Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. You are live from the path.

And you're listening to live from the Path gonna be from the Pathway Studios, Kieran Johnston, proper. I'm tell you. Yeah. Come on. That's gonna be my new kiss phrase all day. Hey. I told you, hey, I read I was reading there's a a blog about how to make people so they'll listen to your podcast. And they said the worst thing you could do is get out, spend your first minute or two just kind of blabbing and shop talking. How are we dealing I with said Was that was that an actual thing on the on the article? Yeah. Was. Years ago? What's that? Because I've in my recollection, you've talked about this on the show before. Yeah. Come on. We didn't learn from it. No. This article.

Oh, maybe it keeps coming up over and over again. Yeah. You just keep hitting the same one. Oh, maybe we should stop doing You need to Google search the 10 top 10 tips for podcasting, and then we'll see if whether we cut the mustard or or not. Oh, see if we're professional. Okay. Yeah. That's a good idea. Mississippi don't push. Mississippi. I don't know why that's happening. Why are we saying Mississippi Mississippi don't push? Where where's that come from from? Were you not around for this conversation? No. Oh. There's a guy, a a rapper, a young rapper at Spirit Midwest

a few years back now. The music festival? Yeah. Yeah. A number of years back. His dad was doing the the mic check before he went on stage, and he that's what he kept saying in the mic. He said he said, check check. Mississippi don't push. And I didn't know what that meant at the time. I still don't know what it was. Yeah. What it mean? I don't know. Some key syllables and a p to see how p sounds in a microphone. And Yeah. But I've said it ever since. Whenever someone says, hey, check that mic. Said Mississippi, don't push. I got the exact phrase that is necessary right now. Hold on.

Hold on. I'll Google search it. Maybe it'll Well, I've looked it up before and like the closest thing I could find was like, don't push drugs. Like, okay. That's good advice. A good message. Is it is that is that a defense or an accusation? Like, hey, Mississippi don't push or Mississippi and he's telling them, Mississippi don't push. I I always took it as like a him telling Mississippi not to push drugs. Okay. Well, I thought it was just like, I'm we're from Mississippi. We just don't push. We don't push. We don't push. We don't push. I think we need t shirts. That's all I can think of. Yeah. Dig on. Here's the here's the top 10 results. Top five results from Mississippi Don't Push on the Google. Okay. One, miss don't push it on Facebook.

Two, Mississippi don't have an equal pay law. Also interesting. Followed by lots of Mississippi folks don't want COVID nineteen vaccine. Yeah. I read that, actually. And then and then to to wrap it up, why do The US people underuse the Mississippi River? Like like it's talked about in other countries that we have this sweet river and we're not taking full advantage of it. I don't know if you've been in the Mississippi River. It's I mean, it's it's like Wonka's Brown River down there. I mean, it's nasty. It's not a good river. Advantage of us to the one that's to take of it. I mean, Is that wait. Is it do we know that's a foreigner? Is there, like, some guy who's, like, in The United States who's just disappointed that we're underutilizing the Mississippi River?

I mean, big wagoneer. I wonder if he I wonder if he brings it up all the time. Hey, man. Let's go to Kentucky Fried Chicken. Hey. I think you're really underusing the river. Yeah. Why okay. Why is it that with modern technology, The US has not diverted surplus water from the Mississippi River to drought devastated California and other Western states as was done through the aqueducts by the Romans thousands of years ago? Are you serious, friend? That's the same. That's because Mississippi don't push. Yeah. Yeah. And Mississippi is, I don't know, 700

miles away from where you're talking about? I mean, do you think we got like a specific pipe just sitting there in case water needs to come through? Yeah. I mean, the aqueduct system was relying on Gravity. Yeah. Like like gravity fed from, like, surrounding. There's there's like, the Apennines and there were, seven mountain kind of areas around these main parts of Rome. Not, hey, we decided to push it all the way over to modern day Turkey. Listen. This is the this is the problem with with What an ape. With modern arm armchair quarterbacks of of, like, what happens is people will sit and pontificate on stuff like this and realize that, like, to move let's say, let's call it a a 10 or 12 inch pipe. Right? Yeah. You gotta have a lift station every 50 miles to get it there. At least, you normally, it's between thirty and fifty miles. You have to have pretty much a 500 horsepower motor hooked up to this pipeline every 50 miles and push it all the way to California from the Mississippi River. And to mind you, the California is borders with an ocean.

Wouldn't it make more sense to try to figure out how to get this ocean water so we could use it? Yeah. Desalinate. Don't don't travel. Hey, man. Let's pump this dirty fresh water from the middle of the country all the way to California. Hey. Based upon that thing you just said though, Dan's Dan's Mississippi don't push is was underappreciated. I know. He was proud of that. Relative to sending the water to California.

Mississippi. That was I mean, it was top notch. He didn't get the credit he deserved with it. Thank you. Well, just think of the head pressure going through the Rockies. Well, you'd have to get it all the way up there. That's what I'm saying. Think of the head pressure. I'd make the train tug it. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'd yeah. Well, bet you could come you could put it in in container cars. Oh, you're just gonna ship it over? I the pipeline is not I mean, it'll take look how long it took us to get a train through the Rockies.

Or in I mean, everybody drives to to to get transportation of goods. Most of the pipelines stop right at the right right at the mountain, because it costs too much to get one over there. Nobody does that. Why don't we just get a bunch of helicopters and get an iceberg and just bring it on in? Let it melt slowly. Make a river. Yeah. I've heard they're loosening up. So we just chisel one out and bring it over to to, like, San Jose and let them chisel off for a while. Yeah. Are are icebergs made of salt water? Are glaciers made of salt water? I mean, you think they wouldn't freeze. Well, I mean, salt is I mean, it eventually freezes. Right? It's gotta be real cool. Yeah. What's the freezing point of salt water? I don't know. I think it has to do with the the selenization level. Yeah. Like how much yeah. What what does it freeze at? How much salt is it like? Yeah.

Yeah. That. Okay. Yeah. Here we don't push. Here we go. Mike, you said the pod tips for a a good podcast. Yeah. Yeah. Hit Hit me. Me. Number one, invest in decent equipment. Okay. We're actually there. We did alright. Yeah. I mean Two, I put a new microphone on me today, as a matter of fact. I'm testing it out. Two, choose the right theme. Done. We talk about Jesus and open up with that working man song. We haven't we haven't swapped that out since day one. That's true. Okay. We're so far, hey, we're awesome.

Come out with quality podcasts. Oh. Did they ever come after you for royalties? No. They don't know. No. They don't know. I I keep thinking I I reach out to them and say, boys, I just wanna tell you, this has been a real boon to us. But then if they're gonna find out with you I mean, they don't care. But like, I'm sure their publishing company is gonna be like, you owe us 83¢. Okay. The freezing point of salt water is about negative six.

Oh, okay. Well, then, yeah, that'll happen. In Fairhauser. So it could very well be be negative. No joke though. If we could pick up with this iceberg and kinda just drop it off. Yeah. Well, we could tug it. We got we could get a couple ships and take them and just grapple it. Yeah. Although, I think if you I mean, they're pretty difficult to deal with. The Titanic had to run-in with one. It would go well. Yeah. But that's what yeah. But they slalom it. They were gonna go a mano a mano with it. If we tugged it back behind as if we owned it like a dog Oh, yeah. On a leash. Yeah. Don't run straight at it. But you still gotta get it up in the land. So I mean, honestly, Oregon gets a ton of rain. And Washington,

wouldn't it be, once again, smarter just to pipe rain water down from Oregon or Washington? Or from the mountains like we were talking about. Yeah. Or the melting caps. I mean, the the man who sat down and thought, you know what the solution to all the world's woe is? Mississippi River. Yeah. It's just ridiculous. When it started, I thought I thought I thought he was gonna be like, why don't we have like more steamboats like we used do? Like, why aren't we using it for recreation or something? Yeah. Exactly. But no. I've seen a guy on a on a on a Sea Doo out there on the Mississippi one time. That's I mean He was like, it's completely full of branches and nasty. No. He loved it. He was in like one of those locks or or whatever. We let people play in those? I thought those were for business only. No. He was he was seeding. The lock and dam system? Yeah. That'd be kind of fun to, like, hand paddle your way in there on a canoe or whatever. Yeah. And then sit there and wait for the water to drain out as it goes down. Take me up. Yeah.

Come on. Okay. Come out with a quality podcast. So I don't I don't know. We probably don't that's not right. We don't do that. Four, find the balance. Oh, after some time, you'll probably start receiving comments and suggestions. Some listeners may want you to change the format. Others will have requests for special guests. It's never a good idea to pander to your audience. Okay. Yeah. Right.

Yeah. That's us. Make your podcast SEO friendly. What's that acronym stand for? Search engine optimization. Yeah. Yeah. So here's here's the problem. Actually, this is our greatest downfall. It's the type the name of the show. Life if you type in life from the path, Google will

pull out from and the. And so because it for it's looking for important terms. And so it strips out things that things are just, like, aren't particularly unique. And so then we're just searching live path or live path. And, like, every every Johnny Cakes out there is doing some sort of lives. Anything that's live is gonna get tagged above ours. And, like, path, like, live your path, be on your path, bunch of self help gurus. We're we're probably like search result 2,046. Wow. You can't find us in the sea of nothing. Now, but here's the thing. If you're searching for life from the path, like, why? Like, what caused you to search these words together? It's not like we're gonna get random hits where someone goes, oh, I typed in live path and I found you. No. That's true. Maybe I wanna know Jesus today. Well, I think also, like, with your hashtags and stuff like that,

it could get found, you know. Actually, so I I help another there's another dude I help with a podcast, and, like, I'm involved with the two hardest podcasts to get anybody to notice. The the market is saturated with financial advice and people in, like, spirituality, like Christian podcasts.

Like, it's a it's a noise. So you don't you don't stand out at all. Even if your podcast is unique, it's real difficult for you to get people to find it. What if we called our what if we just took tail right now and changed our podcast name to Mississippi Don't Push? You feel like we I mean, that's Googleable for sure. If, yeah, if someone would be happening and type that in, you'd want us to be number one. We'll leave the name or the logo the same. Everything will be exactly the same. We will just start Here's how we get the right the same audience, but with a name. We're gonna rename we're gonna rename the show, maybe Judas Judas didn't do it. Wait. What? Maybe Judas didn't do it. You think people are googling that all the time? No. But they they'll Google googling Judas, and then there's gonna be some, like, what do mean maybe Judas didn't do it? I never thought of that. And then we're gonna hit them with, like, oh, Judas definitely did. The Bible said it. I don't know why you even asked. Anyway, here's other stuff. Yeah. And they'll listen to every episode trying to figure out where we said such a thing. Yeah. But we could yeah. We'll leave clues at the end of it like, hey.

Yeah. I don't have a tip. But we're like, did you ever consider maybe it wasn't. Maybe he didn't hang himself. Maybe the word means danced a little. But we're saying maybes because that's not true, obviously. It's can say anything when you add maybe. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe Mississippi do push. Just a line in the sand, speaking of podcasts that irritate me. That guy that's doing the rise and fall on Mars Hill was chucking an episode out every week for, like, the first five weeks. And now he's gone on to, like, once every three and a half weeks, he drops one. Yeah. And then acts like it's a bonus episode

just to keep me quiet. Yeah. It's really irritating. Yeah. That's like making, you know, breakfast and lunch and then showing up at dinner and go like, bonus meal. Like, no, man. That's part of the cadence. You you fired up a story that has a legit ending and then hit me with an episode every week, and then I get hooked on this thing and wanna hear more. And then he's like, oh, sorry. I'm having a hard time pushing out content. Why don't we just wait till you were done before you brought this package to my doorstep? Now I'm super irritated. Yeah. Yeah. Number six, get great guests and be a great guest. Oh, boy. Oh. We've had some good guests in here. Not great. I'm not sure great. Is that wrong to say? I don't know. I think that's our fault though. We're not very good. I gotta be honest. A good chunk of the people that have been in here have fallen away from the faith. And Yeah. That's that's the reality. Yeah. And I don't know whether that's because we used to but we we tried to have touring,

you know, mid level touring bands come in, and some of them had some rough motivations for what for why they were involved. And Christian music is pretty easy to break into on the whole because people will accept anything. If you play a bagpipe and a flute at the same time and claim it in the name of Christ The Lord's in it. People will show up with money in hand going, I wanna see this. The spirit is Irish. Yeah. And so, I mean, if you could be a hardcore rapper, you could be a heavy metal band, you could be a song duo where with your wife, And like, if if as long as you're under the name of Jesus Christ, people were like, yes. We'll bless your ministry. Yeah. Right? Because Christians are like that. They see anything that says good things about Jesus Christ, and they're like, a source of money to that. That's except for the important things. Then we start to retreat into our homes and act like it's none of our business. Yeah. Don't wanna invest in these orphans, but this Christian rap really making the scene. Yeah. I gave all my money to that Mississippi pipeline that's supposed to be giving the water over to California. I I think people are still talking about our By Its Own Name interview though. Oh, By Its Right Name. That's right. By His Right Name. I could remember. Something like that. Boy. This is the worst.

That's the worst thing that ever happened to me. That was like for the first three months, I think, wasn't it? Yeah. Because we were interviewing. We for the first thing we did when we started on was to interview bands for that Spirit Midwest Music Festival Yeah. That that Nathan was talking about. And so, like, we had no experience at all and we're just inviting people on. And, like, we've subsequently had I mean, I would say a good chunk of those guys did have fallen away from the faith. And one guy who I think is still in the faith had written me explicitly and said, hey, will you take all of my stuff down? I don't wanna be associated with it. He tried to make it sound like, oh, I'm just it was just my younger stuff. But like, it really felt personal.

Like, I don't want my stuff coming off on your website anymore. Yeah. Wow. So I I had to I I mean, I just I I didn't really delete them. I just put them on private just in case I wanna Bust them back out. Yeah. Release them back. Yeah. I don't know if this seems real spiteful to say, I know you didn't want your content on my website. I mean, have we got any legit, like like, bad emails or or, like, terrible reviews or people just didn't like us at all? Apart from that one time we got involved with praying at the atheist convention, That was pretty rough rough scene for there a couple weeks, but It wasn't like it? Yeah. We got we got a few where someone had reached out and, like, was hosed off. And, like, every once in a while, someone would comment super negative on one of the one of the things on YouTube. But, like, they would they didn't really watch it. They saw, like, the title in the first eight seconds, and then they're like, I think you guys are stupid. That's not well, that's right. But you really should read the rest of it. Yeah. That's not even enough time for me to put my foot in my mouth. I feel like if you got would've waited the full forty five seconds, I would've said something really offensive. That's right. Did some really good stuff. We bumble stump away around. Like, it's gotta at least be in for three to five minutes. Okay. Yeah. So be a great guest. You guys ever hey. You you would be on another podcast?

Would I or have I? Yeah. Would you? Yeah. Okay. This guy, I know, at work, keeps inviting me. He's every every day, he goes, hey, you still gonna be on my podcast? And he's building a podcast studio in his basement. Oh, yeah. Right. Yeah. He's like, we're we're gonna talk about news that people don't know about. Oh, no. Like Like unknown news. He keeps saying unknown news. Oh. What's that? It needs to be known. I mean, how do how do we know it if it's unknown?

Hey, that's bad. And then he's sending me like articles from NPR. Was like, people know this. I'm make it a major news outlet. Found a source called the AP. Yeah. I guess the the the only way that this guy's really on the cutting edge is he's baking news and no one yet knows it like, hey, I heard a woman got murdered on 6th Street. Anyway, I was recently on 6th Street. Yeah. So he set up a he set up a group chat between

us or me and him and two other guys we work with who he he wants on this podcast. Yeah. And so this is his whole premise for the show, is that we're gonna talk about unknown news. And he's the only one who ever posted in the group chat news articles that people do obviously know because they're from, like, NPR or whatever. Right. And so I was like, oh, maybe I'll chime in, you know. Make make old buddy feel happy about himself that he's got his jolly group of fellows together. Yeah. And so I'll just search the most random, like, two different words that I could think of, and then news. Giraffe bodega news. Exactly.

Exactly. And then I'll whatever article comes up, I'll copy and paste it in there. Look what I saw, man. I was like, people need to know. It's weird the obscure things that go on that change the world, you know. I didn't know giraffes even did that. Okay. Finally, be consistent. Oh, crap. No wonder our show's not very good.

Now go okay. Anyway, we're doing alright. Here we go. Here we got on the show tonight. Oh, I there I found one article. Ex satanist who hated Christians spent thirty three years praising evil until a book mysteriously appeared on his jail cell floor. A man who spent more than three decades embroiled in the occult is sharing his incredible story of leaving satanism behind, finding freedom in Christ, and now spreading the gospel to others. Brian Cole explained on the fun finale episode of the Playing With Fire podcast, there's a little boy he didn't feel like he belonged anywhere. I didn't understand who I was in Christ. He said I was 10 years old and I had an abusive father. I was bullied at school and my mom forced us to go to church. Cole said he was also emotionally abused at his church. Every dynamic in his life left him feeling alone and disconnected until he met a group of older kids who took him in. They were talking to me. They were paying attention to me, he said. They weren't calling me names and beating me down. Cole soon realized the kids he befriended were involved in satanism,

your friendly neighborhood satanist, a belief system polar opposite from his family's church experience. While he wasn't drawn in by the theology, Cole said he wanted to do whatever these kids were doing. So before long, he was partaking. Listen to Cole share his decades long experience in the occult as well as his healing. One of the first rituals I was in, they were going to sacrifice a squirrel. I told him I would not do that, he said, noting that he had always loved animals. They said, well, Satan demands blood, so you're going to have to cut yourself. So I did. And that ended up being an addiction for thirty three years, the cutting and the self mutilation. As time progressed, Cole said the fear of satanism sparked he sparked,

and the rebellion further attracted him. Oh, sorry. The fear satanism sparked. At first, it wasn't a theological connection. Instead, it was more of a dabbling. He would trash Christian symbols and graveyards and smash nativities. I was kinda does it matter that you smash the nativity? No. No. I don't care about this. I find well, here's the thing, is I find a like, even his opening gamut was like the exact opposite of of what we were hearing in church. I'm like, I don't know. It came from that. I mean, they both you know what I'm saying? Like I don't know how they were mentally abusing him. Oh, at the church? Yeah. As a 10 year old.

Yeah. Here's the thing. It's like I was talking to some kids earlier this week that like yeah. You know, I think we do that. Oh, how how so how so though? By saying no? Don't do that? Well, here's the thing. It's like, I'd like to think it was because we ran up against behavior that wasn't consistent with what God had called us to.

But, like, I grew up with a friend of mine who, he remembers what like, they went to church for some reason, and he was wearing his Metallica shirt when he went. And they basically told him that he wasn't allowed to come back if he was gonna dress that way. And like, I mean, this kid grew up about as poor as we did. It's all the guy had. Right? It's all he came from. It's all he ever knew. Right? And so, like, yeah. I I think it's stuff like that. You don't look like what we believe a Christ follower looks like or you don't act the way or you got salty language or something and, like, all of a sudden, you're not good enough to be here, you know, like it's not a hospital for people who need a doctor. You know? And so I I think it's that kind of stuff, like, where the religiosity

stuff falls in. I don't know whether that's true for that but, like, I just I know from experience, like, a lot of a lot of the people that I talked to I mean, imagine, all the guys that I've talked to that have have known who Jesus is and walked away have always been because of the people of the church. Whether they were confronted with a an actual truth that the Holy Spirit was trying to work out or they were just religious jerks, either one could be true. He said he started ordering books on the occult and ceremonial magic and spent the majority of his days reading and studying, and that's not all. I got a tattoo of a cross on the bottom of my left foot so I could stomp on God whenever I walked. This is real childish. The whole thing is childish. You mean, gotta take you gotta take out a nativity scene? I don't care. It's not even legit. You know what I'm saying? I know Yeah. Why he's been there when they're the baby. I guess that's it's a good reminder that as you think about the work

that, Satan is trying to do, like, he he's not a creator. He's only an attempted destroyer to take something God designed for good and to somehow either destroy it or turn it to evil. And so, like, he's always just copying God. And so, like, these practices do seem very I like, very childish. Yeah. Like as an eight year old to go, I'm gonna write your name on my foot so I can walk on you all the time. Yeah. Step out of crack and break your mother's back. Yes. And

once again, it's like if if you turn Satan or, you know, the opposition or evil into like this cartoonish childish whatever, then the rest of the world like me looks at it and goes, this is childish and has no power here. Right. I it does. Right? There is legit evil and it does have power and it's not more than Jesus, of course, but like still, you don't you don't wanna underpin it or make it like it's not a deal. Like like, Satan is not a goofy kick over nativity kind of guy. You know what I'm saying? He's more like, God didn't say, and these people love you, and obviously, these people from your church don't. All they wanna do is come down on you. So let's go hang out with these folks. So he said over time, he started to get uncomfortable with the role Satan played in his life and the power evil yielded.

In 1987, he shifted away from Satanism and toward other forms of the occult, but he often revisited his old ways and used tarot cards among other tools. In the occult, I just sit down and allow myself to be possessed and just start writing stuff, Cole said, noting that he even kept a dream journal. The most intriguing element of his story, despite believing in Satan, he didn't believe in God. I didn't believe Jesus existed, he said. I thought this Bible was another mythology book. One of the biggest one of my biggest religions was hating Christians. So, like, I've actually thought about this a number of times, and I don't think anybody would come, to be honest. But, like, I I I wonder I always thought, like, what if you just did like a class at the library that said, look, we're we're not I'm not trying to convince you of Christianity, but like, can I at least give you an intro to the Bible? Like, this is what it is. Mhmm. This is a collection of books, blah blah blah blah blah. Here's how you should think about reading it. Because I think I think the words of God will do the work here. Like, if you could guilt help people because it's because, like, even there's a guy who's the Bart Ehrman. He's he's the he's no he's a New Testament scholar, and he he walked away from the faith. He does he no longer believes in the divinity of Jesus. But, like, he's a New Testament scholar, and, like, he was talking to a group of atheists,

and, basically, he said, hey. This this thing where you guys some of you guys are ardently trying to make the case that Jesus would didn't ever existed. He goes, you look stupid. You look ridiculous. There is no major historian

of any faith that will try to convince you that Jesus of Nazareth was not a real person, that didn't walk the earth, that didn't wasn't crucified on a cross, and did not have people who otherwise believed that he he, was someone sent by God or prophet or something like that. Like, no no legitimate historian,

like, thinks any of that stuff is not true. Like, it splits when he's was he actually God? Does his death mean anything? All that kind of stuff. Like, there's legitimate people arguing about that. But he goes, like, this room for the bases, he goes, a lot of you guys will spend a bunch of time, you know, just spreading stuff that's like like it just is not true. The the the biblical narrative and there's in fact, I was listening to this podcast from a guy, super difficult to understand. He's they interviewed some some, like, real thick accented Italian dude about the the Old Testament. And he he talks about, like,

the Assyrian like, the Hebrew Assyrian the Hebrew people Assyrian people and, like, middle the ancient eastern laws, and how they kinda compare to the Bible and stuff like this. And, like, this guy is not a follower of Jesus. But, like, people were talking to him about, and he's explaining kind of how we should think about the history behind some of the Hebrew narratives and stuff. But he's like, it's he it he goes, it's so disappointing. Like, the Bible is an amazing book. He goes, it's amazing book, and it's amazing history.

And, like, you you know, again, this is the guy who doesn't doesn't even believe in the god that the that the book is describing, but he's like, to dismiss it, to act like it's not substantive history, and you have to actually deal with. Like, you can't go around and act like it's not there. And that it doesn't sit in a context of that has had the greatest impact over any, you know, written down narrative anywhere in the world ever. He goes, it's just ridiculous. Which and and the reason I bring those two examples up is because, like, there is there are pockets of atheism where, like, they're just like, hey, I think your bible's trash. Well, like, historians who don't believe it still acknowledge it's not trash. Like, this is a value this is a book of value. Anyway, the broad point was is that, like, I wonder if there's if you could just get someone to show up and go, look, as long as you promise you're not trying to sell me something,

can I just give you a quick quick six weeks on here's how you should think about this book that everybody reads? And then whatever. I mean, if God does the work with it, I mean, whatever. They start reading it, and then I I think God will do that. But I just don't I don't know if anybody show up. I think you should try it. Just post it. Just and show up. See what happens. I'm gonna be at the library. You don't have to love Jesus. Yeah. Say, the the Bible for people who aren't Christians taught by men. Do it virtually. Yeah. That's good. I'd set up a class. No. People don't trust online learning.

You're right. The world's getting away from it. Everybody actually actually, it's funny. The the remember remember the right when the COVID stuff started, it took about two or three months. Everybody's like, This is gonna be the final push to get everybody to work from Like, Google is threatening to, like, people who went to work from home that, like, they will decrease their pay if they don't show back up at the office. Really? Yeah. Like, they'll get to keep they're not gonna fire them, but, like, they're gonna pay them less. What's the what's the motivation? Are they finding that the people are don't produce as much when they work from home? I don't know. I it didn't say for sure, but I said

but my I was surmising that, like, if anybody knows, Google would know. Right? One, they track everything their their employees are doing most certainly, but, like, they also they can tell you whether people are working all day or not. Mhmm. And whether whether it's different, whether it's coming from their from home or for not from home, whether they work better. And so, like, my guess is Google knows. Now they're not gonna tell you because they have to admit to how much they're actually looking at you. But, like, I think they definitely know that people are not working near as much as they used to. Yeah. I think that's probably true. Alright. Hold on. We better finish the guy off here. He says, I didn't believe Jesus one of the biggest religions was hating Christians, but everything changed in 2009 when Cole, then age 44, was once again arrested. He realized his life of crime wasn't working and that something desperately needed to change.

Yeah. Oh, this isn't working. I'm in jail It's not working out. I tried to commit suicide. I just didn't wanna live anymore. Cole started to cautiously explore the Bible as he embarked on a quest to get off drugs and change his life. Despite his skepticism and scoffing, he read and explored. Then one day, he came back to his room and found a book randomly laying on the floor of his jail cell, Lee Strobel's The Case for Christ, a text a text that documents Strobel's journey from atheism into faith. When I got done with that book, I could no longer deny the fact that Jesus existed on this earth. He said, all my life I had sought truth. Cole found that truth transformed his life and is now a pastor. This has set me free in so many ways I can't even explain it, he said as he became visibly emotional. Listen to his entire story on the finale of the Playing with Fire podcast.

That's pretty cool. Yeah. That is pretty cool. I think wouldn't it be so wouldn't it be so awesome to have God have used you in such a way like like Lee Strobel? Yeah. On the on the I mean, Pastor's work is awesome. I would say, like like, the tons of people who you never even met can pick up something that you experienced and they just wrote down and sent sent off. And so randomly, some guy came to know Jesus because some dude dropped this in his in his cell. Yeah. That's pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah. I bet Paul feels the same way.

I bet yeah. Yeah. Anybody ever wrote to the Philippians? Yeah. I saw that letter. That wasn't for you. That was for the Philippians. Yeah. Does. How about you mind your business, Robbie? The power of a testimony, though. It really is A hard story. Yeah. I've I've I've I've been doing this lately, and it brings a smile to my face. But, like, people that I that I am struggling to have hope for or that I find out just don't like, I just imagine that, like, I'm talking to them and and Jesus come around the corner and smiles. And, like, I just imagine their face when they first meet Jesus. This big old smiling Jesus and, like, it just makes me happy. And so and I just do that with everybody that I don't like. So if if you find me, you know, gazing off into the distance, that means I don't like you. And I'm imagining you meeting Jesus right now and your face turning all happy and whatever and, like, totally overwhelmed with the stuff that you didn't your whole world makes sense, like, right now.

Now I'm a real self conscious about that. Yeah. And it We're constantly looking over to see whether you're looking at people. It's gotta be if I'm 15 degrees to either side of you, that's what I'm doing Oh. For sure. Okay. Okay. Well, we'll do one more article and then maybe we'll do some advice. Yeah. It's says evangelical leaders urge pastors not to forsake teaching bible prophecy to make sure you talk about the end times. Pastors who refuse to preach about bible prophecy are failing to teach 20 to 40% of the bible, said Jack Hibbs, pastor of Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills in Southern California. His remarks came as part of the prophecy q and a event held at Calvary Chapel where the pastor was John. I don't care who was here. Hibbs urged pastors not to forsake teaching prophecy, adding that the book of Revelations nope. Chapter 19 tells us that Jesus himself is the spirit of prophecy.

Jesus said, I give you these things in advance so that when they happen, you will know that I am the self existing internal god. He added that at some seminaries, bible prophecy is no longer being taught, which he said is problematic because courses in eschatology teach about the prophetic word given by God about the Messiah and about salvation. People are gonna pay a $100 to go to their get their doctorate theology and come out expected to become a pastor of a church, and the world around them is being prophetic whether they like it or not. It's happening, and they don't know what to do. They don't know what to say, so they avoid it because they have never been taught in seminaries. Dan, what you you went to seminary. Do you feel like you're did you get a good preparation on teaching prophecy and end times from from bible college? I I got a lot of that post.

I could have. I mean, it's you you you gotta choose your track. Right? I mean, and and most people don't take, I'm going the prophecy route. Right. Usually because, like, the biblical study route says, hey, most prophecy is forth telling, not foretelling, so stop it. Right? So it's conflicting departments there within the universities. Oh, right. Right. Right. It says,

even Jesus rebuked his disciples when they didn't believe in prophets and prophecy. What? Say it again? Yeah. But he didn't provide an example. Even Jesus rebuked his disciples when they didn't believe in prophets and prophecy. What's the top three reasons that Jesus rebuked rebuked his disciples? What comes to mind?

Lack of belief. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Where Peter where Peter said, hey, you're not actually gonna go to the cross and die, he got yelled at. But they couldn't heal that kid who threw himself in the fire. Yeah. And when they over to the faithless generation and said, I don't know how long I'm gonna put it with you guys. Yeah. I don't believe it had anything to do with prophecy. I don't remember that. Why don't you guys take in the prophecy? I mean, mean, you could really twist it and maybe say, well, like, you don't recognize who I am because you don't believe in prophecy. Yeah. But like, that's a totally different thing because the reality was many Jewish people were chasing around people who claimed to be Messiah. So like they obviously believed that Messiah was an option. They just didn't believe Jesus was it. Yeah. That was the grasp.

It says, as far as I'm concerned, when they leave prophecy out, it's the number one sign of the woke and progressive, and that's the progression of the world. Really? It's wokeness that's keeping people from talking about the revelations? Okay. I gotta admit something. I don't have any idea what that means. What do mean? When people be like, hey, man, that that that's all woke. And I say, I don't know what that means. You're you're awake to all the all the problems of the world and all the ways theory and Yeah. All the ways in which the world really works and how is it how it is harming people. Social justice. I don't understand. Once once again, I I just I I still don't get it. How can anybody You were not woke by How many people how can you be that that awake? Right? Like don't make a sense to me. You're a middle aged white guy. You have a problem.

Like, I see how the world really works. I you do not. There's no possible way you do, honestly. You only think that because you're on the Internet. Yeah. I mean, you'd be the last guy that would, I think, feel like come off as being like super woke. You get you just need a teacher says, you guessed right. I'm not super woke. You're supposed to wake up and realize men are evil and America's terrible and that kind of stuff. I mean, we got our we got our finer points, both with dudes in America. There's some things we can improve upon. I don't think you gotta be woke to figure that out. Just put a couple thoughts together and go, hey, man. We can improve. Yeah. Like yeah. I mean, if you could look around and go, yeah, that's that's not the best. Yeah. When God refers to you as fallen, I think you know what I'm saying? Like the broken world. I mean, when when you need rescue, obviously, things are going not well for you. They could say, hey, man. I think white people suck. Yeah. They're sinful from their mother's womb. Tell me about somebody else. Yeah. I'm ready. Yeah. You guys aren't woke. Yeah. It's both. You can't you can't do the prophecy. Yeah. Yeah. That's what that's the problem.

He said What did that make him then? Slipped? Yeah. I don't wanna be all slipped on this one, Brandon. Slipped. Go to the ant, you sluggard. He says the progression of the believers when they realize it was Jesus, the progression of the church that is not into Jesus is going down the road of shame, embarrassment, and sadness. I think that's true. Although, I'm not sure not no no prophecy I mean, I've never nobody's even talking about not believing in prophecy. This just feels like overemphasizing things as if the Bible has called them specifically out to happen. Like, well, I was just teaching Daniel this week. Daniel 11, which is like like a hyper focus of a a bunch of rigamarole. And like, the whole point of the story

was not about like, there's some specific execution stuff in in Israel's history, and the really the the the whole point is to be like, you don't control any of this. Kings are gonna, like, totally jack with each other and rise and fall and rise and fall, and you're gonna be in the middle of it, and you should just walk faithfully and know that God is with you. Like, it's the whole point of the story. And, like, we're cranking on, yeah, but when? Right. When shall I walk faithfully? Right now. You don't have to yet. Maybe this maybe this is maybe you guys will disagree with me, but like, I could literally talk about Jesus for the rest of my life and never mention the book of Revelation. It seems I it's more it sound it feels like a gift to me, to people who follow Jesus. But I don't find it necessary to preach

the good news of who Christ is. Right? Like to invite people into faith to share the good news of the things God has done. I I mean, the book of Revelation to me is a giant gift to Christians. But like, if we never talked about it again, I In a sound snippet, if someone just came in and like started listening to the show, they would hear you go, I just don't believe it's necessary to teach the good news of Jesus Christ. Oh, yeah. Sorry. There's a there's a comma in there. Yeah. But I mean, do you get what I'm saying? Like, I think guys I find have messed it up so badly that you it takes three hours of trying to teach what it's about before you can even get into Revelation. Right. Or what it's not about, you're like, here's what they're not saying. Here's what's not what's going on, you know. Yeah. But why not? But once again, like, mean, honestly, I I love reading the book of Revelation,

but it's I I don't go there all that often. Yeah. So actually, I think the distinction would be is if you're not try if you were trying to lead people to Christ in in rougher parts of the world, the revelation probably becomes much more helpful for them. I don't think you need it in America. Probably unfortunately.

Mhmm. Because people are because the the the natural reaction is that they, okay, accept the good news of Jesus Christ. Great. I get to live forever with Jesus, and I should probably be a better person. None of that requires revelation to kind of bring home. But like, when the notion of accepting Christ puts you at odds with the culture around you and your core belief system, your heritage, your family, the notion that you're gonna run into some trouble, God has not left you, and by the way, kingdoms will come and go. Revelation is essentially the same story as Daniel 11. Then then, yeah, then it becomes a lot more important. And so I think it's probably your cultural context that that makes I think it's true. I think what you're saying is true. I do just think it's limited by some of the cultural context. Yeah. But they're having this prophecy conference in California. They come from the same culture I do. Yeah. Here's the deal. If you have to rent out like, if you got a giant church that's got 35,000

people in it to have a prophecy conference. I would like wipe your hands and go, we don't really this doesn't apply to us. We should go do something else. Yeah. Let's let's just do let's do something else. They don't have any water over there. Yeah. That's true. They're they're on the streets. Sip it. Don't push. Sip it. Don't push. We ain't drinking this water. What he stressed the pastor should be teaching prophecy, Sir Fadi said people should shouldn't stop attending a particular church simply because it doesn't teach about prophecy because he added being around other Christians is important. These are the only two options?

Yeah. I just need to be around Christians. I'll sit under this. I mean, if you thought it was bad or shallow teaching, no. I don't think it's necessary you go, like, go, I have to be here because Christians are here. I think Christians might be other places too. I could be wrong. Yeah. But I I I mean, that's hard that's really hard to speak to because you give people an inch, they'll take a mile. They'll leave churches for the stupidest things. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. That's true. He said Christians in these scenarios, he said, should seek out knowledge about biblical prophecy and prophets from other avenues if their churches do not offer that information. It's like having a mistress. It's a church mistress. Like, if you're not getting it at your church, you can go find it out somewhere else. Yeah. I really love to worship music, but the pastor sucks. So I listen to podcasts all weekend, and then I have to just grin and bear it while he talks on Sunday. How many times have you encountered people who say, we don't have any church around ten, twenty miles of us? I'm saying this. If it's that's the only church around, go there and take food supplements. And the supplements are online watching others teaching bible prophecy. I guess what what let's throw throw out Revelation for now. What else would you be missing?

Like, what would you have to skip? Well, I mean, parts of Daniel for sure. Isaiah, Micah. Right? Like some of minor prophets, obviously, and the major prophets. Yeah. But those are all, like, those are I mean, I guess. But like I guess to your to your point though, I I I'm we're we're teaching Daniel because I think we misunderstand Daniel, and so we teach Daniel. Because I I think it's a every book of the Bible is the intent of to as a microcosm to help you understand the Bible as a whole, and so then you can go read it healthily on your own. We're just using different books to do it. But like, I wouldn't go, hey, the people need to hear Daniel.

I don't Yeah. I don't know. I mean, if if if the the story of the virgin birth had not been prophesied, would it be any less amazing to you? No. As a matter of fact, that prophecy is a little weird. It actually like, that's not about that. Yeah. Oh, yeah. You were saying so, like, it actually brings up for I think it's fine, but, like, having to deal with that is if you just said, look, we didn't even hear anything about it, but some guy had a there's a baby going on with without a husband, I'd be like, well, that's interesting. Like

and, like, the the New Testament authors tie that string together in a in a theme, but like yeah. Actually, that makes it a little bit more tricky. Then you gotta deal with the fact that like that, it wasn't what they were talking about. Yeah. Yeah. I I don't know. I mean, the prophecy part is cool,

but well, let's call it prophecy that predicts the future, which is not the majority of what a prophetic word is in the Bible. Right? But like Right. On the whole, people delivering messages to God's people as God uses a man to do it, that's if if we're considering that not the prophetic work that they're talking about, then we get to keep most of the minor prophets, you know. But very few of it is forward forward leaning.

Yeah. Most of the minor prophets are around are laments or accusations because, hey, man, they finally got taken back from exile and they still suck. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean and and even like and and think about I well, some of this some of this I think is spurred on simply because we're reading prophecy a little bit too, narrowly. Like, if you look through things that Ezekiel's talking about when he's talking about new new temple and and that kind of measurements and all this jazz. And even the stuff in Daniel, again, like, you're looking for a specific outcome,

but I'm again, I'm not sure why. Like, you're gonna miss it? Like, let's say I believe literally that there was gonna be a new temple built to the specifications that both Revelation and Ezekiel are talking about. Am I is it not gonna come up? Is it only gonna happen to these obscure news places that day that Nathaniel has access to? Like, you're gonna know when the guy starts when the red heifers are out and when the sacrifices fire up, like, you ain't gonna miss it. And I don't think it's any of that. I don't think that's what it's really speaking to. Like and I think you're more likely to miss the subtle things that this is actually calling you to recognize, but, like, you get so hyper focused on it. Actually, we to having the same conversation around, antichrist.

Like, let's say you knew this was a thing. I don't think it's a thing. I think it's like there's there's there's a whole bucket of of anti anti kings, anti messiahs, people who are against the king. John talks in John one that there were a bunch of them. And so, like, I I don't think it's gonna be this big dude who's gonna be it. I don't think actually even Daniel 11 prescribes that. But, like, let's say I did think that, and the Bible was telling you that. What are you gonna do? Right. What you gonna do right now? It's not you're gonna stop it or something. Right. You're gonna kneecap him? Because the Bible didn't say you stopped it. Put d'Italia Hardy to him. Yeah. Hit him with a baton. Like, here's the deal. If if your job was to go put a stop to it, it would have said that in Revelation 16. It would have said, and then them white fellas showed up who aren't woke as anything. With batons. Yeah. But they put the end of the Antichrist. No worries, boys. But that is not what it said. Right. And so like, it said

a bunch of people are gonna be deceived. What's your liability here? Don't be deceived. Cling to scripture. Cling to the Lord Jesus. And you know what? You should do that today anyway regardless of whatever else goes on. I just Oh, go ahead, Dan. I was say I was talking about that Sunday, actually, because I'm going through Revelation. Oh, yeah. And I'm like, I think part of the travesty of this everybody looking for this man of lawlessness, this antichrist guy, is we're so caught up in that. We're so distracted by that. We do miss the main point, and we're allowing ourselves to be deceived by all this false teaching going around. Yeah. And and we are drifting from Jesus because of bad doctrine, and and we're thinking we're great because the antichrist hasn't risen up yet. It's like, yeah. I think he's already gotcha. Yeah. Right. Right. Like you're keeping him at bay with your watchful eyes. Yeah. Doofus. You know it. Like, if you believed it, if you took it for what what you think it is, he coming anyway. You cannot do anything. I think overall, I'm just like, people seem to be really impressed about God's ability to predict the future.

And there's three at least three things wrong with that. One, it's not a prediction. He sees time as a whole. Right? It's like like he's waiting to see what comes around and he's volleying a guest out. Yeah. Right. He's like he's crystal ball oh, you don't see. Yeah. I feel like all the events should point to this. Let's see how it goes. Right? He already knows how it goes. He sees time all at once in one big strand. Right? Done. And so like like they're just they seem to be impressed because we can't do it. Well, there's all kinds of things that God can do that we can't do that I'm impressed with. Right. The moment he created the world and like drafted a man out of the dust, we should go It's not enough. Nothing shall surprise me. No. That's not enough. He's calling balls and strikes on small events that Jesus is gonna be from kinda stick town. And we're like, woah. Nailed it. He knows exactly how big a temple should be. We're like, I cannot understand how that could be. I know he did created you from nothing, but but he knows the measurements. Like, yeah, it's just a weird thing to be I mean, I could be impressed, but it's a weird thing to hyper focus on and be impressed on. Yeah. But once again, the like and the only reason we care about it is because we imagine if we had the gift, all the nefarious things we would do if we could predict the future. Right? Like everybody's head up. That's the only reason you think people are in on this? Because they wanna bet against the pony No. No. Back to the future? No. No. I think I think it's why people are impressed with prophecies because they because they believe like, they they see it as the ability to predict the future or see what's coming as if God already does not know

what has happened. It's already all happened. It would right. It would be impressive if Nathaniel could do it. Yes. Yes. But God can do it, like, then you there's no reason to raise it up above everything else that the Bible is talking to you about. Yes. You should be like, hey. God says, trust me. Here's how things are gonna kinda play out. And we should go, yeah. I expect he would know that. I now I have confidence. Now when I see it like, the value in some of this stuff, and this was the value that Daniel 11 or even Daniel as a whole and Revelation has, is that as these things continue, Christians aren't surprised. Like, when people get surprised,

they get disoriented. They're like, oh, is this does this the stuff that I believe and trusted in, is it still true here? That was the whole question the book of Daniel was trying to answer as these exiled folks are sitting there going, hey, man. I know God was sovereign and faithful when we were in Israel, but we got punished because we didn't handle ourselves well. Is God faithful here in Babylon? Do we get to go home? Do we get to worship back there? Is God still with us? And the answer was, well, yes. I'll I'll rescue you from the fiery furnace. Yes. I will send the the dream to Nebuchadnezzar that he's he's gonna see the the the nation's fall. But, like, the the visions in in Daniel chapter two, Daniel chapter nine, and Daniel chapter 11 are all about, hey. These things are gonna come and go, and god doesn't god doesn't say, no. I'm gonna stop it. He says it's gonna come and go, and I will still be with you. That's what Daniel chapter 12 is about. And so, like,

it's it's just the things that were that were what does it do for you? It it helps me have confidence that God is still with me and God is still good. Even when I see things that seem super abnormal, like the ups and downs of the worlds and the shiftings of the rulers and such. And so, like, it has a place for it, but, like, that's not how these fellows are are looking at it. And I think you're they were missing the true value that's in it. When asked his thoughts about on progressive preachers,

Stegner said he avoids listening to preachers that deny the existence of prophecy and prophets. Who is possibly denying prophecy and prophets? I don't know. Hey. Hey. Let me tell you a read from Ezekiel. Didn't happen. Well, does he mean like like, you know, some people think there are prophets now. You think he's talking about like modern day Yeah. Stan. Yeah. Stan. I am a prophet Stan. The prophet Stanley. Blood moons and such. I think there's prophets. Every one of those dudes I think there are I think there are, but not in the way that they think there are. Like, not somebody who who's who's added chapter 22 to Revelation.

That's who I'm not looking for. Right? Yeah. Right. Because Revelation one says don't do that. Yeah. So like the thing the guy who shows up because God has sent a word from him who's gonna like take to task God's people, like with a specific message similar to like all your minor prophets, I think that guy still exists. I do think that God uses, I think of a strong prophecy is God uses particular people who seem to hear from him clearly as an affirmation of things that other people are hearing. So not not just, hey. This is a person whose job it is to go tell the church what God is saying,

but, like, someone who God also communicates with as he answers prayers and things from other folks so that as you pray with your community, like, they things could be affirmed. Yeah. Like, that you heard what you heard from God. So, like, I think God does work through people in that in that type of way. We we generally bucket it off as, I work with I pray with my community. But, like, I don't know. Sometimes they're just people who seem to get it more than others, who seem to hear things, who seem that it's a type an affirmation from God that so and so is praying on this thing. You can affirm the thing that they're doing. I I think that does happen. I I don't know. In fact, I there's nothing about the offices that Paul talks about that make me think they have to disappear. But but, like, it's not tacking on like, the like, it's not the moons,

I guess, that point. Like, I don't expect blood moons to be the problem. I think I've got everything we need in that kind of realm. I think they're more, like, in they're they're they're more granular than that at the way that it's executing nowadays. That's just my that's my bet anyway. Okay. Finally. Oh, he says, I don't listen to this nonsense. It takes me too quickly to to the phrase shut up. He says, if you hear in church more about improving your life this life situation and solving society's woes, then you are hearing about being equipped to get people into the kingdom of God, leave. So that's not the same. Like, I agree with you there, actually. Mhmm. But that doesn't that has nothing to do with, again, how I think we're talking about prophecy. Stagner said that unfortunately, all throughout the world, many people are forced into the only available churches in their communities that have pastors who are intimidated by the idea of teaching about prophecy and prophets. He said there should be no excuse for pastors avoiding parts of the Bible, and every pastor should put in the effort to study the scriptures to fully understand all parts.

Prophecy and prophets are part of the book. It needs to be taught as you come upon it in scripture. You can't just skip over these things because they're hard. If we skipped over everything that was hard or difficult, we would be teaching John three sixteen every week because everybody knows that. But there are things in scripture that are hard to deal with. Yeah. But of all this stuff that's hard to deal with, actually prophecy, don't find that there's a lot there's a lot more quarrelsome items in there. Yeah. Things that really push back on what people wanna do, how they see the world. That's that's just one of them. These go ahead, Nathaniel. Where's this guy coming from? He makes it sound like there's a dearth of churches. Like Yeah. Especially if he's, like, hanging out in The US.

Like, there's three churches on this street. Yeah. I live I live in a town with a population of, like, 1,500 people. There's three churches in town. Yeah. Yeah. But the churches outnumber Casey's in most towns still. And that's crazy. Yeah. That's wild. Now there's four churches on this road. And that's actually unless you that's only this

of the interstate. You keep going the other direction, there's like a bunch of other churches. Yeah. Yeah. A year ago, I lived in a town of 13,000 people, and it had 42 churches, which seems like a lot and only because it is. Yes. Yeah. I don't know. I feel like he's characterizing a movement that doesn't actually exist. It's a straw man. He's got a he's got a church straw man in here. So the church will 20 miles away. Oh. Yeah. Forcing me to believe all kinds of stuff. Okay. Alright. So here, we're gonna tap this. Okay. This is great. This is we're gonna cap this off. As the event came to a close, the panelists discussed how they view the end times. Why is this capitalized? And how in the last days, the antichrist will come on earth. Hibbs predicted that the US dollar will collapse. He says scripture

says the antichrist That's the worst of our woes. Oh, what are we gonna do with the value of the dollar? The antichrist is here and the dollar ain't worth boo. Here's here's what I don't understand though, is that, like, economic ruin and and upending the world structures tends to drive people to God.

Mhmm. And so, like, if the antichrist I mean, even the antichrist, like, maybe maybe he shouldn't be afraid of him because he seems dumb. He's like, hey, I'm gonna I'm gonna blow up all these societal structures, make sure people are poor. I mean, buy dollars. The poor people love Jesus. Like because because they have an understanding of hope when it's needed. So the blindness that money brings keeps people away from stuff. And so I just I'm not sure this makes sense as a tact. Says scripture says the antichrist is going to deceive the world. Something economically has to collapse. It doesn't say that. The US dollar soon with what's happening, and there's going to be a need for a new economy, Hibbs estimated. The antichrist is going to have the answer, and he's gonna bring peace because there's going to be capital m mayhem. Who says mayhem? You ever say that word out of context?

Or like I mean, just just in I guess, general speaking, you go around, you ever say the word mayhem? Only for the insurance advertisements. Okay. You okay. That guy. Yeah. Yeah. Nathaniel, when's the last time you said mayhem and everyday scratching? I don't think ever. It doesn't ever happen. Okay. Mm-mm. It's mayhem in there. I don't trust anybody that says it actually. Wait. Well, maybe I said it at a at a trampoline yard with children. There's mayhem in there. Yeah. That could be. They're bouncing balls off each other's heads and

Yeah. This is pure mayhem. The US US dollar is gonna collapse. I mean, here's the thing. It's like I this is the the do we need a prophecy to tell us that? If the antichrist is here, according to his reading of scripture, the antichrist shows up, all the governments are collapsing. Am I like, I can't believe the dollar is unstable? Like, I mean, just it just makes perfect sense then. Yeah. I would expect the dollar to be unstable. Yeah. That's right. It shouldn't be a surprise. If a believer is not eagerly awaiting the expectation of Jesus' return, he says there's something terribly wrong with their understanding of the scriptures. That's not a do you think people are literally skipping prophecy, like when Jesus says I will return, and we're like, nah. We don't speak about that. Yeah. No. I think he I think he wants people to be as focused on the book of Revelation and the Antichrist and the end times as he is. He's Dan Rev. That's it. He's he's focused on that. Okay. Yes. The believer has to have the expectation for the return of Jesus to take him there. Oh, sorry. The script speakers all agreed that the world won't stay the same during the tribulation. To what? The whole geopolitical landscape is going to change during the tribulation. Everything's going to change during the tribulation.

Mean, I can't we just quote it once? That's why we call it the tribulation. And then he said again, everything's gonna change in a moment. If you're heavenly minded, you will want to do more good because you want to take people with you. We have a mandate from God, the great commission. Rescue those who are drawn toward death. We're here to save souls. That's exciting. Tact on behalf of God, Christians will be able to handle whatever comes their way during the end times. But Ben, I I don't wanna listen that guy no more. He who will not take the mark of the beast when the beast will be here ruling the world, his head will be chopped off. It's not gonna be a crime. I mean, the scripture's not that specific, sir. Head chopping.

No. You're done with that, Ben. Yeah. No. That's the end of it anyway. Ready? Yeah. Let's do them. Dear life from the path. My wife and I have been married for twenty one, mostly happy years. However, last year, had an affair that lasted for several months. Do what? I confessed to my wife and we separated for about a month while I tried to evaluate what I should do. In the end, I returned home and asked for forgiveness and reconciliation.

Obviously, my wife has struggled with my infidelity, but to her credit, she's trying hard to make things work. During our separation, we had little contact, and she told me that for revenge, she had slept with someone else. Mhmm. I know that's what's good for the goose is good for the gander, but the guy is less than half our age, and I'm struggling with the mental image and thoughts of trying to match his level of stamina and energy, if you know what I mean. Wow. Okay. And I know I messed up, but I love my wife with my whole heart and I'm working hard to demonstrate it. How do I purge my thoughts of the image of my wife with another man? Boy, somebody went to riding the feel sorry for me train real fast after cheating on his wife.

Holy cow. Yeah. So I mean, here's the deal is you may find forgiveness and reconciliation, but it it does not guarantee a purge of the lingering of of that level of sin. This is this is the exact type of thing that I think Paul is talking about when he talks about sexual sin. Like, it it sticks with you in a different way. You just can't you just can't purge it. Like

Dan, I guess so as a comparison, you'd said before you had the the the stealing club stuff. Right. So like, do you you ever walk in a store and you you get the old tingles? No. And like the images show up, you're like, I just want this Clark bar. Yeah. No. No. I didn't think so. If I do, I think I guess I'll buy that. I guess I'll have because I can. I'm buying them eating you righteously. I'll use my antichrist money. But like that's it's different though, like your past sexual relationships if you had some either before marriage or if you had some outside of your marriage, pornography. Like, these things will like they get into your soul, and they are very difficult to get to pop. Like, I've talked to people who I mean, haven't looked at anything

rough for, like, twenty years and still every once in a while, like, fresh as day, think it just pop right on up on him. Mhmm. And so, like, I I think this is what we we heed Paul well if we say we don't dabble in stuff and feel like it's shallow. And so unfortunately, that the thing that you're running up against, like, you're gonna have to trust her. Like, if she says, look, I'm back with you, then you're gonna have to trust her in that. The doubts you may have, one, you sowed

by creating the situation. And like, it wasn't this was not the good for the goose, good for the gander. It was bad for everybody. You blew up the whole house. Yes. And that's that sucks. That sucks for your wife. But she's not gonna shake that either, to be honest. Yeah. And like You forgot about that part. Yep. Yeah. Yep. She's she's gonna be in a rough spot about that. And to be honest, like, this this may continue to cause, like, problems in your marriage. Like, once you once you go to someone like that, the grass always looks greener. And so, you know,

this is why this is like the the the the the midlife crisis crisis of a dude who goes up and, like, breaks up his marriage, goes find someone who's twenty years younger and thinks he's found the jackpot. And and he he's two years down the road, and he's he feels old and fat and lonely because he was dumb. And he went chasing something that wasn't true and wasn't a reality. And so, I think I think that if if we're being honest, I can't I can't do anything about, I think specifically about those those thoughts. I mean, don't dwell on them.

You need to you need to bounce away from them. I think you can you need to have open and honest conversations between you and your wife. But, like, here's the thing. You can only have those so many times before, like, you're gonna look really weak and annoying. Sorry, dude. Like, a lady doesn't wanna be a guy who's constantly over there feeling like, oh, I wonder if she's thinking about somebody else. Like, you're gonna have to you're gonna have to go back and try to, like, hold court here because she doesn't wanna be in a marriage where you're constantly acting like this either. So talk it out. Make sure that you've you've done a good job and have tried to talk it out. This is you guys are right for therapy. This is a good time to go sit down with someone who loves Jesus and help them help you talk through some of your stuff. Unfortunately, I I guess I I I think those those images and those thoughts are gonna be tough to shake. It just seems like a

real doofus thing to worry about. You know, like, cheated on my wife, and she cheated on me. Well, she slept with somebody else while we were broken up. But this dude that she decided to shack up with, he was half my age, and I'm worried I'm not gonna be able to perform up to sniff. Hey, man. I believe this this level of selfish buffoonery is probably what got you in the straits you were in in the first I guess I didn't catch that. Like, that was he wasn't just, hey, she was with someone who was younger. He was specifically focusing on he might be a real stud He was half our age, and I can't keep up with all this stamina. Yeah. She don't wanna sleep with you right now. You just cheated on her. Yeah. They're trying to rebuild an intimate relationship and you're already like, how am I gonna outperform this guy in the sack? What's the matter with you? You've been lucky you got a place to stay and live and a relationship to come back to, you one-sided doofus. I

just Yeah. I'm embarrassed for him. I am. He's a dolt on a cult, this guy. Yeah. Yeah. And his wife pumped out, you know, honesty. Right? Hold on. This is his phrasing drives me nuts here. Hold on. He says, I confessed to my wife, and we separated for about a month while I tried to evaluate what I should do. Oh.

Oh, I see. He's just weighing his options now. He's like, hey. I told her I did it, and I'm trying to think of what I should do. And then I decided that in the end, I returned home and asked for forgiveness and reconciliation. Wasn't his first thought. He went through a month of saying, hey, man. I I I I'm gonna use all these better options I have. Took him a month to figure out, ain't nobody else wanna hang around with him. There's nowhere there's no other option for him. Yeah. See, so this is the this is the problem. This is where all this woke business comes from. This guy. This is why people go, yeah. I think the I think the patriarchy is evil. I think men are terrible. It's because this dishwater is out there roaming the crowds. Yes. Shaking hands and meeting people. Yeah. We don't have a good handle on him. He's representing the gender. Now that's true. That's true. We got we got these rogue parts of the organization

who, like, when he when he when he cheated on his wife, instead, he immediately goes back and goes, hey, man. I messed up. I love you, but I understand you don't trust me for beans. You tell me what we'll have to do. If you're interested, I will put my all my effort into this, and I wanna refocus on our marriage. And she turns around and spills just to to start a clean slate, says, you know what? While we were separated, this happened, but let's I won't yeah. We're gonna focus on our marriage. And then this guy's just sitting in the corner going, boy, that guy that she slept with, boy, he is half my age and probably a rock star. Yeah. How am I ever gonna compete? You're not. You lost already. When you cheated on your wife, you are it's not a competition

with your wife and another dude. Right? You you're in the marriage. I just I'm I'm I'm embarrassed for this guy. I I've it's it's really easy to pass this off and be like, hey, man. You know, you gotta try to fight through these feelings or whatever, but like, you might just be a jerk. And I feel like you're you're gonna have a hard time getting past that that point. Yeah. I guess, I mean, I would I would use those to the extent those thoughts are coming up. I might use them as a point of humility. Yeah. Like,

I am this thing popped into my mind. I am so blessed this woman took me back. Exactly. I should I should worship and serve her every day. You know what you should remember, Brian? You're replaceable, friend. So you best be on your a game. You better better ready to give and serve and love and protect like Christ loves his church. And so whatever you thought you had going for you that day that you're funny farting in the bed and going, stink tornado, you better knock it off because she could replace you with a dude half your age. Yeah. That should be You probably can you probably can stink tornado longer and more robustly. Yeah. That guy that guy could do a seven second stink tornado. Make me look like a real amateur. I don't know. I don't know, Nathaniel. Any any way to to pull this man up and and redeem him?

No. No. No. He needs he needs the Lord Jesus. Oh, man. Yeah. Yes, he does. Yeah. He does. I think the whole I like think the whole the whole marriage really needs needs needs a blessing. Yeah. And he's so the Lord needs to shine his face upon him because, like, this is a this is a real mess. And unfortunately, there's there there are things you can do to try to to make this better. But the reality is is that that your actions and decisions here will I mean, they're gonna follow you. So you're gonna have to figure out how to deal with it. Yeah. And, I mean, honestly and and people that have been in this situation before,

you you have to throw your pride completely out the window. It's not even available to you. If she wants to see anything and wants to know where you're at, wants you to check-in every ten minutes, whatever, you're you do it. You're gonna do it because you owe her that. You broke this bridge, friend, and and now you're gonna show how you're gonna rebuild it one nail at a time. Secular says, it may not be easy. Oh, the question was, how do I purge the thoughts of the other dude? Secular says, it may not be easy. Don't you think that your wife has had similar mental images of you and the woman you cheated with? I'm sure. She's probably imagining the other dude based upon what I've heard about him. Yeah. Yeah. Boy, that seven second stink tornado was dreaming.

That's a middle aged derecho. I just want a macho man that can win. Infidelity hurts everyone involved. You and your wife are working to remain united. Concentrate on that rather than preoccupy yourself with your insecurities, and you'll both be better off. Yeah. I mean, look, every every once in a while, your mind's gonna wonder, and every once in while, you're gonna think about it. You just stop it right there and go, ain't none of business. It already happened. It's done. She forgave you. You forgave her. Put it down. Don't carry no more. And you probably have to fight it off. Yeah. But you gotta do it. You just you have to do it. It's done now. Yep.

Dear life from the path. I am medically healthy and in my mid sixties. I have two adult children and my grandchildren range in age from 14 to 20. I have a loving relationship with everyone. However, my family members are self involved and have indirectly expressed that they do not want me to live with them when I am no longer able to live by myself. I have raised the subject and seen eye rolls and facial gestures between them. My daughter lives several states away and has said I'm welcome in her home, but as a snowbird only. Life from the Path, I don't wanna be placed in a nursing home, only to be abandoned and alone. What do you advise?

This is this is interesting because, like, does he is this description of them being self involved specifically related to the fact that they don't want him to come live at their house? Yes. Yes. Everyone is selfish because they don't wanna have me at their place. Not I'm selfish for wanting to live at everybody's To assume that someone I should be able to live at their place. I mean, ain't nobody wanna be in a nursing home. I get that. Yeah.

So so you gotta look at for different options. I mean, if if that option's not there, you gotta you gotta find another option. Find a roommate. Find I don't know. A family. I mean, I don't know. Is it unreasonable for a parent to expect that somebody would let them live out their days at their kid's house? I it's a very cultural thing, I believe. Yeah. I mean, it's not like this is you're in the wrong place, man. You should move to the Middle East. Yeah. They'll let you live anywhere. Yeah. China, Mexico. Yeah. I mean, just about everywhere, but really western civilization of Yeah.

These highly individualized western nations, like, is just the wrong place to look for a nice joint when you're Yeah. And I gotta be honest with you. You bathed in that glory all your days. Right? In this individualistic Western society, and you loved it, rolled around in it, and got it all over yourself. And now when you get to the end of your life, you're like, hey, man. I wanna come live with somebody. We're like, no. No.

No. And so, I mean, it's it's a little bit unfair to reverse track at the end of your days and go, I don't like the way y'all are living. You're all self involved. I feel like you probably were self involved through most of your life. Yeah. And now you want the whole tables to turn to people to let you live at their place. I'd build you a separate shack. I proposed this multiple times to multiple people. Look, man. You come live on my property, but you cannot live in my house. I don't want you in here. Right? You we'll get you a little hobbit home. You can buy one of them hobbit homes that you can cover in dirt and plant grass on top of the roofs or whatever for, like, $56. That's the deal. That's cheaper than the Medicaid Medicaid will cover on the old nursing home. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hobbit Home. Yeah. I I I don't I I it's it's tough. I think it's tough because

it feels very selfish to be like, no. You can't live at my place. I guess, Dan, like, what have you thought about this? Like, would you go would you feel like it would like living with your kids? I I would hope that we have enough of a relationship that they would want to do that if, you know, the circumstances

was there. I haven't thought much about it at my age. I thought about it with my parents, about I actually invited my mom to live at our house when she was starting to get sick. So I figured, well, that's my responsibility as a And, I have approached that conversation

with my wife, with her mom, when the time comes, we should have her you know, invite her. And the thing is, I mean, it's just a different dynamic because there's two of us. Right? It's like I I can't just say, hey, my mom's coming to live with us because I have a wife. You know? It's her home too and vice versa. Because she was not nearly as open to one of our parents living with us as as I was. So I just kind of backed off and and never said anything to my mom. And it's not that, you know, she didn't want them or anything. It's just that

I think it's especially difficult with women. You know, then you get the pecking order thing going on and and who's the boss, and and I think she's gonna wanna play that game. Yep. Even though I I don't think it would have been there. But but I'm the dude. I tend I tend to think of, what's the big deal? Come on. Well, I I here's the thing. It's like, to be fair,

and this is I suppose I can only speak for my house, but my wife runs my house. Uh-huh. I'm like a I'm like a b character in this thing. You know, like, she makes most of the decisions. The place runs the way it does because of her leadership in this area. Mhmm. And so I'm like, hey, we're gonna have this whole another person come in here. It's a way bigger deal to her than it is to me. Yeah. Don't have to I don't mind what groceries we're gonna eat, where people are gonna sleep, if there's gonna be enough time for laundry, who's gonna whatever. I I don't care. How much toilet paper we're gonna go through? None of these things go across my mind. I'm like, well, we need a place to stay. I got a couch you can sleep in. Blah blah blah blah blah. Yeah. And my mouth way overruns the practical thing that, you know, actually what it would take to to make the house run, you know. In in my case, I would not impose myself on my children. I I if they offered, I still might yeah. Because I'm not there yet. I would wanna have my own private area so I'm not messing with their family, you know, interfering so they can have privacy and raise their children Yep. And have their life.

Yeah. That that's a that that's that's asking, that's expecting a lot, I think, from this guy. I guess that's what I was thinking something similar, which is like, I I know, you know, having you know, being where going through the process of of being married, raising kids, like, I would feel like I wouldn't want to be, feel like I'm taking away from that. Like, part of my gift to them is to not I don't wanna say not be a burden on them, but kind of. Yeah. Like, not not have them have to think about,

you know, I don't know, taking me long on every all the your family events or whatever. Like, I just you know, if I think the separate thing on a on a bigger property seems alright. Motorhome, I might be alright with. Yeah. I always joke with our kids. Yeah. We're gonna have a motorhome. We'll just go six months at each of your homes. Yeah. We're coming by. Well, oh, yeah. You don't have to hold you don't have to hotel us up or anything. We'll just let us park on the drive. That's see, that that kinda seems alright. I don't I don't think I would have the assumption. It does feel a little bit self centered for me to like, when are y'all gonna put me up? I can't wait till my time. Like See, I always thought that it'd be nice to offer to pay for it. Like, look, I I I wanna live around family, but I don't wanna inter I wanna I don't wanna cause you trouble. So let me I will pay to build, like, small cottage on the back of your property or whatever,

or you I'll buy the property, you know, in town and just live in a neighborhood close to you or something. Mhmm. But I'm just gonna need some help as I get older. I'm not gonna be able to do all this stuff, you know. So, like, the expense is on me, the burden's on me. I just want I want to be close to you without interfering with you. You know? And so I I think there's there's ways to get that done. And you seem to think that, like, folks should've thrown open the gates of welcomed us immediately and said, hey, man. I'm in my mid sixties, which puts you know, if people got grandkids between 14 and 20, you had pretty young kids and they had young kids. But I mean, at the end of the day, they're still they're not they're not in their sixties. You know, life isn't really slowing down to have to, you know, sit sit around and play Canasta with you or whatever you're planning on doing. So I'm I mean, yeah. I would expect as you decline in health or, you know, ways of getting things done, you could buy a house in their neighborhood, rent an apartment close to them, something that gives you separate space, but they can drop by and help you if if need be. That seems a lot better. And I guess and maybe just to reiterate to you or to think about, you know, some of these in the eastern cultures where this is more popular and more likely, like, a lot of these older these grandparents and stuff are like, they're still doing stuff.

Like, they're still making dinner. They're still tasting chickens around. They're like but this is they they tapped out at 65 and then now, hey, what can someone put me up for a while? Like, were actively contributing to the family. Correct. In fact, all all members of the family were doing. And so, like, it's just a different like, the freedom that comes with being an individual in our country means that, like, you have the freedom to actually sit on your your tukkas if you want to, 65 plus. And we're like, yeah. That seems alright. But, like, it's a quite a deal to have nothing to do and then show up and live with your kids when they're, you know, 40 and trying to raise kids and live their lives and make choices, and you're just kinda sitting around. Thumbs down.

Yeah. It's a ruckus. Thumbs down. Yeah. It's it's yeah. It's a ruckus. So, yeah, just re re retool your perspective here on on why you're so mad at these people. You're just you're catching them. You're catching them at a at a at the middle of their life when they got a lot of stuff going on, and you're looking to be in ease, and they're like, we just we don't have a whole lot of ease going on right now to offer you. You know? Right. Okay. Segular says, because your children are averse to you eventually living permanently with them, start now to prepare for the time when you may no longer be able to live by yourself. Begin by talking to friends of both genders and find out if they may have a similar problem. Why? Why is why is that necessary to say? Don't I don't know. If they do, consider banding together and buying a house or a condo together so you can help each other. Why does it sound like they're trying to start some kind of old people frat? Hey, man. Let's band together and purchase property.

This has worked for other seniors, and it may be the solution to your problem. Boy, this is the way we give advice out now? Like, hey, man. I thought of one possible solution out of a thousand. Take this take this route. Mean, I don't know. That sounds kinda fun to me. You know, if if Bandido was a bunch of oldsters. See, if I, yeah, find three or four people, buy a house together, it's like we're on our own, but we don't have, you know,

a bunch of rules to follow from some apartment complex or something. And we take care of each other. We hire all the mowing and all that junk, and it's like a party every This sounds like a movie with Terry Bradshaw in it. Yeah. It does. Yeah. It does. Whatever it is, Terry's Terry's gonna be there. Who wants to play bridge? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Hey. You've been listening to Life From The Path. Maybe you feel like we've done some great advice here, and you wanna congratulate us. I understand. You can call the Life From The Path Bob complaint line. (515) 517-0085. That's call or text the Life From The Path, Bob Wise and Lauer complaint line. (515) 517-0085. We'd love to hear from you. Love, hate the show, have comments for us.

Yeah. Either way, we just love to hear from you. In the meantime, I think we've, I'm not sure whether we got coming towards the end of the year here. We might crack 30 shows Hey. Which is not bad because we had a down year the last two years. Yeah. Mhmm. So, we'll see. We'll see how the trajectory runs, but, we do intend to, be in the office next week. So, in the meantime, be faithful in means. God will handle the ends. You've been listening to Live From The Path.