Hey, this is John Galantis from the Cleaview Today Show checking in with you guys to plug our new show, How to Read Biblical Hebrew with Dr. Abadan Shah. It's a video podcast. You can watch it right from your favorite podcasting app, and we're releasing new episodes every single week. You don't have to be intimidated about learning Biblical Hebrew.
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Now let's start the show. It's Super Bowl Sunday, game night. You're sitting down with your family. You're ready to watch some football. All of a sudden, I'm supposed to know who Bad Bunny is and why everyone's up in arms over this halftime show?
All this and more coming up right now on the Clear View Today Show. You're listening to Clear View Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis.
Welcome to the Clearview Today Show. We're so glad you're joining us today for another great conversation here with your host, Dr. Abadan Shah. If you're joining us for the very first time today, Dr. Shah is a Ph.D.
in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show. Dr. Shah, it's good to see you. It's good to be here. Amen.
Amen. You know, we're doing something new with our verse of the day. We are now doing user-submitted verses. People are writing in. People are texting the show.
252-582-5028. And the verses that are helping you guys, the verses that are getting you through the day, getting you through the week, or maybe even those verses that have got you through your whole Christian life are going to help out someone else.
So today's very first user, I think we've done this before, but this is the first permanent user-submitted verse of the day is coming to us from who? Melanie H in Houston, Texas. What do you think the H stands for? I mean, Houston is right there. Melanie Houston.
I love it. What's her verse? It's coming from Matthew 5, verse 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
What a great verse. It is. Yeah. It is. Thank you, Melanie, for writing in.
If you guys want your verse of the days read on air, make sure you text us 252-582-5028. Dr. Shaw, how have you been? Doing very well. That's good.
Doing very well. Sort of um Not disheartened, but concerned, because once again, another issue is being raised. to divide Americans. Once again something more. It's we we went from Venezuela Well, even prior to that, Israel, Jewish people, then Venezuela, then Greenland, now the half-time show.
So they're they're constantly I feel like Americans are under attack. Yes. It feels like every opportunity for division, someone, and I mean, we can talk about who that someone is, jumps at it and fuels that fire for division. Because When America is divided, America is weak. Yeah.
I mean, right now, the House Committee is investigating far-left organizations, these non-profits. I think their status needs to be revoked because all they're doing is they're sowing seeds of discord. They want chaos. They want disarray. Because this is just coming out of the playbook.
That's right. The playbook of radical leftism. This was used back in the 60s. This was used throughout the past decades in other parts of the world in America. And once again, it's being used here to turn me against you, to have you turn against me, to have Christians, either they are firmly against something or.
They are like, you know what? But, you know, I actually support this, or something like that. And then all of a sudden, There's nothing but chaos. People don't know what to believe. And in that moment, I believe, in that moment, is when.
The wrong elements take charge. Oh, yeah, 100%. Of course, we're talking today about the, not just the halftime show, but the fact that there were two halftime shows. That happened this year, which is, you know, there are organizations that have kind of put forth, like, hey, watch this instead of the halftime show, watch this, because we all know at this point, the halftime show is going to be. Inappropriate for your family to watch.
It's going to be a stage for a political commentary. Any number of things can deter somebody from watching the halftime show.
Well, the Super Bowl, like, I mean, I know this is like the most boomer thing, the most Gen X thing to say, but the Super Bowl used to be like, this is what is going to bring us together. This is like America's big, big thing, big show that no matter what aisle you fall on politically, we can come together, we can enjoy a great football game, great food, hang out with our friends, see a cool show. And then it seems like the Super Bowl halftime show now is designed to be the most provocative. The most provocative, like insulting thing that it can be to get everyone talking because it's the most watched event in American television. Yeah, and I think it's also a tactic just to gain.
What do you call it? What's the one I'm looking for? Just to get more attention. Like popularity, publicity, publicity, popularity ratings is what I was going to go with.
So this is just another way to get ratings. But I'm concerned because Once again, we're divided over this.
Now, if you have your head in the sand, maybe you need to keep it there because you're not worried about these things and you're like, I don't care about one of this. I don't want to hear about it. I totally get with you. I mean, I totally understand where you're coming from. I totally understand because I don't want to argue about these things, anyways.
But as Christians in America, as those who are concerned about our future, our present, you should at least have Yeah. I'm not going to say an opinion on this, but I think you should at least grasp the significance of what is happening. What is the underlying problem? Right.
So it's become to the point now where now we have two official halftime shows where we're like, okay, you guys are going to have your halftime show. We're going to do our halftime show. The problem is like, With this halftime show, by the other halftime show, we're talking about the Turning Point USA that they did a halftime show that Kid Rock was at. There were some other artists at it as well. I can't think right off the top of my head who.
But it gets the one the headline.
So let's talk about what is wrong, what went wrong, where should we as Christians stand, what should we think when there is a conversation that comes up. At a barbecue or your family get together or a church Bible study small group. or at works, how w how do you approach this?
Well, the first things first um You know, these games Football, baseball, basketball, these are very American games. I mean, this is what sort of defines us as who we are as Americans. This is not just a time for people to enjoy the games and go, Man, I love the way that quarterback, you know, he plays. This is sort of brings people together.
So there is that element. This entire issue has divided us now. Just know that that is very strategic.
Something that's supposed to bring us together, these games, not because of the sport, as much as. food and fellowship. Again, now is going to be like, well, I don't want to be the chick. I think everybody remembers that the Super Bowl is a world stage. It's, it's all of America tuning in, but people watch.
I mean, there's clips that are all over the internet.
So what you do at the Super Bowl or what you don't do at the Super Bowl is going to be broadcast, and it's your chance to make a statement. And it's a very left, that's a thing that I've noticed is pretty unique to the left, is we're going to hold the world stage hostage to bring our ideas and our politics. I don't see the right do that. Yeah. No, no, we don't.
I mean, think about the Olympic Games. The last ones, I think it was in France, was it? Where they had the whole mockery of the supper, you know, the last supper. And so it's not just unique to America, it's also in other parts of the world. In the meantime, it's kind of funny.
The Winter Olympics have been forgotten. Like, what? What? Yeah, that's happening right now.
Okay.
So honestly, until I saw a commercial for them during the Super Bowl, I was like, oh, yeah, I forgot about the Winter Olympics. I didn't even know the Winter Olympics were a thing until I saw Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympics. I will never ever fuss at our staff. For double booking at times, because we have our strategy planning meetings where we decide, hey, make sure we don't double book. Think about the Winter Olympics.
Poor Winter Olympics. They did not think about that. Not even a little bit. Y'all are sharing the spotlight with the Super Bowl? There's only three people tuned in to watch curling.
Bad move. Like, imagine all the people who were there competing in the Winter Olympics on Super Bowl Sunday. It's like, why did y'all even show up? Yeah, I think it's NBC or ABC who's broadcasting it. I think that's the same group that's broadcasting both.
I believe so. Oh, man. I know they're raking in the money, so they don't care. Yeah, yeah. But it's kind of funny.
Second thing I want to talk about, there are several things come to my mind. Second thing that comes to my mind is that when it comes to entertainment like this, when it comes to performance like this, That involves dance, that involve music that is hype, that involves choreography, lights, and all these kinds of things. I don't know if I can say this, and I hope I don't offend anybody. There's no way. we can compete with the world.
Because Yeah. And you have girls scantily clad and they are dancing very Suggestively, progo provocatively. Which one will you have a better audience? That or a bunch of nuns standing together or even ballet? I mean, it's not going to have that appeal.
Yeah. It's pretty sad. Yeah, it doesn't sell like sex does. It sex sells. Yeah.
And so already from the start we have to decide Are we going to try to compete with the world? Because we're going to lose. And I know somebody's out there saying, like, well, we don't have to. I 100% agree with you, brother, or sister, whoever's listening. You don't have to, but that's how it works.
That's right. Yeah. That's right. To think that we're going to have our own halftime show where we preach Jesus and boy, we're going to have this revolution.
Now, if God's hands on it, yeah, of course. But realistically speaking, everyone's going to watch the halftime, the official halftime show. And we had several million people watch the Turning Point USA, which was very good from what I've heard. Good artists got up there and even like I think it was Kid Rock at the end of it, talked about dusting off the book and reading the Bible, give your life to Jesus, which is great. Yeah, he added a verse into that song.
I think that song's called Till You Can't. He added a verse in there at the end to make a point to present the gospel.
So that was pretty cool. Which is, you know, I hope it's genuine. I don't know Kid Rock's heart. I hope it's genuine for him, but that's also knowing your audience who's going to be tuning into the Turning Point USA. And he has been for some time very conservative in his views and approaches and to what's happening in American politics.
So I appreciate him doing that.
So big shout out to Turning Point USA and Kid Rock for. But if you ever try to say, hey, we're going to outdo them. Like I saw some posts on social media where Turning point in USA is so many millions. Halftime show with uh Bad Bunny. hundreds of millions or something like that.
I don't know how many. And it was like, look, look what people watch.
Well, of course, what did you expect? That's the Super Bowl halftime show. It's this idea that there's a difference between we're going to compete with them and do our own thing and it's going to be just as good versus, hey, we're providing an alternative. Right.
But to say, like, the alternative is going to surpass the Super Bowl halftime show. Yeah, what are we going to do? Get Christian girls to dress up provocatively and dance? I mean, it's not going to happen. Even if people watch.
The Christian alternative, they're still going to go back and watch the halftime. Yeah, I just want to see what they're doing. Oh my goodness, that's bad. Let me see another reel.
Okay, that's what, oh, that's still bad.
Okay, let me see another one. That's what people do. That's what they're going to do. And that's just how the human heart works: whether you are saved or lost. Yeah.
And you have to have. Spirit director, self-control to go, you know what? Maybe I don't need to know how they dance. Maybe it's not worth watching another reel. Maybe that one reel was enough to tell me.
I need to love my wife and keep those thoughts out of it because Satan is going to find a beachhead in my life. And ruin it. You don't need to go that way. Right, absolutely. And even for females, I mean, women don't watch something that may.
Take you away from loving your husband the way you should. That's right. So it's not worth it. Yeah. You know, go ahead.
No, I was just going to say, a lot of times, this has absolutely nothing to do with the subject that we're talking about, other than the fact that with past. Super Bowl halftime shows. This is the first one that they announced who was headlining the Super Bowl show halftime show, and I didn't know who they were. Like, even if I didn't listen to them before, like, Lady Gaga is gonna do it.
Okay, I'm not a fan of Lady Gaga, but I mean, at least I've heard that name. I know who this is. This is the conversation. I remember when they announced bad, I was like, Who is that? And I had to have some of the youth, some of the students tell me who Bad Bunny is.
Yeah, and I was like, That I thought it was just based on the name, I thought it was like a woman. I was like, Oh, of course, they're bringing in the whole bunny thing. And they're like, No, that's a dude, that's a guy. I was like, Oh. There are two things I want to point out.
There come to my mind About this person, okay? The the choice. of getting this Man who goes by Bad Bunny to headline the halftime Super Bowl show this 2026. Number one is um Character.
Okay.
What does he believe? Where does he stand? He is. it crossed he crossed dresses. I mean, you uh when I when I went to look it up, this was uh months ago, when you first announced it, I was like, Bad bunny, what is that?
And I was like, oh, he's in a he's in a dress, a long flowy dress. And I was like Oh, he's eat. Is he a cross dresser? Is he a A a transgender person? What is what is he doing?
And then I looked up some of what he believes in, and it's very much into this sexual issues with support for homosexuality, transgenderism, all of this stuff. LGBTQ stuff. Big proponent of this.
So right there for me it was, okay, no. That should not have happened. In putting someone right now, when right now in our country, there's a big values war that is going on. Where do we stand on gender, sexuality, male, female, how God has made us? And and you put somebody who who who Is a strong proponent of this view.
Right.
So, to me, that was a huge problem. It's also interesting to put someone who is a huge proponent of LGBTQ rights and activism and things like that on the world stage when that is a small minority of Americans. Right.
That's a small subset of the American population. And now this person gets the. All the attention. There's this paper-thin veil of, well, guys, that shouldn't matter. Like, we're just doing this because of his music, but that's absolutely not the case.
But you're not, because that's absolutely not the case. You're not, because the halftime show itself is a commentary on issues.
Well, what people have said, and I watched on my social media feed, is that look, he came dressed in decent clothes because he didn't do any of those dressed up at all when he was performing at the halftime show. And the pictures I saw, he seemed decently there, had a tie on, you know, a white suit-like thing.
So, but. When you put a person like that, you dress up that person any way you want to. what they really believe will stand out. Like for example, if you give me certain directions, let's say that you put me up there at the half-time show to talk. I'm not going to sing or dance.
I can't. But you put me up there and you say, Well, you know, this is Florida. you know, is it's a very different culture.
So we want you to dress like this. We want you to have like a you know, just a casual look to it. Don't wear suit and tie like you know, a tuxedo. Right.
Because this is this is very. casual.
Okay, I do. But Those who know me know that I dress up. Right.
Not all the time, but I d I dress Kind of. Casual. I would say more. Semi-professional when I preach.
So that's not me. But if people went to see me on my YouTube channel, they will say, oh, he didn't dress like that. He's not wearing, you know. Assured. With the top button undone.
Right, like a Hawaiian shirt, shirt shorts. Yeah, he's not.
So the same thing with the bad bunny is you had him dressed up for the Super Bowl halftime show just to be able to say, look, he didn't do any of that. Yeah. But if anybody's gonna follow that now They will see the other side of him, which is much more than just those 20, 30 minutes of production. And that's 100% intentional, too. Like all these things are negotiated between the artists, their label, the record label, the NFL.
Don't do it here. Right.
But once people get you, do whatever you want to. Because I watched a thing just on the production side, not the business side, but I watched a documentary on what it takes to make the Super Bowl halftime show production happen. And when I tell you the level of detail that goes into planning, just like on a logistics standpoint, it will make your mind melt. There's no reason to think that on the business end, they're not just as detailed and just as, I hate to even say sinister, but just as there's motives. There's 100% motives, and it's undeniable.
So that to me was one problem: is just because you dress this person up a certain way to say, Look, you Christians, you know, you are overreacting. No, we're not overreacting. We understand. You're presenting that person in a nice, clean-cut, dressed, normal. you know attire But That's the way to lure our people in and then give them your values.
That's right. So I disagree with that. That's not a good thing. Secondly, He It was very political from what I've read. Oh.
No, it was done a lot in Spanish. Most of it was in Spanish. I think the whole thing was in Spanish. The whole thing was in Spanish.
Okay.
And to me, what is the purpose of the Super Bowl? To come up there and make a political statement. I mean, of course, it's a political statement. Don't tell me it's not. What is a political statement?
What's happening in America with ICE doing their job?
So, this is your way of saying, look. Spanish is just as much in language in America. It's here whether you like it or not. Right.
Deal with it. And I understand when people say that, when they get into all the argument about who came here first, did the Spaniards come here first or did the English colonists come here first, we can go on and on. But when it comes down to America as we know today, The Spaniards had very little in the foundational in establishing our nation. Yes, they may have come down to Florida, they may have been in South America and all that. When our nation was founded, it was founded based on the English culture.
Well that needs to be changed. I mean you can say all you want to. I'm glad it was founded on On The English culture, because with that came a certain set of values. Because the English culture was turning towards Judeo-Christian values. Whether they were uh gentlemen entrepreneurs.
Who showed up? In Jamestown, Or they were pilgrims. Separatists who were In Plymouth Colony, either way, they were still coming from that Judeo-Christian foundation. A little bit of different worldview on how they were, why they were here, but they were operating from that. English-speaking world Judeo-Christian Foundation.
And if you say, That doesn't matter. We can sit down and talk about that because it matters a whole lot more than you think. A whole lot more than you think. America is shaped the way it is and looks the way it is. and has the freedoms and values is because Of the English-speaking world.
And that's a whole topic for another day. Yeah. We can definitely cover that with the time that we have left.
Well, actually, there was another thing, too. Didn't he? He had this thing where at the end, At the very end, he said, God bless America and God bless Argentina and God bless Nicaragua and God bless all of these different South American countries. Just to get that final point around, just in case anyone didn't get the subtext, I'm just going to go ahead and tell you I want this said. Yeah, specifically, not any European countries, not any Asian countries.
I don't think, I mean, I could be wrong. I didn't watch that. No, I think I'm wrong. He is Puerto Rican. And I've had Puerto Rican friends for years.
But here, he was there to make a statement. And whether he really believes that himself or he was put up to this, I don't know either way. Of course, Puerto Rico is part of America. And if you go to New York, I mean, it looks like Puerto Rico. And some of my buddies about that.
Yeah, he's a U.S. to me. It's like, hey. Um But But The way it was presented was in your face that We are a very distinct culture.
Now That bothers me. Because America has a culture. We may uh be Irish and Italian? And German And Mexican Argentinian, Indian, Chinese, African I mean, a lot of different people have come here. But when you come here You may keep certain things like your food, or you like the certain music, or whatever, but overall you adapt the American culture.
Now, if you say, What is the American culture? It's just a melting pot. You really need a real lesson in history. Don't regurgitate what you're hearing some favorite author or some professor say that America is not a melting pot. That's a big fat lie.
America is not a melting pot. America has a culture. That's why, you know, you know, think about baseball, you have Yep. Italians. You have Irish.
You have Um Argentinians who who have become Americans And they play baseball. Or they're second, third generation, and they play baseball. What have they done? They have taken on the culture here. Then the question is: what is the American culture?
Glad you asked. It is a culture that is based on Judeo-Christian values.
Well, you think Puerto Rico is not? The way it was presented at the halftime show. No, it was a very different look. Right.
I know. Bunch of Polar Reikins. They don't let their children get up there and dance like that. That's true. For you to say that that's Puerto Rico.
Yeah. That's what we all do in Puerto Rico, that's like saying, I watched a Bollywood movie. Man, you must have been dancing all over the streets in India. I was like, nope, never done that. That's Bollywood.
Right.
It doesn't happen anywhere else. Once in a while, it'll happen in the rich weddings in India. Other than that, and it's horrible. They can't dance. That's why many times you see Indian movie music videos, you have foreigners in there.
You have Europeans dancing. Indians are up in arms about it. I don't like that. They don't know. Other than the main characters who are Indian, everybody else is.
All the background people are European. Wait a minute here. What's happening? They don't even paint them brown or nothing. They just wipe.
And guess who's angry? The Indian dancers, they get upset because it's like, You're taking our jobs. But they can't dance as well as the Europeans. I mean, you know, i India has very talented, gifted people, but But the But the image that you may get after watching a Bollywood movie and think that's India. No.
Not even remotely close.
So, also, with people who are watching this halftime show and think that this is a celebration of Puerto Rico or Southern American or whatever culture, that's nothing to do with that. Weird caricature. Yeah, I would love to celebrate Puerto Rican culture, but that's not it. Yeah, it is. And if you really talk to Puerto Ricans who love America.
And who are believers, they will also, if they're truly honest.
Now, if you get into all this, you know, I want to support. Illegal immigration and all that, then the debate is over. The conversation breaks down. But if you're truly honest, objective, you will say, yeah, that's. That's not how I lived.
I was going to say that I wonder what people who are Puerto Ricans and who are honest, like you said, honest and believers, what they would say. That's the representation of my culture on television. Let me ask you that you're Puerto Rican. Would you like to have your daughter? Dance like that?
Well, I think that would you like to have your son up there and flaunt himself like that?
Okay.
Yeah. You get my point. That's a great point because all the people who would answer that honestly are probably old enough to remember a time when things weren't that way. And I think this whole thing, and I know we're about to run out of time, but this whole thing with the Super Bowl halftime show is, as it always is, a magnet for the young. For the impressionable, for the people who want to have that.
Yeah, because they're looking at this culture and they go, looking at this presentation, going, man, that's an awesome culture. I have no idea why President Trump wants to say what he's saying because I want, who doesn't? If you're 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, you're seeing everybody's partying and having a good time. They're dancing in perfect sync, and you think that's how it actually is. Yeah, of course, beautiful people, perfect dancing, almost like having...
stand-up sex. You're like, that's now, why would anybody have a problem with that? That's freedom, yeah. But that's fun. That's just a bunch of dancers.
Right.
Right.
And has nothing to do with real genuine Poor Rick and culture. That's right. That's right. Another thing I would say in closing is there are many other things that were done. The waving of the flag, the lyrics of the songs that he was singing.
People told me, they said, if you read those in English, you find they're very provocative, they're horrible. And so there are a lot of other things that were done. And even the presentation of the little boy comes up and he gives him that and then Quickly, media picked it up and said, Oh, that's the boy who was held by ICE. No, that was nothing. It was him saying, This is me as a kid.
When I was a kid, I was waiting for that award, and here I am now on the big stage. It This was terrible. the lot of wrong that was done. And I think Americans, especially who are Brown Americans need to wake up and not support these kinds of things, not go along with this. That's right.
What is the hope? What is the action step that we can take away for Americans, especially believers? Truth shall set you free. There you go. Truth will set you free means investigate, find out the real deal.
And don't buy in the media hype, don't buy in leftists who try to sell this as, oh man, you're racist if you don't like the Spanish music, you're racist. When I was very quickly after I'm running away, when I was working in Georgia, on the way back, there was a Spanish music channel. I would listen to that because it would keep me awake after a long, hard day of work. I was going at six o'clock in the morning and I would work all the way to six o'clock in the evening. Driving back the 30 minutes was the hardest part.
I bet. And I would be so tired. I would listen to Chuck Swindahl or Charles Stanley and other famous preachers. And there's once in a while, I'm still dozing us. I would listen to this Mexican music.
Oh, it'll wake you up. It'll wake me up because it's like, I have no idea what they're saying. It's fast paced. It's got the rhythm. And I'm like...
Be like trying to listen to it and stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So. Yeah, don't say that Just because it was in Spanish, that's the problem.
Now we've got nothing to do with that. That's right, that's right, guys. Make sure you join us next time, same time, same place. We're going to be diving into another great topic here on the Clearview Today show. Thanks again to our sponsors for supporting today's episode.
And if today was your first time tuning in, hey, we're glad that you're here. It hopes to chance for the conversation again tomorrow. Don't forget that you can support us by sharing this podcast on any one of our podcasting platforms. And you can always support us financially at Abadanshah.com forward slash games. That's all.
That's right. We also want you to submit your verse of the day. That number is 252-582-5028. Go ahead and text your verse in. Whatever verse has been carrying you through life, we're going to read it live on the air, give you a quick shout out.
Thank you for listening. NRB 2026 is happening in a couple of weeks. We're going to be actually next week, February the 17th. We're going to be there with Dr. Shah.
Also, big, big apologetics conference is happening here at Clearview Church, March the 28th. Make sure you get your tickets. Link is in the description below, and you can use promo code T-O-D-A-Y to get 20% off at checkout. That's right. We love you guys.
We'll see you tomorrow on Clearview Today. Yes.
