WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.040 --> 00:00:05.160 Welcome back, dear friends. This is Chrish Dunham. I got 2 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:08.279 a sip of water to wet my whistle. As my mentor, 3 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:12.240 Missus Zigler, said, I was so parched I was burping dust. 4 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:15.919 There you go. You got a Southern colloquialism, one that 5 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:20.719 you probably cannot use anywhere. But it was one of 6 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:23.079 the good ones, I think that we had in the 7 00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:26.679 days past. So we finished an hour where we talked 8 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:29.719 about some of the things, the conversation and all of 9 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:33.759 those things, but the basic premise we began this journey 10 00:00:33.799 --> 00:00:39.119 with was let's talk elections. Let's talk elections. Now. One 11 00:00:39.159 --> 00:00:41.799 of the things I see on a regular basis when 12 00:00:41.799 --> 00:00:45.359 I look at Twitter or x what it's called now, 13 00:00:45.719 --> 00:00:50.000 I'm on very few social media platforms business wise. The 14 00:00:50.039 --> 00:00:53.000 only social media platform I care to use or use 15 00:00:53.079 --> 00:00:56.719 is LinkedIn. I got off Facebook and all of those, 16 00:00:56.759 --> 00:00:59.119 and I was not on Twitter for the longest time 17 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:03.920 till Musk bought it. And call me a guy who 18 00:01:04.040 --> 00:01:06.959 just likes the way that guy vibes or you know, 19 00:01:07.560 --> 00:01:09.400 they may be parts of his life that I may 20 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:12.120 disagree with and parts of his life that are not ASLEI, 21 00:01:12.200 --> 00:01:14.519 but you know, there's a lot of similarity in some 22 00:01:14.599 --> 00:01:17.840 of his struggle and his understanding eventually of where we are. 23 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:20.560 There are a lot of stuff on X I don't 24 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:24.200 think should be there, just because the average person looking 25 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:28.079 at that without any filter. You know, any video can 26 00:01:28.120 --> 00:01:30.439 be posted, and some of the videos that people post, 27 00:01:30.480 --> 00:01:32.680 I know why they do it. They do it to 28 00:01:32.719 --> 00:01:34.920 get their clicks and they get their likes. But I 29 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:37.040 just wish we'd go back to being a nation of 30 00:01:37.719 --> 00:01:39.560 what one of my colleagues used to say to me 31 00:01:39.599 --> 00:01:42.640 at one time, will this really matter? And a lot 32 00:01:42.680 --> 00:01:45.480 of stuff that is posted I think is primarily designed 33 00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:48.280 to get a rise out of somebody. But there's a 34 00:01:48.280 --> 00:01:50.959 lot of good stuff out there and a lot of 35 00:01:51.319 --> 00:01:55.879 stuff that makes you pause. So when I look at 36 00:01:56.120 --> 00:01:58.799 the elections of four years ago and I look at 37 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:01.719 some of the statements that are being made now, of 38 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:04.120 course they are facts checkers who check them and their 39 00:02:04.120 --> 00:02:06.760 community notes that come alongside it. So I take everything 40 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:09.199 with a grain of salt. I'm not going to believe 41 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:12.599 everything that is presented saying Okay, this person did this 42 00:02:12.680 --> 00:02:15.080 and that was illegitimate and this was not looked at. 43 00:02:15.639 --> 00:02:17.960 But when I look at the popular cry of what 44 00:02:18.120 --> 00:02:21.080 is allowed to be presented in the mainstream media. We 45 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:23.759 have time talked about that ad nauseum, and I think 46 00:02:23.800 --> 00:02:31.000 Todd addresses that in as calm and sincere, a manner 47 00:02:31.879 --> 00:02:36.840 that actually edifies the title of his show, Conservative not bitter. 48 00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:41.240 I know we are supposed to talk about contemporary issues, 49 00:02:41.719 --> 00:02:44.680 and I am what you would call a Reagan Conservative, 50 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:48.639 and maybe I don't have an absumption of understanding the 51 00:02:48.680 --> 00:02:52.479 Great Ronald Reagan's policies, but I'm known as a guy 52 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:55.639 who during my own lectures and all that. In the 53 00:02:55.639 --> 00:02:59.080 evangelical world, I'm known as a laughing evangelist, and I'm 54 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:01.759 known as someone who can break the monotony with humor. 55 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:05.000 And to that end, I credit the Great Ronald Reagan, 56 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:08.520 who had that ability before he went and did something serious. 57 00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:11.400 He says, have I ever told you this story? And 58 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:16.240 people almost always know that there's something good that's coming along. Now. 59 00:03:16.280 --> 00:03:18.520 Having said that, I want to take us to that 60 00:03:18.680 --> 00:03:23.360 issue of where do we lower our temperature of our 61 00:03:23.479 --> 00:03:27.680 tonality and do we even want to use the word 62 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:32.319 compromise when you talk elections of old The Speaker of 63 00:03:32.360 --> 00:03:35.199 the House many moons ago was Tip O'Neil and Ronald 64 00:03:35.199 --> 00:03:38.199 Reagan and Tip O'Neil disagreed on just about everything, but 65 00:03:38.280 --> 00:03:42.000 they were comfortable enough to break bread after it, which 66 00:03:42.039 --> 00:03:45.520 means you did not you disliked the person's policy, but 67 00:03:45.560 --> 00:03:49.400 you did not personally dislike that person as a matter 68 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:53.439 of existence. Whereas that's where we are now. We are 69 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:58.000 in a bitriolic stage right now. Where And I don't 70 00:03:58.039 --> 00:04:00.280 know if it's the conservative side so much, and it 71 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:04.360 may be equally parts conservative, but most conservatives who have 72 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:08.120 a religious bent to them seem to understand the fact 73 00:04:08.199 --> 00:04:11.400 that even though I disagree with the person, and I 74 00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:14.080 don't want to just win the argument as an evangelist, 75 00:04:14.120 --> 00:04:17.040 I want to win the soul. So my compromise is 76 00:04:17.079 --> 00:04:20.120 not so much a compromise of my own convictions as 77 00:04:20.199 --> 00:04:23.680 much as it is trying to compromise my rhetoric to 78 00:04:23.720 --> 00:04:26.560 the degree that I can stay in the same argument, 79 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:30.040 look in the same direction, and eventually have a chance 80 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:33.040 to win the soul. Now, this goes back to that 81 00:04:33.160 --> 00:04:36.399 illustration that many of you have heard before, and it's 82 00:04:36.439 --> 00:04:39.439 about the little kid who was being tormented by the 83 00:04:39.480 --> 00:04:43.560 big bully, and the big bully, you know, looks at him, 84 00:04:43.560 --> 00:04:47.439 and it can pulverize him into smithereens and a bit, 85 00:04:47.959 --> 00:04:50.160 and the little kid draws a line in the sand 86 00:04:50.199 --> 00:04:53.279 and says, I challenge you to cross this line. And 87 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:56.399 that big bully triumphantly steps over the line, at which 88 00:04:56.399 --> 00:04:58.959 point the little kid says, good, now we're on the 89 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:02.480 same side. So what is the line of your conviction, 90 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:08.639 What is the line of your non compromise? So to speak? 91 00:05:09.279 --> 00:05:12.240 That when you're looking at city hall, when you're looking 92 00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:14.680 at a government, if you're in a state that is 93 00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:18.319 historically blue, you're looking at some of these laws that 94 00:05:18.439 --> 00:05:21.120 make no sense. You're looking at some of the things 95 00:05:21.160 --> 00:05:23.839 that we have gone through as a people. I mean, 96 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:27.639 just post COVID, forget the conspiracy theories, and forget the 97 00:05:27.720 --> 00:05:30.959 talk about pharma companies and whether the vaccine was needed 98 00:05:31.079 --> 00:05:33.839 or not. Just look at how stupid some of the 99 00:05:33.879 --> 00:05:37.000 regulations were. Because you look in hindsight, it makes no 100 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:40.600 sense that you can wash your hands at nauseum and 101 00:05:40.680 --> 00:05:43.360 not stand next to someone for six feet and then 102 00:05:43.399 --> 00:05:45.680 you get on a plate and you cramp next to 103 00:05:45.720 --> 00:05:48.600 them eighteen into the parts, pewing into each other's face. 104 00:05:49.079 --> 00:05:51.560 A lot of these things don't make sense. So where 105 00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:55.480 is your compromise. Where is that part where you're going 106 00:05:55.519 --> 00:05:58.120 to say, I'm going to add the love of the 107 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:02.639 Great Commandment and make sure that it shows alongside my 108 00:06:03.399 --> 00:06:07.040 learning and my leverage of the Great Commission. Folks, I'm 109 00:06:07.040 --> 00:06:09.879 going to take you through a story, and the story 110 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:12.600 is of a great Indian gentleman by the name of 111 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:17.480 Mahtma Gandhi. If you've heard this before, bear along because 112 00:06:17.480 --> 00:06:20.720 this will help you. When Mahatma Gandhi was asked the 113 00:06:20.839 --> 00:06:24.959 question by east Stanley Jones, a Christian. At that time, 114 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:28.800 Mahtma Gandhi was the foremost Hindu in India, what does 115 00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:33.399 Christianity have to do to be considered a mainline worldview 116 00:06:33.560 --> 00:06:36.800 and not considered a white man's import or something attributed 117 00:06:36.839 --> 00:06:40.079 to colonialism, which is what it was in that part 118 00:06:40.120 --> 00:06:42.720 of the world. So when you look at the broader Africa, 119 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:45.600 they say the white man came with religion, took our 120 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:48.680 diamonds and our resources, and then left us our poverty 121 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:52.839 and left us their God. Whichever way they attributed to 122 00:06:53.319 --> 00:06:56.000 that's how it all began. The whole world was colonized 123 00:06:56.040 --> 00:06:58.279 at one time, and you had large empires that go 124 00:06:58.360 --> 00:07:00.759 and most of the Western world was a Christi's world 125 00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:03.279 that went till we had the Crusades and the advent 126 00:07:03.319 --> 00:07:05.079 of Islam and all of the other good stuff. And 127 00:07:05.120 --> 00:07:08.319 we can talk about that, you know, first two Crusades, next, 128 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:10.680 you know, whichever way you want to slice that. That 129 00:07:10.759 --> 00:07:13.000 may be a discussion for a different day. But even 130 00:07:13.079 --> 00:07:16.800 there we have believed the rhetoric instead of actually going 131 00:07:16.839 --> 00:07:21.519 and researching for yourself. So where is this compromise? When 132 00:07:21.519 --> 00:07:23.759 I look around the world and I see people with 133 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:27.680 different worldviews, the worldview of east Stanley Jones a Methodist 134 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:30.360 missionary who had gone to India with the single purpose 135 00:07:30.680 --> 00:07:33.480 of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is now 136 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:36.680 confronting the greatest Hindu at that time, Matt mc gandhi. 137 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:39.360 Stanley Jones left came to India nineteen seventeen. Matt mc 138 00:07:39.399 --> 00:07:43.279 gandhi returned to India nineteen sixteen after having spent some time. 139 00:07:43.319 --> 00:07:46.199 He was a barrister from England, went and was practicing 140 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:50.480 in South Africa. Saw the deep rooted issues of colonization 141 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:53.199 there and the flight of the of the Indian and 142 00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:55.839 decided to come back to India to liberate a nation. 143 00:07:56.639 --> 00:07:59.879 Now Stanley Jones and Mattmagandhi became good friends all the way. 144 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:03.120 Mart mcgandhi's passing at the rate of an assassination's bullet 145 00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:06.360 in nineteen forty eight on the thirtieth of January. Now, 146 00:08:06.360 --> 00:08:08.199 I'm just a history a buff so I'm throwing stuff 147 00:08:08.199 --> 00:08:10.639 at you. It's just because that's the way I speak 148 00:08:10.680 --> 00:08:13.240 a mile a minute with a lot of data. But 149 00:08:13.720 --> 00:08:16.240 one of the questions Stanley Jones asked mart mc gandhi 150 00:08:16.279 --> 00:08:19.160 in nineteen twenty five was what does Christianity have to 151 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:22.000 do to be considered a mainline worldview and not considered 152 00:08:22.040 --> 00:08:25.759 a white man's import or a colonized offering. And the 153 00:08:25.800 --> 00:08:28.399 results of what Gandhi said were actually published in a 154 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:31.800 book called Christ of the Indian Road and international bestseller 155 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:35.679 in nineteen twenty five. Now we need to be well 156 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:39.159 read if you want to compromise. In order to compromise, 157 00:08:39.240 --> 00:08:41.120 you have to know what the other side thinks, and 158 00:08:41.159 --> 00:08:43.360 you have to know more about what the other side believes. 159 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:46.720 Not just spouting out what you believe a conservative cause 160 00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:49.480 is good. But if everything is Reagan, and everything is Trump, 161 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:52.360 and everything is this, and everything anti is against Biden 162 00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:55.240 and Harris, then you look like a person who is 163 00:08:55.360 --> 00:08:58.600 just one sided. But if you're going to ask me questions, 164 00:08:58.840 --> 00:09:01.559 I probably know in enough about the other side before 165 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:05.200 I begin that compromise. Well, here's what Gandhi said to 166 00:09:05.240 --> 00:09:07.399 Stanley Jones. It will blow your mind. Here are the 167 00:09:07.399 --> 00:09:10.360 four things. The first thing he said, live like him. 168 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:13.480 See Amy Carmichael once said, we all believe to be 169 00:09:13.559 --> 00:09:16.120 strangers and pilgrims who are stuck in a land we 170 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:19.279 want to call our own, and then settle as if 171 00:09:19.320 --> 00:09:21.679 we intended to stay as long as we could. But 172 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:24.759 and then her byline is really clever. She said, I 173 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:28.600 don't think Apostolic miracles have died. Apostolic living surely has. 174 00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:31.960 You know, you can have the Christian identity. You can 175 00:09:32.039 --> 00:09:35.000 say that this is anti Christian. Jesus would have never 176 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:38.360 agreed to this, and homosexuality is a sin, and identity 177 00:09:39.240 --> 00:09:41.720 is not talked about, and man and woman in Genesis, 178 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:45.279 and all of that is Jesus' words, All of that 179 00:09:45.480 --> 00:09:49.840 is Christian words, all of that is Bible words. But 180 00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:52.519 a person who doesn't believe that worldview, who has never 181 00:09:52.600 --> 00:09:55.759 subscribed to the worldview, who never cracked open that worldview, 182 00:09:55.919 --> 00:10:01.799 doesn't care Apostolic living requires the physic example of sharing 183 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:06.320 that which you apostolically bring. I call myself an apostolic 184 00:10:06.360 --> 00:10:08.440 preacher in the sense I make my tents my day 185 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:10.399 and sell them and go preach by night. I've never 186 00:10:10.440 --> 00:10:14.600 given up my marketplace. Well that's what the fishermen did. 187 00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:17.919 So some part of our identity should be showing these 188 00:10:17.960 --> 00:10:21.840 people that I want to compromise with you. But my 189 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:25.159 compromise is not going to compromise on my Christian virtue 190 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:27.960 and my Christian belief. It's going to compromise on my 191 00:10:28.120 --> 00:10:31.000 human virtue and my human belief that I need to 192 00:10:31.080 --> 00:10:33.080 love you as much as I'm going to try to 193 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:36.919 teach you. So Gandhi's first words were live like him. 194 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:39.240 Second he said love like him. It was central to 195 00:10:39.320 --> 00:10:42.399 his nature, quite powerful. But the third and the fourth 196 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:45.639 were one that really changed my thought process because up 197 00:10:45.720 --> 00:10:48.840 until then I was this gung ho, swashbuckling evangelist who 198 00:10:48.840 --> 00:10:51.559 had been saved in the marketplace by the great Zigziglar. 199 00:10:51.960 --> 00:10:54.960 I confess my sins at a church in Flower Mount, Texas, 200 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:57.240 and I was going to go back to India because 201 00:10:57.279 --> 00:11:00.519 I'd learned diction and conversation and could now raise the 202 00:11:00.559 --> 00:11:04.080 octaves of my voice and sound like an evangelist, where 203 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:06.399 you know, instead of just saying God that a preacher 204 00:11:06.440 --> 00:11:08.720 would there, I would say God and try to get 205 00:11:08.720 --> 00:11:11.679 some amplification. There. I thought I was all that in 206 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:14.320 a bag of chips till I heard what Gandhi had 207 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:17.159 said in his third and fourth statement to the great evangelist. 208 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:19.960 First he said, live like him. Second he said love 209 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:23.200 like him. Third he said, understand what others believe. And 210 00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:26.159 fourth he said, don't water down what you believe. It's 211 00:11:26.200 --> 00:11:29.120 easy not to water down what you believe if you've 212 00:11:29.159 --> 00:11:32.399 never read what others believe. And most people are afraid 213 00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:34.879 to crack open a book of holy writ of somebody 214 00:11:34.919 --> 00:11:37.919 else's worldview because they're afraid it will change their own. 215 00:11:38.639 --> 00:11:41.799 Frank Turk, who has his own podcast and was the 216 00:11:41.799 --> 00:11:43.840 co author of the book I Don't have enough Faith 217 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:47.120 to be an atheist with Norm Geisler, basically puts it 218 00:11:47.240 --> 00:11:49.360 this way. He says that we are afraid that our 219 00:11:49.399 --> 00:11:51.440 faith will be knocked out of us if we read 220 00:11:51.480 --> 00:11:54.639 someone else's worldview. And if that's your fear, I don't 221 00:11:54.639 --> 00:11:57.519 think the faith was ever knocked into you. You may 222 00:11:57.519 --> 00:12:00.759 be a generational Christian, but have not decided for yourself 223 00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:04.039 whether you believe that the Bible is the true, in errant, 224 00:12:04.039 --> 00:12:07.279 infallible word of God. Folks, trust me. I have read 225 00:12:07.320 --> 00:12:10.000 all worldviews. I've read the teachings of Gotama Buddha, I've 226 00:12:10.039 --> 00:12:12.360 read the teachings of the Ghita, and that Krishna is 227 00:12:12.360 --> 00:12:15.759 one of their deities. I've read the teachings of Islam 228 00:12:15.799 --> 00:12:19.279 and Prophet Muhammad's dictation. I've come to this conclusion. In 229 00:12:19.320 --> 00:12:22.600 any worldview, you take out their pivotal figure, their worldview 230 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:25.919 still remains. In Buddhism, you take out Buddha, you still 231 00:12:25.960 --> 00:12:28.679 have Nirvana. In Hinduism, you take out one of the gods, 232 00:12:28.679 --> 00:12:31.000 you've got other gods. In Islam, you take out the 233 00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:35.000 prophet Muhammad, Allah still reigns. Christianity is the only one. 234 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:39.679 When you remove Jesus Christ, the whole worldview collapses. So 235 00:12:39.720 --> 00:12:42.840 it's very important that if we're going to compromise, and 236 00:12:42.919 --> 00:12:45.000 people are going to challenge you saying, how can you 237 00:12:45.080 --> 00:12:47.360 vote for someone if you're a Christian, you need to 238 00:12:47.399 --> 00:12:50.440 ask what being a Christian means. We are the most 239 00:12:50.480 --> 00:12:54.399 flawed people. Our heroes are the most flawed people. The 240 00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:57.600 shepherd King, that sweet singer of Israel who became the 241 00:12:57.720 --> 00:13:01.639 King David was flawed on that balcony of boredom, on 242 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:04.559 that veranda of voyeurism. Yet he wrote some of the 243 00:13:04.600 --> 00:13:08.240 psalms saying, I'm constantly aware of your unfailing love. And 244 00:13:08.360 --> 00:13:10.879 yet to him, God said, this is a man after 245 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:13.799 my own heart. He was a man after God's own heart, 246 00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:17.159 the creator of the universe. Think about it, if you 247 00:13:17.159 --> 00:13:20.840 remember that beautiful story, how amazing it was in its 248 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:24.919 own presentation, when Saul has fallen out of favor and 249 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:27.320 Samuel has asked to go to the House of Jesse. 250 00:13:27.720 --> 00:13:29.639 And I don't want to get theological here, but as 251 00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:33.039 a story, it matters because King David, David, the stower 252 00:13:33.080 --> 00:13:37.960 of David. That is what Israel's lineage is. If you're 253 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:41.200 a Christian who supports Israel, you need to ask yourself, 254 00:13:41.559 --> 00:13:44.559 am I just going to compromise my convictions or talk 255 00:13:44.600 --> 00:13:48.399 about minutia about the geographical land, or am I going 256 00:13:48.440 --> 00:13:50.960 to actually delve through the books of history and say 257 00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:54.679 to myself, Hey, recently, an obelisk was discovered in Egypt 258 00:13:55.279 --> 00:13:58.240 that is three thousand years old, and on it the 259 00:13:58.279 --> 00:14:03.519 word Israel is mentioned. You know this all comes with understanding. Well, 260 00:14:03.559 --> 00:14:07.480 when Saul is out of favor and Samuel is asked 261 00:14:07.480 --> 00:14:09.279 to go to the House of Jesse, who do they 262 00:14:09.320 --> 00:14:14.000 line up? The guys that look good, the tall, the brave, 263 00:14:14.279 --> 00:14:18.840 the mighty, the people who look like a king, who 264 00:14:18.919 --> 00:14:22.440 look like a president. And that's what we are seeing 265 00:14:22.440 --> 00:14:27.679 out there, carefully trotted out, carefully Coyford, carefully manicured. Even 266 00:14:27.720 --> 00:14:31.080 those people on late night TV and people on evening news, 267 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:33.720 all of them just look like a million bucks and 268 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:36.279 are paid a million bucks. But that's not the look 269 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:38.799 of the person you would run across in the grocery 270 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:42.039 store or in a Walmart, which I just visited before 271 00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:45.919 I started recording this. Who was the one who was chosen, 272 00:14:46.559 --> 00:14:49.279 the guy who was not even invited to the banquet. 273 00:14:49.720 --> 00:14:52.120 When he came there, he would have probably come smelling 274 00:14:52.159 --> 00:14:54.399 as a shepherd as likely to have smelt who had 275 00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:57.600 been out with the sheep in those clothes. And when 276 00:14:57.639 --> 00:15:00.960 he came, what did the proper say. We're not going 277 00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:03.120 to sit down, We're not even going to eat till 278 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:07.559 he comes. Folks, if you truly believe that America is 279 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:10.840 a God or day nation, I want to take you 280 00:15:10.919 --> 00:15:14.360 back to when the Republic was being framed and they 281 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:17.799 were discussing what would work as a seal of this nation. 282 00:15:18.600 --> 00:15:20.840 One of the choices made by two of the men 283 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:24.919 who were the least religious in Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. 284 00:15:25.639 --> 00:15:29.039 Benjamin Franklin said, I think the seal should be the 285 00:15:29.240 --> 00:15:31.840 parting of the Red Sea and Moses standing on a 286 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:35.720 rock and the people coming out of slavery. Jefferson said, 287 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:38.679 I think the seal needs to describe the lost children 288 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:42.279 of Israel, and then Jefferson basically said, I think I 289 00:15:42.440 --> 00:15:46.759 like Franklin's version better. Neither of them were accepted, and 290 00:15:46.840 --> 00:15:49.200 we went with a different seal, But that was the 291 00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:52.720 imagery that two of the people who were the least 292 00:15:52.759 --> 00:15:57.639 religious thought that this nation should have. When you make 293 00:15:57.720 --> 00:16:02.240 your compromise, ask yourself, what part of the Bible are 294 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:06.240 you going to not negotiate on and what part of 295 00:16:06.279 --> 00:16:09.000 the Bible are you going to try to allow to 296 00:16:09.080 --> 00:16:12.519 live out Now. Granted, there may be people listening who 297 00:16:12.519 --> 00:16:15.159 do not even subscribe to what I'm talking about, but 298 00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:18.720 I'm saying, as a conservative, I have friends who come 299 00:16:18.759 --> 00:16:22.159 from all other faiths. I am invited to speak in 300 00:16:22.279 --> 00:16:26.600 places that worship differently and worship different deities. But when 301 00:16:26.600 --> 00:16:29.519 they invite me, they say that you come to us 302 00:16:29.559 --> 00:16:33.399 because you know more about us than we know about ourselves. 303 00:16:33.639 --> 00:16:36.559 So even when we know you're a Christian, we know 304 00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:39.240 that you're actually going to talk about God in the 305 00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:42.399 way God has impacted you and maybe allow us to 306 00:16:42.440 --> 00:16:45.559 get in touch with some reality. They may not know 307 00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:47.960 what my purpose is there, and they may not even 308 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:50.759 they may doubt my motives. But I have never been 309 00:16:50.799 --> 00:16:56.240 denied an audience because I subscribed to a certain worldview. See, 310 00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:02.320 Compromise means being invited in spite of everything. Compromise means 311 00:17:02.360 --> 00:17:06.079 that even though you're an emperor on that balcony of boredom, 312 00:17:06.119 --> 00:17:08.680 a king who is supposed to be in the front lines, 313 00:17:08.680 --> 00:17:13.400 who succumbs to that boyeurism of the moment, and then 314 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:16.359 you decide you're going to commit murder after that to 315 00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:20.759 amplify your indiscretion and your adultery, the God of Heaven says, 316 00:17:22.200 --> 00:17:24.400 that's a man after my own heart. Now I'm not 317 00:17:24.519 --> 00:17:27.799 equating any current day politician with David, That's not what 318 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:30.440 I'm doing. But what I'm saying is that if you 319 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:34.319 are a follower of the Christian worldview and people attack 320 00:17:34.440 --> 00:17:37.400 you saying how can you and they try to ask 321 00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:40.720 you to redefine the way you love people because of behavior, 322 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:44.359 you need to be pliable enough to say, let me 323 00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:47.559 go through the annals of Holy writ and explain why 324 00:17:47.640 --> 00:17:51.079 I am the way I am, and that conviction of 325 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:54.839 your own response, that desire of your own heart, will 326 00:17:54.880 --> 00:17:58.759 allow you to have a different kind of commitment. Now, 327 00:17:58.759 --> 00:18:02.240 what is commitment? There's an old saying, which is again 328 00:18:02.279 --> 00:18:05.319 mister Zigler, I quote him a lot. Mister Zigler used 329 00:18:05.319 --> 00:18:08.200 to say, most people are as committed as a Kamakazi 330 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:11.599 pilot on his thirty ninth mission. Now, I know that 331 00:18:11.720 --> 00:18:13.880 Todd is younger than me, and some of this audience 332 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:16.000 is probably going to be way younger than me, So 333 00:18:16.119 --> 00:18:18.839 maybe I need to explain for some of you what 334 00:18:18.920 --> 00:18:22.880 a Kamakazi pilot is. But in World War Two, primarily 335 00:18:23.559 --> 00:18:26.160 Japan's aerial force, of course we know what happened at 336 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:28.960 Pearl Harbor. If you don't, it was in all the papers. 337 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:30.839 If you don't know what a paper is, a paper 338 00:18:30.880 --> 00:18:34.319 is a document that had printing on it. Go to 339 00:18:34.359 --> 00:18:37.319 the library. A library is a building obvious, kidding, But 340 00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:42.519 the Japanese pilots of old that believed in God and 341 00:18:42.799 --> 00:18:46.000 believed in the country above everything else, and sacrificing for 342 00:18:46.039 --> 00:18:48.960 your country was the greatest honor used to be called 343 00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:52.200 Kamakazi pilots, which means their mission was a mission that 344 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:54.559 would be one and done, there was no coming back. 345 00:18:55.440 --> 00:18:59.640 One comedian put it, then, why did kamakazi pilots wear helmets? Well, 346 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:02.880 that's why comedians do. And we kind of look at 347 00:19:02.920 --> 00:19:06.640 stuff and say, okay, that makes no sense. But some 348 00:19:06.680 --> 00:19:09.160 people are as committed as a Kamakazi pilot on his 349 00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:12.119 thirty ninth mission. I'll give it something, you know. If 350 00:19:12.119 --> 00:19:14.200 it doesn't go my way, I'll take my toys and 351 00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:16.160 go home. But I'm not going to stay in the fight. 352 00:19:17.200 --> 00:19:20.519 When I'm talking about commitment, I'm talking about having the 353 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:26.359 guts to stand and say I believe that if you 354 00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:27.759 do the time you're going to do If you do 355 00:19:27.799 --> 00:19:30.359 the crime, you're going to do the time. But then 356 00:19:30.440 --> 00:19:33.359 have the love to also volunteer in a prison and 357 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:36.000 see those that are doing the time because you believe 358 00:19:36.599 --> 00:19:40.359 that there is a consequence to action. See, this is 359 00:19:40.440 --> 00:19:43.400 what means but by the least of these, this is 360 00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:46.960 what I'm talking about. So hopefully today I've kind of 361 00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:50.000 put the whole circle in play. I've taken you on 362 00:19:50.039 --> 00:19:53.279 a long journey. We started with one thing. But if 363 00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:55.720 you look at all the words I use alliteratively, we 364 00:19:55.799 --> 00:19:59.279 began with elections. We said, they have consequences. I said, 365 00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:02.680 let's have a conversation about who we are in this process. 366 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:05.160 Let's look at some of the choices that were made 367 00:20:05.160 --> 00:20:08.319 for us, choices that we make for others. Let's look 368 00:20:08.359 --> 00:20:12.240 at whether those choices have altered. Are concerns for things 369 00:20:12.279 --> 00:20:15.920 that are happening. I mean, I'm invited to some of 370 00:20:15.960 --> 00:20:19.799 these theme parks because corporate conventions happen there. But I've 371 00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:22.440 reached a point in my life where I'm very, very 372 00:20:22.599 --> 00:20:27.480 cautious now to not be seen in places that blatantly 373 00:20:28.400 --> 00:20:35.640 and vocally blaspheme, the God that I worship. So I'm just, 374 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:39.359 and as a result, I have lost some business. I'll 375 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:41.759 be honest with you, but I can tell you without 376 00:20:41.799 --> 00:20:45.000 any fear of error, I've not lost any sleep. So 377 00:20:45.079 --> 00:20:48.240 what are your concerns? Do your concerns but up against 378 00:20:48.279 --> 00:20:51.960 the convictions that you hold, Dear are you making compromise 379 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:54.880 and are you making compromise on truth convictions or are 380 00:20:54.880 --> 00:20:57.960 you making compromise on things that are a little more esoteric, 381 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:00.960 a little more superficial that it allows you to stay 382 00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:03.240 in the game. And then as a result of that, 383 00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:07.799 how is that shaping your commitments going forward? Because when 384 00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:11.200 we come back and we begin to wind up today's 385 00:21:11.960 --> 00:21:14.440 work in the two segments we have left in the 386 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:18.279 hour two, I want to anchor on some of these 387 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:23.079 things that are really really serious business. Like I said, 388 00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:25.519 you know, hopefully we'll be able to do a guarded 389 00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:30.440 country dialogue in some of the neighborhoods. But I'm truly believed. 390 00:21:30.519 --> 00:21:33.400 Now I've lived here forty years, almost forty years, thirty nine, 391 00:21:34.119 --> 00:21:37.839 getting close to thirty nine. We have a home in India. 392 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:41.720 We may have a home in another place that maybe 393 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:45.880 just hedging my beds, But man, this country was everything. 394 00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:49.319 When I chose to come here, I gave up everything. 395 00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:52.759 I landed in New York and I kissed the floor. 396 00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:56.480 I was processed for two hours, and I was just 397 00:21:56.759 --> 00:22:03.279 delirious that something like that could happen to an immigrant 398 00:22:03.400 --> 00:22:07.680 like me. I truly en joyously celebrated that moment when 399 00:22:07.720 --> 00:22:11.599 I landed in New York City I'll never forget. Many 400 00:22:11.720 --> 00:22:15.160 years later, I was speaking for a major organization and 401 00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:18.799