WOFOYO SHORT: Who’s Moving The Pawns While We Argue About Heroes?

Does suffering prove virtue, and does tragedy prove guilt? We open Luke 13:1–5 and hear Jesus cut across the hot takes, calling everyone to repent rather than assigning moral rank to victims or villains. From there we face a harder truth about modern outrage: it is not only loud, it is engineered—and it thrives when we abandon discernment.

We walk through real cases where selective editing shaped national narratives, then fell apart when the full record surfaced. That gap between the first impression and the whole truth is where believers must live with courage. God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind—self-control that slows the scroll, tests the claims, and resists being weaponized by headlines. Compassion matters, but compassion without wisdom turns naive, and wisdom without compassion turns cold. We aim for both.

The conversation also tackles feigned victimhood, consequences, and the social patterns that reward denial over accountability. We examine how unrest can be organized and funded, why polarization is often the point, and how the Church gets dragged into battles that distract from the mission. The antidote is not retreat; it’s deeper engagement with Scripture that stretches us beyond comfort. Let the Word confront your tribe, your instincts, and your timeline. Refuse to idolize pawns. Look for the hands moving the pieces and the goals they serve.

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Transcript

Jesus On Tragedy And Repentance

Media Narratives And Polarization

Sound Mind Over Fear

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Hey everybody, welcome to another WoFo Yo Short. This is C Dub. Let's get in the word for ourselves. Luke chapter 13, verse 1. We're going to be reading through verse 5. There were present at that season some who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered such things? I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. You know, it doesn't take much to go through current events, and it reminded me of a situation when I was married, uh, the family that I was married into, uh, they had a lot of letters behind their names. There were doctors and this and that, but especially in theology. And they taught in the seminaries and different things. When I talk about how useless some of that is, I'm telling you from experience because these are people that I know and actually get along with, but they're just dead wrong on some things. But there was a shooting, highly controversial national shooting, and there was this whole poor innocent kid, except wasn't so innocent, wasn't a kid. And then everybody else was going, Oh my god, this guy was just doing right, and this guy, and you go, Well, no, this guy was a dummy too. Because, you know, uh, with with my career, I train in use of force, and I'm telling you, he wasn't exactly right either. And you had two things come to a head, and you had a bad situation, and somebody died. And it was highly politicized, it was by design to divide. This whole issue was to cause division, it was to cause racial division, it was to cause political division. That's what the whole doggone thing was designed to do. And a lot of people bit into it. So the minute that I mentioned that something wasn't culture, that somebody was culpable, there was this phrase I remember. Stop trying to demonize the victim. Here's the flip side of that, though. Are you guilty of canonizing or implying virtue in some cases almost deifying the guilty?

SPEAKER_00 3:05

That's the flip side of that coin.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

And just like Jesus is saying, he said, you think that these people, these bad things happen to were worse than anybody else? Well, here in this day and age, with a lot of the current events that are going on, I'd like to ask the opposite question. Do you think that the people that are out there getting shot at the protest are more virtuous than anybody else?

SPEAKER_00 3:34

That's the flip side of the question. And I'm the reason I'm bringing this up is because, just like back then, what's going on now, things are being presented to us here in the West, in order to distract, in order to polarize, in order to keep us from coming together.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

It's being injected into the body of Christ. So, therefore, that's the main reason I'm addressing this is as believers, should we lack compassion? No. But should we have empathy to the point of being dumb? No.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

What we should be doing is asking the Holy Spirit, where's the truth?

Feigned Victimhood And Consequences

Organized Unrest And Hidden Agendas

SPEAKER_01 4:27

First Timothy chapter one. Let's just keep it at verse 7. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. Several other translations. That was from the New King. Several others, like I believe the NASB, translate this sound mind, self-control. Part of what happens, I remember the shooting I was referencing earlier, there was audio that was edited on a 911 call by NBC to make it appear racially motivated. When the full transcript comes out, then all of a sudden it's not what it appeared to be. Likewise, any kind of use of force, any kind of thing like that, there's going to be an investigation. There's going to be things come out that you did not know. If any of y'all have ever seen the movie Lady in the Tramp, Disney movie, cartoon, back when Disney made good stuff. Lady in the Tramp, you had the ant come over, believe it was Aunt Clara, and she had these two Siamese cats. And the Siamese cats were causing all kinds of havoc. They were trying to mess with the goldfish, eat the goldfish, and then they started talking about maybe attacking the newborn baby, at which time the cocker spaniel lady starts barking. As soon as she barks, the ant comes in and the cats are playing like they have been injured by the dog. I'm telling you that when you deal with the criminal element, there is a lot of feigned victimhood. That if you will go and review the cameras, you're finding out that they weren't as innocent. And well, let me just tell you where this comes from. In my line of work, it comes from 70% of people that are incarcerated not having a dad. Therefore, mom believes everything. My baby wouldn't do that. They'll argue with the judge. My baby wouldn't do that. My baby didn't. And they're incarcerated. And you got moms calling the place all the time. My baby wouldn't do that. My baby's what are you doing to mistreat my baby? And so you have these situations where there was no father around to lay down consequences. In a lot of these cases, that you have people doing stupid things that are finding out that there are consequences for your actions. And on top of that, people are being incited to go one way or another and do everything other than use some logic and sit back and detach and pray and ask the Lord what's really going on. You want to know what's going on up in Minnesota? Let me tell you, there's bigger forces at play. It isn't about, well, this guy got shot, or that gal got shot, or I'm pro ICE, or I'm pro this or that, or I'm pro man, it's like people you people are inciting to violence. This is by design.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

God has not given us the body, believers in Christ, He's not given us a spirit of fear, but of power. Well, are we operating in power?

Stay Anchored In Christ

The Gospel Should Disrupt Comfort

Don’t Idolize Pawns; Seek Peace

Final Challenge And Resources

SPEAKER_01 8:03

When we let things dictate to us how we're supposed to feel, love, man, are are we acting with compassion or it was like, good, that dude got what he got, you know. Uh, or if those agents got, man, check yourself. I'd try and check myself. Or are we dealing with things with the element of self-control? See all these videos, people, I'm just, I'm just mad, I can't control it. I can't really. Oh, yes, you can. Matter of fact, if you're ever dealing with me personally, I expect you to control it. Because if you're not dealing with self-control, I'm not dealing with you. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and of a sound mind. Do you think because bad things happen to people that they're more guilty or more innocent or virtuous than anybody else? Things happen. Now, can you go make bad decisions and there'll be consequences all day long? But take a step back, pray about this, because I'm telling you, with some of these shootings that have happened in Minneapolis, nobody that got injured or shot was doing this organically. This is funded. This is organized. If you interview them, they will tell you that it's organized. We know through this app that here's where to be, and this and that. Well, who's funding that? For what purpose? Is it all? How many churches, how many charities, or how many political organizations that are set up as a 501c3 not-for-profit that they're political, but now they're under the umbrella of either an NGO or feigned as a charity and getting subsidized. How much of this polarization is designed to get you upset? It's designed to get you animated, and it's designed to get you to do stupid things and to get your focus off of Jesus Christ. Focus on Christ, focus on what the Lord has called you to do and be obedient to that. We are not to be swayed by every wind of doctrine, not religious doctrine and not political doctrine. Keep yourself anchored and centered in Jesus Christ. Get in this word and read the parts that make you uncomfortable, that challenge you, not just your feel-good verses in your potpourri covered devotional. Not just what your pastor said was a an empowering message and a message of hope. Well, what about the message about judgment? There was a guy like to hear Paul preach. It was either Festus or Agrippa, one of the two. But said he loved to hear what Paul was saying, but then Paul started to reason with him about righteousness and judgment and the world to come. And he got scared. If the gospel is not making you uncomfortable to a certain extent and challenging you to grow, then you're probably not getting in the gospel enough. And if the word of God isn't doing that, then you're probably not getting in the word for yourself enough. You're probably getting spoon-fed something that is meant to appease you and pacify you. That is not what the gospel is meant to do. It's meant to provoke you to righteousness, and by changing you, it's meant to provoke others to righteousness. So when the world is throwing everything at you, and one side is saying that somebody's a hero, eh, worthy? While the other side is saying somebody just was horrible and all this, be careful about demonizing or deifying the pawns when they're not even the ones calling the shots. Focus on who's playing the game and what the goal is, and you will have a lot more peace in these times where that is something that many people are lacking outside of the body, and unfortunately, something that many people are lacking inside the body. Make sure you're hearing from God, make sure you're listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit, and make sure you're getting into the word for yourself. Woe FOYO. Hey everybody, thanks for listening. We hope this challenges you. I mean, really challenges you and causes you to grow. You can always check us out at wofoyo.org or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Audible, or even check us out on YouTube. For Bones of Myself, this is C Dub reminding you that if you're going to grow, you got a Woefo Yo. Get in the work for yourself.