Monday, November 6th | Will Rogers

Hello, everyone. Today is Monday, November the 6th. I'm Ryan Hill.

John Galantis. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. Or if you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-5825028, or you can email us at contact at ClearviewTodayShow.com.

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We're going to leave a couple of links in the description, so you can do just that. And the first of the day is coming to us from 1 John 2.27, but the anointing which you have received from him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you. But as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie and just as it has taught you, you will abide in him. John, the master lyricist. Oh, yeah. I was stumbling over just reading it.

Yeah. So John is writing this, and I love the beauty of his language because he's reassuring his audience. He's like, you don't need anyone to teach you this. You don't need anyone to constantly come alongside you and say, no, you are a Christian because X, Y, and Z. He's like, if you have this anointing, if God has adopted you into his family, if you're a believer, then that's inside of you. You have the Holy Spirit inside of you to teach you those things, and you don't have to have anybody come alongside you to show you. Now, you should have role models and you should have people that you look up to, but ultimately, you've got the Spirit of God living inside of you.

Right. You're an active participant in the Christian life, as it were, the drama of Christian Christianity and Christian living. At the same time, the Holy Spirit is there to lead you and guide you, so it's not completely up to you to make all the right decisions at every moment of every day. The Holy Spirit gives you that conviction and that wisdom so that when you are presented with those temptations, it's not just merely a battle of wills. Because if it's just a battle of wills, I'm going to lose every time.

I'll always choose my own sin. But the Holy Spirit is there as our helper, and that's how it was always designed to be. Speaking of things helping by design, we had to completely redesign the back half of our home. And by that, I mean just switching a doorknob around, because my son locked himself in his room for the first time. As soon as you said turn a doorknob around, I was like, yep. Has that ever happened where your kids locked themselves in the room? Absolutely. Locked them in the room, locked us in a room, locked themselves out of a room.

The whole gamut. Everything has happened. I was laying down, I think it was a couple nights ago, and I'm not going to lie, I was dozing so good. I was sleeping so good. It was a Monday night.

I'm sorry, it was Friday night I was there. I was laying down, and I was, I don't know what in the world happened, but I just was dozing off in a dream. I was sleeping so good. And then all of a sudden I hear, and it's Gavin. He's pounding on the door, and I'm like, what?

And I'm like dazed, and I'm like scrambling out of bed, but I'm going the wrong way. And I'm opening the door, I'm jiggling the door handle, but it's locked, and it locks from the other side. And I was like, oh, he has locked. So it's his bedroom on the back half of the house, his bedroom, his brother's bedroom, and then the little, there's just a little hallway area, but it's not really. And that has a door that locks from the other side, because that used to be our bedroom. So he just locked it.

And I was like, okay, it's all good. We're going to just, we're just going to take the doorknob apart, because we didn't have a key for it. And then we did it, doggone it, the next night, Saturday night, he didn't do it again. He did it again, started panicking. It's like as soon as they figure out how to do it, they're like, I'm going to see if this does anything different this time. I know it locked the door this time, but maybe it's going to give me some candy, or maybe it'll turn me into a superhero. Or like, I'll try it again.

Like it's not going to have the same results. And then once he realizes he's locked, instead of just calmly being like, I bet if I turn it the other way, it'll unlock. He just panicked.

He was just panicking and crying and screaming. So Ellie just took the doorknob off, switched it around. And now it's great because he will get out of bed. So we just lock it from our side. I was going to say, that's the best part about switching it around is that you can actually lock them in the room. So like if it's not time for you to get up yet, you ain't getting out of the room. His door doesn't lock and Holden's door doesn't lock. So when we locked the door for the night, he may be in Holden's room, just keeping him up and playing around and doing that stuff.

But that's not our problem. Right. You are sequestered back there. It's bedtime. What you do is you're on your own time.

Holden, you may not get any sleep, but hey, that's just gonna have to be what it is. So your kids lock themselves in the room. Oh yeah. I feel like that's like a rite of passage thing for parents. Like you get to a certain point and you're changing diapers and you're up all night with the feeding and then your kids lock themselves in the room. That's just kind of a norm for kids.

Especially I feel like if you have multiple kids. Yeah. Did you freak out the first time?

Um, no. It was a little bit harrowing because the room they locked themselves in was also the room that I keep my tools in. So like the access to the screwdrivers, I didn't have anything. I was like, Hmm, how am I gonna get this door knob off? So I had to take like a knife and like get in there and unscrew the screws and then take the door knob off from there. That's how we were like at first I was like, Oh, he's locked himself in.

But then I was like, well, I mean, there's nothing back there but toys. He's fine. This is gonna be annoying, but he'll be okay.

And I also know Gavin, he's like panicking himself. So he's just at the door. He's not gonna go wander around and find something to get into.

He's like, because somebody get me out and like that 23 age range in the panic sets in and logic goes out the window. Like I locked myself in the room. This is it. This is where this is how I go. Like my life is over and we're like, just turn it the other way. You've turned it once. Just turn it back the other way. You know, processing is gone. We were trying to talk him into unlocking it.

He just wasn't having it. I bet you guys out there listening have some great stories about your kids locking themselves in the room themselves in the room. Maybe like they like you in a room like you out of the house. Like there's there's a whole list of combinations right in and let us know what's happened with your kids that we want to know that we're not alone as dads.

2525825028. Of course, you can visit us online at Clearview today show dot com. Let's check in with Dr. Shaw. See if any of the kids. Oh, I'm sure I'm eyeballing me around the iMac over there.

Let's see if any of the kids have locked themselves in or out of a door. Stay tuned right after these ads. We'll be right back. Hey, everyone, my name is Ellie, and I'm David. We want to take a minute and let you know how we can actually serve you as you're listening to Clearview today. The Bible paints an extraordinary picture of who we are as a church body. The mission of Clearview Church is to lead all people into a life changing, ever growing relationship with Jesus Christ. A huge part of leading people is praying for them. A big reason that Christians have unanswered prayers in their life is because they're not praying.

You know, First John 515 says, and if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him. If you're listening to the Clearview today show, we want to know how we can pray for you as well. There's a number of ways that you can get in touch with us at Clearview and share your prayer request. But the best way is by texting us at 252-582-5028. You can also send us an email at prayer at ClearviewBC.org.

Or you can download the Clearview app on iTunes or Google Play. You know, on that app, there's a dedicated prayer wall that helps us to get to know what's going on in your life, how we can pray for you, and how we can take any necessary steps to get you moving in the right direction. Thanks for listening. Now let's get back to textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show.

He's also a father. Dr. Shill, have any of your kids, when they were small, have any of your kids ever locked themselves in their room? Yes. Or have they locked you out of a room? Yes.

Really? We were talking about that a little bit earlier. That's kind of like a rite of passage for parents. Like, at some point, your kids are gonna discover the lock, and then immediately they're gonna lock themselves or you out of where you need to be.

But for some reason, they can't figure out how to just turn it back and unlock the door. Right. Well, for us, it happened when our family was visiting India.

And this was the first time for the whole family to go. And we were visiting, the year was 2000. Wow. October of 2000.

So just about this time. Yeah. And Abigail, at the time, was, what, two years old? I think it was.

Really small. Wow. And she was very active. Oh, yeah. Getting into this, getting into that. She ate some mothballs.

I've seen videos. You had home movies of when Rebecca and Abigail were small, and they went to India. And yeah, she was just into everything, just running and jumping. And then she was, you know, they have milk packets.

So just like we have milk come in cartons, they have milk packets. Okay. And so she was playing with those things. I mean, just doing whatever that, if we were to do that growing up, we'd be in trouble. But because it's grandbabies, it's all a matter.

Sure. And then she did the ultimate, which is she went into one of our bedrooms. She did yield. Which had a latch from the outside of the room, okay? It has a latch from the inside, but it also has a latch from the outside.

Now, for us in America, it may seem like, wow, okay, what's the point? What if somebody locks someone in that room? Of course, that can happen. But the latch from the outside is to sorta protect the home. So if somebody gets into the windows, they cannot get into the middle room, which may have your jewelry case and your money that you have put into the safe. So that's how people do it in India.

Not everybody does it, but our family did. So the living room was that room where sorta some of those things were. So these outside latches kinda kept that room safe. So she goes into the other room and locks the door from the inside. Oh, no. And we're like, oh, how do we handle this? Now, thank goodness, this is a long story. How much do you wanna hear?

No, no, you're good, you're good, you're good. So when my dad first came to that church, okay, this house that I grew up in was part of a Sunday school room. Two Sunday school rooms are really long. So when you sit, you have a long room, that's pretty much like what we have in the ladies Sunday school class right here, in the men's Sunday school class.

That's what the rooms were, side by side. So one was for the young kids, one was for the teenagers, those were the Sunday school rooms. So my dad, he told the deacons, he said, I need to be here by the church.

Kind of very opposite to how pastors do it in America, is like, I wanna be as far away from the church as possible. Here, he wanted to be there. So he converted those Sunday school rooms into their home, and attached a bathroom to it, a kitchen, and all that, and then later on, another room was added. So the window, this will all make sense, the window from the Sunday school room that at one time looked out into the churchyard was actually looking into the other room. So we had a window from one, oh, I see. From in the church to into the other. No, no, from the Sunday school room into the other room in the house. Because it was added on. Because it was added on. And they said, ah, let's leave the window there.

We can keep an eye on the kids. That's pretty awesome. So we could play like train in our, I used to remember playing train on the windows inside the house. Anyways, I hope that makes sense.

Yeah, it does. But that helped that day because when she locked herself into this room, immediately we were like, oh, let's go to the window. So we all ran to the window and there she was, oh, they're just playing away.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, yeah. We're like, Abbie, go open the door.

Open the door. And she was like, huh? Yeah.

Yeah, it's two year old. You know, she's having a good time. And we're like, oh my goodness, what are we gonna do? And the window is so far away from the door so you can't like put a hanger in or something and open that door.

It's not happening. So then she fell asleep. No, she just laid down and went to sleep. Sleep, so what do we do? Like break the door? Can't do that.

We made these doors rock solid so that no thief can go from the window to the door inside. So we're like, and my mom is like upset with my dad. Like, you didn't have to do this.

You didn't have to put this and that. And he's like, I didn't know that one day this would happen. That's the perfect.

That's like life with father is happening in real time. So then finally, my dad's like, wait, what I can do is I can take the outside latch of this door and we'll be able to see inside and then see if I can use a hanger and unlock the door. So that's what we did. That's pretty great.

Wow. So he took that screwdriver, undid everything, and then we put a, and then just like feeling it out. Like, I think the latch is up here. Click, click, and then we walk in there. And then we had to tape that door for the whole time that we were in India.

Tape the latch so Abigail doesn't get to it. That's a long story. If it happens once, it's probably going to happen again. But it's such a universal thing. I'm glad you told that story because it's such a universal thing that we get to, like it's not just for us. We get to broadcast it out to so many people. So they can hear it and be like, yup, my kid has done the same thing. So it doesn't matter if you're in America, doesn't matter if you're in India.

Wherever in the world kids are going to do that. It's a common thing. Yes, it did. It's a common thing.

It definitely did. And John, I'm glad you said broadcast because we talk about the show being a podcast. We talk about the videos of the show, but we are first and primarily a radio show.

That's right. We are broadcast on the radio. People listen on the radio every single day as well as over the Truth Network, that radio opportunity there.

You can listen on an app on your phone or online, online radio. By the way, people love your stories, man. People do.

They do. Well, thank you. We always get a lot of responses whenever you share a story about your childhood or about the kids when they were little. People are like, I love it. I feel like I know his family.

People listen on the radio and they love to hear stories that touch their lives and that they're like, you know what, I've been there. Yeah. I've been there.

Thank you. It's what connects us. It makes us human.

Well, there's so many of these people who have gone before us. Radio is something that's been going on for a while. Yes.

It's not a new medium, but it is a profound medium in that it has impacted people for years and there are people who have gone before us and paved the way so that we're able to do a show like this. And one of those people that we're talking about today was Will Rogers. Yes. And two days ago, at the time that this show's gonna air, two days ago was his birthday. That's right. And then, of course, Will Rogers was a very famous figure in newspaper and radio and many different forms of media.

Yeah, yeah. He was born on November the 4th, 1879, so a little after the Civil War, born in Oklahoma. His mom was Native American and he grew up on this ranch-type farm out in Oklahoma and little did anyone know that America's cowboy philosopher was born. Yep, and there's so many people who are on the radio today or have shows or have broadcast jobs who have never heard of this man, who don't know that this man paved the way for their careers to yet exist.

Right, right. And he had an uncanny ability to connect with people. And the way he would do that, and I've read a lot about his life and I have bought books with quotes from Will Rogers. And what was unique about him is that he could say things with just a turn of the phrase and people would laugh and they could connect with him. And he just had a way, and he would just stand there with his cowboy hat sort of tilted with his, what do you call, I'm drawing a blanket, what cowboys wear, like chaps on and the rope in his hand and he would just kind of sit there and just twirl it around and make a trick with this and that and then he will talk about politicians and he could talk about this and that. And people loved it.

Very creative. And think about it, this is not happening in 2010 or 2020 or 2023. This was happening almost 100 years ago, right? And he was before his time. Yeah, his first appearance on the radio show, or on the radio was in 1922, that's 101 years ago.

Yeah, yeah, that's right, you're right. And it's crazy because this is a man who used every, and this is something that I know your heart is passionate about, he used the newspaper, he used radio, he used movies when it started coming out, whatever medium it was. He used, what do you call it, not a sound list, but what do you call it? Like the silent movies. Silent movies and then the talkies. The talkies, yeah. The talkies. By the way, to this day in India, those theaters are called talkies.

Really? Yeah, they're all talkies. I remember seeing a joke on TV, I can't remember what show it was, it was like back in my day, we called them talkies. I didn't know that was real. To this day, they call them talkies.

I thought it was a joke. I didn't know they actually called the picture talkies. Yeah, like there's several in my hometown, like at least four or five, and I went by one of them, and one is called Vasant Talkies. But at the time growing up, I was like, oh, talkies. Didn't realize, oh, they're talking, so they're talkies.

Yeah, it's crazy. They have sound in it, they have people talking. Yeah, even now, we call them films, but even that's kind of outdated, because very few film on film anymore.

They're not actually on film anymore. But someone like Will Rogers, I see a lot of him in your example, because it didn't matter what the medium was, he's going to use it to reach people and influence people. And even now, with you, you're a very rare pastor in that you're gonna look at every, like we bring stuff in like, hey, what if we start a TikTok account? Yes. What if we do Instagram stuff? Yes.

What if we are on the radio? Yes. And that's how I think we should be, if we want to capture the flag for Christ, that we should try every available Christ-honoring means to capture the world for Jesus Christ. Yes, that's right.

That's what I believe. So many times, I feel like Christians stay out of the conversation. So many times, it's let's make church really, really great so that people want to come to church. And there's merit to that, and we should make church great, and we should make church inviting for people. But there are some people who just, frankly, are not going to walk into a church.

They're not going to, of their own volition, like I'm going to go to church today, and I haven't before now. So why not take the message that we have and take it outside of the church walls, which is something that I admire so much about you, Dr. Shaw, is that you will, just like you said, John, capitalize on every opportunity. What can we do? How can we get the message out?

What can we do to extend the reach? There's no avenue of broadcast, or there's no avenue of getting the message out that's beneath you. And what I mean by that is, like someone like Will Rogers, back in his day, in the 20s and 30s, newspaper was it. Nowadays, pastors are like, I'm not going to waste my time being in the newspaper. Every other month, you have an article in the newspaper. Oh yes, absolutely.

Because there's no avenue of communication that you feel is beneath you. Right, right. I'm not just, I'm going to be on TV and movie screens. Hey look, I'll write articles for the local newspaper. Absolutely, and that makes a big difference, because the community knows that this is a pastor who will take the time to write an article for just a newspaper. The article that I write in the newspaper is not for some other place.

It is for this newspaper. Now, for some people, it's not a big deal. It's like, why are you wasting so much time just for that? I don't consider that wasting my time, because this community is very important to me.

Why don't I make things special for them? Now, eventually, I will try to use it for this paper and that paper, or this paper and that magazine, but if I don't do excellent work here, why do you think I should get the opportunity to write in that magazine or that other newspaper? That's right. I should do excellent work in this one here, and I've been doing that, I'm not going to say it was excellent or not, but at least for me, it's good, since 2008.

Wow. So 2008 till 2023 is how many years? 2008 to 2023. 15 years.

For 15 years, I've been writing in our local newspaper, because I truly believe this is important. But going back to Will Rogers, some of his statements are so good. Can I read a few of them? Yeah, let's do it. Yeah, absolutely.

Here's one. We're talking about his birthday, right? November the 4th. He said, I was born on November 4th, which is election day.

My birthday has made more men and sent more back to honest work than any of the days in the year. Very true. Here's another one.

You can be killed just as dead in an unjustified war as you can when one protecting your own home. That's true. Let's see.

Here's, I'm trying to find another one here. A man only learns by two things. One is reading, and the other is association with smarter people. That's pretty wise. Very true. I can go with that. I can attest to that. We don't have to worry about anything.

No nation in the history of the world was ever sitting as pretty, but if we want to, if we want anything, all we have to do is go and buy it on credit. Fair enough. He was before his time, but I was about to say, that could be applicable today.

Yeah, it sure could. Some things just never change. And there's something that should be said about that. The reason I was attracted to his life is because he had a way with words.

That's true. When I began my ministry, or call into the ministry, I was like, man, I can say those things, but they're so boring. They land with a thud. Like, you know, I say something, it's like, I gotta find a way to say these things. And somehow I stumbled upon Will Rogers, maybe in my classes in college, or somebody said something that Will Rogers had said, and I'm like, who's that again? So when he bought a book with a little bit of his life and his quotes, and what all he accomplished, and I was like, wow, oh wow, that's funny. I like the way he said that. And I try to use that in my main point. If you notice the first section is the main point, I always try to say something in a way that is memorable.

Doesn't always work like Will Rogers, but I try. Yeah. Well, I think there's also your background in broadcast helps us a lot because I started getting into this stuff in a time where YouTube was the thing. And YouTube used to have like a 10 minute upload time, then it came to 30 minute upload time. Now it's, you can have video essays than there are that are multiple hours long on silly stuff.

Like, hey, here's an analysis of my favorite TV show. It's three hours long. Will Rogers had like 15 minutes in his radio show.

We have a 30 minute time. And so I think your background comes into it in handy. Even in your sermons, it's 35 minutes.

I have this window of time to say something that will change somebody's life. And so it puts the pressure on to get those words right. And something else Will Rogers would do is that he was aware of what was happening in politics.

True. Often pastors are unaware of what's happening in the world. And they just, I can talk to you about the Bible.

And that's great. We want to hear from the Bible, about the Bible from you. But we would love to also hear what is your take on what happened in the media yesterday? What happened across the globe in Israel?

Or what's happening in our nation's politics and how the election year is gearing up? We want to know something about that. And Will Rogers sort of had a pulse for that. Now I may not agree with everything he said and did, but I think he had a knack for kind of encapsulating what's happening and put it in a way that people go, huh, I like that, I like that. And then they ended up using his quota everywhere. And he never got credit for that at times. It's funny because we think that only now in today's culture do we look to celebrities for political insight, but it was happening even back in the 20s.

Oh yeah, 100 years ago. And I feel like he's a great example of illustrating the importance of communicating and communicating well. Not just this is the fact that I want to get across, but I want to say this in a way that is captivating.

And through this radio show, through your messages, that is something that you do very well, is saying things in a way that captivates people, that continues to make them think long after that moment, whether it's a 29 minute radio show or a 35 minute sermon or the video that we put online or an article in the newspaper, it continues to make people think, continues to make them engage with that content. Thank you, thank you. Here's some more quotes if I can give by Will Rogers on politics and politicians. He said, remember, write to your congressman. Even if he can't read, write to him.

Bro, bro is firing shots. Here's another one. We should elect a president. We should elect a magician. Man, why don't they pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting anybody from learning anything?

If it works as good as prohibition did in five years, we will have the smartest people on earth. Dude. My man is, I like those because they're clear and concise and they're pointed, but they're not deep enough to really wound, you know what I mean? Yeah, they're not scathing, but they're biting enough that they're like, ooh.

Yeah, got a little bit of bite to them. As I let this country get hungry and they're going to eat, no matter what happens to budgets, income taxes or Wall Street, Washington mustn't forget who rules when it comes to a showdown. Wow. We elect our presidents, be they Republican or Democrat, then start daring them to make good. Oh, here's a funny one.

Let's see, here's a good one. Somebody's always telling us in the papers how to prevent war. There's only one way in the world to prevent war and that is for every nation to tend to its own business. Bro, that's pretty true. Very true. That's pretty true.

That's funny. Well, as we wrap the show today, Dr. Shah, what encouragement would you give to people who hear this and they hear stories about Will Rogers and they hear about you and the way that you communicate and they're like, man, I want to be that. I want to be a better communicator. I want to say things in a way that makes people think. I want to say things in a way that's innovative and captivating.

What advice would you give people? For one, I would say read, read, read, read. There's no substitute of reading. I mean, David was telling me last night, he was reading and I'm like, hey, that's great, read.

Because that really energizes your brain and gives you fodder for thought. Use the talents God has given to you and pray that God will use you. That's right. I love that. That's what all of us should be praying. If you guys enjoyed today's episode, if you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, if you enjoyed the conversation about Will Rogers today, write in and let us know, 252-582-5028. Or you can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com.

You can click that link at the bottom, become one of our giving partners and become part of the Clear View Today Show family as we seek to reach the nations with the gospel. John, tomorrow, what are we looking at? Tomorrow, we are looking at another influential figure in America's history, that is Billy Sunday. Billy Sunday, very exciting. Lots of influential figures we're talking about this week.

They all contribute in a way to what we're doing here today and to where Christianity is in today's kind of cultural landscape. That's right. Make sure you guys tune in tomorrow. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clear View Today. We'll see you tomorrow on Clear View Today.