The Dangers of Country Music Theology (Ep. 496)

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1:05 This is Undaunted Life, a man's podcast.

1:08 I'm your host Kyle Thompson.

1:10 Let's get into it.

1:12 Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that

1:16 God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

1:19 For with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

1:23 That is Romans 10, 9 through 10.

1:26 So guys, I've got two big announcements today, but before we get to those, I'm back, sort

1:32 of kind of like I know I did a I'm back episode a little while back, but I think I'm back

1:37 back now.

1:38 For those of you that are new to the show, I know we've got a bunch of new listeners

1:41 here recently, I had two vocal cord surgeries this year, first one was unsuccessful.

1:47 Second one, we were hopeful.

1:49 It looks like things have gone well on the hardware portion of my recovery and it's just

1:54 been software work for the last several months, just trying to rebuild my voice, relearn

1:58 how to talk to to phone eight to vocalize to do all those different things and shout out

2:04 to Peter Keats with OU here in Oklahoma.

2:07 He was, you know, 20 year opera singer and, you know, performer and understands vocal performance,

2:11 but he's also a speech language pathologist.

2:14 And we think we've gotten ourselves to a position where I can safely come back and do solo episodes,

2:20 because for the last couple of months, I've done, you know, forging tables where I can

2:23 just talk for a second and then there's three other guys where I can do an interview where

2:27 it's me asking a question for a minute or two and then them talking for three or four or

2:30 five or 10 minutes, whatever, so I can get a lot of rest.

2:33 But where I'm at right now is way better than back on episode four sixty eight.

2:38 So that was an episode called what if God doesn't heal me.

2:41 And that was recorded right before my second surgery.

2:45 And to be honest, my wife and I were having discussions about, you know, what does life

2:48 look like if I lose complete control of my voice or if at the very least I can't perform

2:52 vocally via a podcast or on a stage or something like that.

2:56 And it's like, you know, what jobs are there where you don't have to talk like please officer.

2:59 Oh, crap.

3:00 You have to talk UPS driver crap.

3:01 You probably have to talk.

3:02 Um, we feel like we're in a good spot right now, but I just wanted to take a quick second

3:05 here at the beginning to just thank you for the messages.

3:09 Thank you for the prayers.

3:10 We still have a long road to Ho here.

3:12 I mean, I've just gotten to a pretty good spot here.

3:15 It seems like something has clicked even in the last few days.

3:17 So I'm recording this about a week before it comes out, but even in just the last few

3:21 days, I've seen some, some good things.

3:24 So this is definitely an answer to prayer.

3:26 God is good.

3:27 But even if he didn't didn't heal me and I talked about this on episode four sixty eight,

3:31 even if there wasn't healing and things didn't work out, I'm going to praise him all the

3:35 more and I'm going to be there, just like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were.

3:38 And I also wanted to take a quick second to thank the donors because again, I explained

3:42 this on that episode and I'll explain it again here.

3:44 We went from three episodes a week to two, well, we get revenue whenever we have advertisements

3:49 on our podcast and when you cut the podcast offering from three to two, that's a huge chunk

3:53 of our revenue.

3:54 And so to the donors out there that have kept us afloat, thank you so much for being monthly

3:58 donors. Thank you so much for being one time, you know, random donors.

4:02 It's been super, super helpful for us, but I do want to get some momentum going with this

4:06 show again.

4:07 So guys, again, there are a lot of new listeners to the show share this episode around with

4:11 your friends.

4:12 Let's get that momentum going.

4:13 Don't just share the show, share an individual episode.

4:15 Say, Hey, John, Hey, Tim, Hey, Bob, this is why I'm sending you this episode.

4:19 I think it'd be great for you.

4:21 And if you're doing that and you haven't left a five star review yet, go ahead and do that

4:24 as well.

4:25 But let's go and get into a two big announcements because we've got a lot of content we need to

4:28 cover today.

4:29 So I kind of tease this on Instagram last week.

4:32 This is big announcement.

4:33 Number one, we have a new product in the undaunted life store.

4:37 And that is cigars.

4:39 Yes, we have made our own custom cigars, undaunted life cigars.

4:45 And so we partnered with cigars.com.

4:47 That's cigars with an S at the beginning.

4:49 They've worked with folds of honor.

4:50 They worked with other organizations and we developed a medium body toro cigar.

4:55 I tried them during the sample process and then they sent me the first box of them.

4:59 And I tried them and they're, they're simply amazing.

5:01 They've got a long even burn and I was smoking it with a guy that's like a three or four

5:06 cigar a day guy who smokes thousands of cigars and he was very, very impressed with it.

5:10 We're going to be selling these in singles, three packs and the boxes, which are of 20

5:14 cigars.

5:15 But here's the thing.

5:16 This leads into the second announcement, even if you're not a cigar person, right?

5:21 I would highly suggest that you purchase these because they are just awesome for your

5:24 own consumption, which they are.

5:26 They're not just an amazing gift for, you know, the great people in your life, which

5:30 they are.

5:31 The profits for these cigars are going to an amazing, amazing organization and cause.

5:36 So this is big announcement.

5:37 Number two, undaunted life has partnered with the rescue team at the Tim Tebow Foundation.

5:42 Okay.

5:43 So the rescue team is what the Tim Tebow Foundation does for anti human trafficking and child exploitation.

5:50 Okay.

5:51 And here are some of the key things about what this team does.

5:56 They do prevention.

5:58 So that's the first thing.

5:59 They're dedicated to ending the cycle before it begins through prevention with education,

6:04 training and new policies.

6:05 And they do that with law enforcement on the ground all over the world.

6:08 The next thing is rescue.

6:10 This team is actively responding to this crisis by partnering with those that are able to

6:16 execute physical rescue missions and those providing for the immediate needs of the

6:22 survivors when they are rescued.

6:23 Okay.

6:24 So they are getting kinetic, but then there's also survivor care.

6:27 Okay.

6:28 So this group is deeply committed to supporting survivors long term recovery, okay, because

6:33 they need communities of care.

6:34 They need tools for, you know, physical, mental and emotional, social and spiritual healing

6:39 because of the trauma that they've gone through.

6:41 And so we're empowering their liberation from that cycle of trauma, and so that they can

6:46 find new life in freedom.

6:48 And this is all done through a Christian worldview and with a gospel centered lens.

6:52 So this group currently has operations in 30 plus countries.

6:56 And this includes five safe homes and they're partnering in 13 more as we speak.

7:01 There's, you know, 15 additional homes that are in the progress of, or that are progressing

7:06 towards supporting survivors and healing them as they transition back into a life where they

7:11 actually have freedom.

7:12 And so basically, let me tell you how this works for every cigar sold.

7:16 Money is going directly to fighting the trafficking and sexual exploitation of children.

7:23 And when I say directly, I talked to Steve, who is the president of the Tim Tebow Foundation,

7:27 and he assured me that all the money that goes into their coffers and specifically from

7:33 undaunted life, going in to support the rescue team under the Tim Tebow Foundation that there

7:38 is no overhead taking out of that.

7:41 Okay.

7:42 So they're not taking a percentage for pizza parties and first class, you know, business

7:45 class seats on planes and things like that.

7:48 All the salaries for the people that work at the Tim Tebow Foundation are paid for already

7:52 from different funds.

7:53 Okay.

7:54 So these are paid for by private donors and Tim Tebow himself.

7:57 And so when you buy a cigar, when you buy a box of cigars, when you give them to somebody,

8:01 that money is going directly to this team that is preventing and rescuing and caring

8:06 for those that are being trafficked.

8:08 Okay.

8:09 And so at a later date, I'll be able to tell you the exact numbers of how that all breaks

8:13 down.

8:14 So be on the lookout for that.

8:15 But the link will be in the bio to this episode.

8:17 And so it'll be a link on my website, which will direct you to the cigars website, or

8:21 you can go to cigars.com on your own.

8:23 Again, that's S-I-G-A-R-S dot com.

8:26 So cigars with an S at the beginning, or you can go through the undaunted life shop that

8:30 will be in the show notes.

8:31 So I've not been able to do quick hitters in a while.

8:34 I'm very, very excited to do quick hitters.

8:36 And I just got to tell you, it pained me to know in, to not be able to comment on some

8:41 of the things that we've seen, basically, since the first quarter of this year, because

8:45 I keep a running note on my phone.

8:48 And I just had just pages and pages of things that I wanted to talk about.

8:52 But in order to get momentum moving forward and to not look backward, I did something

8:57 that literally, again, brought me physical pain, I cleared out my quick hitters note

9:01 on my phone.

9:02 I just deleted all this stuff.

9:05 And I just started fresh from a couple of weeks ago.

9:07 So on today's episode of the quick hitters, we are going to cover former president Donald

9:11 Trump being arrested and his mugshot.

9:14 Also Dennis Prager's claim that one form of child pornography is morally acceptable.

9:19 Also the resurgence of COVID and mask mandates, the recent racially motivated shooting in Jacksonville,

9:25 Florida, and the passing of Bob Barker.

9:28 But before we get there, if you're anything like me, you don't like paying for stuff that

9:32 you think you're capable of doing yourself.

9:34 So a lot of people end up doing that with their IT at their businesses.

9:38 And the problem is that if you're not an expert at it, which I'm obviously not, you can leave

9:43 yourself open to attack.

9:44 So I literally just heard as today as of the recording of this episode, a story about a

9:49 company that DIYed their servers and data security, and they got hacked, okay?

9:53 So they had all of their important files stolen and they ended up having to pay the hackers

9:57 15,000 dollars in ransom money to get their files back, I mean, 15 grand just to be able

10:04 to run their business.

10:05 Okay.

10:06 Now I don't want this to happen to the business owners that are in my audience, and that's

10:09 why I want to introduce you to my friends at LMS Tech.

10:12 So LMS Tech is an IT security company that can help your business and all kinds of businesses

10:18 like yours with IT headaches.

10:20 So this can be network install, configuration security and monitoring.

10:24 It can be server setup and maintenance, cloud data and storage, email management and security,

10:29 antivirus management.

10:30 And then there's like industry specific compliance like HIPAA and financial services, insurance

10:35 credit cards, all that kind of stuff.

10:36 And they can even set up custom software implementation, like CRM and HR tools.

10:40 So while you guys focus on making your business successful, let LMS Tech secure IT.

10:47 So I actually trust LMS Tech with the security for my business here for undaunted life.

10:51 So I think you should give them a shot as well.

10:54 So to receive your free IT and data security assessment, visit this website, get security

10:59 dot tech.

11:00 That's get security dot tech.

11:03 Do not risk your data ending up in the wrong hands and invite the experts in to protect

11:08 your business.

11:09 Again, the site is get security dot tech.

11:12 That's get security dot tech to get your free assessment.

11:15 And that will be in the show notes as well.

11:18 So I'm going to transition to talking about this subject matter and I'll just go to be

11:22 honest with you from the very beginning here.

11:24 As I pop into logins, you know, gotta gotta make sure we keep everything good to go as

11:28 this is my first time back.

11:29 So if you hear that clinking around on my teeth, I apologize, I will be taking breaks

11:32 to have water as well.

11:35 I had this idea kicking around in my head for a long time, even, you know, before my

11:40 first surgery and because of the surgery and recovery, I finally had the time to devote

11:46 to just thinking this through a little bit more, because you know how it goes, you get

11:49 this idea kind of clinks around your head, but there's not a whole lot there.

11:53 You don't have a lot of time to kind of really think it through.

11:55 So I've really, really been thinking it through.

11:56 And part of this and part of the reason why I've been thinking about this so much is because

12:01 country music in a lot of ways has dominated the news cycle this summer.

12:07 Did you guys realize that?

12:09 Because let's go through some of the reasons why in April and May of this year, or is April

12:14 or may I can't remember which the biggest act in country music, at least at that moment,

12:19 at least right now, more on that in a minute, was Morgan Wallen.

12:22 Okay.

12:23 So he had just released his new like double album in March called one thing at a time.

12:28 It was a mega hit chart type chart topper the whole nine yards.

12:32 I personally like Morgan Wallen.

12:33 I think he has a very unique voice.

12:36 Some of the songs can be a little bit formulaic, but I really, really enjoy them.

12:39 I think he's a very talented guy, but I remember seeing on social media that he had to cancel

12:44 the show last minute and they were doing it.

12:46 I think at the Ole Miss campus and the crowd's freaking out and here they are.

12:50 They got all liquored up and showed up at this concert and then they don't get to have

12:54 a concert and they're really mad about that.

12:56 But it was announced shortly thereafter that he had to go on six weeks of vocal rest because

13:01 he had basically done potentially forever damage to his vocal cords, irreparable problems

13:08 to his vocal cords.

13:10 And this was huge news because when a country singer, that's the biggest thing in music

13:16 at the time, has to basically turn off his voice just to see if it'll turn back on.

13:21 That's a pretty big fear altogether and obviously I can relate to that from the stuff I talked

13:27 about from the very jump.

13:28 So that was a big, big story.

13:30 And luckily for him, he's working with these great people at a university in Nashville.

13:35 I think it was Vanderbilt in Nashville and that's one of the best throat and speech and

13:40 singing clinics in the world.

13:42 And so it looks like he's going to be able to continue his career.

13:44 So that was big news.

13:46 Then was there was all this kerfuffle with, you know, Jason Aldine releasing the song called

13:50 Try That in a Small Town, right?

13:53 And the thing is, is if you're a normal person with a functioning brain, you should listen

13:56 to that song, especially if you grew up in the country and be like, yeah, that all makes

13:59 sense.

14:00 Like all this crap that happens in these big cities, you know, throwing bricks through

14:03 windows and destroying businesses and, you know, fighting the cops and all that, try that

14:07 in a small town and it's just not going to work out for you.

14:10 Now a bunch of people reacted to the song and the video and they, you know, there's wailing

14:13 and gnashing of teeth and oh, this is a racist anthem and this is Christian nationalism and

14:17 this is whatever.

14:18 Oh, isn't that the place where a lynching happened in that one clip in that video?

14:23 It was basically a bunch of nonsense, but that did dominate the news cycle for a couple

14:26 of weeks.

14:28 But then probably, I don't think I'll be in hyperbolic saying this, probably the overall

14:33 most viral thing to happen in 2023 so far, other than Trump's mugshot, which we'll talk

14:39 about later, is Oliver Anthony exploding to prominence.

14:44 So at this point, I feel like his story has been done.

14:47 If I say Oliver Anthony and you don't know who I'm talking about, you literally have

14:51 been living under a rock.

14:52 So I don't really feel like I need to explain to you who he is at this point, but I do want

14:56 to go through the timeline here.

14:57 So when the sun came up on Tuesday, August the 8th of this year, a couple days after

15:02 my birthday, no one on the planet had heard of Oliver Anthony unless they were related

15:07 to him or, you know, worked with him or something like that.

15:09 No one knew this guy existed, but also on Tuesday, August the 8th, Oliver Anthony, whose

15:15 real name is Christopher Anthony Lunsford, he uploaded a song to the radio WV YouTube

15:21 channel and the song was called Richman North of Richmond, okay?

15:26 Within 24 hours, the song was making the rounds on Twitter and TikTok and I was scrolling

15:31 TikTok and that's where I saw it, but I basically ignored it because, you know, I'm like anybody

15:36 else if I only have a few, a few minutes to kind of scroll through and see if I can find

15:40 some interesting content to share with you guys.

15:42 If it's a longer video, I was like, I don't really know.

15:44 And you know, there wasn't something that gripped me from the very beginning.

15:47 So I basically ignored it.

15:48 But that being able to ignore thing lasted basically a few hours, because like a few

15:53 hours later, this is not just here and there on Twitter and TikTok and the new cycle.

15:59 It's everywhere.

16:00 This song had gone more viral than any song that I had ever heard of.

16:04 You know, when you see these pop artists come out and do like these satanic rituals in their

16:08 music videos and oh, they're going viral for, you know, WAP, whatever that song is by whatever

16:12 that that gal is like, those things didn't go as viral as quickly as this song.

16:17 There was something about it.

16:19 Within 48 hours of that song being uploaded to this small, relatively obscure YouTube

16:25 channel, it had millions of views on YouTube and on social media because that's the thing

16:31 is people just look at YouTube views.

16:33 But there's this cumulative effect of people watching that same video on Twitter or sharing

16:38 it on Facebook or on TikTok or something like that.

16:41 Also within 48 hours, it became the number one overall song on iTunes, the number one

16:48 song on iTunes in 48 hours.

16:51 Then on Saturday, August the 12th, Joe Rogan shared the video of the song on his Instagram

16:57 page.

16:58 And from that point forward, it was to the moon, right?

17:01 This is the guy with the biggest microphone on the planet.

17:04 One of the most famous people in existence right now sharing this, basically directing

17:08 his followers to it.

17:10 And from that point forward, there was there was no way he was going to be able to be hidden

17:13 under a basket.

17:14 You know what I mean?

17:15 That same weekend, Oliver Anthony played a show somewhere I think it was in West Virginia.

17:20 And that like a like a month prior to that, he played a show, I think he said in front

17:24 of like 12 people at that venue.

17:28 But fast forward to that week that the song release, there were thousands of people there

17:33 to watch him perform live.

17:35 And before he started his show, he opened up the Bible and he read from the book of Psalms,

17:39 I believe.

17:40 And that was kind of an interesting thing.

17:41 It's like, this is the first time he had spoken publicly since he had gone, not just

17:46 viral, but mega super duper viral and he reads the Bible, which was interesting.

17:50 Now by that time, not only did he have the number one song on iTunes, pretty much every

17:55 song that he had ever uploaded to iTunes, which I think was five or six songs.

18:00 They were all in the top 10.

18:02 So it was like him, Morgan Wallen and like Taylor Swift, that was the entire top 10 for

18:06 for iTunes, but he had the top spot and several other spots.

18:10 Then just keeps going on August the 21st, billboard released their hot 100 list, which

18:15 they do every week and they've done for decades.

18:17 Now billboard is the main arbiter of musical impact.

18:21 So if you top the charts on iTunes, that still isn't as important as topping billboard, right?

18:26 And up to this past week, no one in the history of billboard had ever debuted at number one

18:34 on the charts without having previously shown up on the chart at some other position other

18:39 than number one.

18:40 So there are people that will have a, you know, a debut album that maybe will go there,

18:43 but like they've charted somewhere else on the charts.

18:47 That was until Richmond, north of Richmond.

18:50 He literally debuted his debut to the chart in total.

18:54 He debuted at number one and I mean, guys, the billboard hot 100 chart has been around

18:58 since August of 1958, that 65 years ago, this month, and he just blew the top off from the

19:05 very, very start then fast forward to August the 23rd and Milwaukee.

19:10 That's the first Republican primary debate.

19:12 They show his video before they ask the very first question of the candidates, then fast

19:17 forward to last week on Wednesday, August the 30th, he went on Joe Rogan experience and

19:23 the night before they brought him up at Joe Rogan's comedy club, kind of a surprise little

19:27 concert that they did.

19:28 And you know, I'm not going to go into too much there on the particular episode that

19:32 he had with the Joe Rogan experience.

19:33 It was a fun, fun episode.

19:35 He did open the Bible and read to Joe Rogan.

19:38 He read from proverbs and he detailed, you know, how he gave his life to God here recently.

19:43 You know, it sounded like a guy that's very young in his faith.

19:46 You know, a lot of people that are the, you know, Theo bros and, you know, Bible nerds

19:50 and all that, they're going to quibble with just about everything that he said that had

19:53 anything to do with a Judeo-Christian ethic or a biblical theology at all.

19:57 But this is just kind of a young guy, a young Christian that's trying to just, you know,

20:01 figure it out, right?

20:03 But you know, again, you should go and check out that interview.

20:06 And he talked about how he's gotten multiple offers.

20:09 He's being dissected in the media.

20:10 You know, people are trying to get him to sign these, you know, seven and eight figure

20:14 deals, we'll send you on the road, we'll send you with a bunch of trailers, we'll get you

20:17 a backup band.

20:18 And he's basically like, yeah, I'm not going to do any of that.

20:21 Like I just want to make music.

20:22 I just want to write, you know, Richmond North or Richmond isn't even my favorite song that

20:25 I've written.

20:26 And he's just kind of doing things his own way.

20:29 And with all that in mind, just a reminder, when the sun came up on Tuesday, August 8th,

20:33 remember, no one knew who all of her Anthony was.

20:35 He didn't know he was a thing.

20:36 And within few days, he went viral.

20:39 He was the dominant topic in all of music and all of entertainment, frankly.

20:43 And he's still dominated those discussions even until this day.

20:47 There's new reaction videos popping up on YouTube to this song literally every day.

20:51 And as of the recording of this podcast, let me actually go to go to YouTube real quick.

20:54 Let me actually look and see how many views this thing has on YouTube as of recording

20:58 on this on September the 1st.

21:00 Here we go.

21:01 Let's see.

21:02 Oh, 52 million.

21:06 The video has 52 million views in three weeks.

21:09 And if I can go there quickly, I'll see if I can look up on iTunes.

21:12 Let's see what we got on iTunes.

21:14 And I don't like dead air, so I'm just going to like talk my way through it iTunes store.

21:22 You know what?

21:23 This is probably going to be too hard.

21:24 What am I doing?

21:25 You know what?

21:26 Let's just assume it's still number one, okay?

21:27 Because I apparently don't know how my phone works.

21:29 So just an amazing, amazing few weeks for this guy.

21:33 You know, it's just an incredible thing.

21:35 And I'm not going to go into a big breakdown of the song because that's been done and it's

21:40 been done to death and I don't think anyone can do it better than John Cooper did on his

21:43 show last week.

21:44 So I'll just link to that in the show notes on Cooper stuff because he broke down Richmond

21:47 North or Richmond.

21:48 So to get back to my point for what we're talking about today, between Morgan Wallen, Jason

21:54 Aldine, and Oliver Anthony outside of like direct political stories or the war in Ukraine

21:59 or any of this type of stuff, that I think that it's reasonable to say that country music

22:04 has dominated the new cycle for the summer of 2023.

22:08 Now let's talk a little bit more about country music.

22:10 So I grew up in Southwest Oklahoma, but I grew up in a very interesting town in Oklahoma

22:14 where it was kind of equal parts, you know, country and redneck and kind of like gangster.

22:19 Like, you know, we had, we had a gang problem, but then, you know, you might have a cow that

22:23 would run down the street like in the middle of the day, like it was just kind of an interesting,

22:27 you know, city to be in.

22:29 And I grew up just absolutely hating country music, hating country music because my parents

22:35 played it a little bit and, you know, so I would listen to some stuff here or there, but I didn't

22:38 really enjoy it because I, you know, developed a kind of a liking and an attraction to heavy

22:44 music, basically from a very, very young age, I think it was 13 when I was introduced to

22:48 living sacrifice and society's finest and so I always kind of gravitated towards that.

22:53 And I just kind of made it part of my personality, like, Oh, I'm going to hate country music,

22:56 country music stupid.

22:57 I don't care about your tractor and your beer cans, blah, blah, and that's kind of how it's

23:00 gone.

23:01 And for me, now, you know, I just turned 37, my appetite for country music has grown considerably

23:07 over the last five, six years or so.

23:10 A lot of it has to do because like I've never liked radio country and I still don't like

23:13 Florida, Georgia line, Luke, Brian, like Keith Urban, I just can't, I don't understand.

23:20 I don't get it.

23:21 I was like, I don't know how people can listen to this and be entertained.

23:23 It just doesn't make any sense to me.

23:24 So I'm more into kind of like the outlaw country type thing or stuff that's got a little

23:28 bit of a folk or bluegrass into it, I actually have, I'm just going to do stuff live on the

23:32 show.

23:33 I have an iTunes playlist that I just named outlaw not everything on it is outlaw.

23:38 So on that playlist, I've got some Chris Stapleton, I've got some civil wars.

23:43 Let's see what else turnpike troubadours trying to give a lot of bands shoutouts here.

23:47 So let's kind of see Shane Smith and the Saints, Flatland Calvary, the steel drivers, Ian Muncick,

23:56 Tyler Childers, culture wall, Robert Plant and Allison Krauss made some pretty great music

24:00 as well.

24:01 And there's more on here, but like it's kind of been that style.

24:05 And then I've got, you know, some of my more popular things.

24:07 So I like Morgan Wallen and Lady Antebellum before they turned themselves into Lady A,

24:12 I would enjoy and things like that.

24:13 So that's kind of my, my history with country music.

24:15 So if you have great country music recommendations that are kind of more in the outlaw folk,

24:20 bluegrass side, make sure you send me those recommendations.

24:22 But also I grew up in the south, right?

24:25 So Oklahoma is kind of weird because it's not really considered the south, but it's not

24:29 really the Southwest and it's not really the Midwest.

24:31 But if you say we're Southerners or country, like it just kind of makes sense.

24:35 It fits.

24:36 But when you grow up in the south, and for those of you that have grown up in the south

24:39 or in a country setting, you're kind of marinated in Christianese, if you will, you know, in

24:46 at least in this culture of, you know, quote unquote, acting right.

24:50 So there will be like biblical type things that are said and some of the advice that

24:54 comes from, you know, your granny and your papa, like they, you know, it kind of fits

24:59 this Judeo-Christian ethic and whether it's, you know, them actually opening up the Bible

25:03 and showing it to you.

25:04 But that's basically what being in the south is and it's like, you know, if you're from

25:08 the south and I don't mean this in like a, you know, American Civil War type thing,

25:11 but if you're from the south, you don't like northerners and you don't like those Yankees

25:15 and all those weirdos out in California, like that's not really your thing.

25:18 And that's just kind of this, you know, pride about being from the south and, you know,

25:21 Texas south is like its own thing because people in Texas think it's its own country,

25:25 which to a degree it kind of is.

25:28 But country music actually has a very long history of kind of working hand in glove with

25:34 a lot of Christian-esque morality and living and biblical themes and language.

25:39 And so I did a little bit of a dive on country music in and of itself and the genre has been

25:44 around for about a hundred years because it was in the, when the 1920s when that be kind

25:48 of, it kind of became its own genre.

25:51 And so I was kind of looking through lyrics for country music songs from popular country

25:56 music artists from that time all the way through to today.

25:59 And I found a lot of biblical material, a lot of kind of Christian-esque, Jesus-esque,

26:05 God-esque type material.

26:06 So I want to share some of that with you.

26:08 So in the 1930s and 1940s, you had people like Gina Autry.

26:11 So he has a song called Bible on the table and a flag upon the wall and I'm going to

26:14 read some of these lyrics and I'll try not to sing them, but I'll just do my best.

26:19 With the Bible on the table and the flag upon the wall, neighbors, that's the answer

26:22 to it all.

26:23 They're the backbone of the nation and will always find salvation with the Bible on the

26:26 table and the flag on the wall.

26:28 And then you had Hank Williams, senior, he had a song called The Old Country Church.

26:33 Here's a lyric from that.

26:34 How I wish that today all the people would pray like we prayed in that old country church.

26:39 But they'd only confess Jesus surely would bless as he did in that old country church.

26:44 And then we move on to another era, kind of the 50s and 60s.

26:47 So we have a guy like Bill Munro.

26:49 So we had a song called Crying Holy unto the Lord.

26:51 Here's a lyric, Crying Holy unto the Lord, Crying Holy unto the Lord.

26:55 Oh, if I could, if I could, I surely would stand on the rock where Moses stood.

27:00 Then you have Elvis.

27:01 So he recorded a lot of kind of gospel type music.

27:03 He had a song called In the Garden.

27:05 I come to the garden alone while the do is still on the roses and the voice I hear fall

27:10 on my ear, the son of God discloses and then you to the chorus and he walks with me and

27:15 he talks with me and he tells me I am his own and the joy we share as he we teary there,

27:21 none other has ever known.

27:23 And then you've got the goat Johnny Cash.

27:25 He had a song very early in his career called he turned water into wine.

27:28 It's very famous at this point that Johnny Cash tried to be a gospel artist at the beginning.

27:33 And I think it was Sam Phillips at Sun Records was like, no, man, I don't, I don't really

27:36 believe that you believe this stuff.

27:37 And then he kind of got into his style, but in, uh, he turned water into one wine he had

27:41 this lyric.

27:42 He turned the water into wine.

27:44 He turned the water into wine in the little Cana town.

27:47 The word went all around that he turned the water into wine.

27:50 Well, he walked upon the Sea of Galilee.

27:53 He walked upon the Sea of Galilee, shouted far and wide.

27:56 He calmed and the raging tide and walked upon the Sea of Galilee.

28:00 Then we get into the seventies and eighties and so you have an artist like Dolly Parton.

28:04 She recorded a song early in her career called coat of many colors.

28:08 As she sewed, she told a story from the Bible.

28:11 She had read about the coat of many colors, Joseph wore.

28:14 And then he said, perhaps this coat will bring you good luck and happiness.

28:19 And I just couldn't wait to hear and mama blessed it with a kiss.

28:22 And then you've got Reba McIntyre.

28:24 So she's from Oklahoma.

28:25 She had a song called you lift me up to heaven.

28:28 As you lift me up, up up to heaven, when you gently lay me down, you lift me up, up, up

28:34 to heaven.

28:35 Yes, you make my world go round.

28:37 Now that's kind of more of like a relationship, you know, love song or whatever, but you still

28:40 have kind of the imagery of heaven.

28:42 Then we get into the 1990s and the 2000s.

28:44 So this is kind of more the era that I grew up in.

28:47 So I had at least heard these songs and my parents would play them.

28:49 So you had Randy Travis, he had a song called three wooden crosses.

28:53 There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway.

28:56 Why there is not four of them, heaven only knows, I guess it's not what you take when

29:00 you leave this world behind you.

29:02 It's what you leave behind you when you go.

29:04 Then you had Alabama, they had their mega hit angels among us and saw a real lyric from

29:09 that.

29:10 Oh, I believe there are angels among us sent down to us from somewhere up above.

29:14 They come to you and me and our darkest hours to show us how to live, to teach us how to

29:19 give, to guide us with the light of love.

29:21 Then we have Josh Turner, the cool thing about Josh Turner actually played pool against him

29:25 back in 2012.

29:26 So that was fun.

29:27 He had a song called long black train on his first album.

29:30 So here's a lyric because there's victory in the Lord, I say, victory in the Lord, cling

29:34 to the father and his holy name and don't go riding on that long black train.

29:40 Then we get into the 2010s and 2020s where we are now.

29:43 So I mentioned Morgan Wally, Morgan Wallen rather.

29:47 He's had several songs and he has several things and allusions to Christianity throughout

29:52 his music.

29:53 He had a song called don't think Jesus, so I'll read a lyric from that.

29:57 If I was him, him talking about God, I'd say to hell with you, ain't no helping you find

30:02 someone else to give heaven to I'm telling you, I'd shame me, I'd blame me, I'd make

30:07 me pay for my mistakes, but I don't think Jesus does it that way.

30:12 Then we've got one of the greatest modern artists, Chris Stapleton.

30:15 He has a song called drunkards prayer.

30:16 I'll read from that.

30:17 I wish that I could go to church, but I'm too ashamed of me.

30:20 I hate the fact it takes a bottle to get me on my knees and I hope he'll forgive the things

30:25 you ain't forgot when I get drunk and talk to God.

30:29 And then we've got Maddie and Tay.

30:30 That's kind of like a young poppy type country thing.

30:33 They have a very beautiful song called water in his wine glass.

30:36 I'll read from that, board poor water in his wine glass.

30:40 Bring the man he used to be back because I want to look him in the eyes and see someone

30:45 I recognize.

30:46 I'm on my knees and all I ask is Lord, poor water in his wine glass.

30:51 And then as I was preparing this episode, I was kind of scrolling through iTunes and

30:54 I saw that Larry Fleet actually just released a new album and he has a song when it called

30:58 ain't mad at Jesus.

30:59 And I looked at the lyrics and they didn't disappoint.

31:01 So I'll read these.

31:02 She left me for all the right reasons.

31:04 She left me a new King James and said to read it.

31:07 And it looks like he's the only one that will forgive my sins.

31:10 So I am mad at Jesus, even though she left me for him.

31:14 And so the thing is, is country music, guys, for those of you that didn't grow up in the

31:19 country or don't listen to country music, country music is kind of a cornerstone of country

31:24 life.

31:26 So there's, you know, listening to country music and work in the land and tending to animals.

31:32 But then you also have going to church on Sundays and praying before meals and baptizing

31:37 your kids.

31:38 And those are all kind of staples and cornerstones of country life.

31:42 But I noticed something a while back that frankly scared me and there's a lot of people

31:47 that think, well, I'll put it this way.

31:51 There are a lot of people that think they're going to heaven because they're from the south.

31:58 Or you know, because they listened to country music, because they vote Republican, because

32:03 they never killed nobody, because, you know, they went to church with their granny when

32:07 they were a kid.

32:08 And, you know, granny was a good Christian, right?

32:11 And so I'm dubbing this philosophy and thought process, this phenomenon, if you will, as

32:16 country music theology.

32:18 Okay.

32:19 Now, to kind of elucidate my point a little bit further, there's actually another Morgan

32:23 Wallen song that he released this year, which I think perfectly sums up this, the tenants

32:28 and the attitude behind music or behind country music theology.

32:33 So the name of the song is in the Bible.

32:35 So I want to read through the song a little bit here to kind of, you know, make my point

32:38 a little bit more clear.

32:40 Paint your truck tread with some red dust while you kick up the long way home.

32:45 Share some bootleg with your best buds.

32:47 Wear a bit of that bonfire smoke.

32:49 If a back porch swing and twang in your words and setting that hook was a good book verse,

32:54 I'd be doing all right.

32:56 I'd know where I was going when I get to the other side, because back roads and cold

33:00 beer are my down home prayer, can't get no closer to the man upstairs.

33:06 The way out there where the river runs, Lord knows I'd be one hell of a disciple.

33:11 If being country was in the Bible, hallelujah, amen, heaven blessed this life.

33:17 I live hallelujah, amen, amen.

33:21 You kind of get the idea.

33:23 It's so it's like there's this dichotomy between what country music theology says and then what

33:30 the actual Bible says, right?

33:32 Because again, a lot of these country music stars or people that just grow up in the country,

33:36 they grow up marinated in Christianese, but not really marinated in the scriptures, right?

33:42 And then they just had this assumption that they're fine.

33:44 Like I remember here recently, I went to a rodeo here in Oklahoma City, tons of fun.

33:47 If you haven't been to a rodeo, you need to go.

33:49 But what I wasn't expecting to walk in there was to be in one of the hardest environments

33:54 ever to, you know, watch what your eyes were seeing, right?

33:58 Because I've gotten pretty good about bouncing my eyes.

34:01 And so it's like, I only want to have eyes for my wife.

34:02 I don't want to lust after any other women.

34:04 But then I go to this rodeo and these chicks, these country chicks are not really leaving

34:09 much to the imagination, right?

34:11 Bear midriffs and, you know, plunging necklines and short shorts and the whole nine yards.

34:16 And I was like, what in God's name is happening here?

34:19 Because I walked in with the assumption, Hey, these are just good old down down home country

34:23 people.

34:24 And there were a lot of those people there, but then there were a bunch of hood rats that

34:26 showed up, right?

34:27 A bunch of skanky, you know, women and it would made it hard.

34:30 They made it very difficult for you to kind of just operate and enjoy the show because

34:34 of the show that was taking place in the stands.

34:37 But again, you get this assumption, oh, they're their country.

34:39 So it's fine, but it's maybe different depending upon how you're raised.

34:42 But anyway, country music theology says a lot says lots of things.

34:47 So they'll say country music theology says, Lord, I'm going to do me, but you know, please

34:53 bless me and keep me safe along the way.

34:57 Whereas biblical theology says therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will

35:01 of the Lord is.

35:02 That's Ephesians 5 17.

35:05 Country music theology says the man upstairs.

35:07 That's how they refer to God.

35:08 It's in the man upstairs, right?

35:09 Whereas biblical theology says he is before all things.

35:13 That's Colossians 1 17.

35:16 Great is our Lord and abundant in power.

35:18 That's Psalm 147 five by the word of the Lord, the heavens were made Psalm 33 six.

35:25 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.

35:27 That's Psalm 34 eight.

35:28 But anyone who does not love does not know God for God is love.

35:32 That's 1 John 4 eight and I could go on and on with these examples, but he's not the man

35:37 upstairs.

35:38 He's not the bro that lives in the attic.

35:40 Like he's before all things.

35:42 He is love.

35:43 He's all powerful.

35:44 And if you were in his presence, you wouldn't ask him a damn thing because you wouldn't even

35:48 be able to look at him.

35:50 And then, you know, country music theology will say other things and they say this through

35:54 song.

35:55 So I mentioned Larry Fleet Morgan, while they actually did a song together called where

35:58 I find God.

35:59 So country music theology, according to Larry Fleet Morgan, while it is from a bar stool

36:03 to that Evan rude Evan, rude, it's like a, you know, fishing boat engine Sunday morning

36:08 in a church pube in a deer stand or a hay field and interstate back to Nashville and a Chevrolet

36:13 with the windows down me and him just riding around.

36:17 Sometimes whether I'm looking for him or not, that's where I find God.

36:21 So that's what country music theology says.

36:23 But biblical theology says, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good

36:30 works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another

36:35 and all the more as you see the day drawing near that's Hebrews 10 24 through 25.

36:41 Because that that lyric from Larry Fleet Morgan wall and that's like, I'm, you know, I'm

36:44 just going to hang out with God as I'm good driving around the truck or as I'm, you know,

36:47 doing my hobbies.

36:48 But that's not what the Bible would tell you to do.

36:51 And then later on in that song, you know, they would say this, sometimes late at night,

36:54 I lie there and listen to the sound of her heart beating and the song, the crickets are

36:58 singing.

36:59 And I don't know what they're saying, but it sounds like a hymn to me.

37:03 Now I ain't too good at praying, but thanks for everything, right?

37:07 It's great when you sing it in a song, but that's what country music theology would say.

37:10 But biblical theology would say, give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will

37:15 of God and Christ Jesus for you.

37:17 That's first, that's a little, that's Alonians 5 18.

37:20 So this kind of casual, yeah, I ain't too good at praying, but hey, thanks for everything.

37:23 Like that, that's not how we're supposed to operate in the world.

37:27 You see with, with country music theology, we think God doesn't care what we choose to

37:32 do.

37:33 He's just going to bless us regardless of what we choose.

37:35 You know, God is our buddy.

37:37 He's our home boy, you know, God's in nature.

37:40 So there is no reason for me to worship corporately inside the church.

37:44 And you know, we should just casually thank him as we go throughout our day, but certainly

37:48 not turn over our lives to him, right.

37:51 So I want to be abundantly clear about something as we wrap up this concept of the dangers of

37:55 country music theology.

37:58 Southerners don't go to heaven because they're from the south.

38:04 Conservative Republicans don't go to heaven because they vote conservatively for Republican

38:09 candidates.

38:11 Country music fans don't go to heaven because they listen to country music.

38:16 People don't go to heaven because they're granny loved Jesus.

38:19 God doesn't have grandchildren and people that read the Bible and go to church don't

38:24 go to heaven because they read the Bible and go to church.

38:28 Okay.

38:29 You know, it goes to heaven.

38:33 Those who put their faith in Christ for their salvation, that's who goes back to the script

38:37 I read from the very first part of this podcast, Romans 10 versus nine and 10.

38:41 Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that

38:44 God raised him from the dead, you will be saved for with the heart one believes and

38:49 is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

38:53 So guys, this is my message really to anybody and even more specifically to people that

38:58 have been raised in the south, maybe you're that person.

39:01 You grew up in the south, you ain't done much wrong, you didn't, you know, fall into trouble

39:06 with the law.

39:07 Yeah, you didn't, you know, get a girl pregnant out of wedlock.

39:10 You live a pretty good life.

39:11 You work hard.

39:12 You listen to good music, you go to the church when you can, you throw some money, you know,

39:16 in the plate as they pass it and you know, you're generally a good guy, according to

39:20 you.

39:21 Well, according to God and according to scripture, you're not a good guy because you're a sinner.

39:26 And in order for you to have payment for your sins so that you can spend eternity with a

39:31 just God who can't have sin in his presence, you have to have that sin paid for.

39:37 And luckily God in his prominence and imminence, he sent his own son to this planet to be

39:44 that payment.

39:45 You know, they used to have to sacrifice animals.

39:48 God became that animal through Jesus.

39:50 He became the lamb of God that was sacrificed so that if you will just confess that he is

39:55 Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead that you can have salvation.

40:01 Okay.

40:02 And so for some of you, it's, it's clicking now, right?

40:06 Use whatever theological language you want to use.

40:09 But for some of you, it just clicked that you've been trying to live a good life.

40:12 You've been trying to, you know, check the, I'm a good dude boxes, trying to live a generally

40:16 moral life, but you didn't have Jesus and you can have him.

40:21 So I'm imploring you right now to take that step of faith and make that decision to believe

40:25 in your heart that that God, when he sent his son down here, that that's somehow counted

40:31 for you.

40:32 When he was killed on the cross and when he was resurrected the third day, somehow you

40:35 were in that story as well.

40:38 The Bible is not about you, but it certainly is for you.

40:41 And so for any of you guys, if you were accepting Christ for the first time, there's not any

40:46 magic that's in some prayer.

40:48 There's not, you know, this incantation that you have to say out loud.

40:51 There's not these ohms that you have to give or whatever those things are.

40:54 You can start living a new life right now.

40:57 Okay.

40:58 And if you need help doing that info at undaunted.life, hit us up.

41:03 We'll get you some resources, we'll get you a Bible in your hand, we'll try to help you

41:07 find a good expository preaching church, you know, some discipleship, those types of things.

41:11 So if you're making that decision for the first time, please, please, please share that information

41:15 with us.

41:16 All right.

41:17 At long last, let's get into these quick hitters.

41:21 So first one here, former president Donald Trump's arrest and mugshot.

41:24 So this is according to the AP.

41:26 This is a really dramatic article by the AP, but I want to read it because it's so ridiculous.

41:30 A camera clicks in a fraction of a second, the shutter opens and then closes freezing

41:34 forever.

41:35 The image in front of it.

41:36 And when the camera shutter blinked inside of the Atlanta jail on Thursday, this was

41:39 a couple of weeks ago, it both created and documented a tiny inflection point in American

41:44 life captured for posterity.

41:46 There was a former president of the United States for the first time in history under

41:49 arrest captured in the sort of frame, more commonly associated with drug dealers or drunken

41:54 drivers.

41:55 The trappings of power gone for that split second left behind an enduring image that

42:00 will appear in history books long after Donald Trump is gone.

42:03 And I feel like they really enjoyed every single word of that that they wrote.

42:08 But this booking in Georgia is currently one of four current criminal indictments against

42:14 the former president.

42:15 The other three are in Washington, DC, Florida and New York.

42:18 And each of those precincts are attempting to do trials, you know, before the general

42:22 election next year.

42:23 I think one of them starts like the day before super Tuesday or something like that.

42:27 So there's certainly a political angle to this because these charges could have been

42:30 brought and filed and trials could have occurred, you know, you know, a year ago or so, but

42:34 they're doing it now.

42:35 It seems pretty intentional, but automatically and immediately this mugshot became the most

42:40 famous mugshot in history.

42:42 So more than OJ Simpson, more than Michael Jackson, more than Al Capone, more than Pablo

42:47 Escobar, more than Sinatra, even more than Martin Luther King, Jr., like it is the most

42:51 famous mugshot ever.

42:52 There's already been millions and millions of dollars made off of a T-shirt sold with

42:56 this.

42:57 And the thing is, is like they didn't even need to do a mugshot.

42:59 Do you know why they do a mugshot because I didn't really know this until all this was

43:02 going down?

43:03 They, they're doing it because they need to know what you look like in case you try

43:07 to flee the jurisdiction or flee the state or the country or something like that.

43:11 Donald Trump is probably right now the most recognizable personal planet Earth.

43:17 It's probably like him, Lionel Messi and Taylor Swift.

43:21 I hit like those might be the most famous recognizable people on the planet.

43:25 Those people can't go anywhere.

43:26 They're not going to sneak on to or off of a plane.

43:28 They're doing this to try to humiliate Trump, which I think he's actually incapable of being

43:32 humiliated just because of how he's wired, but that's why they're doing this.

43:35 And the interesting thing about this mugshot is both sides are using the mugshot to their

43:40 own ends.

43:41 So people on the left are like, we finally got him and look at this mugshot.

43:45 Look how mad he looks and they're so excited, you know, as they, you know, drink their frothy

43:49 drinks and their, you know, avocado, toast and all that stuff.

43:52 And then you have people on the right that think this is the greatest thing ever.

43:56 Like, Oh, look how strong he looks.

43:57 And, you know, he's not going to be denied and we're just going to embrace it.

44:00 So, you know, take that for what it's worth, but I'm going to get right to my big takeaway

44:03 here on this story.

44:05 All of this hubbub pretty much ensures that Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination,

44:10 which also pretty much ensures that Biden or whichever Democrat is actually representing

44:15 the party by that time, wins the White House.

44:19 Because Trump right now, he's lapping the Republican challengers.

44:22 You know, I'm very disappointed in the DeSantis campaign, not in DeSantis.

44:26 DeSantis himself is a tremendous governor and the job of president is governor of the

44:30 entire country.

44:31 That's essentially what you're doing.

44:32 I think he's the most qualified.

44:33 I think he has the easiest chance of beating Joe Biden or whoever's representing the Democratic

44:37 party at that time.

44:39 But the campaign is kind of lagged.

44:41 I feel like it's campaign.

44:42 People are trying to get him to be something that he's not.

44:44 It's like, let him just be, you know, a guy that doesn't have this overwhelming personality.

44:48 Let him just be a guy that knows how to get things done.

44:50 But Trump is up on him like 35 points in, you know, almost every poll, 35 points or

44:55 more.

44:56 It looks like he's going to run away with this thing.

44:58 There's a lot of time left, but it looks like he's going to run away with it.

45:00 But I have a couple categories of questions for people that, you know, get mad every time

45:04 I talk about Trump and they think I hate on him.

45:06 Because again, guys, I voted for him in 2020.

45:08 If he's the nominee, again, this, this next year, this next go around, I would likely

45:11 vote for him.

45:12 But I have questions for Trump supporters in general.

45:14 And then I have questions for, you know, kind of the ardent Trump supporters that think

45:17 the 2020 election was stolen.

45:19 So for the art and Trump supporters in general, how many votes does your vote count for?

45:26 Because being super duper dedicated and supporting of Trump changes nothing.

45:32 Your vote still counts for one vote.

45:34 So the fact that you are more excited to vote for him in, you know, 2024, then you were

45:39 in 2020 or 2016 doesn't actually make a difference.

45:43 Another question for you guys is how will Trump win over independents, Democrats and

45:47 Republicans that didn't vote for him in 2020?

45:50 Like what exactly is his plan?

45:53 Because I pay attention to the things that Trump says, but when he, you know, puts things

45:56 out on true social or when he talks in the media, what plan is he laying out for you?

46:01 Oh, how he's going to win over just even just independents and suburban women?

46:05 Because independents and suburban women broke two to one for Biden.

46:09 This go around and that costs Trump the election as far as we know, right?

46:14 So what's his plan?

46:15 Exactly.

46:16 Also, don't you think that you should at least give some consideration to the fact that Democrats

46:21 are desperately trying to make sure that Donald Trump is a Republican nominee for president?

46:26 You can tell by how much they're elevating Trump and trying to knock out the Santas who

46:30 is really the only contender.

46:32 You know, the Vecharama Swami and, you know, Nikki Haley and all that, like they're, they're

46:36 not going to overtake Trump.

46:38 The Santas is the only one that's even there.

46:39 They're desperately trying to do that.

46:42 Now the media, which are our Democrats, they obviously need Donald Trump as a foil for

46:47 Joe Biden so that they can, you know, make money and have ratings, but they also want

46:51 a candidate that they know is easy for their guy to beat, which regardless of what you

46:55 think or say, Donald Trump is clearly an easy candidate for Joe Biden to beat.

46:59 He's already done it before.

47:01 And the last question just for people that are just ardent Trump supporters is, do you

47:05 realize that you can believe Trump is being targeted for political reasons and that he's

47:11 not the best candidate to beat Biden in 2024?

47:14 Like when did we lose this ability to hold things in tension to believe two things at

47:18 the same time?

47:19 Because I believe that Donald Trump is being targeted for political reasons.

47:23 I think it's, it's clear as day.

47:25 Now his Florida case, you know, he was on tape basically talking about breaking the law.

47:29 Like that's, that's egregious.

47:31 But I can say that most of these things are for political reasons.

47:34 These people are trying to get a political feather in their hat and become historical.

47:37 But at the same time, I don't think he's the best person to be Biden, like at all.

47:42 Like, I think there are several Republican candidates that could beat Biden heads up

47:46 very easily because Biden now like he's not going to have to debate Trump, right?

47:50 Because you know, Trump's an insurrectionist and you know, Trump didn't even go to his

47:53 own debates for his own party.

47:55 So I'm not going to debate him.

47:56 But if anybody else were the Republican candidate, Trump or Biden would have to debate them,

48:01 right?

48:02 And can you see Rhonda Santis, like, or Vivek Ramaswamy or Nikki Haley or even Tim Scott against a debate

48:07 against Joe Biden?

48:08 It would be a bloodbath.

48:09 But now I want to shift to questions for the ardent Trump supporters that think the 2020

48:15 election was literally stolen.

48:18 First question.

48:19 How do you know that?

48:21 How do you know that?

48:23 Because I want to remind you that Donald Trump and his lawyers did not allege in official

48:28 court filings anywhere near what they alleged behind a podium and at a news conference.

48:34 So you know, you'll watch these documentaries and you'll see the things that are put out

48:37 on true social.

48:38 But then when you get to the court filings, it's like, wait a minute, they didn't actually,

48:41 you know, say the same things.

48:43 So I don't even think Donald Trump believes what he's been saying, but he's still saying

48:46 it.

48:47 Also, how has Donald Trump proven to you that the election won't be stolen from him again

48:53 in 2024?

48:55 Like what exactly has he done to prove to you that the outcome will be different this time

49:00 because Donald Trump already lost to the corpse of Joe Biden once already.

49:04 We saw that.

49:05 Joe Biden is still dead.

49:08 But Trump is still Trump.

49:11 Now he has the disadvantage of not being the incumbent.

49:14 Like what exactly is Donald Trump going to do as a private citizen now to ensure that there's

49:19 going to be election integrity?

49:20 Like, I remember, you know, someone sent me a message.

49:22 They're like, yeah, well, Donald Trump and Vivek Ramaswami are the only two that really

49:25 care about election integrity.

49:27 That's not true at all.

49:28 I think every Republican candidate that's running cares about election integrity.

49:32 But like, what can they do to affect it is the real question?

49:35 What can they do to ensure that it is safe and that it is secure?

49:41 And the last question I have, and we'll wrap up this point with this, is isn't getting

49:44 Joe Biden out of the White House more important than Donald Trump's personal ego and getting

49:49 some sort of vindication because, you know, if you really, really love Trump, he should

49:54 set up a defense fund and you should fund that.

49:58 But when you give money to Donald Trump right now, you are funding his legal battles.

50:02 You're not funding his ability to create, you know, legislation.

50:06 If he gets into office, you're literally paying for a billionaire's bills that are going to

50:12 be coming from his own hand selected legal team.

50:16 I don't quite understand that.

50:18 And so there's so much more to be done here.

50:20 Obviously, there's a lot of time left here, but, you know, it's going to be a circus the

50:23 whole way.

50:24 So buckle up.

50:25 All right, next one here, Dennis Prager's claim that one form of child pornography is

50:30 morally acceptable.

50:31 So I want to play this clip from Dennis Prager's interview when he was on pints with Aquinas

50:36 with Matt.

50:37 I think it's frat is how you say his last name, F R A D D. So let me play this two minute

50:42 clip before you hear.

50:44 Suppose a man says, I view animated child porn.

50:49 So there's no real victim in that sense of child pornography, which we both agree is horrendous.

50:55 And by viewing animated child porn, it prevents me from acting out sexually on a child.

50:59 Now, I, I deny that I think that pornography inflames us to then want to act those fantasies

51:05 out.

51:06 And I think there's good studies that back that up.

51:08 But surely you wouldn't say to the man who views animated child pornography, that's not

51:12 bad.

51:13 So long as you don't act it out.

51:15 Wouldn't you want to help this poor sick, yes, I would, but I'm thrilled that he's not

51:19 acting it out.

51:20 I mean, agreed.

51:21 Okay.

51:22 Of course.

51:23 Well, that's big.

51:24 That he might have a poor substitute, but it is a substitute.

51:29 If that were the case, no child was being used.

51:33 It's all animated, and, and he would you use the word evil of animated child pornography?

51:40 Because I certainly would know I would use evil only with behavior.

51:44 That's where we might differ forgetting the sex issue.

51:47 You can't be evil.

51:49 You didn't do evil.

51:50 If you thought evil, you did, if I'm masturbating to animated pictures of pornography, I'm not

51:53 doing something evil.

51:54 That's correct.

51:55 Yeah.

51:56 I think that's, I think that's despicable.

51:57 Yeah.

51:58 Really?

51:59 Yes, of course.

52:00 Who is being hurt?

52:01 You have to have a victim.

52:02 Oh, I'll tell you.

52:03 There's at least two people being hurt.

52:04 There's the person who's poisoning himself by encouraging him to think acting out on children.

52:10 And there's also the animator.

52:11 Okay.

52:12 Wait a minute.

52:13 We both, we both are aching for him not to have those fantasies.

52:16 I agree with you, but I, but you won't call it evil.

52:18 I won't call a fantasy evil.

52:21 So there's a lot there and just full disclosure, I'm a huge fan of Dennis Prager and Prager

52:25 you and the stuff that they've done, but this is, this is terrible, the stuff that that he

52:29 said here.

52:30 So let's go through a few of the quotes that Dennis Prager had one quote, I would use evil

52:34 only with behavior.

52:35 So he would only describe things as evil if they are behavior.

52:39 So Dennis Prager doesn't think that masturbating while watching images of children being forcibly

52:44 penetrated by adults is evil.

52:48 He doesn't think that that is evil.

52:49 Now Dennis Prager is an Orthodox Jew or at the, you know, he's Jewish of some kind, but

52:55 I think he's Orthodox, but this is a guy that takes his, he takes Judaism, Judaism seriously,

53:02 but then we could even see in this interaction the differences that we find when you look

53:06 at a, you know, ethic that comes from Judaism only versus an ethic that has more of a Judeo-Christian

53:12 type of a worldview and tends to it.

53:14 So another quote he had is you didn't do evil if you thought evil.

53:19 So the thing is though, is if you're a Christian in light of what Jesus taught in the Sermon

53:24 on the Mount, that is exactly wrong because in the Sermon on the Mount on the, like how

53:29 I went here, here's a song or a podcast about country music and I'll be like a Sermon on

53:33 the Mount.

53:34 All right.

53:35 So it happens.

53:36 It happens.

53:37 The twain comes out, but in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talks about hate and how if

53:40 you hate someone, you've basically murdered them.

53:43 He talks about lust that if you've lusted after somebody, you've committed adultery already.

53:48 So yes, in the Christian worldview, if you think evil, you have done evil.

53:52 There's no way to hide from that.

53:54 And then the last quote I'll go through from Dennis Prager is who is being hurt?

53:57 You have to have a victim.

53:59 And I thought the host did a great job with this interaction, but he said there absolutely

54:03 are victims.

54:04 But here's my list of who the victims are, the people that are being hurt that are viewing

54:08 AI generated child porn.

54:09 So first, the person that's using the porn as a masturbatory aid, right?

54:14 As the guy pointed out, they're literally poisoning themselves.

54:18 That person is a victim.

54:20 The other victims, all the people around the person that is using that kind of porn, do

54:25 you think that if you are masturbating to try to climax to images of these children being

54:30 violently raped, whether they're AI or not, that that's not going to have an impact on

54:34 the people around you.

54:35 You're a fool if you believe that other victims, but the potentially the living children that

54:41 this person would eventually try out their fantasies on.

54:45 When you listen to these, these stories or these interviews with serial killers, you

54:48 know, a lot of these people had the exact same track to killing people, right?

54:53 They started by looking at pornography, then they started fantasizing about violent sex

54:58 and, you know, hurting, living beings, then they started hurting animals, then they started

55:02 hurting people, then they started raping people, murdering people, raping dead corpses, those

55:06 types of things.

55:07 It kind of follows the same track.

55:10 And the thing with pornography is, and we saw this in the book, How Pornography Harms by

55:14 John Fobert, is you get to a point where your body's not going to release the same amount

55:18 of dopamine, and so you're going to keep chasing that higher dosage.

55:22 That's why people will start looking at still images of naked women, and they'll eventually

55:25 find themselves looking at rape porn, murder porn, child porn, like those types of categories,

55:31 because they're fantasies and, you know, what they're watching isn't really satisfying them

55:35 anymore.

55:36 And then you see a lot of people that turn their fantasies, you know, sitting in front

55:39 of a laptop with their pants around their ankles, they turn that to the real world.

55:43 And so to think that you have all these people that are watching and masturbating to AI

55:48 generate child porn that they're not going to actually try that on a child, again, it's

55:51 absolutely foolish.

55:53 And another victim I thought of is AI doesn't create itself has to be programmed, at least

55:59 for now.

56:00 So another victim is the AI, the AI programmer that had to give these inputs to the AI to

56:06 even create the imagery that you're needing to use as your masturbatory aid.

56:10 So there are a lot of victims here.

56:12 So my big takeaway on this story is that this isn't egregious take like an absolutely egregious

56:17 take by Dennis Prager, but I don't want people to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

56:21 I completely disagree with Dennis Prager on this.

56:24 I disagree with his thoughts on porn.

56:25 He thinks porn is no big deal.

56:27 He thinks porn could even help a marriage.

56:28 I think he's super duper wrong on that, but he's right about a lot of stuff.

56:34 A lot of stuff.

56:35 He's wrong on his thoughts about Jesus, but he knows a lot about the Torah.

56:39 And so that's my one caution here is I think, again, we should be able to hold things in

56:43 tension, be able to say two things at once, claim two things at once.

56:47 You can be a fan of Dennis Prager and like what he's done, especially for conservatism,

56:51 but think that, you know, he holds some egregious opinions and this is certainly one of those.

56:56 Our next quick hitter here, the resurgence of COVID and mask mandates.

56:59 So this is according to CNN.

57:01 If you're at high risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19, it's time to dust off

57:05 those in 19 masks and place them snugly over your nose and mouth and protect yourself from

57:10 a recent uptick of the virus, according to a growing number of experts.

57:14 A new variant, B a dot two dot eight six doesn't sound that scary, but you know, has captured

57:20 scientists attention because it's highly mutated.

57:23 But so far, it's only been detected in a small number of people globally.

57:26 Nonetheless, it doesn't look good in terms of the virus is nonstop evolution.

57:31 The virus keeps finding new ways to challenge humans to find new hosts and repeat hosts.

57:36 And it's relentless.

57:37 Okay.

57:38 So you scared?

57:39 Yeah.

57:40 Here's a big takeaway on this one.

57:41 You can kiss every last square inch of my Irish took us.

57:49 You're not going to get me to care about this unless it starts killing children at a rate

57:54 of like, you know, seven out of 10 or something like that, you're not going to get me to care.

57:59 I don't care about the Joe Biden's poll numbers or two low variant.

58:03 I don't want to hear anything from Russell Moore or any people like him that talk about

58:08 that the Bible says we're supposed to love our neighbor though variants.

58:11 I don't care.

58:13 And here's the thing that I want to encourage enough people here.

58:16 Let's say you live in a place where they're going to try to enforce a mass mandate at

58:20 your school or, you know, at different businesses that you would shop at or, you know, with

58:25 TSA with the airports and things like that.

58:28 If enough people don't comply, they can't force this down your throats.

58:34 So let's use the airport as an example.

58:36 So let's say today, they announced that, Hey, tomorrow we're starting a mass mandates.

58:41 If you're in an airport, if you're on an airplane, you have to wear a mask or you can't fly.

58:45 Okay.

58:46 So take any airport, right?

58:48 So you're a DFW down there in Dallas.

58:49 You're in the airport.

58:50 There's literally tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people running around down

58:53 there, if half of y'all said, no, not wearing a mask, not doing it.

59:00 And you, you go to the security line and the guy says, sorry, we can't let you through

59:03 security.

59:04 You don't have your mask on.

59:05 So it's too bad.

59:06 I bought a ticket.

59:07 You can't stop me.

59:08 And the next person does that.

59:09 And the next person does that.

59:10 And the person that's thinking, you know, the TSA agent that's thinking about stopping

59:13 the first person, they look in line and they see 200 other people without masks on.

59:19 Do you think we're going to shut down air travel in this country entirely?

59:22 We're going to shut down the entire industry.

59:25 We're going to disrupt travel across this country because they want us to wear masks

59:30 again for something that is essentially endemic and a cold for most people.

59:35 I'm sorry.

59:36 That is my encouragement to you.

59:38 We haven't gone there yet.

59:40 We'll see how things go.

59:41 They're going to try something like this again.

59:43 You have to not comply because the more you comply and the more you just go along to get

59:47 along, the worse it's going to be for everybody in the long run.

59:49 And I think we saw that in 2020 in the subsequent years for sure.

59:53 All right.

59:55 Next quick hitter here.

59:56 The recent racially motivated shooting in Jacksonville, Florida.

59:59 So this is according to the Washington Examiner, multiple people were killed during a mass

1:00:04 shooting in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday, August the 26th and what officials said was

1:00:08 a racially motivated attack shooter, Ryan Palmeter, 21 years old, open fire at a dollar

1:00:13 general store on Saturday, killing three black people.

1:00:16 The victims have been named as Angela Michelle Carr, 52 store employee AJ Laguer, 19 and Gerald

1:00:23 Gallion, 29, Palmeter killed himself as police arrived.

1:00:27 Palmeter use legally purchased weapons and AR 15 cineon erratic rifle with swastika

1:00:32 emblems and a Glock handgun despite having a past and having a past and voluntarily committed

1:00:38 for mental health exam in 2017.

1:00:41 However, because he was released following the examination, it would not have appeared

1:00:45 on background checks, according to authorities.

1:00:48 The sheriff said Palmeter left behind racist writings in which he expressed white supremacist

1:00:52 views and used racial slurs.

1:00:54 Waters said that Palmeter hated black people and described his manifesto as a diary of

1:00:58 a madman.

1:00:59 The Justice Department has opened a federal hate crime investigation into the shooting

1:01:03 attorney general, Mayor Garland said, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida has condemned the actions

1:01:08 of Palmeter, calling him a major league scumbag.

1:01:11 So my big takeaway on this one.

1:01:13 I don't necessarily want to talk about this individual story, okay, because he purchases

1:01:18 guns legally.

1:01:19 So people will talk about the guns here.

1:01:21 But again, I've talked about that at nausea.

1:01:23 There's not a law in the books that currently would have stopped that from happening.

1:01:25 This wasn't a guy, you know, this is a guy that, you know, fell through the cracks in a

1:01:28 lot of different ways, but it wasn't necessarily at the gun store when he went to go pick up

1:01:32 his firearm.

1:01:33 There's a lot of different things you could talk about here, but I want to take a slightly

1:01:35 different angle.

1:01:37 Why do we automatically know without any shadow of a doubt, mind you?

1:01:43 What the motivation of this shooter in Jacksonville was?

1:01:47 But we still to this day do not know what motivated the so-called trans person that murdered

1:01:52 six people, including three nine year olds at Covenant Christian school on Nashville.

1:01:56 How do we have no motivation there?

1:01:58 You know, that, that piece of human debris had a manifesto.

1:02:04 Why have we seen it?

1:02:06 Because we haven't seen the manifesto of this Jacksonville shooter yet, but we know what's

1:02:09 in it.

1:02:10 Because the authorities just straight out told us, yeah, I had a bunch of races.

1:02:13 Writing is a bunch of racial slurs and the firearm that was used in the attack at swastikas

1:02:17 on it seems like, you know, it's white supremacy, right?

1:02:21 And that, you know, feeds the leftist narrative that white supremacist white supremacy is the

1:02:26 biggest threat we face when it's not global warming or something like that climate change.

1:02:29 But in this type of aspect, we have six people killed at a Christian school and it looks

1:02:35 like it was out of anti Christian hate, but there was no federal hate crime investigation

1:02:40 opened up.

1:02:42 There are parents from Nashville who are still mourning the deaths of their children that

1:02:47 want the manifesto to be released.

1:02:49 And there's like, you know, because here's the thing.

1:02:51 So some people are like, well, you know, I've changed my mind on the manifesto because

1:02:54 the manifesto had, you know, the writings that were, you know, basically giving, it

1:02:59 would give ammunition, you know, forgive the pun to people that would want to do things

1:03:03 like this in the, in the future.

1:03:04 And so we don't want to give people that ammunition.

1:03:06 We want to try to protect future kids.

1:03:08 You can release a redacted version where it doesn't give like, Hey, here's exactly how

1:03:12 I planned out my attack, but you can still get the motivation.

1:03:17 And so that again, there's favoritism in law enforcement and in the media industrial complex,

1:03:25 if you will, to make sure that the elevate, they elevate stories that are useful to them.

1:03:30 So a white guy, that's a white supremacist killing black people that's, that's about

1:03:34 his useful story as the the mainstream media can have because it fits all their narratives

1:03:37 and checks all their boxes.

1:03:39 But when a white person that thinks that they're trans, which, you know, fits the leftist narrative,

1:03:47 that, you know, if that transing is even a thing, being trans is a thing, when they go

1:03:51 and kill Christians, it's like, Oh, well, I guess there's no there there.

1:03:54 Oh, it's an absolute mystery.

1:03:56 It's a mystery.

1:03:57 You know, what, what could have possibly motivated this person?

1:03:59 Oh, they left behind the reason why they did it.

1:04:01 We probably can't let anybody know that.

1:04:03 And you can see because if you go back to that, you know, situation with covenant Christian

1:04:06 school in Nashville, the police chief came out and said, yeah, we're, we're about, we're

1:04:10 going to release this thing and we're going to get it to everybody.

1:04:12 And then within a few days, you, you didn't hear a word about it.

1:04:14 You didn't hear a word about the motivations or the manifesto anymore.

1:04:18 I think I something to keep an eye on as we see future stories, because unfortunately,

1:04:22 things like this will continue to happen.

1:04:24 All right.

1:04:25 Last quick hitter of the day, the passing of the great Bob Barker.

1:04:28 So this is according to ABC news, legendary TV star Bob Barker, who hosted the famed game

1:04:33 show The Price is Right for 35 years has died.

1:04:36 He was 99.

1:04:37 Barker died in his home on Saturday, August the 26th, his longtime publicist, Roger Neil

1:04:41 told ABC news.

1:04:43 He had he was a few months shy of his 100th birthday.

1:04:46 Barker won 19 daytime Emmy Awards, including 14 for outstanding game show host, as well

1:04:51 as a lifetime achievement award from the daytime Emmys in 1995.

1:04:55 His wife died in 1981 of lung cancer.

1:04:58 He never remarried.

1:04:59 I never had any inclination to remarry.

1:05:01 She was my wife.

1:05:02 He said.

1:05:03 There's something very beautiful about that quote about him and his wife and not getting

1:05:08 remarried.

1:05:09 So Bob Barker hosted The Price is Right from 1972 to 2007.

1:05:14 So again, as that said, 35 years, thousands and thousands of episodes.

1:05:18 And I have the same, you know, I guess, friendship with Bob Barker, as most of you had, I got

1:05:23 to watch Bob Barker when I was sick from school, when I was saying homesick from school, because

1:05:27 what the what a, you know, prices right came on at like nine or 10 o'clock in the morning

1:05:30 central time.

1:05:31 And so I'd be sick and that was the one thing I could look forward to.

1:05:34 So if I had, you know, if I was throwing up or had diarrhea or fever, I knew for an hour

1:05:38 that I could be entertained by all these crazy people, you know, guessing prices of, you

1:05:42 know, boxes of, you know, oatmeal or trying to win a car and those types of things.

1:05:47 It was an, um, it was a pleasure, really, to be able to watch those shows and you could

1:05:51 kind of disconnect from a little bit and you could kind of live vicariously through these

1:05:54 people and their excitement and Bob Barker just seemed like a really, really nice guy.

1:05:57 And from all the things that you've seen about him outside of the show, it seems like he

1:06:02 was really a stand up guy.

1:06:03 So my big takeaway on this one, as I'm sure most of you have heard others say by now,

1:06:07 he got us close to 100 without going over.

1:06:10 RIP, Bob, thank you for the memories and that'll do it for today's show.

1:06:13 But before we let you go, we are going to do a quick resilience boost at adulthood life.

1:06:17 Our mission is equipping men to push back darkness with content that forges, spiritual,

1:06:21 mental and physical resilience.

1:06:22 So a reminder to any of you guys that need help with your tech at your businesses, don't

1:06:26 go to the IT stuff by yourself.

1:06:28 Do, you know, get the experts in there.

1:06:30 Like don't be the guy that does it by yourself and the messes it all up.

1:06:32 So again, go to get security dot tech to have my friends at LMS tech help you out.

1:06:37 That's get security dot tech.

1:06:39 And again, as you always know, we're affiliated with Origin, all that stuff's on our website

1:06:42 as well.

1:06:43 In terms of the show notes today, I've got a donation link, I've got a link to the old

1:06:46 episodes.

1:06:47 I got a link to the Tim Tebow Foundation that I talked about in this episode, a link to

1:06:51 our shop where you can buy the cigars and then everything we talked about with the, you

1:06:55 know, country music, theology and all the quick hitters.

1:06:57 All that is right there in the show, the show notes for you guys.

1:06:59 So enjoy it.

1:07:00 It's right there.

1:07:01 Thank you guys so much for listening to this episode.

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1:07:25 And also we want to thank the band Holy Name for allowing us to use their music for our

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1:07:35 The links are in the description.

1:07:37 I'm your host Kyle Thompson.

1:07:39 Remember keep pushing back darkness, keep forging spiritual, mental and physical resilience.

1:07:45 Keep seeking the Lion of Judah.