Recognition Steps

Father, what a privilege it is to be before you with my friend, my brother Adam, as we simply have conversations about what's going on in culture, what's going on in life. And Father, we put on the lens, we put on the glasses of a biblical worldview that we may see accurately and see rightly what is happening around us. We ask that you would speak to us, guide our conversation today. For those that will be listening, Father,

bless them, encourage them. put some lift under their wings, Lord, encourage them by your Spirit and the wind of your Spirit. We give all this to you. We dedicate it to you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. It's Wednesday, November 26, 2025. We get to do this. This is episode number 12. We get to do this Hey brother, how you doing? I'm doing great, man. I'm just I'm waking up. I've got coffee in my cup I just took a one of those e Energy things what those little the little

balls. Yeah, Tina has in the fridge. Yeah little tiny ones Did you get energy out of that? placebo effect, maybe? I'm not sure. It kind of makes the water taste good, you know? It tastes good, but I don't know. I'm so over caffeinated all the time. I drink a lot of coffee. I do too. In fact, Annette's like, I can't believe you want more energy. You want even more energy. It takes a lot to keep this going with all the help I can get. We were quote unquote partying

last night. Yeah, yeah. Over at the house. And by the way, happy Thanksgiving to everybody who's listening. Maybe you're on your way as this drops on the day before Thanksgiving or maybe you're listening on your walk after the turkey or maybe on your way home. Before I even get to the partying last night for such party animals. I grew up saying Thanksgiving. Right. But I hear in Texas, I hear people say Thanksgiving. Wait a minute. The emphasis being on Thanksgiving instead of

Thanksgiving. Oh, so you grew up how? Thanksgiving. Okay. Which I think is kind of confusing and wrong. If you really think about it. If I think about it, I can't say it. Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. Yeah, Thanksgiving. That's how I've always said it. But I've never noticed... I think it just comes from a secular world, like Thanksgiving, like, you know, giving, give me, give me stuff, giving, instead of Thanksgiving, with the emphasis on the thanking part. I don't know. It's just

one of those things I noticed. That's one of those little things, right? Yeah, but I just noticed it. I'm like, I wonder why I've always said that. It just doesn't make any sense. I'm sure someone's going to write in and say, oh, this is why you do secular, probably. I'm fairly observant, but I have not caught that nuance there. So that's pretty nuanced. We had a nice dinner at the house last night. Ray and Heather were over. I think I have to say pretty perfectly

cooked filet mignons. That was about to be my next brag point was to boast on your K &C tenderloins filets so good. Yeah, I mean it's really it's all in the cow. I mean the K &C beef is just spectacular. Phenomenal. Once we use our meter Thermometer probes, you almost can't go wrong. I mean, it's just it's so fantastic. I think it's pronounced METOR. Is it METOR? It's O -R. METOR. Oh, is it an O -R at the end? Isn't that weird? METOR. I know, METOR. I know, it's weird.

It's an outstanding product. It is a fantastic product. Everybody who grills needs to have this product. Definitely needs to have this. There are little issues with it, like I accidentally speared through my fillet and I didn't know it and so it was totally off. I was like, what is going on? Fortunately, I had speared Annette's Filet perfectly, so I just queued off of number one. You got real lucky. Yeah, you know, you

learn those little things, right? So I'm a little fuzzier than I might have been because we did have some wine. At least, you know, Ray brought this really nice, fantastic Tuscan wine. And I really drink maybe one glass at dinner, so I had, I think, three. You're a little fuzzy. Especially if you're an older dude like me now. I didn't have to drive, so that was good. It was a wonderful evening. Great wine, obviously, with that, which was a perfect pairing with that.

Fantastic. Tina made some killer vegetables. Yes, with the pear. I could have had more of that. Surprise pear. So yeah, I mean just a great evening. You know, what's so fun is if you think about it, Jesus, Pastor Brian was bringing this out a couple weeks ago that Jesus always did things around food, always. Disciples are always sitting around a table. He was always making food for thousands of people with plenty left

over. So I mean, There is something about sitting around a table and just having random conversation that's so life -giving. Absolutely. That was Pastor Brian's message that was on point. That was pretty funny. I think the term Costco Christian is stuck in my head for the rest of my life. We just go get little snacks. That's true. Hunger games. Hunger games. Harkening back to youth ministry title days. When he threw up the AI image though, I almost lost it. I'm like, oh

man, oh no, he's using AI. He copied it though. Was that for the, for the background? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. If you eat ding -dongs, what was it? If you eat Twinkies. Don't be surprised if you turn into a ding -dong. Wow. He was taking it to places. He's on fire. It was interesting. He's on fire. So regarding Thanksgiving, so here's what happened to me. First of all, Tina had horrible cramps during the night in the top of her feet, which is odd. So I was kind of awake. She's jumping

around. I'm waiting for her to come back in. And then I wake up at 4 a .m. And this is not, I mean, I sleep. You've been up since 4? I went back to bed at five, but I woke up at four. It was like, download from Throne Central. Because I had been really asking the Lord, like, what am I going to do on the show before Thanksgiving? What are we going to talk about? And I really, I just, you know, especially because we had you guys coming over and there were other things

I was doing. I had meetings and I just didn't, nothing really jumped out. And I'm like, well Lord, I presume you're going to give it to me tomorrow morning. Funny enough, he thought 4 a .m. was tomorrow morning and what he gave to me just blew me away. And it's about the history of Thanksgiving. Wow. Yes. So now John C. Dvorak every year goes through the history of Thanksgiving. I make him do it. He repeats the same thing.

But when I went to look at certain things, I'm going to play a clip that kind of sets it up. This is when God just went like, don't you recognize what this is? So I'm going to play this. This is from the Chicago Museum of History. This is a report from last year. about the history of

Thanksgiving. Long after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in 1621 and celebrated a successful harvest with a three -day gathering that became the first Thanksgiving, it was the first president of the United States, George Washington, who declared November 26th, 1789 a day of public

Thanksgiving. While a lot of people trace the origins of the celebration of Thanksgiving in the United States back to the Pilgrims and Plymouth in the 17th century, Our kind of contemporary understanding of it really has to do more with these proclamations that were made by various presidents. Chicago History Museum Director of Exhibitions Paul Derica says the holiday was observed on and off for years. President James Madison proclaimed a Thanksgiving Day in 1814

and 1815. Thanksgiving as a national holiday really kind of takes shape and then becomes part of American culture in the 1860s. But it wasn't until October 3rd of 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln made what is now regarded as the Thanksgiving Proclamation. He wrote, the year that is drawn to a close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields

and healthful skies. He called the nation's people in its prosperity, quote, gracious gifts and said, it has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be gratefully acknowledged. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States to set apart and observe that last Thursday of November next as a day of Thanksgiving. Lincoln's proclamation took effect just one week after his most famous speech,

the Gettysburg Address. Even though the United States is in the midst of this great civil war and there are all of these challenges that the nation is facing, there's still a lot to be thankful for. It was the culmination of a decades long campaign by a prominent magazine editor named Sarah Josepha Hayes. She lobbied Lincoln for the holiday. Thanksgiving and establishing it as a national holiday certainly stands as one

of his enduring accomplishments. And in the 1940s, Congress issued Joint Resolution 41, forever making Thanksgiving a public holiday. So here's the path I took. So first I was like, I got the word, look up the history of Thanksgiving. I'm like, okay, I know exactly where to find that. And then I found this clip and I'm listening to this clip. I'm like, I want to read the whole proclamation. This is what blew me away. So I took the liberty of dissecting Abraham Lincoln's

proclamation. This was a crazy time. This was right in the middle of the Civil War. I mean, the country's being torn apart. It's 1863. And as I'm reading this proclamation, like, oh man, this is all from the Bible. The whole thing, did you know any of this? Yes. And I took the liberty—I didn't know this. So in the clip you just played— You could already hear it. Very little, though. That was really what marked it. I was going— Well, this is Chicago. I mean, they're

not going to give you all the Scripture. Well, and just being thankful to God, that's the thing. So that was what jumped out to me. While I appreciated the history and the dates and what, I'm going, but we have to direct our gratitude somewhere. He wrote this proclamation literally from the Bible, literally from scripture. So I'll read his language is kind of King James. And I have the King James where I'm like, I'll do an NIV version just to make a little more palpable.

So he starts by saying, the year is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. Well,

that comes from Psalm 65. And I just took 9 through 13 you care for the land and water it you enrich it abundantly The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain for so you have ordained it You drench its furrows and level its ridges you soften it with showers and bless its crops You crown the year with your bounty and your carts overflow with abundance the grasslands of the wilderness overflow The hills are closed clothed with gladness The meadows

are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain. They shout for joy and sing." He goes on, this is the blessings that they're a gift. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God. I didn't know any of this. James 1, 17, every good and perfect gift is from above. coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,

who does not change like shifting shadows. Then he goes on, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. And this is, praise the Lord my soul, which I immediately hear Wendy singing. All my emos being, praise his holy name, praise the Lord my soul, forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases. who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion. The Lord is compassionate and

gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever. There it is. He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities." So then he goes just completely verbatim. When their herds and their flocks multiply, When their heart be lifted up and they forget the Lord their God and say in their heart my power and the might of my hands have gained me

this wealth. Deuteronomy 10 18. When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God. When your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, you may say to yourself, self, my power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me. But remember the Lord your God for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth." I'm like, he was, I mean, this,

I don't, this is just not known. I had no idea. There's a little more. Fervently implore the interposition, this is Lincoln again, of the almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience. This is actually what got me on this path. When I read this, I'm like, I know

this. Chronicles 7 -14, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. And then he closes it out, praise to our beneficent father who dwelleth in the heavens, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, and sufferers. Psalm 104 -5.

enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise give thanks to him and praise his name for the lord is good and his love endures forever his faithfulness continues through all generations in them psalm 68 a father to the fatherless a defender of widows is god in his holy dwelling i'm just like i have i mean all 60 thanksgivings in my lifetime no actually 61 No, this will be my 61st. I didn't know any of this. You know, I've never read that on Thanksgiving.

I think that would be something really cool. We're going to be at the Maseranos. Thank you for saying that. I was actually going to ask if you think that's appropriate. I think it's absolutely appropriate. It is so amazing when you hear that. And this was Lincoln. This was our president. He was copying and citing the Bible, the Word. And I can only imagine how Back

in the day, this was just different, man. It wasn't even that long ago, 140 -some years ago, that people were speaking this way and talking this way. It was the norm. And so I'm like, thank you, Lord. Of course, I had some help from Chad GPT to find the right scripture. I'm like, find a scripture that says this. Whoa, there it is. And it wasn't even a choice. It was like, this

is it. This is the one and I go back and look and I of course I read the pay them Yeah, the King James is much closer to it But I you know, it's so early in the morning that can't get the half and with enough can't get all that out of my mouth So I figured I'd do an IV But I was it was just that was a delight mind -boggling. That is amazing I really and I thank you Lord because he woke me up for that You know all my

years of being a follower of Jesus. We've never actually thought about going back to that proclamation because I too did not know this. Think about how I grew up in a public school system where we just did not go down that road. I had great teachers that were godly and loved the Lord, but it's been so segmented and categorized and then set over in a corner that it's just accepted culturally, we just don't do that. No. We think about pilgrims with funny buckles on their shoes

and turkeys and maize. What about corn? I love corn. She's like, okay, I'm not sure. The president pardons two turkeys. By the way, he made a funny joke about that. The last year's turkeys were pardoned by AutoPen, so it wasn't legal. Good to take that back. Of course. But I was just really surprised that I never ever had even read the full proclamation. Wow, thank you for bringing that. Well, that's already made my Thanksgiving better. It's partially your fault that this happened.

You had a daily grind yesterday, which was Isaiah 30 verse 21. And this is whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way, walk in it. And I love this so much because I realize that myself included, but in general, we are so dulled by screen noise that we don't even hear God talking to us. And so I'm really making an effort. And when I hear something, I just

go for it right away. It may be a dead end. Maybe I heard it, misheard it, but nine times out of 10. It's great. He's like, no, no, don't skip that. Go look at that. And, you know, and I used to think that was just my own brilliant inner voice because of course, pod father, I'm brilliant. And now I know it's like, he's literally directing me and I think he does it all the time. You know, but there's so much noise. I call it screen noise now because that's really what it is. It just

fills up your head with stuff. And so when I hear these things, I'm like, OK. And I just follow it. That's what I was also not worried about today. I'm like, I know you'll bring it to me. I know you'll show me something. Again, he's like, OK, 4 AM. Come on. Up you get. Now it's 5. Can I please go back to bed? Can I please go back to bed? Wow. So my morning routine has shifted significantly in just the last little bit since we've been having these conversations.

And I'm not throwing my phone out the window. I mean, these things are helpful. But I'm learning to prioritize when I put energy into it, when I allow it to have my attention. And two, always trying to treat it like a tool instead of you being the tool. So my morning has shifted where now when I get up, Of course, I'd let Chevy do his thing. I got to feed him. I got to take care of him for 15 minutes. We all have a sequence. Oh my gosh. It's all about him in the morning.

Of course. So I get up and then once I get him taken care of, I go into my office. By then, I've had my little cube heater going, so it's really nice in there. Toasty. A little hum, a little brown noise it sounds like. And so I'm very relaxed when I get into my morning routine, sit down with my coffee. And I used to, first thing, even before I sat down, just open my computer as I'm sitting down, right? Yeah, just automatic. Yeah, just like auto. And now it's like I'll

reach and go, whoa, wait. Yeah. Sit down. Sit down. And now I'll either put my earbuds in and put on some really, really just relaxed music, just to have that going. And then I do a little morning, kind of a morning meditation thing, just a relaxation thing. Very simple. It's like five minutes. It's an app, right? Yeah, yeah. What's it called? It's called Simple Habit. Simple Habit, okay. Kate James, she's from Australia,

obviously. I'm prone to Australians. They're just soothing, and she just walks you through being mindful of your physical body. Just totally relaxes me, but also... If my mind was trying to spin up, it just spins it down like immediately. Yeah. So then I'm sitting there and I'm like, gosh, I don't even really want to open my screen right now. But I want to I need to do my daily grind. I want to do that. And so so I'll jump

in on that. But it's been really very peaceful and helpful and starting my day better and better. And I'm getting now that's becoming a habit. Yes. Instead of reaching for it now. Right. Now I'll do this first. I need to just. Be still mm -hmm. There is a Cronus to feel hurry in the mornings because you gotta get the day going, you know, I gotta get to the office I always

staff me. All right, we're recording I need to at least think about I mean, I need to go I need to get the shower, you know, and and that's buzzing around we both work your back timing your morning like I got a fair day and that you already have a schedule just Unwritten you need to I got any 20 minutes for the shower. I need this and that that so now We've had a little downtime, which is nice, because we were supposed to be on the beaches right now. We are, brother. We're on

the beach of podcast land. We were actually going to do a podcast from the beach. But then with all the government shutdown, the plane issues, we were like, I don't really want to lose $3 ,600 in plane tickets at our hotel bill. So anyway, we put all that off. But it's been good because In my mind, I was just going to come to work and Annette goes, no, no, let's take this time off. Yeah, right on. And so it has been, it's actually been better for me than my summer vacation

because we had a flood on July 4th. And all of that threw me into chaos mentally, whether I was actually having to go do anything. It was mostly feeling phone calls and feeling the weight and sorrow and all that. So. I've actually been more at peace, more relaxed, more rested during this little accidental vacation, staycation, than I was in my whole summer vacation. I think personally, because it was going to be pretty short, it was like five days, we were going to

zip it out and back. I personally think that we would have come back tired. flights and connections. That was the main reason. I'm like, I don't think this is going to work very well with these connections. And it does wear you out. And it's been good for me too. I've been, I've been like, Oh, I'm not really doing much, you know, except, uh, downloading scripture. You know, we do our little morning thing like, hey, here's what's happening today. There's not a lot to write right now.

I went to HEB. Going to the gym, Planet Fitness and temple care. You know, it's just not a lot to write and it's really great. It's been good. Regarding the, you know, the morning routines and by the way, I recognize now as a believer that you're so vulnerable when you wake up. And I always immediately try to get right into the Lord's Prayer right away because I will wake up and like have these thoughts running through

my head and like, I know what you're doing. No, you're not going to start because I know how that used to be. I'd wake up, these thoughts are coming to my head. I'd be preoccupied with it. It was probably something stupid or dumb or old or whatever. I was annoyed. I get that out of my head right away. But I learned something It's kind of unrelated, although I can come back to it about Marjorie Taylor Greene quitting Congress.

Right. That's important. That's a big deal. Well, what's interesting about it is, so I actually got a note from a lobbyist in Austin who laid out for me, did we talk about this on the last show? No. Oh, okay. This is good. Well, what's interesting, so the interesting part comes first, because I mentioned this on the No Agenda show and John says, hold on a second. Why don't you tell everybody what's going on? Like, doesn't everybody know about Marjorie Taylor Greene?

I got several emails from people saying, hey, man, I work in Detroit and I listen to you guys to kind of catch up on some of that stuff. I have no idea what's going on with her. And then I started to do the math. If you really look at the podcast and the actual size of X and the actual amount of it's a small portion of the country that is and indirectly kind of spun up. I mean, we're all kind of on it, you know, like,

oh, what's going on? It's so not important. In fact, I believe the president is really trying to build a new Republican party for the working class, you know, which will be much better if all of this pans out and all the manufacturing. that is supposed to come actually comes and we should pray for that because a country that doesn't produce anything isn't really a country. So anyway, so that really reset my mind. I'm like, wow,

it's really not all that big a deal. And it's only we're only kind of in our own little circle spinning around. And it's really a luxury. issue, because I guess I'm a knowledge worker. I don't have to get in my car every day and drive somewhere and be at Ace Hardware helping people all day. So I just put it in perspective for me that, no, it's really not that big a deal. Thank you

for saying that. Because what I have seen, the further I take a step back from trying to be in the know on everything, What's Candace Owens up to today? Who's upset with her? Who's not? Marjorie Taylor Greene. Oh my gosh, she's walking away. She's taking her toys and going home. I'm not mocking, but it is laughable in a sense that we get so... This reminds me of my grandmother, Miss Virginia Sims, where she read The Daily Star. the National Enquirer, and she believed

it. She actually would talk about celebrities on a first name basis, because she felt like she knew them. Angelina. I'm like, who? Jolie. She'd get into it, and I would just sit back trying not to laugh out loud. That had become her world. And so in her mind, she assumed that's everybody's world. See what I'm saying? And this is what happens with a lot of the influencers, a lot of what's going on with podcasting. They just assumed that everybody's swimming in this

water. Especially now that the podcasters, the big -name podcasters are all going on each other's podcasts, talking about what they talked about on that podcast with that podcast. Throwing the grenade over the fence back and forth. I'm calling it the circularity. There it is. That's a good word. That's exactly what it is. Circularity. Just briefly, just because it was interesting that we have a friend who's a lobbyist in Austin. So you recall that we talked about these, all

of a sudden it's going viral. The Muslims are in Texas, 48 mosques in two years, et cetera, et cetera. First of all, I looked up how many churches that are in Texas. Oh brother, there's over three and a half thousand in the Dallas area alone. So 48 mosques, not to worry about it. But what turns out, you recall that Governor Abbott made a proclamation and he said, I'm proclaiming Muslim Brotherhood and Council on American Islamic Relations, terrorist groups, they won't be able

to buy any land, no Sharia law. So he announced his candidacy for running for governor again on November the 9th, I believe, October 9th. And according to this lobbyist who knows people who run his campaign, This was no accident. This was no coincidence. Now, there was no accusation of him actually paying influencers to jack this up and talk more about this particular issue in Texas, which by the way, this was done in

Tennessee many years ago. And the same thing was like, oh, Tennessee is going to be Sharia law and under a Republican governor. I don't think Tennessee has become a hotbed of Sharia law. But It's no accident that he comes out with this proclamation right kind of at the peak of this virality of the mosques and fear mongering. And it's all political. Yeah. And I thought first maybe it was against him, but no, it seems like

it really was his campaign. taking advantage of something that just happened to be viral at that very moment. So when I started hearing about all this, I found myself getting a little worked up. Oh no, here they come. The reason I did that is because my point of reference was being in Paris in 2019 and having to step over on the Louvre, having to step over people that were dropping, stop, drop and roll, you know, three times a day. Yeah. Cause of the Bataclan nightclub

shooting. Yeah. So they were everywhere. And it's even worse now. A friend that went back and he said, man, I'll never go back again. He said, it's, it's not even the same place. So same way with London. So, so there is, there is some reason for being aware and saying, okay, Lord, what's going on? Told it in the car. I don't know if I should say this out loud. I said, can't blame them. They're just doing what we're trying to do as Christians. We're trying to take

over the world. Isn't that what we're doing? It's kind of like, wow, I kind of get it. I mean, not that we're trying to take over the world, but you know what I mean. propagate what we believe, they're doing the same thing. And there's interesting things, there's dynamics around Islam that most people don't understand. There's a lot of fear. Yes. And you know, when Muhammad originally got his download from Gabriel in the cave, when he was meditating, it was actually peaceful. The

initial writings were very peaceful. I've read some of that, and it sounds a lot like Christianity. I mean, a benevolent God or forgiving God, a loving God, that is not what we're hearing today. No. And I lived around and with many Muslims in the Netherlands when I moved back in the end of 99. And they have their sugar festival, what do they call it? The Ramadan. And then they'd say, hey, man, you should come over tonight and we'll eat. And really, there was never any issue.

So we got two things going on. We have fear -based things going on. And there are things that have happened that promote that. With Christianity, too. Oh my god. Well, I'm just thinking what's going on in Nigeria right now. 30 Christians beheaded in the last few weeks. I mean, that's really happening. I will have to say I've been looking into this. I don't believe it's just targeting Christians in Nigeria. It's regional, and this is all geopolitical resource -based.

It's not specifically, as far as I can tell, because I've been following this story for many years as well. It's played here as they're targeting Christians specifically. Are they killing Christians? Yes, they're also killing Muslims. They're killing all kinds of people. So here on Christianity Report today, Christians targeted in wave of Islamist violence across Africa. It's resource related, it's gang related, it's who has access to the minerals, to the oil, it's location based.

there happen to be a lot of Christians in that area. And so I'm a little apprehensive. Right. To just jump on, beat that drum. Yeah, I'm a little, you know, because it kind of comes back to the, be careful, the evil Muslims are coming. So that begs the question, you know, you're usually throwing a question at me, so I'm throwing at you as a conspiracy therapist. So how do we find that balance in these things? Because it is to

read enough. Read Christian a report for quite a while and I found it to be very helpful very informative. So why How do we take this this kind of news because this does Sound alarm bells. Oh my gosh Christians are getting slaughtered. Yeah in the Congo and in Mozambique For their faith and in Syria and yeah in China and yeah all over the world. There's a lot of Christians Right. So it's, you know, when a group of people is attacked, you know, well, okay, so I just

always look at everything from all angles. My initial, of course, my initial reaction is, what? They're targeting Christians? I mean, the Scripture talks about this. We have to pray for our brothers and sisters who are in dire circumstances, even though ours are great. I don't think that even that any Christian publication is no more or less prone to using this to get clicks and draw people to the story. I doubt they have boots on the ground in the region really doing the

reporting. So I really dive into this very, very deeply and that's kind of what I do. So specifically, the mosques here in Texas and the targeting Christians in Nigeria, I went real deep. And when you really look at what it's about, it's not about, hey, we want to go kill some Christians. No, it's like, we want this land because of the minerals that are here and the oil resources. And we have an army. Now, these are always financed by other nation states, which could easily be France.

I don't have any proof on who it is, but China is the big one financing a lot of things. And then look at the weapons. What weapons are they using? Oh, they got Kalashnikovs. Okay. So you can kind of figure out where that's coming from. So there is no sure... Well, what does Scripture say about discernment? I mean, there's... I'm looking at you with like, looking up on perplexity, quick. No, it just literally talks about like the men of Issachar who understood the times

and knew what to do. So there's a sense of understanding the times, being aware, which is why we're having these conversations, right? So with this issue, we have to be wise and aware, but not running around with their hair on fire, like what we named last episode. So how do we intelligently engage these things and help people not just lose their mind over it? Well, I wasn't prepared for this particular issue. Next week, I will bring in some information about Nigeria, what's

actually happening. I just wasn't prepared for it, but I have looked into it. It's a hot topic in Christian Of course. Influencer land, you know, everyone's talking about it. Everyone's beating the drum. Yes. And it's, it feels very fear based, fear, you know, just, oh my gosh, it's coming. You know, what we've been warned about. Oh yeah, no, okay. I mean, all these different guys talking about it, Josh Howerton, some of

these big investors. Well good, then this is probably part of our calling here together is to do just that. It doesn't make the killing any better. Right, of course. It doesn't make any, but it's not just Christians. You know, the whole, the kidnap schoolgirls, I mean... This thing, you've been hearing this for many, many years. It all comes back around. It's all kind of the same system. Africa, honestly, is a mess. And it's been kept a mess purposely by

many. In fact, the United States has actually done the least damage, in my opinion, in Africa. If you look at the Belgians in the Congo, they slaughtered millions and millions and millions of people. The Chinese, in the past. And when I say the Chinese, I mean, the Chinese Communist Party, the government, you know, and their industry. I mean, it's not just Xi Jinping isn't just the guy. You know, they've they've come in, they've they built infrastructure and then said, oh,

you can't pay it back. OK, well, then it's just ours and we'll bring our people in. And so that's what they've been doing. So this has been happening. It's been going on for a long time, but it takes different nuances, depending on who's reporting it. Of course. So how do we, I'm going to ask you, the conspiracy therapist, because it's easy for me to read these things and just find my blood pressure blowing up, going, oh my gosh. Oh my God. It's coming. It's here. They've been

warning us about it, and now it's here. Now it's Epic City. It's McKinney, Texas. It's Plano. all these things. So how do we watch it? OK, when I played football for many years, growing up, I was a defensive back. So what they taught us every time the ball is snapped, we have to take our recognition steps. That's a fray. That's an actual fray. That means you take you move your feet and you bounce back about two or three

steps. And it's called recognition steps. And what they're training you to do is evaluate what's going on. You're keying off the tackle. You're keying off the end. You're keying off the center quarterback. Where's he going? So you it's like, as soon as the ball is snapped, you step back. You don't go forward. Now, the guys on the line got to go forward. But as backs, because we're trying to protect the long game, the long passes, the passes across the field. So I remember our

coaches drilling into us. Take your recognition steps. Take. So this sense is this feels the same. It's exactly the same. Instead of just firing off the line and hitting somebody, we need to take a few steps back and go, what's really going on? So first of all, don't immediately go on social media looking for other answers. Oh my gosh. You'll find something. You'll find something. I like this idea of recognition steps because this is pretty much what I always do.

Oh my God, have you heard this? Can you believe this? This is going on. And the first thing I'd say is, hmm, I'll have to look into that. Yeah. And energy recognition. And it's so easy to hit like, share. That's too easy. Comments. Send it to a friend. This is horrible. Send it to your text group. That is, in fact, the entire purpose of this. You have to remember. few million people who are on these social networks, there are multiple actors at play with bot farms. And

it's really true. I mean, it's very sophisticated. Once the internet came in, propaganda from all over the world became much easier, much easier. And so you just have to step back, calm down. First of all, I mean, I just take nothing at face value, except the word. That's the only thing. The only thing like, okay, I believe this, this is good. It's nothing. And you just have to understand that there is propaganda going

on all the time. So there's an actual war taking place, a gang -related resource war in Nigeria, very resource -rich region. Of course, there are all kinds of victims, but I would say that in this case, this is probably riling up a group of Christians in the United States specifically to maybe garner some support for an attack, and it's gotten to the president. The president's like, this is an outrage, and he's not immune

from this stuff. Right. It's obvious, yeah. He may have other reasons for saying, well, you know, this is going on. We have some interest there. This is what's happening. I want to intervene. I'll do it under this cloud that's already there. So that's like a double whammy. And he will not tell you that that's what he's doing because he understands he understands how to play the public. Right. So so we got to take our recognition steps, recognition steps. And all that is basically

it's three steps back. But you're not just taking steps back to do it. You're actually surveying the field. You're looking at all the moving parts. So you've got all these players, you've got 24 players on the field, 12 on each team. You're surveying and you're looking for cues of what's really going on because as you know, a quarterback may fake. a handoff and run it the other way. So you've got a cue off of all that. So that just, that makes sense to me as a guy who played

sports. I can't believe we're talking sports ball, brother. I know, right? So out of my league. But it works if you think about it. It's a simple principle and really you can apply that to just about anything. So the next time you, I would liken it to the ball being snapped, but I get something that drops. You know, I'm on several text lists as you are, and there's no way to unsubscribe from, you know, just leave not being rude. Right. And these are people I love and

do life with. But, you know, I'll get two or three or four or five, sometimes more a day, you know, these hot, hot topic, you know, something from X that somebody said, and, oh, here's the link. Click on it. And then you click on it. And then so then there's taking that step back.

So then there's the second part is we now have an entire cottage industry which is deconstructing these things and showing you what the connections like basically the the board with the pins and the red yarn and making all these connections and it has become a very profitable industry. I've been doing this for 18 years and because I don't do it that way, jumping up like, wow, and here we can pull this in and these guys and that. And then there's always an Israeli and

blah, blah, blah, blah. Because I don't do that, I think that I have a much more sustainable audience in general because they know that, OK, there's probably a lot more behind this. And it's just it's not healthy to go looking for these people. And they are everywhere. and they'll show you maps, and they'll show you flight data, and they'll show you ships, and they'll show you all these things. Do not conform to the ways of the world.

Just please don't. That's your recognition. It's easy to do because you've got a lot of people who, you know, this title, influencers, and they're people that I'm thinking in terms of some pastors. When I listen to them preach and teach the scripture, boom, man, amazing. But then you get them behind a mic where they can kind of take the boundaries off, take the little gutter guards off of the kiddie lane at the bowling alley. They take everything off. And then it's like they're saying things.

And I'm thinking, man, is this going to be good? So I looked it up. It's 1 Chronicles 12 -32 of Issachar. Men who had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do. And that's what these guys were. They understood what was going on. They could read the times. And that's really where I feel like we need more help from the Holy Spirit. Not more, we just need to listen to him. I think he's always, we talked about that you started saying this, he's always talking,

but are we always listening? And the answer is no, because I think what happens once the alarm goes off, you know, that the latest Candice Owens controversy. The chemicals in your brain have changed. You're hooked. You're in it. Because you don't want to miss out that FOMO fear of missing out. And so I need to get on this. And I've talked about this on this program before and I talk about often how there's a lot of pressure. on me as a pastor who I want to be a man of Issachar.

I want to understand the times and know what to do. So that leads me toward being susceptible to all these news hits. So tell me about the men of Issachar. Because it wasn't a man, it was men, so it was multiple men. It was a hundred, I think? Two hundred chiefs and all their kinsmen under their command. So that could have been a lot more than two hundred. These were a certain select group of people who really, they understood,

they were wise on what was happening. I'm looking to see if my, I'm looking for my So here's my rule of thumb while you're looking that up. Whenever there was something going on, I always look for oil, pipelines, gold, money, and drugs. I look for those things, and you can literally go into perplexity and say, tell me what oil resources and pipelines are in Nigeria, where they run, and what groups surround them. And you'll be astounded. when you see, oh, well, this pipeline.

I mean, that's what Afghanistan was. Right. Big pipeline into Pakistan. It was, you know, a very important unicorn, very important oil resources that kept getting jacked by some guys down there in South Afghanistan in the name escapes me now. That's where we had drones circling all day. Well, here we go. We're coming back to where we seem to always end up. And that's following the money because resources. Yeah. is money.

And so, we may think something is religiously motivated, because on the surface it appears to be. We know the root of all evil is the love. Is it all evil? No. For the love of money is the root of all evil. There you go. Thank you. So, I was looking up about these... This is some interesting biblical context around these men

of Issachar. So, they were listed, they were 200 chiefs and their kinsmen, but unlike other tribes described in Scripture in terms of troop numbers and military readiness, Issachar's contribution is highlighted by their discernment rather than their martial strength. So, this is interesting that they're actually... Wow. And they're a smaller group than most, but others are like 50 ,000. I was just looking through that. Right, just

a couple hundred dudes. Yeah. These are a small number, but there was something about them that was trusted and they carried some kind of wisdom. So the meaning of Understood the Times, which is really important, it means it's commonly taken to mean that these leaders could read the political, social, and spiritual situation of Israel and recognize that God's purpose was now to establish David as king, because that's where they were moving. Yep. This was some of David's mighty

men. Their knowledge of what Israel should do, quote, suggests they offered strategic, wise counsel that helped guide the nation at a critical transition point. We need, we need men of Issachar. Well, and women. We all should be. Absolutely. We should strive to be the men of Issachar. And we have the helper. We have the Holy Spirit, the prayer of Klaitos, the one called alongside to help to give us. There's a wonderful spiritual gift called the Word of Wisdom and the Word of

Knowledge. There's different ones. These are called manifestation gifts of the Holy Spirit, which means I can know nothing, but if the Holy Spirit manifests to me a word of knowledge, I now know something I didn't know before. And it's supernatural. And can you imagine if we spent as much time asking the Lord to speak to us as we did? sifting through news feeds. Can you imagine how much wiser we would be? We would be men of this car. Take a look at how much text

messaging you write on a daily basis. You could write a book. The same amount of writing you do on a daily basis in your text messages. You could write a book. Just so you know, since we've been talking. Okay, a small book. My book is getting smaller because as I'm not throwing my into the wind, they're not coming back. Very few. It's interesting to bring this all around. Yes, it's good. If we if we reduce our screen noise, we will be able because this is what happens

to me. I just gave like the four things pipelines, oil. gold or minerals and drugs. I mean, that really makes this broken world go round. And I usually, I think now in hindsight that when I'm looking into these things, this is when I need to hear the helper. And the helper will say, type this in, look for this. I mean, this can't just be coming out of thin air into my head, like, okay, some of it's practice, and I look for those four things. But if we can reduce

the screen noise, i .e. I've seen this, okay, instead of going full on, full bore to find every article about it, do your recognition steps. Take your recognition steps. Listen, listen, because He will help us. That's exactly what the men of Issachar were doing. They were listening and they were aware of what was really going on. I love the way this said it. This is neat how it was worded that they could read the political, social, and spiritual situation. Spiritual being

a big one right there. Of the landscape and know what to do. That word of knowledge, spiritual gift, is ours as sons and daughters of God. Do we ask for it? Do we actually lean into it? Do we say, Lord, I really need wisdom here? And now I do that kind of just on an ongoing basis because I just need it to drive down the road. Lord, give me wisdom. That should be the definition of recognition steps. Lord, give me wisdom. Give

me wisdom. So take that pause. So maybe just to help people who are listening, who are quick to jump on board. They're on a text chain. We all are. We all are prone to this. Everybody is. So the first thing when something drops into your, I was at the gym yesterday and I'm in this long text chain with guys and one thing dropped and it was just like alarm bells, you know, breaking news, alert, alert, you know, all that stuff, you know, sirens. And it frustrated, I got a

little bit like, really? I was having a great workout, I'm listening to some good music. I'm having such a good effect on you, I'm so proud of this. Oh man, brother, I'm telling you, I'm tainted. I am not just saying. This is good, this is good. So what it's doing, and now I felt like, gosh, that was an intrusion, you know, cause it popped up on my screen while I'm working out. So I was like, oh yeah, there's, and I went, ugh. You know, not only that, there's 18 to 20

TVs. In the gym at Planet Fitness. All blasting the same messages. Yeah, they're all different stations, but they're all saying some version of the same thing. Remember, he is the prince of the air. Oh my gosh. The prince of the air waves. It is so hard not to look up because of course they've got, you know, the CC, you know, closed caption. So I can tell what's going on. I mean, we got the view going on here. We got MSNBC over here. We got Fox Nation over here.

And I'm just going. Stop looking. It's work. Because these things so clamor for our attention. And at the end of the day, John Hale just talked about how what the world, what the enemy is trying to do, the enemy of your soul. We're not talking about Islam. We're not talking about some ideology or whatever. The actual prince of the power of the air, he's after your heart. He wants you to lose heart. It's in fact your heart that jumps when you read these exactly these headlines.

Oh, oh my it's a spike Yeah, you get a flutter. What is that flutter? It's adrenaline. It's dopamine. It's you know, that's something just happened Yeah, and the sad thing is it feels good sometimes to get a little that's why people watch horror movies and go on roller coasters Sure, they like that flutter that that pump. Yeah, they get and we've got to be able to take our recognition steps and go Let that calm down for a minute. Now I need to come in with wisdom. What is really

going on? Lord, Holy Spirit, help me see. Would you grant to me the gift of wisdom, the spiritual gift of wisdom and the word of knowledge so that I can be like a son of Issachar or a woman of Issachar, that I will be able to discern the times and know what to do? Can you imagine if we just took a pause, this recognition step thing? all day long, can you imagine how we would stop forwarding and reposting things that come through?

I mean, when I see something that's been reposted, I just go, oh man, somebody just took the bait. Facebook would go out of business. Nah, X2. Thank you for saying that, brother. Hopefully everybody will rewind that and listen to that. what you just said, listen to that again. That's a perfect instant prayer. The minute you read, the minute you feel the spike like, Holy Spirit, I'm taking my recognition steps. I'm backing off. Give me wisdom. And you might not even want to immediately

investigate, but... Take a pause. Yes. Yes. And just to say, just to encourage people who are listening, Don't get fancy with your prayer on this. This is an ongoing conversation with God. You don't have to do an intro and an outro. I talk to our staff. Every time we pray, it goes really long because everybody thinks they've got to have an intro and an outro and a setup, and I'm glorious. Just pray the topic. I can't get them to do it. It's crazy. Simple things.

It's something that you passed on to me very early on. You pray a lot. And it doesn't have to be long, just get to the point. And every time you, you don't have to reintroduce yourself to God every time you talk to Him. Hey, God, it's me. It's Adam. Hey, I'm just thinking about you, Lord. And yeah, thank you for this beautiful day. I mean, you don't have to do all that. Just say, Lord, I need wisdom. I need, thank you for, thank you, Holy Spirit. And then by faith, receive

it. This is a little help. Just assume that when you asked for it, He's given it to you. And then you, so you thank Him. for what you believe He just gave you, even if you don't feel any different or see anything different, but it will change your lens and the grid through which you see. Take your recognition steps. That's it. That's the title and we're going to land it right there. Look at that 58 minutes and 25 seconds. Does it get much better than that? Thank you, brother.

Happy Thanksgiving. Right back at you, my friend. We'll be here next week. We get to do this.