Latest / The Week in Bible Prophecy / Being a Christian Artist in 2023, and Advice for the Stand-up Christian | Ben Calhoun

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Being a Christian Artist in 2023, and Advice for the Stand-up Christian | Ben Calhoun · The Week in Bible Prophecy

0:02
Speaker 1: The Week in Bible Prophecy, a Prophecy Watchers podcast. Hello everyone,
0:08
Speaker 1: Welcome to Prophecy Watchers. Karen here with a really special update.
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Speaker 1: I am going to have a conversation with someone that
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Speaker 1: you probably have heard the voice of before if you've
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Speaker 1: ever listened to Christian music. Ben Calhoun is the founder
0:24
Speaker 1: and the main artist in Citizen Way, and he's also
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Speaker 1: a singer songwriter. He has music in the Christian industry
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Speaker 1: and as well as in the country industry as a
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Speaker 1: solo artist. And I am just so thrilled to get
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Speaker 1: to talk with him because he's not only a Christian artist,
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Speaker 1: he's a strong Bible believing Christian and he has a
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Speaker 1: background in Bible prophecy. So I'm just thrilled to get
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Speaker 1: to talk with him today. Ben, Welcome to Prophecy Watchers.
0:54
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you so much for having me. I've been
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Speaker 2: a huge Prophecy Watchers fan for over a decade. I'm
1:00
Speaker 2: very excited to be here. I've been looking forward to
1:02
Speaker 2: it for weeks now. Thank you for having me, absolutely so.
1:05
Speaker 1: I hear that you've been a fan of Prophecy Watchers
1:08
Speaker 1: for a while, specifically of Gary Steerman. Tell me a
1:11
Speaker 1: little bit about that. How did that happen?
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Speaker 2: Well, I think I'll have to go back to when
1:16
Speaker 2: we got signed to a record label. I was always
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Speaker 2: involved in ministry. I wanted to be in music ministry
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Speaker 2: since I was a little kid. I saw Petra and
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Speaker 2: Carmen and Jeff Moore when I was a little kid,
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Speaker 2: said that's what I'm doing. And I've never done anything
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Speaker 2: differently than I had a desk job for a while.
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Speaker 2: I hated it. My wife's like, you're a miserable human being.
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Speaker 2: Just go play music, you know, and so, but I
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Speaker 2: wanted to be in ministry. I wanted to actually lift
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Speaker 2: up the name of Jesus. And it's interesting how, in
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Speaker 2: my opinion, the music industry, Christian music industry is not
1:45
Speaker 2: interested in ministry. They're interested in the industry. And you know,
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Speaker 2: the almighty dollars still reigned supreme there and people compromise
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Speaker 2: for it, and they compromise their beliefs, they compromise scripture,
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Speaker 2: they change it to whatever they need to make it
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Speaker 2: work for the music, for the stage and lights and
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Speaker 2: most of in my opinion, what the church a lated
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Speaker 2: to see age that we're in. They have no idea
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Speaker 2: what's going on so I just purposely got out of it.
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Speaker 2: A few years ago, in twenty nineteen, I did my
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Speaker 2: last tour, sold the bus, sold all my equipment, and
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Speaker 2: came home to be a dad, because you've got to
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Speaker 2: be present to win. I have three little girls and
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Speaker 2: they need me, they need their dad there. And you
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Speaker 2: know a lot of people, I've seen pastors, they will
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Speaker 2: sacrifice their families for ministry and not even know it,
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Speaker 2: thinking they're doing good works for the Lord, and realized
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Speaker 2: their families suffering at home. And so I came home.
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Speaker 2: But it started when I was a kid, and I
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Speaker 2: remember very specifically, and here's how it ties into prophecy watchers.
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Speaker 2: I had always been scared of aliens like little green guys.
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Speaker 2: I would have lots of terrifying dreams. I had some
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Speaker 2: pretty interestingly demonic experiences when I was a kid. In
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Speaker 2: my bedroom upstairs, things would knock behind my pillow against
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Speaker 2: the wall that shouldn't be there. I saw things in
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Speaker 2: my room. Yeah, I couldn't watch alien movies like by myself.
3:02
Speaker 2: You know Signs with Mel Gibson. I love that movie.
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Speaker 2: He couldn't watch it by myself. And fast forward to
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Speaker 2: when I'm on the road and I'm lifting up the
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Speaker 2: name of the Jesus of Jesus. You know, we did
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Speaker 2: it independently for eight years and we got signed. I'm
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Speaker 2: on a much bigger platform, so I'd become a target
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Speaker 2: to the enemy, right right, Well, in my dreams, those
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Speaker 2: those dreams are coming back really significantly, to the point
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Speaker 2: of where I could see dark figures in my bedroom.
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Speaker 2: My wife and I were married at the time. My
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Speaker 2: kids are down the hall and they were choking me,
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Speaker 2: and I could not say the name of Jesus. Right.
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Speaker 2: You know how it works. And I've dealt with spiritual
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Speaker 2: forward from my Dad's a wonderful, godly Bible believing pastor,
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Speaker 2: and he knows how to take authority. I grew up
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Speaker 2: with that. But it was in my dreams that I
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Speaker 2: couldn't figure this out, and I was terrified. I'd wake
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Speaker 2: up in a cold sweat, couldn't figure out what was
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Speaker 2: going on. And I called my dad and he said, son,
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Speaker 2: are you you know? Are you addicted to sin? No,
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Speaker 2: it's dad, I night. Well, let's pray anyway and ask
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Speaker 2: the Lord forgive it just in case. So we did that.
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Speaker 2: He said, you need to ask the Holy Spirit to
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Speaker 2: deal with this, and you need to look to scripture
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Speaker 2: for it. And I swear to no, that's not a
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Speaker 2: great I promised the Lord. This is what he said
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Speaker 2: to me. He said, you remember how you've always been
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Speaker 2: interested in Genesis six and giants, Well look that up again.
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Speaker 2: And so I started, you know, I read through scripture
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Speaker 2: and I started poking around on the internet. This is
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Speaker 2: twelve thirteen years ago, and I found prophecy watchers, and
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Speaker 2: I found everything I could possibly find on Genesis six.
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Speaker 2: And when I realized that the demonic spirits of those
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Speaker 2: dead nepheline are still running the earth, taking various forms
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Speaker 2: and shapes, and that they were the ones haunting me
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Speaker 2: in my dreams, and that I still had authority over
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Speaker 2: them in Jesus' name, it was like a light bulb.
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Speaker 2: My fears went away and they never came back. It
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Speaker 2: was like a rocket ship that took me off from
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Speaker 2: the ground. And I just totally dug into God's word
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Speaker 2: in a new way. And I was a Bible nerd already.
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Speaker 2: I loved God's word. I was never rebellious. I grew
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Speaker 2: up in the church when the youth group I love.
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Speaker 2: My parents are wonderful. I have a great family. It
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Speaker 2: was like I was born again. It was amazing. It's
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Speaker 2: like the veil had been lifted and things started to
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Speaker 2: make sense. You know, in my favorite movies, The Lord
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Speaker 2: of the Rings and all that kind of stuff. Was like, Oh,
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Speaker 2: they're getting it from God's word, They're getting it from
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Speaker 2: the Bible, They're taking it from the antediluvian world. And
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Speaker 2: so I started sharing that stuff from stage. I started
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Speaker 2: losing friends quickly and gaining a few that were scared
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Speaker 2: to talk about this stuff. And to this day, at
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Speaker 2: every single show I've done, I share the lineage of
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Speaker 2: Genesis five from Adam to Noah and and how it
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Speaker 2: spells at the plan of salvation that came. Obviously that's
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Speaker 2: a Chuck Missler thing too, but I found it because
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Speaker 2: of prophecy, watching Gary Steerman and Jared Church when he
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Speaker 2: was alive, La Marzouli, Derek and Sharon Gilbert, all the
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Speaker 2: folks that you guys have had, and there have been
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Speaker 2: significant bricks in my foundation. And interestingly enough, my popular
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Speaker 2: Christian culture does not don't want that stuff. It scares people.
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Speaker 2: They stop putting money in the plate. And the churches,
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Speaker 2: the pastors know it, and so they don't say anything,
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Speaker 2: because that's where their money comes from, you know, And
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Speaker 2: so when you get ministry and money, it's just messy.
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Speaker 2: And so I always rejected beyond full time staff at
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Speaker 2: a church. I always wanted to starve as a musician,
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Speaker 2: you know, but I wanted the freedom. And so twenty
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Speaker 2: nineteen came and I'm still doing the same thing, and
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Speaker 2: I lost the band. They didn't want to be in ministry.
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Speaker 2: They just don't. A lot of the industry does not
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Speaker 2: want to be in that. So I chose to leave
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Speaker 2: and go home and be a part of our family.
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Speaker 2: And now we go out as a family, sharing our
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Speaker 2: family testimony. We share Genesis five, we talk about all
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Speaker 2: the things I learned at Prophecy Watchers. That's also what
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Speaker 2: sparked my wife to read God's word, and now my
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Speaker 2: kids do the same. And because it's real, it's tangible,
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Speaker 2: it's something you can see around you in the world.
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Speaker 2: And Prophecy Watchers was an enormously influential part of my life.
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Speaker 2: And so I always send people if they're new believers
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Speaker 2: or if they want to know more about the supernatural,
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Speaker 2: I send them straight to the Prophecy Watchers YouTube channel.
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Speaker 2: That's phenomenal every time.
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Speaker 1: That is amazing. Yeah, well, that is just like the Lord,
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Speaker 1: something that you were struggling with that you kept being
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Speaker 1: bombarded by and you didn't know the answer, and your
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Speaker 1: dad so beautifully led you back to the Holy Spirit.
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Speaker 1: He knows all things, he knows better than anybody how
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Speaker 1: to help you out of it. And then for him
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Speaker 1: to use that as a tool to deepen your relationship
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Speaker 1: with the Lord and turn around and to share that
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Speaker 1: knowledge with Christians whether they want the knowledge or not.
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Speaker 1: It is truth and it's maybe uncomfortable, but the supernatural
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Speaker 1: world is more real than the world that we're living in,
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Speaker 1: and churches seem to like to forget that, except for
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Speaker 1: the virgin birth and except for Jesus raising from the dead,
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Speaker 1: like they seem to want to disregard all those other things.
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Speaker 1: And yet that's exactly where true Christianity lies is and
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Speaker 1: acknowledging those things. So that is amazing that you're using
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Speaker 1: your platform to share that information because the people that
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Speaker 1: are hungry, the people that need that information, they're going
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Speaker 1: to be coming to true sources. Otherwise they're just going
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Speaker 1: to be led astray by the TV shows on cable
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Speaker 1: that are going to be talking about it and talking
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Speaker 1: about evolutionary standpoint all those other things, and that's just
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Speaker 1: further misleading somebody that's truly seeking information that's biblically based
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Speaker 1: about these topics. So kudos to you for doing that,
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Speaker 1: and I just I love the Lord's story how he
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Speaker 1: wrapped that all up for you. I do want to
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Speaker 1: talk a little bit more about your family and your
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Speaker 1: role in bringing them into your ministry, making it a
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Speaker 1: family affair, the fact that you are coming back to
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Speaker 1: the home and that is your ministry first. That's biblical,
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Speaker 1: and in today's society and church, it's almost like you
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Speaker 1: need to have a career and being at home is
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Speaker 1: looked down on, and it's actually where the ministry lies.
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Speaker 1: If you have a strong family, then you're raising children
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Speaker 1: to be able to be well equipped in their lives
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Speaker 1: in the world, and so you're just more powerful as
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Speaker 1: a unit. So I love that you have that perspective
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Speaker 1: on prioritizing your family above everything else. So talk to
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Speaker 1: me about how they're getting involved, what you all are
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Speaker 1: doing as a family for your ministry and together.
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Speaker 2: So I started. I wrote a song called Daddy's Home
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Speaker 2: many years ago with my brother and our friend Brian.
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Speaker 2: I released it to country radio and it's done very
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Speaker 2: well there. And I don't advertise much, but I will
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Speaker 2: advertise the name of Jesus, and I'll advertise my beautiful
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Speaker 2: wife on our three awesome, amazing girls. I've always been
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Speaker 2: more interested in writing a better song and letting that
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Speaker 2: do that, you know, But I know that we have
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Speaker 2: to promote it a little bit. But I have always
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Speaker 2: been about being the Holy Spirit being our best booking agent.
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Speaker 2: He is the best booking agent I've ever seen. I've
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Speaker 2: had many of them, and he's the best. And so
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Speaker 2: I always stick to God's word. Is says, if I
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Speaker 2: be lifted up, I will draw all men into me.
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Speaker 2: And so that's been my m My dad very clearly
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Speaker 2: to me, told me years ago when I andrewed it
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Speaker 2: in full time ministry. I was thirty years old and
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Speaker 2: we'd just gotten signed and he he said, son, you're
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Speaker 2: in ministry. All you gotta do is follow the best
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Speaker 2: general in the history of the world. And I remember
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Speaker 2: the Lord's sending to me. He's like, all you have
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Speaker 2: to do is lift up my son. That's it. It
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Speaker 2: was very simple. Just lift up my son, and I'll
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Speaker 2: take care of the rest, and so I've always done that.
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Speaker 2: I will I to you know, there are there are,
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Speaker 2: interestingly enough, they're Christian artists who will not say the
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Speaker 2: name of Jesus from stage now, whether they have a
10:41
Speaker 2: been purposely or if it's just they'll say grace, mercy,
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Speaker 2: love God. But Jesus is a totally different thing. You know,
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Speaker 2: you can divide, and that's because he's a division, you know,
10:52
Speaker 2: is he came to bring a sort division, right. But
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Speaker 2: I noticed ever since I was a kid, I was
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Speaker 2: very staunch on that. I was very it's good and
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Speaker 2: there's no middle ground. We were going to a church
11:03
Speaker 2: years ago that was quite liberal and it's progressive Christianity.
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Speaker 2: I would sit out in the in the in the
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Speaker 2: lobby and drink coffee. I could just not participate. And
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Speaker 2: I was gone so much on the weekends and tour
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Speaker 2: that when I was home I wasn't having enough input
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Speaker 2: into my family to say we need to find another church.
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Speaker 2: So my wife was there with her friends and our
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Speaker 2: kids too. But after a few years she started to
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Speaker 2: see the Holy Spirit started to impress on her, you
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Speaker 2: need to leave this church and how to respect for
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Speaker 2: your husband. Just leave. So we did and she really
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Speaker 2: this was after twenty twenty, you know, so her eyes
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Speaker 2: were opened. I never I lost a lot of business
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Speaker 2: in twenty twenty. I wouldn't wear a mask at all.
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Speaker 2: I never will. And I just I saw right through
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Speaker 2: it because prophecy watchers trained me in so many ways
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Speaker 2: to see through all the stuff, you know. And I'm like, hello,
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Speaker 2: anybody else, Nope, you're all sleeping.
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Speaker 1: Okay, they're all drinking aid.
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Speaker 2: There's yeah, they're sleeping, man. And you know, like I
11:55
Speaker 2: was never a Christian culture like famous guy and you
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Speaker 2: know Christian famous Christians, they just don't follow them, you know.
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Speaker 2: So I was always aware of that, but this was
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Speaker 2: a new level that well, my wife dug into God's
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Speaker 2: word and that really attracted our older girls. My oldest girl,
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Speaker 2: ave Us started a apologetics. She just did it on
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Speaker 2: her own. She didn't use any of my contacts. She
12:17
Speaker 2: interviewed Les S. Trouble and Lisa Childers and Greg Kochel.
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Speaker 2: She has John Cooper from Skilling on slate this year.
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Speaker 2: We're doing things as a family. But God was the
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Speaker 2: one who did it all. The Lord totally moved in
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Speaker 2: my heart. When I was a kid, my parents prayed
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Speaker 2: for me, I was faithful to that. I always have
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Speaker 2: been to the best of my ability. I'm a sinner
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Speaker 2: saved by grace. Right. But my wife, her eyeballs were
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Speaker 2: open too, and the veil was lifted and the light
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Speaker 2: got turned down when she saw what I was talking
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Speaker 2: about in God's Word, my favorite book, Genesis, and I
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Speaker 2: would say, hey, did you hear about this Genesis five thing?
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Speaker 2: You know, this is years ago? And that finally started
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Speaker 2: to really make sense to her. She's like, what else
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Speaker 2: is in there? You know, why did Absalom's hair get
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Speaker 2: caught in the tree? What are those details for? Because
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Speaker 2: I've learned that every detail is there for a reason.
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Speaker 2: My girls caught on the vision. And so last year
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Speaker 2: we decided to go out on the road. We share
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Speaker 2: our testimony, we share our family stories. I'll sing some
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Speaker 2: songs old and new, and we try to help, honestly
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Speaker 2: encourage families to be families. To see a family on
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Speaker 2: stage together unified on God's Word in the name of
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Speaker 2: Jesus is very powerful. You don't have to do much,
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Speaker 2: You just show up and people are like, wow, I
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Speaker 2: want that. And so it's a really easy way to
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Speaker 2: share the good news of Jesus by simply being a family,
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Speaker 2: sacrificing the stuff of the world, all the record industry
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Speaker 2: stuff that I could do and could chase, I've sacrificed
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Speaker 2: to be with my family. And yes it loses business,
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Speaker 2: but the Lord always takes care of us. And I
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Speaker 2: can tell you from experience, having been on the road
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Speaker 2: for twenty years, I've played in some very big stadiums
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Speaker 2: with lots and lots of thousands of people. In some
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Speaker 2: big stages, it's a couple number ones. And everything with
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Speaker 2: my family on the road, at a little church or
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Speaker 2: a little radio station, or a little Christian bookstore or
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Speaker 2: wherever the Lord takes us is way more fun. And
14:08
Speaker 2: because I'm doing something. Yeah, it's just you know, in
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Speaker 2: our family, we follow the five f's, our faith in Jesus, family, friends, food,
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Speaker 2: and fun and then summer below that is my career,
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Speaker 2: you know. So that's our priority. And people are attracted
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Speaker 2: to that. They're attracted not just to us, but to
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Speaker 2: the truth. They're attracted to the way God made it.
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Speaker 2: A husband and a wife under the authority of God
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Speaker 2: the Father, with children who are obedient to their parents.
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Speaker 2: And it works. It works, and more than ever I
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Speaker 2: think people are looking for that because it's so depraved
14:42
Speaker 2: out there. You just stand out more. You don't even
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Speaker 2: have to do much. Just show up as a family
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Speaker 2: centered on God's word and don't be afraid to say
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Speaker 2: the name of Jesus when it's not fake, of course,
14:52
Speaker 2: because there's a lot of fake. There's a lot of
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Speaker 2: fake out there, and people can recognize the genuine article.
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Speaker 2: They might not know why the hair on their arm
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Speaker 2: standing up, they just know they're responding to it. You know.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, to have a normal family unit just out
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Speaker 1: in the world is we live in such a broken
15:11
Speaker 1: society now that the normal that God created for us
15:15
Speaker 1: is now not normal. And so when they do see
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Speaker 1: a family, a couple that's married, happily married with three
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Speaker 1: kids that are you know, happy to be shown around
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Speaker 1: with their parents, that that's not normal anymore. And so
15:27
Speaker 1: to have a healed, healthy, vibrant family that that is
15:31
Speaker 1: a beautiful testimony that is going to make an impact,
15:34
Speaker 1: make a difference. And even if you know they don't
15:38
Speaker 1: resonate with that, they're going to remember that light and
15:40
Speaker 1: remember what you all talked about, and that's that's planting
15:43
Speaker 1: a seed that's going to come back and eventually make
15:47
Speaker 1: a difference sooner or later, and whether or not they
15:49
Speaker 1: agreed with you, they're going to have to say, well, yeah,
15:52
Speaker 1: they're doing something right or they had something that I didn't,
15:55
Speaker 1: because you know, look at look at where they're at
15:57
Speaker 1: and what they're doing. So that is that isn't credible.
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Speaker 1: You have three girls, The oldest is doing a podcast.
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Speaker 1: What are the other two?
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Speaker 2: Like?
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Speaker 1: What are their ages? What are they doing, what's their passion?
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Speaker 2: It's almost sixteen. Savannah's a black belt, she's thirteen.
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Speaker 1: Oh wow.
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Speaker 2: We just did a book for her called Savannah's Pajamas.
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Speaker 2: So I started a book printing publishing company really for
16:22
Speaker 2: the purpose of getting into the mainstream songs that are
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Speaker 2: books that can reach families where they are and they're
16:28
Speaker 2: gonna say, oh. Ben Calhoun, the author, he's like guy
16:31
Speaker 2: from saying, oh my gosh, they're talking about Jesus. So
16:33
Speaker 2: it's a way to get into the culture, right. So
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Speaker 2: we do kids books as well. We just sold her
16:38
Speaker 2: last one, We're Under the Second Prince, So that's about Savannah.
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Speaker 2: She's our thirteen year old girl. And then we have
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Speaker 2: Live who's four, and we lost a little boy about
16:46
Speaker 2: eight years ago. His name is Jeremiah, and that was
16:47
Speaker 2: the catalyst miscarriage for me moving to Nashville because I
16:52
Speaker 2: was always going back and forth to Chicago, where I'm from,
16:55
Speaker 2: and I knew that God was wanting me to focus
16:58
Speaker 2: on just a few things. That's always been the same,
17:01
Speaker 2: uh my family. In music ministry, I can't do my taxes,
17:04
Speaker 2: but I can write and sing a song right. And
17:07
Speaker 2: I love to lead worship. I don't like modern worship purposely.
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Speaker 2: I don't do it purposely. I love the old hymns
17:13
Speaker 2: and I love God's Word with music. So I do
17:15
Speaker 2: a thing called Bible Bops, which is a kid scripture
17:18
Speaker 2: of family scripture memory songs. I'm start my first one
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Speaker 2: next year. Oh cool. So that's part of what we do.
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Speaker 2: But our little one live. We conquered our fear of
17:27
Speaker 2: not because my wife. My wife almost died in childbirth
17:31
Speaker 2: with our son, Jeremiah, and when we lost him, we
17:34
Speaker 2: buried him. We moved here and a few years later
17:39
Speaker 2: we went to a funeral of our friend here who
17:40
Speaker 2: died of cancer. And she wasn't afraid to go be
17:42
Speaker 2: with Jesus. She knew exactly where she was going. And
17:44
Speaker 2: Alison said, you know I want I want her kind
17:47
Speaker 2: of assurance. I know Jesus, I follow the same God.
17:51
Speaker 2: I know what happens when we die. Let's have another baby.
17:53
Speaker 2: So we named her Live l I V. Because she did.
17:57
Speaker 2: And even if you don't. Even when we're in the hospital,
18:00
Speaker 2: the doctors are like, hey, I don't hear a heartbeat.
18:02
Speaker 2: I'm like, huh huh. We're going to come back next
18:05
Speaker 2: week to a different doctor and that's the going to
18:07
Speaker 2: be the story. And that's exactly what happened. So we
18:09
Speaker 2: bring her with us and we share the testimony. There's
18:12
Speaker 2: a song I wrote called Love Has Won that's about that,
18:15
Speaker 2: and it's just a beautiful way of God redeeming death
18:19
Speaker 2: to life over and over and over no matter what
18:21
Speaker 2: the situation. If we're willing, he can do that. The point,
18:25
Speaker 2: the thing I think is important for people to realize
18:28
Speaker 2: is you can't stay there. You can't just get out
18:30
Speaker 2: of a get out of health free card. God's word
18:33
Speaker 2: is rich and it's it's like helping make sense of
18:37
Speaker 2: the junk that's in the world. So for people who
18:40
Speaker 2: go to I call him Sunday Morning Social Hour, people,
18:42
Speaker 2: you know, if you're just going to hear the pastor
18:45
Speaker 2: or you're going to feel good. Not only are you
18:48
Speaker 2: missing out, you might miss the boat entirely. Yeah, Like
18:51
Speaker 2: there's no third option, you know, it's not just good
18:54
Speaker 2: feelings and readers digest version of the Bible, like you
18:57
Speaker 2: have to sacrifice like the world to follow Jesus. And
19:01
Speaker 2: it's becoming more apparent. I mean, look at Israel. I
19:03
Speaker 2: mean we're watching the Book of Amos and maybe psaal
19:07
Speaker 2: mayty three and He's equial thirty eight play out right
19:09
Speaker 2: in front of our eyes, and it's like people are like, oh,
19:12
Speaker 2: where are we going for lunch after church? You know,
19:14
Speaker 2: it's like, you know, so it's to me, it's been
19:20
Speaker 2: I don't want to go down the bad road, but
19:21
Speaker 2: I'm trying to encourage people to wake up. Yeah, I
19:25
Speaker 2: don't think we have a whole lot of time to
19:26
Speaker 2: do that. And I'm a pre trib guy, and it
19:31
Speaker 2: to me, I'm like, I don't see any other way.
19:33
Speaker 2: And when that day comes, I have I just hope.
19:39
Speaker 2: I hope, I hope you listen. And I'm okay with being,
19:43
Speaker 2: you know, losing friends because I have friends of mine,
19:46
Speaker 2: even in our little home church that we started eight
19:48
Speaker 2: years ago. We disagree on the rapture, but that's the
19:51
Speaker 2: thing that we always come back to is God's Word
19:53
Speaker 2: is the authority from cover to cover, you know, And
19:56
Speaker 2: that is where I see a lot of churches the
20:00
Speaker 2: they're just super fluffy. They're feeding cotton candy to babies,
20:03
Speaker 2: spiritual babies, and these babies don't know that there's more right.
20:08
Speaker 2: And I've played it almost three thousand church services, and
20:10
Speaker 2: it's amazing. It's about ten to fifteen percent of the
20:13
Speaker 2: people who really want to know God's word their disciples,
20:17
Speaker 2: and everybody else is kind of just somewhere after that.
20:20
Speaker 2: And I know that sounds harsh, but it's true.
20:23
Speaker 1: So what do you think is what do you think
20:26
Speaker 1: is the cause of that? Like, do you think it's
20:30
Speaker 1: because they're trying to get the money, They're trying to
20:31
Speaker 1: fill the seeds, they're trying to not scare people off,
20:34
Speaker 1: They're trying to be so welcoming to unbelievers. They don't
20:37
Speaker 1: want to go to the deeper topics, like because there
20:40
Speaker 1: are people that want the meat, there are people that
20:42
Speaker 1: want to grow to actually know the truth. But yet
20:47
Speaker 1: all of the churches you can go in any town
20:50
Speaker 1: and get basically the same kind of bullet point sermon
20:54
Speaker 1: and say you're doing great and you know, send on
20:57
Speaker 1: your happy way. But people are hurting, people broken, people
21:00
Speaker 1: are needing help and answers and wanting the truth, and
21:03
Speaker 1: yet our churches are not giving us that. So what
21:08
Speaker 1: what do you think is going on? Like, what's the
21:10
Speaker 1: heart of that? Since you've seen so many examples of
21:13
Speaker 1: that in your touring.
21:16
Speaker 2: Well, in my opinion, I learned this from prophecy watchers
21:19
Speaker 2: and Chuck Missler. I believe we're in the church eleated
21:22
Speaker 2: to see age. We're in the last one. When Israel
21:24
Speaker 2: became a nation, it marked the end of that age,
21:27
Speaker 2: the last one. And so you have lukewarm Christians. They're
21:31
Speaker 2: not hot, they're not cold, They're in the middle. They're scared.
21:35
Speaker 2: You know, seminaries do not teach God's word the authority
21:37
Speaker 2: of it. I have my license as a preacher, I
21:40
Speaker 2: have my ordination. It's shockingly easy to do that these days.
21:45
Speaker 2: And also you can be a good looking, good singer
21:48
Speaker 2: and get a job like that. But you don't really
21:50
Speaker 2: have to know anything of God's We just have to
21:51
Speaker 2: know the top forty you know, CCM worship songs which
21:55
Speaker 2: by the way, I call seven eleven songs because they're
21:57
Speaker 2: like seven words eleven times. In my opinion, and having
22:00
Speaker 2: studied the occult, they're very much like a seance. They
22:04
Speaker 2: put you in a trance, and I know the enemy
22:07
Speaker 2: knows what he's doing in that. So my opinion is
22:09
Speaker 2: because of the church, aletad to see it. You have
22:12
Speaker 2: you know, church pastors, it's a business. Sunday Morning is
22:15
Speaker 2: a big business, and it makes a lot of money.
22:18
Speaker 2: And I've watched people get up and out of their seats,
22:22
Speaker 2: for instance, like they're churches that wouldn't let me play
22:24
Speaker 2: nothing but the blah of Jesus. They did not want
22:26
Speaker 2: to hear that. It's like always too uncomfortable for people.
22:29
Speaker 2: We're trying to be seekers sensitive, you know, Like, well then,
22:33
Speaker 2: and I would do it anyway. YEA good, So I
22:38
Speaker 2: wouldn't get asked back, but I did it anyway. Yeah. Yeah,
22:43
Speaker 2: that's my opinion. I think we're in the last church agent.
22:46
Speaker 2: It's a mile wide and an inch deep, and pastors
22:48
Speaker 2: are concerned with that bottom line. Yeah.
22:50
Speaker 1: Well, so you said that you are an ordained minister,
22:53
Speaker 1: do you have any desire to start your own church?
22:58
Speaker 1: That is teaching truth that is, feeding people the actual
23:02
Speaker 1: meat of the Word of God.
23:04
Speaker 2: I think about it every day, honestly, but I can't
23:06
Speaker 2: find a better solution other than the home church that
23:09
Speaker 2: we're currently in. Yeah, because I think about this, Chuck
23:16
Speaker 2: said it, you know, and I think prophacly watchers as
23:18
Speaker 2: a whole would understand it at the very least. But
23:21
Speaker 2: the church started in the home under persecution, and it'll
23:24
Speaker 2: probably end there. So I'm kind of just skating where
23:28
Speaker 2: the puck's going, honestly. And you know, we invite people
23:30
Speaker 2: at our home church and they'll come visit and all
23:32
Speaker 2: we do is sing some old hands and is like
23:34
Speaker 2: five families, this beautiful home, our friend's host and we
23:38
Speaker 2: get through about a chapter a week and that's about it,
23:40
Speaker 2: and we discuss it. My girls are there. It's so rich,
23:43
Speaker 2: and even they will go to these big churches I
23:45
Speaker 2: get invited to and they're like, Dad, it's so fluffy.
23:47
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah. So it's hard. It's hard to
23:52
Speaker 2: justify giving that up, you know, because here's the thing.
23:55
Speaker 2: I know how this stuff works. I I it sounds crap,
24:00
Speaker 2: but I sold Jesus for a living. He was literally
24:02
Speaker 2: on the T shirts Jesus saves bro I sold thousands
24:05
Speaker 2: of those things. When you learn how to make Christianity commercial,
24:10
Speaker 2: you can't unlearn it. But I think I'm using it
24:13
Speaker 2: as a I think as a good tool, right, So
24:17
Speaker 2: I've learned how to do it. But I don't know
24:20
Speaker 2: that there's an easy way to put ministry and money together.
24:23
Speaker 2: So unless there was a way to do it for free,
24:25
Speaker 2: and you know, I started a nonprofit for ministry artists
24:28
Speaker 2: called Generosity Rocks, you know, because labels are hard to
24:31
Speaker 2: they just don't care about ministry anymore. But artists do,
24:34
Speaker 2: some of them do. I don't know that there would
24:36
Speaker 2: be an easy way, But you know what I do
24:38
Speaker 2: know is God's word still excites me like I did
24:42
Speaker 2: when I was a kid. I can read the same
24:44
Speaker 2: verse tomorrow and it'll be something new, and there'll be
24:47
Speaker 2: a new song. I don't know how he does it
24:49
Speaker 2: other than it's supernatural and there's another song from the
24:52
Speaker 2: same verse. I've written ten songs already from you know,
24:54
Speaker 2: so there's there's a real excitement when it comes to that.
24:57
Speaker 2: And I think, honestly, the Holy Spirit's job is to
25:00
Speaker 2: draw men. So I'm going to use whatever I have
25:03
Speaker 2: to do whatever I can do while I still can.
25:06
Speaker 2: You know, I was shadow banded on Facebook and Instagram
25:09
Speaker 2: for being pro life in twenty twenty and voting accordingly
25:12
Speaker 2: by the way, with a name that shall not be mentioned.
25:15
Speaker 2: And a lot of my friends just are like, oh
25:17
Speaker 2: my gosh, are you even a Christian? And I'm like,
25:20
Speaker 2: are you you know, like, and I already know the answer,
25:23
Speaker 2: but like at some point you're like, we just have
25:25
Speaker 2: to like choose. Why on right? There ain't no third option.
25:29
Speaker 2: So my family we chose, and we found friends and
25:33
Speaker 2: our home church that are willing to do that. Yes,
25:35
Speaker 2: if the Lord leaves me, I will do it. Absolutely.
25:37
Speaker 2: I'm a good soldier. I am following to the greatest General.
25:40
Speaker 2: But so far that door is still just in my mind. Yeah,
25:44
Speaker 2: I haven't opened yet.
25:45
Speaker 1: Well, I'm sure if he leads you to do it,
25:47
Speaker 1: you will hear loud and clear and you will follow accordingly.
25:49
Speaker 1: But you absolutely have a ministry that is just as powerful,
25:53
Speaker 1: if not more powerful than having a church. Because you
25:56
Speaker 1: are on the road, you are reaching so many people
25:59
Speaker 1: around the country, which is absolutely beautiful. You did mention
26:03
Speaker 1: that you had a ministry that you started, what was
26:07
Speaker 1: it the artists generosity right, yes, yes, tell me about that.
26:13
Speaker 2: It's basically like a GoFundMe or a Patreon for musicians
26:16
Speaker 2: and ministry. We have about twenty five artists that we
26:18
Speaker 2: serve and I purposely do not advertise because a lot
26:20
Speaker 2: of people just want to get to me and my
26:22
Speaker 2: famous friends, so they won't use it. And it's the
26:25
Speaker 2: idea is ministry if Christian music, particularly if you're not
26:29
Speaker 2: going to be on staff at a church and bow
26:31
Speaker 2: to the almighty pastor and building bricks and mortar over
26:35
Speaker 2: and over and over and over and again, what other
26:37
Speaker 2: options do you have as a Christian artist. The only
26:39
Speaker 2: thing you can do to be to get a big
26:42
Speaker 2: platform is beyond Kayleb and Kleb will not take you
26:44
Speaker 2: unless you're part of a big label. And it's so milk.
26:48
Speaker 2: I love my friends there, but it's so shallow. I
26:51
Speaker 2: just can't stand it anymore. And so I started a
26:55
Speaker 2: nonprofit where we go out and we serve the communities. Right,
26:59
Speaker 2: we give ten cent of our merchandise income to a
27:03
Speaker 2: local ministry that night instead of taking it overseas. There's
27:06
Speaker 2: lots of wonderful child sponsorship things, but that is everywhere
27:10
Speaker 2: in Christian music. That's the only way people can afford
27:12
Speaker 2: a tour. By the way, it's just the truth. So
27:15
Speaker 2: you can't sell enough CDs, nobody buys them anymore. You
27:17
Speaker 2: have to sponsor a child. That's a big money maker.
27:19
Speaker 2: I don't know if people understand that, but it's big
27:22
Speaker 2: and I just never felt right about that. So I
27:24
Speaker 2: started a nonprofit where people can sponsor an artist, and
27:28
Speaker 2: you can sponsor monthly, one time, whatever. But it also
27:31
Speaker 2: gives them a platform to do what God's put on
27:33
Speaker 2: their heart because a lot of these people don't want
27:34
Speaker 2: to be in a church. They don't want to be
27:35
Speaker 2: they want to go right, how do you do that
27:38
Speaker 2: and pay for gas and all that kind of stuff.
27:40
Speaker 2: People sponsor you so you can't make enough money on
27:42
Speaker 2: Spotify and YouTube as a Christian artist, they will shadow
27:45
Speaker 2: ban you. They are going to shut all of us
27:47
Speaker 2: down at some point. So at some point you just
27:49
Speaker 2: have to walk by faith and say, okay, well we
27:51
Speaker 2: still got to go buy the almighty Luciferian dollar. Here's
27:55
Speaker 2: a way to do it.
27:56
Speaker 1: Yeah. Wow, Well that is so important because is when
28:00
Speaker 1: we want to do something, we're so passionate about it,
28:02
Speaker 1: and yet we don't have the funds, the finances, the
28:05
Speaker 1: resources to go about actually doing it. I love that
28:08
Speaker 1: you're coming alongside the true passionate artists that are wanting
28:11
Speaker 1: to share truth and saying here, let me help you,
28:15
Speaker 1: because that's really how things, if anything, is going to
28:18
Speaker 1: ever turn in the Christian music industry. This is how
28:20
Speaker 1: it's going to happen because people need to be able
28:23
Speaker 1: to hear those songs that actually have depth, that aren't
28:27
Speaker 1: the seven to eleven songs, to be able to be
28:29
Speaker 1: drawn to those enough for them to start getting the
28:31
Speaker 1: money and maybe start, you know, turning the songs a
28:35
Speaker 1: little bit more to truth. So I love that you're
28:38
Speaker 1: doing that. And you're also an artist. You're also an
28:43
Speaker 1: author for a children, so you have like a passion
28:46
Speaker 1: for the next generation.
28:49
Speaker 2: Would I do I'm gonna show it to you. I'm coming.
28:54
Speaker 2: This is my book here. So we did a kid's book.
28:59
Speaker 1: Oh that's so cool.
29:02
Speaker 2: I love that. So it's a song. It's a song,
29:05
Speaker 2: you know, it's about my girls wanted to share their
29:08
Speaker 2: trying all their pajamas before bet I'd be coming home
29:12
Speaker 2: off the road. I'm dog tired, and they wanted to
29:13
Speaker 2: try all their pajamas on, so I would just write
29:16
Speaker 2: I wrote this little song when Savannah was a little girl,
29:19
Speaker 2: and it turned it into a book. We sell tons
29:20
Speaker 2: of these things, and we sold out of our first
29:23
Speaker 2: edition because I just the whole idea of that book
29:27
Speaker 2: is I'm utilizing the gifts God's give me, but it
29:30
Speaker 2: leads to so many good opportunities to share the love
29:33
Speaker 2: of Jesus. It's not a like Christian book, but it's
29:37
Speaker 2: from a christ It's from a follower of Jesus, and
29:41
Speaker 2: it can't help but do that. So that's why we
29:43
Speaker 2: do this. So for no other reason, it's because I'm
29:46
Speaker 2: utilizing the strengths God's gifted me, and it keeps us
29:49
Speaker 2: together as a family. My girls sell it. They're learning
29:51
Speaker 2: good business practices. It's a great way to do it.
29:54
Speaker 2: It's fun, and we sing the song together as a
29:56
Speaker 2: family on stage everywhere we go. It's fun. I did
29:58
Speaker 2: not know you can actually hear it on Spotify.
30:01
Speaker 1: Really, I did not know that that was actually a
30:03
Speaker 1: song and a book that's so creative. I love that
30:05
Speaker 1: you are. You're taking all of your gifts and you're
30:08
Speaker 1: just if God has given it to you. You're like, Okay,
30:11
Speaker 1: let me, let me just use it and it's just
30:13
Speaker 1: taken off every single time. That's so beautiful. So I
30:17
Speaker 1: know that you all are touring. Are you all currently
30:20
Speaker 1: on a tour or planning to go on a tour? Like,
30:23
Speaker 1: tell me kind of what's next for you all.
30:25
Speaker 2: We just got back from Kansas City and we helped
30:28
Speaker 2: with a human women's trafficking ministry there as well. We're
30:32
Speaker 2: on our way to Kansas in a couple of weeks,
30:35
Speaker 2: but we're always looking to come back to Oklahoma or
30:38
Speaker 2: Prophecy watches is. We love the happy and in every
30:41
Speaker 2: continental state at least a dozen times each and I
30:45
Speaker 2: still enjoy. I want to go and do what I do.
30:48
Speaker 2: You know, it's hard, It's I can't do anything other
30:53
Speaker 2: than say only God could do what he has done.
30:55
Speaker 2: I mean I lost a lot of friends twenty twenty
30:57
Speaker 2: because I was not willing to play the game and
30:59
Speaker 2: I was telling people about It makes me mad, like
31:02
Speaker 2: you know, honestly, it wimpy Christians bug me like I'm
31:06
Speaker 2: like stand for something, like quit just singing worship songs
31:10
Speaker 2: and like going to church, like do something, you know,
31:12
Speaker 2: because most of the church is so shallow, like ah, anyway,
31:17
Speaker 2: my family when we when we go out, we do
31:21
Speaker 2: very simple things. We come as a family, we share
31:24
Speaker 2: the love of Jesus, we open God's word, we read it,
31:27
Speaker 2: we sing some songs, and we invite people to do
31:30
Speaker 2: the same. Very easy. And so as long as we
31:34
Speaker 2: have the opportunity, and as long as people keep booking us,
31:36
Speaker 2: we're gonna go. Yeah.
31:38
Speaker 1: Will you talk for a minute to the person that
31:41
Speaker 1: is in your same shoes that has lost so many
31:44
Speaker 1: friends because of standing up for what they believe in
31:47
Speaker 1: or for speaking truth, or cannot find a home church
31:50
Speaker 1: that teaches actual biblically based concepts, that just feels alone,
31:56
Speaker 1: that is just really hurting isolated, can't seem to find
32:01
Speaker 1: their footing and trying to you know, get a base
32:05
Speaker 1: of Christians around them that want truth like they do.
32:09
Speaker 1: Kind of talk to them for a minute and what
32:11
Speaker 1: would you say to them.
32:13
Speaker 2: Well, praise the Lord, because that's exactly what Scripture said
32:16
Speaker 2: it would happen. They will hate you because of me. Yeah, Fortunately,
32:21
Speaker 2: what I have found is the few Foxhold brothers and
32:25
Speaker 2: sisters that we do have, and they're more there are
32:29
Speaker 2: then we know and that we will meet. But they
32:31
Speaker 2: are a much richer and deeper and more vibrant relationship.
32:36
Speaker 2: Then you know, I was always attracted deep calls to
32:40
Speaker 2: deep the Bible says, I was always attracted to that
32:42
Speaker 2: part of this as being a creative songwriter. I guess,
32:44
Speaker 2: but I just don't. I don't think you should worry
32:48
Speaker 2: about it too much. Just continue to pursue God's the
32:52
Speaker 2: knowledge of God's word, and enjoy the fruit that comes
32:55
Speaker 2: from that, and let the Holy Spirit take care of it. Yeah,
32:58
Speaker 2: and if you have skills in a particular way, man,
33:01
Speaker 2: be the best at it. I always say to people, like,
33:05
Speaker 2: say no like nine times out of ten, so that
33:08
Speaker 2: that one yes is powerful. You know, so say no
33:11
Speaker 2: to like, you know, cut some things out of your
33:13
Speaker 2: life and sacrifice you know. I always tell to young
33:15
Speaker 2: men give up video games, like sacrifice them on they
33:17
Speaker 2: alp to shoot the xbox, take your twelve gates, shoot
33:21
Speaker 2: the dang thing. It's corrupting everything in your life. Until
33:24
Speaker 2: you do that, you won't really be able to see
33:26
Speaker 2: or hear from the Lord. Like it's it's it's that
33:29
Speaker 2: tube is only big for information. It's it's only so big,
33:32
Speaker 2: it can only fit so much through it. You're just
33:34
Speaker 2: clogged up, you know, So I would encourage people to
33:37
Speaker 2: do that, but I still think, man, like start a
33:40
Speaker 2: home church or you know, get get involved, but most
33:43
Speaker 2: importantly praise the Lord, because if you're losing friends for
33:47
Speaker 2: speaking the truth, that's good. Now, don't be a jerk,
33:50
Speaker 2: you know, but like, you know, like there's a lot
33:53
Speaker 2: of Christian jerks out that they just shove God's word
33:55
Speaker 2: down your throat and expect you know, like that's the truth.
33:58
Speaker 2: You know, Like, no, it's not. Man, You're like, you're
34:00
Speaker 2: just annoying people. Like you got to have some sense
34:02
Speaker 2: to you, like, come on, do something valuable, you know,
34:05
Speaker 2: instead of just preaching on the street corner wearing a
34:08
Speaker 2: sign and yelling at everybody. It's like it doesn't work, man,
34:11
Speaker 2: this culture hates that stuff. Yeah, so you know, like
34:14
Speaker 2: find some new way, like get a better discipler and
34:17
Speaker 2: do what they do. Yeah. Yeah, I would say go
34:21
Speaker 2: to a prophecy watchers conference.
34:23
Speaker 1: Right, there's lots of like minded people there for sure.
34:27
Speaker 1: For sure. So for someone who is wanting to share
34:31
Speaker 1: specifically about Genesis five, Genesis six, those really fringe topics,
34:35
Speaker 1: did you ever have any hesitation at the beginning when
34:38
Speaker 1: you start first the first time you shared from the
34:40
Speaker 1: stage about Genesis five, Like, was there any concern? Was
34:43
Speaker 1: there any nervousness? Not at all? You were just you
34:46
Speaker 1: were by the Holy Spirit.
34:48
Speaker 2: Okay, who cares what people? I don't. I just who cares?
34:53
Speaker 2: I have to answer to God? Someday I could care?
34:57
Speaker 2: Who cares about man? I still have the fear of man?
35:01
Speaker 2: I think I have to shave it off over the years,
35:02
Speaker 2: but like, I fear God way more than I fear Man.
35:05
Speaker 2: So the heck No. In fact, I couldn't wait to
35:08
Speaker 2: do it. And I was surprised that not everybody was
35:10
Speaker 2: interested in like I was. Well, it actually shocked me.
35:14
Speaker 2: I'm like, how do you guys, You've been going to
35:16
Speaker 2: church your whole life. You're at a Christian top concert thing,
35:20
Speaker 2: you sing worship music in your car. Why is this
35:24
Speaker 2: not more exciting? Yeah? Because it doesn't give the immediate
35:28
Speaker 2: sugar rush. That's what it is. That's what modern Christian
35:33
Speaker 2: church is. It's a sugar rush, you know, And and
35:35
Speaker 2: if it doesn't hit that dopamine fix, it just doesn't register.
35:39
Speaker 2: So you know Proverbs nine to ten, the fear of
35:41
Speaker 2: the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. Of
35:43
Speaker 2: the Holy One is understanding. A lot of people don't
35:45
Speaker 2: have the fear of the Lord, and they have no
35:46
Speaker 2: knowledge whatsoever. They just go and just regurgitate whatever happens
35:50
Speaker 2: on Sunday morning, and most churches are more interested in
35:53
Speaker 2: the bottom line and entertaining people than leading them to
35:57
Speaker 2: God's word.
35:58
Speaker 1: Well, and I do think that, so I.
36:00
Speaker 2: Was surprised that more people weren't interested.
36:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the depth and the knowledge of the
36:06
Speaker 1: Word of God, when you do become accustomed to it,
36:10
Speaker 1: and you do transition from the sugar rush to the meat,
36:14
Speaker 1: then that will be so much more satisfying that people
36:16
Speaker 1: can just kind of slowly incorporate it into conversations. I
36:19
Speaker 1: think because I grew up on teaching, so like any
36:23
Speaker 1: church that I go to today, I've been ruined for
36:26
Speaker 1: since I was ten. But it's just it's that really
36:30
Speaker 1: satisfying like understanding of where you're at, what God's doing,
36:36
Speaker 1: your role in it, how the Lord is working everything
36:40
Speaker 1: together for good, Like you have that perspective when you
36:42
Speaker 1: go deeper. So it's not that immediate satisfaction, but it's
36:46
Speaker 1: a deeper rooted confidence in what's going on and how
36:51
Speaker 1: it's not just all falling apart. That seems like it
36:54
Speaker 1: looks like on the surface. So I think, at least
36:56
Speaker 1: for people who are struggling to encourage to their Christian
37:00
Speaker 1: friends to get deeper, kind of giving them spoonfuls of it,
37:04
Speaker 1: slowly but surely, I think hopefully that'll help, kind of
37:07
Speaker 1: give them a palette for the stuff that actually has
37:09
Speaker 1: nutrition in it, so to speak.
37:12
Speaker 2: Absolutely, you know, another strategy I use is what are
37:15
Speaker 2: they interested? And I always ask people, I have them
37:17
Speaker 2: talk more than I do. You know, God give us
37:19
Speaker 2: two ears for a reason and one mouth, you know.
37:23
Speaker 2: And for instance, like I love to study the Lord
37:26
Speaker 2: of the Rings. I love the Silmarillion. I love I
37:29
Speaker 2: always have. I've been fascinated with it. And it's very antidiluvian.
37:33
Speaker 2: It's there's a flood, there's it's monotheistic. It's it's crazy
37:36
Speaker 2: how many parallels there are. So to my geeky nut
37:40
Speaker 2: Lord of the Rings friends, that's always my causeway, you know,
37:43
Speaker 2: to my Star Wars friends, I'll go watch the movie
37:47
Speaker 2: with my buddies and we'll go out and and I
37:49
Speaker 2: will purposely bring them Hey, did you guys realize that
37:52
Speaker 2: Endoor is in the Old Testament? It's also in Lord
37:56
Speaker 2: of the Rings. Yeah, and they're like, what the way?
38:00
Speaker 2: You know? So, like you can easily get to God's
38:03
Speaker 2: Word from any topic if you look for it. Yeah. Yeah,
38:08
Speaker 2: and if you go towards their individual interests anybody. It's
38:11
Speaker 2: particularly young people who are inundated with the supernatural. That's
38:15
Speaker 2: all over God's word, and if you know where it
38:17
Speaker 2: is in God's Word, you can easily lead them to
38:20
Speaker 2: it and then just take your hands off let the
38:22
Speaker 2: Holy Spirit do the rest. And many times people come
38:25
Speaker 2: back to me, Hey, remember when you told me that
38:27
Speaker 2: thing five years ago at that one place. I'm like no,
38:30
Speaker 2: but like, well you said this, and it really led
38:32
Speaker 2: me to this and that. And then that Prophecy Watchers
38:34
Speaker 2: video that you sent me, I watched it and I'm
38:37
Speaker 2: like cool, good. You know, so you never know where
38:39
Speaker 2: it's going to lead, but you can always get to
38:43
Speaker 2: God's Word from any topic. Yeah, because it's supernatural, it's
38:46
Speaker 2: outside of our time. It has more than ten to
38:48
Speaker 2: mention as far as I know, And so I try
38:51
Speaker 2: to do it that way. I try to go with
38:52
Speaker 2: their interests and share the gospel that way. Yeah.
38:56
Speaker 1: I think the world, especially the secular community, there's so
39:00
Speaker 1: much truth that can be found in today's secular music,
39:04
Speaker 1: in today's secular movies, books, all that, if you're just
39:07
Speaker 1: willing to use that as a tool. And so many
39:11
Speaker 1: Christians hesitate to use it because oh it's evil or
39:13
Speaker 1: oh it has you know, X Y Z in it.
39:15
Speaker 1: But at the same time, the truth in there is
39:17
Speaker 1: still the truth, and that can be powerful because they're
39:20
Speaker 1: already willing to discuss that material with you. So it's
39:23
Speaker 1: a gate great gateway if you're willing to use it
39:27
Speaker 1: as a Christian. I did want to ask you, since
39:29
Speaker 1: you do have like a foot in the country music world,
39:34
Speaker 1: has how has that been like? Has that been a
39:38
Speaker 1: more powerful tool for you? Have you received any backlash
39:42
Speaker 1: from the Christian industry for going into the country or
39:45
Speaker 1: vice versa, or what has that looked like?
39:48
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm not a famous country musician, so it's
39:51
Speaker 2: really there hasn't been a whole lot of you know,
39:54
Speaker 2: ripples from that stone being thrown into the pond. Other than,
40:00
Speaker 2: to be honest with you, it's more fun.
40:02
Speaker 1: I would believe that, to be.
40:03
Speaker 2: Honest with you, it's the lyrics are deeper. The best
40:06
Speaker 2: musicians and some of them at least in pop music
40:09
Speaker 2: are in Nashville and I get to work. You know,
40:12
Speaker 2: I watched many people over the years leave Christian music
40:15
Speaker 2: and quietly and go into production or whatever, you know,
40:17
Speaker 2: people who aren't lead singers of bands because they're just bored. Like,
40:21
Speaker 2: to be honest with you, I never was a worship
40:24
Speaker 2: music guy. I just never was. I was bored, like
40:27
Speaker 2: this is just boring music. Like I'm a study. I
40:30
Speaker 2: was going to be a band director. I can play
40:32
Speaker 2: every instrument. I have my degree in music education. I
40:34
Speaker 2: wanted to play trumpet and the cso I wasn't good enough.
40:37
Speaker 2: My mom's a concert pianist. I grew up with the
40:40
Speaker 2: Doobie Brothers and the Eagles and James Taylor and Garth
40:44
Speaker 2: Brooks and Faith Hill and Brad Paisy, and I'm like
40:46
Speaker 2: all the artists that I really enjoy, like the Christian
40:49
Speaker 2: artists who why are we always having to compare with them?
40:52
Speaker 2: Why not just do it? Yeah and stop trying to
40:55
Speaker 2: because the lyric of Christian music is so unbelievably my
41:00
Speaker 2: topic as a creative person. I'm just bored, Like how
41:04
Speaker 2: many times can you say the same thing? Yeah? And
41:08
Speaker 2: now they don't want Jesus. They just want incurrent, positive encouraging. Yes,
41:13
Speaker 2: I'm thankful for Caleb, but that's what it is. It's
41:16
Speaker 2: feeding babies milk, and it's not even real milk. It's
41:20
Speaker 2: formula now, it's not even real. So like, as a
41:24
Speaker 2: as a musician, I'm like, I've enjoyed having the freedom
41:27
Speaker 2: to say whatever I need to say. And I'm not
41:31
Speaker 2: going out there other than I want to use my gifts.
41:34
Speaker 2: I'm always going to lead people to Jesus to the
41:36
Speaker 2: best of my ability. But I've just had more opportunity
41:38
Speaker 2: outside Christian music go figure like I was. I feel
41:41
Speaker 2: like I was beating my head on the wall trying
41:44
Speaker 2: to get people to wake up, and they're just like, oh,
41:46
Speaker 2: do you know Chris Hamlin. You know, I'm like, oh
41:48
Speaker 2: my gosh, like it just it never ends, and that's
41:51
Speaker 2: all they just want. I know it sounds so harsh,
41:54
Speaker 2: but it's true. It's true.
41:57
Speaker 1: Well, I love that you are not limiting yourself because
41:59
Speaker 1: so many Christians, especially if you're raised in a Christian family,
42:03
Speaker 1: you're a pastor's kid, like you or whatever, it's so
42:06
Speaker 1: hard to break out of. Oh now I'm going to
42:08
Speaker 1: be a secular artist. And there's so many judgments on that,
42:13
Speaker 1: and I don't think I don't think Jesus would judge
42:16
Speaker 1: any any Christian that is in secular, artist, realm of
42:21
Speaker 1: any sort like I think he would welcome that because
42:24
Speaker 1: then his light gets to shine around more people and
42:27
Speaker 1: we get to make a bigger positive impact with the
42:30
Speaker 1: light that He has in us. So I fully support that,
42:34
Speaker 1: But I was curious to see what that response was.
42:38
Speaker 1: But I'm glad that it's been really positive for you
42:40
Speaker 1: so far. We're just about out of time, but I
42:43
Speaker 1: want you to tell everybody how can they find you?
42:46
Speaker 1: How can they follow you? How can they go see
42:49
Speaker 1: you on tour?
42:50
Speaker 2: Well you go to Bencalhoun dot com. My brother and
42:52
Speaker 2: I are still doing some Citizen Way music, so citizen
42:55
Speaker 2: Dashway dot com. I mean, that's everywhere. If you want
42:59
Speaker 2: to bring us to your church, my email is Ben
43:02
Speaker 2: at Bencalhoun dot com, and yes, that is me. I
43:06
Speaker 2: will answer it. We'd love to come. We particularly love
43:10
Speaker 2: small churches, you know. We particularly love to meet with
43:15
Speaker 2: people who want to know God's word because it's celebratory,
43:17
Speaker 2: it's fun. It's such a joy to find other people
43:21
Speaker 2: who love God's word and who want to know how
43:24
Speaker 2: to utilize it in their community. You know, I don't
43:27
Speaker 2: really want to go overseas. I've never been interested in
43:29
Speaker 2: being a missionary. I've always wanted to bloom. More implanted,
43:32
Speaker 2: I want to know every name of every rock and
43:34
Speaker 2: tree and leaf in my neighborhood. That's just how I am,
43:37
Speaker 2: you know, so I would I will get you know,
43:40
Speaker 2: we will come and we will serve with you on
43:42
Speaker 2: a Sunday morning or whatever. But Ben at Bencalhoun dot com.
43:46
Speaker 2: But more importantly, I'm I want to help people understand
43:51
Speaker 2: that you have a window of time to be a
43:53
Speaker 2: part of the most exciting history in the world's history.
43:57
Speaker 2: And God's word is the only thing that can help
43:59
Speaker 2: you understand it. And Christians who are asleep, and not
44:04
Speaker 2: many of them are on prophecy watchers because they're coming
44:06
Speaker 2: to prophecy watchers because they're away. But truly, I want
44:10
Speaker 2: to say thank you to you and to Gary and
44:13
Speaker 2: everybody that's been here, and Bob and and and it
44:17
Speaker 2: changed my life. I was ripe for the picking and
44:21
Speaker 2: the Lord said here you go, buddy, h and my
44:24
Speaker 2: parents prayed for me and so I'm just so thankful,
44:27
Speaker 2: like I have a lot that I could just just
44:31
Speaker 2: I could burn a lot of bridges. I was so
44:33
Speaker 2: angry a few years ago, all the things that were
44:35
Speaker 2: done to me and the industry and whatever. But you
44:37
Speaker 2: know what, I can forgive them, and you know what,
44:39
Speaker 2: I could ask for forgiveness as well. And it set
44:42
Speaker 2: me free. And God's word will do that, and it
44:45
Speaker 2: did for me, and it'll do the same for you.
44:47
Speaker 2: And Prophecy Watchers was a huge part of that. So
44:49
Speaker 2: wherever we go, we're going to do what we were taught.
44:52
Speaker 2: Yeah at PW man, Like Genesis six saved my life.
44:56
Speaker 1: Man, Praise the Lord the Holy world right there.
45:01
Speaker 2: Amen. Man, it's like the most exciting stuff I've ever had.
45:05
Speaker 2: It's like, well, I can tell you, as a educated man,
45:10
Speaker 2: you know, college degree, you won't be disappointed. So God's
45:14
Speaker 2: word does not return void. Just dig in, start wherever
45:17
Speaker 2: you are, bloom your planet, and utilize the strengths to
45:19
Speaker 2: God's given you and enjoy it. Because you know, whenever
45:22
Speaker 2: the Bible talks about the rapture and revelation, it says,
45:25
Speaker 2: look up for your redemption draws near. And I'm so
45:28
Speaker 2: thankful Gary, I tell this to my wife. I've probably
45:30
Speaker 2: told her a hundred times. He has the joy of
45:33
Speaker 2: the Lord when he talks about the most world ending
45:36
Speaker 2: nuclear things. And yet look at the face. That's a
45:40
Speaker 2: man who has studied God's word, who has lived the
45:43
Speaker 2: life and anybody who's in that ilk and by the way,
45:45
Speaker 2: most of those folks aren't worried about anything other than hey,
45:49
Speaker 2: well can we learn in God's Word? They're not famous Christians,
45:52
Speaker 2: you know, and I've always appreciated that. So I just
45:55
Speaker 2: want you guys to know that you have made a
45:57
Speaker 2: pretty huge mark on this man here. My family is
46:00
Speaker 2: part of that too. So wherever we go we take
46:02
Speaker 2: prophecy watchers with us somehow because I learned it somewhere
46:05
Speaker 2: and I'm going to say it from stage, so book
46:07
Speaker 2: me at your church, Ben at Bencalhun dot com.
46:09
Speaker 1: Amen, thank you so much for sharing that with us.
46:12
Speaker 1: It is an absolute honor that that was, that the
46:15
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit used that to change the direction of your
46:19
Speaker 1: life essentially, and that you are turning around and sharing
46:22
Speaker 1: that truth with everyone else, that is just blessing upon blessing.
46:25
Speaker 1: So thank you so much for doing that.
46:26
Speaker 2: Oh you welcome, well.
46:28
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time today, Ben. It
46:30
Speaker 1: has been an absolute joy talking with you, and thank
46:33
Speaker 1: you everyone for joining us for this conversation. I hope
46:36
Speaker 1: it has been a blessing to you as it has
46:38
Speaker 1: been to me. As we close out, we're going to
46:41
Speaker 1: leave you with Ben's music video, Daddy's Home with the Ones.
46:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's nothing like the t is that you're looking
46:54
Speaker 2: at forever when you