The Speak Life Podcast, sharing Jesus in everyday life.
SPEAKER_03I was rude, but I was rude to an idiot. Jose Mourinho's wisdom is everybody's philosophy, and it's what gonna make it's what's gonna make 2020 an absolute dumpster fire. Welcome to the livecast. Hey, welcome to 2020, everybody. Welcome, Paul Feasy. Hello, good to be back again. Welcome, welcome. Here we are, 2020, uh happy new calendar and all that. New cal Yes. Yes. I wished everybody on the first of January a happy new calendar day. A new calendar day. Yeah. Yes, yeah. I think that is the significance, isn't it, of of a new year? Yeah. Does it have any more significance for you?
SPEAKER_05No. No. Just roll over onto the next page on Google Google Calendar.
SPEAKER_03Is it because you're already such a resolved person? Absolutely. You don't need to make any more No.
SPEAKER_05I mean I no, I don't need to make any changes in my life. I've reached perfection as it is. Yeah, yeah, it doesn't get any better than this. Which is probably fair, actually. It's not really going to get any better than this.
SPEAKER_03But you I mean you are consistently in the gym anyway, so you you don't like all throughout the year. Is that true?
SPEAKER_05Uh well not in the yeah, I mean I I don't I mean I exercise, yeah. You do exercise.
SPEAKER_03And do you have a certain level of superiority that you feel in January when you see all the newbies?
SPEAKER_05I I mean well, it doesn't take a lot for me to feel superior to other people. I feel superior about people who put sugar in their teeth. So That is all of England. That's the level I'm at now. Like all of Great Britain genuinely look down on you a little bit. Like totally, totally.
SPEAKER_03It's it's like you've just run over your grandmother, like a sugar, like uh yeah, so So but but but when you do see newbies, it because you you do like a kickboxing class.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, kettlebells and stuff. What is what kettlebells? Kettlebells like a weighted thing with a handle on the top. It's a weight with a handle on the top. You swing them around. So weights. Yeah. Yeah, you swing them around. Okay. Yeah, you don't tend to swing like a barbell around, do you? Like you don't see Arnold Schwarzenegger like twirling the things, you know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So And is the best part of lifting the heavy thing, putting the heavy thing down. Is that what it is? Well, yeah, definitely. It really is. I get that all day long. I get that feeling the whole time. So uh so yeah, we're not we're not really big into resolutions here, though. We have such a low anthropology, we just don't believe in the power of will anyway.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah. I mean, I I see a lot of people doing the new resolutions at the moment, because obviously it's the new year. Yes. And I just kind of think a bit like, oh, not again. Like so and so who said last year, this is the year I'm gonna get really fit.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And you're one letter off, actually. I'm just being terrible. Welcome to the new year, people of 2020. Welcome, get used to it.
SPEAKER_03Have you have you watched the Christmas Carol? Because Evan is a scrooge played by the role going. But I mean it's easy for you because you are already peak fee.
SPEAKER_05Absolutely, I've already reached peak feasy. Yes.
SPEAKER_03For those of us who have a little journey to go, we find it helpful to make resolution.
SPEAKER_05No, I mean I just I just think, you know, uh like you say, it's the anthropology thing. Yeah. It takes a lot to turn your life round. Yeah. You know, and and the people who think that just because the date changed, this is the moment, is this is going to be the catalyst. Man. I think, you know, for me, I think it feels a little bit naive, but you know, best of luck to you who are trying to, you know, get that sorted, you know, wherever it is.
SPEAKER_03What about other people? What uh have have people made New Year's resolutions? Ian McCarthy has said hi on uh on live chat. But uh yeah, let us let us know. Be good to know if there are any resolutions out there. Are there any resolutions and are you any good at keeping them? Any tips on how to actually keep them? Yeah. Just do what you say. Would that be your advice? Just do it. Just do it. All of a sudden that doesn't sound very Augustinian. It sounded very fontigative will, but not anymore. Um so what is happening in 2020? Well, already we've had the quote of the decade from Jose Mourinho. Uh Tottenham manager in a game against Southampton. He was given a yellow card for being rude. Uh I'm not quite sure um the substance of that rudeness. I I don't, you know, he didn't articulate precisely what that rudeness entailed.
SPEAKER_05No, I've not actually heard. I mean, I'm not surprised, Jose Mourinho's. I'm quite good at lip reading, so I think I've got a fair idea.
SPEAKER_03He was given a yellow card and then he was asked about it uh after the game, and uh and he said this on the clip.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Um because you approached it with uh satan page.
SPEAKER_00Um I think the yellow card is fair because I was rude. But I was rude to an idiot. And uh and for some reason for some reason I was rude. But I was and because I was rude, I deserved the I deserve the yellow card. What?
SPEAKER_03So there there's there's Jose just a model of humility and meekness. Known for it. Yeah, for it. Um he did put his hand up and say he was rude. Yeah. And he seemed he seemed mightily chastened by that fact.
SPEAKER_05It was cutting him to the heart. Yes, very much so.
SPEAKER_03The confession that he was rude, but he was rude to an idiot. And isn't that isn't that justified? Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Well, I mean, we I feel we all have used that justification in our head. Yeah, you know.
SPEAKER_03I feel like or even out loud. It it could be written across the homepage of Twitter. I was rude, but I was rude to an idiot. I'm allowed to say these things. So it's all it's all justified. And uh and that quote got us thinking about hypocrisy and uh got us thinking about blame shifting and uh how we think uh we're much better people than we are, and uh actually um so much of our lives can betray and and believe um something very different to what we espouse. Um uh and another great example of that kind of hypocritical blame shifting um was Ricky Gervais's uh enjoyable rant on the Golden Globes. Very enjoyable. Did you catch any of that?
SPEAKER_05Yes. Well I'd read about it first on the BBC news page, then some of the quiets had come out with, and then I've seen the clip since then.
SPEAKER_03So it is quite something. Let's uh let's have a taste of Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes last night.
SPEAKER_02Fifth time. So we were gonna do an in memorium this year, but when I saw the list of people that had died, it wasn't diverse enough. It just no, it was mostly white people, and I thought, nah, not on my watch. Maybe next year. Let's let's see what happens. Apple roared into the the TV game with a morning show, a superb drama, yeah. A superb drama about the importance of dignity and doing the right thing, made by a company that runs sweatshops in China. So, well you say you're woke, but the companies you work for, I mean, unbelievable. Apple, Amazon, Disney, if ISIS started a streaming service, you'd call your agent, wouldn't you? So if you do win an award tonight, don't use it as a platform to make a political speech, right? You're in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg. So if you win, right? Come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your god, and f off. Okay?
SPEAKER_03So uh just uh all too enjoyable.
SPEAKER_05Oh, yeah. I mean, and I knew he was going to be he'd be good value because he's done it. Was that his fifth time, they say?
SPEAKER_03His fifty time. He said he would never do it like more than once. Yeah, yeah. But then he was he was actually open enough to say he was made an offer he couldn't refuse. Right. So he's talking about hypocrisy. Yeah, well, yeah.
SPEAKER_05And some people kind of called him out on it on Twitter and were saying, like, oh, he doesn't realise he's actually one of those people he's talking to. And I think I think he does realise, you know. He just doesn't care. He just doesn't care. Yeah. And I mean, at the end of the day, I mean, if you can't if if you can't call out things until you yourself have reached a level of perfection, well, none of us would ever call out anything, would we? So but I mean it was just gold, pure gold, you know. Wow.
SPEAKER_03So we're gonna do the in-memorium then.
SPEAKER_05Oh my words, that was so good. So hilarious. Maybe next year.
SPEAKER_03What's he gonna do? Who's he gonna kill to ensure that it's a more diverse mix of dead people? Um but then when he got in he got into the you say you're woke. You say you're woke, but you know, don't get up here and lecture the rest of us.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Because celebrities, they do like that a little bit.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. This whole thing, because this whole thing wasn't it, you know, and you work for Apple, you work for Google and all these companies, and if ISIS started a streaming service, you'd be calling your agent. So don't lecture people on you know what you know nothing of the real world, yeah, the yada yada. You know, and and I think, you know, I've said it, I've said it on here before, that we live in a bizarre time where you know when you get celebrities who, whether they're pop stars or actors, and they come out and they say, Oh, you know, I'm now rallying against this politician or supporting this politician, and people and it's like big news, you know, like it's it's literally kind of most read on the news pages, you know, Taylor Swift has come out against Donald Trump, and it's like who cares what Taylor Swift thinks? Like uh Taylor Swift is about as you know, probably about as qualified to speak about politics as I am to speak on quantum physics. Yeah. You know?
SPEAKER_03Don't be a hater, Paul. She's just gonna shake it up.
SPEAKER_05You know, I just the idea it's just bizarre, isn't it, that these people are the people shaping our shapes what we believe. We shouldn't really be listening to these people who aren't experts in the field. We should be listening to 16-year-old girls moving the way forward. Where are the grown-ups? Where are the grown-ups?
SPEAKER_03The people who actually know stuff.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, no, I'm you know, I'm being facetious, but um It's fun. You know, but i yeah, I mean, why and and the thing I enjoyed most about that, about his thing is is what we didn't see a lot on that video, actually, is people's reaction to it. Is that clearly the celebrities don't know how to respond. And there's one or two who are just uproariously laughing all the way through, which you know is heartening. And there are a lot of them who you were kind of very nervous. Sure. Because it kind of it's the case, isn't it? If someone makes a joke about something and then it cuts to you laughing, it could be the end of your career because you laughed about you know Gretathenberg, or you laughed about this, or you laughed about that. Yeah, you know. And and and there's probably that, plus also that there's maybe that element, but also the kind of oh, maybe he's right, you know. Yeah, yes, there's probably that. So it is kind of quite fun to watch.
SPEAKER_03It's Ricky Gervais, so he could be joking about anything, including torturing a kitten. If you're like yeah if you're still laughing at that, like your career is over. That's it. Yes, yeah, yeah. Get out of get out of Hollywood. But uh yeah, but yeah, you're in you're in no position to lecture other people. Um but it's so fun, Ricky. Uh we all love to do it. Um but Yeah, this is this is the problem.
SPEAKER_05Um and the people are afraid, aren't they, that you know, that even if they're part of a kind of more progressive group, that if you're seen to be saying the wrong thing, then that group will turn on you and you will be thrown out, as we've kind of seen over the Christmas period. Yes. With the JK uh J.K. Rowling tweet. Yes. The tweet that was, you know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And I guess I guess you c you you almost kind of need to be a billionaire to to have like enough security to be able to take on trans ideology, it seems. Um J.K. Rowling, um, you know, she's made her money.
SPEAKER_05Um Yeah, I mean, anyone there's people there's some people saying, like, oh we're gonna boycott the books. I I don't think that's gonna affect her right now, if I'm honest.
SPEAKER_03I've got I've got a lot of respect for J.K. Rowling. I think is she is she the only person who has ever ceased being a billionaire because she gave away so much money.
SPEAKER_05I think she went over the threshold. I think that's right.
SPEAKER_03She gave away a big lump sum, didn't she, at some stage? Yeah. She only kept like 900 million for herself. So props to her, props to her. She uh she wrote uh back in December, just before Christmas, um but the the background to this tweet was Maya Forestarter um was uh a woman who worked worked for a think tank, I think, basically. Um her contract was up for renewal. The contract was not renewed because she'd made a social media posting in which she'd basically said, Um, I believe in biological sex. I I believe that gender is grounded in biology. Um Men and men and women. Men and men, women and women. Yes. And that you know, uh the definition of a woman as an adult human female. Um and she she made a post like that, but on the basis of that um she was fired, and then on the appeal to that, the employment tribunal um said that her views have no place in civilized society. Um which is a a chilling, you know, conclusion for the employment tribunal to come to. Um and so JK Rowling, in solidarity with Maya Four Starter, um tweeted this: dress however you please, call yourself whatever you like, sleep with any consenting adult who'll have you. Like she's really building up the I'm a liberal people and very, yeah, yeah. Um live your best life in peace and security, but force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? Question mark? That's I mean, that that's the most declarative she gets. A little question mark. Are we okay with forcing women out of their jobs for having an opinion? Yeah. And then hashtag I stand with meyer. Um and that broke the internet.
SPEAKER_05Didn't it? And I mean the the fascinating thing is, so I'd read that and I was quite surprised that she'd said it in the first place because you know, she's as she's done in that tweet, I I'm aware of her kind of rather left wing credentials. Yeah. And you know, you kind of go, okay, it's not what I would have expected to come out with. And I kind of assumed, you know, that J.K. Um J.K. Rowling was kind of saying cle her opinion was men are men and women are women. But then if someone said to me, uh, that may not actually be the case, that you know, she she's saying that you know J.K. Rowling actually thinks you can be whatever you want to be, yeah, but she's simply saying I'll defend someone else's right to have a different opinion. And the amazing thing was that you know, if that is the case, that she she doesn't agree with the lady but isn't you know allowing her to have that opinion. The amazing thing is she still got set upon by people, even though she believes the same thing as the kind of progressives on the left, what the progressives on the left couldn't have was someone who would even countenance the existence of another opinion, you know, even if they didn't agree with it themselves. Yeah. Um and that we were talking about this before Christmas. It was the Chick-fil-A thing, wasn't it? Before Christmas, it was like, again, it's not just you know, well, you've got a different opinion to us. You can't have a conservative opinion on marriage.
SPEAKER_03You can't have a conservative chicken restaurant.
SPEAKER_05No, no, you can't have it. Of all the sentences you didn't think you'd be uttering in your lifetime, you can't have a conservative chicken restaurant. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean that just shows the the level, doesn't it? And if you read those comments, you see how this inclusive community is not very inclusive if you don't toe the line. Right. Um you have to be in a very you have to agree with a very specific set of beliefs to be included in that group.
SPEAKER_03To be righteous, to be orthodox and not to be a heretic. You read the comments to JK Rowling's tweet and you see this massive fight between those who are all within the the walls of the LGBT community. And what's what's fascinating is the LGB and the T, they really don't get along. No. Um and uh obviously for for obvious reasons, you know. One one side are saying born that way, and the other side are saying I can be gender fluid and identify however I like, you know, on whatever day I I choose. Like um these are fundamentally opposed, you know, views, but things like the JK Rowling tweet really flush that out. Yeah. And we've seen this month the setting up of the LGB alliance um in distinction to Stonewall. So lots of people have come out of Stonewall, the gay rights activist um uh charity. And um Stonewall has very much taken on board the trans ideology over the past five years. Um, and the LGB alliance are very uncomfortable with that because, for instance, if you're a lesbian, it is very important that you're a woman and your lover is a woman. Sure. And that that gender is biologically rooted, that is their sex that they were born with. Um and so, yeah, a whole bunch of feminists, a whole bunch of lesbians in particular, are very uh concerned with what trans ideology might mean. So we've got this really interesting scenario where Stonewall are calling the LGB Alliance transphobic, and the LGB Alliance are calling Stonewall homophobic. Yeah. And that's a sentence as well. Stonewall, yeah. Stonewall is homophobic, people, because 2020. It's yeah, you're just 2020.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. But I mean i in in a sense, it it's it's it's uh you know, the beginnings of well, I'm not sure it's the beginnings, but it's definitely part of uh something for years uh within the Christian community at least, I think we've we've already noticed those things. You know, and I know certainly since I've been working here, we've certainly been under discussion at different points that there are these factions within this community that actually who have ideologies that are really strongly opposed to each other, yeah. Um and surely at some point that's gonna come to a head, and and we're seeing it come to a head, and it's no surprise that uh when these people have very different ideologies, yeah, they're gonna unravel because they don't they don't sit harmoniously with each other.
SPEAKER_03And one thing that makes me think is whenever the LGBT community says that the church is not very welcoming of the LGBT community, uh one thing I want to say back is have you had a look at the LGBT community itself? Are they welcoming of one another? Like what what are they doing to one another? And just within the comments on J.K. Rowling's tweets, you see how hospitable they are to one another. Yeah. Um the the idea that the church is not doing a great job of including that community. Well, how how well are they doing at including one another?
SPEAKER_05But didn't that happen years ago as well on the um didn't that happen on Richard Dawkins' atheist website where like the atheists they closed down their forum board because the atheists were too busy uh being bullying each other.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_05And you know, all the while berating how terrible people in the church are while they bullied each other and had to close down the board.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I mean they were rude, but the other person was an idiot. That's that's the the the the common theme there. Um uh staying with the issue of of sex and sexuality, um the United Methodist Church uh has recently um decided that they're going to split. There's it is uh one of the largest denominations in the US and it ha it's a global movement uh as well. Uh it's going to split over the issue of same-sex marriage and um the ordination of LGBTQ clergy. And so the traditionalists uh who are a minority in the US but a majority worldwide, um, the the liberals want uh a more inclusive agenda like that, um, but they haven't allowed the global United Methodist Church to have a vote on this issue because they know that African bishops are not gonna line up with the progressive agenda. And so they brought mediators in, and so they're gonna split. And basically the liberals are gonna take control of the existing denomination, the United Methodist Church, who are then going to pay the traditionalists, the conservatives, uh a lump sum of tens of millions of dollars to set up their own thing, and and we pray that they will just get on and preach the gospel now, because hooray, they can stop talking about this issue. They can stop arguing about the issue and just get on and preach the gospel. Um so hopefully that'll be a good thing for them. Um but it was just fascinating for me to see that actually it was the white liberals in the US who were excluding the African voice from their church deliberations in the name of inclusion. Yeah. That's interesting, isn't it? And so uh on Twitter uh Lyman Stoney wrote this blistering thread. He said, in case you missed it, the progressives in the Methodist Church were unwilling to accept the idea that Africans should get to vote in their affairs, and so they are paying a 60 million pound uh 60 million dollar plus settlement in order for the African churches to drop their claims. It's important to understand that the traditional versus progressive split is actually white people in America versus black people in Africa. Go look at the convention votes, it's extremely clear what's going on. The United Methodist Church has a global polity. Churches in different countries vote together in one convention, which meant the more conservative African churches could impose rules on the American churches. What's wild about this is the American churches imposed rules on the African churches basically forever. But now that the African churches are powerful, the American churches are like, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, we can't have that. So the progressive churches are gonna pay $25 million in cash, plus set aside a $39 million fund for ministry purposes, plus let more conservative congregations walk away with much of their property. Let more conservative congregations walk away with much of their property as I read it. The result is going to be massive losses for the United Methodist Church. They're going to shrink dramatically. And why the schism and shrinkage? Because progressives just could not stomach the idea that African bishops should have any authority over Americans. The wild thing is that conservatives in the UMC and also in the Anglican Communion have happily accepted supervision by African bishops. Decolonization of the church has actually happened in these more conservative bodies and in a lot of other missionary-centric conservative church bodies. But the old colonial churches and their institutional elites just cannot accept that the global church has changed and urban white moderates aren't in charge anymore. And on he goes.
SPEAKER_05And someone said, Hey, in like in cases like this, it's we who need to catch up with the Africans. And the person came back and said, They're not static, they're moving forward into the 21st century. The church will follow, don't patronize Africa. Which was so golden. And the person even responded and said, The African churches will catch up, don't patronise Africa. Well done. You know? So say, Don't patronize Africa, they'll catch up with us. Move into the 21st century. And that was that's the progressive liberal voice there speaking. Don't patronize Africa, they'll catch up with us in the West. And you just think, wow, that is an incredible thing. Yeah to even put and to be so oblivious to what you've just said.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_05There. You know, just amazing.
SPEAKER_03So that the modern view of sexuality that we kind of consider to be just obvious, we can sleep with whoever you want, and hey, it's a free world and that kind of stuff. That's that's not the view that humanity has held down through the ages, and it's not the view held by the majority of people around the world today. Sure.
SPEAKER_05Oh, and I mean, is it so you you I mean you've been you've been in the Church of England in the sense that you were employed by them. Sure. And and this obviously has this obviously has uh overlap with the kind of Church of England situation, isn't it? With the Anglican situation worldwide, you know, because if if you I suppose if you were to look at the Anglican situation worldwide, it would be very similar. Um is it because it's part of me being someone who's not very Anglican despite always having been in Anglican churches.
SPEAKER_03Um You're in denial, mate. Well, you know, I've always I'm not an Anglican. Um it's just for like 20,000 Sundays I've been going to an Anglican church.
SPEAKER_05I'm not Anglican. Um for a long time I've kind of looked at the Church of England and said, like, would it be so terrible if those who affirm kind of faithful biblical teachings split off from those who didn't? And you know, those who kind of want to be, you know, who say, no, we should fight for it and keep it because it's our church, yada yada yada. But I mean it's also my understanding within the Anglican communion, and I don't know how I don't know how up to date this is and whether it's true, but my understanding is that within the Anglican Communion, the it's the churches that hold traditional biblical teaching that on the whole are growing and financially prop up the Church of England, whereas the liberal ones are the ones that are dwindling and basically struggling. So it kind of feels to me like, well, if you split off from that, those churches will just die. They you know that liberal thing can't progress. And in a sense, by sticking with it, what what's propping up those liberal churches in Anglican communion at the moment is the money of faithful Christians. So why not just split off and let you know and let that die? So because you know, saying like these guys in America, you're saying, well now they've got an opportunity to just go and preach and do the thing rather than arguing about these things. And you can say, well, sure, and surely what will happen in America in my s I I would say is surely the progressives will now just dwindle and die.
SPEAKER_03Maybe. You know. I mean, one thing is that they have come to a settlement in which large sums of money are going to pass to the traditionalists. That's that's not obvious that that is how it would pan out in the Church of England.
SPEAKER_05Oh no, but I mean even ignore the the money side of it. But I mean just from a I mean I mean and well it's not uh this is unf maybe this is so it's I'll say it anyway, and those of you who are in the Anglican, you know, maybe churches and vicars and things can correct me if I'm wrong. Send hate mail to Paul.feasy at I think a lot of people in the Anglicans seem more concerned about what will happen to their buildings and their pay packets than they do about sticking to the biblical teaching. And I understand that because it might mean if you live in a vicarage, your family is out and you've got nowhere to live. So I get that. I get that. Um But it just seems that there are bigger things at play than what happens to the old building that we've got down the road.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um I mean the Church of England has such a privileged place within English society that, you know, we do play chaplain to the rest of the nation. And every square inch of the country is c covered by the the parish system, and there there is a sort of a spiritual responsibility that you sort of take on if you want to be an Anglican, that's uh hardly The cure of souls. The cure of souls for the whole parish.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and that's very yeah, that's certainly a very admirable thing.
SPEAKER_03And and the fact that well the Church of England, when you when you read the prayer book and the 39 articles, you think, well, this is a thoroughly reformed expression of orthodox Christian faith.
SPEAKER_05Sure, on paper it looks great, doesn't it? It's ours, right?
SPEAKER_03So you know and I and I can I can well understand if people within the United Methodist Church were thinking, well, how hang on, how how is it that those who are actually trying to change the church doctrine get to hold on to the church? Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Um and so yeah, but it will be that church in name only. Maybe, yeah, yeah, yeah. And maybe God will remove the lampstand, you know.
SPEAKER_05You know, but yeah, I mean obviously you can't you can't work out how e any of those things would pan out. I mean I and I don't know quite where I mean I get in the sense with the Anglican stuff at the moment that we seem to be reaching a bit of a tipping point that there's a lot of people uh voices I see who have been maybe a bit more on the fence about what should happen, who seem to have been in the last year point just things they're saying give me the impression that they've lost a bit of kind of hope that anything will ever turn around. Yeah. But I don't know. Yeah. You know, I I don't really keep up with it hugely, but Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I I'm more of the sort of persuasion that, you know, I I want to be kicked out rather than leave in a huff and and I I want to be kicked out for preaching Jesus, you know, and and and and therefore, yeah, what what are the battles, what what are the hills I'm willing to die on? Um there are all sorts of questions like that. So if if you do believe the Church of England is uh a Reformed Orthodox biblical church, it's certainly not a pure church, but then show me a pure church. Yeah, what is though? Yeah. I think it's a true church, and therefore I don't want to leave it. If someone wants to kick me out, let them kick me out. You know. Um and maybe maybe that means I'm not bold enough in proclaiming Jesus to the point where people would pick kick me out, or or maybe it's that God actually wants me in it as part of the solution. You know, Matthew 13 is hard to get around when you've got the the wheat and the weeds growing up together.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And Jesus doesn't say get out the weeder. He doesn't he doesn't say, you know, get get ri He says keep on sowing. You know. And so, you know, that that's kind of my philosophy. Keep keep on sewing and until until you get chucked out.
SPEAKER_05Is there a point when it's so compromised though that you I mean it's where people draw their lines, I suppose, isn't it? Yeah. As to how far his own.
SPEAKER_03And I'd I I I would really want to be a little friendly. I would really want and and I understand why um people might draw a line on issues like sexuality, and and I I think that can be a presenting issue behind which lays a whole question of the biblical authority that you stand on. You know, and so so you're not really you know, there are there are people who will resign ostensibly over issues about inclusion of gay clergy or whatever. Um whereas actually when you talk to them, they say, no, it's about the biblical authority. Who's who's in charge in making in the same way that you know there were people who went to the stake in Reformation times who were burned by Bloody Mary, um, who were actually going to the stake for issues about the Lord's Supper, which modern people you know would struggle to keep up with the arguments, like why, oh, okay, so you're oh you're you're really you're really about to die because of bread and wine? Is that really what it is? Well, no, there's all sorts of gospel issues behind it. So so in my naivety saying I want to be chucked out for preaching Jesus, well, actually the implications of preaching Jesus might work themselves out in all sorts of tricky areas in which it might seem like I'm getting chucked out or resigning because of something that doesn't look like it has Jesus at the center when it might have Jesus at the center, which is a very convoluted um way of saying. But let's keep preaching Jesus. And yeah, I I think it's a very mixed church, but I still think it's a true church. So I'm gonna I'm gonna hang around, you know. Who's with me? Who's with me, people? Um how should we pivot from here? Should we pivot from here to fires in Australia? Because um my family is my family is choking in Canberra. So devastating uh bushfires in uh Australia. Uh 24 people have been killed, almost 2,000 homes have been destroyed. Um they've built uh they they've burnt about five million hectares of land. And uh do we have an image of um the fires around the southeast? So you can see Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne. My I've got family in Sydney, family in Canberra, and uh like usually the pollution levels in Canberra are something like 50 parts per million, and uh at the moment they're well over 5,000 parts per million. Um and yeah, I've got family members with severe asthma, yeah, people are going out in masks, and but um you'll see the fires all around there. 2,000 homes lost, 24 people uh have been killed thus far.
SPEAKER_05Um and we've also got this image showing what it would look like if that same area was uh burnt out in England, and pretty much the majority of of of England, right up to the Midlands, um are kind of burnt out and yeah, and yeah, and I've got you know I've got family out there as well, aunt and uncle and cousins in their kind of Sydney direction, and my uncle had kind of we spoke to him on Christmas Eve, uh Boxing Day, um, and were saying, you know, that they it was about six miles from where they were now, so um, and they were thinking about what was gonna happen next and stuff. So you know, it's obviously a massive thing.
SPEAKER_03Um and then I mean so many thousands of people evacuated from this way and that way, and then getting involved in bottlenecks and you know, ten hour journeys take them fifty kilometres and things like that. Um and you can understand how Tempas Frey and uh Scott Morrison um went to uh uh a little country town in the Beager Valley that had just been burnt out. Scott Morrison is the the Prime Minister of Australia, and uh he had to cut short his visit to the town because this was the reception that he got. Let's have a look.
SPEAKER_01I'm only shaking your hand if you give more funding to our RFS because so many people here have lost their homes. We need okay. We need more help.
SPEAKER_06We had nothing if we were sitting, if we were north coated, we would be flooded with donations, with urgent emergency.
SPEAKER_03So that was Scott Morrison in Kabago in the Beager Valley in uh southern New South Wales. Um and you can understand the anger, um, and you can you can feel the anger, and um it's a very human response. Especially um, you know, Australia is very similar to the UK, you know, we have tall poppy syndrome. If anyone is up high, we want to cut them down instantly, and so we don't have a very high view of of politicians. Sure. Um and so you can understand when the Prime Minister comes, um, he's gonna cop it. And and cop it he did. But um I I think this does speak to a kind of very human impulse that in the midst of real uncertainty and when it looks like all of nature is turning against you and you realize that this is a deadly place, um you want to hold people to account and you what you want to say, oh this is the reason. This person is the problem, because if that person is the problem, then somehow you can regain control. Let's let's get rid of Scott Morrison and well well well and then what? Yeah, you know, it's not gonna make the fires go away, is it? No, but I I think it it it speaks to this very human desire to to take control of a situation that we are completely out of control over. And there's there's a broader issue about, you know, so climate change is just you know, it was a massive issue, it's become much more a massive issue, especially in Australia. Um is this about climate change? Uh is this about all sorts of other weather patterns um that have caused these droughts that have made the bush into a tinder box? Um there are all those sorts of questions, but they they get heightened massively because we want control and we w we want to be able to say, this is the problem, you are the problem. And then we feel like we've taken back control somehow. Um but I think the bitter pill to swallow is that sometimes the rain just doesn't fall, and sometimes the forest just burns and burns and burns, and this world is not a safe place. We don't we don't we don't want to go there. Because what what do you do then? Pray? What do you do then? You know, trust trust your eternal destiny to Christ and realize that actually di in this world there are no promises of safety? No, we don't we don't want to go there. Um so it's absolutely heartbreaking. Um it's a total tragedy um in Australia and the and the fires continue to burn. Um but let's see, they have a little bit of rain. Yeah, there is there are there are little bits.
SPEAKER_05But they'd need I think my uncle said they he said that you need about two weeks of soaking rain to make a dent in it. And that probably hasn't happened in five years, I don't know. You know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Right. So I mean the fact they had a little bit wasn't expected, but I don't think it's made much of a difference.
SPEAKER_03But So pray for rain and pray for Australia and pray for the preservation of life um there. Um because earthly securities are not as secure as we think they are. No. Um let's let's make this turn to pray uh tur turn us to prayer. Um just finally, shall we have a think about the other major story in the news? Uh for the last three days, uh World War Three has been trending. Just Twitter. Just as an aside, as we finish World War Three. Qasim Soleimani, Iran's most powerful military commander, uh, was taken out by a drone strike in Iraq, alongside a whole bunch of other military people. I don't know how many people died in that strike. No. But it was at the US President's best, and uh he ordered it. And the Iranian government have promised revenge after three days they would bury him and then strike back. It was yeah. And today's the fourth day. So I I haven't I haven't checked Twitter in the last half an hour.
SPEAKER_05No, and I'm I'm sure something would have popped up if we'd would it?
SPEAKER_03So well we'd just be scrolling through looking at baby yoda memes. Hello, people, are you there? Um So there's all sorts of things that you could sort of draw out from this. But I mean, it is very evocative in that the the fact that this drone strike happened in Iraq. And you know, and we're meant to trust that oh, there was an imminent strike that Soleimani was about to make, and this prevented it. And you're like, okay, did he have weapons of mass destruction? Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Sure.
SPEAKER_03Do we do we trust you? Yeah, they I mean they got some form in the uh the Americans on this one. And since 2003, it's been very difficult to trust our leaders on this kind of issue in the Middle East. And then there are some other issues that that raise um trust problems with us, um, such as um some previous tweets that uh Donald Trump uh tweeted. Uh back in November 2011, uh Donald Trump tweeted, in order to get elected, Barack Obama will start a war with Iran. Um I predict that President Obama will at some point attack Iran in order to save face. Uh another one in 2012, now that Obama's poll numbers are in tailspin, watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. He is desperate. Um it's that whole thing, you know, whatever you accuse your opponent of, it might be quite revealing of what's in your own heart. Yeah. And then there's the question of impulse control in the leader of the free world. Yes. The man who has his finger on the button of the most, you know, powerful kind of military arsenal the world has ever known. He's not very good at impulse control.
SPEAKER_05No, and I think even if you are the most ardent Trump supporter, yeah, I think you know, y it you'd have to admit that he's n he's not known for his introspective reflection on things. He's slightly he's very impulsive. Yeah. And his Twitter feed is is evidence of that. I think you'd have to be doing some pretty serious denial to not acknowledge that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. And so this this issue with Salomani kind of brings to the fore the the immediacy of character issues when it comes to our leaders. Um in in other spheres, politicians might be able to have a public-private split um that that is not so dangerous. But when the president um uh has no impulse control, and and when it is possible for him to not only press his thumb down and send a tweet, but actually press his thumb down and and send a drone strike. Yeah. Um that that becomes a much more more pressing issue about the the the character of um Donald Trump. And and of course, this was big news just before Christmas, when Christianity Today's editorial by Mark Galley um called out uh the president and and it said Trump should be removed from office. Um and this sort of lit a fire, and you know, Trump responded with a whole you know volley of tweets to this. Um but I I did think in general, Mark Galley's uh editorial showed uh a lot of courage. Um uh you know, Christianity Today is uh a journal that was started by Billy Graham, it's a very large um evangelical publication in the States. And he was very, very clear that look, 20 years ago when Bill Clinton was being impeached, we called a spade a spade and we said his moral character makes him unfit for office. But if we are to use the same criteria, then you know Trump would likewise be disqualified from office. Um I I think a couple of a couple of slight um things you could quibble about with with that editorial um is that he he made one sentence which I think has been misinterpreted by people. He's he said um that Trump should be removed, we believe, is not a matter of partisan loyalties, but loyalty to the creator of the Ten Commandments. Um It could sound like he's saying that everyone who votes for Trump is denying the creator of the Ten Commandments. It could it it could be but I I read that as him saying um we believe. On our for our sakes, we're doing this in loyalty to God, and other people's loyalty to God might work out in you voting for Trump. I think that's kind of what Galley meant. But uh the timing as well was was quite interesting because it was during the impeachment of Donald Trump, and so it could be seen to be partisan on the other side, it could be seen to be a pro-democrat kind of a thing because of that timing. If it's a character issue, well, hasn't Donald Trump betrayed character flaws quite consistently, not just in this last month? But I think the timing is because Mark Galley is about to retire, and and I think therefore this is his kind of parting shot. So I don't I don't think I think it's coincidental that the impeachment happened at the same time. Um but it has well, it hasn't split evangelicalism in the States. Evangelicalism in the States has already split, but it has exposed a Fisher in evangelicalism. Um and I think I I would just say um coming up to an election year, um everything else that Mark Galley says in this editorial is is true about his character flaws, about Trump's character flaws. Um you can definitely hold your nose, go into the ballot box and cast a vote for Donald Trump. But what I would say is you can hold your nose, but don't close your eyes. Don't close your eyes to who it is that Donald Trump really is. Um and yes, he has done some some good things for conservatives in the states in terms of appointing Supreme Court justices and judges uh throughout the land. Um but are we able to point out character flaws without people going, hey you can't say that Trump's Cyrus, you know, Trump is the new Messiah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Um and there is and surprise and shockingly, there is that kind of language, isn't there, that you know, people seeing like Donald Trump as some kind of saviour, you know, Christians using the word saviour about Donald Trump, yeah, or even saying, you know, I saw someone who tweeted something about you know along the lines of oh yes, but Jesus isn't here now, Donald Trump is, you know, like and and you're like that's just mind-boggling. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so yeah, yeah. So yeah, so like I say, um, there will be lots of Christians who, for many reasons, justified biblical reasons, uh might want to hold their nose and vote for Trump, but don't cover your eyes as you do it. And uh let's not be involved in the kind of idolatry um that raises up leaders. Let us not put our trust in princes in whom there is but a breath of life. Um good. We we managed to finish on scripture. How about that? Good going. Good going. Good way to start the year, then. Yeah. Resolved this year. To be more biblical. Uh we had some uh great comments, Ian McCarthy, on the issue of resolutions. Isn't a New Year's resolution a deliberate opportunity to fail? Huh. And what as is that a good thing? Maybe, maybe it is.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I don't know Ian well enough to know whether he's asking saying that as a he's like I'm with you on this, or that's a good thing.
SPEAKER_03Like, yeah, I think I think he's he's saying it's setting you up for failure.
SPEAKER_05Oh yeah, definitely. Well, I think it's definitely setting you up for failure, undoubtedly. Yeah, yeah. But does that mean you shouldn't do it, I suppose? Yeah. Maybe I've been too harsh.
SPEAKER_03David Walker uh has said people will draw uh speaking about the Anglican thing, uh people will draw lines in different places on this stuff, uh on when it is that people might uh leave the Church of England. Uh it's really important that we don't turn on one another when we find our lines are not all exactly the same. Um very, very wise. Um so some some people's reasons for leaving the Church of England will be different to others others, some people's timings will be different uh to others. Um but uh to to each person's master they stand all four, and God is able to make a stand. Again, scripture, boom got it. Um coming up this week uh in Speak Life, uh on the 10th of January, that is this Friday, um Unbelievable are releasing my debate with Matt Dillahunty. Yeah, so that you went in for that just before Christmas. Button for punishment. Lamb to the slaughter. Yeah. I went I went and had a look on the uh Unbelievable Facebook page, and there's just a little still of me and Matt Dillahunty. Yep. Um and uh I've I've got to stop reading comments because error. Don't read the comments, we all know that. The latest comment was this ought to be a spanking. And I think he meant yeah, Dillahunty would be doing the spanking. But uh well, let the feeling. Yeah. My my hot take on it, my my initial take coming out of the debate, I thought I did dreadfully, but he did abysmally. Oh, well, that's heartening. It is heartening. That that morning I was speaking to 150 retired ladies in Eastbourne, right? Yeah, and I let them know that I was about to have this debate, and it's we must pray. And I I let I just kind of looked up at this room of 150 grey haired old Eastbourne ladies praying for me, and I thought, Matt Dillahunty doesn't stand a chance.
SPEAKER_05No, there you go.
SPEAKER_03He hasn't got a prayer. He literally hasn't got a previous one. What have you got, Dillahunty? What have you got nothing? He's got himself. I've got 150 retired Eastbourne women, you know. So yeah, my big prayer point throughout the whole thing was that he would dig a pit and fall in it. And you can see on Friday whether he does. And uh, spoiler alert, I think he really does.
SPEAKER_05Um so we're gonna have a look at that at some stage, aren't we? And and maybe just pick it apart a little bit. I think so.
SPEAKER_03Review yeah, review how dreadfully I really did. But also the gaping abyss that opens underneath Matt Delahunty's feet.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it sounds like there's a few moral moral quandaries he may have got himself into. It is all about morality.
SPEAKER_03Can secular morality deliver a better world is uh what we were talking about. And uh yeah. Um Justin Briley brought up the Nazis. I didn't do it. Right he went full Godwin at the end, and uh and that led us down a path that revealed uh a lot of stuff, which will be very interesting for you to have a look at.
SPEAKER_05So I'm looking forward to seeing it.
SPEAKER_03Yep. Releasing on Friday on the unbelievable um Facebook uh page or on their YouTube channel, sorry, and uh and we will be doing a uh uh a review video very shortly after that. Uh so please do subscribe and like and share and all that good stuff. All the usuals, yeah. Brilliant, and uh and let your let your friends know if you like this podcast. Uh make a recommendation on uh on social media or even face to face with watchable friends. Yeah. Um yeah, that could go a long way. Anyway, that'll Lewis. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_05Good start to the year.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, well played, everybody. God bless.
SPEAKER_05See you next time. Cheers.