's now a punch line, he had like six of the best seasons you'll ever see in a row. But but in terms of presence and being unstoppable, Rice, Moss, Tyreek Hill, it's a good three. That's how I feel. I think, you know, Sharp, I think, could have gotten there in the Packers way back when in the 90s. And then, you know, he hurt his neck and he basically only had like a six or seven year career. But I thought in the 90s, I thought other than Rice, he was the second best guy. Your guy, Irvin, was great. There's no question that team was loaded. We've had some good ones over the years, but Tyreek, the speed, how he just tilts the field over and over again, how scared the other team is of him. How much space he opens up for everybody else. I think he's three. I don't think he'll ever get over Moss or Rice for me, though. I'm trying to think who could pass him, though, now at three. I mean, we've put Justin Jefferson up there before. Now that we haven't seen him for a few weeks, we've kind of forgot about him in the right now. But Hill's done this now for, you know, six, what's it, six years since he's on the 18 Chiefs. I can't remember how many years he's been in the league, but yeah, he'll be stride for stride with two defenders. And then, like, if the ball hangs up there long enough, he's now seven, eight yards past them. Oh, I know who's number four. That's a nice little advantage. Pooka. He is? Guys, see that catch he made on the sideline today? It was pretty great. Before the Rams realized they were going against a force greater than any satanic force or anything, the Pittsburgh Steelers. You want to talk about that? Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. So they're four and two. I've watched every play of all six games. I have no idea how they're four and two, but they've hit the point now where I feel like they're going to win when there's no signs. Like that guy missed the extra point today for the Rams and made it nine, three instead of 10, three. I'm like, oh, here we go. Steelers come down. All of a sudden it's 10, nine. They have five first downs because they get the TJ Watt, you know, the pick that sets up the touchdown. And you're just like, here we go. They're doing this. And we've seen this before because this was the Eli Manning. Danny Heifetz was the first person to point this out. This was the Eli Manning recipe for years and years that I can't believe that team's winning. What the fuck just happened? He only made two throws. How did he do it? They're four and two. I totally believe in them. And I feel like they're going to go 12 and five and have a negative point differential. Well, the good thing is we're making money off them, right? We've been and we saw them. Plus, I mean, I thought they'd be favored last Sunday night. I thought they'd be favored, but they're not. So we're doing that thing, but also just taking them because the Steelers. But I found the gem and I gave it out on ringer wise guys, Rams first half Steelers to win the game 10 to one. You know, I'm positive that their bullshit is going to pay dividends and 10 to one. I think it'll hit like three more times. Like you're right. That TJ Watt interception brings it down to the eight. We see some separation from Pickens on a receipt, like the little one drive you wait for all game and it happens. And then that terrible spot at the end, it didn't give him a chance. That that was beyond really big. McVeigh also probably should have had a timeout left. I know. But, you know, what is it important to be like, hey, listen, we could get this right, but we'd rather teach you a lesson, coach, to save your timeouts. Like, I don't, this, the spot thing bothers me more than missed pass interferences because it's an old man jogging eight yards and he has to see between 20 bodies. And then like, you know, he sticks his foot in the mud and says, here, this is like a surveyor from 1835. He's like, this is where your property in, sir. Like we got to put, there's a chip in the ball. Isn't there a chip in the ball? What's it for? It's funny that we figured out Wimbledon. We figured out we've in U .S. Open, we figured out how to measure serves immediately, whether they hit the line or not in football, which seems like it would be really easy to just have some sort of magnet that was attached to the chains. The other thing that was weird about that for the people who didn't see it, the Steelers did fourth and one, they had the lead. There's probably like a little more than two minutes left and they run the QB sneak play, kind of the Brady play where you, you kind of put your head down, but you go left. But he slipped and fell on his knee and his knee went down. And it wasn't one of those when you're watching it where you're like, oh, I wonder if he got it was like, you knew immediately, oh, he didn't get it. He slipped. And then they come in with the spot and then like, oh, he might have gotten it. And they did that. I couldn't believe it. And I'm rooting for the Steelers. But I was like, oh, my God, it's the worst spot of the year. I thought they deserved to win anyway. But but that was pretty tough for the Rams. We need some clarification. And I get it because McVeigh didn't have timeouts and it wasn't actually the two minute warning yet, even though it did wind to that after that. But is there a ref in the sky? Is there this guy in the sky or is this everything has to go back to New York? Like, I feel like we're told three different things. It's a bummer because that could have been overturned. But you're right. Ten to one we hit. Let's just keep doing it. You know, you know who else would have gotten that fourth one? Eli Manning. He would have fallen down a half foot in front and somehow would have gotten the spot. The Rams kicker was the MVP of this game for the Steelers. He missed two longer field goals. They were like 50 yard field goals, but he missed about them. Then he missed that extra point. And then Tomlin just, you know, he threw away the challenge. He screwed up a challenge, which is the Tomlin staple.

Op Persoonlijke Titel

14:40 min | Last month

A highlight from Gert Jan Segers

"Oh, personal cathedral. A respect of life and blood, for the cake that you have made, and the cake that you have made. Cake and cake. Christian Segers. Good day, and what do you want to do today? Yes, what do you want to do today? Well, I am in a vision of nouns, curses of life. Very interesting, because you live next door to a camera, and there is light coming from here, and I am talking has Hold on to it, here I am looking at someMotherhood, and they will look at me like that. ..There is a realistic fundamental statement in that Un jointly, I live this way, What do you think about that? Good. I have a good life. I have a good life after a long period of time. And to be honest with you, I have been living in a lot of places in a long period of time. And that is not so clear to me. So it is easy for me to have a new life. I have to live a new life. With new work. And that is easy. I have been living in a lot of places in a long period of time. And that is not so clear to me. And I do not believe that I have a good life after a long period of time. Yes. So what do you do with a small amount of money? Or a small amount of jobs? For that matter, what do you do? No, I do not. No, that is not a moral thing. What I do is... I do not have the ability to live a lot of life. I have been living here for a long time. I do not have a job. So that is what I do. I try to live a lot of the way I live. That is what I do. No, and I try to live more. That is how I live my whole life. More than that. More than that. And that is why... I cannot live with my parents anymore. But I do not have a job. So there are very small relationships. Yes, that is not possible. So the last period is a long period. We have a court model for that. We have the relative court. And I can do new work on the other side. And follow that. You are not in the politics. You have other things. But how come you are in the politics at the same time? I politics. study That is what I do. That is what I do in politics. That is what I do in real life. I want to know who I work with. Who I work with. That is what I do. And what I do for a living. But what do you do then? Do you go to the middle school? Yes, the middle school. It is a political interest. I have done a lot of discussions. I have been there 10 years. I used to teach... ...that you know what I write about in the law. I would go to my class. That was the intent. And I would demonstrate. And it was a very difficult time. The battery again. Totally. And then about 1980 I studied. In company. That is an eye of][ in all, and I saw the politics and the chances in the closer time. And I 18 and 19 got The question was whether I would be able to go to a non -RPF proxy. That is one of the problems of the Christian Christ. I can talk to Paul Blocher about that later. But I have a political view on that. I am a journalist and I have been to the Netherlands for 8 years. And I have a political view on Europe. For me it is of interest. But it is very important that I am talking about what I am talking about in the European Union. In the 2000s you were a journalist. No, no, no, no. But you have a lot of plans. Yes, I sit at the convention in one type of period. But no, no, no, no. The question is whether I am going to go to the EU and not the Cairo. Yes, that is not the question. What do you mean? No, what I am saying is that you have to go to the EU. And you have to know what you are going to go to Cairo. No, I am talking about politics. No, I am talking about the EU. No, no, no, no. I am talking about the EU -Radio 1. And I was in the past four years in the EU. And I was on my 8th birthday. And that was when I was in the EU -Band. I was in a plane. Yes, that is right. It was a long time ago. And I was there for a year then. It was 20 kilos. English is better than German. From back. With two microphones in my head. And we then went all over the world. Yes, yes. Exactly, exactly. But you still have a lot of money. I must have a lot of money. What about you? I have been there for 18 years now. You have a lot of money. But I have been there for a year. I am not a journalist. Yes, that is what I am talking about. Yes, that is what I am talking about. I have been there for a year. No, no. My life is very different. No, because if you are a journalist, you have to... No, I don't know. You have to do it in a way that is different. I was born in Lise. My father was a ballerina. He was a ballerina family. But it was the first time I had ever seen him in a ballerina. Because he was always there. And he would always have a vlog about the character. He would always have a vlog about the character. And that was in 1997. And he would always have a vlog about the character. He would always have a vlog about Lise. I was there for a year. My oldest brother Bruce Susser. He would always have a vlog about the character. Yes, that is what I am talking about. That is what I am talking about. For a group. For all of your friends. You have to do it in a way that you can move on. You have to be a European. My father would have a lot of fun with it. But he would have a lot of fun. If I could do it in a way that I could not do, then I would have a lot of fun. And that is what I probably have to do. I was there in the afternoon. I was there in the morning. I was there in the morning. And we were there for a week. And the afternoon was a little bit cold. In the beginning of the 8th year I was there in the morning. In the weekend I was there. No, I was not scared. I thought to my elders it was our fault. I was scared. I was scared. I was scared. I saw my oldest brother Bruce Susser. He would have a lot of fun. He would have a lot of fun. He would have a lot of fun. He would have a lot of fun. He would have lots of fun. A lot of fun. No, not at all. He would have a lot of fun. He would have lots of fun. He would have lots of fun. He would have lots of fun. The thing is that he was very happy. And my friend said I was going to be a little bit younger. I thought he was younger. But I was very happy and I was very happy he could be on this show. I was very positive about that. But it's a very familiar thing to me. That's why I wanted to come here. And that's why I'm here. For housing, it's very difficult. It's hard to get a lot of energy. It's normal for bettering, that's what I'm talking about. Well, in this way I think that I can see that all the people who live here, who live in Europe, who are living in Europe, they don't know what housing is. But it's a very rich thing to live in here. And a very dry thing. To see what you're doing, and what it's really worth. And what you do. Maybe you'll have a good life, or a good life, or a good life. Yeah, I don't think that life is worth it. Maybe a good life is worth it. Maybe it's worth it. But it's very difficult to see what you're doing. And what you're doing with your heart. And what you're doing when you're in love. So you're living in a very rich country. My house, very rich. Yeah, what do you call it? A righteous house? Well, I think it's a very rich house. Well, a very, very, very righteous house. Yeah, I think it's a football stadium. It's very thin. But I think it's a very rich house. It's a very Orthodox, very rich house. It's in the middle of the East Coast. You can see the city. You can see the city in the background. And it's a very rich house. Why is it here? My father was born in a small house. He was born in a small town. He was born in a small town. And he was only 8 years old. So I was born in the street. And I didn't have a school. But he was only 8 years old. He had a TV. He was born in a small town. He was only 2 years old. And that is a very deep hole in my mind. I don't know much about it. And that's why I think it's a very rich house. I think it's a very rich house. And it's very rich, but not a very good house. I think it's a very good house. And I think it's a very rich house. I've been living here for a long time. I've been living in the area. I've been living in Europe. What's going on now? But the deep hole I don't have a home in. I'm not sure about my home. But I have a home. And that you, as a minority, but I hope that the minority will be able to do so, that would be helpful. I am an Orthodox Christian, that is a minority, I am a part of the minority. And I know that there are people who don't have their lives. There are people who don't know how to work. There are the privileged people who know how to work. There is a Christian pastor who knows what to do. He knows how to work. And that is why the minority is a minority in the minority community. They have the power to live their lives. And that is what they live in the community. That is, yeah, that goes very deep. So if I have a minority person who, with a lot of pride, with the right to be here today, the right to be in the community, the right to be in the community, to be able to live their lives, to be able to live their lives, to be able to live their lives, then I can see that for the other people it is a very dramatic thing. That there is a very big problem. But it is not a bad thing. It is a totally different thing. And the great thing about the people here is that they have the other hand on their cake. They have their own food. So see I how much, much, much better it is for the minority people than it is for the minority people. I see that in a luxurious situation. My life is very different from what I have been given over the years. And I have been given over the years a lot more than an ethnic identity. I have been given over the years a lot more than an ethnic identity. And I have been given over the years a lot more than an ethnic identity. So I think that it is a very dramatic thing. That there is no big difference between Christian and minority people. That is why I think that there is a big difference between Christian and minority people. That is why I think that there is a big difference between Christian and minority people. But it is interesting to note that all my brothers and sisters, there are a lot of great, great people. Great people. And all of their children, and that is what I would like to tell you, will always be with God's life. And that is why in those days you have been told you are a Christian. You have been told you are a minority. That is why it is so important. I have always imagined that my daughter is not going to be a Christian. That would be a very difficult thing. And I have always imagined that my brother is going to be a Christian. I have always imagined that my brother is going to be a Christian. And the moment I was there, I was really surprised.

The Charlie Kirk Show

28:08 min | Last month

A highlight from Three Lessons from the Book of Exodus: Charlie's Speech to Colorado Christian Academy

"I want to thank Charlie. He's an incredible guy. His spirit, his love of this country. He's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created. Turning Point USA. We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country. That's why we are here. Brought to you by the loan experts I trust, Andrew and Todd at Sierra Pacific Mortgage at andrewandtodd .com. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Okay, please take a seat. I'm going to close this. Okay, so I want to get to question and answer because I think that's actually the most fun, and I have a feeling there's a lot of questions. There's a lot I could talk about. First, I just want to say there's something really exciting happening in the country where I'm getting invited to speak at schools like this all across the country that didn't exist a decade ago, where parents are starting to rise up and start new communities and start new schools. This is exactly what is necessary in the country right now. Because there if is a woke private school and a failed public school, just start a new school. And we are really good at starting new things. We're really bad at preserving our things from getting captured and infiltrated. That's a separate issue. They're experts at infiltration, experts at destabilization. But I just want to compliment and commend the whole team here. Think really big because the demand is greater than you could ever imagine. I Colorado. love I hate what these people have done to it. And you have to think multigenerationally. You really do. And that's why this effort is so incredibly important. And you have no idea the child that you might be helping educate at Colorado Christian, the impact that they might make. You have no idea if they might be a changemaker, an entrepreneur, a senator, a congressman, something beyond your wildest imagination. Or the most important thing, a loyal husband and wife and someone who loves the Lord, honestly, even beyond a massive changemaker. So I'm going to actually talk about my favorite book of the Bible. I don't think you'll really guess it. It's funny. I love the word and I love what it does to you through different walks of life. And because I'm a glutton for punishment, I've decided to go through the first five books of the Bible in original Hebrew and go verse by verse. If you want a really big challenge, do that. Just finished Leviticus. That's no fun at all. It's unbelievably awesome as a Christian to read Leviticus for many different reasons. And it's amazing. But my favorite book of the Bible is the book of Exodus. And it's not quoted enough or understood enough. And I really think that there's more parallels for what we're living through right now in the book of Exodus than almost any other part of the word. I And so was studying and studying Exodus and so much pops out. So I'm going to go three lessons that I think we as believers, we as patriots, can derive from the book of Exodus. And some you say, OK, I've heard that one before. But I guarantee you I'm going to isolate a verse that you've probably never heard any pastor ever isolate. It's just kind of what I call a flyover verse. You know what I'm talking about? Where you just kind of skim. You're like, OK, let's go. You know, it's like the verse before John 3 16, John 3 15 and John 3 17. Does anyone know those? Probably not. Well, maybe in this room. But very few people do, right? It's a flyover verse. So it's first important to remember Exodus in Greek means the way out. Ex hodos, right? And the actual labeling of the verse is Israelites oppressed or the captivity in Egypt. The whole Old Testament, the first five books of the Bible of the word of God is centered around Egypt. Egypt is actually the villain of the Torah. Egypt is tyranny. Egypt is authoritarianism. Egypt is paganism. Egypt is godlessness. Egypt is one size fits all rule. Said differently, Egypt is the Biden administration. And so now if I offended you, you're in the wrong dinner. I'm sorry. Like so and the whole Bible is written even in Genesis. It's written as a refutation of Egypt. And if you know anything, devout Jews will tell you that the Exodus is the most important thing. Creation and Exodus are the two most important parts of Jewish life, right? Whether it be the Passover Seder, whether it be the Shema, whatever it is, Egypt is the whole ballgame, right? And like remember how we were delivered from Egypt and I'll dive into that. So there's this amazing thing and you remember the end of Genesis, right? Joseph does this remarkable stuff. He doesn't do it. God doesn't through Joseph and he's just a messenger. And he basically saves Egypt from famine and from starvation and saves the whole civilization, right? And the first chapter of Exodus sets up the whole, it's what I call the turning point chapter and we're living through this right now in America. And this is why Christian education is so important and why supporting this academy is so important. And it's a verse that you would just kind of read over and like, okay, yeah, whatever. Then rose a king over Egypt who did not know Joseph. Okay, Charlie, what's the big deal? That's exactly what's happening on university campuses across the country. Then rose a generation that did not know George Washington. Then rose a generation who did not know Abraham Lincoln. You get tyranny when you forget the sacrifices that were made before you. You get tyranny when you don't know your history. Right there, the entire book of Exodus gets set up. So here's Joseph that through God saves them from famine, saves them from starvation. The Egyptians should have statues made to Joseph. They should have songs made to Joseph. But all it took was one king who didn't have the memory of what Joseph did before. And then what happens? That king rises and everything changes. He says, who are these Israelites? They multiply like insects. Let's get rid of these guys. If you fail to pass down your values from one generation to the other, you can quickly all of a sudden get authoritarianism, tyranny, murder, genocide very, very quickly. It can happen in one generation. And I don't think we as Christians isolate this teaching enough because we act as if it happens automatically sometimes. Like, oh, I can send my kid to government school and they'll still share my values. You know, we go to church once a quarter and, you know, we listen to Christian music, you know, every so often and, you know, like through osmosis. And even in the cocktail reception, people come up to me and they say, Charlie, how am I supposed to deal with kids that don't share my values? How did this happen? And my question is always the same. You know, what college did they go to? Always. And in this case, it was Northwestern in Michigan, right? So nice selections. But again, I'm not picking on you guys. It's a very sweet couple. But it was just stood out, right? And you're here tonight because you want your children to share your values, that you want your children to live in liberty. And so that verse right there should be our mission statement. We never want to have a king or a sovereign, the people, ever not know the sacrifices that were made before. When I visit college campuses, and I visit college campuses so you don't have to, I am told, Charlie, the founders were a bunch of racist old dead white guys. We're a colonistic, colonialistic, misogynistic, homophobic, terrible country. That's a generation that did not know Joseph. So then all of a sudden they have a willingness and openness for tyranny, for totalitarianism, authoritarianism, because that is actually how we are naturally programmed. I actually didn't plan to talk about this, but it's just a little bit of a side note. The human being wants to be taken care of far more than they want to be free. Freedom is a value. You naturally do not want to be free. And if you disagree, you are not paying attention during COVID. People that were otherwise some of the most rational people that I knew lost their bloody mind masks wearing in a car alone because they wanted to be told what to do. Freedom requires risk. You cannot be free without chance. You can't have both. If you want to have everything taken care of, go commit a federal crime, or just become a conservative, because inevitably you'll end up in federal prison, and then you'll go to jail. There's no freedom, but there is assuredness at prison. Three meals a day, bunk you don't have to pay for, you don't have to work for what you get. Prison is the opposite of freedom. And so here's the Israelites that are living in total totalitarianism because a king came who did not know what the previous generation did. The next verse, Exodus 1 17, one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible, and I screamed this at pastors, and I yelled it at pastors, and I was unsuccessful. And I'll tell you why. But the midwives to the Hebrews, as in the original Hebrew it says this, feared God. Now the verse before it, Exodus 1 16, the king who forgot Joseph was like, hey, murder all the firstborn, murder them all, kill the babies. Now we would know nothing about killing babies in our civilization. We're way more advanced than that, obviously. We would never do such a thing ever, obviously. Look how advanced we are. We have Twitter and air conditioning, right? So this is, I always laugh when people say the Bible is such a medieval text, we've advanced so far. Yeah, right. No, we just do the evil things quicker and better and quieter and more secretly. So of course, we're more advanced than that. But the king or the pharaoh says, kill the firstborn. And I love this. The midwives disobeyed Pharaoh because they feared God. And it goes on to say that the Hebrew is not a great translation. God dealt well with them or God found favor in them. God loves when you defy tyranny for liberty. That is the heart of God. God wants you to reject tyranny if it engages in somebody's life or interferes with their liberty. A regular woke skinny jean -wearing pastor will tell you, no, no, no, Romans 13, man, submit to the rulers and authority because God put them there for your good. And then I say, OK, rocket scientist, constitutional scholar, man, your TED Talk rock concert, a thing you call a church with organized parking and a coffee bar. Let ask me you, since you're super smart, who are the leaders in America exactly? In Romans 13, God put the leaders in authority because they're there for your good. Who are the leaders? And they say the mayors, the congressmen, the senators. No, no, the people are the authority. So when the people's rights are infringed, the mayors and the state senators and Governor Polis should be submitting to us. We don't submit to them. So I love this verse. And God dealt well with the midwives. Let me ask you, is the American church, are we as Christians fighting tyranny the way the midwives fought tyranny in Egypt? I don't think we're doing a good job. I don't. I think you guys are. I mean, there's an exception. But the large part of the American church, American Christianity is submit to the government authority, submit to the cultural tyranny, submit to the pressure of the day. Submit to what other people are saying. That is not what God wants. And by the way, it's not just in Exodus. In Daniel, Daniel disobeyed the king and still prayed his prayers, ended up in the lion's den, right? In Acts, it says we obey God, not man, time and time again. Psalm 97 10 is my favorite, one of my favorite verses of the Bible. I have a lot of favorite verses. If you love God, you must hate evil. I don't think that we as Christians are doing a good job fulfilling that verse. I hear all the time, but Charlie, we must be nice. And I say, great. Right by the other point. Where in the 66 books of the Bible does the word nice appear in Aramaic or Greek or Hebrew? Waiting. Ready, set, go. And they say, well, we have to be loving. I said, yeah, but what does loving mean? Tell me in the original Greek. You know, is it agape, storge, phileo? You know, they say, well, oh my goodness. We kind of had this discourse earlier. But we're not called to be nice. We're called to tell the truth. And honestly, we've done a pretty crummy job of telling the truth the last 30 years here in America. We have allowed the worst of all evil, institutionalize itself, go after our children. And I finally am starting to see a response. This school is evidence of a response to all this institutionalized evil. And the midwives feared God and God dealt well with them. If we want God to deal well with us, maybe we should start fighting for liberty against tyranny. So God delivers his chosen people out of Egypt. And every time you hear Egypt, just think tyranny. Every time, right? And so he delivers them out of Egypt, one of my favorite parts. They're in the desert, you know, God, 10 miracles, the sea is parted. And this is why I always laugh when atheists say, all I need to do is see a miracle and I'll believe in God. Like, no, you don't. Like next Tuesday, you'll forget about God, right? Because you have a heart problem. You are your own God, right? That's not true. The Hebrews saw God move in an amazing way. They get into the desert. Within days, they're complaining. That's all the Jews do the entire Old Testament. They complain and they complain and they complain. It's why God had to let them all die off and, you know, have Joshua generation going. He's like, these people are not ready for Israel. They complained way too much. We want melons, we want meat, we want all the cucumbers. Literally, translation. So they get into the desert and they say, we want to go back to Egypt, because at least we had meat. At least we had melons, at least we had leeks, at least we had cucumbers. They wanted slavery over freedom because they ate better. And God's like, what am I going to do with these people? And I honestly think that's, I agree with Dennis Prager on this. It's one of the reasons why God chose the Jews. If you could do it with this group of people, you could do it with any group of people, right? If you could get this group of misfits to be successful in finance and business and education, there's something to this book, right? There's something there that we can all learn from. Anyway, so God then, God is a God of order. We as Christians don't do a good enough job. It drives me nuts when Christians only say God is love. Yeah, but he's also other things, okay? He's like judging God. Oh, you can't say that. Well, it's true. Jesus will judge the sinners at the end of the age. One of the main reasons why the church has gone woke is you'll never hear the three -letter word that every person needs to hear, sin. How do you know what redemption is if you don't know what sin is? Unknown concept. We just tell people, oh, you're perfect the way you are. Actually, you're not. Like you're pretty crummy in Jesus, like really bad, like really bad. All of us do, all the time. And we're going to keep sinning and we keep on eating Jesus. And so God established order for us. Of course, the Decalogue being the Ten Commandments or the Ten Statements. And of course, it begins, I am the Lord your God who delivered you from Egypt. He reminds them before he gives him the Decalogue. Moses, the Decalogue. Just in case you forgot, I delivered you from tyranny. God's heart is not for people to live in tyranny. That's when it drives me nuts when people say, Charlie, you're too political as a Christian. Look, God calls us to fight authoritarianism all the time. So then, my favorite one of the commandments that comes tonight, that pertains to tonight, is the one that every one of you are vigilant and why you're here tonight. Honor your mother and father so that you may live long in the land of which God is giving you. And I'm going to spend the remainder of my remarks on this and then he'll do some questions. Everything that the culture is doing when it comes to anybody under 18 is about trying to is this commandment the most proven commandment to have a free society. If you were to say, Charlie, out of all the Ten Commandments, what is the one that if you stop doing, you get tyranny the fastest? You actually more so than murder, more so than stealing, more so than not even having any gods before God. If you do not honor your mother and father, and I'll tell you exactly what that means, you 100 % will lose a free society. You cannot have a group of young people that dishonor or curse, which is the opposite of honor, their parents, and also live in liberty. It has never happened in the history of the species. Now, I'm a student of history. I love history. If anyone can tell me an example of a superpower that went out of their way to teach their children to hate the country that they're in, I'm all ears. I think it's the first time it's ever happened in the history of the species, and I've asked many different historians. When a wealthy, powerful, benevolent superpower has decided to teach their young, we actually hate the place that is pretty awesome. It is civilizational suicide. There will be historians 50 to 100 years from now writing books and teaching college classes, trying to try to answer the America question. How could a country that did so much good in World War II be so wealthy, be the beacon of light and liberty, have so much opportunity for so many people, go out of its way? And my answer is very simple. When you are secular and you do not believe in God, you must fill it with fake religions. Don't believe me? Go drive in one of these neighborhoods like I just did. BLM, gay pride, those are the pagan religions of the day. You always have to fill it with some source of meaning, whether it be the false god of BLM or the false god of trans surgeries for kids, whatever it is. They have to feel an attachment to something, and it's out of guilt. If you don't know how to deal with your guilt, because everyone feels guilt at some point, you're going to do some pretty wacky stuff. And boy, are we living in a society that is just ridden with pity and guilt. Pity for ourselves and our own state of affairs, it's rather remarkable. But if you have a strong attachment to the generation that came before you, you can inoculate yourself against that virus. So let's go through it. It's the only one of the Ten Commandments that involves a direct promise and also your nation. So we talk about politics, we talk about our country, we should probably isolate the one of the Ten Commandments that deals with the country. So honor, what does that word mean in Hebrew? It means heavily or to treat with seriousness or intentionality. What does curse mean in Hebrew? Lightly, it's the same root. So if you were to treat your parents lightly, you were to curse them. Now what does that mean to honor your mother and father? It means that when you're at college, you enter college believing that your parents are more correct than your professors. That does not happen. Professors at almost every single university across the country go out of their way to invalidate everything a parent has taught them up until age 18. Your parents are outdated, they're probably racist, they're terrible. Oh by the way, thanks for paying to the tuition to bring you here, but we're going to turn you into little revolutionaries basically. Finally, honor your mother and father so that you may live long in the land of which you are in. Marxism depends on three things. The obliteration of religion, property, and family. Private property, they're doing a great job and they're going to continue to do it. Religion, church rates are going down dramatically and they've infiltrated the American church. But the family was always the one that was able to say no. And you are going to have to, someone's going to have to explain this to me, how so many suburban house moms here in Colorado want their kids to suffer. It is unbelievable to me. This is one of the most radical like trans sanctuaries in the entire country. It's not ISIL, I'm sure you all know families or kids where you have parents that are excited to go get their 15 -year -old's breasts removed. It's amazing to me. And so the family's totally getting obliterated and deteriorated. That's why this school matters so much though, and why what you're doing matters so much, is that a strong nuclear family is a bulwark to any form of tyranny or any sort of despotism that we live through. And is Marxism really the kind of diabolical, and I use that word intentionally, enemy to the American republic and the American project. As it aims to do these things, as it continues to try to put these ideas into the zeitgeist, we ask ourselves the question, how does one fight back against it? And that's why the rise of homeschool and this alternative schooling is so exciting. They want you to just release your kid to the public government school and never ask a question after that. If you actually read their literature, they don't believe that it's your child. It's the state's child. That's not an exaggeration. You might say, Charlie, how did Colorado get so wacky? You know Colorado is the second most educated state in the country? College -educated state? There is your answer. Is that if you are non -stop producing people with college diplomas that believe men can give birth and have degrees in North African lesbian poetry, don't be surprised when your politics go insane. I trust welders, plumbers and construction workers far more than any given professor at, no offense, CU Boulder. I'm sorry, I just have to say it. I'm sorry. And so we must build new things. And I mentioned this earlier, we do not do a good enough job of defending our institutions from infiltration because we let our guard down and they take advantage of our good intentions. How many times do you feel like, well, what's the big deal? I want to be accepting to all people. So here's the playbook. It's so simple. Get a seat at the table. Complain relentlessly till I'm able to debase the leader on fake accusations and then I control the institution. How many times have you seen that? FBI, military, university campuses, major corporations, and they're relentless. You know what they operate? They operate like a bacterial infection that will not go away, that will just gnaw and gnaw and grow and grow and multiply. And we're like, well, my goodness, the CRT, DEI people, they used to have two seats at the table. Now they have 10 seats at the table and I don't want to be called a racist because that's the worst thing that you could be called. And so let's just let them control everything. So how do you summarize CRT? Call everything racist until you control it. That's it. That's what CRT is. Queer theory, call everything transphobic until you control it. It's a means to power. It's not about liberation. It's not about teaching history. It's a means to institutional takeover. And so the alternative is once they take over everything, build new stuff. And that's what you're doing. And so my one piece of advice to you guys, build, be bold, but please be vigilant about them trying to capture your institution. Because they don't build new stuff. That's what's crazy. They don't ever build anything beautiful or bold. They just take over stuff that we have built with our value system. And then we're like, well, we used to have that great thing. We used to have that church and used to have that school and used to have that place and used to have that company. And so they're experts at takeover. And so building new things is quite honestly the only and the best option. So I'll say this in closing. I get asked all the time, Charlie, this is a Christian audience, Charlie, do you think that we're in the end times? And I'm not a pastor, I'm not a theologian. So I'm not equipped to answer that, but I can say this. I'm very concerned that people are being taken advantage of by some pastors out there where they say, Charlie, Jesus is coming next Thursday. I don't have to do anything. I don't have to fight. Look, people ask, are you pre -trib or are you post -trib? I'm pan -trib. It's all going to pan out in the end. So I'm on the welcoming committee, not the planning committee. Okay. So this whole thing is a bunch of, you know, it's somewhat of a distraction. And, but, you know, people say, Charlie, you know, we must look, yes, we must look at the signs at the time. It's important to know what it means in the days of Noah. All that stuff is great and really important. I understand that. However, here's where it drives me nuts and I see it happen. And I want to make sure this might, if this touches one of you tonight, I will have done my job. Okay. Because you might be listening to some of those overly emphasized end times pastors, and you might feel disempowered and you might feel like you don't have to do anything. If I could just reach one of you, I feel I've done my job, which is the right response is if you feel that the world is ending and Jesus is coming soon, is not run to the Hill with the kids, is to occupy till Jesus comes. Is to hold as much turf and must terrain for his imminent return. And that must be our attitude because I'm afraid it has become an excuse. And I mean that very carefully. I've seen it where people say, Charlie, I don't need to donate. I don't need to start schools. I got asked by a Christian the other day, why even have kids? Because Jesus is coming again so quickly. I was like, wow. Jesus said the time or the day and the hour is unknown. It could be five minutes. It could be 50 years or 500 years. I get in trouble for even saying that because people say, Charlie, it's no more than five years. I said, listen, we don't know. It's what you do that matters. The enemy would love nothing more than to have us remain complacent, remain neutral if we are off by 200 years. God wants us to fight for what is good and what is righteous, regardless of what the signs of the times are telling us around us. And the most important thing that we as Christians have done a bad job and we as Protestants have done a bad job of is this. And I have to brag on the Catholics for a second. They have done a much better job than we as Protestants have done, a much better job at building colleges. And they're all woke now, but at building. But that's what happens. We don't defend anything. We build these beautiful things and the bacteria takes over. And so then at K through 12 schools, and I'll prove it to you, how many Bible believing spirit -filled Christians are on the US Supreme Court? There are far more Catholics. It's because they are experts at multi -generational type building and passing down values. I think we can learn something from that. And I think that one of the reasons we haven't done that is that since 1950 there's been a strain of Christianity that has told us we're getting zapped up in the next five minutes. And that might be true, but you have to act like it's not. And you have to act like you could have a lot more time left on the clock. And so if we change that attitude, by the way, the whole ball game changes. I hope you understand. You will ignite one of the most powerful silent majorities if you get Christians that have been waiting for the imminent return the last 60 years and done very little, and you get them into an action phase and realize that they have to try to act, watch out. All of a sudden the enemy is going to be on the run in a very, very big way. Okay, let's do some questions and I'll stay as long as you'll have me. So, okay. Okay, so I have one question and I'm going to turn it out to all you guys. So get your questions ready. The college thing is a big deal. I feel like we've been even asked, do you send your kids to college? My husband's out of the room so I can say this. They're not going to Boulder. For those of you who don't know where my husband went and where he's very involved with right now, but it's a tough call. What do you think the chances are if let's say our kids go through a school like this, make it, get into a college percentage wise, where are we at with dropping off the bandwagon? You'll lose one out of four. Across where that's what you see in universities. Even the strongest K through 12 that I've seen, homeschool, one out of four will be lost. If they have a public school, you'll lose closer to 50, 60 percent. Wow. Okay guys, we've got a lot of work to do. We're going to try to break that statistic. Or just not send them to college. Yeah. Okay. Well, yes. Well, right. Well, that'll be an open thing. Unless they go to Hillsdale or CCU, but yes. But those are the exceptions. Let me be very clear. Yes. That is not how most schools are. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Good. Very good. That was very enthusiastic.

Crypto Banter

19:56 min | Last month

A highlight from Is The Solana Rally Just Beginning? (Full SOL Analysis)

"When the crypto market makes a major move, it's always important to identify the strength in the market. And it's undoubtedly clear that Solana, amongst all the altcoins, is exhibiting relative strength versus the market, up 21 % for the week, whilst many other altcoins, despite being up, still aren't outperforming Bitcoin, which is up 10 % and pushing towards 30k. So what is going on at Solana? What are the reasons why it's pumping? And what are the charts telling us about where Solana could go next? I'm going to cover all those topics in today's video. So without further ado, let's get straight into it. The first thing I want to note is that both major FUD events for Solana have ended up marking local bottoms. And this is such an important lesson in crypto to actually use fear as an opportunity to accumulate. Remember, back when Robinhood was selling, so essentially they delisted Solana and were forcing its users to liquidate Solana, that ended up marking a local bottom, because that was essentially peak FUD of a potential overhang. And then the exact same thing happened a month later, when it turned out that FTX was holding a billion dollars in Sol, and there was a lot of panic about potential supply overhang in relation to FTX being forced to sell to repay its creditors. We saw Sol Tank all the way down to $17, and this also ended up marking a local bottom. Both times, I also pointed out the fact that the market was likely over -exaggerating, and I actually even said in the case of this Sol and Matic buy that I was using an opportunity to fill up my bags amidst all the fear. So what can we take away from this? Essentially, peak FUD for Sol is always the best time to buy Sol, and it's not just for Solana, it's a lesson in the greater market in general. If you believe in a project, you should use these extreme red days, as long as the fundamentals of the project haven't been affected to your advantage. And both times, we've seen strong pivots. But what's happening with Solana now? That doesn't explain why Solana's pumping, it just explains the psychology of the market. So let's actually look behind firstly some of the metrics, because we just got a Q3 report from Masari, which shows a lot of really interesting stuff to do with the fundamentals of Solana. And then let's have a look at the technicals to see how the fundamentals are lining up with the charts, to try and give us an indicator as to where Solana might be going next. So here are some of the key metrics from Solana's Q3 performance. A few interesting metrics stand out to me. The first thing to note is that Solana's market cap grew by around 20 % quarter on quarter to $8 .4 billion. The second interesting point to note here is that Solana's TVL grew by 743 % quarter on quarter, finishing as rank number seven amongst all chains by DeFi TVL. This was largely due to the rise of liquid staking on Solana and the subsequent rise in staking ratio, which saw a bunch of TVL flow into applications like JITO and LIDO, as well as Marinade Finance. That's one of the catalysts behind why we saw some TVL growth across Solana, but also some of their major AMMs and protocols like Orca and MarginFi also experienced increases of 26 % and 52 % respectively. So overall, Solana DeFi did see an uptick, and Solana DeFi has historically lagged versus other chains, but its performance in Q3 is a sign that the tide is starting to turn a little bit, at least in the short term. But despite TVL increasing, daily non -vote transactions actually decreased 25 % quarter on quarter, whilst average daily fee payers dropped 37 % quarter on quarter. This is largely due to the fact that A, crypto hasn't been that active during this period due to a lack of volatility, and B, the NFT market has seen a decrease, and Solana being one of the biggest retail NFT chains due to its low fees and its fast performance clearly has taken a knock with less NFTs being minted and less general interest in the NFT sector as a whole. I mentioned staking before, and this is actually one of the most interesting metrics from Solana, from this Masari report, because we can see that staked Solana is almost back to its pre -FTX collapse levels, rising 2 % quarter on quarter. And what's super intriguing about this is that the FTX estate, which holds a billion dollars worth of Solana locked and unlocked, actually chose to stake a significant portion of its Solana instead of just selling it. So a lot of people were anticipating they were just going to market sell. That's not the case. Galaxy, who's mandated to get the best possible sale price and the best possible results for its creditors, has actually decided to stake some Sol, largely because the rewards behind Sol are very strong. You've got a reward rate of around 7%, which out of the top 10 cryptocurrencies that you can stake is actually the highest. It's more than Polygon, it's more than Cardano. Only Avalanche is of a similar reward rate. So I think they just did the math and said, look, we can actually get a decent reward in the interim while proceedings are taking place. And the staking ratio of Solana is also one of the highest in the markets. You can see 71 % of Solana is staked compared to Ethereum, where only 22 % of the ETH is staked. This means that price can squeeze more aggressively when it does move to the upside because there is less circulating in the market. Of course, you can unstake your Sol and sell it. So it's not exactly like lock Sol, but to some extent it does reduce supply pressures. Cardano is another coin that has a really strong staking ratio, but the overall growth of the staking market for Solana, which has been powered by liquid staking, that has been very good for market dynamics and also good for TVL in the ecosystem as more people have decided to enter Sol to get that reward rate. And that's helped buoy the price in the interim. And one last metric I want to look at from this report is the Solana uptime. So we can see that the network has gone 234 days without a network outage, which is its second best streak. So one of the notorious flaws of the Solana network has been its downtime, but it does seem to appear that, at least in the current market conditions, they've been able to stabilize the network, issue network upgrades without having extreme outages. And yes, the market isn't as active. So maybe it's not being as stress tested, but the thing with Solana is they've always taken the approach of launching with a bunch of issues, seeing what works, seeing what doesn't, breaking shit, and then essentially fixing it along the way, which is quite different from a coin, let's say like Cardano, which has really tried to refine its approach before launching, but then it doesn't get the same kind of first mover advantage effect that a chain that just launches with issues has had. So, you know, it's a blessing and a curse because it does cause a lot of FUD. And I think some investors over the course have lost some faith in Solana as a network due to its downtime, but it is good to see that over 230 days, the network has been running without any issues. So those are the fundamentals. There are some good fundamentals. The activity on the network probably is the only downside. The staking is a huge upside, but overall, it was a good Q3 for Solana fundamentally. This is a great report by Messari, by the way. I'll link it in the description below. I highly recommend that you read it. So now let's look more at price. Why is Solana moving so aggressively? You have a little bit of an idea now because I've talked about staking. I've talked about supply overhang, but now I actually want to look at the technical analysis and I found the pattern for Solana, which I find really intriguing that I want to break down. Breakpoint, Solana's biggest conference is on October 30th, which starts in roughly a week's time from today. And Breakpoint historically has been a big trigger for Solana price movement pre -event. So I've actually gone and I've mapped the last two conferences and the current conference to work out what Solana's price action did in the lead up. And the results are super interesting. So let's go into the daily chart to make this even more clear. Firstly, let's go back to the November 2021 conference, which kicked off on November 7th. We can see that Solana aggressively rallied into the event. This also happened to mark the Bitcoin peak at the time. So there was confluence with general market movement, but Solana moved up into the event, which is demonstrated by the red line here, before aggressively selling off post -event. And yes, market conditions at the time were starting to shift. Bitcoin and many altcoins put in their tops. So it's not an exact science, but it is interesting. It was buy the rumor, sell the news. Fast forward to the 2022 conference, which was the conference that occurred once again in Lisbon. And we saw Solana made a move from its local lows to its pre -conference highs of 44%. So a massive pump pre -conference before, once again, you guessed it, Solana actually dumped post -conference. Now, once again, general market movement also happened to coincide with the conference. It's crazy how coincidental these conference moves are. With the FTX saga happening and Solana obviously being involved with Alameda, took one of the biggest sell -offs in the market. So if there was no FTX, would Solana have sold off this aggressively? No, but that is now a second time where Solana has aggressively moved into a conference and dumped afterwards. Fast forward to today, this red line marks the conference. As I said, the conference starts in roughly a week's time. Solana from its local lows has moved up 59%, almost 60 % from its lows and it's approaching the conference. What happens now? Do we see a buy the rumor, sell the news event? Well, I don't necessarily want to assert that's the case because the sample size of two, given the fact that there were extreme market movements around those conference dates the last two November's, makes it really hard to decipher whether it was a conference sell -off that was taking place or whether it was the general market affecting that sell -off. And I think it's a little bit of both. But one thing we can assert, Solana tends to aggressively rally into breakpoint conferences and we're seeing this once again. And there almost might be a little bit of seasonality at play here because breakpoint happens every November. Solana in November just seems to trade quite aggressively and has these huge spikes and has these huge dumps historically. So I think you could probably assert that this is a move into the conference. Do you get a sell -off after the conference? I mean, past data would suggest this would be the case. I don't want to come to any crazy conclusions, but you do have to be wary for sure as an investor that you don't want to buy into pre -conference hype. And although this conference isn't really as hyped up as some of the last ones, it's more of a developer conference. It's smaller. It's still a pattern that I wouldn't be comfortable like, eeping into necessarily knowing that we do get these sell -offs around the conference day. So if you are shorter and you want to take a trade on this, then it could actually be interesting. See that final thrust start to happen, then you see a concrete reversal around the time of the conference. Then you could actually pick off quite a nice conference short here, but that's if you believe in this as being an event that's tradable. It may not be and it won't be something that I trade unless I see like a clear reversal starting to take place. And of course, you wouldn't trade on a chart like that. You'd likely trade on a chart like this, which has horizontal levels marked out. And what I'm seeing on Solana right now is it's currently breaking above its range high resistance. This was a level that we rejected off three times back in January and also in February. However, there was one time in July where we spiked above, then we came back down and ended up rejecting off this level, which took us back down to the $17 mark. Remember, that was during a lot of the FTX concerns. We have managed to make a move upwards. We're thrusting into this upper range here, but you do have to note that until Solana can clear above this level and actually hold above $27, this still is a resistance zone because where you draw the line, actually ends up affecting what ends up being a resistance zone for Sol. And we know that pockets of liquidity aren't necessarily represented by lines. They're represented by areas. So your general zone of resistance could probably be drawn out more like this, more from the $27 zone to the $30 zone. And this whole entire area becomes resistance because you do see wicks with the purpose market often take price like through the zone. But it's where Solana closes that you really want to take note of. So until Solana starts to substantially hold and form something like a bull flag in this area and consolidate over a few days, I don't think it's any reason to get crazily bullish and make you want to FOMO into resistance. Really, this is a time to monitor Solana, see how price action starts to firm here. And then if we see any major pullbacks, but you're maintaining nice horizontal structure, then those pullbacks could be the zones to buy. But for me, it doesn't make much sense to ape into spot here or ape into any sort of leverage trade here. Just me personally, it doesn't make sense. My strategy with Solana that I've been very public about on my Twitter is nibbling at Solana, adding it to my long -term bags because for me, this is a long -term position. I like the fact that it's a non -EVM ecosystem bet. I like the developer ecosystem. I like the apps being built on the ecosystem. And for that reason, it's long -term, right? So I've been using these major sell -offs, these extreme red days as opportunities to DCA in. And pretty much every single time we've had extreme red days, it has marked the local bottom and we've been able to get two nice DCA opportunities into Solana through this. So for me, that's my Sol strategy. My strategy isn't aping into Sol just based on the chart. The other thing is the Sol Bitcoin chart still, even though it has made a pivot off its local lows, is still in a sideways accumulation phase. And as long as this is in an accumulation phase and hasn't officially broken out, Sol is still underperforming the market. I mean, it's still down around 90 % versus Bitcoin. So like many alts, I don't think it's wise to get like incredibly bullish as soon as you get that little move off support lows, because at the end of the day, we still haven't broken any major horizontal structure versus Bitcoin. And Bitcoin is still the market leader. So that's how I feel about Solana at the moment. But now let's talk about how I feel about Solana long -term. You guys know that I'm DCAing, but do I think that it can hit its all -time highs again? That's a big question that I see floating around on Twitter. I do have an opinion on this and I want to share it with you. Before I get into that, just a quick reminder that if you do want to level up your trading game and apply this to a coin like Solana, you can use Kyber AI to spot bullish and bearish momentum for altcoins and also look at on -chain analytics for alts. For example, Sol, not on the native Sol blockchain, because it's EVM only, but you can use wormhole Sol to get information based on the current momentum of a coin based on its on -chain activity. So this Kyber score is really cool because it shows you whether a coin is bullish or bearish. And you actually can see on this data map here when a coin shifts from bullish to bearish or bearish to bullish momentum, which can help you in terms of getting confluence for taking trades. So link in the description for early access to Kyber AI if you want to use it. And also a reminder that Kyber just launched their new scroll elastic pools. So scroll is essentially a new network, a new layer 2, which has just launched a couple weeks ago. If you've been watching my airdrop guide videos throughout the years, you would know that this is one that we were anticipating. By the way, interacting with scroll probably going to be good now to get an airdrop now that mainnet is officially live. And also an airdrop video, but that's a little bit of alpha for you. Definitely have a look into scroll because I think there could be an airdrop on the table here for early users. And one thing you can do is stake on scroll in order to earn an APR on an application like Kyber, but also build up your volume on the network. And we can see here Kyber has some amazing new pools that they've launched like ETH, USDT paying 72%. They've got pools with their own governance token paying crazy APRs, stable coin pools, etc, which all are elastic pools. Essentially enable you to earn trading fees from the Kyber platform just for LPing. So there's a link in the description to KyberSwap if you want to use Kyber AI or check it out. But I thought I would give this to you as a little tidbit update considering that their new pools on the scroll network are live. And there's a link in the description below. So quickly to answer the question, will Solana make all -time highs? Again, this is probably a debate we could go into over and over. Let me know in the comments, by the way, right now, if you're watching this video, do you think Solana will hit all -time highs again? Yes or no? I am going to say no. I'm going to say no. Now, does this mean I'm not bullish on Solana? Not at all. I mean, if it hits its all -time high, it's still a 10x. If it halves its all -time high, it's still a 5x. A 5x in this market in spot is still a very good return in my opinion. So you can still be bullish on a token and think it won't hit its all -time highs. But I think it's going to struggle. Let me just tell you a couple of reasons why. Firstly, you could make the argument that Solana's all -time high wasn't a real all -time high. Why? Because a lot of the metrics we had at the time were extremely misleading. We saw that there was this developer that essentially faked DeFi TVL, which inflated the Solana metrics at the time. We also know it was a crazy bull run. So there's a lot of capital just flying into any coin that had bullish fundamental metrics. And of course, traders started piling in and crazily aping in to Solana for this reason. Also, you had the L1 narrative being super strong. I don't think it's as strong now. Last cycle, there was this kind of lack of block space narrative going around that ETH was slow and Sol was regarded as an ETH killer. So that also really helped propel the narrative behind Solana. And you also had crazy transaction volume. And the way Solana counts transactions is different to other chains. So the volume looked a lot higher than it would across a lot of other chains because the way it counts vote transactions. There are a few reasons why the metrics were inflated. And for that reason, price was also likely inflated at the time. So not only that, but you have a lot of supply overhang still from FTX. You have a lot of holders that are bag holding that are underwater and also VCs that have locked positions that will probably look to exit if Solana has any major pumps. Like Solana, because a lot of people bought in and are underwater and that includes VCs and that includes the FTX liquidations as well. As the price starts to increase and climb up and up and up, you have this sell pressure because people simply just want to get their money back or they want to exit and use a pump as an opportunity to get some liquidity out of Solana. So I think what we'll see is a little bit more supply pressure on the Sol token than other tokens as it gets to 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100. And then we'll make it harder to have that explosive run to the upside that it did last cycle. So for that reason, I think it'll be really hard for Solana to get to $250 again. Does it mean it can't happen? No, I'm just skeptical. But I think it is a fun question to answer. So if you have another opinion, answer yes or no in the comments below as to whether you think it'll hit all -time highs again. I'm saying no, but it still is part of my long -term portfolio because I still think it can make a push to the upside in a bull run. And for that reason, and I think the ecosystem is super strong, I'm still going to have a position in Solana. But yeah, it won't be holding out for $250. I'll tell you that much. Before we head off, I want to give you a reminder that the data ownership protocol Testnet is officially live. In the last video, I showed you how to use the Testnet. But for those that didn't see the video, DOP is essentially a protocol that allows you to take control over your own assets and show the world what you want to show on the blockchain and keep control and ownership over your own assets of the data that you want to obfuscate if you choose to. Meaning you can essentially have a wallet and choose what you want to show to the world or not. So they can't just google your wallet address and see what you hold, what you're transacting, etc. If you want to test it out because the mainnet isn't live yet, their Testnet is live and they're going to airdrop 1 % of DOP tokens when they launch. Expect it around January to users of the Testnet. So this is a chance to get on board early before everyone else and also a chance to use the protocol early before everyone else. And you can see here, you can do a bunch of things like claiming Testnet ETH, claiming Testnet DOP, claiming Testnet USDT. And you can do this all for free obviously because it is in a Testnet. So there are a couple requirements that I'm still yet to do. Step 5, 6 and 7 which is sending assets which enables you to send assets and keep your transaction confidential. So this is really awesome because you can actually choose if you want to show a transaction hash to the world so no one can see where you're sending your tokens. And then there's another step which is decrypting assets. That's making assets that you encrypted unencrypted so then they're available publicly again. And then the last step is following them on Twitter. And after you complete all the steps, you're eligible for the DOP token rewards after it's launched to get a potential DOP airdrop. So just thought I would remind you about the Testnet that is live. Super awesome protocol. I think it's really needed in the crypto space and we haven't had a protocol that enables you to do this very easily so it is an exciting project that I'm looking out for when their mainnet launches. But link in the description below to test out their Testnet. Hope you enjoyed this video on Solana. Answer yes or no to the question whether Solana will hit its all -time highs again in the comments below. And I will see you in the next video. Have a lovely day. Peace out.

CoinDesk Podcast Network

07:32 min | Last month

A highlight from SBF TRIAL PODCAST 10/19: Listen how Judge Kaplan's Anger Hits All Lawyers in the Sam Bankman-Fried Case

"Welcome to the SBF trial, a Coindesk podcast network newsletter, bringing you daily insights from inside the courtroom where Sam Bankman -Fried will try to stay out of prison. Follow the Coindesk podcast network to get the audio each morning with content from the Coindesk regulation team and voiced by Wondercraft AI. We've entered the soul -sucking phase of Sam Bankman -Fried's month -long criminal trial, the part where an antsy Judge Lewis Kaplan paces and glares and then lashes out at prosecutors and also defense lawyers for wasting everyone's time. The government proffered two dud witnesses on Wednesday that probably did more harm to their working relationship with Judge Kaplan than good to their borderline airtight fraud case. Ex -FTX lobbyist Elliora Katz and the paper -pushing Google bureaucrat Corey didn't Gaddis spend an hour on the stand between them delivering lackluster performances that peeved the no -nonsense judge. Late in the day Kaplan accused prosecutors of calling up a mannequin in Katz who had spent her morning testimony mumbling variations of I don't know anything and I didn't work at FTX back then in response to most every question. Her perplexing statements hinted that Katz would rather nuke her own credibility than play the game prosecutors wanted her to. That game was hardly earth -shattering, simply reading tweets and transcripts into the court record. At times Kaplan was very clearly peeved at the sheer number of documents that Katz was asked to read into the record, especially given these were all public statements made on Twitter or uttered from the defendant's mouth in front of Congress. As bad as she was, the Googler was worse. Gaddis, who responds to legal requests the search engine giant receives, spent his ever -so -brief testimony saying there existed metadata that, I guess, demonstrated some Google doc whose contents weren't actually discussed, had been received or worked on or something by Bankman -Fried. Then cross -examination demonstrated Gaddis didn't know a damn thing about metadata, a revelation that threw the bench into disarray. We have 18 people devoting time to this case and it's really a crime. What you're doing to them," an exasperated Kaplan grumbled at the prosecution once the jury had left the room. He blasted them for making Gaddis fly from Texas to New York City to spend what couldn't have been more than ten minutes saying literally nothing of value. "'Lawyers are supposed to do a little better than this, and I'm talking to both sides,'" the judge said. The crux of Kaplan's indignation with both the prosecution team and defense attorneys was the result of their apparent failure to stipulate. Stipulations are how things run smoothly in a court. Some pieces of evidence are facts that both sides agree are facts. I can appear on C -SPAN and say my crypto exchange isn't stealing anyone's money while also wearing a $10 ,000 suit I bought with their cash. Those statements notwithstanding, my defense and prosecutors should be able to stipulate before blabbing in front of jurors that the video is itself real. That might be what happened with Katz, or rather, what didn't happen. Prosecutors had an array of videos and blog posts related to Bankman -Frieds and FTX's representations to lawmakers, and they seemed to lack stipulations for some of them. They took the long route to getting it in the record, despite actually having stipulations for a small handful of exhibits Wednesday. The situation was even more absurd for the Google employee. During a short afternoon recess, Kaplan pressed defense lawyer Chris Everdell on why his team didn't simply agree to a stipulation that would have eliminated entirely the need for Gaddis' testimony. Everdell said prosecutors gave them late notice about the evidence they'd focus on Wednesday, and then never asked for one. Now, that's not to say that every government witness Wednesday was a fizzler. We can't forget Finance Santa Claus, a white -bearded Australian accounting professor named Peter Easton who teaches at Notre Dame. His testimony was tantamount to beating Bankman -Fried with a sock full of coal. He dug a knife into the defense by arguing it was simply impossible for Alameda to spend billions of dollars on its various pursuits without also dipping into customer funds. On cross -examination, he twisted it. The defense did land a pretty solid punch on a different accounting expert called by the government, an FBI forensic accountant whom defense lawyers pinned in a corner for seeming to mess up her analysis of the flow of funds that led her to believe Alameda spent its own money on political donations. Her lips seemed to quiver from the stand. But the day's best zinger went to the prosecution, who, despite their frosty moments with the judge, still finished Wednesday strong. With the help of an SDNY investigator, they dug through the infamous Twitter conversation between Bankman -Fried and journalist Kelsey Piper. You know the one, where Bankman -Fried curses out regulators as well as the stupid little games woke Westerners play and bemoaned his loss of funds. The line sounded pretty soulless and damning. Jurors certainly thought so. At least three nodded their heads and smiled after hearing them, as if to say, yeah, he really did it. So we finally heard from many of our outstanding witnesses, and it turns out both Shamelle Medrano and Paige Owens were with the government. Medrano is an investigative analyst with the U .S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York, who explained tweets and direct messages, while Owens is a financial forensics The Department of Justice confirmed on Wednesday that it will not call Andrea Vander Merwey, a proposed expert witness, and only expects to call former FTX General Counsel Kan Sun and Third Point's Robert Borgerdi to the stand on Thursday. Everyone expects the court day to end early on Thursday. Defense attorney Mark Cohen asked whether the defense has a broad list of possible witnesses, said the defense is still working on it. We're certainly not going to rebut the expert that they didn't call, he said. That seems reasonable, Judge Kaplan quipped in response. We're then on break until October 26, when the DOJ expects to rest its case. The defense, which is still not acknowledging whether or not it will actually bring a case, could begin presenting it that same day. One note on this last point, a defense is not obligated to present a case. The burden of proof is on the government to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Bankman -Fried committed fraud and conspiracy on the different charges he faces. The defense can just immediately rest, as if to indicate that the DOJ has not met that burden of proof. I don't think that's likely, and I fully expect the defense to present its case that Bankman -Fried is not guilty of the seven different charges, but Cohen and Judge Kaplan have both acknowledged this possibility, including on the first day of the trial. The burden of proof is always on the government, the judge told the jury, before opening statements on October 4. The defendant has no burden to prove innocence, no burden to produce any evidence, no burden to testify, or obligation to testify. The defendant has an absolute right to remain silent, and if that's what happens in this case, you may not consider his silence against him in any way. Want to follow along? Sign up for Coindesk's new daily newsletter, The SBF Trial, bringing you insights from the courthouse and around the case. You can get the podcast each day right here by following the Coindesk Podcast Network. Thanks for listening.

The Podcast On Podcasting

10:29 min | Last month

A highlight from Ep393: How Do You Increase Your Visibility? - Jeremy Haig

"It makes you not only like a trusted voice in the space, but also like kind of a cool friend that people want to see what you have to say. So I'll say it's those consistency played a huge role. Second was finding my voice. And third was really committing to my own marketing strategy. Most hosts never achieved the results they hoped for. They're falling short on listenership and monetization, meaning their message isn't being heard and their show ends up costing them money. This podcast was created to help you grow your listenership and make money while you're at it. Get ready to take notes. Here's your host, Adam Adams. What's up, podcaster? It's your host, Adam Adams. And today our episode is going to be probably a little bit different because I don't know how deep we will go into some of this. But the guest that I have on has a couple of podcasts and a YouTube channel as well that he's been growing. And when I was listening to one of his episodes earlier, it just made me think. It made me question things. It made me not sure about what to think or to not think. And you may have felt somewhere similar to that. So the main podcast that we're going to be interviewing Jeremy about today is a podcast called When Walls Can Talk. And there's a lot of interesting stuff on there. And like I said, it makes me think. And I want to get his journey why through he started the podcast, what he's trying to do out of the podcast. And it looks like he's really trying to make this the full -time thing where it's the main focus and the main source of revenue. So let's figure this out. Let's dive in. It's a little bit different. And I think it's going to be fun. What's up, Jeremy Hage? Thank you for having me. It's really nice to be here. I love this topic and I love talking about it. So I started a podcast. So I started the show in June of 2021. So it's only a little over two years old now. I'm definitely fledgling in the podcast space. And what really started it is actually living here in Colorado. I stumbled upon stories of these locations that many would deem paranormal or supernaturally charged or that kind of thing. And the more that I dug into learning about it from a research and historical perspective, the more I discovered that there was a lot more going on here than I thought. And I was just so blown away by the stories that I was finding that I had to tell somebody. And I think my friends kind of got sick of it. So I ended up pulling out a microphone and I kept pushing it off for a long time. Honestly, I didn't really know what I was doing. And in many ways, I'm still learning all of that as I go. But eventually, thanks to two really dear friends of mine who run their own podcast called Ouija Boards and Midnight Margs, two of my best friends, they basically just plopped a microphone in front of me and said, surprise, you're putting out an episode. And really grateful that they did because everybody has to start somewhere. And while I've grown so much from my first episode until now, it's still one of my most talked about and most listened to episodes of my entire 60 episode calendar or catalog. And so I started it because I just think that there's more going on in the world around us than we recognize. Well, let me say this, the paranormal and true crime podcast space is very saturated. There's a lot of content out there. And there's a lot of really big names in this particular niche of podcasting. And so what was really important to me was to identify what can I say about this topic that's completely different from anybody else. And I really appreciate your comment about making you think because that's ultimately what I settled on is, instead of just telling you stories about paranormal experiences and true crime stories, which are all fascinating and wonderful, I would rather allow the people who have already carved out that space to maintain that and why don't I do something that's a little bit different. So my vision was, let's focus on the humanity behind the stories. Let's use these stories of passed on people who hoped and dreamed and lived and passed and failed and all of these things that happened in these charged spots. And use their stories as a way to learn more about our own world. Let's learn more about our own society. And so my goal at the end of each episode is I want you to walk away thinking about something and find a way to use that story to make you think about something in your current life. That makes me feel like I've done my job. I've used the space in this niche to create people who aspire to be better stewards of the world and of the people around us. So yeah, that's kind of the space I've carved for myself is finding ways to tell famous paranormal stories, famous paranormal locations with a very unique perspective. So real quick are all of your podcast episodes and I think we're in like season three, episode 17 ish. I'm not sure if that's right when where you are now. And you mentioned in the beginning that it started out as a Colorado thing. And I wanted to find out is because the story that I listened to, I wasn't aware that was in Colorado. So I'll ask you if you've later kind of moved on to other states. Yeah, 100%. So my first six major episodes, I call them my production episodes. Those are the ones that I do with like sound effects and music and stuff like that to try to immerse you in the moment or in a period of time. Those first six were all Colorado. And then from there, I wanted to kind of spread my wings and grow into new locations. Some are really famous in the paranormal community, places like the Villisca Axe Murder House or Waverly Hill Sanatorium stuff that you see on like the paranormal investigation shows all the time. But I also try to sprinkle in some ones that people might be a little less familiar with because I think that they deserve to be heard. I have quite a few of those coming up in the rest of 2023 and into the beginning of 2024. But yeah, no, I've definitely extended beyond Colorado. I feel like it might be important for me to add a few more of those back because people really really appreciated those. But currently, I'm definitely on a more international kick. I try to pick somewhere from all different continents. I'm going to South Africa next year. I'm going to Australia. By going I mean taking you there. Are you personally going to be flying out and visiting? That's part of my hope. Honestly, you can write the whole damn thing off. Since it's part of your podcast, and you want the podcast to be your main source of income. It's a write off. It doesn't have to come out your pocketbook. This is true. I think there's so much that can be done with it in the future. I think I'm only genuinely feel like I'm only just beginning of what this is going to be. It's cool too, because I recently got cast. This is kind of separate from the podcast. I got cast on a new YouTube series that's going around Colorado doing paranormal investigations. So that's been a lot of fun too. It started to get me away from the studio and out into spaces in a new way. But here's hoping I end up traveling to some of these because recording live from there would just be the coolest thing. Yeah, it would. Hey, why do you have more than one podcast? It seems like this one. I need to pull it up. Is it called When Walls Can Talk? Correct. Okay. When Walls Can Talk. It seems like that was kind of like the main one and you started that at June of 21. But when I was listening in, you advertised another and you talked about another one that was switching to YouTube and just kind of curious why two or three different shows? Why not just one show? Absolutely. When Walls Can Talk is definitely that's my flagship. That's my that's my baby. That's the one that's will always be kind of number one. And everything else that I've chosen to create has all been in support of that network in support of my avatar in support of who is the consumer of this content and what other spaces interest them, as well as which one of those spaces aligned with my own fascinations and interests. I remember in high school, one of my dreams was actually to be I wanted to be a cinematographer, I wanted to work in film. And my life has taken lots of twists and turns. But I've always maintained that fascination for film. But even more than just film, it's also the world that goes on behind the camera and behind the scenes. And as I've done my own personal research into some of my favorite movies, I discovered that there are some wild stories around the movies that we know and love that kind of tell stories of how they almost weren't created, how people seemingly were cursed on set, how people had tragic accidents, murders, like, for example, we're talking about like Wizard of Oz. Wizard of Oz is one of the darkest backstories of any movie I've ever researched. It's insane. And I feel like that doesn't actually take away from our appreciation of movies by knowing that if anything, it makes us appreciate the film for what it is even more. And so my goal was not to split my audience, I think some might look at it as not the wisest choice of extending into like too many niches or too many things. But I've always also had a dream of creating a network in a world built around When Walls Can Talk. I've always been so inspired by like the Morbid Network, which is now on Wondery and all of the shows that are kind of morbid. And I'm a bit of a dreamer and a bit of a masochist. So I basically just said, why can't I create that space on my own? Why can't I create that orbiting my main show and create socials and Patreon and email marketing and online courses and ebooks that support and speak to the varied interests of my listener the way that I have varied interests. And yes, that person might be very specific. But I also think it's really important to have an avatar that's very specific, because there will be something in my space that caters to a lot of people, even if it doesn't cater to all of their interests. I think one lesson that I learned from the very beginning is at the first season of When Walls Can Talk, I had this vision of doing true crime paranormal stories, collective tarot readings and tarot analysis, interview witchcraft or experts. spirituality And I very quickly realized that throwing all of that content at my listener was very disconcerting in the sense that they didn't know what to expect from me. And so the people who came for the stories were like, don't particularly care about this tarot episode or the tarot listeners were like, I'm kind of just hanging out waiting for the next one of those. And so distilling When Walls Can Talk down to focusing on these production episodes and finding new homes for some of that other content has really helped my listenership grow.

Evangelism on SermonAudio

16:46 min | 2 months ago

"cursed" Discussed on Evangelism on SermonAudio

"Amazing right? That's why he went there. That was his mission. The idea that there are outsiders who are getting saved and they need to come in and tell those who are insiders. Again there are a number of different evangelistic themes you could work out but in the end these lepers have tasted God's grace and they know it's too wonderful not to share so they make haste to go and tell. Go and tell. Go and tell. That's the response of people who drink deeply from the wells of their salvation and these new believers are already full and they first encounter guards at the gate and they tell them what's happened and there's a bit of tit for tat, a little communication and the message gets to the king and his household. Apparently Jehoram was raised up from his evening slumber but Jehoram's response, it's these lepers were dupes. He basically said you don't know what you're talking about. The Syrians are playing those guys. You see Jehoram figures the Syrians really what they're doing is they're just hiding. They're trying to bait Israel because the Syrians know that the Samaritans are starving and as soon as Israel approaches the camp the Syrians will swoop in and it will be game over for Israel. Jehoram must have thought in that moment he was so clever. He's got it all figured out, doesn't he? But he's a total fool. Don't forget 24 hours earlier, 24ish hours earlier he had heard Elijah say God's deliverance and rescue is coming. He heard that and instead of believing that and seeing the fulfillment of that right in front of him, this is definitely something else. Now I've mentioned this in the pastor's sermon so I won't belabor it but this is the folly of unbelief and we keep seeing it over and over again. And in this instance Jehoram is doing his level best to forfeit God's kindness, to push God's blessing away from Samaria. But God has put someone in place who can check Jehoram's foolishness. Look there verse 13. And one of his servants answered and said let several men take five of the remaining horses which are left to the city. Let them go. Just check things out. What's the harm? And the servant is simply trying to say look where we are. We've got nothing to lose. It's interesting at this point Jehoram is a much better man. He could reason themselves that there's no reason to stay at that gate but Jehoram is such a fool he's reasoned we should stay inside the gate. That's how sin holds you and other, excuse me, holds unbelievers in bondage. Isn't it interesting as we've worked through these last few chapters that God keeps raising up insignificant, insignificant unknown people to bring about his salvation. Think about Naaman. He's a mighty general in Syria but he had leprosy right? How did he find out that there was a potential cure from an insignificant, unnamed slave girl who simply said to Naaman's wife look if my wife was a prophet there and he could be healed. Do you know who that woman was? No. We don't. She's just one of the insignificant people that God uses to bring his salvation to the people he's chosen to save. And you remember when Naaman went to encounter Elisha he was frustrated at Elisha's counsel. Go take a bath in the Jordan. He's like what? Are you kidding me? I could have done that. I could have done that in Syria. We've got better clear a river there. But God raised up an unknown servant to say look we've come this far. Let's go down the river and do what Elisha said. And here God does it again. Jehoram's a fool and God's raised up an unknown, unnamed person to bring deliverance to his undeserving people. Amazing. God always used the weak things of this world to shame the strong. He raised up this servant, someone whose name we'll never know, to fulfill and bring blessing to his people. So Jehoram again listens finally to his servant. He sends the chariots out. And what do they find? Not only have the Syrians fled but it's clear they left in such a haste that there's like armor and all sorts of things laying on the side of the road. And notice what it says in verse 18. So it happened, just as the man of God had spoken to the king saying, two sayas of barley for a shekel and a saya of fine flour for a shekel should be sold tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria. Israel had gone. They had plundered all that abundance. They had brought it back. And God's word of blessing has come to pass. And it's not just good fortune. We have to understand what's happened. God has just provided blessing where there was curse. He's provided salvation where there was wrath. That's why I entitled the sermon Hope for the Cursed. And that's the same hope we have. We were under the curse. And we were under the curse. And we were under the curse. And God sent his son to become a curse for us. We read that last week in Galatians 3 13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us as it's written, cursed is everyone who hangs on the tree. And we see a little picture of that unfolding in Samaria. And the narrator is very careful to tell us this salvation happened according to the word of the Lord. But the passage ends in a really striking way. While again, this is a passage that that reminds us that there's hope for the cursed. The passage wants to end by telling us there's judgment for those who spurn the tree. Verse 19 and 20. Then the officer who had answered the man of God and said now look if the Lord would make windows in heaven could such a thing be? And he had said in fact you shall see it with your eyes. We shall not eat of it. And so it happened to him for the people trampled him in the gate of the city. See God's word of promise comes true and so does God's word of judgment. Jehoram had told this captain to manage the gate and when the people realized what was going on and they could get to that food. It was like a soccer match in Europe and the people just ran right over him. Because we live in a rather soft tolerant culture we don't like to hear that God punishes those who reject him but he does. And I'm struck by the fact as you read through this passage that Jehoram had heard God's promise and it wasn't just here. He had seen God's faithfulness over and over and over and yet he and men in his court they refused to believe it. And this captain, God can't do that. He can't save. He can't do this marvelous thing. And I was reminded this week as I was reading one of the tragic trends that's sort of infiltrated progressive Christianity is this tendency to deconvert or to become an ex-vangelical. And you know what I mean by that? You know what they almost inevitably say? I don't want a God who does this or saves this way or responds in another way. And it always comes down to this. If God doesn't show love to everyone I think he should show love to in the way I think he should show love then I won't worship him. If God judges sinners then I won't worship him. Here's what you need to understand. If someone says, if God then stop. If God then, let me tell you what's going to happen after the then. Their knee will bow and their tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. And if then has kept them from doing what they're supposed to do and doing it on this side of glory they'll face God's curse in this life and the life to come. You have to know that. And when we hear this promise we ought to flee to Christ because that's the promise God offers to us. There's hope. There's deliverance. There's a promise of deliverance. There's rescue. There's full salvation. And there's abundant, curse defying life in Christ. Turn to him and be saved. Amen. Well I'll give you a minute to ask any questions. What brother Jeff said is the lepers were rich but they still had leprosy. Yeah they wouldn't have been allowed to live in some area. I mean we're not given any more details beyond that but we can go back and look what was prescribed for lepers. But they probably built a heck of a hospital. Sorry. You know we don't, you know we just, I don't know how to explain it any other way. Historically is it that, I mean were there, when are your lepers made also? No it was health care for all. No, actually again there were provisions for different kinds of leprosy. There were various procedures that the priest could institute and it's possible that at some point they could have been cleansed but we just, we don't know that. I thought about this and I would love to make that connection because then we could say something like these lepers were saved. But it's hard to say that and that's why I kind of, this is a picture of salvation. Well that's what I was wondering because salvation, leprosy was a shadow of sin. Yeah. So they haven't been cured. Yeah. That's why we're making that connection to our gospel, salvation. Yeah and the reason I say that is again there's a miracle unlike Naaman who did and he not only had, he had leprosy but we're told when he dipped his hand the seventh time into the Jordan River he came out and his hand was like the flesh of a baby. It was, and it was ceremonially clean and pure and that indicates that excuse me he was, he was saved in conventional sense of the word. Just I can't, I don't see how this could apply so.Again I think it's a picture of salvation. Interestingly enough the way we translate the actual word there is Aram for Syria. So Aramean is actually a more literal translation but the Greek translation always makes Aram Syria and so most of our translators shifted that but it's, that's generally the explanation so. It's, but the word is Aram for Aramean and again they just translated it Syria so. He's talking about the fact that they left some of their horses behind. I suspect the horses were for chariots more than for riding and that would be more common with the way they did warfare and so they would have had to you know put them together and whatever. However you hitch a horse to a chariot and they didn't have time for that right. They're like we got to get out of here. It's interesting it even says they fled for their lives. It's to give us a perspective of what they were feeling and sensing so. Again to your point by the way that's why I do take this as a picture of salvation because of what lepers represent in scripture. But that's all I see in it as a picture so. Well let's pray. Father we thank you for your word and we marvel that your grace is truly greater than all our sin and we read a passage like this and we contemplate Samaria's rebellion and Jiboram's rebellion and high-handed sin and faithlessness and foolishness and yet you lavish kindness on the people. We marvel at that and your grace is scandalous and it's grace that's scandalous to and for us. That we were men and women who were under the curse and that curse has been abrogated in the cross of Jesus Christ who bore it in our place. And so we go out from here this evening now that we will never be dealt with according to your wrath or your curse. There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Fill us with gospel confidence and consolation as we go from here knowing that curse has been satisfied. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Let me ask you to stand brothers and sisters to receive the Lord's grace, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forever. And all of God's people said, Amen.

Evangelism on SermonAudio

29:20 min | 2 months ago

"cursed" Discussed on Evangelism on SermonAudio

"Well, let me ask you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Kings 7, and we're going to read verses 1-20. 2 Kings 7, beginning in verse 1, this is the infallible, inerrant word of our God. Then Elisha said, hear the word of the Lord, thus says the Lord, tomorrow about this time, a saith of fine flour should be sold for a shackle, and two saith of barley for a shackle at the gate of Samaria. So an officer, on whose hand the king leaned, answered the man of God and said, look, if this thing be, and he said, this is Elisha now talking, and he said, in fact, you shall see it with your eyes, or you shall not eat of it. Now there were four lepers, men at the entrance of the gate, and they said to one another, why are we sitting here until we die? If we say, we'll enter the city, the famine is in the city, and we'll die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live, and if they kill us, we shall only die. And they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. And when they'd come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise, no one was there. For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses, the noise of a great army. So they said to one another, look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us. Therefore they arose and fled at twilight and left the camp intact, their tents, their horses and their donkeys, and they fled for their lives. And when the lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank and carried from it silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried some from there also and went and hid it. Then they said to one another, we're not doing right. This day is a day of good news and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now therefore come, let us go and tell the king's household. So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them saying, we went to the Syrian camp and surprisingly no one was there, not a human sound, only horses and donkeys tied in the tents intact. The gatekeeper called out and they told it to the king's household inside. So the king arose in the night and said to his servants, let me now tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we're hungry, therefore they've gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the camp and they'll catch them alive and get into the city. And one of his servants answered and said, please let several men take five of the remaining horses which are left in the city. Look they may either become like all the multitude of Israel that are left in it or indeed I say they may become like all the multitude of Israel left from those who are consumed. So let us send them and see. Therefore, they took two chariots with horses and the king sent them in the direction of the Syrian army saying, go and see. And they went after them to the Jordan and indeed all the roads was full of garments and weapons which the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. So the messengers returned and told the king and the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shackle and two seahs of barley for a shackle according to the word of the Lord. Now the king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate but the people trampled him in the gate and he died just as the man of God had said who spoke when the king came down to him. So it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king saying, two seahs of barley for a shackle and a seah of fine flour for a shackle shall be sold tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria. And that officer had answered the man of God and said, now look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could such a thing be? And he had said, in fact, you shall see it with your eyes but you shall not eat it. And so it happened to him for the people trampled him in the gate and he died. The grass withers and the flowers fade but the word of our God endures forever. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that it is true truth and we pray that that truth would reach into the minds and hearts of your people this evening and we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Well, there's congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ. You may recall from last week that I said from chapter 6 verse 24 all the way down through the end of chapter 7 where we're dealing with a text that hangs together. It's a single narrative. I chose to divide it up for practical reasons but I do want you to know this, the chapter break, chapter 7 is a bit arbitrary. Now on the previous Lord's Day, we focused on chapter 6 that highlights some of the implications of Israel's desperate predicament. The Syrian army had besieged Samaria which meant there was a blockade around the entire city, nothing going in and nothing going out. And just as the siege intended, it created in Samaria a catastrophic famine where something as unsavory and unappetizing as a donkey's head or dove dung cost an absolute fortune. So the people simply had nothing to eat. Now you'll remember from last week the implication of their predicament was much worse than donkey heads and dove dung. King Jehoram went out and he was inspecting the city walls and he encountered an evil. That's truly breathtaking. There were mothers who were killing and eating their children and it's important to pause here and remember what we learned last week, that Syria besieging Samaria, the famine and even that grotesque cannibalism were actually implications of Israel's predicament. Their predicament, their actual problem is that on account of their idolatry and disobedience, they had fallen under God's covenant curses. Now if you want to explore God's covenant curses as they relate to this passage, you can check them out at Deuteronomy 28 verses 52 through 57, Leviticus 26 verses 27 through 29. We looked at that passage last week. The point is God had given them over and he's pulled back his hand of restraint and we're Well even Jehoram seemed to be shocked by the events and he made a show of tearing his clothes so that people could see he seemed to be mourning and then underneath the clothes on the outside he was wearing sackcloth on the inside and that of course is a garment typically associated with repentance and his repentance was a sham. We know that because instead of seeking out God's prophet for a word of direction or a word of comfort or a word of deliverance, the king's impulse was to have Elisha murdered. He actually sent an assassin to take Elisha's head but of course the prophet of God to whom God reveals himself knew what was happening and barred the door from the messenger and assassin. And as the men held the door, the king showed up right on the heels of the assassin likely wanting to make sure that the job got done and we began to learn there near the end of chapter 6 that the reason Jehoram was filled with bitter anger toward Elisha is because he's the one who told the king that those events that Samaria was experiencing were the Lord's judgment and that he must repent and wait on the Lord. And now having learned what those women were doing Jehoram's done waiting and chapter 6 ends with Jehoram making it clear that from his perspective the one to blame for this whole sordid mass is Yahweh. It's his fault. Look there at the end of verse 33 in chapter 6. Surely this calamity is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer? Most of Israel is living in spiritual darkness choosing to worship false gods. Samaria is enduring God's just covenant curses and they aren't at all bashful in telling their king that they're engaged in the worst imaginable kind of evil, cannibalism. And King Jehoram no longer has patience to wait for Yahweh and the reason he wants to take Elisha's head is because he can't get to Yahweh's head. And one of the most surprising truths that unfolds when we make the transition to chapter 7 as great and shocking as Samaria's sin is, as great and shocking as Jehoram's sin and impatience is, we come to something more shocking, something that's gloriously shocking. We learn that God's grace and patience eclipses their sin and impatience. We're getting a picture that God's grace is greater than all our sin. I mean the king is at Elisha's house to kill God's prophet and God's going to announce through his prophet a message of good news. That's why I entitled the message this week and last week Hope for the Cursed and that's what we pick up this evening. Look there at verse 1, it sets the stage. Then Elisha said hear the word of the Lord, thus says the Lord, tomorrow about this time a saya of fine flour shall be sold for a shackle and two sayas of barley for a shackle at the gate of Samaria. He said don't miss this. Elisha provides a kind of double affirmation to make it clear what he's about to speak is a divine message. Hear the word of the Lord and then thus says the Lord. It was a way of saying this is God's word you're hearing, don't miss this. This isn't just my voice you're hearing, you're hearing God's voice. And the message from Yahweh is that in just 24 hours there will be relief. Prices will return to normal, commerce will resume at the marketplace, at the gate, at the entrance of the city. It's amazing news and it's nothing less than God's good news of deliverance to people who utterly don't deserve it. Of course the news is so amazing and so good that Jehoram's captain is convinced it's simply too good to be true. And listen to the poetic way he describes his skepticism. Look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven could this thing be? The captain sure knew how to turn a phrase didn't he? But his eloquence simply masks his rank on belief. God's made a glorious promise. He's offered good news in a context of utter despair and hopelessness but that's not for him. He can't make sense of it so he just settles in his doubt. God can't possibly do this thing. And by the way we can rightly criticize this captain but isn't that a thought that plagues our minds often? We hear the promises of God and in the back of our mind. We think God can't really do this thing can he? I think we can struggle with that as well. Well as hope begins to emerge here in chapter seven we also do get this word of judgment. Because where there's salvation there's going to be judgment. And so Elisha tells the captain you're going to see God pour out this promised abundance on his people. You'll see the promise fulfilled but you won't participate in the cursed estate. And we'll see when we get to the end of the chapter that not only is God's word of promise and salvation fulfilled but there's always his word of judgment so sort of hold that thought for a couple minutes. Now Elisha didn't tell Jehoram or his officer how God would fulfill his promise but we're sort of privy to what's going on. You know it's something they used to do in the older movies. Meanwhile over here and that's sort of what we get. Meanwhile over here we find God's rescue and deliverance is going to begin in an unlikely place and with some unlikely man. We're told in verse three that there are four lepers who are at the gate of the city. That's an interesting place to be because lepers were driven out of the city and they wouldn't have been normally hanging out at the gate. They would have been pressed beyond it. So you have to think it's because there's a blockade and because the gate's closed they've gotten over there. Because lepers ordinarily can't enter the city where God's people dwell because they're unclean. So the gates shut up tight. But here's the thing, they're in this weird predicament where they can't get into the city to get away from the Syrians. They're sort of pushed between the Syrian and Samaria and they're in a desperate place. And they start to take stock of their situation and they apply some leper logic. If they stay at the gate they'll die. They think if we manage to find a way to get into the city and this famine continues we'll die. On the other hand if we go to the Syrian camp we could very well die. I mean they may very well kill us but at least there, there's this slim possibility, just a slim possibility that they might let us live. So having weighed their options leper logic said we're going to the Syrian camp. And we're told there in verse five, and they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians and when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp to their surprise no one was there. And what a surprise it must have been. They certainly thought when we get to the camp we're going to be in grave danger. But they're not. And they must have wondered what in the world has happened. And again we're privy to what God was doing. Yahweh had made the Syrians here what sounded like a great army, an army with a mighty cavalry and they heard these incredible sounds. It's hard to contemplate the volume, the decibels that must have been thundering outside of Samaria. And the Syrian soldiers they're sure that Jehoram has hired mercenaries to come from the Hittites and the Egyptians and the Syrians were so terrified at these loud sounds of soldiers and armies that they don't even bother breaking camp. They simply beat feet out of there leaving behind their tents, their livestock, even their gold and silver. What they heard struck terror in their hearts and then they fled for their lives. It's really something isn't it? And you'll remember we learned this just a couple weeks back. It shows us the story of the sovereignty of God over his enemies and ours. God had blinded the Syrians to protect Israel and especially to protect his prophets. God was feeding intelligent reports to Elisha again to protect his people and protect his prophets. Now he overcomes their enemies with the sounds of a great military. Again, behind this is God's willingness to fight for his people, to ensure this victory for his people. Whether it's blinding, deafening sounds, secret intelligence reports, God is fighting the battles of his people. And when the lepers, again they don't really know this. We know this, but the lepers don't know this. They enter the abandoned camp and they experience what will be for them. A life changing, transforming reversal of fortunes. In that moment they went from poverty to plenty. And basically they're granted all the benefits of the spoils of war without ever having to lift a finger to fight it. And as soon as they get their bellies full of food and drink they actually start stockpiling gold and silver. One moment these poor four lepers were destitute and the next moment they've got a fully funded retirement account. And this really is one of those passages that you read and you can't help but see all kinds of gospel reflections, right? I'm sure some of those have come to your mind. Let me just mention a couple. First, the lepers were transformed from a state of desperation to a state of salvation. They were little more than the walking dead, right? Now they have life and they have it abundantly and it was all God's doing. It was the sheer undeserved grace of God. These lepers didn't deserve any kindness from God and yet they're the objects of the exceeding kindness of God. And this certainly describes how God saves sinners, doesn't it? It's a little picture of that. How God saves sinners and grants us new life in Christ. Even when we were the walking dead, dead in trespasses and sin, God made us alive together with Christ by grace. You've been saved, Ephesians 2.5. And we've been raised up and seated with Christ in the heavenly places so that in the coming age we will see the exceeding riches of God's grace for us in Christ, Ephesians 2.7. Grace and riches are what deliver us from the dead lepers experienced. It's only a faint blip on the radar screen compared to the grace and riches God provides us in Christ. And again, we don't lift a finger and the victory is won for us and we enjoy that inheritance forever. A second way we see a gospel reflection is that the lepers experienced sovereign grace. Now it's obvious as day just reading through this passage that the lepers good fortune is clearly God's doing and all of God's doing. But there's a little detail in the text that seems to be inserted here to show us just how precisely God's orchestrating these events. It says in verse 5, the lepers left for the Syrian camp at twilight. And then we see in verse 7, it was right at twilight that the Syrians fled. By the way, this word twilight in the whole Samuel, Kings, Chronicle narrative is used three times. Once back in 1 Samuel 30 and then twice here. So this word is meant to catch our attention. The lepers left at twilight. The Syrians left at twilight. And perfect timing. It's not arbitrary, not accidental, and not coincidental. It's to highlight that God's working out the purposes of his will to bring a salvation to these lepers right down to the precise time that one leaves and the other shows up. God's superintending over the details to provide salvation and an undeserved inheritance to the lepers. And then we see and isn't that what we have? In Christ we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to him who works out all things according to the counsel of his will. Ephesians 1. There are a number of little gospel gems here, but I'll leave it there. The lepers, they're enjoying their new fortune. And some are very critical of the lepers because it took them a while to realize this, but they do realize something. They realize while they're enjoying God's blessing, there are still people inside Samaria who are starving. And so in verse 9 they said to one another, we're not doing right. This day is a day of good news and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now therefore come, let us go and tell the king's household. Indeed it is a day of good news and they want to proclaim it. You know it's interesting, we heard something of that in Psalm 96 this morning, didn't we? Psalm 96 verse 2. Sing to the Lord, bless his name, proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day. These lepers, they've experienced that good news and they want to proclaim it to the folks in Samaria. The word good news in Psalm 96 and in 2 Kings 7 is from the root word that means that's besor or besorah. And it's the Greek translation of that word is probably one you've at least heard echoes of. It's euangelizumai, it's the evangel, it's glad tithings, it's good news, it's gospel. And for these lepers having personally experienced this good news, it's their impulse to go and tell others and they know if we don't do that we'll be guilty of being stingy with the good gift God's given them. Now you could probably arrange a whole sermon around what this teaches about evangelism and frankly some very wonderful expositors have done that but we don't have time but you could ground a whole sermon on evangelism from this text and you wouldn't be stretching the text. You could describe how these lepers were beggars who had nothing to eat and all they were looking for was scraps and once they had been given bread they wanted to go and tell other beggars where they could find bread. You could work that kind of thing out or you could point out that the lepers were outsiders who are now saved and go to tell insiders, right? Because these are the people who weren't allowed into communion and fellowship with the covenant community and now they're the ones with the gospel. I was talking to someone very recently within the last couple of weeks and I mentioned to them that America receives the second highest number of missionaries of any country in the world, right? So again the harvest is plentiful and those of you who like and have been blessed by the ministry of Alistair Begg, he came to this country some 30 plus years ago to be a missionary and you know what he identified as his mission field? The evangelical church.

The Struggling Scientists

02:31 min | 2 years ago

"cursed" Discussed on The Struggling Scientists

"That didn't malfunction. The results came back from libido monks. Were exactly what we wanted. The paper's going to happen so with all turned out fine. That isn't always the case. Of course but i mean if it wasn't i wouldn't be talking about this. Obviously that would still have trauma. So yeah i wanted to tell the story just to show that These things happen. The these cursed experiments definitely happened and To to not give up when roofs are falling on evenly. Roof are falling down or you. Everything seems to go wrong fungus happens. Don't give up just just walked through that falling roof and keep doing those experiments. Yes yeah the you have anything to add to the jaren. i'm jay. I'm sorta taken aback but also sort of humbled by the fact that your colleagues worries about me. They know jay. Yes you knew. Really want this experiment in your paper i do. Yeah i need it. It's the paper paper expert from the paper. Joe yeah we'll definitely need to highlight the paper when it comes out This is dr pepper for from the experiment. Oh yes it has to go into the cutting and three shits bible that we can make fun of it. Of course guest. We definitely need to make on her own pavers. And that's for sure okay. Well i hope this wasn't a to negative anniversary episode. But i think it's really fun to to charities kind of experiences to not only show that the good nice side of of science and also again i the only one with these kind of experiments everybody has done in the resilience that that scientist show is just impressed me so much so often and also my colleagues. I mean it's just it's it's a hard job. It's not easy. If you wanna comment or reach us. You can do that fire. Our facebook page are linked in page our twitter our twitter or our email account which is struggling scientists at hotmail dot com. Thanks everybody for listening bye bye..

The OjiFanboys

03:54 min | 2 years ago

"cursed" Discussed on The OjiFanboys

"Ny but i'm really excited about about jujitsu qasim like i just want to see happen. You can just make anything up. I want to see. I mean in terms of what i wanna to see. I kinda wanna see. I wanna see you know at. I think i know. I want to see that too but i'll tell you dispatch. Does this seem like a world war anyone's happy. You know what does not no not so happy as just i don't think happens of his an option for you. Yeah so that's why. A close second is i want. I want to see tremendous amount of violence. Maybe even want to see a final showdown of yuji versus hookah or go joe versus. Who is someone. I wanna see. Only somebody finds soukhanov full strength. I guess my website doesn't really at the top of my list. Okay okay. I like that you get a taste of that. I'll tell you that much. Maybe even megumi versus soukhanov like something like maybe like this big drama suit violence. I promise you it's by people will die. People will die from the incident it. This is not the type of show where you know you. You sugar cope. Who who you know like the there's gonna be consequences Like this all this is. This is super long term down the line. What i'm imagining happening is. Let's say Yuji yuji has the fight Ud fights has to fight soukhanov or something. Or maybe there's like another big bad where you gsa yusupov power. And then like megumi has to kill her now has to fight super-9 kill and like that's how it ends a focus. It also. Killing yuji does so tragic ending tool unfortunately out the charging. Because they told you this. I was gonna at think you g i think yuji will die everyone around and this is the death chooses and that led the way you said that s the perfect way like he will choose for magnetic l. because negative me was the one who saved by Do us deputy will save So i i. I like how.

The OjiFanboys

04:57 min | 2 years ago

"cursed" Discussed on The OjiFanboys

"I it's a difficult one just because dan. That's a really difficult one. So i lay a bunch. Bonk is just really creative right and you can just. It can be anything at domain expansion. Is her it just. It is when you hear the word. Von cobb just lights up your heart like just hearing you say. The future domain expansion is really key ten kai so it sounds just cool. Yeah and when he did the incomplete domain experience in alec. This is where it's super fire. Just like what happens when a psych in fully realized i was thinking about like later in the show. There's going to be like crazier things to domain expansion. Like someone can like make domains in their own body and super their power There's a whole bunch of crazy about that can happen. But you know because you're a genius that absolutely is gonna happen like not to the extent like you'd probably think it is but there's something in the manga that on a tells pre. I'm really excited about this. In ab- i and that's the thing but like going back to what you originally said about Like what episode. I like What part of the first episode you do to like. It wasn't like one episode. I feel like i was like five episodes in just like wow this favor show right now because i in the first episode like i was like okay i like it definitely like you're not gonna keep watching the second episode and just every week. I just kept liking it more. It wasn't like a like a my hero. Where after he took down the robot and i was like oh shit this is this is my shit was just like every week. Shitter am better and better. I will say when i was reading. The manga is like you know. I chapters good. No everything like that and might have to buy chapter fight. Those like i had things to catch up on.

The OjiFanboys

05:22 min | 2 years ago

"cursed" Discussed on The OjiFanboys

"In every week. It was judy jodi flagging every year whereas like the powers are really unique to and it's not like it's just like running like a bunch of random fights that looked just really well animated like fate. No offense the fate but like it's not like a bunch of its all offense. Fate uses okay so wants to smoke like it's it's it's giving you a good episode with a good story and it's giving you that all at the same time is back to back to back. What what i like about like you know the show for the fight scenes. they don't. they're not very long. Get most fights are resolved within the episode yet. And i really i. That's that's actually really refreshing. It just felt like there was no fluffing seats. And there's no real soda year and what. I felt like i needed to be there. Yeah and this is like How unrealistic for fights go days on end. Anyway you know most are finished on my fifteen minutes into the and no offense to dragon bosie. Love chicken balls didn't do it. I think where this fight went on for a minute. And it's fucking and it's like eight episodes even narrow told the whole pain thing. I thought was like so long ridiculously. Long ridden was probably like forty. Five minutes You won't feel that light. From by the time moves in like a show like naruto or insurance jaguars where like you. You feel every second like passing in by. Jews is like a real root second delves into the different things going on math and all that is not like they give you like four episodes of fight. A whole episode of aftermath is like or like a child like a recap whatever yet boom fighting fighting aftermath. Same episode perfectly. And yeah. you're not like you're not left waiting and that's just not even donald story. I like initial in the beginning in a stylish opera may shown in trump shown shop is named eric special. Certain way that we know is like extremely physical Physically gifted milan. That's why he can probably go this long the vessel. That is none of this arguments tonight but the show like besides like the whole thing. You could use a problem like jump four stories. You can run superfast you can throw back. He's super strong. It's ridiculous in throw fucking awesome. Shot puts yeah. He could throw shop. What's like baseball and like other naming sense and so what.

The OjiFanboys

04:51 min | 2 years ago

"cursed" Discussed on The OjiFanboys

We Need To Talk About Ghosts

08:12 min | 2 years ago

"cursed" Discussed on We Need To Talk About Ghosts

"I want to get drunk. That's what we did. There's reckless down another couple of months away outside the soundbar locked in the inside the pound for. It's just bisi just drunk. Yeah some get people downtown. Why all of being on pretty much. We'll milwaukee for us. What property young. He's skating down And i'm chainsaw. Cakes and gop. During kidding dines ups. 'cause bisi walk into town and if you call on you saw your sustained basis and yeah now what's from cyrus primary fat play. Okay so moving away from london matt you also said he had some tales of cast as in the likes to do with the foam. The poltergeist boyega. Why yeah So i should point out week. Did a conic film cusses special Full maybe possibility and yet we can't be bunk. Tipper thing is so fulfil such as the wisdom does. The film was in production for two years. And you know two years people are gonna die and that's the same with the access. The film's o'clock year. The bits mike and in that year the bit lot non people died yet now yet. Grown education law things with fall films on. This film is cost won't not tons of speaks that's it. Yeah i mean the whole roof of writings Those a fire on the and older Out exception of racism and she don't walk because it was basically a giant freezer are going to be warm enough to set fire to sorry a little things. Buck post is one which does helps in for hugh things home now should point out is it. It was might be a family field. That was never meant to be a fake horrible horror film. Want access your will something. This was to be a family film from director of text takes. Toby renowned for his family films. Well not but the thing was. He was also known for being a screenwriter as well if it uncrowded roles for closing countless them signs things wasn't allowed to dog wet because there was hope swing rise guild and directors guild. They went out to sign todd so he got became. Might this that dostam a little bit of a hollywood rumor that it was most ratchet by spill by pass was the name side directed by in the film series. Lot people know that. Have artwork the The age of twelve by h when she passed away Dominic dom she played. The sister was murdered by a boyfriend. Joan sweeney Not was just before. Settlements released was or common presents by cbs's lead actually madison wells. London Then you had judy to pay cane. He pasta why deigned before paul to was released some cancer and then Will sampson who plays the nakahara. Which yeah he post lie within a few months they let squad you deaths linked with it. Yeah vice can't be hawks just unfortunate for since not can say what is gonna happen And julia beckwith was very very old. will soon was starting through a. I think there was a transplant at money delight rights. So it wasn't unexpected. It's it's the way on hazard work. The famous To it was made. Tonight's it only to a couple of months. Mike pompeo the hatching go from re-shoot couple of bits. Absent gordon because while some scary i for like won't build studios expecting a horror fail as bicycles. Nobody who could use this coming though skill. Yeah so the gore enough and they'll those big room about a real scouting's being used in pool. Say you have the infamous room that everyone kind of knows by now with a book is not true. Yes it is hundred subtract. And hollywood has been using scout since for long time. Really because yeah you just medical scouts on s- by not from dugout from gravier your route that age son it's missile is William toss at Spooky comes to the house on haunted hill. And there's a scene where the body gets boy asset in comes out with a skeleton real skeleton but that's the claim. It's a lot cheaper to go to a medical office in cycling the scouts. And we'll give you fifty quid then going through special effects i am. Hey build a cisco yeah. I've heard that that was the thing. For the poltergeist incentive budget it was cheaper to get actual skeletons prosthetic exactly. That does nothing about it so well you try. I'm i'm sure that i still use. I mean David chen was in stage. By for best use will sell for that. It's going to happen but the weird thing was infants. I think it's just It's the first ghosn encounter in the bedroom. You know how the closet door and thailand get sucked into the world yes Just prior to you see poster. Just bob rookies bet. He's fell stalls. Posted thinking ian's pasta inbetween. That is that the super bowl now. It's a super bowl. Twenty two in nineteen eighty two. They will only on super bowl sixteen right this super bowl host actually says nineteen eighty-eight super bowl. So that's six years before super bowl. Why would that be post though. Suppose six years before now the by on the super bowl the place. Where is sunday. John lewis sites Success nineteen ninety six years has work was citing ill on january thirty first nineteen in san diego no way lots improbable stat on shadow. Screenshot of the posta with you shine on. Its welcome Stick on the Because i'm putting this out on sunday so stick it in the group. Then what's even with is really fucking crazy. Stephen with the teams are absolutely from At the same teams. That made it to no way. That's amazing shave off that more than the other thing and was it was it. Then you didn't know the foreign advanced to the plan suitable for advanced to know.

We Need To Talk About Ghosts

07:32 min | 2 years ago

"cursed" Discussed on We Need To Talk About Ghosts

"Okay so we need to sing to our two new wonderful patriots. Not only when you become a patriotic extra shows each and every week but you also help us stay. Afloat help this little independent. Show stay afloat so if you like us go into her eye. So are two new patriots. Go by the wonderful names of melanie. Live as a nikola handful. And if you're like me you automatically here the cadence in there to name together so therefore we're going to sing a little acoustic he beatles number to say thank you. The guitar is out and it goes like this melnea libraries nikola hand further sand the patriarchal to shows and not only that but the keeping. Let's here on the keep an allied. Cd-rom say thank you guys everyone. Melanie lives and nikola handball. Standard the on two extra shows and not only that but the keeping alexi wrong. Keeping t wrongs say you guys there. We go and i ended it on us seventh. Which is the way we do things around here anyway. Thank you both ladies. That's very nice of you to sign up. If you'd like to become patriarch. Joined that exclusive club. That is the patriot. Go to patriotdepot dot com votes. We need to talk about ghosts. Sees over there. I'll say it right. Don't put that you'll get nowhere. The patriot dot com forward slash. We need to talk about ghosts. That's it there's no coasties well there is to hear about them now. So i emailed today comes in from the wonderful katie and she sent in a trio of terrifying tales. Yes he has. I'm going to read them all out an email email. No genders and emails plays. Her email. Goes those high calf back on the neighbor's cat. Hi katie again. I've a few stories which may interest you. I've worked in nursing for ten years this year and now workers thankfully less chaotic from the naughty c word. I can finally share some of the more scary. On's with you. Wow what an intro. So without further edouard. Let's get to katie's i define tale. I now work predominantly in icu. We had a patient for four months in two thousand. Eighteen slush ninety. He went from being very very well to okay back to being well. One day his wife came as usual at the usual time. She came up to me and brackets the nurse in charge for that day and said something felt off and wanted to meet with the staff. She had an awful nightmare about it brackets. We shall call him d. for the sake of privacy a few hours after his wife s had left. Things took a turn for the west. My hospital is a specialty center for a lot of the region so we regularly get patients from across all county. His wife lived an hour away de became unwell. We called s and said she needs to come back in to see him within the hour. It's okay to come back. The events she described in hand nightmare came to life in brackets. He was seeing their late son. Her mother cold had repeatedly she had to pull over to feeling like she was having a stroke. D unfortunately passed away not long. After his wife arrived we were waiting for the police. To take him down to pathology. He was in a side room with two massive windows and a door with a window in the blinds. Were all drawn for privacy and dignity. We sold a shadow of tall slender man. Walk across the window. The clock above his door flew off the wall. And when we come back into the room to see if the poll is derived to to seeing the shadow we found his. Cd player playing leaving on a jet plane for weeks. He said he was going on holiday in a few weeks and had to be better while that is terrifying. And it's an interesting one. Because i know that people will listen to that and heard the description of the shadow man outer slender shadow man and so may automatically go our slammed them on as if that's not walk eighty saying here she's just describing the he's a very slight shadow so that is terrifying and interest in that. The wife had a premonition as well while. Thank you katie. Let's get onto your second terrifying tale of two deletion. While i was working in the emergency department we had a patient. Patient won't come in the middle of the night. He had many mental health issues and was well known to us at this point when he was severely on well he had religious delusions of grandeur in brackets basically. He thought he was a holy being. Who could see the world sins. Nothing out of the ordinary for acute slash. Imagine medicine however this one particular night. He was in the bay next to an unknown male. Who'd been a severely assaulted patient. Warm was screaming and shouting about the man in the next bed. Patient to being evil inhuman the devil in brackets. Keep in mind that they hadn't laid eyes in each other at this point patient to turned out to be a prolific prisoner in the uk who had done some awful awful crimes once patient to had been moved to a different area patient. One wanted to speak to the chaplaincy department to be cleansed this person's energy because it was so bad. Wow that is amazing and it touches on slightly and you know i. It's you have to be very careful. I feel like i'm treading on eggshells. Which i don't like i don't like that. You have to feel like that when you discussing things about mental health because it's obviously the people who don't work in an apartment or the area are going to get him analogy wrong. The may not say things in the right way but it doesn't mean the being offensive. So i want to say that before. Say this but we have in the past talked about you know. Maybe there is. Some source of balanced not balanced. That's the wrong word. Maybe there was some sort of interaction between what perceived as a mental illness. And some sort of psychic gift. And i'm not for any stretch of the imagination saying that. That should be taken some sort of serious medical situation Or theory or anything like that. But i've said it before about me. Non who when she had dementia and the dementia home. There was a lot of people who would often be in there saying like oh my husband's combs being dad. Ten years and things like that. And i just wonder if part of mental faculties fail it does open the doorway to something else. I don't know just an idea. Anyway thank you casey. That's another terrifying tale. And you will wrap things up with your third tale of terrific terrifying to deletion. Yes we shall. When i first started my nursing career. I had a placement on an elderly medical board. But i looked after the most lovely woman at this point. I was going through a lot of dark past things which nobody from work or university knew about at the time. This lady grabbed me by the hand and told me that i would soon be safe. I was loved a my little girl will always be looking after me at the time. I was in an abusive relationship. I become pregnant. Which i didn't know about at the time and i was convinced by my ex that my family didn't love me anymore because i was so unlivable. Somehow this lady soar into my soul and said what i needed to hear. Sadly she passed five weeks later. I went to her funeral and a daughter. Thank me for believing in. Have mother's.

Strange Brew Podcast!

04:04 min | 3 years ago

"cursed" Discussed on Strange Brew Podcast!

"<Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Music> <Speech_Music_Male> <Music> <Speech_Music_Male> <Music> <Music> <Advertisement> <Music> <Music> <Silence> <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> <SpeakerChange> hi. <Speech_Music_Male> I'm sorry <Speech_Male> i'm anthony. <Speech_Male> <Speech_Male> I'm pat <Speech_Music_Male> dammit. <SpeakerChange> Cutouts <Speech_Male> forty <Speech_Male> pat. <Speech_Music_Male> It's okay it did it right <Speech_Music_Male> this time. <SpeakerChange> <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> Good <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> and <Speech_Music_Male> everytime <Speech_Music_Male> we record <Speech_Music_Male> a new episode <Speech_Music_Male> of the <Speech_Music_Male> podcast <SpeakerChange> and <Speech_Music_Male> it's released <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> we talk about <Speech_Male> anything. Pop <Speech_Male> culture science <Speech_Music_Male> breweries tap <Speech_Music_Male> news. Sports <SpeakerChange> <Speech_Music_Male> anything <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> we also have guests <Speech_Music_Male> ranging from <Speech_Music_Male> comedians <Speech_Music_Male> musicians <Speech_Music_Male> politicians <Speech_Music_Male> to business owners. <Speech_Music_Male> We <Speech_Music_Male> liked to change it up <Speech_Music_Male> on the rag. <Speech_Music_Male> <SpeakerChange> <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> I you <Speech_Male> know like say <Speech_Music_Male> kid rock and it was <Speech_Music_Male> like. Oh my god. <SpeakerChange> That's it <Speech_Music_Male> rock. It was like <Speech_Male> really. <Speech_Male> That's pretty timing. The next <Speech_Male> thing you know <SpeakerChange> you <Speech_Music_Male> know. I mean you're standing <Speech_Music_Male> on stage kid <Speech_Music_Male> rock's <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> singing <Speech_Music_Male> and <Speech_Music_Male> playing <Speech_Music_Male> guitar and you're <Speech_Music_Male> like okay. This <Speech_Music_Male> is kind of <Speech_Music_Male> surreal. <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> So actually <Speech_Music_Male> like kid <Speech_Music_Male> rock <SpeakerChange> <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> Yeah a <Speech_Music_Male> what <SpeakerChange> a lot of times <Speech_Music_Male> right les. <Speech_Male> Come <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Male> <Speech_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> so modest. It's <Speech_Music_Male> kinda gross like <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Male> <SpeakerChange> <Speech_Male> <Speech_Male> then <Speech_Music_Male> there's like this website <Speech_Music_Male> where you see all the <Speech_Music_Male> job postings <Speech_Male> in radio <Speech_Male> in canada basically <Speech_Male> and i was always <Speech_Male> of cruise their job <Speech_Male> for fema six opened <Speech_Music_Male> up during the weekends <Speech_Music_Male> or swing <Speech_Music_Male> just like when <Speech_Music_Male> you fill it weekends <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Male> like man. That's the <Speech_Male> station. Grew up listening <Speech_Male> to was always fm <Speech_Male> ninety six. I was like oh <Speech_Male> dude. I got to try to <Speech_Male> get this job. <Speech_Male> And luckily i met <Speech_Male> to mark cabin <Speech_Male> wedding before. And he <Speech_Male> put it in a good word and <Speech_Music_Male> he was like as <Speech_Music_Male> a couple of drinks thumb. So <Speech_Music_Male> just <Speech_Music_Male> it's kinda like <Speech_Music_Male> just <Speech_Music_Male> get lucky <Speech_Male> basically sometimes <Speech_Male> Right place right time. <Speech_Music_Male> And i applied <Speech_Music_Male> and got <Speech_Music_Male> the job <SpeakerChange> <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Male> <Speech_Male> you gotta be mouthpiece <Speech_Male> every once in a while <Speech_Male> just avid. Good <Speech_Male> time with somebody. That's <Speech_Male> in the right spot. <Speech_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> I'll <Speech_Music_Male> tell you right <SpeakerChange> now <Speech_Music_Male> man. That's all <Speech_Music_Male> it takes <Speech_Male> you. Listen to the <Speech_Male> half cooked podcasts. <Speech_Music_Male> It's kind of like having <Speech_Music_Male> a few beers <SpeakerChange> with your <Speech_Music_Male> buds <Speech_Music_Male> crews along <Speech_Music_Male> at all sudden. I <Speech_Music_Male> feel sometimes <SpeakerChange> i i <Speech_Music_Male> look over. And it's <Speech_Music_Male> a robin and <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> <SpeakerChange> <Speech_Music_Female> <Laughter> <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Male> <Speech_Male> rock and robin <Laughter> <Laughter> trower <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Female> <Laughter> <SpeakerChange> <Laughter> <Speech_Male> opened <Speech_Male> up windows. <Speech_Music_Male> That <Speech_Music_Male> not the thing. <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> I <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> <SpeakerChange> <Speech_Music_Male> i was freaking out <Speech_Music_Male> on <Speech_Music_Male> spotify. Google <Speech_Music_Male> podcasts apple <Speech_Music_Male> podcasts. Stitcher <Speech_Music_Male> <SpeakerChange> and <Speech_Music_Male> amazon music. <Speech_Music_Male> <Speech_Music_Male> Keep the conversation <Speech_Male> going by <Speech_Male> following us on <Speech_Male> instagram. The <Speech_Male> the twitter's <Speech_Music_Male> and <Speech_Music_Male> until next time <Speech_Music_Male> stay. <Speech_Music_Male>

Strange Brew Podcast!

03:00 min | 3 years ago

"cursed" Discussed on Strange Brew Podcast!

"Good. For feet warmers so disgusting fucking drunk cow fucking station is country. Probably skill ahead. You took just.

Strange Brew Podcast!

02:57 min | 3 years ago

"cursed" Discussed on Strange Brew Podcast!

"Up will gather some money up and just fucking actually start doing haunted like next year with for halloween. I do want to maybe do a haunted walk. And billy will film and record it and we'll go to haunt to walk in niagara falls or hamilton. They'll be fine. It will do for fans we find shit so obviously street fucking horror and tara so much on here that there has been numerous reports of haunting stuff. So they have. obviously paranormal. investigator is come. There are more often than other places. One recent such account tip counts the typical activity. That happens in this town even to this day. And this comes from ghosts of america from a witness who says i moved into. My black river falls apartment a little while ago a year ago within about six months strange things start happening. My wife and i had an experience of feeling someone sitting next to us on the bed. In about a month ago. I was turning from my kitchen into the hall leading into the bedrooms when a face to face with the full bodied apparition of a middle aged woman shes He's a ghost of an old bitch. She vanished but i got a really good look at her. Nevertheless on another more recent occasion. I saw my cat staring at a place on the wall near the ceiling adjacent to the living room closet. I went to see what she was looking at. And i saw yellowish colored orb flowed across the ceiling and disappear into this said closet. The cat and west took your house. They so creeds would-be the cat then went to the closet and stared at the door. When i open the door she ran away quickly and the orb was no longer visible to me. Paranormal investigators talk. They always talk about or like learn today on ghost adventures. That's a better one. That's better. I like that one more.

Ball is Bae NBA Podcast

04:01 min | 3 years ago

"cursed" Discussed on Ball is Bae NBA Podcast

"That over as any talks about reducing the lord. The navy sixty six game season if players are not giving a fuck about the eighty two game season. Now it's seventy does what it is any of that using nicole pass up as seasons all all of our possibilities. I would love it to be like fifty five game season or whatever but it's not going to happen. They need to seventy two margaret Unfortunately i think they're gonna make sure some it said but Yeah no. I don't i don't see it happening. I feel that they have to. They have to meet their financial. Parkers did you ever interview davidson. No no no no. Because i was listening to bill spot cousin. Bill was talking about how this like. This whole like situation with kobe blazed rest and all that bullshit plays doing rebuffing for david stern because he would just be like hitler. Just come in together be honest finds after finds up to find a bright billion. Yeah like he he would be happy more than happy to be that person Like any any thoughts on that. I didn't think that part i agree. But it's easy for him to say that it's this adam. Silver is had an unprecedented situation. Like this is insane. What he has to deal with because he has to has to make sure the owners are happy but also he realizes the suppliers league the players. I mean the fact that the bubble the did the strike right that was completely players decision to do and the nba went wrong in hindsight. It's like an incredible decision for if david stern if he had made it on move then it would have been so bad for the nba. And adam silver handed that vote. So i think it's easy to criticize but like what would build similar. What any of us do in this situation. It's a very like difficult to balance Yeah i don't envy adam sandler situation right now. The fact that he has to make all the owners happy financially but make sure that the players the priority for everybody. You know so yeah. It's tough yeah. I said yes to the like the broadcast to be good but also like it has to be in keeping the got an. Thanks like i. I think they would go to ban because he he would add a just bring players blasted jo righteous gone. Do that like you said you know. Plan amanda that has to be a limit somewhere to dave out buying the hardened for that they should have still were forgave him. Saying it's christmas bullshit. Just fight him. Fight him as a precedent won't happen again even though it's a small it's nothing it doesn't mean anything to harlan. Still like it's about to open simple true okay. I think we need got bored of. Don't know what happened. I think my genitals unstable while somewhere in luxembourg. Okay man okay. Thanks again so much pleasure to be here. I also just want to be before we leave. they're going. You can identify a little bit about your new venture. Tucker like icu. More of what. The tucker dan a. Who doesn't i keep reading. Vogue doesn't show up and must've had but i see like dentist something about this document viewers jacket over the cheka. Who is on. We're like jamal. Murray like sort of will show up once in a while hobbled forty fifty point game and then drop and then drop like four thirty nights like back to back to back so that that's how we operate right..

Ball is Bae NBA Podcast

03:23 min | 3 years ago

"cursed" Discussed on Ball is Bae NBA Podcast

"He should be that. I feel that because like for three years. Now he's the only the nuggets doing so bad and investing conference stopped for hobart mandates getting asphalt as they've gone nuts. I think dust for that is beginning. The mvp i feel. I don't think people even talking about lou should be like you know this guy know. He took it to the guards finance. Can you give him some love and it wants to do with basketball and you. You only make jokes you know homo. It seems like he did it to wh. What's that echo. Delay the below evidence. I i think that's that's an issue. And obviously they have like huge defensive probably talking about the bad defensively. They're up there But yeah like i just. I'm really rooting for them to finish that op. Three range so that. Because because there's there's a gap here again no matter what he does really luca people crowned him before the season began and he's not ship been great. I actually had made my best friend davis. I taught at this season where they're gonna let eighty run regular season. He's gonna come back contract from the finals but he doesn't seem like it's going to us schilling. Yes so it's sort of an open thrown right now. I think these other two step again like the team doesn't have a great record. Katie could get it but now who knows how his new team react. So what i'm saying. Is it quality clearcutting. Like last year's seem like isn't even it right. I think yokich could be a clearcut candidate if and it started him if his teammates get more consistent could be a candidate teams. Don't have the lakers. Clippers have also clearly video. Everyone has pretty much attila. That's always true with the west is always like there's always one or two teams in the top and then like the five to eight is like two different different of two games. The seventy sixers have been pretty good. Been like they're like the one other teams like looking good so far and they miss the chance for heart and soul benjamin. Hopefully he's not taking. It personally is like okay. I can do my thing. I'm worried about miami heat slump. I make don't slump. But they're just as consistent as you would imagine they would be off like yes last time. Sooner lebron yeah. It's it's surprising. I guess the actually pretty pretty good this year. Yes that's better than the west overall feel. There's more competition night tonight in the eastern conference. They're all equally bag now only. Yeah so i feel like it. It's hard for miami to have easier games and to their record the way they were you know and has jimmy even been. He's been in and out. He's not that great. You know bam sort of hasn't been exceptional either. They've all been heroes been good. I've here have been good. Yeah so like otherwise they they haven't really been exceptional. So it's i don't know maybe it's just like fatigue from the bubble they would like so recent electric properly and i'd like nba acted divider..

Ball is Bae NBA Podcast

04:33 min | 3 years ago

"cursed" Discussed on Ball is Bae NBA Podcast

"It was amazing. I've not seen during his philadelphia's. I probably like the nice lady was already in a in san diego nuggets on the way down and people with us. They gone through the. He can't do this. He doesn't he had he didn't have that fuster ready. Just left the defendant by hitting. I heard shocks goaded. I like i said those three people and everyone's like faulkner metrics. When go you just fend something that all you have to watch. I don't think he could have inspired because we are probably closer to his. Now we they've got end What a great way to segue into that segment and lost to this today. I think they got us to the warriors a lot. Like even you had the katie and even otherwise it's necas on how to The comedy figure that out but what a beautiful go ahead basket. That steph curry hit vanak. His his in sixteen. You saw got that and then you get separation and his and you like a one beautiful arkansas and it it better go into the basket because it feels like Belong to the basket. It should not touch anything it not the by just gone. And that's exactly what happened Veep should be that Mvp's season for steph but he destroys openings. He does the they may not win. Many properly will not advancement in the playoffs but in all justice. Show the world that you know. I could have done all of this but you know i wanted to widdling so hyper dial it back a little bit. That's the feeling and i. I feel the same way. But now steph Like you're doing something that you know. It's unstoppable the against the game. I saw i saw most of the game at the things would would watching any warrior games. And you know some of these games have actually been like pretty terrible. They get beaten easily and then some games look incredible. I think and this has always been part of the warriors gene which is like you can never count them out. They could be like the clippers. Come back from chicago laliga today. It's just the always have that in them and ever since we need to replace draymond green return just like it's really ramped it up to the next come on. You have to admit steph got unlocked. And by the way. I love steph steph. Is like probably my second favorite player. He needed after kobe. But but i feel like gm one had to really unlock a lot of the defensively. Making things sorry. But i just wanted to give a little dream on shoutout to steph. That sixty two point game was incredible. Showing like you can still do this. And i'm like you. I want him to have a good season. I wanted to make the playoffs. They're just wanting to watch whether you hate them or like them. They just that. Because hill i find. Andrew begins very frustrating. But he's been bid better recently deems vice-minister augured edible. So so i just like the warriors. Even if i didn't love stuff. I just love the fact. I think they should be in the playoff mix for for the neutral. So one thing. I so the reason why i made the and russell westbrook comparison because i felt like this is. This is a really weird connection right so basically am comment. Oh play together. You can say that. James harden and at simply together and gabriela left the nuggets inventor new york next to play the mari and a mighty was already injured and he came the first..

Ball is Bae NBA Podcast

02:47 min | 3 years ago

"cursed" Discussed on Ball is Bae NBA Podcast

"To danko so they beat the bullets that they've done down. Just like how you lose ten points to mr when the fourth quarter and they managed to come back with a now so that western for you for your current based on that big question to to to ashwin is is do you think invest brooks career is over what i mean by that has the alpha man guy the guy the franchisee guy is kind of down. He's going kind of the common anthony. Where he's he becomes the bible off the problems of franchise. I now guide also kinda going that way all great balance but just cannot play the game of basketball. I like the comparison because similar to Like beloved estimates you know Just like legendary hard workers legendarily passionate like you. Can't you can follow them. And their personality i think. Just what the heart and soul to the game right and similar so much of the game relied on speed that the moment that four steps zeke stops being super otherworldly. Then you start looking very model and then you start your negative sort of takeaway positive right. So i in that sense and i agree. I think i actually feel russell. Hasn't i really don't think could have ever been an alpha guy in a winning team. I just don't see that. I think even in this mvp season they actually shocked me to win. Forty eight games like that. Was i think be peace. Because i was not a great. Even winning forty eight games was like a huge deal right. I really don't ever see him being a leader in a team that finishes for example the the homecourt advantage in any conference. You know So yeah i think. I think those days are done. It's going to be an interesting question of what to do with vessel going forward because he's obviously dynamic thailand. Kuchen use him properly due to his best level because he's high usage rate dynamic talent but her team so in interesting so i. I'm really curious to see. We thought doc it's unlock him a little bit. You know like a month or two after the six years ago but it was like a year ago. You know some wonder who who unlock in that way. But it's a question that i feel far smarter people in the nba. Have an answer to to win any thought. I mean since you brought up the you know the lack of do you think yanni's could also go down that road like if he doesn't like once citizen on he's a medic.

Ball is Bae NBA Podcast

05:05 min | 3 years ago

"cursed" Discussed on Ball is Bae NBA Podcast

"Do the original have come to brooklyn to be free from the failure to get a coaching. Or if only life teens after ling gotti magic waves across the vive of the king Stop to difficult to forgive. Put down no matter night or day. This that does at multiple we talked about on. The ball is based on your favorite. It'd be a podcast in indian accent. You're back again to dock. All things about the association on the southern hemisphere at the novi thought would win one. And that's the last time we'll talk to get on this episode of this week hard and moved to brooklyn guidi impersonated john. Cena spent a vity was traded without consent. And karl anthony. Towns finally proved that the coronavirus actively if you're contagious Speaking of morbid as always someone who follows roles more than cricket Someone who knows a good idea from about one and someone who believes tender. Coconut milk shake is the epitome of capitalism. We need we need. Welcome to the house. The shakings in has done growing and have you ever had been the corporate music. I have not had the schick. But you do believe that it is the of i do. Believe it's the epa dome of capitalism I also believe that avocados got any anything. Related is also the epidermal capitalism so hipster than capitalism bats. The the booklet seats. Anyway the yes yes okay good. Buffet mccarter story. But you know let. Let's get into the part. But if it's a shock story than i i don't mind getting a good workout. It's not really it's fine. Let's go to the bar. You know they our.