← Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey
Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey
Ep 1173 | Speaking Tongues or Nonsense? Rebutting Bad TikTok Theology
00:49:01
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Ally Beth Stuckey
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Unknown Speaker
Tongues should this be something that Christians do? If so, how should we do it? I posted about this on social media and got a firestorm of responses, some very angry, some in agreement. I will be just addressing that thoroughly today. And Carmelo Anthony, he is out of jail after murdering a young man a couple weeks ago and the donation that have been raised for him are being used allegedly for some very sketchy purposes. We've got all of this and more on today's episode of Relatable. Hey guys, and welcome to Relatable. Happy Wednesday. Hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far. All right, we're going to talk about speaking in tongues today. This is as when we talked about the anointing oil subject. Some og relatable content. Back in the day when we were only doing two or three episodes a week, we always had an episode that was dedicated to a theological subject. Or we did a most misused series where we analyzed and broke down a verse that is very decontextualized in pop culture or by a lot of cultural Christians like Philippians 4:13 or Jeremiah 29:11. We haven't abandoned those. It's just that we now try to interweave theology and scripture into our discussions about culture and politics, rather than reserving an entire episode for that. But today we are reserving at least a large portion. Portion or maybe a portion. I don't know how large it will be and how long I will talk to a purely theological subject. It doesn't tie into the news or something that's going on in the culture necessarily, but it is certainly something that it is going, that is going on in the church and it is being displayed on social media, and that is speaking in tongues or saying that you are speaking in tongues and then put posting it on places like Instagram or TikTok. And I played one of these viral videos that I saw going around on Instagram and I responded to it with scripture explaining why I think how this is being done on social media is not biblical at all and is actually very dangerous spiritually for those that are viewing it. So let me show you this video that I responded to. Here is one. Okay. I don't know about you, but I get a very deep pit in my stomach when I'm watching that. I am extremely uneasy viewing that kind of content. So even apart from what the Bible says about praying publicly like this for the sake of sharing it on social media, just right away, deep conviction. What I think is conviction as I, as I discern that this is just not right. This is just not powered by the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit is always going to be in agreement with God's word, right? Father, Son, Holy Spirit, all equal persons in the Trinity. They never contradict each other. They never disagree. The entirety of the Bible is God's infallible, inerrant word. So how God tells us to pray, the regulations and restrictions he puts around prayer, the Holy Spirit is also saying and agreeing to as well. So the Holy Spirit is never going to compel someone to do something that the Bible says not to do. And if you're wondering specifically what I'm talking about, what does the Bible say about this? Well, I am going to tell you today, some of it you may have already heard if you watched my video in response to this. But I will give a more thorough rebuttal. Um, first of all, I just want to say my own personal observations is that that doesn't actually sound like a language. That sounds like gibberish said in a rhythmic manner. There was a timer on the screen, if you're just listening to this, that was supposed to show how long she'd been praying. I'm not sharing this person's name or account because this really isn't about her or wanting to attack her, but it is giving a public response to a public post and the hopes that I can offer clarity in the place of the confusion that I think a post like this causes. And so it does seem to me, while I don't know the intentions of her heart, it does seem to me that this is a performance that is posted on Instagram in order to maybe get likes. Or maybe it is for attention, maybe it's not for those things. Maybe she believes that she is actually showing other people how to pray or encouraging other people. And yet what she is doing just doesn't correspond with the biblical directives that we are given. And no matter what you believe about spiritual gifts, we'll get into kind of all of that and continuationism versus cessationism. Whether you are a charismatic or whether you are reformed like I am, we should all be able to watch a video like this and agree that filming yourself and posting it for the world to see does it match what Jesus says in Matthew 6. Five through six? He says, when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. And so here he's probably talking about people like the Pharisees, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret will reward you. Now, does this mean that you can never pray in public? I don't think so. We read elsewhere in scripture, like in First Timothy 2, 8, that we should pray in every place. I don't think it's wrong for a pastor to pray on stage at the end of a sermon. I don't think it's wrong for us to pray for each other out loud in Bible study. Again, we read in different places in Scripture that we should be praying for one another. I think it's edifying, yes, to pray out loud for each other. But it seems to me that the point, if we look at the context of what Jesus is saying and to whom he's speaking, his point is that prayer should not be a performance for others. It isn't something that we do to prove ourselves, to prove ourselves holy or to get likes or to get affirmation. That shouldn't even be on the list of reasons we are praying or praying in public. Now, again, maybe that's not the intention of the woman who posted this, but if it wasn't, if it truly was for the edification of the body of Christ, it is still unbiblical. Because for one reason, one of several reasons, I believe no one can understand her. No one can understand her. First Corinthians 14 is replete with directions for speaking in tongues. Because what do we know about God? If you've been listening to this podcast for any amount of time, You've heard me say over and over again what we see throughout Scripture from the beginning to the end, that God is a God of order. He cares about how things are done. He cares about how he is worshiped. You can go back and you can listen to or watch the episode I did a few weeks ago on anointing oils. And this is a principle that we repeated in that episode as well, that God actually cares about how we pray. He cares about how we worship and how we sing. And yes, there is some liberty, there is some freedom in that. But again, this is a principle that we see affirmed throughout Scripture in both the Old Testament and the New. That orderliness is something that glorifies him and is also a gift to us as his people. It's a gift to nations. It's also a gift specifically to churches and also to families. God placed us in a garden, not in a jungle. The difference between those is that one is cultivated, orderly, it has borders, it has a system. And a jungle is not so. Again, so many different examples I could give you of that. First Corinthians 14 is another example of God's orderliness, the orders that he gives the church. So if you are a continuationist, if you believe that spiritual gifts like prophecy speaking, the laying on of hands for healing continue to this day, versus a cessationist who believes that these spiritual gifts mostly ceased after the apostles, you are still bound by the orderliness that Paul commands in this chapter. So I'll read you some of the verses from First Corinthians 14 in just a second. Let me pause and tell you about our first sponsor for the day, and that is Seven Weeks Coffee. Seven Weeks Coffee is America's Pro Life coffee Company. They're on a mission to fund the Pro Life Movement 1 cup of coffee at a time, you guys. 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You'll get that box of coffee every month to your front door. You save 15% when when you do that. Plus when you use my Code Ally, you save an extra 10%. And don't forget, 10% of every sale of seven weeks coffee goes to Pro Life pregnancy centers. They have raised over $800,000 for these pregnancy centers. That is saving lives. So allow your coffee to serve a higher purpose. Go to 7weeks Coffee.com use code Ally at checkout for that discount. That's 7weeks Coffee.com code Ally Foreign so in First Corinthians 14, Paul says this and I won't read the entire chapter, but you should read the entire chapter because it's all relevant to this conversation. But Verse nine he says, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. Verse 13 and 16 through 19 says this. Therefore one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret otherwise. If you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say amen to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. I mean, just right there he says it. He's like, I'm glad that I can do this more than y'all can, because y'all are messing this up. Nevertheless, he says, in church, I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to Instruct others than 10,000 words a tongue. So he's saying, if you are praying publicly like this person is, and you don't have an interpreter for the tongues that you are speaking, then no one who is listening to you is being edified. You are just saying what sounds like nonsense into the air, and you are not actually offering instruction or encouragement or admonishment to those who are listening. Verse 23 if, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say, say that you are out of your minds? So if there's no one there to interpret, will people who are not believers listen to this, and will they be built up? Will they be drawn to the church, or will they not say, these people are insane? Verses 26 through 28 Let all things be done for building up. I think that's A really important principle here. Let all things be done for building up. If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn. So not talking over each other and let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God. Okay, it's pretty clear I had some people comment on my video. The reason I'm talking about this, I guess I didn't say this in the beginning is because, oh my gosh, I got so many comments on that video. Where I read from 1st Corinthians 14, where I read from the passage in the passage In Matthew, Matthew 6, commenters saying that I was so far off that I was completely wrong, that it was even not gracious of me or not kind of me to offer a public response to a public video. And instead of getting a biblical contention or biblical rebuttals to the biblical references that I quoted, it was statements like prayers and tongues go directly to the throne room of God, which what? That's not a biblical concept. All of us in Christ who are praying through Jesus, all of our prayers go directly to God. There's not some like special access or VIP pass that is granted to you when you are speaking and tongues. I had some people comment and say that none of this chapter applies to this post at all because she's not in the local church. She's an individual praying in private. But she's not praying in private actually. She's broadcasting the prayer supposedly to encourage believers. So this is not the biblical way to do it. And this chapter is really clear about that. And all of this matters for the very reason that Paul says it matters, because it looks like drunken nonsense to unbelievers. We don't expect non Christians to understand or agree with all Christians say or do, but we don't intentionally turn them away either by seeming insane. Let's go deeper on this though. Say this person had not posted this on social media. Is this what praying in tongues should look like privately or even say, in the context of the local church? I'm not even getting into the question yet of whether we as Christians should expect to speak in tongues. We'll just assume for a second that we should. That we should be expecting to speak in tongues. Is this what speaking in tongues should actually look like and mean? So let's go to the first place where we actually read about speaking in tongues. Acts 2 At the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit filled the believers in Jerusalem and verse Four, they, quote, began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. The Greek here for tongues that is used in this passage is glossa, which can be translated into languages. So not Babylon, but languages. And that's what was happening here. These Christians were supernaturally able to speak languages that they did not previously know how to speak. We read in verses 7 through 11 that Jews in Jerusalem heard them and wondered, quote, are not all these people speak who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language, Parthians and Medes and Elamites and etc. Etc. We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. So these people at Pentecost were not speaking gibberish, they were speaking actual languages for the purpose of sharing the Gospel with people who spoke that language. Now, when Paul is speaking to the Christians in Corinth, some believe that he seems to be talking about a different version of speaking in tongues, and there's debate over that, but one that's not only for the purpose of evangelism, but for the building up of the church specifically, which is why an interpreter is needed. Is it possible that this version of speaking in tongues isn't necessarily in an earthly language? So the kind that he's talking about in 1st Corinthians 14 for the local church, since it wasn't ostensibly to reach others who speak another language than them, that is possible, I guess. I don't think so. I don't think we see evidence of the idea of Christians repeating gibberish over and over again. Some would call this like a heavenly language that's referred to in 1st Corinthians 13:1. I don't think that's what 1st Corinthians 13:1 is referring to. I think he's almost just using a literary device, hyperbole to say, even if I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong. I don't think he is actually speaking literally about some kind of like gibberish sounding heavenly language there. So I just don't think we see any biblical evidence of Christians needing to repeat what sounds like babbling over and over again as a sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit. So now the question is, should Christians expect to see as commonplace speaking in tongues, foretelling, prophesying, that's different than fourth telling. So foretelling, being able to say what is going to happen in the future with 100% accuracy because it comes from God, that doesn't mean a full picture of the future because we know that, you know, we could be prophesying in part, but it has to be accurate. It can't be wrong if it is from the, the Holy Spirit. And that's different than fourth telling prophecy which might be that God has given you the ability to say true things based on the truth of scripture in a way that people can really understand and convicts them. So should we expect as Christians to be able to prophesy in a foretelling way? Should we be able to expect as commonplace the laying on of hands for miraculous healing? Continuationists, as I said earlier say yes, we are on the same apostolic mission. They would say as the early church. All that they did and could do, we do and can do now. Cessationists say no, the purpose of those gifts was for the apostolic age to authenticate the gospel at that time. And they would say that at the, and that the need for those gifts has ended. Cessationists do believe of course that God can still do those things. He can do anything he chooses, chooses. But cessationists don't believe that God promises to grant all believers these abilities today or that they are a validation of saving faith. There are Bible believing Christians in both camps. Both use scripture to back up their positions. So is this a salvation issue? I don't think so, no. Now I do think that charismatics tend, tend, not always, but tend to wade into anti biblical territory. I simply have not seen, I have not seen. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I have not seen these gifts of the spirits, practice of the Spirit rather practiced in the orderly manner that the Bible calls for. Now maybe that could be happening in local charismatic churches across the country and I just don't know about it because, because I don't go to those churches and because they're doing it the right way. They're not displaying it on social media, they're not, you know, telecasting it everywhere. And I am totally open to that. But when we do see these public displays and public testimonies of what goes on in many Pentecostal hyper charismatic churches throughout the country, this stuff is not being done in accordance with scripture. And again if that is the case, then it's not really the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit will never compel you to do something or say something that is in disagreement with God's word. And so that to me is part of why the continuationist argument is less compelling. That's part of why then I won't even get into my Whole biblical response to kind of like both camps of arguments on continuationists versus Cessationist, I just see charismatic theology at times easily veering in to the mystical and the New Age, the prosperity gospel, name it and claim it health and wealth. I declare this. I prophesy that it can very quickly veer into chaos when it is unchecked by Scripture. And that's a really important caveat, because they are charismatics that I know and follow who love God's Word and do believe in the continuation of the gifts of the Spirit, but they love God's Word, and so they are bound by God's Word even as they believe in that kind of manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Likewise, conversely, rather, Reformed theology can veer into rigid legalism. Like, we just love the Bible. We love exactly what it says. We love to memorize it, we love to apply it. We love theology, we love apologetics. But it can veer into rigid legalism if the letter of the Bible is being understood without understanding the Spirit, its intent. And so both camps have their vulnerabilities. You kind of know where I stand on that. But what is really important is this principle here in 1st Corinthians 14:33. For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. And that is why he grants us so graciously the clarity and the order that we see in His Word. So no matter what camp you are in, make sure that you are grounding your feet, that you are guiding your eyes to what the Bible says. And that all keeps us in pretty safe territory. All right, we've got more to talk about. Let me pause and tell you about our next sponsor. And that is Good Ranchers. We've heard all the talk, all the debate and discussion about tariffs, how that is going to raise the prices on products that are being made by foreign companies. And that includes the meat that is being raised and harvested in foreign countries and imported here. That includes meat that in your grocery stores actually has a sticker, say, saying made in the usa, that might be packaged in the usa, but most of that meat doesn't actually come from American farms. That's why you need to switch to good ranchers. 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I've got a custom Allie Beth Stuckey box that you can find@goodranchers.com Allie plus you get $40 off with my code Ali go to ranchers.com Alli code Ali all right, we debated over whether we would talk about King of Kings today, the new animated movie, or whether we would give an update on Carmelo Anthony. A lot of you have been asking me to talk about King of Kings and what I think about it, but I don't feel fully prepared. Bri is fully prepared and I know that you care about her opinion too. But I wanted to make sure that I had enough to bring to the table. And so I will give you my thoughts. But it's going to be next week at this point because tomorrow we've got Sean McDowell on and we'll be talking about theology and apologetics and all kinds of good stuff tomorrow. But I just want to make sure that I'm fully prepared to bring my best to the table when it comes to that and give you my thoughts on it. So we'll probably be doing that on Tuesday. So instead we are going to talk about Carmelo Anthony and we talked about this case a little bit after it happened. This is local to the town that I grew up in outside of Dallas and it's a tragic situation. You've got two 17 year old high school boys runners. They were at a track meets and Carmelo Anthony was in a tent for Memorial High School. There were tents set up for the different teams corresponding with the different high schools. And Carmelo was under the wrong tent. And so Austin Metcalf, he said, you know, you're in the wrong tent. And this is according to the witness testimony of a lot of people who were there. And he said, hey, you're in the wrong tent. Can you please, I don't know if he said please, but can you get up and move? Carmelo Anthony, according to witness testimony, refused and said make me and also said don't touch me. Well, Austin Metcalf decided that he was going to try to make him by grabbing his backpack and pulling him out of the seat. And when he did that, Carmelo Anthony reached in his backpack and got a knife and stabbed Austin Metcalfe in the heart, murdering him. And Austin's brother Hunter has given very emotional testimony in a couple interviews. He held his twin brother as he died, tried to stop the bleeding. He says that he watched his brother's soul leave his body. I mean, can you imagine the bond they had? They shared a womb together, they took their first breath together. And then his brother took his final breath in his arms. I mean, just a tragic situation. Police reported when they arrested Carmelo Anthony, they referred to him as a suspect. And Carmelo Anthony said, it's not allegedly I did it. And also asked if he would be able to use self defense. And if you want to go and listen to some of the reaction to that and what some people on social media were saying, what some commentators were saying, then you can go listen to that. I've done a couple of videos on it as well on social media. It's really sad how many people have been defending Carmelo Anthony, trying to say that this was, was self defense. It was not self defense. Carmelo Anthony felt disrespected. He didn't fear for his life. There was no reason for him to fear for his life. You have to fear serious bodily harm or fear for your life to take fatal action. You can't just be bullied. You can't just feel disrespected. There were all these rumors flying around that Austin Metcalfe called him names. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what he said. And that's not even true. It's not verified by any eyewitness testimony anyway. It's just people trying to turn this into a race war. And it really is crazy how many people either on the left or who happen to have more melanin. Not everyone, but that's just how it's broken down who are defending Carmelo Anthony. And it really shouldn't be like that. We should all be impartial. We should realize that lady justice is blind. We should look at the facts of the case. That's, that's biblical justice. By the way, I read you some of the comments and posts from people who are defending him. It is insane. You are morally blind. You are morally blind if you do not see that this is a clear cut case of murder that is in no way justified or defensible whatsoever. Okay? And I think that his trial will actually prove that. And he's going to spend a very long time in prison, which is good. But right now he's out of jail. And his bond has been lowered from a million dollars to $250,000. And thanks to funds that his family raised via Gibson to go, he was able to make bail and get out of jail. And a lot of people are understandably saying, what the heck, he's literally a cold blooded murderer. Why is he out of jail? So let me back up and give you a little bit more information. So he was released from jail Monday, April 14, after his bond was lowered from 1 million to a quarter of a million dollars. His release comes with strict conditions including house arrest and ankle monitor, weekly check ins, no social media use, no trial date has been announced yet. Okay, so people have a lot of questions about why the heck the judge lowered this bond. What is going on here? What was the motivation behind it? Here's that too. To the victim, the family of the victim. Why were you armed, Carmilla? Why were you armed at school? Explain your self defense. How is this self defense? Okay, so he was released and then there was a picture that was posted by someone named Minister Dominique Alexander. He is the founder and president of the Next Generation at Work Action Network. He posted a picture of himself and Carmelo saying that Carmelo's release on bond was quote, a victory for justice for family and for the power of people coming together to protect our youth. That is sick. That is nasty. That is absolutely morally depraved. This person stole the future of killed an image bearer of God because he felt disrespected or because he didn't like being touched. Because he said make me. And apparently that's some legal loophole for murdering someone. You know, kids get in fights all the time. I'm not saying it's right. I'm not saying you should lay hands on someone. I just want you to know that that is not a legal or moral justification for murdering someone. I just trying to keep you safe out there. Okay? Anyone who is watching this case and is like, yeah, if I say make me and someone touches me, well then I can, then I can kill them. That's not going to fly. I just, I just want you to know that if you use that as the justification, you will spending the rest of your life in prison, don't do it. But some people are rejoicing, saying that this is good that he's out and it's such a weird picture. Even if you do believe that this is self defense, even if you believe this, there's no reason to pose for a picture. There's no reason for this guy, Minister Dominique to be Smiling in this picture. That's weird. A photo op to post on x. There's a 17 year old that's murdered. You should be sad about that. You should be traumatized that you took a man's life. And apparently Carmelo did have a history of different kinds of altercations in the past, which is very sad. This organization that Minister Dominique Alexander is in charge of, they say their mission is to lobby for social change and equality for all, regardless of race, religion, nationality, gender, sex or age. And of course that that's not true. It is to show partiality towards those who have more melanin, even when they've committed murder. Alexander, this guy is serving as a family advocacy representative and spokesperson for the Anthony family during the legal process. His role includes advocating for a fair trial, addressing misinformation, raising concerns about the investigation, and threats to the Anthony family. Let me tell you right now, because first of all, I will say Carmelo's Carmelo does deserve a fair trial. We see that modeled in scripture. Okay? So, yes, even the accused deserves a fair trial. I will just say to the family, who I'm sure is super sad about this and very traumatized themselves, to Carmel's family, fire this dude. Fire this dude. This looks awful. If I were a parent in this situation, I would say there is no chance in hell that you are posting a picture smiling with my child, who has just been accused of murder, who just stabbed a guy in the heart. This looks horrible. This guy has consistently expressed solidarity with blm. Again, this just means that he doesn't actually believe in biblical impartial justice. Collin County District Judge Angela Tucker claimed that her decision was to lower the bond from 1 million to 250,000. Based on. It was based on the law, the Constitution. She also took into account, she says Carmelo's age, lack of prior criminal record, community ties, the family's financial situation. Given that, the defense argued that the $1 million bond would place undue burden on the family. Okay, so his defense lawyers went to this judge and said, this is undue burden. Please lower it so he can get out of jail. So you got a lot of people assuming that this judge, Angela Tucker, that she made this decision based on social justice, race reasons, she herself is black. So people are just kind of posting her picture and being like, you know why she did this. And while I do disagree with this, I mean, this guy is a murderer. He does seem like he is a threat to his community. And I don't think he should have been let out of jail. I Also can't assume that this judge is doing this based on social justice. I mean, at first when I saw this, I didn't even know who the judge was. I felt this is mob justice. This is a judge responding to the demands of social media, the demands of the public, rather than just looking at the facts and seeing that this is a person, this is a cold blooded murder that shouldn't be allowed in society, making everyone else vulnerable. But I, I don't know that that's true. I mean, this is a judge who was appointed by a Republican. The Collin County Republican Party has consistently endorsed her. She was appointed, like I said, by Greg Abbott. She has served as the judge of the Texas 199th District Court since 2012. So I don't know. She says again that her motivation had to do with age, with the lack of threat that she felt that he posed. So I don't, I don't know. I don't know the fullness of her motivations behind that. But there were some interesting details that came out in this bond hearing about the money that the family has raised via Givesend Go and what it is actually being used for. It seems like it might have been used to pay for a new expensive house in a gated community and a brand new car. And if that is the case, then this whole thing is grifting and dancing upon the grave of an innocent young man who did not deserve to die. And that is the lowest of the low. If you have any sympathy for that, if you are a part of that in any way, if you were defending that, you need to do some serious soul searching. Okay, that's satanic. So we'll get into that in a second. Let me pause and tell you about our next sponsor. And that is Adele Natural Cosmetics. You guys know how much I love Adele Natural Cosmetics. I use their products every single day. I use their essential cleanser, their essential moisturizing spray. I use about once a week, their exfoliation. It smells really good. It smells like coffee and it really wakes your skin up. When I'm not in the studio, I'm also using all of their moisturizing makeup. I just love it. It, it's all holistic, it's all natural. No synthetic fragrances or endocrine disruptors or anything like that. Plus, it's a Christian family owned company that is simply trying to glorify God in everything they do. I've met them, talked to them. They really are the real deal. They are some of the best people. So it's just a Win all around to support them. And to get your cosmetic products from Adele, go to adelenaturalcosmetics.com use promo code ALI. You'll get 25% off your first time purchase Adele natural cosmetics.com code ALI. So during the bond hearing there were some questions about the Give Send Go money that has been raised for Carmelo Anthony. And yes, almost $500,000 has been raised for Carmelo Anthony's family. Why? Why would someone donate to the family of a murderer? I don't understand. It's just because race is involved. I mean that's what it is. It's just because there is toxic empathy because this person is seen as on the side of the oppressed because he's black, even though in this situation he was clearly the oppressor. That's what's going on here. It is toxic empathy. If you want to understand why your friends tend to have more sympathy and empathy for criminals and for violent perpetrators and the victims of those crimes than you should read my book Toxic Empathy. And you can read the chapter specifically on social justice. It might be well meaning, but ultimately it is extremely unjust and destructive. So during this bond hearing, the first assistant district attorney Bill Wirski, he asked about this gives in to go money. Is it being used to get Carmelo out of jail? It seems like it's being used for other things. Andrew Anthony explained that the funds could not be immediately asked accessed. That's his father, Carmelo Anthony's father. He also said that the funds would be used, this is according to the Dallas Morning News, to relocate to a new house and to pay for security measures. Defense attorney Mike Howard also clarified that the funds would be needed for Anthony's long term legal defense and family support. Also during the bond hearing, Andrew Anthony disclosed that the fundraiser money had already been allocated for relocating to a new house. They're renting a house. I think I said earlier that they bought a new house, but they are renting a new house in a gated community, a pretty expensive house and an exclusive community. Other neighbors are saying it looks like they just bought a really nice new sedan. It's got new tags on it. And either this is being that this was bought by the money in Gibson Go, which I'm a little bit confused about that because he's simultaneously saying that okay, we can't access it right away, but also apparently is using it to move and to possibly be getting a new car. And if they say, oh no, the new car is not because of this money, well that's Also confusing because he said in this volunteering, the father said, you know, we're tied on cash. I'm the sole breadwinner. I've had to take extended leave from my job. That was part of the reason why the bond was lowered to $250,000. And so there's just a lot of confusion going on here about how these funds are actually being used. And again, there shouldn't be any fun, like there shouldn't be any donated funds. There just shouldn't. Does he have a right to a fair trial? 100%. Anything other than that is basically a reward for murdering someone. And that is backwards. It should also be noted that the gifts and go only said that the money was to, quote, support Carmelo and his family during this challenging and difficult time. It didn't actually specify how the money was going to be used. It's not just for a legal defense. And so I guess they were kind of clear or unclear purposely about that from the beginning. And then of course, there's been backlash to all of this going around. This new circulating on acts the past couple of days and they updated the family updated on their give send go this they said, quote, while legal defense is a critical part of this journey, we want to make it clear that this fund is not solely dedicated to legal expenses. Okay. The funds raised will also support a range of urgent and necessary needs that have emerged as a result of the situation, including but not limited to the safe relocation of the Anthony family due to escalating threats to their safety and well being, as well as basic living cost, transportation, counseling and other security measures. The Daily Mail talks to some of the families in this area. They're not happy about it. They, of course, are worried for the safety of their community. If you have like a young man who is this easily triggered because he feels like he was, you know, he was talked down to or he was condescended in some way or even someone touched his backpack and as a justification for murder. Do you want that person as your neighbor? No. And they are apparently using the funds that people, via toxic empathy are donating to them to relocate to an area like this. It's not good. It's. It's not justice. And gosh, we are such a sick society. We are such a sick society that we can't see things clearly when race is involved. It's toxic empathy. It's also just like a demonic spiritual blindness. Truly. Matt Walsh says he's been talking about this a lot. He says there's no hope of improving, quote, unquote Race relations in this country. As long as a black murderer can still be rewarded with half a million dollars and a new home for stabbing a white kid to death, it doesn't set a good precedent, that's for sure. Kyle Rittenhouse. This is according to end wokeness. He draws this kind of parallel. Kyle Rittenhouse shot rioters to save his life. It was deemed self defense. And it's true. It actually was. Maybe he shouldn't have been there that night. You could say he shouldn't have been in Kenosha, but in those moments, he was defending himself. $2 million bond, it was never reduced. 86 days and pre trial detention. Okay, that was during 2020. You remember that? Carmelo Anthony brought a knife to attract me, got insulted, killed someone. Because of that, bond is reduced to 250k. 12 days in pretrial jail, buys a new house. That last point isn't exactly correct. They're renting a new house. And so just know this, that when people say, oh, there are two justice systems and black people are very unfairly treated in this country in our justice system, cases like this, situations like this make that argument much less compelling. I'll say that again. I have no idea Carmelo's motivation. I don't know that it was motivated by race. I don't think that he was targeting this kid because he was white. I have no idea. And I don't know that race was really relevant to this at all. But it has certainly turned into that. People defending him because he was a black kid that killed a white kid. And that is the indication of a really big problem and a huge impediment to true impartial justice, which should be no respecter of persons. Okay, let me read a text from that my mom sent me. And she sent it from a friend of hers who, who had a child at the. At the track meet. And she just wanted to make sure that this, that this story got out, she said. A friend of mine sent this to me. Thought it might be a good story to talk about. Talk about surrounding the stabbing incident. From my friend Susan. I wanted to tell you about something that no one is talking about nationally. Thought you might find this interesting. 17 year old Liam Cunningham was at the track meet and was the first person to run to Austin Metcalf after he was stabbed. When everyone started running away, this young man, I guess, in addition to Austin's twin brother, ran to the stab student and began life saving efforts. Yesterday, Liam was honored by Live Like Knox at a banquet for his brave and presented with a scholarship. And so I just want to recognize the hero in this case, one of the heroes in this case, and that courage and morality still exist in a society that unfortunately rewards violence and cowardice. And when the world seems to be going mad, Christians are called to sanity. We are called to clarity. We are called to true justice and true compassion, which is always intertwined with the truth, with factual truth and most importantly, biblical truth. All right, before we head out, just a couple announcements. You should subscribe to Blaze Unlimited. You will be subscribing to our New Frontier magazine, which is truly beautiful. You'll get to read it every month. It's a work of art, really unique commentary and reporting in it. And you will also have access to all Blaze TV content that is exclusive to paying members of Blaze tv. It helps us and it creates a community we're protected from. Big tack when you join, you'll get access to all of my behind the paywall content as well, like relatable at home. Go to blazeunlimited.comalli to lock in your subscription blazeunlimited.comalli and then also last last thing. Share the arrows 2025 is headed your way, Dallas, Texas October 11th. We've got all the amazing speakers. We've got Elisa Childers. We've got Ginger Duggar, Volo. We've got yours truly, Shauna Holman, Katie Faust, Francesca Battistelli. All amazing. Go to sharethe arrows.com all right, that's all we got time for today. We will be back here tomorrow.