0004 Forging Faith: A Journey of Spiritual Growth and Community Resilience

This episode focuses on the five pillars of Christian life: faith, family, fitness, fundamentals, and finances. It emphasizes the need for accountability and community, encouraging listeners to dedicate this year to growing in Christ and participating in a 90-day challenge aimed at implementing these principles in their daily lives. 
• Emphasizing the importance of faith in daily life 
• Building strong family relationships as a spiritual foundation 
• Prioritizing fitness and well-being as a form of stewardship 
• Developing and refining skills through lifelong learning 
• Practicing wise financial management and avoiding materialism 
• Creating a community of accountability to support personal growth 
• Launching a 90-day challenge to implement the five pillars

Christian Warrior Talk is Sponsored by Trident Shield, your trusted ally in violence preparedness. Trident Shield helps safeguard your loved ones with expert training and consulting. Trident Shield, defending faith through empowered preparedness because together, we save lives."

Chapters

• 0:00 Christ Forged Locking Shields Overview
• 11:31 Living for Christ
• 26:06 Defending the Wall in Prayer
• 32:05 Vigilance in Society Today
• 39:37 Community-Based Security and Preparedness
• 55:26 Reformed Church Civil War Resolution
• 1:08:31 Spiritual Commitment and Growth for 2025
• 1:23:11 Sundays on Zoom Prayer and Worship

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:39

Welcome to Christ Forged Locking Shields, the Christian Fellowship show where we fight three battles. One, we fight to get a humble and grateful heart aligned onto the Lord. Two, we deliberately pursue a relation with our Lord and Savior by studying His Holy Word. And three, we spend time in fellowship with iron, sharpening iron, investing in one another. We spend time in fellowship with iron, sharpening iron, investing in one another. You know, picking each other up when we fall. You know cheering on our victories, learning from one another and praying for one another. All right, this is also an accountability group where we submit all five aspects of our life to the lord, which are faith we put faith first. So every day we're getting in our Bible and we're praying, all right. Two, family we are deliberately investing in somebody in our family every day. That means, you know, family can be pretty wide term. You know it should start near to far. All right, steve whoo made it All right. So again, thank you guys for the patience for our debut show. I haven't done this in a while and for some reason, the gremlins in the thing. Nothing I did wrong, nothing just glitched. I just had to turn everything on and on. So again, the five pillars that we submit our life to are faith, family, deliberately pouring into a family from near to far, starting with your spouse, your children, and then expanding out from there to your other close family members, neighbors, friends, coworkers, and then strangers right, you know, for those appointments that God sets for you. So again, I've missed you guys so much and there's so much I wanted to say today and so much that I want to cover, because I haven't been on in so long and the news has been full of full of stuff. But let me continue on with our five pillars.

Speaker 1: 2:49

The next is fitness. Okay, and if you're like me and you're busy, then you know, um, it's hard, you know life's pulling you in all directions. It's hard to put your fitness at the level it should be. But let me tell you something fitness and your health are directly connected. Your body is a vessel of the Holy Spirit and your body can either be the big blessing to you or it can be a a a bane to your existence, right, because of what you do with it. Right, and you know, since my knee surgery you know, I had a total knee replacement in October my world's been rocked. Um, I am getting better, you know I'm right around, I don't know. I think December was three months, so a little over three months now, and things are getting better with my knee.

Speaker 1: 3:45

But fitness, we got to invest in our fitness, you know, and we got to be functional. You don't have to be Mr Olympia, you don't have to be, you know, a swimsuit model. You have to be functional, you have to be able to defend yourself, you have to be able to fight and you have to be able to move right. So, again, fitness, investing in our physical well-being and treating this temple that God gave us to the best of our ability. The next one is fundamentals, and fundamentals is the one that a lot of people struggle with, and that is your skillset. We should always be adding to our skillset or sharpening our skillset, whether that be shooting, whether that be grappling, whether that be combatives of some type like boxing, muay Thai or carpentry, plumbing, electrical, automotive, farming, animal husbandry. You know, um, you know prepping is very real, um, all consuming tasks because you got to know so much. You're basically Noah, you know, and you're trying to do the best you can, um with that. So you're always sharpening your skillset and you're always adding your skills.

Speaker 1: 5:13

And the last one is finances and you know finances has been a really hard one for us, particularly this year, you um, since last year when um I got let go by mike lindell. Um, shortly after that, lauren, you know, went from a home birth to near death birth and we had no insurance really. We had, you know, metashare, but that's Christian MediShare or one of those type plans, but we just got destroyed and then you know everything on that went with that. But luckily the Lord has blessed us. Trident Shield, who sponsored this program, which is my security and consulting program, our security and consulting training and emergency preparedness company, is going gangbusters. We're all over the country. I am traveling so often now I'm racking up my miles on there. But again, finance has been a challenging one for us and you know we carried ourselves, you know, on this massive farm, this massive farm. You know on credit and ran into you know all the challenges that came with that.

Speaker 1: 6:42

So you know, again, when we say we're working on these fundamentals, I'm not telling you I'm perfect. I'm far from it. You know I hit the gym tonight and I was as weak as I've ever been. I have not been having the gym, um, but this is a new year and if you guys heard my sermon last Sunday, which was before the new year, this year doesn't have to be like all the rest. This year, you know you have the opportunity to do it for some, you know, to dedicate what you're doing this year and your walk with God and growing closer to him and submitting your five pillars of your life not to him, just for you, but doing it for God. I mean, you barely like you, let's face it. You barely like you, which is why you haven't been able to do all the things that you want to do, that you know you should do by.

Speaker 1: 7:40

Most of us have a love-hate relationship with ourself. You know, depending on how new you are in your Christian walk, as you die to self and become more like Christ, you hate your old life and you love your new life in Christ because you're becoming more like him and he's removing, burning out all your impurities, which is why I love the term the forge, christ's forge. So you know, with finances, we want to avoid two pitfalls, and I know this is a wandering start compared to some of the other stuff, but we want to avoid excessive debt and we want to avoid materialism and we want to use our war chest for God? We're all blessed with war chests, whether it's a narrow one, small one or a large one. We're blessed with a lot. And are you using that for your kingdom or God's kingdom? You know, and every time you know the, the Christian lifestyle, which are lifestyle, way of life. Everything is like any other way. Uh, way of life. You're looking at other people all the time and sometimes, when you're spending your time around really holy people, you're like, wow, I am struggling compared to them and they're struggling behind closed doors. Not everyone is as transparent.

Speaker 1: 9:16

Youtube's not live on your end. Let me check on that right now. Um, should be on that right now. It should be. I'm going to see right now. That would really be a bummer. I would have to upload it to see if it's not, but that is unfortunate. I had to delete it and all that stuff. Let's see here. No, yeah, it's showing me live right now. Oh, this is the old one. Okay, because that's the old one. I bet you it's not going to let me do that. So let me see here. Lauren's on YouTube. She says she's watching there. I'm not going to mess with anything, okay, so Cheerful Coconut, we are live up there. I don't know. I'm not going to play with it anymore.

Speaker 1: 10:18

Our debut launch has been a rough start, so, um, but my point being is that when you look at who you used to be, when you get around people who are barely saved, unsaved, and where you came from, you are instantly going to feel better about how far you've come. Now the reality is, once you get along around those people who were you like anytime I get around with my old neighborhood friends, like anytime I get around with my old neighborhood friends, you know just every other word, you know a swear word, and they're just completely, completely lost. You know they are not living for God. They're not. You know they may think they are right, but let's face it, those of us who've been on this journey while know what it's like.

Speaker 1: 11:31

Everything you do is for God. At some point. You know you're not grinding it out, you're not wasting your life away watching football on TV, you know. Or basketball, or whatever. You know you, you, you're doing stuff with your life, you're serving people, you're helping people, and once you you see that, you can be like, okay, all right, I'm not Paul Washer yet Right Now, paul Washington, walking the Lord for 50, 60 years. You're not, you know, doug Wilson or some of these other guys. You're you and you're on your own journey and parts of you are going to die off quickly and other parts of you you're going to be fighting your whole life. All right, but what I'm trying to tell you, with this whole accountability group and start of this new year and I haven't even opened with opening prayer yet and I got to cheer everyone in and I got to cheer everyone in and we got to strengthen, honor everyone in here and all that stuff, and I'm definitely going to do that. I just you barely like you.

Speaker 1: 12:32

Don't dedicate your new year's resolutions to you. Don't do that. It's not for you. Instead, dedicate a whole year to Christ. Say this year, lord, I am living for you. That's going to put a lot of pressure on you, which is exactly what you need. Dedicate it to he who gave it all for you, he who rescued you out of your own hell, and for some reason, you keep jumping back in that pool of filth that is your life. But use this Monday, because we're going to start this Monday. I'm going to talk about it again. I know I'm all over the place, but I see all you guys here and I missed you so much and I haven't spoken to you in so much. But we're going to get into all that. So, first, to reground this and to reset this welcome to Christ.

Speaker 1: 13:39

Forged Locking Shields, the Christian fellowship show where we fight three battles. One, we fight to get a humble and grateful heart aligned onto the Lord. Two, we deliberately pursue our Lord and Savior by studying His Holy Scripture, his Word and through prayer. And three, we spend time in fellowship with iron, sharpening iron, vesting in one another, praying for one another, picking each other up when we go down, fall down, locking our shields of faith around each other, celebrating our victories, learning from each other, cause no one can learn, know it all Right. And again, this is the Christian. This is also an accountability group where we submit ourselves to the five pillars faith. This is also an accountability group where we submit ourselves to the five pillars faith, family, fitness, fundamentals and finances. I started this show in its original form and it's evolved into this right now.

Speaker 1: 14:44

For other people like me, when I got saved, I couldn't find a pastor that was masculine. It took me years and then I found one. He inspired me to become my own pastor and then I was trying to find like-minded people like me, people who wanted to walk out faith, who wanted to live in community, people who wanted to live out faith, who wanted to live in community, people who wanted to live a biblical worldview. But not this John Piper pacifist, mush life out there. John Piper, for example, is a great scholar. There's a lot you can learn from him. What you can't learn from him is how to be a man.

Speaker 1: 15:24

Any pastor who says that he would let his wife or daughter be murdered if he had a gun and they were being raped and murdered and he wouldn't do anything to stop it because he knows that his wife or daughter is going to heaven and he doesn't know the state of the fate of the bad guy doing it, is not a man at all. Doesn't know the state of the fate of the bad guy doing it is not a man at all. He has lost one of the most important aspects of being a Christian Defending the helpless, being the good shepherd. We are all called to be good shepherds. You have no life, no flock, if you do not defend them. That is why the shepherds slept in the field and David talks about defending the flock from a bear and a lion before he faced Goliath and the wolves and the robbers. We must defend our families and our communities If not us, who?

Speaker 1: 17:00

And I looked around and I was trying to find warrior community in the church and I found nothing, Nothing, less than nothing. I found complete and utter garbage. I found complete and utter garbage, weak men, desperate women. So I knew I had to do something. So I started this show and this ministry here in Tennessee. So I started this show and this ministry here in Tennessee, as you guys know, as Patriot Crusader Mission to take patriots, first responders, cops and people who love their country, turn them into crusaders, warriors for Christ, and send them on a mission. And then we evolved into Christian Warrior Mission. And then we evolved into Christian warrior mission.

Speaker 1: 18:03

There was something always nagging in my mind that the warrior was becoming too much of the identity. It's got to be Christ-focused. The warrior is one aspect of this. It has to be about Christ and that's why we came to Christ Forge, christ Forge Church, this show, christ Forge Locking Shields, christ Forge Homestead, which is our farm. Christ is forging us all in his image and that's why we created this. And when I looked out there and again saw the wasteland for veterans and first responders, and I know guys who are Christians, who play and sing and do whatever, as you know who are first responders or law enforcement in their churches, and they're not getting any of this. I look at them and I don't even know if they're really, truly are, Christian.

Speaker 1: 19:30

Who are you serving? What is your prayer life? That will tell you everything about your journey. If you're serving yourself and you're a complete mess and you're in a five-alarm fire just trying to take care of you, well you're in big trouble. You need to hit your knees, give your life to the Lord, make a radical change, and that starts on Monday for you. If you're doing fine in some of these pillars let's say you're doing fine in finances and fundamentals your prayer life sucks, though, and your family's struggling. Jump in. Maybe you're doing great in all of them, or maybe you're doing great in fitness and family, but everything else is a mess.

Speaker 1: 20:22

Jump in, starting Monday, and now we're going to get to the true format of this, and I'm going to pray us in some gratitude. I'm going to read the chapter of the Bible that inspired me to do this, to help others do this and then we're going to dive into fellowship and cover so much We've got to cover today. We have to cover the terrorism how to be safe where I think this threat's going. Next, we're going to cover the Reformed Brothers' War between Joel Webben, the church in Ogden, utah, doug Wilson, james White and Apologia Church and everything else. And then we're going to talk about the 90 day challenge starting on Monday.

Speaker 1: 21:41

All right, so let's go ahead and pray, dear Heavenly Father. Lord, thank you, thank you. Thank you for bringing all my friends, all my brothers, all my sisters I miss so dearly back. I thank you for each and every one of them. I know how empty I have been without all these people that I'm seeing on tonight. I miss their voices on the phone. I miss my text with them. I miss seeing them. Lord, I thank you for this community that you are rallying around us again today as we move forward with a sharpened spear, plunging into 2025 as Christ forged. Lord, I thank you for our countless blessings, those known and unknown. Thank you for your creation. I thank you for your common grace. Thank you for choosing us before the foundations of the world, writing us into your book of life, choosing us while we were still traitors. Thank you for your grace. I pray that this time that we spend together, glorify you and only you, serve you and only you, and please you. Let we spend together. Glorify you and only you, serve you and only you, and please you. May we serve you with every beat of our heart, proclaim you with every breath of our lungs. In Jesus' name. We pray amen. Hey, fez, good to see you, welcome.

Speaker 1: 23:52

So there is no better chapter in the Bible than Nehemiah 4 to describe how we need to be living today. And I'm going to read that to you because this is the debut of this show and I want people to be able to come on here and see and know this and to know it's biblical. When I travel the country and I go to schools all around the world, all around the country I'm sorry I haven't been around the world all around the country and I train them and I have to overcome pacifism doctrine, heresy of pacifism doctrine. I go to many places in the Bible, but this is one of my big ones, so I pull it up on my screen and see how it looks, yeah, okay, and then I'm going to screens. I'm gonna be reading it to you, but see if I can make that for you. Does that help that? Only make ads bigger. All right, well, I'm going to read it to you. So this is Nehemiah 4.

Speaker 1: 25:07

Now Nehemiah was a cupbearer for the king, a foreign king, and the foreign king saw that he was troubled and asked him what was wrong. The foreign king saw that he was troubled and asked him what was wrong. And Nehemiah said that you know, his home city, jerusalem, laid in ruins. The wall was destroyed and it troubled him so and the king respected him and loved him so much that he sent him and gave him all he needed to rebuild that. And so Nehemiah a cupbearer, not like some big, righteous knight in shining armor goes there and is in the process of rebuilding the wall, and there are enemies surrounding Jerusalem. And so let's get in. That's the setting. And so let's get in. That's the setting.

Speaker 1: 26:07

Now it happened when some ballot heard who's one of the enemies, that they were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and very vexed and mocked the jews. He spoke in the presence of his brothers and the wealthy men of sumerian. I'm reading out of the legacy standard bible, this time for the first time on air. I just really thought they did a good job. What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they complete it in a day? Can they bring the stones to life from the dusty rubble, though they are burned? Now Tobiah the Ammonite, another enemy, was near him and said Even what they are building, if a fox should jump on it, he would break down their stone wall, or break their stone wall down. And now this is Nehemiah speaking. Hear O God, for we are despised. Return their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity. Do not forgive their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before you, for they have vexed the builders. So we built the wall I'm going to scroll down. So we built the wall. The whole wall was joined together to half its height, and the people had a heart to work. They were inspired to work. They were loving the work.

Speaker 1: 27:34

Now it happened that when Samballot, tobiah and the Arabs, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repair of the wall of Jerusalem went on and that the places broken down began to be closed, they were very angry. All of them joined together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause a disturbance in it. But we prayed to our God and because of them we stood a guard against them day and night. Our God, and because of them we stood a guard against them day and night. Then Judah said the strength of the burden bearers is failing, yet there is much rubbish and we ourselves are unable to rebuild the wall. Our adversary said they will not know or see until we come among them, kill them and put a stop to the work. Now it happened when the Jews who lived near them came to us and said came to us, came and said to us 10 times. And so, 10 times they came and said they will come up against us from every place where you may turn Right. So they're calling them back in, saying it's hopeless, you're going to get killed.

Speaker 1: 28:46

That I had men stand in the lowest parts of the space, behind the walls, the exposed places, and I had people stand by, families with their swords, spears and bows. Then I saw their fear and I arose and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people do not fear them. Remember the Lord, who is great and fearsome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses. That's what we are called to do now, so we're always called to do, but it doesn't end there. Listen how they live their lives while they're doing this.

Speaker 1: 29:33

Now, it happened that when our enemies heard that it was known to us that God had thwarted their counsel, then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work, and it happened that, from that day on, half of my young men carried on the work, while half of them took hold of the spears, the shields, the bows and the breastplates, and the commanders were behind the whole house of Judah. Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carry burdens took their load, with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon. They were armed continually. As for the builders, each wore his sword girded at his side as he built while the trumpeter stood near me. Each wore his sword girded at his side as he built While the trumpeter stood near me. I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people the work is great and extensive, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. At whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, they are gathered together are gathered together to us, our God will fight for us.

Speaker 1: 30:46

Now, the church today and this has been the problem with the church too long is when I would go around and say, hey, you guys need to do security. And oh, there's some people armed here, blah, blah, blah, they got it. Which is like the worst thing ever, because that just guarantees that blue on blue which is people shooting each other, that because they don't have training, they don't know their shooting lanes, they don't know what they're doing. And just because you carry a gun doesn't mean you know what, what the heck is even going on. So all the cowboys out there, you know I'm happy you're carrying, but doesn't mean you know what the heck is even going on. So all the cowboys out there, you know I'm happy you're carrying, but if you think you're going to get into a firefight in a sanctuary and not hit someone else, you might be dreaming, right? So here they're not testing the Lord, right? They're not saying, oh, lord's just going to protect us and we're just going to work. No, they're doing their part, they're trusting in the Lord. Okay, they're trusting in the Lord. They are on guard, they are armed, they are going above and beyond. They are maintaining situational awareness. They are doing it all right and trusting the Lord to bless what they're doing. So to pick it up and finish it out in 21.

Speaker 1: 32:06

So we kept doing the work, with half of them holding the spears from dawn until the stars came out. At that time I also said to the people let each man with his young men spend the night within Jerusalem so that they may be on guard for us by night and worker by day. So neither I know my brothers, my young men, nor the men of the guard who followed me. None of us removed our clothes. Each took his weapon, even to the water. That is where we are in society today After those terror attacks. So that's two battles won. We prayed in with a grateful heart, we read a chapter of the Bible, pursuing it, and we're going to get to fellowship here in a moment. But this just ties into this topic so much. It ties in directly to what we're doing today.

Speaker 1: 33:14

Tori, if you're going to a football game, you know you better be thinking about how you're going to protect your family. Well, what the heck you doing going to a football game On what the heck you do? And go on a football game. In my opinion, I can't think of anything. And you're talking to a former sports addict. I can't think of anything worse or more of a waste of time. Now, if my kid's playing, that's one thing. When you're out walking the street and you're shopping, you've got your firearm, you know where it is, you're being aware, you're seeing who's around. When you're walking down, you're, you know, in a playground or at a parade. You're being on guard. So I'm going to take a like 20 second break, come back and then let's do our fellowship time. I got a lot of strength and honors to say to welcome people back, some faces on here I'm just so glad to see. So I'll be right back.

Speaker 2: 34:19

Christian warrior talk is sponsored by Trident Shield, your trusted ally in violence. Preparedness Trident Shield safeguards your loved ones with expert training and consulting.

Speaker 1: 34:29

Trident Shield defending faith through preparedness, because All right, so you know what time it is Welcome. Thank you, you know what time it is Welcome. Thank you, you know what time it is. Are you guys ready? Let's get the strength and honor flowing. So to my wife, lauren. Strength and honor. Strength and honor, strength and honor. Steve Raleigh, my brother Strength and honor.

Speaker 3: 35:05

Strength and honor. Strength and honor Steve Raleigh, my brother. Strength and honor. Strength and honor.

Speaker 1: 35:08

Strength and honor. Brandy Hipp, here's to you, brother. Strength and honor. Strength and honor, strength and honor. To cheerful Coconut.

Speaker 3: 35:21

Strength and honor. Strength and honor, strength and honor, strength and honor.

Speaker 1: 35:32

To Melissa Raleigh.

Speaker 3: 35:35

Strength and honor. Strength and honor, strength and honor. Fez, what's up?

Speaker 1: 35:49

I think Adrian, my brother John, otherwise known as John for race John.

Speaker 3: 36:02

Faraci, otherwise known as John Farace. Strength and honor, strength and honor, strength and honor.

Speaker 1: 36:06

I know I saw Claudia in there too. Strength and honor. Strength and honor. Strength and honor.

Speaker 1: 36:16

All right. So it has been so good to see everyone here. It warms my absolute heart that you all showed up for our big night back and couple things I want to talk about here. Unless you've been living under, you know in a sewer, you know that there was a terrorist attack, a vehicle attack that almost evolved, that did evolve into an active shooter after. But he was stopped by some great cop work. Okay, I saw footage of cops sprinting to that attack and they put them down before he could get out and exchange a bunch of gunfire and gun people down. So good job there. From what I can tell, Okay, Everybody wants to beat up on him because a car got around a massive area. Jason is no longer with us. I don't know how Jason is doing, Brandy, I assume he's doing great. I love him and adore him as family, but he's no longer with us.

Speaker 1: 37:40

So the the attack, vehicle attacks. As you guys have known, I've been talking about vehicle attacks for over a decade and we've been on borrowed time. We've been on borrowed time. The attack of Nice, France's attack, happened here. We would add infinitely more driving attacks than what we have now. And, um, it now appears that everyone has realized, or people starting to realize, that vehicles are a far bigger threat.

Speaker 1: 38:20

Our society today, an American society, we are so dependent on our vehicles. We are not Europe where people don't even own vehicles. I mean, I know a lot of people in New York city don't own vehicles, which is one of the reasons why I never live in New York city. There's so much freedom. You can be anywhere you want to be, you know, in the continental United States because you have a vehicle. Lauren, if you can hear me, clock is barking like crazy. And then check your text to send you a text on something I need. Check your text. I'm about to send you a text on something I need. So one moment here. So there we go. Um, I lost my train of thought. The amount because we are so dependent on our vehicles. Our infrastructure is not built in 99.99999 percent of america to counter vehicle attacks.

Speaker 1: 39:46

You have to have bollards or increased curb heights. You have to. You know there's a ton. You know bollards that when massive intersections, like if you have a high school where 500 kids, when the bell rings, they're crossing the street, you know if it's not the um, if it's not the poles, it's the ramp that comes up. You know there's just a ton of things that we have to do and we have to. You know there are ways to counter this and I advise my clients, you know, using their vehicles. You know it may be now that when you go to a public school or a outing or a park or an event, that instead of people parking in the parking lot we now park our cars in a big circle, you know, bumper to bumper, to prevent a vehicle coming through and hitting anyone. I mean we should be doing that. We should be doing that. That's just one example.

Speaker 1: 41:16

You know, and watching everyone talk about oh, is New Orleans going to be safe or this or that, and the Super Bowl coming up, they're not going to hit New Orleans again, not unless they're stupid. They're going to hit the billions of other soft targets High schools or middle schools, or when kids are getting off and they walk out across the schools. They're going to hit sporting events in small towns where they don't have massive infrastructure Parades. They've already been hitting Grocery stores, Farmers markets, grocery stores, farmers markets, anywhere where there's a crowd and people have been counting on a little blue. You know, wood fence, saw horse to keep people out. That's where they're going to hit, and um, that's where they're going to hit. And we got to get ready.

Speaker 1: 42:29

We've been talking about getting ready on this show in the previous iterations of this show for years now, and you guys know it.

Speaker 1: 42:41

It appears as of right now that 2025, if you're believing all the talking heads and the chatter is going to be a very active year in the violence world. I am still very, very, very concerned about things holding it together until the 20th. I think I just saw today in the news that Trump is going to be sentenced on January 10th after the election's certified. I don't know what's up with that and I don't know what they're trying to pull with that. But here's what I know we're never going to be weaker than we are right now, and China would mop the floor with us in a war. China has diversified their population on three continents. They have a massive presence in Africa, a growing presence in South America and then, of course, the largest population and you know, one of the largest populations in their home continent, in China. They have just owned the president for 412 years, if they owned Obama, which they probably did as well at that time.

Speaker 1: 44:28

So that's what we're dealing with Now. We've got four years of a president who will push back. I won't push back and maybe the country's awake enough. You know, I saw the Republicans today. They put Johnson through one vote and he you know Massey didn't vote, it was three voted against him I think was a messy, I don't know just one. And then they got him on the next one and now you can't remove a speaker on one vote. Now I think it's nine votes. So they they changed that rule.

Speaker 1: 45:11

Thank god, this is not the year to be going to big events. Choose your risk wisely. Choose your risk wisely and you know the temptation right now is our trump's. Got this, we're going to be in power. Life's good. Let your preps go. You know, because being prepared is expensive. I've been carrying triple the livestock, quadruple the livestock I need for people that may or may not have been coming If stuff hit the fan. And now I've collapsed back into just doing it for us, because it spent over $30,000 last year just keeping the farm running. That's cost. So most of you saw a post out there.

Speaker 1: 46:38

I talked about how to counter a vehicle attack. So, before an attack happens, position yourself, you know, in a place where either a car can't fit between you know like more place where you can bolt to go in between buildings, behind bollards, a pillar, between vehicles, or change altitude. Be by a stairway, particularly a stairway that goes down, that has concrete on either side. You can bolt right down there and the car will go right over top. That's if I had to go somewhere. That's where I position my family and then remember, if you're being you have nowhere to go. Move laterally. Cars have to go forward or back to turn. Elon Musk hasn't invented a hovercraft yet that's mass produced, that we can just do this whichever way we want. So in order for a car to turn, it has to go forward or back. So, moving laterally, we can move laterally anytime we want.

Speaker 1: 47:55

Once the attack has happened, if you're in a vehicle, you can use your vehicle to stop it. If you're in a vehicle, you can use your vehicle to stop it. You see a vehicle plowing people down. Take out that vehicle, your car, and then be prepared for it to become an active shooter or an active stabber. You can use a firearm to take out the shooter or disable it by shooting the tires and making it harder for it to do what it's trying to do. You can shatter the windshield, throw you know hopefully you're not one of those people out there drinking a pumpkin spice latte, but throw your ridiculous orange drink on their windshield so they can't see Again. This hinders what they're doing. Those are ways to deal with vehicle attacks the way outside of flashpoint violence like what we saw in New Orleans.

Speaker 1: 49:01

And again, if you ask my opinion on what happened in Las Vegas with Green Beret, who's rented a cyber truck and it blew up in front of Trump Tower, that doesn't smell right. Doesn't smell right at all. You know, if he was you know this expert with explosives, he built the worst bomb ever. It's completely ineffective. That doesn't sound like this guy. Everything I've heard is that this guy was squared away, locked on good at his job. Sounds to me that maybe he was. You know, either he was forced to do this or he was possibly murdered. Murdered and then some very average person set up the explosives to go off the way they did, or whatever.

Speaker 1: 50:09

That whole story doesn't make sense to me. Mtsg says he agrees with me. Yeah, just like the only thing would be is if he got really lazy or he wasn't meaning to do it. Just, it just doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. Um, the thing that we need to do that we're not doing.

Speaker 1: 50:39

Everyone here I know everyone's story here that is watching the show, that's commenting in the chat and I'm going to put the overlay up, so if you guys would chat a lot. So there you go. I know all these people who are here and are doing this stuff. They've been long time watchers of the show. We need to train more together and are doing this stuff. They've been long-time watchers of the show. We need to train more together. Yeah, mtsg just said something that I completely forgot. Remember, tesla have self-driving capabilities. That's right. He could have been done a long time ago. Set on a timer, pull up and it's over. I didn't even think about that part. Makes it even easier than having it on remote right. We need to be coming together to train more. We need to be spending face-to-face time with other Christians.

Speaker 1: 51:53

This show is a good tourniquet. It's a good tourniquet I want to show you. I showed this brand before. It's a good tourniquet. Oh, I want to show you. Showed this brand before. Bottle of wine I'm drinking.

Speaker 1: 52:10

Get for our inaugural show here is called juggernaut. It's got a line on it, ain't lying and Judah there, I'd say. And they've got anything to do with any of that stuff. But good stuff, in my opinion. We're going to be hosting a lot more events here once the weather turns. That's part of the pivot why we put church in our name for the first time Christ Forge Church Because we need to build a presence here.

Speaker 1: 52:56

We need to be shaking hands and sweating in the gym together, pounding T-posts and processing giant animals and building fences together and decks and all kinds of stuff, making each other's life better. That's what we need to be doing. We're all so isolated and alone, doing it on our own. We need to be living in community With our families, in community. Wives with godly women to hang out with. Imagine that Children with godly children to hang out with and not that Children with godly children to hang out with and not little demons and devils. Imagine that. Imagine going over a dude's house on Sunday during football season and not just sitting there watching a game, actually doing real stuff, whether it's sharpening knives or working on each other's firearms or doing something big, out back throwing axes, doing real family stuff, talking about the word. That's what this should be, that's what this must be, and this show must evolve to be a call-in show.

Speaker 1: 54:39

We have the capabilities, we have the number, we have the number we need to grow enough of an audience here to where this is a two-way conversation, because I don't know it all and I don't experience everything. We're only as strong as a unit when we share our experiences. We share our struggles, pool our knowledge. So the next thing I want to talk about tonight. So this will be chapter two of the three-point chapters that I wanted, the three topics that I wanted to talk about tonight, three-point chapters that I wanted, the three topics that I wanted to talk about tonight.

Speaker 1: 55:26

What most of you don't know, like I know, steve has no idea about this, probably Melissa doesn't have any idea, brandy, none of these people know about this, but in the Reformed world, which is the type of Protestant I am, I am reformed. These are the Calvinists, these are the RC Sprouls, the Votie Bauckhams, the Paul Washers, the Doug Wilsons, the James Whites. The non-woke conservative right in the church has been in a civil war for the past three months. Now I'm not going to get in the specifics on this whole thing, because I've spent probably 60 hours going through reading stuff, listening stuff, watching stuff just ridiculous. What I can take away from is this Men need to address men directly when they have problems with them.

Speaker 1: 56:46

Often we try to speak in parallels or obscured, hoping that people will get the message, particularly when we all have podcasts and we all have all these different things and we don't name names things and we don't name names. And when we don't name names, we're hoping they're going to get the message because we're trying to save their pride and we're trying to be gentle with them. But what happens is people then who we have problems with who don't have problems with and we weren't talking to get offended because they're self-convicted on things and the people that we're trying to direct may not even get the message. So collateral damage is out there and it just creates. It's more brutal to name names in the beginning. Now, obviously, doing that in person is the right way. The Bible talks about this. If you have a problem, take it directly to your brother. If it goes further, take one or two more witnesses and then take it before the church and then let him be as an infidel after that. But there's also so. There's been some. So naming names let's just keep this simple In the beginning is the most important.

Speaker 1: 58:07

It would have saved a lot of problems. Doing this in person would have saved a lot of problems. Not being a punk would have saved a lot of problems. Not hiding behind anonymous accounts and going to your Twitter team, your Twitter trolls and sending them on people would have saved a lot of problems. Not going after legends in the community who have done decades and decades and decades of good work for the Lord, who have fruit to share for decades, and you've got nothing. Have some respect, give grace, I'm going to slightly pivot now. Slightly pivot now. Yeah, lauren, thank you.

Speaker 1: 59:28

This whole back and forth has been exhausting and I only experienced where you got that right. It has been exhausting. I don't even care about a lot of what they're even talking about. It's a movement within, it's a battle within. Christian nationalism is what it's basically boiled down to, and and we've got people who are very anti-jewish, who want to blame the jews for everything, and have nazi sympathizing listeners who they themselves are not supposedly and just. It's just been stupid, dramatic and I don't even want to talk about it anymore.

Speaker 1: 1:00:05

All I know is I wish the day men looking each other in the eye and settling things like men. I wish we could get back to that. Sometimes people need to have what Ken Graves would say would be a woodshed revival. Sometimes punk punks need to have their stuff tightened up. Men Jordan Peterson says this men need to be dangerous. The problem is, is in the church we have a bunch of people who want to act like they're Ivy League people and use 32 syllable words, and I love some of the guys who use 30 syllable words, but I wish that men would handle this old school. You got a problem. You go and you stare face to face and you do it, and then it's a lot harder to run your mouth that way when they're standing right there versus sending 15 or 20 or 30 anonymous troll accounts to attack someone. Now I just just so people know if this has ever parsed down I fully support Doug Wilson.

Speaker 1: 1:01:39

I've come down in his camp. I will back Doug a thousand percent because Doug has fruit, he's got tactics, he's got wisdom and I support Doug a hundred percent that's. That's his team. I'm on If there's a gotta be a team choice. That's being said. This thing I love also love James White, who's also on Doug's side on this. But James White can be emotional and James White is too much of a pacifist in my opinion. But I learn from him. He is brilliant. He has fruit and there's so much to him. Yes, he can be irritating. Yes, I don't always agree with him. I don't always agree with Doug. James White is harder to get along with, but I give him grace because the man deserves it. Jeff Durbin Love the guy.

Speaker 1: 1:02:41

Another guy who's got kinetic background, being a martial arts expert he was. I think he was one of the Ninja Turtles, the Ninja Turtle movies or whatever. But he goes and he does real world evangelism at abortion clinics and Mormons and everywhere else. The dude's legit. Do I agree with everything he says? No, he said some stuff that I definitely don't agree with and I think he needs to correct. But I love the guy and I give grace. I'd die for him tomorrow, all of them. Joel Webben Don't know him as much as I know the other guys.

Speaker 1: 1:03:23

Don't know him as much as I know the other guys. I've heard some things of his that I really like. I find him to be a good speaker, a good pastor, and I admire that he fought for his congregant and didn't throw him to the wolves. I admire that bravery. But he's extremely unlikable. He comes across as arrogant and again he's another one of these guys who just appears to me trying to be like he's from Yale.

Speaker 1: 1:03:52

I don't want to sit there and see these guys in suits and sports coats and all this stuff. I just want average dudes man. Maybe that's why I don't fit in. I mean, I love a lot of these guys and I respect them and I go to them, but I watch their stuff and I'm just sitting in these. I just don't want to feel like I'm hanging out with a bunch of freaking yuppies, everyone trying to come off like a college professor. Just, I want to work with dudes with calloused hands, scratched up knuckles and a good handshake and a good handshake.

Speaker 1: 1:04:47

So much of the church is this hyper-academic garbage and it drives me insane. The other half is the crazy charismatics which drive me even more insane. They find demons and devils behind every corner, every shadow. It's just nonsense. So, in my opinion, I've stopped keeping up with Reformed War, reformed Brother War, the Bro War, whatever you want to call it. Reform brother war, the bro war, whatever you want to call it.

Speaker 1: 1:05:27

And, um, I still like the guys I've communicated with. One of the guys on the other side won't say his name for his sake, privacy. Um, you know, I was so clueless I thought when they, when I heard that ogden was going to do a reply over this whole battle, I thought Ogden was a dude. I didn't even know it was a town. That's how clueless I was. Dude sitting around with beards and dressed all fancy. I just don't see the guys that I work with. I just don't see that man. I just don't see the guys that I work with. I just don't see that man. I just don't see that. I'd rather see dudes in work boots, with mud on them, fresh off the range, fresh off a job site, as we just got back from building someone's deck or helping someone move. So that's all I'm going to say on that.

Speaker 1: 1:06:46

The next thing I want to talk about, and the last thing that I want to talk about, is the 90 day challenge we have coming up. We have a 90 day crucible challenge coming up, starting Monday, where we submit all aspects of our lives, like we talk about here every day before the Lord, and we post it in our Facebook group. I am going to be posting it all over our page, all over, everywhere. You can start when you want to start. I recommend you start Monday, but you can come in and just go to day one and post your day one. It used to be if you missed a day you had to start all over. I don't think that's the way If you missed one of the steps.

Speaker 1: 1:07:53

But for 90 days you're going to log in and you're going to put what you did in one post for faith, family fitness, fundamentals, finances. Yeah, faith, family fitness, fundamental and finances. And it can be nothing, it doesn't matter. You just have to post every day. You don't have to post five every day, I hope you do every day. You don't have to post five every day, I hope you do. But after, if you do that for 90 days, parts of this is going to stick with you. Maybe it's going to take you multiple times.

Speaker 1: 1:08:31

I failed last year. You know we all did great for a while and then people fell away and I tried to do it informal because it was a lot of work to run that group. The less hands-on I went, the worse you guys did, and I used to do a Bible study every day because it brought guys in and got them thinking about this. There are studies out there everyone that if you do the Bible one day a week, nothing changes in your life. Two days a week, nothing changes in your life. Three days minimal. You do the Bible four days a week and everything in your life starts to change. Same thing goes with everything, with fitness, investing in your family and everything.

Speaker 1: 1:09:20

So here is my commitment to you for this year you are going to get me for two days a week. You're going to get me on Friday night tonight, unscripted, doing this show where we can talk about news events of the day, but we're going to be talking a lot about the five pillars and what you're doing and the struggles you're having or whatever is going on in your life A two-way conversation with Collins, because we're all struggling, man, we're all struggling. There's not enough time in the day, but we have to invest in ourself. You know, I was talking to a friend today and Lauren and I were having a talk and she's like you know because I've baptized some guys who have backslidden.

Speaker 1: 1:10:31

I don't even like, I don't even have relationships with them anymore, not because of anything I've done. They, they've just backslid away and I guess you know that comes part of the deal. You're a pastor and you know people won't stay your friend, I guess I don't know. But um, she's like, would you do anything different? And I'm like I don't know. I would like to say, if I had a big, established church, that in order to join the church you'd have to go through classes and understand what you're signing on for and what we believe and be able to defend it and all that. And I want you guys to be able to do all that. That's why my Sunday sermons are about and what we do here, you know, to make it a process to be baptized. But I don't know.

Speaker 1: 1:11:30

Then I looked at mine and Lauren's life and I'm like how often have we been in the Bible? Not as much as we should have been. How many things are we struggling with? And we know better. We're not baby Christians. So should we have been baptized? And the answer is yes. If someone is convicted to be baptized, baptize them and then walk with them as long as they'll walk with you, and then it's on them and God, it's on them and God. It's heartbreaking how many people drift out of your life as a Christian, particularly the more Christian you become. The higher your standards, the less friends you'll have. It's the same thing with anything, so I'd love to see here in the chat what are things that you're that you're hoping to accomplish with the crucible this year. You know I need to tackle our financial troubles.

Speaker 3: 1:12:56

You know the deal we were dealt last year it was the hardest year of our life and we've got to recover from that.

Speaker 1: 1:13:04

Luckily, the Lord has helped us and and people about this, particularly when times were tight. I need to be a better father Now. I've improved on that, a hundred percent. I've improved on that. Am I the dad I want to be? Yet no, I feel like, or I believe, I'm doing a lot better. Does grumpy J creep in as things are coming off the wheels? Yes, 100%. That's going to be something I'm going to battle for a while, I think. Fitness-wise, I want this to be the year that I get back in shape. I need that. So MTSG says reading the Bible daily Great, here's something. So MTSG says reading the Bible daily Great. Here's something.

Speaker 1: 1:14:28

I don't know if you guys have been hearing my sermons or not. Kneeling and praying has changed everything for me. My prayer, life and I'm on my knees is laser focused. Laser focused when I'm lying in bed, praying or sitting at my desk. Everything wanders and I don't know if it's because of my knee pain, from my knee replacement or what, but it's there.

Speaker 1: 1:15:09

I want to grow this community and this church to have a real impact on lives. I've spoken to you and you guys have been very kind, and many of you have been. Hey, you've helped me through a hard time this time and that I want to have a real impact on people's lives. I want to rebuild my war council those of you who don't know, because again, people might be turning war council is a group of believers. You need three to seven who know your entire testimony and you know theirs. You know all of your weaknesses, warts, wrinkles, scars and you know theirs. You know all of your weaknesses, warts, wrinkles, scars and you know theirs. And they are people who are actively walking it out as Christians, and you guys look out for each other to make sure that we don't accidentally take the off ramp. I've been talking to some of my old friends from the neighborhood where I grew up. So Brandy said this, and this makes me feel good. At least it had some effect.

Speaker 1: 1:16:43

During 2024, jp, you chewed me out for not reading my Bible daily. I do it now. Am I where I want to be in the Bible? Not yet getting there, brandy? That makes me feel good. I am glad that you are, that you are making progress and that you're getting where you need to be.

Speaker 1: 1:17:21

Now, in 2025, as we take this challenge forward, let's see where we can go. Let's see what we can do, when we're not spread too thin, when we focus. I think love you too, brandy. I think the Lord is going to bless us this year. I think, as we put him first in all things, we dedicate all things to him and we honor him. We do what Nehemiah did. We do the work, we do our due diligence, we pray to the Lord to bless what we're doing. That is the recipe and the battle plans for success. That's where we get our families where we want to be. That's where we get our faith journey where we want. That's where we get our fitness where we want to be and our health. That's when we can become an asset to our whole community and that's we find prosperity. In that we're not a slave. We have the proper relationship with money.

Speaker 1: 1:19:19

Well, I know we had a late start tonight. I appreciate you guys hanging with me. I appreciate everyone who hung with me, even on topic two, which many of you did not have any idea what I was talking about there, but I appreciate that church infighting that I had to say to those of you, those who will listen to this, who understand it. Trump, I pray that will be in office on the 20th. I pray that Things are going to start getting better in our country. I pray that God is going to be behind it all and we here will have a better, more active role in each other's lives. Pixels and letters on a screen are okay, but man, would I like to sit across from a?

Speaker 1: 1:20:35

table and share a meal with you guys. Range time, walks up to the cross. Listen to our kids laugh together. Hold, hold on. We got a comment here. Your church is failing vets. Video caught my eye. Struggle posts, active duty while struggling with a solo dad of an autistic child. Churches your friends do not understand and our struggles that is true, fez, and I have an autistic child as well, who destroyed my marriage, so I get it. Churches do fail our vets because they don't know how to deal with it. Church has a very awkward, clumsy, apathetic relationship with veterans and first responders, anybody who's in a violent career, and unfortunately those are the most Christ-like in my opinion. They're the ones who put it on the line day in, day out Of truly risked all. Oh, joseph, strengthen honor, even though we're wrapping up. Strengthen honor.

Speaker 1: 1:21:59

That's why you've got to find the right church, the right community, and I haven't seen anyone get it right. So that's why I started mine. So, unfortunately, vets and first responders don't like to go to church, don't want to go to church. So it's been one of the hardest ministry struggles I've ever had there's three struggles I've ever had and trying to help guide a fellow vet or first responder has been, again, some of the biggest struggles of my life. So love to help you in any way I can, fez, and don't give up. Don't give up. Don't give up. We need to. You need to start your own home church or a group of people and hang out, watch is, you know, watch our sermons or find someone there who's good. But you can't do this alone, man, particularly with the struggles that you have with your son and everything else. So just message me and we can set up a call and I'll help you in any way I can. All right, god bless you all. See you Sunday for church at 11 am Eastern Standard Time. You West Coasters, it's going to be early in the morning, okay, so the way that's going to work on Sunday for you guys, guys out there and I'm going to have to edit all this stuff out. But, um, is that we're going to post in the group facebook group um, our zoom link and you're going to be able to, you know, be here with us as we go through our playlists and do worship, and then you'll do the whole service and it won't be streamed, it'll just be on zoom, and then I'm going to take that video and then I'm going to edit out the worship and specific stuff, the worship and specific stuff, and then I'm going to live stream it just the sermon portion later on that day or that night. So, all right, god bless you all. See you tomorrow. I see you Sunday.

Speaker 1: 1:24:16

Let's wrap this up in prayer. Heavenly father, lord, we thank you for this time. We thank you for the these brothers and sisters who came here tonight to invest in us. Give us our support, to lend their ear. Lord, we are starting a bold endeavor. We are dedicating 2025, the starting point of the year to you. Lord. What can we do when we serve you in all that we are and submit our whole lives to you for a year? Monday, lord, we'll find out how that goes.

Speaker 1: 1:25:09

Lord, I thank you for everyone here who could have been doing anything that came and sacrificed time to spend with us. We haven't been on in so long. Lord, draw this community together, make it tight, reconnect the body parts, bring us all together, lord. So, lord, I pray a prayer of protection over this community, this fellowship, the persecuted church, over our troops, overseas, first responders at home and our veterans of yesteryear. I pray that there will be peace throughout the world. We don't go into World War III, and I pray for my beloved America that she would humble herself, turn from her sin, hit her knees and seek your face, that you would see her and bless her, so that we can be one nation under God, indivisible, ready in justice for all. Again, I pray, I call this fellowship to attention and put on the full armor of God. Strap on the shield of faith, grab the sword of the Spirit, boldly step forward. Lock shields to the left and right Shield wall as we march forward to take ground for your kingdom, for your glory Forever. In Jesus' name, we pray.