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You can use promo code T-O-D-A-Y at checkout to get 10% off your next order. It's going to save you money and it's going to support all of us here at the Clearview Today show. So stay hydrated, stay healthy and without further ado, let's start the show. You're listening to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis and welcome to the Clear View Today studio. I have a great conversation on the table for you guys today. Dr. Shah, welcome to our show.
Welcome. It's good to see you guys. I know there are little bags under your eyes. Are you nervous? I can feel myself. I put some makeup. Yeah, I was gonna say I put some makeup on. I can feel that a little bit.
I don't have enough. I didn't put makeup but I did put some extra cream just because you know your eyes get dry when you're or at least your lower eyelids I should say when you're suffering with lack of sleep because you're going, going, going, doing so much. But finally we can, I believe we're, we're sighing like, like, like good sigh of relief. Like, yes. So it's funny because like you said, I went to bed like maybe nine, ten o'clock last night. I was like out like a light. But the night before. Oh, night before I was up all night because we were doing it because we had our cast party. And so, this was not a smart move on my part because I knew the cast party is always the day after the last performance. We multi, we multi cam recorded the show, which means we had five cameras and we recorded them all.
Now we have a guy who switches, he switches and it cuts live. I wanted to just edit it myself. I didn't realize I'm basically editing a feature film because it's two hours long with five cameras. So it was really fun at first about three, four o'clock came along and I was like, I have made a mistake.
This was not wise. But anyway, party went great. The viewing went great. All that happened.
I go home last night after the party, fall asleep about maybe ten o'clock, sleeping hard, dreaming good. Dr. Wake up this morning nine forty with a text message from Ryan. Hey guys, don't forget, we have a zoom call with pray dot com at ten a.m. I said, oh, I forgot. Rush up here.
Made it just in time. Meeting starts. Everything's going well. We're talking about metrics.
We're talking about data, talking about like all the reach and the impact we're making through pray dot com. Get a call from Ellie. I'm like, put it, silence it, text her.
Hey, can't answer right now. Get a call immediately from my mom. I go, I text her. I said, Hey, I'm in a meeting. Can't talk.
My mom calls right back. I said, what in the world? So I said, excuse me, gentlemen. Step outside. I said, Hey, what's going on? She goes, Hey, the kids have locked Ellie out of the house. They're in the house.
She's outside. I said, I'm on my way. So I rush back home. Then I get a call from Ellie.
Oh no. I said, okay. So I said, Hey, I'm on the way home. And I was here, dad, dad, dad, dad, mommy's outside. I said, Hey, how do you have mommy's phone?
And it's Gavin. He goes, dad, dad. She left the phone. She left it inside. I said, so I said, I said, can you put the phone up to the door and let me talk to mommy?
I can barely hear her talking. So they're on the patio. So I said, guys stay on that patio.
Do not leave that patio at all. I just, on a whim, I get a face. I try to FaceTime him. I'm like, Gavin, push the green button, son. And I just see, and he's like, he's like, Hey dad. I'm like, how on earth did you lock mommy out of the house? And he was like, she closed the door.
I think he had, he had turned the lock thinking he was unlocking it for her. And then she pulled it closed behind her. So I got it all straightened out, got her in the house, came back up here. I said, Hey, I'm ready.
The meeting was over. So, but all that to say, yeah, it's been a, it's been a long couple of weeks. It's whirlwind, but I would also say, look at the impact that we're making in people's lives. It makes it all worth it. Absolutely.
Absolutely. Dr. Shah, our check-in today is coming from Branson O from Missouri. What do you think? What do you think that O stands for Ryan? Branson O from Missouri.
Omelette. Branson Omelette says, Hey, Dr. Shah and team loving the show. Just followed you on pray.com.
Thank you very much. We're approaching 4,500 followers. Branson, you're part of those metrics we were discussing. That's right.
And we were just talking about you. We're starting to look at a doctrinal series in my church, thinking about using your series as a template, or maybe even starting our own. Our church is struggling to keep college age students.
So I'm thinking of ways to engage them mentally. So their universities don't turn them away from the church. Keep up the good work blessings.
Brandon Omelette from Missouri. Nice. I'm happy to hear that because there was, there have been different eras in our church church's life, not just our church as in Clearview church, but churches across the country. I would even say across most of the world where we have gone from just doing our own thing. And if you want what we have come, come join us. And then we went to more of the seeker sensitive, the church growth movement side, where it is more about let's do whatever it takes to connect with people where they are. That was a great movement because it moved the pendulum away from you come see us.
And if you don't, that's your problem too. Now we go see you and we speak to you where you are. Great. But then it sort of got stuck there. And in being stuck there, it got into some views or some understanding of church that is not very helpful or healthy. Where church growth became the dominant theme. So do whatever it takes.
Okay, that's great. But do whatever it takes becomes almost for some of these churches. Don't talk about sin. Don't talk about doctrine. Don't talk about theology.
Because average people out there do not want to hear about sin, doctrine, theology, any of those things. So the pendulum swung that way. Then the pendulum also swung back. And I think in some ways it's still swinging in this area of we need to go back to traditions. This is part of that emergent church culture where we need to go back to tradition. We need to find some mystical thing that certain segments of Christianity like Eastern Orthodoxy have where it's all about burning candles or it's all about having some icons or it's about the creeds.
These kind of things are part of this. And that's where we find some meaning or it feels more masculine to have this kind of faith. Do you think the doctrine is included in that tradition? Is it like tradition plus doctrine or just? For some people it may be tradition plus doctrine, but for most people it's just the aura.
It's just that environment is what they went to. So previously it was just come to us if you want us. We decide what we want and you can come and become part of our family.
If you don't, take a hike. Then it's swung back this way where it is we'll do whatever it takes to be like you so that you can come and be comfortable. Including compromise doctrine. Including compromising the doctrine. Not everybody did it, but many of them did that.
That's part of the church group. And then it's swung back with this whole tradition, emergent culture type thing. Now in some ways I think, and of course there always will be some people swinging here and there, but it's coming towards enough of trying to be as wide as possible.
We need to be able to go deep. And unfortunately this is not across the board. Some churches are doing that.
Some pastors are doing that. Where do you see us based on the trends now? Where do you see us in the next five to ten years? I would say, that's a great question by the way, I would say it's hard to tell right now where we are in our nation.
People underestimate what's happening in America right now. There is a conservative swing and there are a lot of values that we held onto that we felt like had been ripped away from us are sort of coming back. But they're coming back in a good way. They're coming back and they're matching 2025. Nobody wants to go back and sit in the 60s or the 70s or the 80s or the 30s or the 40s. We want to live in the 2025 but with biblical values. So the biblical values are coming back but they match 2025. So it's a great thing.
So it's hard to tell will there be some reaction there from some people after a while to go, hey look guys all of this gotta go. We're going to go this way. We're going to go this way. What is that this way?
I don't know. I feel like some of that will involve AI. Some of that will be a reaction against AI.
It's already sort of started. Like I know exactly what you're saying and I think I agree with you because before President Trump's second campaign even, not even a second election before the second campaign, I didn't feel like there was any sort of religious push in our nation as itself. Like when we were at NRB 2024 Dr. Shah when you were in Egypt, President Trump came and he spoke at NRB and that he wasn't elected yet. That was during Biden's presidency but I was very surprised with how much he pushed towards religious freedom.
Now I know he's speaking to a room full of religious broadcasters but at the same time he really spoke genuinely and from the heart. He said something that I'll never forget. He said, you know, the media will take everything from us. They will take away our first amendment rights. They will take your freedom of this.
They'll take your freedom of that but they will never take down the cross of Christ. I remember him saying that and I said wow. The room erupted in applause. Seriously, me too. I was like very touched by that and then with the National Day of Prayer that you were able to attend on the White House, in the White House Rose Garden and I think it's funny that you mentioned like the AI thing because the left, the media is really upset about this AI generated image that the White House posted of President Trump as the Pope.
They're not happy at all. So we need to go back and somebody brought it up recently when I was there in this setting and I had enough of that. So I immediately jumped on that. I said wait a minute, wait a minute. What are you saying? Well it's not right what this person, you know, he put this of himself. That's insulting.
I was like hey, time out. If you really wanted to stand up for Christians, you should have done that during the Paris Olympic Games when they mocked Christianity. They mocked the Lord's Supper and the same crowd that is right now getting upset about Catholics being upset about President Trump looking like the Pope, that same crowd was saying that's just artistic expression guys. Y'all need, you Christians need to calm down. Really? Absolutely.
Here's my point to you. You don't speak for us. Right.
Right. All of you, those who posted on Facebook and all that stuff, how dare he? You do not represent Christianity. It angers me. You're like you need to get your heart right with Jesus, get saved to start with, get saved, get biblical to start with, get biblical and Christian values, especially regarding sexual garbage that's going on and then maybe you have the right to even speak on that subject. That angers me.
I haven't seen any Christians and I haven't seen, I certainly haven't seen any Catholics who have any problem with this at all. I think everybody can tell like from the image this was posted in jest. This was a joke. Well, see, somebody asked him the question, who do you think should be the Pope? And he's like, huh? What? It was a press interview and it was kind of like, why do you ask me?
I don't pick the Pope. He said, well, maybe I will be the Pope. He was being joking. Right. Right. And, and they were like, and then he said, I don't know.
Hope, hope somebody good. You know, we have a great Cardinal. You're talking about Cardinal Dolan up in New York. He said, maybe he could be. So he, he just was joking. He said, and then somebody in the white house, he didn't make that image.
He didn't make that image. Somebody did that and put it out there and everybody got a big laugh out of it. Other than the leftist. Yeah.
Yeah. Well, they're never going to laugh at anything. And even the pretend Christian leftists, okay. They're really leftist who are masquerading under the garb of we're also Christians. I don't know. I don't know. You, you really have a need to get right with the Lord because a lot of things that you say and believe about our faith doesn't sound like Christianity.
It sounds like social Marxism. Right. Right. And you are talking about how dare he do this to people of faith. Why didn't you speak out when they were mocking Christians?
Why didn't you speak out where Christian rights were taken away? So you didn't say anything then, but today, all of a sudden you speak for us. Here's the point.
You don't speak for us. That's right. I think you're a hundred percent right. I think that absolutely revealed their cards because if it angered you so much for the people of faith to be offended by this, to be a quote unquote, offended by this image. And you came to the spring to their defense, by the way, we're not offended by it. It's funny. It's silly. And, and there's a reason behind why president Trump does what he does. Maybe we can talk about that, but at least right now I can say I'm not offended.
Yeah. Why would I be offended? I don't, I don't have any allegiance to the Pope. I don't think any of us have any allegiance to the Pope. And those who do, I don't think they would be offended.
I mean, if maybe, maybe I'm wrong, maybe you could write into the show and tell us, but I don't, I doubt we'll get many calls like that or many texts like that. I think the people who are very offended are pseudo intellectuals on the left who have another bullet that they can load into their gun. That's right. That's exactly right. Your inconsistency demonstrate that is, this is not pro people of faith. It's anti-Trump.
And also I want to say this, I want to say this. A lot of people on the left that I saw these same pseudo intellectuals were all for AI before they were all for it. But now there's a whole thing about, uh, this, this guy, uh, John Winby, who's the director of AI media strategies lab at, uh, university of Boston. So he, he had to weigh in and he said, I think we're seeing a new phenomenon. The merging of social media and AI power organized for political power and narrative dominance.
The dude posted a image, an AI image of him dressed as the Pope. And now we're talking about narrative dominance, narrative dominance from the left. They're saying that that's hilarious. And famous, uh, Catholic apologists like Knowles and Matt Walsh, they're laughing at it. They're like, this is just funny. This is, and they, they are diehard Catholics, but they stand for biblical values and morals and ethics. And they support president Trump. And they're going, no, we, we, we like our religion.
We like our faith, but we don't find that offensive. Yeah. I also like president Trump's response to it, which, which like people are leveraging this against him. And he's like, Hey man, it's funny.
Yeah. Like that's like, that's the laugh at it. That's the ultimate like leadership move to me. It's like something ridiculous to be like, it's funny.
Take a joke. So I'm going to turn the conversation there and talk a little bit more about some of the things president Trump does or has done over the years. And that is, is very important to understand why he does what he does. People used to say, Oh, we should just get the Twitter away from him. I wish he wouldn't say some of the things he does. I want you to understand that man is not foolish. He does that for a reason. Even this AI generated image, even though he didn't put it out there, he did not oppose it and said, Oh, we're going to fire the guy who did it. Who did it? None of that.
He just said, Oh, it's funny because the media, the media, the social leftist media likes to control the narrative. Yes. They like to decide you're a good guy. You're not a good guy. You're a good guy.
You're not a good guy. You will support. You will not support. So what president Trump does is he says, I will not fix and fit into your categories. Right. I refuse to be categorized by you.
So yes, I love this country, but I am not your typical three piece suit wearing Christian conservative who sits there meek and mild and has, has to pretend to be the, the Christian guy, the Christian soft kind guy who will not hurt a fly. He's like, no, I'm going to make fun of you. You're coming after me. Oh, well, all right, here we go. I'm going to call you this, this, and this. And they're like, I don't get it.
You can't do that. The president's not supposed to act like that. And so he throws them off. That bothers them so much and has been for years before the first term, during the first term, during the past four years, when they even shut him out of Twitter and other places.
And then again, it throws them off. And so they don't know what to do with him. They just don't know. They, they would like for him to be silent so they can once again, put him in a box. And he's like, I'm not going to, so here's an AI image. And they're like, uh, uh, uh, let's attack him for that.
And he's like, go for it. You're not going to fight back. You're not going to defend yourself. You're not going to say, I'm so sorry, guys.
I'm he's not going to do that. Well, let's go back to the narrative. Let's go back to the manual.
We are supposed to make sure this wasn't in the script and they don't know what to do with him. And that has been amazing because for years and years, this leftist media has been so adept at putting people in these boxes and saying, we know how to handle you. We know how to handle you. We know how to handle you.
And he's like, Nope, you cannot handle me. You, you, you are, you are right on the money. And I think like a lot of people listening don't realize how right on you are. Donald Trump was on Joe Rogan's podcast and they had this almost this exact conversation.
Really? And Joe Rogan had this conversation with another person too. It was, it was two separate conversations with someone else after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars, where he said almost the same thing. If you take someone on the left and you change up the script, they fall apart. They can't function.
They cannot function. When Will Smith got up and did what he did, that was not in the script. That was not scripted. And there was a room full of celebrities, the most influential, impactful people in America, all sat there completely silent, have no clue what to do. Cause like nobody told me this was happening. And, and Joe Rogan said, think about that. There were more people in that room that could have taken Chris up Will Smith down and stood up and said, that's not right. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
They can't. It's not trying to figure out which side should we stand. Should we go against him or for him against a force? Should we defend him standing up for his wife?
Or was that all a power move? What, what exactly should we do? Is Chris Rock a good guy or bad? I don't, I don't know. I don't know. And then, yes.
And then in his conversation with Donald Trump, same exact thing. It's like they, people don't know what to do with you. It's not that you're like offensive. You're confusing. Yeah.
Right. So this is where, and people, people don't understand God, God built him that way to help us for such a time as this for such a time as this. So for those of you out there who's like, I wish he wouldn't say that.
Pray, pray and say, God, thank you for building him that way that he does say that. And when he does say that those people who are regrouping to attack, all of a sudden they find themselves scattering. They find themselves scattering. I don't know. I don't know.
I thought, I thought this would be something that he wouldn't touch because he wants all the, all the Catholics to, to, to stay with him and stand with him. And I don't know. I don't know. Yeah.
I don't know. Yeah. Good. Yeah. You should be scrambling.
Well, once you have sort of met your match, haven't you? Yeah. There's a, there's a real enemy in America. There is a real enemy. And I hate to say that it comes from within our own ranks, but the truth is it does. I think that our ideals are under attack.
Our, our way of life and our faith are under attack, which is the foundation of America. And I will take anybody who's standing up to defend that and who throws the enemy off balance. Yeah.
I'll take that. I can follow a leader like that. Well, I would never say, and neither would president Trump ever say that he is Jesus.
Of course not. But Jesus did that. He constantly did that. And the Pharisees and the scribes, these people and the chief priests would often had to regroup and go, what do we do?
Right. This, the crowd goes after him. What do we do? Because he just asked us a question. We were gonna, we were gonna, you know, trap him in this, this, this legal language of tell us where you are from and what, whatever.
And all of a sudden he just he just threw us a question and now we don't know what to do. So what, what is happening in America is finally what somebody is doing it right. And that's president Trump, which is, which is throwing off this, this leftist media that loves to control the narrative. They sit like high-browed looking down on everybody because everybody is dumb.
Right. Everybody's dumb. We need to give you the news.
We need to tell you. And it's all fake news. A lot of fake news has been created. So they have this fake narrative that they will superimpose on society and certain individuals. And then they want the public to believe that.
And it has worked very well. All of a sudden a new contender entered the ring about 15 years ago or, or maybe 10, 12 years ago. They're like, we don't know what to do now. What do we do with this guy? Yeah.
What do we do with this guy? Yeah. Well, in the confusion leaders are going to rise up in America. Like Christian leaders will rise up and they'll hopefully they'll fill that vacuum. Dr. Shah, if there's someone listening and they're saying, you know, I want to be, I want to be one of those leaders. I want to be a voice in this new America that's being shaped. Or at least I want to listen to the right voices.
Yeah. What, what advice do you have for you? Educate yourself. And that education does not happen through social media. That education is not happening through news media or leftist proponents.
That education goes back to the foundation of our nation, the Judeo-Christian foundation of our nation. Go back and figure out why is America different? Why is the slogan make America great again? What makes it great?
What made it great? I'm not saying great means is faultless. We've had our faults. We've had our sins and we need to repent and turn from them. And many of them, we have many, we still have to. Having said that, get to the heart of what makes America America. And, and then look around and go, who is standing for this beautiful gift?
I believe from God. Again, don't misunderstand that this does not mean that we have always been perfect. No, no, no. But it is still the best nation on earth.
Amen. The idea that we are ruled by the people, the idea, as, uh, as, uh, Bill Federer talks about the people are the King that we send people, you know, the constitutionally elected democratic Republic, we stand, send people to make decisions for us based on the best education, understanding. And if you don't, then we get to tell you go home.
That's right. And we have a constitution means you don't go over there and do whatever you want to. Unfortunately, on both sides, Republican and Democrat, people have gone to the White House or to, to, to the Congress and have done things that have nothing to do with the constitution. They did it to, to pat each other on the back and for their own personal benefit.
So go there. You have the constitution, which by the way, was built on Judeo Christian values and use that as a guideline to represent us. And, um, for us as pastors, we are the King's counselors.
That's right. People are the King. King needs counselors.
Guess what the counselors are? The pastors. You as pastors, we need, we, we as pastors need to be courageous and biblical and wise and, and be able to tell what's happening in our culture and then advise our people correctly to stand for biblical values and vote for the right candidates. And listening to this show, like regularly is one of the ways that you can do that.
You know, we, it's, it's not as though we have all the answers, but I will say, I think Dr. Shah has a fantastic pulse, uh, like understanding and a fantastic feel on the pulse of our nation. You know, because you're involved, you're doing things, you're talking to people. I mean, you're attending, you know, you're, you're, you're, you're attending the prayer of the White House Garden for goodness. I was just about to say that there's a reason that you were selected to be one of a select few to be in that group.
Thank you. Thank God be the glory. And I'm not just this false humility here, but I'm, I was really going, how am I here? How am I standing on this piece of ground, which I believe is other than the temple in Jerusalem or the temple Mount in Jerusalem, this is the epicenter of the world. Well, I think that, that heart and that spirit is the exact reason why you were there. That's why God placed you there. And I would say for all the pastors listening to this show, keep listening.
Yeah. Because the, and Dr. Shah, I think said it best. There's a, it's not that everyone in America is outraged over this. It's the select few who control everything else that gets heard. So yeah, of course it seems like everybody's on the same side, but I think the number one, the results of the last election show that that's not the case. And number two, we are trying to give those who don't have a platform, a platform through this show.
Amen. I think the, I think the greatest point to derive from that is that the loudest voice is typically not the majority. There you go.
It doesn't represent the majority opinion. That's right. So good. Guys, make sure you join us tomorrow. Same time, same station. And we're going to be diving into another great topic here on the Clear View Today Show. Thanks again to our sponsors for making today's episode possible. And don't forget that you can support us by subscribing to the show on iTunes. And you can always support us financially at clearviewtodayshow.com. John, what do you want to leave our listeners with today? Well, definitely want to let you know a couple of things that are coming up over here on the Clear View Today Show. Number one is our 24 hour prayer vigil that's happening on May 23rd to 24th, right here at Clear View Church. Now, if you're not a member of Clear View Church, or if you're not local, you may be asking, what does this have to do with me? Well, on the 23rd, from 7 to 9 PM, maybe even beyond that, just depending on how the calls come in, we're doing an online prayer vigil live stream.
That was helpful. Online prayer vigil live stream. We're going to be going live at 7 PM. We're going to be taking your calls. So call in, we can be praying for you. 252-582-5028.
That's the number you can call. We did it last time. It was a great, great success. So we'll be doing that again and then releasing it afterwards as a two hour bonus episode.
Also, Dr. Shah's new series, Discerning Doctrine, is available on pray.com right now. Like I said, we're about to pass 4.5K followers. We want that number to skyrocket.
We believe it will in the coming future. It's going to take all of us working together. Just like Dr. Shah said, we've got a message that we want to get out to Americans who don't have a voice. You can help us do that on pray.com.
Make sure you go follow Dr. Shah. You can give. Thank you to everyone who's been giving so far. We appreciate your support and we appreciate your partnership in our mission.
That's right. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow.
We'll group you today. Thank you. Thank you.
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