#725 Discussion ACT Four: "In the Beginning: Awe, Wonder, and a Cosmic Explosion of Love"

A teenage girl gets told her body is the problem, gets put on powerful drugs, and loses her breasts before she can even vote. That story isn’t just shocking. It forces a harder question: what happens to kids when adults replace real healing with “affirmation,” and when parents feel pressured to surrender their role out of fear?

We’re joined by Fred Scola as we discuss Act Four of the Claymore Battle Plan Handbook, and go back to Genesis and the words of Jesus that point us to the model: in the beginning, it was not so. We talk about John Paul II’s vision of the body, why male and female matters, and how marriage and the family are meant to make God’s love visible. We also get practical about Catholic parenting and spiritual formation when the culture says “my truth” is all that exists.

Visit Claymore milites Christi  Learn more and share the vision! "The World Changes when we pass on...what is True, Good and Beautiful...with the next generation".

If you care about faith, family, truth, in a confusing age, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find it. Then ask yourself...What part of my morning routine needs to change first?

Transcript

Act Four And The Big Question

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Claymore Become Who You Are podcast, a production of the John Paul II Renewal Center. I'm Jack Riegert, your host. I'm here with a good friend of mine, Fred Scola. Fred, say say hello, will you? Hello. Good to talk to you, Jack. I'm going to jump right in, Fred, because our audience is on the A team. So they already watched the actual podcast itself. We're into Act 4, which is really good. Act 4 from the Claymore Battle Plan Handbook. In the beginning, awe wonder and a cosmic explosion of love. Listen to that, Fred. In the beginning, this means before sin came into the world. What was it supposed to be like? It's important, huh? To know the model. What was the model supposed to be like? Because we live in an age of confusion, don't we? Awe, wonder, and the cosmic explosion of love. This is this world was created in love, by love, and for love. And the crown of creation is mankind, male and female, created in two different two different versions, right? Man in two different ways, huh? To be male and female. And there's there's a reason for that. And that's part of that awe wonder and a cosmic explosion of love. We'll get into that a little bit today. But I if you watched, and I know you did, the the actual podcast that we put out, and this is for those of you just tuning in, this is the discussion of Act Four, which was recorded uh earlier in the week. And I put a clip in there of this young girl, 16 years old, uh, had her breast removed. So she she's suffering from um some types of mil uh mental illness. You know, she had anorexia, uh depression, other things going on. But instead of instead of walking with her, journeying with her, finding what is that depression from, what is that anorexia from, uh, they affirm her in gender confusion, said, well, maybe, maybe your your body's the problem. Maybe you're in the wrong body. And then they actually put her on the you know the puberty blockers, the cross-sex hormones, which are powerful drugs, and then actually physically removed her breast, a young girl. Now she's detransitioning, they call it, uh, understanding that, hey, this is an insanity, and I want to try to get my my life back, but she but she she can't get her total life back, Fred, because we cut off part of her her body. No, this this is something really I don't know if you have any comments on that.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

It it's yeah, you know, it it's quite a few actually after after watching that that and multiple stories, especially of the kids, you know. 18, 20, the adults, they're they're they're the adults, right? You know, and I don't know that I'd consider 18 an adult anymore either. But a 16-year-old, a child, I guess part of the confusion or part of the question that I would have is, you know, what part did the parents play in this? You know, where is the the guidance? I understand the confusion, I understand the anxiety in life and all the pressures from school and friends and this and that, then you don't feel right. But why are you looking as a parent to the magic pill or the magic fix, you know, changing your body as as this one did? Because obviously, as a doctor and and and and and to go through that with a 16-year-old, the 16-year-old didn't have consent, you know, it had to be approved by a parent to begin with. Um, you know, we talk about this quite a bit. Where's the disconnect now between the parent and the child to allow, you know, not only the gender changes or the beliefs, but now they're getting into the animalistic, you know, I'm a dog, I'm a cat, I'm a lion.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

You know, parents go along with that too. They actually dropped their kids off at school, and I and I actually know this from a local school, dropped their kids off at school in a in a uh cat costume, and this is not Halloween, brother, and so there's some real issues going on. Um, you know, if you don't if you're not solid in in your in the truth, what is the truth of things, you know, and and solid say in a faith, uh you can get blown around by the spirit of the age as a parent I'm talking about. So when the when the when the doctor comes to you and the psychiatrist or psychologist comes to you and says, Fred, you know, your child is going to commit suicide unless you allow them to trans uh to become your little girl has to become a uh is wants to become a boy, and if you don't allow that, uh they'll commit suicide. That's what this woman said, that's what the mother of this girl said, that she felt that pressure. And I get it, brother. You know, in fact, she gets it now. She's looking back and going, How did I get there? How did I allow this, right? And and and don't forget, Fred, that that mother now, and and I don't know about the father in this story, but the that child and the mother are both gonna have to live with this uh forever. You know, when i if she ever got married or had a child, she'll never be able to breastfeed. It's really it's really sad.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Yeah, you know, Jack, I I I think part of the issue always becomes the idea that you have to succumb to everything our children want. You know, they're they have anxiety today, you have to deal with anxiety. They they have gender issues, you have to make them feel accepted. Um you know, hence, where did the days go where it was follow me as a parent? These are my rules.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

That's a great point. And you you know that let me ask you this, Fred. That's a because that's a great point. But I what do you think about we meet so many parents that don't have any formation, brother? In other words, they don't know what's up and what's down, so it's like the blind leading the the blind in a way.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

And I think that's a valid point. You know, I think that you know, we you're doing a phenomenal job, you know, you're booked, uh talking to the young people is a great thing, and we're bringing them back, right? But here's the the quotes to that is what about the parents? You got to teach the parents how to deal with those kids. And you know, we do we we talk in that man as you quite a bit about, you know, there's so many, we all get lost. I've been lost, you've been lost. I constantly get lost in in beliefs and faiths and what's right and what's wrong. Um, I I think the one staple has always been in my heart and my soul is you know, I can't lead my children if I can't lead myself. And it has to start with you.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

Yeah. You know, it's an interesting thing now. So John Paul, listening to our conversation, would say in the beginning it was not so. In the beginning, you didn't have that confusion. And and this is this is so the the opening act, right? The first act, the first chapter, we call them acts because they're very short, right? There's 52, one for each week of the year. But the first one started out, I wonder what sort of tail we've fallen into. And that's exactly what we're saying. You know, if a person comes into this culture, into this world and doesn't understand that, how many people do we know? I'm talking about parents, I'm talking about older people too, they can't form their children because they never ask that question. I wonder what sort of tail we've fallen into. In other words, we we call this all wondering the cosmic explosion of love. So there was a day, I'll throw this question to you, but there was a day where Fred was literally exploded onto the stage called life, and he comes into this world and as he starts to grow, instead of looking around and saying, I wonder what sort of tail we've fallen into, I'm gonna just make it up as I go, Fred. And that's literally what people do. I ask them, what's the truth of things? And they say, Well, there's no truth, it's just my truth or your truth. And I say, Have you never sat back and wondered what is the truth of things? And you're gonna make it up. I mean, what a this is where pride comes from, right? Like we have Pride Month and Pride this and pride that. I mean, it's the first deadly sin, brother, and you could see what's happening to the culture, huh?

SPEAKER_01 8:26

I completely agree, and I think that the generations have constantly, you know, we had our parents that I think had different values. They worked hard. It was about going to work, paying bills, they came from the depression. And discipline and culture was oh, you have anxiety, good, go to school, figure it out. You know, you know, you want to talk back, you get unfortunately a spanking, you know.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Yeah, go go cut the lawn, you'll feel better.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

That's your job, right? You know, don't worry about playing PlayStation. That was the culture that you and I were raised in. And for all intent and purposes, I believe that was the last true moral culture because the those generations didn't divorce as much. They raised their kids in a church, they went to church, they they all, you know, nowadays it's funny because I have so many of my children's friends that were born and raised Catholic, and you know, they have children, and they're, you know, well, we want them to decide if they want to become. No, I didn't have a choice.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

What a great point. I hear that all the time too. And I always ask them, I said, you know, i if it was you, Fred, I'd say, Fred, when you were 12 and 13 years old, do you did do you feel like you were qualified to create your own value system? Like, what is the truth of things? You know, parents, you're supposed to be forming your kids till they get to a certain spot and then they can choose, right? But you're not giving them a choice because you're never showing them anything good. You're just throwing them out to the wolves instead of saying what what what sort of tail have we fallen into? There's evil out there, dude. What are you gonna decide? What is a third Fred? Seriously, what is a 13-year-old person gonna decide? I I'm gonna create my own value system. You know what they're gonna decide, Fred? I'm anxious, I'm nervous, I'm getting depressed over this thing, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Jack, I'll take that a step further. You know, we we we treat it like 13, 14. I have a 38-year-old son, I have a 34-year-old daughter, and I have a 22-year-old daughter. I don't ever stop parenting. I talk to my children constantly. You know, my son's 38, he's got his own life, he's got his own career, and he'll call me and he'll say, Dad, how did you deal with this? And you have to make the time to be involved. You know, I I always tell people that, you know, I've been married almost 40 years now, and you and I talk, you know, marriage is a roller coaster, it always will be. It's you want to be the best friends you can be, but living together and and differences of opinions will always come into play.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

And and Fred, we know what's wrong with our marriage. It's our wives. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

But uh no, the reality of it is is that yeah, you're you're 100% right. You know, I I kind of find it amusing that they say, well, we'll let them choose if they want. Well, guess what? They could still choose when they're 20 if they don't want to follow this. But if you lay the foundation, the house will stand. And that's the bottom line is that you know, I I I look at you know, my young adult children who are married now with children, and and I kind of get a kick out of it when I get the phone calls. Daddy, I understand we were up all night, and I always tell them you're 100% right. Thank God you were born at 21 and I never had to deal with you as a baby.

unknown 11:52

You know.

Church Drift And The Cut Flower

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Isn't that the truth, right? And here, here I want to back step just a little bit from what you said, because uh say my dad and mom, they did go to church, they didn't always get along themselves, right? They're their marriage struggle. They they couldn't they did couldn't always explain the faith really, really well to us. Um, but they went. And here's the difference. We stopped going, and when we stopped going, I stopped going, you know, when my kids were small, and thinking, you know, they'll absorb this uh you know through osmosis, I guess, right? I I was awful. I I I tried to destroy the lives of my children, I think, you know, just by by basically just letting them be blown around. Well, I came back into the church while they were still in grade school, kind of getting older, getting ready to go to high school, and I tried to backtrack the best I could and and tried to to to fill them up. But here here's the point I was gonna make. So my dad and mom went to mass, received the sacraments, prayed, um, not maybe deep prayer with the whole family all the time, but they just well, anyways, those graces were still coming into our family. You know, we'd still hear the priest uh uh on Sunday speak uh, you know, with the homily. We still went through uh what we called CCD at that time, you know. So we were picking up things, you know. And now the parents stopped in many, many cases, right? Nobody goes anywhere except the soccer. And so those kids are not picking up anything, Fred. And here's the other thing I'm not bringing that grace, I'm not bringing that gospel into my life. And that's when you said they didn't get as divorced and stuff as much. Well, why not, right? Well, the culture accepted that there is a reality, a truth to things, and when you got married, you had to you had to white knuckle it if you had to, you know. But with the faith, of course, you know, you learn that that you you learn to love people even if if we don't get perfectly along, right? You still love them and you love your children and and you feel sac uh sacrificial. But we walked away, brother. We this will be the last thing I'd throw it back to you. We're we become like cut flowers. Yeah, you know, it you you get married, you fall in love, you have a family. It's like you know, you you go out and cut these beautiful flowers, you put them on the vase, but you're disconnected, and man, you just see it start to wilt, right? This dysfunction, you know.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Yeah, no, no, as you well know, you know, I I I've fallen into the same pattern at times where you know everything else becomes more um not important, but more precedent than mass or going to church. And it seems like this time around, as I'm approaching 60, um, when you and I first started reconnecting, you know, it was it was like a beautiful plant in a in a um in a pot. And the further away you get from the church and the things that are important, the more weeds grow in that pot and take over the plant. Yeah. You know, the emptiness comes in, as I've told you before, you know, and it's not a matter of life's always going to get in your way. You know, I heard a great person that our our our uh that man is youth tell his child this week, wanted to go to baseball. And uh he says, sure, after church you can go to baseball. Church is first, you know.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Um I know who you're talking about, and that person is very involved in in off sports and all these different things. So it's not like he was some some bookworm guy saying, Oh, he's the guy that's out there on the baseball field and and uh teaching CCD.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

And I think we could always find time, you know. I um again, if you can't, if you can't make Sunday Mass for whatever reason, you know, and that's always the excuse. Well, we have soccer at 10 o'clock. Okay, guess what? They have Sunday at five, they have Thursday at seven, you know, find a way back there, make it priority to you. Um, you know, I try and tell my children now, no matter what, I do believe in the fact the families that pray together stay together one way or another.

Genesis And The Model Of Love

SPEAKER_00 16:02

100%, man. Yeah, it's a hundred percent. Um it's the most interesting thing in the world that that Jesus, when he's talking about divorce and dysfunction, and the Pharisees come up to him, and and and this is an act four, and Jesus points him back uh to the beginning. He said, In the beginning it was not so, you know, this hardness of heart and the sin. And he said, Okay, look at the model. And I may just read you a couple verses because it's the most beautiful thing when we talked about all, wonder, and the cosmic explosion of love, that God is love. And and this is the coolest thing. You you hear this in Genesis, and when I'm when I'm just reading a couple little things, you you you hear you you can almost sense God pulling back like a selfie, he's taking a selfie. God is love, and then he flips the selfie, and marriage and the family is that love, makes that love visible in the world. This is so important. Can you imagine, friends? This is chapter one of the whole Bible says this. And I God, let us make man those. Here's God talking. He's not by himself up there, he's a community. Let us make man in our image after our likeness. Let him have dominion over all of this, he says. And then God created man in his image and the divine image he created them. How? Male and female in two different ways. God blessed them, said, Be fertile, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. He says, you know, go get married and have sexual union. And God's not afraid to, you know, uh talk about sex because he created it. He thinks it's beautiful, Fred. And so, so soon after that, right, we're created in so God takes the selfie of the Trinitarian love story and he flips it on in the world, and marriage and the family become that icon, that little reflection of love in in this visible world. Well, what happens with when you no longer understand that, Fred, that this is a love story, because you see so much suffering and so much hatred around. But the reality is it is we were just talking about when the roots come back on the vine, right? When when when it's the cut flower actually starts to go back to the source, you're filled with that divine life and love. And you know, the most interesting thing is you just said it, and I I alluded to it many, many times, that when I walked away from the church, there I that dryness came in, brother.

Modern Forbidden Fruit And The Phone

SPEAKER_01 18:28

The weeds come in. You know, it it's you know, after rereading the the chapter this morning, I think the thing that struck me the most, right? We get back to Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit. You know, back then they had the forbidden fruit, which created the first sin, correct? Yep, yeah. You think about today, and how does that relate to today? Well, they had one forbidden fruit. We have, you know, uh, for lack of better terms, this thing, the the phones, the influence, the pornography, the the TikToks, this and that that's influencing and just constantly throwing these forbidden fruits at these children and people constantly, um, adults, even even more than children, in my opinion. Um it is a very challenging time to direct all your energy in the proper way and and go back to it. Um, and and there's so many alpha outside influences that I don't even think we had as children, obviously.

SPEAKER_00 19:35

No, no, it's accelerated. It you know, technology can be good, a power for good, but it can also be a power for evil. You make a great point. So, in a sense, we all stand before that tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and we have to decide. And that's why in the Claymore battle plan, there's only two asks, right? It's this is not brain surgery. Ten minutes before you look at that phone, ten minutes, right? Before you look at the phone, you you fall to your knees in the morning. This is the easiest, one of the easiest. We're talking about connecting back to the vine.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

So before you look at that phone, before you let this outside craziness comes in, it's just peaceful, man. Drop to your knees and we have a little series of prayers. Second one, now fill it in. Understand the story we've come into and read one of those acts from that book uh at night. I like doing it at night, you know. When you do, you know, I'm unwinding, I get a glass of wine, you know, and and uh and and I sit there and they're short, right? Yeah, yeah. And so you're filling, you know, in the morning you start out with prayer. It takes you 10 minutes at night, five, ten minutes, five minutes to read. And then if you want to think about it a little bit, it's it's not it's not hard, uh, is it, Fred? And it's connecting us back to the vine and telling us the story.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Yeah, yeah, Jack. Honestly, I think that that's probably the the most difficult and the easiest thing in the whole way of doing it. What people don't realize, and for people that will listen to this, you know, it sounds like, oh God, I gotta get up, I gotta brush my, I can't fall to my knees. And and and we all struggle with, okay, what am I gonna pray for? What am I gonna say? Sometimes it doesn't matter, just pray, you know, just just make that connection. Well that's what I'm saying is make that connection.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

Make that connection. But here's here's the most beautiful thing, right? So our Claymore 10-minute morning ritual is open up your heart first. And so you're kneeling with our blessed mother and you say, Be it done to me according to your word. This is the this is the enunciation. And the reason that's so important, Fred, is because that's the hinge. It changes all history. You know, when she says yes, Jesus comes into the world. Here's what happens. I I alluded to this early, right before we came on. I'm gonna read this. This is for Mass today, Fred. What happens when that hinge came in? And our blessed mother says yes. God's son takes on flesh. This shows how important our bodies are. You can't just mutilate your body. And boom, it comes in. So, and this is the judgment that the light we're talking about confusion here, right? When you drop to your knees, be it done to me according to your word. Well, what happens? And then the second part of that, Fred, is is is at the wedding feast of Canaan and our blessed mother points and says, Do whatever he tells you. And so that's the first thing we do. It's very important because this is the judgment that light has come into the world. And men love darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. And then it goes on. So men chose darkness. Do we not do that today? I mean, if you didn't choose darkness, Fred, as a doctor, how could you mutilate the breasts of a 15-16-year-old girl who's suffering from all kinds of other things? And there's a Hippocratic oath I thought doctors took. I don't know, maybe they stopped taking it. Do no harm, right?

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Yeah, yeah. There's a lot of oaths that people take that they don't follow, unfortunately. You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

Well, that's a good point. That's a good point.

Mary’s Yes And Light Versus Darkness

SPEAKER_01 23:02

Darkness is uh, you know, I'm trying to teach my grandchildren this now, which is really um hard for reality because of the influence of social media and technology and gaming and everything else. Is that to me, there's so much darkness, evil influence compared to the good, you know, and it's the easier path for most of these kids. I could get lost in playing games for six hours, but I can't read a chapter of a good forget it. The Bible's one thing, a good book, you know, a good book, something, a chapter that's going to fill your mind with better things more than you know, influences that are out there that teaches you evil and and you know, these games, half of them all, they're just gaming, they're building things, yeah, but they're also killing things on the same game, you know.

SPEAKER_00 24:00

You're filling your mind and your heart full of watching all of those things. Most gamers are nice people, right? But if you don't have uh some kind of reciprocal faith life or something that's grounding you, man, you can get crazy with this stuff, you know, uh getting blown around. But but but let's stay with your kids just for a little bit, because this is so important, and this is important for young uh men. That's why in the in the Claymore Battle Plan Handbook, we we we we bring out and the even this chapter, this act, all wonder and the cosmic explosion of love. What we're trying to do and what we have to do with our kids, Fred, because they are going to be exposed to evil in this world, just like we all were, is to fill them at least with what's true, good, and beautiful, to your point. So we as as grandparents, as parents, as friends, we have to fill them with truth, with goodness, and let them feel love by grandpa, actual love, because they look up to us then and say, Well, that he cares about me. You know what I mean? It's about a relationship. And then when you tell him a story, when I read my grandkids' stories, I I read them something that's beautiful. Or say the knight who's protecting the princess, you know, and and doing these sh chivalry, you know, the chivalrous things, you know, courage, strength, and all these things because they're teaching kids and they're filling kids up. And so when the the evil hits them, they'll go, ooh, something doesn't feel right. My grandpa said this, or my dad said, you know, whatever. You know, you got to fill them.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

And it's important as we talked earlier, we all have to be leaders by example first. You know, it's easy to tell them don't do this, don't do that, do this. But if you're not willing to go down that path first, why should they follow?

SPEAKER_00 25:46

Yeah, a hundred percent. And and you can get to the point where you can you can think about this, Fred, as we start to unwind here. Think about the the the lie that that you can become a woman just because you think it and you take a pill. I mean, this this is so insane. But but the my heart goes out, you know, we see the evil, you know, perpetrated by adults, but my heart goes out to those innocent kids. Can you imagine being a child today and being confused? And who isn't confused today? You know, first of all, you're looking at a uh uh somebody in puberty that their body is really changing. And and Fred, how I do you know anybody that was comfortable that loved puberty? Like, oh yeah, my body was changing. I understood it all. And no, we're all uncomfortable, and women especially. So to get into her head and say, you know what, maybe, maybe you're born in the wrong body. That's why you're uncomfortable. Yeah, yeah, you know, and they believe it, you know.

Filling Kids With Good Stories

SPEAKER_01 26:45

And and that is that, you know, is it a belief, Jack, or is it that doctor, for instance, thinking, How much is that surgery going to make percent money, power? That's that's where you know, we we talk about this a little bit, and I don't definitely don't want to get into political sides, but you know, it's well with a couple minutes left, we can. You know everything and it's you know, it's funny. I I have friends that will constantly push your one side or the other. And I as I told you earlier, I'm an atheist politician now. I don't believe in any of them because I think that even the good ones that get to office get corrupted by the system because it's money and power. You know, when you have people that can influence you outside of our Lord, and you know, to me, that's the one that that's stable. That's the one that is truly after our heart and was selfless all the time, especially Christ, obviously. Um and I do believe, you know, you don't have to be a Bible thumper, knock on doors, and do everything else to have belief and teach faith and and and have influence. The problem is we've become this nation of one side or the other versus the spirit of life and love, as you said.

SPEAKER_00 28:00

Yeah, what's the truth of things? You know, what's good? What's good? Uh when we get to that situation, you legislate into law, you know, everything that's destructive for for human beings. And look at the you know, the corruption, too. So I would say that suggests, you know, we suggest again, get get down to your knees first thing in the morning, Fred. You can't beat that. It's just boom, we're you look at the phone. Second part of that is is temptation is not a sin. You know, we're getting bombarded with temptations. It shows you how to pray with temptations. In fact, you guys can cheat and go to Act 11, uh, which is which just shows you how to pray with temptations. It's so important. I do this every day, and it's not just lust. It's I don't want to get up this morning or I'm nervous because I gotta go give a talk. I don't want to do that today. I'm sick, you know. You know, you just gotta pray with all those temptations and get through it, you know. And and then when you get up off your knees, the last thing you do, and it's right in the in the outline, is uh love the next person you see. Yeah. And uh you have to become a person of love, Fred. That at the end of the day, that's how we were created in the beginning. That's the only way you're gonna get everything back together again. And uh unfortunately, we're our culture is a long ways from that right now. And that's where you're seeing this this constant fighting. You know, what when you realize uh Fred, the my neighbor's not the enemy. Uh the enemy, Satan is the enemy, but you know, he uses people that that uh uh cooperate with him to bring evil into the world, you know.

Culture Conflict, Love, And Closing

SPEAKER_01 29:31

And that's funny you say that, Jack. I know I've said this to many people, I've heard this term several times, and it's probably the truest statement I've ever heard in my life is that you know, everybody expects evil or Satan to be this ugly red person with horns, but most of the time it's the most beautiful person in the world next to you that is evil, you know. And uh when when you talk about where we are as a nation or as a world, as you said, love thy neighbor is where we're supposed to be. But sometimes you feel like we're standing behind Moses in the Red Sea and it's parted with one side or the other, right? You know, and they have to hate each other to exist, which is I've seen families, friends torn apart over stupidity of disbeliefs of our culture, which is just makes zero sense, you know. If they had the common um belief of faith, and that's what they talked about and and and brought into their conversations, it's hard to argue it. The problem is that that's gone. Obviously, I truly never believe in something like abortion because of my faith and everything, and I love children, but how can you be one side and say, Well, I don't believe in abortion, but I want to go to war and kill all these innocent people? Well, you're killing people. What's the difference? You know, it it it it it's such a uh a crazy culture to to to navigate around.

SPEAKER_00 30:57

And you and you do have to discern those kind of things. And we we can we can uh I we we we should have that conversation sometime and anybody listening today, because there is there is a difference, of course, you know, when you kill you know the innocent, the most pure innocent, somebody that's never done anything uh wrong. And and I'm not we're not gonna answer this today, but uh is it right uh to to take out nuclear weapons from a country that may turn and blow up the world? And so these are these are tough uh issues sometimes, and they get into all kinds of things, but we better cut it here, Fred, and and uh I just suggest everybody take a look at our website, uh Claymore Militus Christie, Soldiers for Christ, Claymore Militas Christie dot com. Take a look at that website. Um, you really have we have to get back the roots of things. We have to get back our two three things our hearts, understand what marriage in the family is, this exchange of love connected to Christ and the church, and then go out and and bring that love and truth, truth and love out into the culture in our nation. Unfortunately, uh Fred, Cain killed Abel, the first generation that was actually born from Adam and Eve. So this fight will continue to go on, but it's a win-win situation. If I become a person uh of love and I pass this on to my friends, you know, I win my soul, I win their soul, and I bring light into this, just like we read from the gospel. I bring light into this darkness. Jesus said, you know, but people preferred the darkness. And unfortunately, brother, that's uh we see a lot of it today, but that doesn't make me happy. And I can't be happy for it. I tried that side, Fred. It's the most dark it's not the easier path. It's the easier path. You think it's easy, you think it's easy till you stay in it for a while and you get trapped and you go, ooh, this isn't as easy as I thought, brother. Hey, Fred, you're a joy, man. Thank you so much. Thanks, everybody. Thanks for joining us today. We'll talk to you again soon. I appreciate it. Thanks.