B (5:33)

All right, let's go.

A (5:34)

And even though Jesus had harsh words to say about rich people, I am so excited to support them as they get richer and I get poorer.

C (5:42)

Stop it. That's okay. She's an idiot.

A (5:44)

Okay.

C (5:45)

Jesus did not have harsh words to say about, quote, unquote, rich people. He means there's additional temptation that rests on people when they have more resources, which is true. But that's not a critique of rich.

A (5:55)

People for being rich.

C (5:57)

That's a reality about the temptations of life.

A (6:00)

In fact, the Bible specifically says that.

C (6:02)

In judgment, you're not supposed to favor either the rich or the poor. And also, the Bible is a very pro.

B (6:07)

Private property document.

C (6:09)

Jesus parable of the talents in the book of Matthew is pretty clear on the idea that you should actually invest.

A (6:15)

And that relies on private property.

C (6:17)

The entire biblical system is reliant on private property.

A (6:19)

Actually, entire. The Bible relies on the existence of private property.

B (6:26)

Private property. That's.

A (6:29)

So do you remember. Do you remember that, Janice, when Jesus was like, go into all the world and acquire private property and.

B (6:37)

And. And get it, because.

A (6:39)

Yeah. Make sure you get it. It's. That's the most important thing.

B (6:43)

Make sure you get it, because otherwise we won't have it. Because it's not like the earth and, you know, the cattle on the fountain, it's not like it all belongs to God, so we gotta go get it back.

A (6:59)

I don't also like the fact, like, there's. There's literally an entire story that Jesus tells of the rich young ruler who goes to Jesus and asks, like, how do I. And how do I get to go to heaven? And Jesus looks at him and says, sell everything you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me. And then the rich young ruler was very sad about that because he had private property, a lot of it.

B (7:20)

Right.

A (7:21)

And so he didn't follow Jesus. And then Jesus said, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. I mean, that. That sounds harsh to me, but, you know, what do I know? I'm just an idiot. According to zero.

B (7:39)

That. According to your number one fan. He's a fan.

A (7:43)

He.

B (7:45)

There was no reason for him to pull that. That.

A (7:50)

Yeah.

B (7:51)

Like, of all the things to argue about or to try to take a position like, come on.

A (7:56)

Also, he's not even a Christian. He's Jewish. What is he even Doing.

B (8:02)

So, you.

A (8:03)

Don'T even go, last I heard. I don't think he cares what Jesus said anyway. But, you know, whatever. Speaking of idiots, Donald Trump.

B (8:17)

That's it, the king.

A (8:19)

Yeah, Donald Trump has been. So we've talked on the show a lot about. He has some fascist tendencies, you know, maybe putting it mildly, he's a bit authoritarian. He's been grabbing power as of late, and we're going to get into some examples of that. But there are two different things that he said this week about being a dictator. Is this one of the. I think this is one of those videos. Let's go ahead and play this clip.

C (8:48)

Thank you very much. But then he goes on television, says, oh, Trump is a dictator. He's a date. And a lot of people. So. So the line is that I'm a dictator, but I stop crime. So a lot of people say, you know, if that's the case, I'd rather have a dictator, but I'm not a dictator. I just know how to stop crime. And he.

B (9:10)

Is he stopping crime by committing all of it? Like, is that. Is that how he. Is that his commitment?

A (9:18)

Crime?

B (9:19)

I'll do it. I'm doing it all. So you don't have to. So that you can't. There's no crime left for you to commit. I've done it all.

A (9:28)

Yeah. And like, that logic. I mean, it is true that if you go and look at Russia or North Korea, I don't think they have a lot of crime because everyone's terrified. So, like, on one hand, yeah, crime would be lowered, but that's.

B (9:44)

But even.

A (9:44)

But that's not a free society.

B (9:47)

Well, no, and also, like, crime. Crime is a creation of the society. Right. Like some things that. So many things in our history as Americans were not crime, but they were abhorrent, they were awful, they were heinous, they were terrible. But they were legal. Right. And so crime is only a matter of legality, and that is up to the society. Like, no one is saying that there are no murders in North Korea. There are no, like, bad things still happen. And so, like, major crime happens all across the world. But, like, again, when we're talking about crime, you have to be so specific because he's about to criminalize burning the flag. Right? And so it's like, you can't. You're. You're creating crime because now you're making up things. You're saying things that people are doing our crime as opposed to, is it right, is it wrong, is it, you know, whatever. But, like, legally, I Mean, if you want to stop all crime today, you can do it. Just say nothing. There are no rules. Like, right. It's not wrong to murder.

A (11:10)

I know. It's not criminalized. Yeah.

B (11:13)

Decriminalize everything.

A (11:15)

It's like. It reminds me of my. One of the Christian colleges that I went to was. They had the stupidest rules, and so I technically broke a lot of rules, but they were like. Like, literally, they want. They were going to fine us $25 because we had a blood diamond poster in our room, which was a rated R movie, and you weren't allowed to watch rated R movies. And so then. Then it went to it. Well, not only can you not watch the movie, you can't have the poster of the rated R movie because that tells us what's on your heart. I'm like, that's just so stupid.

B (11:46)

Stupid.

A (11:46)

There's a piece of paper on a wall.

B (11:49)

You sound like a criminal.

A (11:52)

I know. I didn't escape Christian college for my country to just become one. Geez Louise.

B (12:01)

Yeah.

A (12:02)

Okay, you know what? He's mentioned Trump be. Trump's mentioned being a dictator twice this week. So we have another video of him also mentioning it, because if you've noticed, he has been threatening and deploy. To deploy more military in United States cities. He's done it in DC Already, and he threatened to do it to Chicago and New York and a bunch of other cities across America, which is just like a dictator. But here he is again, flirting with the idea.

C (12:35)

I think the Democrats better get smart. And, you know, politically, I hope they don't. But actually, in terms of love for the country, I hope they do, because it will be good to work together. So I'm thinking about, you know, when I have some slob like Pritzker criticizing us before we even go there, I made the statement that next should be Chicago, because as you all know, Chicago is a killing field right now. And they don't acknowledge it. And they say, we don't need him. Freedom. Freedom. He's a dictator. He's a dictator. A lot of people are saying, maybe we like a dictator. I don't like a dictator. I'm not a dictator. I'm a man with great common sense, and I'm a smart person. And when I see what's happening to our cities, and then you send in troops instead of being praised, they're saying, you're trying to take over the Republic. These people are sick. But I'm really saying, and I say this to all of you in a certain way, we should wait to be asked because they have cities that are so under control, you know, out of control, that. So we go in and fix it. They take the full credit for it and they go out and say, I heard it this morning. They're saying how well they've done over the last 10 day period.

A (13:44)

This, this man. Okay. Your kitten is so cute. Just for those listening, she has the cutest little kitten that's just hopping around in the backyard in the background.

B (13:55)

He is. This kitten is a criminal.

A (13:58)

Yeah. I mean, he should be fined immediately, thrown in jail. Okay, I want to talk, talk about what just happened also. Cassie, can you pull that clip up real quick? I just want to. This might be me being nitpicky, but you notice how he has his hand over his hand and he like is moving it around with it? Because I think that's the hand that had the, the discoloration that people keep eyeing. And so now he's just, I don't know that just very awkward.

B (14:30)

Even the fact that he's seated so much now behind, like, we're not, we're not seeing him out and about because they don't want us seeing his legs and his cankles.

A (14:40)

I know, I know. Which, you know, not telling the American people what's actually happening is also very dictatory. Is that a word? Dictatory. Dictator. Okay. Also, I just want to say too, the idea that Chicago is a killing field, like you just said, me and my family just went to Chicago last month and it was lovely.

B (15:05)

How many survived?

A (15:08)

You know what? Shockingly, all four of us survived. We live to tell the tale. I know. And no one that I saw while there was killed in the killing field. That apparently is Chicago. So. And like, and that's not to say that there's not crime in Chicago. Like Chicago is known to have crime, as a lot of cities are. But Trump is using this as an excuse to just grab more power and to send more military into these cities because he wants to have more power. And by him doing that, it's, it is, it escalates the situation because there was that video, I don't know if you saw in D.C. where someone threw a sandwich at a policeman and then. And so far they can't get a jury to convict him.

B (15:55)

No.

A (15:55)

Which I love, by the way. But like, you're going to escalate it when you bring in more police and more military. It's going to escalate situations that don't need to be escalated.

B (16:05)

Yeah, yeah. And I don't, I don't understand. I don't understand many things about our country, but for MAGA in particularly, and it's not, it's not just them. A lot of Americans live and die for the second amendment and this right to bear arms. And to my understanding, the point of that is just in case the government ever rises up, you can form a militia, you can have weapons to be able to fight back against the government. Like it was never supposed to be about stand your ground and being, being able to kill your neighbor over again, private property. Right. Like it was supposed to be so that we just escaped a tyrant in, you know, Britain. We, we left there and to make sure that we have no kings, that no one can ever have that power over us again.

A (17:15)

Yeah.

B (17:15)

You have the right to bear arms and to have a well regulated militia. Right. So I'm like, I don't understand, I don't understand what we're doing and how. I don't. The math is just not mathing for me because it's not. And also, these are the states rights people where the federal government, we don't like big government, we don't like the overreach. You're not supposed to be in Washington telling me what to do in my state. But now all of that is just out the window. Like, I don't get it.

A (17:55)

Well, I think what he's wanting to do, he wants people to get violent because then that'll give him an excuse to exert even more power and to push more military on United States citizens, which Kamala Harris predicted. And literally, like a lot of the mainstream media mocked her and laughed at her and said she was being hyperbolic and sensationalist, but literally it's happening and it's hasn't even been a full year into his first term, but I think he wants that. And also a week ago, it was a week or so ago, whenever he met with Zelinsky, he even teased like, oh, well, when you're in war, you can stop elections. And the way he keeps taunting Trump 2028, like, this man does not want to leave that office. And I think he's looking for every way that he can to stay in power, which is really scary actually.

B (18:46)

Yeah. Yeah.

A (18:47)

Okay, there's another video. Let's go to this other video where he talks about, he keeps talking about how he's ending all these wars. I, I would love to get your take on this one. We, we fact checked the wars that he supposedly ended last week and newsflash, he didn't.

B (19:04)

Wait, what?

A (19:06)

Yeah. What you mean he's lying? Aren't exaggerating the truth. That's not Trump. So anyway, let's just, let's just watch this, then we'll talk about it.

C (19:15)

Good decision. But, you know, as Department of War, we won everything. We won everything. And I think we're going to have to go back to that. In the meantime, I've stopped all of these wars. I've stopped them. A big one would have been India and Pakistan, but we stopped them all. We stopped three wars. Go to Africa. They like to say, oh, you know, I love black people. And they, and I did great with the vote, with the black people. But they say, he's a racist, he's a racist. I said, really? For 35 years, a war raged between Rwanda and the Republic of the Congo. And it was a vicious war. Nine million people were killed with machetes, largely hatchets. Machetes. That went on for three, 30, more than 30 years, but 34, 35 years. And I stopped it. In fact, the presidents are coming in a week or two to sign the. We have the foreign ministers. It's all signed. The war stopped, but I got it stopped and saved a lot of lives. The Congo, as deep into deepest, darkest Africa, I got that war stopped. Nobody else could have done that. We did a lot of jobs. We did. A lot of, A lot of wars were stopped that nobody thought would even be possible. And I'll tell you what, the war with India and Pakistan, that was the next level. That was going to be a nuclear war. They already shot down seven jets that was raging. And I said, you guys want to do trade? We're not doing any trade. We're not doing anything with you. If you keep fighting, you got 24 hours to settle it. They said, well, there's no more war going. And I used that on numerous occasions. Trade, I used trade. I used other. I used whatever you had to use. But we got seven of them stopped. And the one I thought would be easiest, frankly, was going to be Russia and Ukraine. But that turns out to be some big personality conflicts. It's one of those things. But we're going to get that stopped eventually. We're going to get that stopped, too. 7,000 soldiers died last week. Think of that. 7,000. I usually say 5,000, but 7,221 soldiers died last week in the fight between Ukraine and Russia.

B (21:27)

Well, first of all, there's so much to that, right? And all of this language is coded and like the fact the cities that he's picking, the places that he is naming to send troops to like, we think of major cities and, like, yeah, Chicago is the major city of Illinois, right? But, like, there are other places with higher crime rates in Illinois than Chicago. And, like, you know, to go after D.C. chicago, Oakland, like, he's saying things. And these are. These are majority black cities. So he's coming after black people. And, you know, crime. Crime, urban, right? All these are codes for. These are. These are where black people live. And so for him to go from. Here's the wars that I've stopped and started. And then I'm going to jump to people say that I'm racist, but I love black people. And here's the proof that I stopped these wars in the Rwanda and Congo. The people in Africa are not black people. Those are Africans. And black Americans and Africans are two different things. Like, right here, there are conversations to be had about whether or not, like, I personally, I never refer to myself as an African American. Like, I'm not. I have no affinity to Africa. I know nothing about it. I've never been. I am generations and generations removed. That is part of my heritage, obviously. But look at the 23 and me. I've got a lot of European in there right there. There's a lot in here. Black Americans are a completely different set of people. And so to try to pretend like you love us or like us based on what you're doing in another country is insane. And it's so othering because it is just a reminder that he does not see me as an American. He does not. We are. We are other. And we, you know, we're on the chopping block, too. Right? They haven't figured out exactly how to do it yet, but when they can, they'll be deporting us just. Just as quickly and with just as much glee because to them, we are not American.

A (24:13)

Well, and what he's doing, what, by expanding the military, that's going to disenfranchise black people more than any other group just because of the way that police. The police state is like, the. That relationship. It's going to heavily impact that demographic more than anybody else. And for him to just be like, oh, well, I stopped this random war in this country that most of y' all have probably never been to and know nobody there. That means I love you.

B (24:42)

And also, like, in our conception of Africa, right, Like, we think of Africa like a country, and it's not like it is a continent. And like, Rwanda, Uganda, Congo, like, Africa has so many nations, and, like, we don't even. We can't conceptualize of that because we. We are one nation, right? We have all these states. Africa has nations with states. Like, it's not just this amorphous blob of whatever. So even if you wanted to say, like, yeah, I love. I love Rwanda, and that's why I love black people. No, first of all, most of us don't even have Rwandan ancestry because that's not the nation y' all were taking people from to enslave them. Like, so it's. It's just. It's a lot.

A (25:40)

Yeah, it is a lot. What a. What a silly man. And I think it's pretty obvious for us and people that have not drank the Kool Aid that Donald Trump is not very competent. He just rambles, makes stuff up. I mean, even in that clip, he was like, I usually say 5,000 were killed, but it was 7,000. Like, what do you mean? You usually say, like, that's just the go to number when you're talking about what is 5,000? Yeah, 5,000 sounds right. Like, what are you talking about? The way he just rambles. Also, I don't know if you notice in that clip, his hands were underneath the desk. So I don't know. I'm just paying attention to his hand, his hands these days. But I want to play this. This montage, and there's other montages out there. So a Cabinet meeting that Trump had this past week, the way that his cabinet is sucking up to him is so cringy, and it's so obvious to anyone who is not Donald Trump. You know, like, I feel like even those cabinet members in there that are saying all this, they know they're just saying it because they have to, because that's how they can get on Donald Trump's good side. I would. I would bet you anything that most of these people don't actually mean what they're saying, but let's watch it.

C (27:03)

It's an honor to do this job under the President's leadership. You are the single finest candidate since the no piece, this noble award was ever talked about. Thank you for your leadership, for your boldness, for your clarity, for common sense.

A (27:18)

This is just such a great opportunity, really, to recognize your leadership.

B (27:21)

It's pretty great to celebrate Labor Day.

A (27:23)

With a builder who loves labor.

C (27:26)

You have saved this country by making it the best place in the world.

A (27:30)

To do business again. You are really the transformational president of the American worker, along with the American flag and President Roosevelt.

B (27:40)

I. It's giving Thanksgiving, right? And everybody has to say what you're thankful for. And then you're just like, oh, the pie. I. I'm thankful for the pie. But it's like, what. This man is so small, so insecure. So. Because what is. What even is this about? This is about Labor Day, and we're just going to sit around and praise this man who has not even been for a Labor Day. So it's not even like, here's a year later, and here are all the stats, and here are all the ways you can prove you haven't done anything. So y' all are basically, if you're congratulating him for anything, it's for whatever Biden left for whatever been done, because he hasn't even been in here long.

A (28:41)

Enough to do anything to, like, terrorize everybody.

B (28:46)

Right.

A (28:47)

And, like, bring in regular people. According to.

B (28:51)

Where are the. Yeah, they have customers.

A (28:56)

Yeah. I mean, they're. They're fewer and far between. But if you read his truth social posts, he'll tell you that he's had the greatest first six months of any president in the history of the country, probably the world, probably the universe. I mean, honestly, he probably thinks that about himself. So one of the ladies that was in there that was talking about how he's been such a great laborer, and she mentioned having his face next to the American flag next to Roosevelt. So one. One other thing that's happened in this. In this term since he became president is his face is now on government buildings in D.C. so, and one of them is the Department of Labor. I think this is America first, something like that. So it's got American flag in the middle, Teddy Roosevelt on the right, and then Donald Trump. And. And like, Donald Trump's face on these government buildings is, I think, wanting it to be a thing. And if you look historically, the people that put their faces, and I'm talking about, like, the people doing it, not someone else doing it to honor them, but, like, dot, like the person. It's like, I want my face out there. Those people are dictators. Look at North Korea. Look at what Adolf Hitler did. Joseph Stalin. Like, they are the. Like, if you feel this need to promote yourself like this, as you are the hero, you are the one. And then your cabinet then decides that they also need to be, you know, building you up all the time. Oh, you're so great. You're the best we've ever had. No one does it better than you. Like, they're all starting to sound like little mini trumps in the way that they talk. That is another tell telltale sign of a dictator.

B (30:44)

This is. This is A cult. And, like, that picture. That picture is frightening. So I'm like, that is that. I mean, the American flag is a red flag at this point. Like, if I pull up to your business and you've got an American, I. I'm not going to feel welcome there. Like, I'm like, oh, this is. This is. This is saying something. And, you know, because, again, like, we're one nation, allegedly. So, like, why do we need all these reminders?

A (31:16)

Who.

B (31:17)

Who. Who is this for? Like, I know where I am. I am very aware, unfortunately, of who the President is like. And seeing. Seeing your ugly mug is not going to engender any kind of inspiration or hope, and it's not meant to. And, like, how. How sad to want your image to be used to frighten and to terrify and to, like, discourage and bum people out.

A (31:58)

I. Yeah, and I think he wants to be feared. I think that's what. What he envies about Vladimir Putin is he wants to be someone that people fear, that people will do anything that he asks because they respect him and fear him so much. And I think that's why you're seeing the way that he's acting. And I think that's another reason you're seeing him cover up the cankles and his hands, too. Like, because he doesn't want to be. Come across as weak. He wants to be this macho, fearful, manly Alpha man. And it's just not working. Which is why I do think satire and, like, what south park is doing to just mock Trump so extremely is just brilliant. And I. I think that is a kryptonite, in a way, of fascists, is just being able to laugh at them, because if you laugh at them, makes them feel small and, you know, it kind of just gets rid of the facade that they're these big, fearful people. At Capella University, learning online doesn't mean learning alone. You'll get support from people who care about your success, like your enrollment specialist who gets to know you and the goals you'd like to achieve. You'll also get a designated academic coach who's with you throughout your entire program. Plus, career coaches are available to help you navigate your professional goals. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn more at Capella. Edu.

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B (34:34)

Hi, my name is Mary and I'm from Nashville, Tennessee, and I'm a monthly donor to the new Evangelicals. I'm really thankful for the work they're doing and I think that there is a really important job to continue. That's why I offer my support. Between the pandemic, Donald Trump, the dehumanization of the LGBTQ community, I just think we really need to reevaluate what we're doing as a church, as evangelicals, as new evangelicals. So, yeah, glad to be a part of this community and love the work.

A (35:18)

Another thing that Trump's doing that is very dictator like, is he's attacking history, which is something that we've seen the MAGA movement do and Christian nationalists a lot. But he's been going after museums lately, like, not even just the, the history education, that's, that kids are taught in school, but he's been going after museums. So I don't know if you saw this tweet or it's not really a tweet, but he posted it on Truth Social where he says, I'll just read it. The museums throughout Washington, but all over the country are essentially the last remaining segment of woke. The Smithsonian is out of control, where everything discussed is how horrible our country is, how bad slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been. Nothing about success, nothing about brightness, nothing about the future. We are not going to allow this to happen. And I have instructed my attorneys to go through the museums and, and start the exact same process that has been done with Congress and universities. While tremendous progress has been made, this country cannot be woke because WOKE is broke. We have the hottest country in the world and we want people to Talk about it. Including our museums. I don't think he knows what a museum's purpose is. Like, museums are about history, not about the future. That's why they're museums. Yeah.

B (36:34)

He's like, why y' all keep bringing up old stuff all the time, right? Shiny stuff and wicked. This is history. I don't know why you insist on talking about the past. It's like, that's. That's what this is. And, yeah, I don't. Again, the codes, right? Like, woke up. That's us. That's. That's. Yeah, that's me. He's talking about people who look like me. And, you know, to say that woke is broke. And then also, we have the hottest country in the world. I'm like, I don't know. April, I need to. I need to ask you as a white person. Like, because black people, and I think. I think all non white people groups, like, feel. We feel shame, and we feel like community responsibility. Like, when something bad happens, we're like, oh, God, please don't let it be someone black, right? And I'm pretty sure Asians. Like, I feel like anytime anything terrible happens, right, please don't let it be one of us, because that's going to be brought down on all of us. Do white people not have that? Because I'm like, I don't. I don't understand how y' all are not. How. We don't have new stories of just white people just dropping dead of embarrassment. Because this is your representative. This is the best of you. Like, they are sitting around this table praising this weak, unsmart, unpleasant. He's not like, I thought the Antichrist. And part of the reason I don't believe he's it, right? It was gonna be smart, harder to spot.

A (38:49)

Like.

B (38:49)

Like, it's gonna be smart. It's gonna be charming, right? And you don't even have to be, like, classically good looking to, like, have charisma and to be, like, thought of as handsome or powerful or whatever. But I'm like, this guy. Like, cosmically, I feel like all of this has just been a test. Like, and. And to show people little by little, like, like, since 2016, like. Like, we've been getting consecutive chances as Christians, as Americans. I think now as. As white people, to be like, oh, all these things that we claim to care about, that we claim to believe in, here are, like, clear signs that we're not going in the right direction, right? Like, oh, this. This. This is not in the Bible. This is not what the Bible says. So no, clearly this is easy. We're not going to go with this guy. But like, that was to the point where it's like, well, I mean, he talked us into it. He was a silver tongued devil. He sounded smart, he looked good. None of that is true. And it's like, how are y' all not embarrassed? Not just that you fell for the Okie doke, but like, you fell for it. It's not even the low hanging fruit. You fell for fruit that was on the ground and rotten.

A (40:27)

For the record, I am very embarrassed by white people every single day. It is. That is a really interesting point that you brought up though, because if, if a black person does something that's a crime that gets national attention, you know, the society will then demonize the entirety of the black community. If a trans person is in the news for doing something terrible, society will then, and by society, like conservatives will then demonize the entire trans community. But if a white person does it, which the majority of all mass shootings are done by white men, if a white man does something, or a white woman, whatever it is. I've never once had the, like, I've never once had to feel fearful because I'm also white and that people would then lump me in with this bad white person. And that is just another example of white privilege that I have that I've never had to once think about that. I don't know, you just, you brought up a really good point that I haven't even thought about because I don't, I don't take what Donald Trump does as like, I'm trying to think how to say it. Like, like, to me, he's a conservative MAGA person that I don't have. Like, it's not because he's white, it's because he's terrible. I don't know if, if I'm making sense. But like, I've never, I've never thought like, oh, this is, I don't know, I'm thinking, I'm, I'm thinking out loud here because you brought, I don't know, you just brought up a good point. But I just haven't. I've never had to be fearful because of my skin color when other people with my skin color do bad things. I don't, I don't know, I don't know why that, why that is.

B (42:09)

And we might need, we might need like that switch to be flipped. Four more white people for anything to actually change. Because I'm thinking about like, like the black community will, I mean, and the Black community has its. It's a community, so it has its own problems and its own foibles and whatever. And we are prone to all the same stuff. The misogyny, the homophobia. Like, especially if we are people who have come out of evangelicalism. Like, we have a lot of the same. We, too, are American, right? And so we have a lot of the same issues. But, like, you know, Snoop Dogg said something crazy the other day talking about he's afraid to go to the movies because his grandchild was asking about, you know, the gay couple in Lightyear. And so, like, as the black community, we're like, no, no, Snoop. Yeah, you can't do that. And, like, we will scold, we will reprimand, we will. Unfortunately, not so much with the men, but, like, you know, there's this artist, Chrisette Michelle, who's sang at Trump's first inauguration, whose career was, like, basically killed for that because she was only primarily black famous, right? And we were like, oh, no. And so, like, you know, we got Kanye, and he's out here doing crazy stuff, and it's taking a long, long time, but people are finally like, you know, nope. No. But as a community, we take responsibility for it. And we're like, you're not going to be here embarrassing us. And we are going to, as black people, say, no, that's not us. He's speaking for himself. He's over there. And I don't know, I just wonder what would change if white people kind of had that same impetus and felt that same kind of responsibility to be like, not as an American, not as just a general person, but. No, as part of your community. You can't be out here making us look like this.

A (44:19)

Yeah, I mean, that's a fair point. I mean, I do. I personally will call out white people that I see being stupid and problematic and racist and all of that, but there's just. Like, there's not a white community. Community. Like. Like, you don't. Like, we just don't have the same camaraderie. And I don't know if it's just because there's just. I don't know. I don't know why that is. Like, we don't really have a culture either. Like, our culture is being cringy. Like, I don't. I don't know, but I would. This is gonna sit with me. I'm gonna think about this. Because I do. There. I feel like the world would be a lot better if. If white people looked at white people being awful. I mean, like, no, no, no, we're calling you in. Which I do think a lot of us do, but it's like there's just so many white people that are MAGA that don't see a problem with what's happening. And I don't. I don't know what to do about them. They drive me crazy. I do know that. Well, speaking of, like, whitewashing of things, another sign of Trump being a dictator. And then we'll. We'll move on, I promise. I don't want to belabor the point, but Donald Trump's also cut funding to public radio, pbs and which is then opening the door for Prageru. I know. I believe it's Oklahoma that's talking about wanting Prageru to come in and, like, actually be put in public schools. That's something that's being talked about as a possibility. Now, if you don't know Prageru, the U is misleading. And it's not a university. They're not accredited. They're very conservative. It is propaganda. So this tweet is something that they tweeted out in 2021, which I feel like is them slamming into the point and still missing it. So I'm just going to read you this tweet. They tweeted, young people are enamored with anti racist rhetoric because they think they are fighting racist systems in America. The truth is they are fighting America itself and the very values the country was founded on. I mean. Yes.

B (46:35)

Yeah, yeah. And I mean, I don't know, I also think it's. It's fascinating how, you know, on one hand, Trump will talk about. Yeah, why are these museums focusing on the, on the past and on history and then this, you know, well, these are American values and whatever. And like, there's a weird. There's something weird that has happened to us as a species. And I feel like maybe, maybe it's evangelicalism's fault at least a little bit. But it's like we so like taking the Bible. It's like we have taken these text things written by people in a certain time, and then we've basically said we have to stop there. Like, that was. That was the height of understanding of God. And then, you know, to act like when America was founded, well, that was the height of human ingenuity as far as government and what a democracy can be. And it's like, why are you, again, like, why are you not more confident, proud of yourselves today to be like, you know what, that was the start. But we know more now. We're actually smarter than those people were. We're actually, if, if we want to say this, if we want to pretend like they didn't know right from wrong, right, then we are actually more morally developed. And so, like, you would think the better thing would be to take what we were given, what we started with, and then expand, grow from there, be like, no, this is the American experiment, right? Most experiments fail. We found out, oh, we did this good. That part not so great. But you know what? That's okay. It was an experiment. We were learning. And so now we can put that in the museums, we can put that in the history books, but we don't have to be embarrassed about it. We don't have to be afraid of woke, because we realize, no, we've grown from there. We have more information, we have more knowledge now. But it's just. It's just weird how we lionize these random figures of the past and, like, refuse to be better and do better.

A (49:23)

Right? Well, I think a big piece of, of that, and this is where kind of the Christian nationalism comes into play, and this American exceptionalism is that if you believe that America was founded as a Christian nation, which a lot of people in Trump's cabinet will say that they do. I don't believe Trump cares about Christianity whatsoever. I think he just cares about himself. But that's who put him in power. So I do think the reason why there is such a war on, demonizing true history, or quote unquote, woke up ideology, is because if you acknowledge that you were once the baddies, you know, like you were once the villains in the story, then you have to reconcile what that means about God. If God had his hand in the founding of this nation and, and in the. What we did to indigenous people by killing so many of them and what we did to black people, like, literally owning black people, like, violently and, and, and not even. And even after slavery ended, all the lynchings and the Jim Crow era, and if you acknowledge the actual brutal, violent history that we've had where Christians were in power, then what does that say about God, who's supposed to be all good, you know, like, only good can come from God. So then it just, like you can't. You just can't acknowledge that you were ever the bad guys. Because if you do that, then you have to acknowledge, well, either we weren't actually a Christian nation because God is good, or, or maybe God's not so good and people can actually do evil things in the name of Christianity. And so I do think that is a huge piece to why there's such this war against actual history. Like, they say it's revisionist history. Like, no, it's actual history that. That is being taught. What they want is the actual revisionist history. You know, history is written by the winners and only recently have been like, no, actually it was not like, all butterflies and rainbows. Like, we want it to make it out to be like, no, we, like, committed genocide against an entire group of people that was like, this was their land. We came and stole their land. We are all immigrants.

B (51:25)

Yeah, yeah. Which, like, again, I think blaming. Brilliant. Blaming Christian nationalism, specifically the Christian part. Right. Like, because Christianity needs people to feel bad about themselves. Needs people to believe that they are born depraved and in need of a savior. And, you know, so people. I don't know, like, again, it's just weird. It's like if you. If you sit and you think long enough about it, woke is the only way to be. Because again, we're not tied to history. Is not this snapshot that we all have to have to live from forever. And so it's like there is the other side where you can say, especially if you want to believe that God is good, then it would actually behoove you to be like, oh, no, they really got it wrong and we're getting it right now and we're going to correct it because God is good and here's all the things that we're going to change. Like, it's just really weird to want to say no one was ever wrong, they were all right and God was good. And God is still good now.

A (52:46)

Yeah.

B (52:46)

It is just his good and perfect. Will that most of you be unhappy that, you know the land he's going to give you is occupied by other people that this good God made to be slaughtered. Yeah, he could have just as easily made no people, had no people here. But he didn't do that. He made these people specifically for some other people to kill over private property.

A (53:27)

Oh, like Ben Shapiro. That's important. That's like the most important thing of the Bible. That's the one. That's why. That's why we were here. We were just following the biblical orders to acquire private property.

B (53:38)

Property. That's. That's what it's all about.

A (53:41)

I do think it's interesting that. So this from. In Trump's first term, In February of 2017, he went to. To the same National Museum of African American History, which was what he tweeted that earlier about. He went to that same museum in his first term in 2017. And this was what he said about it then. This tour was a meaningful reminder of why we have to fight bigotry, intolerance, and hatred in all of its very ugly forms. So it is interesting to me, like, even though Trump, I don't think has ever been a good person, but the whole, like, war against woke and. And, you know, I just feel like it's really amped up in the last few years and, like, he's going increasingly, increasingly further. Right? And I think a lot of that is because of his. Who his base is, you know, that he's. He is rewarding the worst of his base. The. The far right, fascists, white supremacists, white nationalists. Like those people. He is rewarding them, which is really stupid. I do want to play this clip from Prager U. This is an example of what Prageru wants to teach your children. This is all this time, and it's.

B (55:00)

Taken place in every corner of the world, even amongst the people I just left. Being taken as a slave is better than being killed. No? Before you judge, you must ask yourself.

C (55:11)

What did the culture and society of the time treat as no big deal?

A (55:17)

So there is a animated Christopher Columbus with blue eyes, big blue eyes.

B (55:23)

Look at those beautiful blue eyes.

A (55:27)

Saying that slavery wasn't really that big of a deal. It was like, just the culture of the time, literally downplaying slavery. This is what the Trump administration and people are wanting to teach children.

B (55:42)

And again, like, are you not embarrassed? Have you no shame? Like, why are you not. Why. Why are white people not fighting back against that perception? Because no one, you know, Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves. Ah, okay. On paper and, like, whatever. But, like, people want to pretend like, slavery ended, that Jim Crow ended, that lynchings, and, like, like, things have ended because white people had this moral clarity and, you know, woke up and, like, gave. We gave them their freedom. We gave them. No, no, no. People were fighting for it, and even the white people who were fighting for it were fighting for it. And, like, those are. Those are the heroes. Those are the ancestors I would think you would want to look up to. To revere and to be like. And so when you have things like Prageru pretending like I was no big deal, no one really knew better. Right. That was just the thoughts of the time. I call bullshit on that, because no white person. There are no stories of white people being like, you know what I want to be when I grow up? At the time of slavery, I would love to be a slave. Seems. Seems like a great gig. Yeah.

A (57:16)

As Doug Wilson said that there is a mutual affection between a master and a slave. Like what?

B (57:23)

No, no. Like, that's. No. So it's like that. That didn't happen. So there were people who did have moral clarity who were fighting, and it's like, it's disrespectful to them when you lump all the white ancestors together and just say, no, we were all the lowest common denominator, and now those are the people that we want to respect, and those are the people that we want to live up to. Those are the people we want to make excuses for. It's like, no, you had better ancestors. You had people who were actually fighting, who were actually good, who did have moral clarity, who were ahead of their time, and you're still here. You still have these people. But, like, you know, for Trump to say that in 2017, and like Trump, Trump has never written anything that he's saying was written by someone else and was given to him. Trump had no thoughts.

A (58:30)

Anything, anything that sounds coherent anyway.

B (58:33)

Yeah. Trump had no thoughts walking through that museum. So, like, what is scary to me? Trump is not scary. Trump is a clown. Trump is a puppet. Trump is a fool. Right. And he is a useful idiot for whoever is using him. And so, like, what is scary to me is that whoever was handling him back then felt like it was important to not appear racist. And the people who are handling him now do not have that compunction at all. Which again, is why I'm like, oh, no, we are on the chopping block. Because there's no. There's no hesitation. There is no quiet part.

A (59:23)

Yeah, I want to. There's these slides that I want to bring up, because I think another part that is scary are all of the supporters that love what Donald Trump is doing. So when Trump said that some people may want a dictator. There's these slides by Midas Touch. Put them together, I think, go through them that show there's this. Just statistics of Republicans that. So 44% of Republicans. Hold on. I can't said that. I can't read it. It's too small for me. Can you read it? Could you zoom in?

B (60:01)

Cassidy Courts shouldn't be able. Shouldn't be able to review Trump's policies.

A (60:07)

Yes. So 44%. Almost half of Republicans said that the courts should not be allowed to review Trump's policies. All right, go to the next one. 36% of Republicans said they wouldn't be at all bothered if Trump were to suspend some laws and constitutional provisions to go after political enemies. That's According to a Monmouth University poll, 28% of Republicans said a president should be able to ignore Congress or the Supreme Court when they hold our country back. That was, according to an Axios Prri poll, almost a third. And again, 28% of Republicans said the country needed a president who was willing to break some rules and laws to set things right. And that's according to a Fox News poll. So. And there's one more. 24% of Republicans said that ahead of the 2024 election that if Trump lost, he should do, quote, whatever it takes to take power. And that was according to a PR I poll. So it is scary. There is a good. It looks like between a quarter to a third of Republicans that do want Trump to be a dictator, which. Which is, like, not what America is about.

B (61:23)

Which is not what America is about, and which is not good. But, like, it's of Republicans. Right. And so we would have to say, okay, how many, what percentage of American identify as Republican? So it's only. And let's give them a strong 50%. Right?

A (61:47)

Yeah.

B (61:47)

And so. And it's not even that. Right, because you have not just Democrats, Independents who don't vote, who don't, you know, whatever. So it's. It's a subset of a subset of people. It's also a subset of a subset of people who do polls, who answer their phone, who talk to strangers, who, like, answer these things. So it really is this outsized, vocal group of people who are not in any way, by any stretch of the imagination, the majority of Americans. It's not even the majority of Republicans. Right. And so, again, these are not good numbers. These are not good stats, but they're not as terrible, they're not telling as bad of a story as even Donald Trump wants you to believe. Like, he wants us to see those numbers and those stats and just, like, wilt and give in. Right. Just throw up our hands. Oh, my God. If this many people want this, no, these are a small subset of insane people.

A (63:16)

And that is a good reminder if, you know, because when it comes, if push comes to shove, we do have more numbers on our side. And I think one of our biggest problems that we're having right now is people just are not paying attention and just really don't know what's happening. I think, I do think, like, there would be more white people that probably would feel shame if they were in the know, but there's like, that privilege there where it's like, well, I'm comfortable. I'm not the one being deported I'm not worried about being deported, so I'm just not gonna think about it, which is, you know, maybe I'm usually not a proponent of people feeling shame after feeling shame my whole life from being an evangelical. But I think, you know, I think white people should feel some shame. I think a little bit of shame might be good for us.

B (63:58)

You know, shame is, Is useful, like in, in its proper context, given it's. It's proper use. Like, we are, we are built for community. Like, we are not just as a species. Humans are not meant to do life alone. We are not supposed to be living these, these siloed, individualistic lives. Like we are supposed to be part of the community. Right? Even in the Bible, like, what is one of the biggest punishments, right? You talk to them. You bring somebody else to talk to them. I think it's three, three times. And then if you can't put them out. Right, yeah, we're not, we're not killing you anymore. We're just saying, look, we have certain rules here. We have certain ways that you have to live. And if you don't want to, if you can't, if you are unable to, We've talked to you about it, and now you can't be here. You can't be with us. Right? Like, that is the greatest punishment. And we're like, so hesitant to do that to people now. And I think, like, you know, the Democrats are in a very weird space right now because the majority of people are like, no, y' all need to punch back, fight back, put these people outside. We can't. There is no middle ground. Like, if you believe that black people are Africans, that we are fundamentally different, there's no middle ground to that. Like, we cannot, we cannot agree. And there is no, There is no place where you and I can be comfortable with each other. Yeah, so you need one. One of us needs to be put outside. And. Yeah, you know, and that's fine. Like, I truly, truly want people to have the societies that they want. You know, they got those people building these whites only towns. Go for it. Live your dreams. I love that for you. If you want to be there.

A (66:11)

I don't want to be there.

B (66:12)

Be there. I want that for you so much.

A (66:18)

I mean, who would want, who else would want to be there if that's genuinely what they want?

B (66:23)

If that's. Yeah, I love it for him. I want them to have it. Please.

A (66:30)

Yeah, just mind your business. Stay in your little racist bubble and stop harming people around you.

B (66:37)

Yeah, leave us out of it. Literally.

A (66:39)

Yeah. Let's just let people live.

B (67:01)

Mike and Alyssa are always trying to outdo each other. When Alyssa got a small water bottle, Mike showed up with a four litre jug. When Mike started gardening, Alyssa started beekeeping.

A (67:12)

Oh, come on.

B (67:13)

They called it truce for their holiday and used Expedia trip planner to collaborate on all the details of their trip. Once there, Mike still did more laps around the pool.

C (67:23)

Whatever.

B (67:24)

You were made to outdo your holidays. We were made to help organize the competition. Expedia made to travel. Hey, everyone, Melinda Hale here, the executive director of New Evangelicals. Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. If you're enjoying these conversations, we would love to invite you to get more involved in the TNE community. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook to stay connected. But most importantly, check out TNE Connect, our app and online platform where you can find courses, resources and a community of people just like you, whether you're deconstructing, reconstructing, or simply asking the hard questions. And TME Connect is a space for meaningful conversation, learning and encouragement rooted in justice and compassion. You can access everything at the new evangelicals.com connect or by downloading the app. And if you believe in the work that we're doing and want to help us keep going, we'd be so grateful for your support. You can head to our website and make a donation. We can't do any of this without you. So thanks again for being on this journey with us.

A (68:24)

Okay, we got a lot to get to still. So before we get to the. I will say the rest of this show is going to be a little more light hearted, I think, just because it's stupid. I mean, everything, all of this is stupid if we're being honest. But some stupidity is harmful. So this next group is not quite as harmful. But I do want to give a quick update on Kilmar Abrego Garcia. If for those who don't know, he was reunited with his family this past week, which was beautiful, because honestly, what the Trump administration has done to that man, I think is just purely evil. Once they, they accidentally sent him to a prison in El Salvador with insanely inhumane conditions on a clerical error, on an administrative error that they admitted was an error, then all these courts, they, they say, sorry, we can't get them back, it's just out of our hands. Eventually they do get him back. Like a month or two later, he's in a prison, in a holding cell, I don't know, somewhere in the state. Finally gets reunited with his family. This Week. I mean, it's been months. And then he goes to an immigration check in after he was reunited with his family and was arrested again by ice. And then the Trump administration says they're going to ship him off to Uganda. He doesn't know anybody in Uganda. He's not from Uganda.

B (69:43)

No, none of us are. Except for Ugandans.

A (69:48)

Yeah. So the last I heard, a judge has temporary, temporarily halted him being deported, which that's not being deported. That's being kidnapped and shipped off to a country. Like deportation is being sent back to the country where you're from. Not something.

B (70:09)

Being exported that is being treated as private property.

A (70:13)

Human trafficking.

B (70:15)

Yeah, that's being trafficked.

A (70:17)

Yeah. So anyway, so hopefully he can stay. I think he just appealed and is seeking asylum in the United States. Hopefully that he gets to stay because honestly, like, what they've done to that man is absolutely horrendous. It's something that we should all be outraged about. But the conservative MAGA Christian nationalists are not outraged about any of what we just talked about. Do you know what they were outraged over this past week, Janice?

B (70:45)

The real issues, the ones that really matter. Crackers and barrels.

A (70:52)

Yeah. Cracker Barrel released a new logo and conservatives lost their ever loving minds. Lost their minds. I mean, I was seeing it on my feed all the time, like a pleading. You would think that it was some kind of satanic takeover, the way that these Christians were acting about. And like, listen, to be honest, I didn't love the Cracker Barrel logo. I thought it kind of felt a little cheap, if I'm being honest, but I didn't think it was worth crying about. I literally saw a video of a woman crying in a Cracker Barrel parking lot. I mean, what, what are we doing? So I, I'm gonna, we're gonna read some of the. These posts that people have said. And I'm just, just for simplicity, I made a TikTok. So one thing that I do on TikTok is I read what I see Christians post online. And so I did a montage of what they said about Cracker Barrel and I thought instead of me reading them all again here, I'll just save us all time and I'll just play this video. So I read it kind of fast. But this is the video, Cassidy, if we can bring it up, things I saw certain religious people post about the new Cracker Barrel logo. Never forget, you are the cracker they want to erase. In college, I worked at Cracker Barrel in Tallahassee. I even gave my life to Christ in Their parking lot. No one asked for this woke rebrand. It's time to make Cracker Barrel gray Great again. Avoid Cracker Barrel unless you're woke Daemon Kratz blah blah blah. So sick of our rights being taken away. No comment. Woke generation should change it to rainbow colors. Might as well they are so woke and rename it Brokeback Barrel. Bad choices. Sad sad, sad, sad. Had to take the man off to comply with gender wokeness. I'm out. I'm done with the barrel of crack. The woke CEO of Cracker Barrel has taken Cracker Barrel down deeper into the anti christian, anti American, anti white, anti southern, anti family pit of absolute evil. For God USA djt Pursue truth, defend liberty and tragedy is when a person sees evil and does nothing. Satan. Don't take Cracker Barrel. I would like to say Cracker Barrel has officially committed a sin and is now condemned by the church. Don't attack Cracker Barrel. They are godless and filled with Satan.

B (73:14)

Deliver us from evil. Deliver us from evil.

A (73:17)

All I can say is Cracker Barrel. You must have been demonic all along because that's what these companies do that have go woke have in common. They are worship Satan. Are you a Satanist? I I Cracker Barrel. I should have clarified. I also read every typo as it is written. So if you're listening I was just reading what as it was written. The one that made me laugh the most was like I got saved in a Cracker Barrel parking lot and I saw a TikTok of someone who said that sounds like the beginning of a chapel roan song.

B (73:51)

You you've heard the challenge chapel get on it. Yeah but it now to be fair the new logo not that was very digital media 101 first student just here's a shape and we're going to put the the typeface on it. Very, very boring. Very could have done without it. But I don't like who is the enemy here because again this is. You know you said before white people don't really have a cult. This is your culture.

A (74:39)

Yeah, I guess Cracker Barrel. I forgot about Cracker Barrel. I guess that is our.

B (74:46)

That that's y' all right. That belonged to you. Nobody was thinking about Cracker Barrel.

A (74:54)

But yeah and they're so disingenuous by saying this was because of woke like no one on the left that I'm aware of was saying Cracker Barrel needs to change their logo. Like we didn't ask for this and like they're trying to make it seem like they were bending over Backwards to appeal to a woke mob. Because the woke mob in the room with us, no one who even.

B (75:20)

You know, I know we don't. We don't like history. We don't like museums. But, like, cracker is a name that enslaved people came up with for slave masters, right, because of the crack of the whip. So it does have this dark history. But black people are innovators, right, that we're literally talking slang from the 1800s. We have moved on. Y' all took it. It's yours now. You have it.

A (76:01)

Thank you.

B (76:02)

We're not thinking about it. We don't care. I literally had never thought about the Cracker Barrel logo I've seen. Never entered my mind. Oh, that's a cracker leaning on a barrel. I never put that much thought into it. And so for it to then be gone. And I'm thinking about it now, and I'm like, I literally could not care less. Again, it's not ours. That's. That's yours.

A (76:38)

I know you have it.

B (76:41)

And it's just. I mean, whoever designed that original logo, I mean, I guess it's a great time for them because, like, people are. People are willing to die over this. But, like, they didn't even. They didn't change the name. This wasn't the Dixie Chicks going to the chicks. They didn't just say, now it's just the barrel. Like, yeah, it's still Cracker Barrel.

A (77:06)

I know. And, well, Janice, it was such a big deal that Donald Trump even got in on it. And Donald Trump posted on Truth Social. Cassie, if you bring that up, he said Cracker Barrel should go back to the old logo, admit a mistake based on customer response, the ultimate poll, and manage the company better than ever before. They got a billion dollars worth of free publicity if they play their cards right. Very tricky to do, but a great opportunity. Have a major news conference today. Make Cracker. Make Cracker Barrel a winner again. Remember, in just a short period of time, I made the United States of America the hottest country anywhere in the world. One year ago, it was dead. Good luck. He reminds me of. Who is the guy in Zoolander that was just like, oh, he's so hot right now. I don't know. Every time he says that we're the hottest country, I think of that, like, what is this, like, some 90s like, chick flick? What was that one? Oh, I can't. What was the name of that movie with. It was like, Clueless. Reminds me of. He's like, oh, it's so hot. Yeah.

B (78:06)

He'S Trying to make Fetch happen.

A (78:08)

Yes, yes. He's like a mean girl. But anyway, Cracker Barrel gave in. They're going back to the original logo. All the outrage worked, which is why I'm saying if we, if they could put that energy towards gun reform, you know, like, we'll think of, like, the actual meaningful change that could happen. Yeah. Here's Donald Trump. Congratulations, Cracker Barrel, on changing your logo back to what it was. All of your fans very much appreciate it. Good luck into the future, make lots of money, and most importantly, make your customers happy again. You know, I will say, when they were initially sticking to their guns, even though I don't, I could care less about Cracker Barrel and the logo, but it kind of made me want to go there and support them because they were being hated by maga, you know, an enemy of my enemy is my friend sort of thing. But now they're like, oh, never mind. So I'm like, okay, well, now I'm kind of whatever about it again.

B (79:01)

So the enemy of my enemy is my restaurant. But I wonder, like.

A (79:07)

Spare.

B (79:08)

Spare a thought and a prayer, I guess, for the poor soul behind the change. Because I wonder if whoever, the leadership behind Cracker Barrel is, like, there's nothing worse than hating your own audience or not knowing who. Not being aware of who your fans are. And so I don't know if the intent was. No, we don't want to be this whites only, white trash affiliated kind of establishment. We want to be more open. We want. We want more people to feel welcome and then to, like, find out your primary base is these. Is these people, right?

A (79:58)

Yeah. Good job.

B (80:01)

Yeah. And so, like, is whoever is behind the scenes, like, because Trump is Right, Right. Like, these people there are. They are going to go throw their money at it now. And this could be, you know. Yeah. $1 billion promo campaign. So. So either that was their intent and they're like, oh, we're going to rile these maybe and get our name in the news and get these people back in here. Or someone was genuinely like, I don't know, let's get with the times and let's try something different. And then to find out, like, oh, no. Oh, no. This is our base. Yeah. These are the people who love us.

A (80:48)

Oh, God, it's awful. It's my. It's my culture. Bring back shame. I feel it. I feel the shame. I feel it. I wish more people did. Well, I've got good news, though, that I'm going to share with you. In this next segment, we have a Stinger. That will lead us into our next segment though. So here it is. We Christian. The good news, Janice, is that all these people are going to disappear in September because I don't know if you've heard but I am in a bunch of rapture groups on Facebook for funsies and they are losing their minds because they believe that the rapture is going to happen in September.

B (81:37)

This, this very September. Like next week.

A (81:41)

Yep, in like a few days. I believe the official date that most people are throwing around is like September 23rd, 24th or 25th. Some people are just saying generically September. So this weird Christian segment is going to be a little different because I'm going to play a few different videos because when I'm telling you this is all over the pre millennialist Facebook fundy world, like this is the chatter. It is happening. So I'm gonna. I think it originated from, I think he South African pastor named Brother Joshua. I think he started it because when I, when I googled it and searched it, they bring him up a lot. So let's play this video.

C (82:23)

Appeared in front of me and told me on the 23rd and the 24th of the Feast of Trumpets in September 2025, I will come to take my church.

A (82:39)

So there you have it. He had a vision or a dream or something God told him. And there's something about trumpets because I think in September there's some Jewish holidays that they base all these around too because I've September usually every year is a big. They actually have rapture watch colors like watch warnings. And so it's really high in September every year because because of this it's like the Feast of Trumpets I believe is what they call it. So, so he says this and so everyone's like, ah, September is happening. So then this lady and I don't know, I don't know exactly where she's from, she sounds, she also sounds South African. This was a much longer video that I edited down for time. So basically she has a non verbal son and she kind of goes into a nonverbal autistic son that communicates through writing or like through a. Some kind of system. So she tells that he has this rapture dream and then she says that proof that the dream was real is that he saw a girl up in heaven that was a young girl that she believes was her daughter, that she had an abortion a long time ago. And she goes through this whole like shameful story of why she had it. So it's really long. But anyway, so that's she uses that. That he knew that it was her sister or that. And it was. She had the name that she thought she was going to give her. Just for some context. I didn't include it in this edit because it's just really long and. And rambly. But basically she claims her son had a rapture dream and so she's also saying September. So let's watch this.

D (84:18)

Hi brothers and sisters. It's your sister Lauren here. My son is 15 years old and he has autism and he is non verbal and he spells to communicate. He's got a little board that he pokes the letters and he spells out. So it's quite a difficult process for him to communicate. But recently he told me something that was so mind blowing and so crazy, I had to actually share it with you. The Holy Spirit's really been prompting me to do so since. So my son Daniel spelled out to me that he had had a rapture dream. And in his dream he said that we went up to heaven. I'm just going to keep it quite basic because he didn't give me tons of detail to me that I. I'm very scared to share it because I never want to be seen as a date setter. But I also have such a major pull to share what he's told me because I don't want to have it on my heart or have it over my head that if I haven't shared the information I've been given to help people, then that would be really bad. So I'm going to tell you what he said. He said that his sister Sienna told him that Jesus is coming for us in September to take us home. That's what he told me. The most amazing thing is that Daniel doesn't share personal things. He will answer questions from his lessons, but personal things are very difficult for him. But he did share this. So that's. That's just all to the glory of God. Jesus is our King and Savior. He is coming. We must be ready and we must spread the word. Please do share my video with anybody that you think might want to listen to it. And I want you guys to know that I love you all and I really do hope that we do go home in September. He did mention September this year, 2025. So it's very specific. But yeah, let's see what happens. I really hope so. I. I really hope so for all.

B (86:06)

Of our sakes.

A (86:10)

She says. I. I hope so for all of our sakes.

B (86:13)

I hope so too.

A (86:14)

Well, if it just takes Maga away, I'm with it.

B (86:18)

I'm for it. I, man, I don't believe in the Rapture, but I'm willing to. I. I dare you, God, prove me wrong.

A (86:30)

Take them.

B (86:30)

Please.

A (86:31)

Take them, Lord.

B (86:32)

Take them. Show me.

A (86:33)

The thing is though, from everything that I know about what I was taught about the Rapture, Maga is not going to be who goes. They're not. They're not really following the teachings of Jesus in the way that would make them worthy of being raptured. But also, like, for all of our sakes. Okay. In her belief system, the rapture is actually terrible for everybody who gets left behind.

B (86:59)

Everybody else.

A (87:01)

Everybody else. So for all of our sakes is such, like, a selfish way. It's such a white privileged way too, of being like, I just hope for all of our sakes that Jesus comes back. Because that's not really for all of our sakes. Like, like two thirds of the human. Of humans who are left behind die very violently.

B (87:20)

Violently. That's in some of their tellings, right. That they love. Like, Jesus himself is coming back on the horse, like, with a sword to dispatch people. Like, Jesus is getting people that are.

A (87:36)

Left after the great tribulation.

B (87:39)

Jesus is getting his hands dirty. Like, he's like, let me, Adam, like, I. I see your. I see you, God, and I challenge you.

A (87:51)

Take them. I mean, make the world better. If we get left behind, are you going to start the underground church with me? Because, I mean, we would have known what happened, right.

B (88:01)

If we get, if we get left behind, there will be no need for an underground church.

A (88:10)

Oh, that's true.

B (88:11)

The bad people would we be hiding from.

A (88:14)

What if it's a reverse rapture? What if all of us get to go to heaven and Jesus leaves all them to just duke it out again? Either way, win, win either way.

B (88:24)

Yeah, but like, we're definitely the only way I would be against this is if salvation is forever, once and for all. Right. And I get taken up with these fools, like, somehow.

A (88:41)

Yeah.

B (88:41)

It really was just a matter of you say you believe it and it doesn't matter what you do or how you live or whatever. It's just like, did you. Did you make the contract? And it is awful. It is, in fact, unbreakable. That is the only way.

A (89:00)

Yeah, that's. That's not heaven to me though. That's hell. That's like the show, the Good Place. That'd be like, is this the bad place? I think this is the bad place, actually.

B (89:10)

So it is, it is rapture. It's just.

A (89:13)

Yeah.

B (89:14)

Not Rapturous.

A (89:17)

I want to say too, like this woman, she seems very like she means well. I think she truly believes what she's saying and I think that could have been a really beautiful moment between her and her son where he had a dream about heaven and they got to talk about the daughter that she didn't have. But to like, to turn this into this rapture dream and, and the way that they say, like God put it on my heart, like I have to share it. Like I, I think part of that is like to find meaning and like really hard things and like there's hope, you know, Like I, when I had, when I, when I used to believe in the Rapture, it was, it did give me hope because I would look at how scary the world was. It's like, okay, well at least I know the rapture is going to happen. So I think it's kind of this cop out. You, you believe it and you also really want to believe it. But it's also so harmful because I have another video, Janice, that I want to show you about the Rapture being in September when I tell you this is all over in fundy circles. So this is a TikTok. I don't remember this girl's name. Like if, if you want to have fun, if fun might be a strong word, but if you want to look this up, just Google rapture September 2025 on Facebook or TikTok. Like there's just of tons, tons of people posting about it. So here's a video and I just wanted this, this is an example of how it's harmful. Okay, is anyone else just in a really weird limbo state of mind? Because if Jesus is coming back very soon, if we're in the last hours of the last days, which I do believe, then like why am I thinking about redoing my floors, you know, planning a pool? Should I cancel my flight that I have booked for Colorado and la, because that's in September, you know what I'm saying? Like, what are you guys doing? Should I pay bills? I mean, should I worry about really anything lingering past September? What are yalls thoughts? This is why it's so harmful. Like I remember thinking like I may not even go to college. Is it fruitless, like for me to even be planning to go to college? Because Jesus is going to come back. It's why you see so many people that don't care about climate change. It doesn't matter. Because Jesus is coming back. We don't need to care about the earth or like literally any Problem. It is such a cop out that keeps people from just doing things to make our world better now.

B (91:34)

Yeah, yeah, but in this case, I would encourage though, I would encourage those people. Yeah, girl, stop paying your bills. Just, just live your life like, because, because I'm going to tell you now, fundies, Christians, rapture freaks, if he happens to not come back, it's going to be because of your lack of faith. Because you did not cancel your trips. You did not, you kept paying your bills, you kept acting like you didn't really believe it. And so he said they don't really believe it. I'm not, I'm not coming.

A (92:19)

So that is, I feel like I should clarify that you should pay your bills. If you're listening to this, please keep living your life. But no, I love what you read that. I found it very triggering because as someone, when my dad died, I had Christians tell me, like I believed that God was going to heal my dad. And I had Christians tell me that God did not heal my dad because I didn't have enough faith. So I appreciate what you're doing because it's literally just reversing a lifelong of things that these same people have said to us and said to people about a myriad of things.

B (92:56)

Because again, like, we need, we need to find a new word for, for shame. Because there is the shame that we grew up with that was unmitigated, unfounded, harmful all the way. But again, right, the Bible all throughout does use putting people out of the community. And also like when it came to prophecy in the Old Testament, people were getting stoned. If you said this was going to happen and it did not happen, like there were consequences because you're making, you are leading other people who are weaker than you, whether mentally, emotionally, like whatever you are taking advantage of other people's belief, you are leading people astray. And so like there's, it feels like there should be some kind of consequence.

A (93:56)

And like honestly not learned too. Like there's been so many rapture predictions. Last year there were a bunch of rapture predictions around the eclipse. There's like every year there's some new rapture prediction. It never happens. And literally the Bible says no man will know the hour. Which is like they use that verse to talk about the Rapture. Why, why would you even set a date then? If that's like, if you believe the Bible literally and it says no man will know the hour, why set a date then? Then you know for a fact it's not going to be on that date because you Are a man, you know the hour and you're not supposed to.

B (94:30)

Know it, but there should, there should be a consequence or there should be, there should be like a rapture fund. And it's like you, it's, it's like a bet. We're making a bet. Right. So I'm betting there's not going to be a rapture and you're saying, yes, there is. Okay, so then we're both going to put up $5,000, put on some money we're going to put into this fund and on October 1st.

A (94:55)

Yeah.

B (94:55)

If you're not here, I get it all.

A (95:01)

Yeah. If you have the two though, the, the woman with the sun, her dream, like she's got a higher chance just because she gave. She just said September, you know where the first pastor said 23rd, 24th. That's very specific. That's a two out of 30 days. The woman has a 30 day chance, you know, so we'll see. We're gonna, I mean they're both gonna be wrong.

B (95:22)

30 day window.

A (95:24)

Yeah.

B (95:26)

But like there should be, you should have to, you should have to pay into this thing or you should have to do something. And so at the end of the month there's a loss, there's, there's a consequence, there is a price to pay for. And maybe next time you're doing the.

A (95:43)

Is like all of MAGA does disappear for like a free trial period of like seven days. Right. If you're going to predict the rapture and you're wrong, you've got to at least just disappear. Like we can't see you for seven days. Stay in your house. You know, let's see what we can get done in seven days.

B (95:59)

You have to disable your social media. You have to take a year off.

A (96:05)

Yeah. You've got to completely disappear from.

B (96:08)

You were going to be gone.

A (96:10)

Yeah.

B (96:10)

Yeah. So you have to disappear from somewhere for a year. Like that's, that's the bet you're making.

A (96:19)

I'm not, I'm not mad at that. We could get some stuff done. Janice. It has been a very whirlwind of an episode. We started off very poorly on a live that failed immediately and then we recorded this. So thank you for being here. Janice. Tell people where they can find you.

B (96:36)

So you can find me@janice lagata.com. yeah, I'm there. And then all my other things that I'm working on are there as well. So nice and simple.

A (96:50)

Well, thank you, Janice. It's. It was lovely chatting with you as always. I'm sure you'll be back at some point. And thank you to everyone for tuning in. Yeah, you know what? You know the Lord, Terry. We'll see you next month. And if not, you know, peace be with you. We'll see y' all next time.