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David, how many bottles of water do you think you drink a day? Well, actually, I only drink Flamin' Hot Mountain Dew, Strawberry Yoo-Hoo, and the occasional Pepto Bismol. Flamin' Hot Mountain Dew? Do they even make that anymore?
Fun fact, no. I have to make my own with McDonald's Sprite, and you guessed it, Texas Pete. I am genuinely horrified to hear that.
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Where's my Mountain Dew? You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abaddon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm John Galantis, and you can find us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com.
Or if you have a question for Dr. Shah, anything you'd like to write in, suggest we talk about, send us a text at 252-582-5028. You can also email us at contact at ClearviewTodayShow.com. You can help us keep the conversation going by supporting the show. You can share it online. Leave us a good review on iTunes or Spotify where you get your podcast and content from.
We're going to leave a link in the description of this podcast so you can do just that. Today's verse of the day is coming to us from Ezekiel 7-8. It says, Now upon you I will soon pour out my fury and spend my anger upon you. I will judge you according to your ways, and I will repay you for all your abominations.
Not words that I want to hear from anybody, especially coming from God Almighty. But listen, because God's people had repeatedly rebelled against him, right? These people were rebelling against God.
They'd chosen to turn their ears and their hard hearts against his will. God was about to let them face the consequences of their sinfulness. And I think that's something that's sorely missing from Christianity Today. Not the magazine, but just from Christians Today, is that we forget that our actions have consequences.
We forget that we may not be the ones that are paying those consequences. But sin has earthly consequences, and God is reminding his people of that. So he's ready to judge them, and he's going to use the harshest of standards, right? Their rebellion is being compared to his holy and divine and loving will, right?
That's what he says. He's going to, I'm going to pour out my fury and spend my anger. I'm going to judge you according to your ways. So it's a reminder for us. God wants us to still be holy people in our day, just as much like he wanted the people of Ezekiel's day to be holy. God wants us to be holy. God wants you to be holy. He wants you to live faithful to him, no matter what the values of our culture are, no matter how far our values stray from God's will. And let's be honest, our values of today have strayed very, very far from God's will. Jesus has called us to be the salt in our world's decay, right?
And the light in their darkness. So that's a great encouragement for us as we're striving to live those holy lives. And the best way that we can do that is to entrench ourselves daily in the word of God. That's a goal of the Clearview Today show. We want to help equip you doing that. In fact, today's verse of the day is brought to you by the Date the Word app.
We're going to leave some info on how to download that in the description of this show. But man, it's so great to be here on the radio with you guys again. There's a lot of good things happening here at Clearview Church.
In fact, today I want to share something that God used to encourage me. Our steeple, our brand new steeple has been placed on top of our worship center. It was really cool because they came to us and they said, hey, listen, the steeple that we were wanting to put, it's about 33 feet long. And we said, you know, we feel like on this building, the building's 44 feet high. It's a big building. So we were like, we feel like 33 feet is just not going to cut it.
We don't want it to look like a small kind of party hat just sitting on the church. So they said, well, the biggest one that they make from this company that we're going through is 44 feet. And we said, all right, let's go ahead and get it.
Let's do it. And let's make a statement that this is our church and we're proud of it. And so the steeple arrived and when it arrived, I mean, it was like, wow, this steeple is big. This is a big steeple. And so they were like, oh, well, we're going to put it on in a couple of weeks, couple of weeks go by. And then today was actually that day where they brought the crane, they actually had to reinforce the steel on the roof and they started lifting it up.
And when I say that they put that steeple on and it looks perfect, I mean, it looks perfect. It was such an encouragement. And we had everybody out there, all the staff was out there watching it go up. We were filming it, putting it on Snapchat and social media. In fact, I think there's some videos about that right now.
We can actually link in this description or might just put it in the video version of this episode. But it was such an encouragement for me, not because we made the right choice, but because God was with us. And I truly felt when they secured that steeple, I was like, this is what God has for us, if that makes sense.
It's not about the building. Dr. Shaw and I are going to talk about that a little bit later, but it's not that it's about the building, but it's about taking pride and doing this excellently and seeing that steeple be put into place and then getting locked in and then them turning the lights on even in the evening. It was an encouragement to us, not that we made the right choice, but that God has honored the choice that we made.
Does that make sense? Like God has given us this duty as the under shepherds of his church and then Dr. Shaw is the pastor of this church to do our job and do it excellently, to be a light in the world. Just like we just talked about where Jesus has called us to be the light in the world, to have this shining church on the hill, not as an example of how great we are, but of how great God is and how excellently he's called us to do his work and to be about his ministry. God really encouraged me with that.
And so I just wanted to share that with you guys. Maybe you're going through a similar thing where you're building, you're expanding your church. Maybe you're talking that through. Maybe you're like, well, we don't want to do too much because it's too expensive or it's too ostentatious and we just want to be about the people.
I would really encourage you, take every single thing into account, especially your building, especially your presentation, how you present yourself to the outside world. Because no matter how far the culture seems like it's straying, it still has its eye on the church. The church is still being watched. And so I'm very grateful for a church that not only understands that, but embraces it, but allows for excellence to be pursued. I'm really grateful for Dr. Shaw for doing that as well, because if it weren't for him, I can tell you, we probably would've been like, okay, 33 feet and let it be it. But there was a drive and there was a desire to do this excellently and to represent the glory of God to the very best of our ability.
And I can tell you that drive is not natural in me. It comes from leadership and it comes from people who truly care about not only the word of God, but presenting it to the best of our ability. So anyway, that was my encouragement for today. Write in to let me know how God has encouraged you today.
2525825028 or you can always visit us online at cleerviewtodayshow.com. I'm going to grab Dr. Shaw. We'll be right back after this. Hey, Ryan. Hey, Jon. Hey, man. I'm having an awesome time doing the Clear View Today show with you.
Thanks, man. I hope people are having an awesome time listening to it. Well, listen, I think our listeners would actually be interested to know that Clear View Today is not the only podcast we produce. Oh, do go on.
Oh, well, go ahead and stop what you're doing right now. Mosey on over to your podcast app and subscribe to Sermons by Abaddon Shaw, Ph.D. As many of you know, Dr. Shaw is our lead pastor here at Clear View Church. And every single week he preaches expository messages that challenge and inspire us to live godly lives. One of our core values at Clear View Church is that we're a Bible believing church, which means that every single sermon is coming directly from the text. And it's great because whether you're driving, cleaning the house, working out, whatever you're doing, you're listening and receiving timeless biblical truths. And God works through every sermon differently, which means you're always going to get something new. Sometimes it'll be conviction. Sometimes it'll be encouragement.
That's right. You guys can check out Sermons by Abaddon Shaw, Ph.D. on the Apple podcast app. You can find it on our website as well. That's ClearViewBC.org. You can even read the transcripts of every message on Dr. Shaw's website. That's AbaddonShaw.com.
Love it. John, you ready to hop back in? Let's do it. Welcome back to Clear View 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. You can always write in, text us, let us know what you'd like to hear us talk about. Here Dr. Shaw answers some of your questions.
That's 252-582-5028. And we are here once again in the Clear View Today studio with Dr. Abaddon Shaw, who is a Ph.D. in New Testament textual criticism. Dr. Shaw, today is a monumental day. Yes, it is. It's hot.
It's a very humid day. But man, I saw something today that we have been thinking about and dreaming about for the past, I would say like half a year. The steeple of our new building went up onto... I'm just going to go ahead and give us some air horns for that because that was fantastic.
I'm going to drop a video right here. This is from what you're seeing in the video is Dr. Shaw's Snapchat of the steeple actually going up. But man, the sight of that thing locking onto the roof, it just made my heart swell. Especially in a time when churches are losing that momentum. We know that the church will always remain, right? Jesus said it, the gates of hell will not prevail against us.
We know that. And church is the body. But where we are right now in Europe, in our nation, where there were strong Christian strongholds, right now there are people who are not as passionate about the church and the growth of the church and the building, new buildings.
And to see a church building built and then to see a steeple go on top, I thought it was beautiful. And a lot of people say, it's not about the steeple. It's not about... I know it's not about that. I know it's about the body of Christ.
I know all that. But when you put the sign of the cross, right? That symbol of the cross that high and people everywhere can see it, that says something and that means something. It meant a lot to me.
It does. And we actually have, this is kind of crazy. We actually have a song that relates that exact same truth where people, because we would have people, you know, we started with this building and when 2020 happened, everybody was saying, oh, it's not about the church building. It's not about that.
You're getting it crossed over. We had this kind of thought that God gave us where it's like, no, nobody's saying it's about that, but we're losing something beautiful. And if we don't hold onto the something beautiful, we won't have it. So saying it's not about this, it's cheapening how beautiful the blessing that God actually gave you is. When those landmarks go away, I'm talking about buildings, when they go away, just know very soon the people will go away. That's right.
100%. And I know there will be people out there who disagree with me and say, yeah, you're absolutely wrong because now the church goes underground and powerful things happen. Well, tell me about the places where the church is underground and tell me what big impact they're making in the culture. That's right.
I'm hoping, I'm hoping that they will go from the underground to above ground and do some amazing things. But right now they have to live in fear and persecution. Their families are taken away. So it's easy for us to sit in these nice little, you know, ivory towers and talk about how persecution grows the church. Well, come with me and live with me where I lived, where there was persecution. We didn't talk like that. You talk like that.
We don't talk like that. Just stop being, you know, anyways, no, that's exactly what I was thinking too. It's like the whole goal of the underground church is to get above ground. The goal is not to say, well, let's just do away with the churches in America. Let's do away with what church is supposed to look like and just go underground.
I'm going to welcome the persecution in. Yeah. That's the whole statement. The seat, the blood of the martyrs is a seat of the church. Yeah. That's not always the case. Right.
Exactly. And if you guys want to hear that song, by the way, that we have a song that talks about all this is called the gathering. It was written by Dr. Shah, David and myself back in 2020 at the heart, at the heart of all this stuff happening.
You can get on iTunes and Spotify right at this moment. We'll leave a link right there in the description. But Dr. Shah, you've written a book called 30 Days Praying for America. We've been talking about it all week. We've been going through a lot of these principles that you've talked about in the book.
It's available on Amazon right now, but there was one chapter that we wanted to talk about specifically immigration because this is a hot button issue. This is something that people are talking about. And we just kind of want to hear your thoughts on it and your and your heart behind it.
Absolutely. Immigration is one of those touchy subjects that Americans really don't know how to handle. Either they go one extreme or the other. Is it about just throw open the borders or no borders or it's like just we cannot let anybody in.
Lock the doors. And neither of those extremes are either historically or biblically right. Why do you think because I 100 percent agree with you. I think this is one of the things that people jump to either.
There's no in between when it comes to immigration, at least not in the discussions that I'm hearing. Why do we jump to the extremes on this? Why is it all or nothing? It's fear. We're afraid of the outsider. And I get it.
There are outsiders here that we need to be afraid of. Right. And I'll talk about that in a few moments.
But how was America founded? True. Yeah. It's immigration. Right.
Very true. I would even add and say illegal immigration. Sort of a hostile takeover. Well, it was sort of, you know, people came here.
There were people already here, but other people came and said, look, we want to settle, we're going to expand, we're going to grow. And, you know, of course, there were if you go further north, things were sort of OK. If you go to the south. Yeah. Things were not that great. Not as good.
Right. With the indigenous people. And so I saw a T-shirt years ago.
I thought it was really funny. It had it had all these Native American chiefs. They were like like like, you know, four of them, like Geronimo and Sitting Bull and whoever else. And they had each had the gun in their hand or whatever they had. Right. And there was a sign on top that said illegal immigration has always been a problem in America. See if you can find that T-shirt, David.
I'd love to throw that up on the screen. Illegal immigration has always been a problem. Yeah. This ain't nothing new. Yeah. So, yeah, we need to we need to honestly, I say that tongue in cheek. We need to be careful how we say that.
True. Of course, the people here, were they a nation? I mean, we can debate that and say, well, we're all the Native Americans or the indigenous people, are they all a nation? We don't know. I mean, that's a different debate.
Maybe one day we can take that on. Yeah. I saw there was a movie. I think it was I don't know if it was Dances with Wolves or which one it was. It was a movie where they were having that exact same debate where it was like we you were there was always war. It wasn't as though all the indigenous people were living here in peace and harmony. Like there was states like the United States or our centralized government. Yeah. It was not like that. I mean, very moving, you know, nomadic type people. So this is hard to say. It was a really immigration that was happening in America versus just people coming and saying, hey, we're going to settle here. This land is open.
We're moving in. Yeah. So that's another debate we can have. But immigration, how do we handle that?
Yeah. I think it's a complex issue. But first things first, there is a problem with immigration in America right now and has been at different times in history. But especially now, I would say our immigration system is broken, especially on our southwest border.
I would 100 percent agree with you. I mean, the people who are coming into this country illegally in the numbers that I see, even when I hear it, I don't believe it. Right.
Until you actually look at it and see that it's true. The numbers are very hard to believe. And it's alarming. And they're not just illegal immigrants that are coming. Right. OK. People came here illegally.
Right. They came here 400 years ago. They came.
And then there were people who came through Ellis Island trying to find life. And there were people here who said, we don't want any more. Whether it was Irish or Scottish or whoever those people were like, we don't want them. Italians are coming. We don't want them. Spanish are coming. You know, hey, hold off. Mexicans are coming. Wait, wait. So I understand there is that hesitation, that trepidation of seeing people come.
But at least you knew at the time they're coming because they want a better life. Yes. So that's what I wanted to ask you.
Do you think that motive is still there? Because you were talking about when you... No. No. That's the problem. We have to acknowledge that immigration, illegal immigration, has been part of American history.
But the illegal immigration that is happening today is not a chasing of the American dream. No. It's evil.
It's evil. Yeah. There was the story that you told.
Maybe you wouldn't mind telling your coming to this country and what your immigration process was like. But... I came legally, by the way. Right. Of course.
Yeah. I should have segued a little clearer there. You talked about there's this American dream and there's this idea and really this truth in the East that, yeah, we're going to do the best we can here. But America really is the place that you want to go. And if you want the best for your children, you want them over there. So there is this influx of immigrants here because it's like this is the land of opportunity. Just get here legally or illegally. Right.
And then start making your life. Where do you think that shifted into now what we're seeing is there really is this agenda of we need to get in here and destroy this place. Well, that that's not new. It happened in the past. I mean, go back to before World War Two, the Japanese came. Many of them came just to find a good life. We know that.
Try to make good living, a new life. But then there were some who came for espionage purposes. True. How did Pearl Harbor happen? Yeah. I mean, there were operatives who were scattered, especially in the Hawaii area, looking for ways to attack America. And Pearl Harbor was the all the destruction was part of that evil immigration. Right. People came and but they came to find loopholes.
They came to find an opening and they did. Then we've had bad things happen with 9-11. And that's just one. Things happened prior to that.
Right. The communists were trying to come in. And then, of course, 9-11, we had Islamic terrorists trying to come and attack our nation.
So it has happened. And but it was like these are bad people because they do not represent the other people. There are people coming here illegally, but they just want a good life. We've got to find a way to help them or let's do something.
The ones coming now, especially from a southwest border and even from the north. OK, I will let me give you some numbers. Can we do that?
Let's do it. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, there were, get ready for this, two hundred and forty six thousand four hundred and thirty two encounters of Chinese nationals nationwide just in March of twenty twenty four. In one month, two hundred and almost almost a quarter of a million encounters in one month.
What in the world is happening? Why are they coming to Mexico? That's a great point. With one hundred and eighty nine thousand three hundred seventy two of those encounters occurring at the southwest border alone. So they're coming from different places, but especially from the southwest border. Right. So a quarter in just in March, a quarter million Chinese nationals came in through the southwest border. No, no.
They came into America north and south. OK. But hundred and eighty nine thousand three hundred seventy two just from the southwest border. I see. Wow. That's a jump of twenty eight percent in the past three years.
Wow. Just coming from China and nine percent at the southwest border. Altogether, that is nine point two million encounters of Chinese nationals nationwide and seven point six million encounters at the southwest border. And we're supposed to pretend that all of these like these people are just there. Every single one, they're just looking for a better life.
They're just here to they're here to just be coming illegally, but they're just trying to make good. I disagree. Yeah, I think some is not right, especially with the with the global landscape that we've been seeing these past four years ever since twenty twenty. Now we're supposed to believe this in March of twenty twenty four. Just a couple of months ago, this happened. Yes. Out of these one point eight million are known got aways or unlawful border crossers, which could be undercounted. OK. As many as six individuals were stopped in just March of twenty twenty four trying to cross the border who name whose names were on a terrorist watch list. Six different terrorists. Yes.
Wow. Were they all Chinese? We don't know for sure.
I don't have that information, but I know this much. So, OK, what I what I was joking about in the beginning was, yes, illegal immigration has happened. Not right. Should be doing illegally, but it happened. But people are looking for a good life.
Just want to raise their families here, give them the opportunities that that are not available the rest of the world. Right. This this massive influx of people, especially from China and then terrorists coming across. Wait, wait, wait. Yeah. Why are we allowing this?
Yeah. I think another big talking point is how gang members like cartels and MS-13, they'll come through the southwest border as well. And it seems to me like like I'm not an expert on this at all. I'm not well read on, but but it just seems to be common sense that it's happening there because that's where our border is the weakest. So my question is, why so much pushback when we say, hey, it's very clear that, OK, maybe not everyone coming in is bad, but but a lot of all the bad people are coming in through our southwest border. It's weak. Why is that now a target of why are we crying racism? Why are we crying prejudice? If to point that out that our southwest border is weak, we should be protecting that. Right.
Why is that now a problem to say? Because I believe there are forces in America right now who I believe they're compromised. Again, I'm not trying to be a conspiracy person. In fact, I'm joking about the whole illegal immigration thing, because there are people who came here, but they came here just to have a good life for them, the children.
But this this is different. I think people have ulterior motives. Do you think there's any validity to when people say, well, they have to do that because the legal way is so overly complex? I understand.
I get it. Like I said, the illegal immigration has happened before, was happening years ago. Even when I came legally, there were people who were coming illegally. Some of them were bad guys.
Of course, we know that. Majority were coming with a good life. But this here, it seems like knowingly people are allowed to come in here. Something else about this, this whole border mess, the illegal stuff that is happening.
It's not just people coming over. As you mentioned, many of these are known gang members and MS-13 members. Thank goodness for our border patrol. They're stopping them. They're catching them, but there's only so much they can do. So we don't want to ever say that our border patrol has been compromised.
Yeah, true. When I said it was a week earlier, I wasn't trying to say it was like they're inept. They're just overwhelmed.
There's so many coming in. And also because if people on top, politicians on top are kind of winking at it or looking the other way or just kind of like, nah, let's talk about something else, then their hands are tied. They're just like, well, what do we do now? I mean, they're not stopping them. They're not telling us to stop them.
What do we do? Something else is not just people, but also 10,000 pounds of fentanyl was confiscated last year. Yeah. They're sending their mules through the southern border to get these drugs across. That's enough to kill close to 2 billion people.
Golly, that's insane. How can you still tell me that this is the good American life where the poor illegals are coming just for the good? No, this is horrible. Yeah, it really is. It's a harsh reality, but it's still a reality that we have to face is that outsiders are going to come in and not all of them are good. Some of them are bent on your destruction. And it's not offensive to realize that.
And it's not offensive to try to act against that. And I want to challenge people like myself, whether you came here legally or illegally, you came here because you want the American life. You want the good life. You want to raise your children here. Stand up and speak out about these kind of illegal people. Speak out. If you care about this country, speak out and say, I came legally, but that's not right. Or I came illegally, but at least I was trying to fix my family's life and give them a good start. But what they're coming here for, they're also illegal, but we're not the same thing. Speak out. And that's what gets me when people don't speak out and just sit back and say, I don't know, man. I came here to live the good life in this country, but I guess I'm just going to let it burn.
It's terrible. Yeah. What is your, I love how you gave that word to fellow immigrants or people who want to come to this country. Do you have any word for just American citizens who want to know where to fall on this, especially Christians? Because I think Christians mean very well, but I think they can also fall into talking points without thinking through these issues. Because it's a very, it's not a black and white issue as Christians make it out to be. Right.
Right. And if we can only have more sense and think about what we're saying and clarify who we are against coming, it will make such a world of difference. I don't think it'll solve all our problems, but it'll make a world of difference. So yes, illegal immigration is bad.
Yes, you should do it legally. But when people come illegally or have come in the past, they didn't come, most of them did not come to inflict harm on the American people. Most of them did not come for that.
They came for just a good life. But in the past few years, three, four years, that is not the case. That's true. Yeah. The issue is no longer. And I feel like the issue at one point was, Hey, you guys aren't following the rules. Now it's, you're actively, it's almost, it's an invasion.
It's an invasion of harmful forces. Right. Yeah. And I'll also keep reminding people, as you're doing that, don't lose your sense of compassion.
True. You know, when you see immigrants, be willing to show compassion. I love how God did that to his people, Israel. I want to read this passage here. Deuteronomy chapter 10, 17 through 19.
Okay. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of Lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Therefore love the stranger for you are strangers in the land of Egypt. I think that's so beautiful.
It's beautiful. It's the whole heart behind immigration and the whole heart behind this discussion is that we have something very good here and we want you to enjoy it. We want people to come and enjoy this great land that God has given us. We don't want people to come and destroy it.
And turning a blind eye to the fact that, Hey, there are people who want to do that is only going to exacerbate the process. I mean, your story, your grandfather came from Greece. We were similar, right? He was a sponge diver. Yeah. There was no, and he understood there's no work here. I think even back in the, I don't even know what that was like 1900s or whatever, like the 19, let's see, 20s probably. Yeah.
There was no work in Greece. He was on a little island in Halki diving for sponges and he was like, you know, I could take these sponges to New York and make five times the money that I'm making on this island where all these sponges are. That's what he did. So yeah. You wouldn't be here if an immigrant hadn't come.
No, not at all. And I think every single American can probably say that at some point. We know that we understand that we're a nation built by people from every imaginable background. So we have love in our heart for people who want to come here.
Cause that's the story of America. But you know, again, this is a very, very serious issue. So Dr. Shaw, thank you for clarifying that, spreading some light where that was concerned. If you guys have any topics you'd like to hear us talk about here on the show or any questions you want Dr. Shaw to answer, you can always write in two five two five eight two five zero two eight, or you can contact us at contact at clearview todayshow.com. If you do visit us on that website, make sure you visit that donate button. You can click that and leave us a little gift. Every single donation that you give us helps us to take this gospel further and further and further into the hearts and minds of the American people. We love you guys. We got a very special episode for you tomorrow. We'll see you at Clearview today.
