Thursday, May 23rd | Rewriting History

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And use that promo code T-O-D-A-Y. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. You can find us online by visiting ClearviewTodayShow.com. Or if you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028.

Or you can email us at contact at ClearviewTodayShow.com. That's right. And you can… Do you see this?

Are you doing that? What? Did you see? It was like dancing. Oh. It was like dancing up here. No, I didn't.

The XLR cable was just like magically dancing on the table. Look at that. What is that? Are you doing that?

I was hitting my leg against the table. We want you guys to… I don't know if you can see that on the video. We want you guys to help us keep the conversation going by supporting the show. You can share it online with your friends and your family. Leave us a good five-star review on iTunes or Spotify, anywhere you get your podcasting content from.

We're going to leave a couple of links right there in the description so you can do just that. And today's verse of the day is coming to us directly live at five from 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 23. It says, Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sanctification is an ongoing process. Life-long.

It's something that I wish was quick, but it is not. But it is God who does the sanctifying. It says the God of peace Himself.

He is the one who is sanctifying you, spirit, soul, and body. And that is sometimes a painful process. It's a growing, it's a stretching process. But it's a process of making you look more like Jesus.

And I can tell you what's painful and stretching of it for me, just like Ryan said, I'm very project-oriented. I have a goal, and I'm going to accomplish that goal no matter what. And so the entire time I'm doing it, I see the destination. There's no destination with sanctification. There's no like, okay, cool, I'm done.

I'm like Christ now. Well, there is, but it's like, you know you won't ever achieve it. Yeah, you'll never get it this side of heaven.

You'll get it in heaven. Right. So it's just sort of like a perpetual waiting, which can be frustrating.

Exactly. But it's in that waiting that God reveals, you know, who Jesus Christ is through you. And so becoming more and more and more like Him, it's an ongoing process with a destination that you know will only be achieved in perfection. And so if anything, it teaches, at least with me, it's teaching me patience and humility.

That's right. And part of that sanctification process comes from spending time daily in God's Word. If you enjoy these verses of the day, you can get them for free on iPhone or Android by downloading the Date the Word app, a partial sponsor of this show of today's episode.

Every single day connects today's date with God's Word with the hope of making it more memorable for you. We're going to give out some advice on this segment. Today's segment is Advice No One Needed. This is where we give you guys some unsolicited advice to help you get through your week. It's unsolicited. Nobody asked for this. It is unlicensed. But you're going to get it.

And it is unprofessional. I'm going to tell you right now. If you don't work out. Do. Trying to.

Yeah, I'm trying to. That's it. That's the end of the segment. If you don't work out, go ahead and turn the podcast off. Wow. Because it's not for you.

No, I'm joking. You can you can listen to. Yeah, I do work out. You need to get in the gym. So, fellas and lady fellas, if you're on the bench press. Right. And you are just pushing it up.

Right. You're like, golly, you're like 190, 200 pounds. You're starting to get to the to the apex of what you can lift. You're getting up there.

You only get like, golly, maybe two reps. But you notice and my shoulders hurting. Right.

Shoulders should not be hurting on your bench press. But for a lot of people, it does. And you know why? It's because your form is messed up.

You want to know how I know? Because my form is messed up. I hate that for you.

I had bad form. I'd be flaring my elbows all out, wobbling all over the place, trying to get that weight. Be like, go down and wait. Go down and wait. I'm like, I'm not going down and wait. Then when I did go down and wait, I had a workout partner.

I was like, why are you lifting lighter? You can do more. You can do so much more. I can do more. I can get it up there. But in the process, I'm going to tear my whole shoulder out.

So I found a magic bullet. And I promise you, if you spend some money, your form will improve. And this is advice that no one else is going to give you.

They're going to tell you work hard, discipline yourself, practice your form. Forget all that. Buy a slingshot on Amazon. Buy a slingshot.

Mark Bell Slingshot on Amazon. Here's what you're going to do. I should have brought it in. In fact, I've got my gym bag here. Let me cut real quick. Let me cut the show. This is insane.

I've never done this before. I'm going to go get my gym bag, and I'll be right back. I'm going to show you all the slingshot. Well, here we go. Alright, I'm back.

Welcome back. This is the original Mark Bell Slingshot. They are not a sponsor of this show, although I feel like they probably should be.

Can somebody reach out to markbellslingshot.com? Here's what you're going to do. You're going to put your arms through these little holes right here, right? Sure.

Now, disclaimer. You're going to look dumb with this thing. Ain't no way to look cool in this. But here's what you're going to do. You're going to put this on your arms, right? I can already tell you this is stretchy.

Not stretchy, but this is tight. It keeps a lot of tension on your elbows and stuff. Here's what you're going to do, Ryan.

You're going to bring this thing back right here. I can't put my shoulders and elbows out if I try. You've got to tuck them. I've got to tuck them. Oh, feel that stretch. Push it out. Bring it back.

I've got 205 pounds on me right now. I'm going to do it one more time. If you're not watching the video podcast, y'all need to watch this because this is going to change the way y'all been.

If you're not watching the video podcast, the sounds that are happening in your headphones won't make sense. I can't get it up. I can't get it down. What do you think, Dave? You don't look impressed.

I'm not impressed at all. Why would you not just get your form right naturally? When I tried to go down in weight, you were like, why are you lifting lighter? The thing is, when you go to lifting light, it's not that you went down in weight.

You go down an absurd amount. To get my form right. Right, but you don't need to go down that far to get your form right. What I'm saying is, you're trying to do 205. Your form's not right.

Okay, that's fine. Drop down. When you think drop down, you go to 95.

That's not dropping down. I told this to Nicholas earlier because Nicholas said this is the stupidest thing he's ever seen. Tell me, ladies, do I look stupid right now? Yeah.

Maybe don't tell me. Yeah, don't because my fragility can't handle that. My goal, look at me. Is it helping you, though? Is it helping you put the weight up and keep your shoulder intact?

Yes. And look at me, Dave. Look at me in the face. My goal is not to lift heavier.

Why do you want that? But if you'll let me finish, my goal is to protect my shoulders. I don't want my shoulders ripping out of their socket like a certain Mr. Tim that we know.

Remember him? Yeah, then strengthen your shoulders. I'm trying to do that. You're not going to do that with that because it takes your shoulders out of the equation. But I'm not going to bring my shoulders into an exercise that don't need them. I'm going to do it one more time for the audience.

The bench press does use your shoulders. Hey, audience, if you all are watching, watch this one last rep. Watch the form and tell me if I'm right or if David's right. Look at that. I feel it.

You want to try it? That's okay. Okay. Anyway, that's my advice. Buy a Mark Bell slingshot. It will dramatically improve your bench. And not just to lift heavier, it'll take your shoulders out, man.

It'll protect the ball and socket joints. There you go. There you go. You heard it here first. I'm going to see if Dr. Shaw wants to use it.

His bench has been going up, too. Yeah. Write in and let us know. 252-5825028 or you can visit us online at clearevutodayshow.com. Try the slingshot out and it works for you. Send a picture and let us know. This episode is sponsored by the Mark Bell Slingshot. It's not yet, but it should be.

Mark Bell, contact us at 252-5825028. Stay tuned. We'll be back after this. Elizabeth, my darling bride, what would you say is the most beneficial thing you could do for yourself in the morning? Probably drink an entire pot of coffee when sitting.

I'd say that's a close second. Now, the best thing you can do for yourself is to start every morning with a daily devotional. Only being one to talk about.

Well, as it turns out, we have two. Right now, you can unlock the power of daily inspiration, wisdom, and spiritual growth in our devotional series, 30 Days Through a Crisis and 30 Days to a New Beginning. Written by our pastor, Dr. Abaddon Shaw, and his wife, Nicole, the 30 Days devotional series is designed to reveal new biblical truths every single day. That's right, and every day is a new revelation to guide you on your Christian journey toward a more meaningful and purposeful life. You can pick up your copy today from our website, that's ClearviewBC.org, or you can grab both books on Amazon, Apple Books, and Audible.

That's 30 Days Through a Crisis and 30 Days to a New Beginning by Abaddon and Nicole Shaw. And don't forget, these are only the first two in an expanding devotional series, so keep your eyes peeled for future installments. Thanks for listening. Now let's get back to the show. Welcome back to Clearview Today with Dr. Abaddon Shaw, 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 or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028. That's right, and we're here once again in the Clearview Today studio with Dr. Abaddon Shaw, who is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show. Dr. Shaw, I got to tell you the good news, my friend. Between this morning's intro and the segment now, I actually busted out the slingshot, I went back to the gym, tried the lift again, ended up lifting like 300 pounds. 300 pounds?

I'm talking about the three. For real? No, of course not.

I was like, wow. That's what Jeff likes to call a radio lie. No, I did. That's a what? A radio lie. That's a radio lie. That's where you just tell a bald-faced lie on the radio. It's still wrong, but you're on the radio.

That's really the only difference. And that means nothing. But I did lift 205 with the slingshot. I hit it for six.

I'm scared to go any higher just yet. How much are you doing, Nick? He said he could do 205. I believe him. I believe him.

Nick's pretty strong. Yeah. I got the slingshot, so I don't know if I've shown you the slingshot yet, but it's basically like an elastic band that keeps your shoulders from getting engaged. I tried to use it one time. You tried to use it? With our buddy Tim.

He put one on me, and I'm like... Hashtag Tim. You didn't like it? It was just not my size. I'm with you. Different sizes. Yeah, there are.

There are. But it helps me because I like taking my shoulders out of the equation completely. And it does help. I'm not going to sit here and be like, oh, it's all on me. It is helping me get weighed up. But I would rather have a little bit of help than tear my shoulders up. That's true.

Given the alternative, that is kind of a preferable option. Do you have a dream bench? If I can lift this much, I'll be satisfied.

I would say 235. That's a good goal. That's what I want to do. Nice. But it's just been this, that, and the other. Sometimes this happens. Sometimes I'm out of town.

Sometimes I hurt my shoulder or whatever for a completely unrelated reason, and then back away. It's like, okay, got to get back in, build it back up. But the key is to go back in. That's right.

That's the key. So if today's an encouraging word, it's to go back in. Get back in. Get back in it. Get back in.

Don't let one defeat or one struggle or one problem keep you from going back. Well, on today's episode, we are talking, today's actually the anniversary of the passing, it happened a few years ago, of the explorer Hernando de Soto. He was absolutely arrested. A few years ago. I remember that it was just yesterday.

Just yesterday in 1542 he passed away. He was exploring around the Mississippi, the Ole Miss, that's what we used to call it. Right. And he called it the Rio, what is it, Rio Grande or something like that?

But it's Ole Miss, man. I remember. I remember De Soto.

I remember the first time he ever came to Clearview. I said, that young man right there, he's got potential. Yeah, sure.

He will be a jerk. I said, yeah. True. He was only 41 when he died.

Yeah. He's young. But he's got moxie.

That's what I said. He's got moxie. The kid's got moxie. You know, Dr. Shaw, if people are listening, they don't know who Hernando de Soto was because they didn't go to school.

Right. Could you just give us a brief description of this man? Well, he was a Spanish explorer. He was a conquistador.

He went to the south. And when I say south, I'm talking about places like Nicaragua, the Yucatan Peninsula. I've been to the Yucatan interior to, like, okay, so if you have been to Cancun for vacation, so imagine leaving Cancun and going west. You'll be in the Yucatan.

But you cannot do that. The way we did it, we went all the way south because we were there for missions, not for excursion or just to tour. So we went south and then we met with a church there in Cherama. And then we made our way into the Yucatan.

And there were places that still did not have electricity. Wow. And what year was that?

This was 2007 and then again 2008. Wow. Yeah. So two years in a row you were able to come? Yeah. Or was it 2006 and 2008? I can't remember. But we went twice.

Gotcha. And it was quite amazing just to go there and spend time with people. And there was Christians there that we met. I mean, of course, there are Catholics, a lot of Catholics there. But Catholicism is just a way of life.

It's not really a faith for them. So sharing the gospel and hearing people come to know Christ was very awesome. And we even went to some parts of Yucatan where there are still pyramids buried under the forest. Wow. Yeah. That's wild. That is incredible. It's crazy.

Yes. And I had known about it and there was in the village where we were staying there was a covered, I guess, shelter. And they had some massive stones that they had taken out of some of those pyramid areas.

And it had writings on it and all that kind of stuff. And so I was like, wow, this is here. And then I talked to some of the people and they said, yeah, we'll go hiking if you want to go.

I was like, I want to go. So I went with a couple of these guys and went into the interior and saw the pyramids, stood on the pyramids. And it was quite amazing because unlike the pyramids of Egypt, which I have seen now several times, these are all covered with woods. But you can see the angle and you go, wait, OK, I see it.

I am standing on top of a pyramid. But I share all that for a reason because people like Hernando de Soto went there looking for gold. And they did find some. And so they had the idea that if there is gold in the south, there's got to be gold in the north. And so they came to what we know today as the United States.

It was not the United States at the time. And this is in the early 1500s. And he made his way through the Appalachian Trail, went into Alabama, Mississippi, that area. And long story short, he was not a good man. Really?

Yeah. A conqueror. Well, not just a conqueror, but he was a brutal person. A lot of indigenous people, we're talking about Native Americans, suffered horribly under him because he tortured them. He beat them.

His people listened to him and did whatever he told them to do, and they were horrible. And just to find out, where is the gold? Where are you hiding the gold? Tell me where the gold is. Like, there's no gold. But he could not compute in his head that he found gold in the south.

There's got to be gold in the north. Do you feel like a lot of time back then, because the New World was sort of seen as this gold mine of opportunity. And a lot of times people will attribute things that men like DeSoto did with just the founding of America.

That's just what it was. Not just here in this specific case, but across the board. We have to acknowledge that there are some people who came. Maybe somebody would say, not some, many.

I would say many, but I wouldn't say all. Because a lot of them who did come, they came with a reason to explore the new land. They came to propagate Christianity, to bring the gospel the way they said it, which sounds so not right to us today, but they came to bring gospel to the heathens. Okay, the language may be off, but what they were saying is, we need to share the gospel with these people who have been forgotten so they can come to know Christ, and so they can have heaven forever. And that was the reasoning behind it. Even though the terminology is a little dated at that point, the mission we would certainly align with.

Yeah, the mission is definitely worth applauding, but does not mean that everybody who got in a ship and came this way came with, oh, I'm here to witness to the lost. People like DeSoto came and they... Looking for gold and power. And in the process, I will kill anybody. I will destroy lives.

I will destroy cultures. That's where it's important to have a balanced approach when you're looking at history, because not every person is a saint, and not every person is just this horrible wretch that you make them out to be. There's gray areas, and there's people who would fall in the camp that we would agree with, and there's people who would say, hey, what this person did was wrong. But so many times in this age of revisionist history that we're living in, people are going to try to paint with broad strokes and say everyone was like this, or no one did this, and it's just not that simple. Well, I even think about with men like DeSoto or even like Christopher Columbus. A lot of times they won't even let you say in 1492, he sailed ocean blue.

They won't even let you because of atrocities that he committed. So the thing is we can't even talk about the accomplishments as though they're overshadowed by these things. Rather than taking this balanced approach and saying, hey, listen, the accomplishments are real, and we are 100% benefiting from them, and we don't have to sign off or give our thumbs up on those things. We can look at it and say, hey, listen, I'm very glad that this happened. I really wish this hadn't happened, and that's not being taught now. The history of our nation, the history of these United States is definitely complicated.

It is definitely checkered, and we need to acknowledge that. What I find very tragic is that we're trying to revise that history, take out anybody and everybody who may be sort of straddling the fence, who may be, on one hand, a good person who was fighting for human rights, but at the same time he had slaves or he made some comments that were racist. So we're trying to completely clean out that history.

My suggestion is don't clean it out. Let it stand, because in the future, the future generation will look back and see, okay, I see the good these people did, but I also see the places where they blew it, they messed up. If you clean out the history completely, guess what you have? You have a very fake history, because it looks like, oh, that's it, these are good people, they're all good. I wonder why they had slavery. I wonder why they destroyed Native Americans.

I don't know. There were some bad people there. So you're trying to build future generations and future civilizations on false history, almost like mythology.

Yeah. In your effort to eradicate the bad people, you have created false history. False history is very dangerous because it gives you the illusion that there were no bad people.

And that's not true. How will this next generation fight the bad people that are coming one day if they don't recognize that there were bad people back then? There were people who were conflicted, because they will run across situations where they will be conflicted. Look, there were people who fought their battles. We're fighting a battle. Our kids, our grandkids will fight a battle someday. They need to realize that, yes, there will be a conflict of conscience. And in those moments, you have to make that choice and go, okay, this is really good for me, but it's going to hurt somebody else.

So how do I balance this out? When you try to whitewash history, or maybe some of the color if you want to say that, you're trying to take away that conflict. And I think it's important to note that when we talk about acknowledging these atrocities that were committed, we're not saying that they didn't happen. Oh, absolutely.

I think we need to talk about that. Yes, but acknowledging that they happened and that they shouldn't have happened is not the same as admitting that that's what our country was built on, because I feel like that's the logical next step. It's like, okay, so all those things happened. So now you have to admit that our country is built on blood and greed and deception and conquest, and that doesn't mean... Entire human civilization is built on blood and greed. So go back to Cain and Abel. Cain killed his brother Abel.

Go further down. You can see how human beings have been ruthless and cruel and merciless towards each other. So what's the point? That's a great point. The second generation of humanity was bloodshed. And the first generation was blaming each other. What I think needs to happen is, number one, acknowledgement.

Yes, there were some horrible atrocities done, especially against the indigenous people. Secondly, we need to make sure that we don't quickly call everybody who boarded a ship as, yep, they were all the same. Because you can do it. Because that's the trend right now, to make everybody look bad.

And you can do that. It's just not academic integrity. Well, yeah, because you're doing exactly what we're preaching to the rest of the world not to do, which is to group people by color. So these people were all of one color.

They must have been all of one mind. And we're saying on one side of our mouth, that's bad. Don't do that to people. The other side of our mouth, we're saying, well, since they lived so long ago, and they did do some pretty unjustifiable things, we can do it to them.

Right, right. That's what I'm saying here, is don't do that. Don't make the same mistakes that others have made.

Maintain academic integrity. Call spade a spade, but at the same time, there are times you'll have to go, no, there were some good people. We cannot forget, okay, if we're talking about Hernando de Soto, then let's also talk about Antonio de Montesinos. He also was one of those who came, but he was part of a Dominican group of missionaries that came, and they came to Haiti. And he was horrified by the carnage that was going on and how the Spanish were killing the locals and how the atrocities were taking place right before their eyes, but nobody was saying anything. And so he was the first one. So Antonio was a Spaniard, was the first one to stand up and say, it's wrong, slavery is wrong. But how often have you heard of that name?

I've never heard of his name. This is 1511. This is about the same time as de Soto, maybe a little bit earlier.

That guy can definitely bench 225, by the way, 100%. Listen to what he said. He said this. This is one of his sermons on Christmas, all right?

This is December 21st, 1511. He said this. In order to make your sins against the Indians known to you, I have come upon this pulpit. Now, you talk about your ideals and how great you are and how you stand for truth today.

Forget it. You won't have the guts to stand up back then, knowing that your very people may take your head off. And he's standing there while people like de Soto are all around.

So trust me when I say you don't line up with people like Montesinos. He said this. He said, in order to make your sins against the Indians known to you, I have come upon this pulpit. I, who am the voice of Christ, crying in the wilderness of this island, and therefore it behooves you to listen, not with careless attention, but with all your heart and senses so that you may hear it. For this is going to be the strangest voice that you ever that ever you heard, the harshest and the hardest and most awful and most dangerous that ever you expected to hear.

This voice says that you are in mortal sin, that you live and die in it for the cruelty and the tyranny you use in dealing with these innocent people. Wow. Now, in twenty twenty four, of course, you can run around the street and call for justice and all that. Would you do that in 1511? No.

Not happening. Now that's a man. OK, now that guy benches 225.

I think it's three twenty four. This is what he said. Tell me, by what right or justice do you keep these Indians in such a cruel and horrible servitude? On what authority have you waged a detestable war against these people who dwelt quietly and peacefully on their own land?

Are these not men? Have they not rational souls? Are you not bound to love them as you love yourselves? When we forget that there were people standing up, there were people who were conflicted, there were people who had slaves, and yet they were like, this is not right. Right. Why forget them? Yeah.

So when you have a revisionist history mindset, you for one, it's not academic integrity, but also you are causing a lot of problems, a lot of pitfalls for the next generation. That's true. That's true.

Because you're creating for them a narrative that did not exist and you're promising them a future that will not exist. Right. That's right. So Antonio not only spoke those words, but he also stood before King Ferdinand II. He explained to them, look, this is what's happening, whether you know it or not.

This is what some of these people are doing when they get on the ship and they go to win the people. And something else important about this guy, one of the slave owners by the name of Bartolome de las Casas heard the sermon. And he was angry. He didn't like that. But later on, he became very convicted that he became a spokesman, I mean, very outspoken, for love and kindness towards the indigenous people.

And Antonio de Montesinos, I would say, is the first defender of human rights in America. That's helpful for us. And that's our prayer behind episodes like this on the Clear Read Today shows. We want to be able to educate you. We want to be able to resource you and give you the tools that you need to find that accurate data and help your kids and grandkids and those around you do the same. Because otherwise we're just saying, hey, read who we agree with.

That's not the case. True scholars go out there and they do your own research sounds sort of that's everybody saying that these days, but it's kind of what it is. Listen to Clear Read Today show.

We do talk about a lot of books and we do talk about these. I mean, you probably did not hear of Antonio de Montesinos, but I hope you do now. That's true. Now you've got to lead to go chase down.

That's right. I didn't know about it before today. And then now, you know, my mind is expanding and I pray that yours at home is as well.

If you enjoyed today's episode, write in and let us know two five two five eight two five zero two eight. Or you can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. Don't forget you can partner with us financially on that same website. Every gift that you give goes not only to building up this radio show, but countless other ministries for the gospel of Jesus. Lots of great content coming to you very soon from the Clear Read Today show. Make sure you guys stay tuned and tell a friend to tune in and listen to the Clear Read Today show. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clear Read Today.