Spiritual Reflections on Trump and the Elections

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One, I believe it was the right reason. I believe that Donald Trump is morally responsible for what happened on January 6th in that there was incendiary rhetoric, in that he had been saying very strong things for weeks leading up to that and even though he made clear we're gonna march over to the White House peacefully, everything that led up to that and even the lack of wisdom in saying we're just gonna march over what several hundred thousand people who believe the government's being stolen from them and this may be the last free election they ever have and their kids won't be able to to vote etc because the government's taking the country away from them etc. There is a lot of stuff that was being said that was very intense so I have believed and said it that Donald Trump was morally responsible for what happened that day but I don't believe he was legally responsible. I don't believe that a case could be made in a court of law that Donald Trump was legally responsible for what happened on January 6th and I did not see any legal basis again I'm not a legal scholar I'm not a lawyer but I didn't see any legal basis for the removal of Donald Trump from the ballots and it seemed to me it seems self-evident I would think to many Americans that it was just a political hit job out of hatred for Donald Trump and now there's talk the Democrats are saying that that they will find a way even if Trump won you know to not accept the victory I mean this is in my view just political madness political folly and and complete irresponsibility to the nation because look you know that things are so volatile and I'm not justifying any of this I'm just talking about what is that things are so volatile that if Donald Trump was removed from ballots across America because of which he could not win the election let's just say it was it was key states or enough states that actually happened and it affected the outcome of the election I do not believe that tens of millions of Trump supporters would just accept that I don't know what would happen but I don't believe they would just accept that and say okay fine especially if they believe the elections were stolen in in 2020 so I'm just talking reality I'm just talking what's out there okay so the Supreme Court ruling first I do believe was was legally correct from what I understand and secondly it was pragmatic so I know the court is looking more at the legal issues but it was pragmatic and that your people are not just going to sit back after everything with kovat and people feeling that they were sold a bill of goods or they were that there was an overreaction and and then the the people who believe the elections were stolen in 2020 and on and on and I'm not arguing for a point of view either way here I'm just talking about how people feel you're now gonna have a situation where the president is removed from ballots and people can't even vote for him and and you don't have to argue election being stolen this is okay right in front of your eyes it's being rigged it's being rigged it's it's like in dictator run countries or communist countries where you have the the one candidate you it's we have free elections but there's only one candidate or remarkably the one candidate got 98% of the votes and there were other candidates but they all got less than 2% it's like oh and that's that's because the people love the dictator so much no the elections were rigged so I'm glad the Supreme Court ruled the way it ruled I have my own issues with Trump but that's not that's not what we're talking about here the idea that Democrats would try to find a way to not certify a Trump victory to me again that is political madness and it is massive irresponsibility are you think of this okay think of how many tens of millions of Americans love Donald Trump and feel a loyalty to Donald Trump and believe that Trump fights for them and therefore they should fight for him all right and take Trump himself who can say things that are irresponsible right I mean no one would say that he's perfectly wise with his words even the greatest Trump supporter so could you imagine a scenario in which the elections clearly were won by Donald Trump that no one can dispute what came in in the ballots and they would they would line up with what polls were saying and any legitimately wins the 2024 election and then Democrats said we're not going to certify it's not it's not going to happen it it's not going to work it's it's completely ridiculous unrealistic on every level but all this talk all it does is fuel fires more for supporters of Donald Trump and this is what those who oppose him and even hate him have to realize I did a poll on Twitter asking about the latest indictments against Trump and you know the massive fines of these different things and how that affected their opinion their feelings toward Trump and the single largest thing was it was that it strengthened their support of him they didn't say oh man the guy's been found guilty of business malpractice and the state of New York or in New York City or oh no Trump's been found to have sexually molested a woman and no they didn't believe the charges they didn't accept the outcome and it wasn't it's not just a matter of blind loyalty for some it is there's an infamous Trump line they could shoot somebody in Fifth Avenue and people still follow him there is that there is truth to that and and there's no question that there are many many many that are that loyal to him that you know that no matter what he does they're gonna stand with him but others are looking at this said it just doesn't make sense the rulings are outlandish it seems like a judge with a vendetta or a DA with an undead vendetta or a prosecutor attorney with dead it just looks like a political hit job it seems so self-evident to so many so the more these things happen the more it increases Trump's stature and the more he's made to to look like a martyr so it's politically suicidal in that regard in my view for Democrats to be saying well we're not we're not gonna accept it even if he wins and it's untenable it can't work it won't work and there's not gonna be a legal way that they can do it in my view or a way that that if Trump won fair and square at the ballot box that his voters would accept okay get Joe Biden's gonna get the victory anyway because Democrats don't accept it so all that to say it's a lot of madness going on right now and still tremendous uncertainty between now and November 2024 but what I want to do when we come back is share some of my own journey and how I'm approaching the 2024 elections in a way that I hope will help you in a way that I hope what will help you keep your bearings and not get caught up with the political madness because we ain't seen nothing yet things are going to intensify and get ugly and crazy and how who knows how many other court cases are gonna be coming up and where else the Supreme Court is gonna have to intervene and what other indictments are gonna go forward on all scores it's a time of tremendous uncertainty and chaos and I really do want to help you as our faithful listeners I want to help you keep your bearings in the midst of the storm all right got a quick word from our great co-sponsor try to stay right here let's hear what tri-vita customers are saying dr. Brono can't wait to tell you that those supplements are absolutely amazing my strength has gone up at least 15 pounds and everything I do I mean I can curl like I'll usually do curls with arms you know I'll do 40 to 45 I was doing 60 pound curls 10 times in each arm and then yesterday I did a back workout and I was doing weight I haven't done since my 20s and I usually ride my bike to the gym it's about a 10-12 minute bike ride and then on the way back after I've done my weight training you know I ride back but I'm huffing and puffing and I rode my bike there and back and I had so much energy I'm telling you the combination of the nitric oxide with the mild health it's just amazing I'm just I can't believe how much strength I have right now I mean excited about it tri-vita wants you to experience wellness to do something good for your heart and cardiovascular system learn how to get 25% off nitric oxide plus call 800 811 9628 or go to tri-vita.com use promo code brown 25 in the shopping cart to receive 25% off your first order and tri-vita will give a substantial portion of your order to help support the line of fire radio broadcast call 800 811 9628 or go to tri-vita.com use promo code brown 25 in the shopping cart get 25% off nitric oxide plus call 800 811 9628 800 811 9628 it's the line of fire with your host dr. Michael Brown get on the line of fire by calling eight six six three four truth here again is dr. Michael Brown welcome back to the line of fire yes healthy church starts with a healthy spiritually healthy mostly healthy mentally healthy physically healthy as well so we encourage you to really pray about lifestyle change encourage you to pray about health nutrition and make quality decisions that can prolong your life and increase the quality of your life I turned 69 in a few days by God's grace and I'm I'm quite sure based on everything I know about some condition of arteries and things like that that if God did not intervene in my life nine and a half years ago and helping to make radical lifestyle changes that many of you know about then said I talked about in the book we wrote breaking the stronghold of food that if if if God did not intervene and I made those radical changes I wouldn't be alive today not just I wouldn't be as healthy and vibrant and strong and full of energy and life but wouldn't even be alive today by the way I didn't plan on getting into any of this right now but now that I'm talking about it so really give it serious thought my style changes exercise is important and every day I add in these supplements so they're not substitutes but they can help in so many ways and our friends in Tribeta have a have a ton of really really helpful products so check them out for yourself I think you'll really benefit from them and a hundred percent of your first order and more than a tithe of all subsequent orders goes to help us reach more people with the line-of-fire broadcast we've got some really great open doors across America with our new 30-minute equipping broadcast and as you stand with us we reach more people more lives are changed it's a glorious cycle and Tribeta helps with that so it's a it's a double blessing you get a health investment and you help us reach more people so you can call 800-771-5584 800-771-5584 and if you have questions just go ahead and ask when you're about this or what do you have it's good for this and they'll tell you you can also just go to tribeta.com tribeta.com and use the code brown25 so allow me for a moment just to speak from my own heart about my own journey in terms of involvement in politics so writing in 1995 I said very clearly that there was no political solution to what was happening in America actually I'm sorry 1993 in my book it's time to rock the boat that there was no political solution to the problems at hand and and I've always said political involvement has its place and and if we just drop out entirely if we say well the political process is corrupt and the politicians are corrupt and and we're not of this world and Jesus said my kingdom is not of this world and therefore we just drop out entirely then we have no one to blame but ourselves when things go in a direction that we don't like we have no one to blame but ourselves when the schools are taken over by people with very different agendas and the school boards that reinforce it are run by people with very different agendas when rights are taken away from us when Christian schools have now have to conform to government norms they wouldn't we wouldn't agree with when when laws are passed to strengthen abortion rather rather than to strengthen the pro-life movement and on and on and on we have no one to blame but ourselves so our involvement is important but politics is not going to do what the gospel can do politics cannot save a lost soul politics cannot set a captive free politics cannot bring righteousness to society so it has its place we must put it in its proper place so I I've never been one primarily called to politics I've never been called to lobby I've never been called to run for office I've never been called to join together in someone's political campaign over a period of years and work with them etc many others are I haven't been and I was never endorsed excuse me I was never asked to endorse a major candidate people were not knocking on my door I'm not you know some big influencer that's gonna get all these votes of you know if I say so people will follow because we've been giving political advice for years we've encouraged churches to address the moral and cultural issues we've encouraged churches to let their people know where candidates stand on issues and then let them make intelligent choices but I've never been called to a primarily political emphasis so when Rafael Cruz Ted Cruz's dad asked me if I would endorse his son it was after he had spoken to the church some friends asked me if I would meet with him and and he asked if I would endorse and I said well listen we need someone who's not a Washington insider because so much needs to be challenged and he said well my son is not it's amazing he was even elected it's a miracle because he didn't play by the normal rules and he shouldn't have even made it in in Texas in the first place and you know Ted Cruz would refer to the Washington cartel and he said you know really he's a man of faith and that was meaningful and I said you know it's the issues moral and cultural issues are really important to me and if Ted Cruz really wanted to have leaders around him that could counsel and that could give input on these issues I I'd buy into that you know if there was some advisory council where we could give input on moral and cultural issues and and if my endorsement would help towards that then I'm willing to do it so so I did now Ted Cruz did not disappoint me he did not let me down and and do things that that I wish he didn't do as a candidate no that didn't happen but immediately when I was on the air and then talking about different candidates and trying to evaluate honestly people immediately said well you're a Cruz guy you're a Cruz guy and and for me my primary calling is to be a voice not to be known as endorsing or standing with a particular political candidate so I realized off the right off the bat that my ability to be a voice and to sound impartial as a voice that that had now been compromised not Ted Cruz's fault it was my choice to endorse him but I did something that in retrospect was disappointing I was asked to speak at a couple of rallies that he had in North Carolina and then to lead in prayer at another one and when I led in prayer I didn't pray for Ted Cruz I prayed for the for God's best for America and for him to work according to his plan in terms of raising up the candidate of his choice for the good of America but I spoke at these two events in North Carolina well attended events and I I preached the gospel I I talked about the church's calling to to be countercultural I laid those things out our calling to righteousness and then why I supported Ted Cruz but in one of the messages I also was was poking fun at Trump that I really who I really did not like did not plan on voting for him at that point of course I did when he became the candidate but I I got political I mean here I'm a minister of the gospel and I got political in a way that I did not feel was helpful and some months later it's actually a few years later I accidentally happened upon that clip on YouTube where I was preaching at this Ted Cruz event and and jokingly saying do we really trust the you know the leader from New York who waffles on this issue in that issue and I I was at I was doing a prayer retreat an eight-day prayer retreat when I happened on the video so I was praying I watched it like four or five minutes long but I wept I wept I thought that's not me that's not my calling and here I just had a little platform of a regional meeting or a local city meeting a political meeting and and just as someone that had endorsed Ted Cruz I wasn't part of his team and never even got him on my radio show in fact that that I I deviated from my calling I wept over it just not who God has called me to do and not what message he's called me to to identify with so I'm just talking me all right but I want to encourage every one of you that's a preacher of the gospel and every one of you that's a follower of Jesus don't do anything that compromises your witness don't do anything that just gets caught up with the spirit of the age and politics I'm not saying that you should not be politically involved in fact some of you are called to be very politically involved what I'm saying is whatever your primary calling is whatever your primary ministry is whatever your primary identity is as a follower of Jesus don't do anything that we compromise that at all because that calling and our witness is too precious to be compromised by anything all right we'll be right back hey friends Michael Brown here my delight to serve as your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity we are living in such urgent times today friends that all of us are in the line of fire there's a target on your back there's a target on my back if you simply seek to live by biblical values or just conservative moral values you could be canceled you could be cast out you could be put down you could be silenced I'm here to say friends that I am not about to be silenced and I don't believe you are either it is time for us to stand up it is time for us to say enough is enough it is time for us to push back in Jesus name not fighting the way the world fights no overcoming evil with good overcoming hatred with love overcoming the flesh with the power of the Spirit overcoming lies with truth and that's what we're here to do on the line of fire broadcast and friends it's not just a broadcast it is a movement of people around the world God's people standing up saying enough is enough and saying Lord here we are send us use us I want to urge you today to join our support team because we are on the front lines together and we are literally touching people around the world in America in the nations in Israel and together with your help we're gonna amplify this voice and spread this movement around the globe so I encourage you go right now to the line of fire dot org the line of fire dot org click donate monthly support the line of fire dot org click donate monthly support when you do you become a torchbearer we immediately send you two great life-changing books we immediately give you access to many classes I've taught others have to pay to take those you get them for free exclusive video audio content a new audio message every month an insider prayer newsletter 15% discount our online bookstore so much more join our support team today go to the line of fire dot org donate monthly support it's the line of fire with your host dr. Michael Brown get on the line of fire by calling eight six six three four truth here again is dr. Michael Brown my friend Michael Brown here serving five days a week with your voice for more sanity and spirit entirety not taking any calls today but boy am I eager to pour into you every single day of the week and on weekends too and you know I normally write somewhere between four and five articles a week and I pray about what to write on sometimes major news just grabs me and I know I need to write on that but the whole goal is to give you tools the whole goal is to give you formation to help you sort out the issues and to know where to stand and why and to get into what scripture says and and to give hope and courage in the midst of the storm so every week at the end of the week we let you know here are the latest articles that I wrote so you have all the subjects right in front of you and here are the latest videos that we put out so everything's there if you miss things if you don't follow everything we're doing or get our posts on social media we'll let you know every single week and then you just click on whatever you're interested in and then you can share it with others maybe I'm giving voice to something that you're thinking maybe I'm articulating a concern you have I was speaking at a church one day and a couple came up to me and the husband said she's because he said she calls you my voice and I just smiled so I'm glad that I get to be your voice for so many of you so if you're not getting our emails and that means you're not getting our monthly inspirational informational impartational frontline newsletter then go to the line of fire org the line of fire dot org and sign up for the newsletter and you'll get our weekly updates as well so getting back to some of my own journey and I'm sharing this with the hope that it's helpful to you so when it came to Donald Trump I had grave concerns I I warned Christians when he's saying I'm gonna be your friend defender don't put your trust in him to do it I honestly did not think he would keep his promises if he was elected I thought he would just use evangelicals like others have done they get our votes we vote them in and then a wall gets put up between us and them either because the president's he's in doesn't care or his advisors put a wall around him whatever it is and I felt fairly sure that was the case with Trump now again just looking at things in the natural New York businessman these these evangelicals getting easily conned and and just swept up in the moment and that's what I thought was happening now if he was elected I hoped I was wrong right but that was the case so I wrote an article and I said why I'm I'm rooting for Donald Trump you think why how what happened this way he became the candidate and I gave all my concerns all the reasons why I'd opposed Donald Trump all the concerns about what he would do and I went through all of it said okay here's the deal though he has opened up his life to these evangelical Christian leaders friends of mine like James Robinson had a lot of access to him and really preached the gospel to him and and and and challenged him and corrected him and I okay they're there and he is saying where he's gonna stand on key issues is say he's gonna move the embassy to Jerusalem and Israel he's saying he's gonna approach a point conservative pro-life justices to the Supreme Court he's made some other statements that that I like and agree with I hope he does it I hope he doesn't I have my concerns but I hope he does it and I voted for him in 2016 and yeah there is still reason for concern and the rhetoric and the way he conducted himself and it seemed that rather than him being changed by the church around them it seemed he was having more of a negative impact on the church but still when it came to Donald Trump versus Hillary Clinton Donald Trump versus Joe Biden on the issues that are most important to me I'm telling you how to vote but in the issues that were most important to me before God it was hands down it was night and day Trump versus Clinton and then Trump versus Biden and the the contrast between the Republican Party platform the Democratic Party platform and the issues that were important to me was also like night and day contrast so I voted for Trump in 2016 with trepidation I voted for Trump in 2020 with less trepidation because he kept his promises now I had concerns and this was the concern the concern was is is the risk greater than the reward the concern was is the collateral damage so great that it nullifies the good and and my concern was increasingly that we were becoming so identified with Donald Trump especially white evangelical Christians that that we were becoming so identified with Donald Trump publicly outwardly verbally clearly that it was hurting our witness in a way that would do more harm than the appointing of pro-life justices the Supreme Court would do look the overturning of Roe v. Wade goes back directly in terms of earthly credit to a president you've got a credit Donald Trump for appointing three pro-life justices that helped to overturn Roe v. Wade it's historic it's major and he did move the embassy to Jerusalem when when you're going back to George W Bush this was supposed to be policy under Bush it was policy he didn't do it I actually go back before him to Bill Clinton it was policy under President Clinton and he didn't do it President Bush didn't do it President Obama didn't do it and and now here comes Donald Trump and he does it and then fighting for believers and even though it didn't go through Congress him say okay no more the Johnson amendment that restricts some of the free speech of clergy etc etc hey he was he was keeping his promises and he was fighting I didn't like a lot of the way he did what he did but my mind if we can make it clear where we differ if we can make it clear that Jesus is our Savior and he's the one we live for and die for and then and then much much more softly and Donald Trump is the one we voted for his president okay maybe we can do both the problem is that that some of us became so publicly identified with Donald Trump or on our social media pages we did I know personally some of the members of the of the the Advisory Council the Faith Leadership Council so James Robinson being part of it some other colleagues of mine were part of it and and I know that behind the scenes they were pushing on different issues they were not just yes men and and and some were challenging Donald Trump and his rhetoric and and others talking about prison reform and things that needed to be done hey Donald Trump did that as well got behind black colleges in historic ways and brought about some important prison reform that that helps especially minority communities in America there's so much good he had done but I was just watching as we became more and more identified with him and I became more and more concerned that in that way we were making a deal with the devil in other words we were getting more political influence we were getting a seat at the table but at the expense of our witness and and as we got closer and closer to the 2020 elections my wife Nancy spent many hours weeping walking around the house weeping why because she saw the effect that Donald Trump was having on the church what do I mean I mean that we were becoming like him that we were getting so incredibly divided over him and nasty and hostile to each other it was almost as if that political spirit became our spirit and again I voted for him right in 2020 I voted for him and I understood Nancy's concerns and of course she absolutely differed with Biden's policies and could not vote for Joe Biden but I remember as it was right after the elections and now the controversy swirling even more and we were looking at social media pages of some of our friends who were solid Jesus followers and ministers of the gospel with decades of ministry experience these were quality people they are quality people and we were reading their social media pages and I just remember where we were we were in different parts of the house and we met in the living room hun where are you where are you we were both upstairs we different parts of the house we came down to the living room and and I I remember I I just put my head down next to where she was sitting on the couch and just began weeping these are what happened to our friends what happened they were so carnal they were so crass they were so nasty they were so divisive they they were so worldly and it was all for Trump and if you didn't see it like that then you were you were missing God you weren't right with God it was so heartbreaking to see and then in the aftermath with the massive deception the massive massive deception of the false prophecies and Joe Biden will will not be inaugurated Donald Trump will have eight consecutive years and the courts will overturn the elections and the blue states will become red and I'm watching people were given timelines where this is all gonna unfold and it was false it didn't happen and and and then what happened on January 6 I I do not believe that there was an organized attempt to overthrow the government and an insurrection in that regard I don't see it like that but we were dead I I watched with horror some some of the remarks being made by Christian leaders at the Jericho March just days before this I I watched with horror different rallies and people that I knew and I knew them to be godly people in the in the years past I watched them speak horrific political things I I mean the complete merging of the gospel with politics I I mean raising Donald Trump up as the savior of America only Trump can save America I mean I heard things that were absolutely frightening and then preachers getting up shouting and yelling and saying we are ready to raise up malicious but talking about military battle talking about guns so I mean I'm watching this I'm watching the clips in a state of shock and grief seeing where things had gone and that's where I began to see more clearly what Nancy had been weeping over literally for several months leading up to 2020 everything short of the story of the Capitol she told me was going to happen she said this is how it's gonna unfold and she was weeping and she's saying who am I no one's gonna listen to me you know we got all these prophets on TV prophet sign this and that and you know what if you differ with what they're saying what if you don't accept what they're saying so to me it is so critically important friends that we learn our lessons here and that's why I'm sharing so candidly because this is a journey for all of us I I don't regret voting for Donald Trump twice based on what I knew and based on my understanding of things I voted for him twice whether I'm voting for him in the future I've said that I do not want to vote for him again and I prefer another candidate so what are you gonna do in the point you know I may not even tell anybody what I do and say what are you kidding me talk about it I'm Paul Burnett a board-certified doctor of holistic health and I want to take this opportunity to talk to you about the importance of healthy blood flow and how it's enhanced by a miracle molecule known as nitric oxide you see blood vessels release nitric oxide which increases blood flow known as something called vasodilatation at Trivita we take blood flow seriously for our members and we've developed a nitric oxide plus supplement that has been formulated with natural ingredients designed to maximize nitric oxide production in our blood vessels which increases blood flow you may be wondering why you don't have as much energy as you used to one study that I came across revealed that by the age of 40 we only produce about 50% of the nitric oxide production as compared to our 20s and by the age of 70 the study showed that we're only producing about 15 to 25 percent I have good news as we age there's another way for our body to increase nitric oxide production and that's by converting nitrates and vegetables like beetroot into nitric oxide bottom line with more nitric oxide we stimulate more blood flow to our vital organs and we experience more energy while supporting healthy blood pressure Trivita's nitric oxide plus has been formulated to increase nitric oxide production and blood flow at every age to place your order for products to support your wellness goals call 1-800-771-5584 or online at trivita.com as a Trivita introductory offer use promo code brown25 and receive a 25% discount on the products of your choice call 1-800-771-5584 1-800-771-5584 may you live with greater wellness it's the line of fire with your host dr. Michael Brown get on the line of fire by calling eight six six three four truth here again is dr. Michael Brown welcome friends to the line of fire the special edition of the broadcast as we talk about the release today of the silencing of the Lambs if you see the cover you'll be stirred when you see the cover when you read the content you'll be even more stirred and and as we lay out the issues and problems in the first half of the book we keep doing so with hope we keep doing so with examples of courage both those in the secular world and believers and then the second half of the book is just encouragement encouragement exhortation challenge opportunity here the second to last chapter of the book is called turning pitfalls into platforms and perhaps the example that comes to mind today that is the clearest example is that of Professor Jordan Peterson recently resigned from his position at his University in Canada I had him on my radio show right before his incredible rise around the world where he became as some said that the world's best-known conservative intellectual professor of psychology and dr. Peterson was on the show and I just assumed that he was a born-again Christian who was being harassed by his University and kind of felt like a victim boy was I wrong now he absolutely had absolutely had many Christian perspectives whether he was born again or not God knows he didn't claim to be back then for sure but certainly he holds to many biblical values and biblical truths and principles but the big thing was he was anything but poor me poor me and that's what surprised me because normally it's like yeah can't believe what happened is so wrong and he was calling it what was wrong but not for the mentality of a victim so what happened was when Canada was about to pass a law that would require you to refer to a man who identified as a woman as she or on campus require you to use the chosen pronoun personal pronoun of the student if they wanted to be known as they or G or Z or something else you had to refer to them in that way that he stood up against it why he had studied communism for many many many years brilliant thinker he had studied communism he at one point been very strongly socialist in his younger years and worked with different socialist communist organizations in Canada distributed their materials so he understood from the inside the more he read the more he looked at things how oppressive this could be and one of the one of the big issues was controlled speech that you were told what you can say and can't say so when he pushed back against it yes there was the absurdity of referring to a single person as they or having to learn all these new personal pronouns right but he was willing to you know try to accommodate individuals and be loving and all of that but there was an interview he had on a news TV station he was news TV station and and and the clip went viral and he was asked well what if you're told you have to do this the new Canadian laws passed and you have to do this you must do this he said if that's the case then I'll go to jail and if they they put me in jail I'll go on a hunger strike but I'm not gonna capitulate that's the man that was on my radio show it's like whoa this is anything but a poor me kind of guy well next thing his work explodes in fact I'm just gonna check on this he had written a book and it was I think he worked on it multiple hours a day for something like ten years or longer just absolutely extraordinary amount of work went into it and let me just see here what was the name of the book maps of meaning that was it the architecture of belief came out September 2002 it's got a couple thousand plus reviews on Amazon now I can almost guarantee you I could almost guarantee you it had a handful of reviews a very small number a fraction of this before because it's an intellectually dense book that would only appeal to certain people but once he became so famous with his 12 rules for life just an international bestseller and then face-to-face he's he's speaking to so many groups hundreds of thousands of people he's addressing in that and then different nations speaking through the media to different nations you talk about turning something that was supposed to be a negative into a positive and now here's here's one of his recent books here on a mission a path to a meaningful light I'm sorry that's that's about him myth and meaning and Jordan Peterson a Christian perspective so people writing books about Peterson and on and on it goes and his daughter it seems has had a real experience with the Lord based on a video of her I saw a few months back but here's an attempt okay the university says we will not stand with you dr. Peterson we will not stand with you if there are court cases that come against us if there's student student complaints that come against you we will not support you and stand with you that's bad that's bad and now you could be effectively silenced instead and I believe the hand of God was in this it wasn't just random he is now speaking to millions of people and getting a lot of quality information out as well I don't mean we look to him for gospel insights right yet but he has a whole lot of insights that are very much in harmony with Christian values and perhaps is growing in his own relationship with the Lord God knows that I haven't followed him closely enough to know more stumbling blocks become stepping stones we see it over and over that needs to be our attitude the more different forces of society be it big tech be it some other group be it the media be it whoever the more that people try to silence us if we will walk with the Lord and not compromise our message friends the pitfalls can become platforms the stumbling blocks can become stepping stones okay just a few more things as we go through some of the contents of this book how about this chapter 11 time for professors to practice kamikaze academics what's that about well those are not my words kamikaze academics those are the words of an Australian professor a tenured professor who had the temerity the boldness to differ with some of the prevailing scientific narratives of things like climate change just saying well they're different scientific perspectives he's not a flat earther he's not holding up his Bible yelling at people as they as they drive by and screaming you're going to hell he's not doing that he is a respected professor getting out another point of view about a scientifically disputed issue whatever the areas were being disputed so his university basically did their best to cancel him and he pushed back now as a tenured professor it's harder for them to fire him but when he talks about kamikaze academics what he's saying is we're gonna have to speak up and we're gonna have to tell the truth and we're gonna have to go against the grain and if we lose our jobs we lose our jobs if we lose our reputation we lose our reputation look isn't that the very beginning of the gospel friends isn't that gospel 101 for followers of Jesus what does he say if anyone wants to follow me and that person has to deny himself take up his cross and follow me for whoever saves his life will lose it whoever loses his life for my sake in the gospel will find it so what does that mean it means that if I order my life based on the opinion of others I lose my life if I order my life based on what's popular what's not popular what's gonna help my reputation it's gonna hurt my reputation as opposed to what's gonna honor God or not what's obedient to God or not what's pleasing to God or not if if I order my life to please people I don't mean please them like how can I be a blessing in your life but please them like well if I say this they're not gonna like me if I post this I'm gonna lose friends on social media if I take this stand people will turn against me at work if I have that man-pleasing mentality I lose my life I'm I'm now a slave to what other people think and trust me the noose only gets tighter Winston Churchill said something to this effect appeasement is like feeding a crocodile and hoping that it eats you last so this is what we're dealing with friends Martin Luther King said a man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right he dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is true stand up for justice why because now you're a coward now you're fearing consequences more than fearing God Jesus said Matthew 10 28 don't fear those who kill the body and can't kill the soul rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell that's the one we fear and when we fear him then we overcome all other fears of people and consequences and then you're free no one can fire you in that sense because you serve God and he's got another assignment for you if people say you lost okay you're out of here we're not gonna have you here anymore because you're acting on your convictions fine you work for God then you obey him and he'll open a better door you can be more effective but this is what we must do and the silencing of the Lambs will help you their strategies for parents their words of encouragement for ex gay ex trans individuals and churches encouraged to stand with them evangelists to get out and share the gospel and and and then this new gospel holiday the last chapter of the book just mark it on your calendar we'll tell you more about it tell you the name of it and and why I felt led to do this April 14th mark it on your calendar but then as soon as you have a second read Esther 4 14 and that will time directly as soon as you have the silencing the Lambs don't skip to the last chapter get the full impact of the book but some of you may want to skip just to see what that last chapter is about so friends we are here in Jesus call to overcome the gates of hell cannot prevail against us greater is he who's in you than he who's in the world not so that we can be wealthier not that we can be more famous not that we can have more earthly possessions but greater in us so that we can stand tall stand true to our convictions honor Jesus let the whole world know we're not ashamed of the gospel our messy it's a message of life transformation and in Jesus you will