Latest / Millennial Mustard Seed / S6 273. Akande "FLF" Davis - Content Creation, Encouragement & Exposing Darkness

Transcript

S6 273. Akande "FLF" Davis - Content Creation, Encouragement & Exposing Darkness · Millennial Mustard Seed

0:01
That's tough. We're in a very tough spot.
0:03
I think that what we're doing right now is a great benefit and
0:07
virtue because it's an end around between this whole
0:11
corrupt informational system, media system.
0:15
We claim to believe in a God who spoke the universe into
0:17
existence and literally raised himself from the dead, and yet
0:23
we are not going to believe that anything else exists in the
0:26
spirit realm, even though His word tells us that they do.
0:30
Their bodies weren't permitted to go to sleep like humans do,
0:34
and they weren't permitted to go to heaven, so they wander the
0:37
earth. You know, I've seen the eyes
0:40
turn black to unknown tongues being spoken.
0:45
These giants would live way up in the highland.
0:47
The old Braves, the young men would hide up in the trees and
0:50
wait for one of these 12 footers to come walking.
0:53
Down the bath and they would jump.
0:55
On them and kill them. Drag them back to the village
0:57
and the village would feast on the body.
1:05
Then people start to get weapons, they start to get
1:07
armor, they start to build cities, they start to fortify
1:09
their cities. Now God looks down and there's
1:12
violence everywhere. The battle, this war that we are
1:16
at, is not against each other. It's against these
1:19
principalities and these rulers and these archons in the high
1:21
places. It's really worthwhile to read
1:24
the Bible yourself. Fear.
1:26
Is one of the. Primary drivers of mind control
1:29
because we have to take. Every thought.
1:31
Captive and resist fear. You're going to have a testimony
1:39
that is a justice case against the Kingdom of darkness.
2:17
Welcome back to the MMS guys. This is my last interview slash
2:22
conversation for the year. In 2025, I do plan on releasing
2:28
a bonus mini New Year's Eve special episode with Pete at the
2:32
Days of Noah podcast. So you guys can look forward to
2:35
that right before we enter into 2026.
2:38
For this episode I'm joined by FLF Akandi Davis, Floodlight
2:43
Forever and he was on almost 200 episodes ago.
2:47
I've been following his music for a couple years.
2:49
He is a Christian hip hop artist from the West Coast and when I
2:54
came upon his music originally there was a plenty of songs that
2:58
carried me through some really tough times of my life.
3:02
Not that things have gotten much easier.
3:04
My God, but there's ups and downs, right?
3:06
So I just got a lot of respect for him.
3:08
I was happy to have him come back and join me for a
3:11
conversation. We talk the temperature of
3:14
what's going on in the world today.
3:15
We talk about ministry hermeneutics a little bit.
3:18
We have some disagreements that I don't put a lot of focus on,
3:22
like Genesis 64, the angelic view, things like that.
3:25
But it's really cool to hear his perspective.
3:28
We talk about creativity, the growth of being an artist, how
3:31
his music has changed, and we talk about encouragement,
3:35
filling ourselves up with the Word of God, some of the
3:37
distractions and difficulties, all that fun stuff.
3:40
It was a really great conversation with FLF.
3:43
You can find links in the details of the show notes to
3:46
some of his music, his YouTube channel where he does breakdown
3:50
the music industry, exposing the dark and satanic nature in
3:54
lyrics through, you know, his video platform on YouTube.
3:58
Got some really great content there.
4:01
But I hope you guys have been enjoying taking this ride with
4:04
me. We've been working on various
4:05
different projects. I don't know what 2026 looks
4:08
like. I have some plans, but there's
4:11
also a lot of things that I need to be working on personally.
4:14
So I'm going to try to keep creating content for you guys.
4:17
I have plenty of really good ideas.
4:19
Not enough time of the day. There's collaborations on the
4:22
horizon that are going to be amazing and cool stuff is
4:26
planned for 2026. Let's see what the Lord allows
4:29
to happen, how He decides to direct my steps.
4:32
I really want to thank you guys who have planted seeds, who have
4:36
prayed for me, encouraged me, everybody who sent emails, even
4:40
though I didn't respond to all of you, I read all the emails.
4:43
There was a lot of heartfelt stories and stuff that you guys
4:46
shared with me. I really appreciate that none of
4:48
them go unseen. Bear with me, as time management
4:52
is a bit of an issue right now. There's a lot of things that I'm
4:54
up against and a lot of projects that I'm working on.
4:57
So I really do appreciate when you guys step up and you keep me
5:00
in prayer. And for all of you who have
5:02
donated to keep us alive this year, you are the lifeblood of
5:06
this ministry. And I want to challenge
5:09
listeners out there who have not supported this ministry to step
5:14
up and do so. You can find links in the
5:15
details of the show notes. You can write us a written
5:18
review that makes a difference on on Apple Podcasts, for
5:21
example, even leaving us a five star or honest review.
5:24
If you feel like you know, five stars is unworthy, tell me why.
5:28
At at least show your face on that, right?
5:31
I'm not offended by honesty. I do have to say 2025 has been a
5:37
wild year with a lot of ups and downs.
5:40
I am truly looking forward to a fresh start in this new year.
5:49
I think it's about time to jump into this episode.
5:53
I'm ready. Are you guys ready?
5:56
Let's go. Hey everyone, it's FLF here and
6:12
you're now listening to the Millennial Must Receive podcast.
6:20
FLF as we were just talking off air, it's so good to catch up
6:23
with you and to see you again. And I think you were on close to
6:27
200 episodes ago. Yeah, praise God, man.
6:30
It's been been a while. It's been an amazing journey to
6:33
witness for sure. And very excited to be back to
6:35
talk with you man. And your music, there's a couple
6:39
songs in particular. You had American Hebrew run to
6:42
you, right? There's all these different
6:44
songs that carried me through a really difficult personal
6:48
journey and I got nothing but raw love for you.
6:50
So it's I'm really happy that you're back here on the podcast.
6:54
Praise God, man, thanks for having me, man.
6:56
I've been studying a few scriptures in particular, and
6:58
one that I've been really meditating on is first Peter 5-6
7:02
and seven, which is humble yourself under the mighty hand
7:04
of God and he'll exalt you in due time and cast your cares
7:06
upon him because he cares for you.
7:08
And I think that's that's important to keep in mind, man,
7:10
is that we're all just servants. We're all just looking.
7:12
But I appreciate it, man, and I'm very blessed to know that
7:15
what I'm doing is encouraging someone and meeting them where
7:18
they're at in their walk. Planting seeds, watering seeds,
7:21
definitely. So let me introduce you properly
7:24
for the new listeners. Akande Davis, you're also known
7:27
professionally as FLF, that's floodlight forever.
7:31
You're a Christian hip hop artist and entrepreneur.
7:33
You're known for faith driven music.
7:36
You have a pretty interesting testimony.
7:38
You know you've rebranded in your earlier career.
7:41
Used to be Davis absolute. You've been doing music for
7:45
quite some time. You know you can be found on all
7:47
the different music platforms. You have some testimonies and
7:50
public appearances that have sparked growth, spiritual
7:53
growth. You include a lot of challenges
7:56
and exposing in the work that you do on on YouTube, right.
8:00
Your music provokes faith. It's very biblically driven, but
8:03
then you also kind of expose the music industry a little bit and
8:07
you have a diverse background with just speaking on different
8:10
platforms and and the artistry. So officially welcome once again
8:15
to the MMS. Let's talk about real quick just
8:18
what what's going on in FL FS world recently.
8:21
Praise God, man, thank you for that.
8:22
And, and yeah, you know, one of the things that I've tried to be
8:25
focused on is, excuse me, is there's a lot of things
8:30
happening in the world. And I think it's, it's important
8:32
for Christians to kind of take stock of what's going on.
8:35
And for for many, many years, the, the pendulum has swung so
8:40
far against, I think Christianity, you know, you saw
8:43
a you see a world that's very immoral, very lawless, and it
8:46
still is the case. But one of the things that I've
8:49
been talking about more and more frequently is this thing that
8:53
we've been seeing happening across the United States and
8:55
across the world where church and state are kind of coming
8:58
back in, in alignment. You know, world leaders are kind
9:02
of coming back to a version of Christian faith.
9:05
And that's one of the things I've been focusing on more so
9:07
lately, as well as I still like to, to make the videos calling
9:10
out what's happening in the music industry.
9:12
Because a lot of times, I mean, we see it all the time, even
9:15
with Taylor Swift's most recent album, I think it's called Tales
9:19
of a Showgirl. Something to that effect that
9:22
that that is still in your face, still blatantly satanic,
9:25
blatantly occultic. We see it in media all the time.
9:28
But there's been this pretty sharp stark swing, I believe
9:32
from a far left, atheistic, I don't know, maybe even godless
9:39
state that our country in the world has been in and starting
9:42
to swing back the other way. So been been spending a lot of
9:44
time talking about that which has been a blessing.
9:48
There's a lot of public declarations of faith within
9:52
Republicans, Democrats, Hollywood, entertainers of all
9:56
sorts and kinds are making these staunch kind of pivot points of,
10:00
you know, I'm a faith now. Now, some of that I don't know
10:03
if I can believe in personally, just from what I know.
10:06
Yeah, like, for sure. Like sometimes people say that
10:08
and then they want to keep their audience because Christianity is
10:10
becoming popular. But I, I really do believe some
10:13
people are genuine. I feel like what God is doing,
10:15
his ways are so much higher than our ways.
10:17
Like are we really peeping into him starting to capture the
10:20
hearts of our culture, not of the culture?
10:23
I don't know if I want to say it that way.
10:24
Let me back up. Is he starting to capture
10:26
individuals hearts who have influence?
10:29
Like, is that happening? I'm no judge of it, but I'll,
10:32
I'll tell you that I definitely believe some of it.
10:34
So how is this being incorporated within to like the
10:38
YouTube channel, for example, like you're still exposing the
10:41
music industry, but do you find yourself like finding credible
10:45
information that that brings hope and faith in the most
10:49
awkward places, like maybe you wouldn't have found 5 or 10
10:52
years ago, right? Yeah, I think, I think it's, you
10:54
know, a combination. So, you know, to your point, I
10:57
you're seeing like celebrities and folks talk about this at
11:00
every level. And in the same way, I have some
11:04
reservations around is it genuine?
11:06
And then also some excitement around certain things.
11:08
Like I thought it was really cool when Forrest Frank came out
11:11
and kind of drew the line in the sand and said he won't be
11:14
attending award shows because of XYZ reasons.
11:17
So that that was exciting to me and and that still something I
11:19
look forward to. But you're still seeing it.
11:21
And even in that Forrest Frank example, exactly what we're
11:24
talking about, where criticism was levied against him from
11:28
another performer who, well, I would say professed Christ is on
11:33
a very popular Christian song, Jelly Roll with with Brandon
11:36
Lake called Heartfelt Hallelujah.
11:39
And it was it was interesting to see that Jelly Roll was loving
11:41
criticism against Forrest Frank for that.
11:43
Now, like, I don't want to make a a big thing out of a small
11:45
thing necessarily. But with that in mind, you know,
11:48
you kind of have to look at things from a different lens and
11:50
say, OK, music is being released.
11:52
Is it a Christian tone? What I would personally say is
11:56
it's no, it's no different than Exodus 32 where Aaron and all of
12:01
Israel started worshiping the gold calf, proclaiming it to be
12:03
God. I think we're we're seeing that
12:05
in many ways right now where we think we're worshiping God.
12:09
We think that we're giving him glory and honor, but we're
12:11
actually worshiping something that is not God and in fact
12:14
committing idolatry. So that was that was kind of
12:16
like has been driving a lot of my conversation just because I
12:20
think and not to go down like a deep theological view, but I
12:24
definitely have I I don't have a a millennial reign of Christ on
12:29
Earth, you know, from from an eschatology standpoint where as
12:32
many believers do in the space. So it kind of shapes my mindset
12:36
when I see some of the stuff a little bit different than maybe
12:38
some other folks as well. So is that all millennialism or?
12:43
Well, you know, like pre post, I, I think pre post Trib, right,
12:48
like that's kind of where a lot of that conversation starts is
12:52
the, the prevailing theme, especially when you look at and,
12:56
and again, man, we can get as deep as we want to this.
12:58
I don't want to derail, you know, your, your, your topics.
13:02
But if we look at, you know, Trump spiritual advisor Paula
13:04
White, she's a part of a few folks that that believe in
13:08
something called the Seven Mountain mandate, which is we
13:10
need to bring the nations of the world into a harmony with Christ
13:16
before he returns the second time.
13:18
And I, I just don't believe that narrative necessarily.
13:21
I don't think the scripture reveals that.
13:23
But I can understand why some people do.
13:25
And that's that's something that they call the Seven mountain
13:27
mandates where Christianity has to be prevalent in the seven key
13:31
areas of the world, culture, education, entertainment.
13:35
And yeah, I think I think the pendulum's swinging the other
13:37
way. So it's again exciting to see,
13:39
but it's also very interesting to witness when you have a, a, a
13:43
differing perspective than than what that is.
13:46
Yeah, it's, it's definitely wild.
13:48
I, I've always said if I love everybody has a little something
13:51
wrong and a little something right.
13:53
I feel like the more I know, the more I actually don't know, you
13:57
know, and it's like there's like you start to just recognize,
14:00
like it's information overload, you know, there's just so many
14:02
messages and signals. Yeah.
14:04
Yeah, I mean, I'm reminded, like John Calvin and Geneva, you
14:08
know, he was attempting to create a, a place, a city that
14:13
was fully in line, in harmony with God's ideals and his
14:18
principles. And, you know, I think we can
14:20
acknowledge that John Calvin was a great man of God.
14:23
He did many wonderful things. But Geneva ended up executing
14:26
someone for blasphemy, right? Bringing them at the stake,
14:29
which was no different than what the Catholic Church was doing
14:33
around Martin Luther's time and around, you know, even John
14:36
Calvin's time or Jerome's time, these different martyrs that we
14:40
see in the church history. And it's, it's interesting that
14:43
a, a strong Protestant wise man created an environment directly
14:47
or indirectly that that resulted in the, the slaying of it of I,
14:51
I wouldn't say an innocent person, but someone who
14:53
committed blasphemy, right? I think it's crazy, you know?
14:56
I think the more I look at it and I don't want to talk about
14:59
the Amish per SE. This is just an open
15:01
conversation. I didn't really, I don't have
15:03
like questions written out, but I was looking at that and it's
15:06
like there's something to marvel about the Amish community, like
15:10
where they drew the line on the technology.
15:13
You know, you see, like the early 1900s, like when leather
15:16
got as good as it could possibly get when, you know, like certain
15:20
basic materials like wagons and and wooden wheels, like once,
15:24
you know, yeah, they use the technology of a bearing, right,
15:27
to make the axles work better. But they drew the line.
15:29
And even the Amish community now, they do draw the line with
15:33
technology not coming into the house.
15:34
So you have a lot of Mennonites and a lot of groups that are
15:36
utilizing vehicles and cell phones and computers because
15:40
they are great contractors. They're great.
15:42
I've been on job sites with them, but when you start to look
15:45
into that, I believe even that part, because this is a polar
15:49
opposite of what we see happening with the, the right
15:51
versus the left. This is a group who's maintained
15:54
a form of integrity that I, I think is honorable, right?
15:57
Like the, you know, they're not dressing provocative.
16:00
They're, they're simple. They do community builds.
16:03
I read a article there was a, a barn that burnt.
16:05
I'm not far from Lancaster, like I grew up in southeastern PA
16:08
right outside of Philly, so that, that Amish community has
16:11
always been a 25 to, you know, hour drive, right?
16:15
And it's, it's crazy. This barn burnt down dude.
16:18
And the whole entire community comes out and builds this, you
16:21
know, like 75,000 square foot, 22 tier barn in like 5 days.
16:26
It's a, it's a community effort. And then, you know, they're not,
16:29
let's just face it, they're not taking the, the medical, the
16:34
pharmakeia advice from the world.
16:36
And they don't have a lot of the issues that we have.
16:39
And this is the same thing in other other pockets around the
16:42
world, right? You can look at other cultures
16:43
that have this, their protection is more or less integrated into
16:47
a cultural and a very personal pocket of existence, not
16:52
allowing the world to determine how they're like.
16:55
Are they different now because this is popular now versus five
16:59
years ago? We see these trends.
17:01
And I think that's what's really interesting about, like, what
17:03
you do like through your music. I remember your transition,
17:05
dude, where you were like, I want more like, I want it to be
17:08
like a Psalm, right? Like, I want it to be more Bible
17:11
verse. I, I want to start, stop looking
17:13
at myself and start looking at the Scripture through music.
17:16
And I remember like watching that growth journey with you as
17:19
you were releasing music and really being like, bro, there's
17:22
so many different rabbit holes that fit into this grand scheme
17:25
of yeah, I don't, I'm with you. I don't believe on the whole 7
17:28
seventh day event. It's like we need to seize and
17:31
capture every single industry and submit, surrender it to the
17:35
Lord before he can come back. I think he comes back like he
17:37
says, a thief in the night and you're not gonna know it.
17:40
That's what I think. And I think just maintaining our
17:43
faithfulness regardless of the outcome is the key here because
17:47
the end of the world, listener, could be for you tomorrow.
17:49
If you're checking out tomorrow, Why does it have to be the whole
17:52
world that goes in unison all of a sudden for you to take some
17:55
theological hill you want to die on?
17:57
It's the end for us when we leave.
17:59
No, I, I and I and I agree. And that's one of the things
18:01
too, when it, when it comes to like end time eschatology or
18:05
looking into it, there's a lot of things that are, are relevant
18:08
and important. And one of the main reasons that
18:11
I like discussing it or, you know, talking with people about
18:14
like, OK, well, what's the mark of the beast, for example, is,
18:17
is usually because, and, and you know, God designed us in such a
18:21
way where I think I, we have no excuse against his existence.
18:25
And the, the, the verse itself is slipping my mind, but the
18:29
things that are made are witnesses of his creation.
18:31
So when we see the sky, the grass, when we see a bird, those
18:36
are witnesses of God's creation. And we have no excuse.
18:38
We're without excuse. We all kind of inherently know
18:41
that the end is coming. Death is inevitable.
18:45
And what's going to happen after, you know, and if you can
18:49
start talking to people and demonstrate like, well, the
18:51
signs of his coming are XYZ and we're witnessing it right now, I
18:54
think there's a level of conviction that will come along
18:56
with it. But to your point as well, you
18:59
know, the end of, you know, the second coming could be tomorrow
19:02
if you get hit by a bus, you know, and it's one of the
19:05
conversations I, I usually have, like even with my family and
19:09
whatnot, I forget who I was talking to, but they were like,
19:12
you know, my, my mom has been saying that Jesus is coming back
19:15
since I was a kid and he's still not here.
19:17
And I'm like, well, brother, you know, they, they were saying
19:19
that during Paul's time, you know, they were saying that they
19:22
said he's coming back and things have remained the same from
19:24
ancestor to ancestor. And it's like, OK, that was 2000
19:28
years ago. Now we're here, He might come
19:31
back tomorrow if things don't go well for you today, right?
19:34
Like God forbid anything happens to me, I'm very confident in my
19:38
salvation. I know I'll be seeing Christ,
19:39
but I could, I could walk outside and get hit by a bus.
19:42
I could trip and break my neck. Who knows?
19:45
But the reality is if we're not prepared in our hearts, if we
19:48
haven't surrendered ourselves, then we miss out on the biggest
19:50
opportunity we have to to have eternal life.
19:52
So that's usually why I like to get it 'cause people will get
19:55
very excited and worked up and a discussion will happen.
19:57
If you say, well, you know, well, what do you think is the
20:00
sign of his coming? You know what, what do you think
20:02
about the Third Temple being rebuilt in in Jerusalem?
20:05
Like those kinds of things I think get get people engaged at
20:09
least in a dialogue. And I, I definitely see that
20:12
like I've made some public stances recently where I'm like,
20:14
I'm going to get back to hermeneutical hygiene, like what
20:17
the late the late Doctor Chuck Missley would say and
20:20
eschatology. What is my end time perspective?
20:22
But I mean, personally, I'm a pre millennialist.
20:24
I think the millennial reign's coming.
20:26
You know, I look at that and I'm just like, my God, like you are
20:29
so good and pure, like you're, you're already set up here
20:33
through your people. But the Bible also says that the
20:35
earth itself moans and groans for the identity of the sons of
20:39
God to be made known. And I and I think when the power
20:42
source is like unveiled from that sense of he's cracking the
20:45
sky and returning, I mean, the Bible says so much.
20:48
It's really hard to take a 1, you know, statement stance on
20:52
it. I think it's OK for the
20:53
mysterion. It says in the Greek, the
20:55
mystery, which which really in the Greek means intervals, short
20:59
little intervals of, of revealing over a long period of
21:02
time. It doesn't mean you're supposed
21:04
to understand it right away. Like it's OK if we don't get it
21:07
all. But the hope is the thing that
21:09
we should be sparking in the believers, like encouragement
21:12
and hope at, you know, we have like, the death of Charlie Kirk,
21:16
which is funny because I was on a sabbatical for the month of
21:18
September. But the one time actually,
21:21
there's so much that happened in September, I'm like, well, this
21:23
is the only reason I'm coming back.
21:25
But what about all the people who got assassinated that nobody
21:27
knows their name 100%? People do want to talk about
21:30
what's going on in Israel. And I'm not trying to make this
21:32
political, but what about what all the people that are dying
21:36
and being raped and literally traumatized in Africa right now?
21:42
Like Ukraine was on the map and everybody talked about that.
21:44
Israel's on the map. Everybody talks about that.
21:46
But so I think it's a little disingenuine because I think
21:49
that a lot of the times the world systems want you to play
21:51
the game in the constructs of what they've created.
21:54
I call it Hegelian dialectic. Others would kind of agree with
21:58
that, but there's always a little bit of room for some
22:02
differences and and expanding ideas.
22:04
That's why I love having conversations with people such
22:06
as yourself. So I mean, where you see that
22:10
we're at, Obviously you're you're continuing in the efforts
22:12
of introducing faith music wise, right?
22:15
Are you still creating music and and the YouTube channel?
22:18
Tell us a little bit. It's a two-part question.
22:20
Tell us a little bit about the the growth, right, of seeing how
22:23
deep and dark it really is. Where's the end of the rabbit
22:27
hole if I can kinda ask? Yeah, yeah, no, for sure.
22:30
And, and one thing too, we recently had another baby.
22:33
So baby #3 and that's, that's taken a lot of time for sure.
22:37
It's been exciting to make content.
22:38
I still love making content, making music.
22:40
Things have slowed down quite a bit.
22:42
I I think when I make music or I make content, you know, the
22:45
point is there, there's kind of A2 fold thing.
22:47
I think, you know, coming to Christ can be.
22:51
I think it's, it's always in many respects a progressive
22:54
thing. I think usually, you know, it's
22:56
just a slow burn and sometimes people have these experiences or
23:00
these rock bottoms that just shake them from their sleep.
23:03
But often times when you hear a testimony, it's kind of like I
23:05
met God here, I met him there, I met him here.
23:08
I gave my life, I gave my life to him and then I could see him
23:10
throughout my entire life, right?
23:11
Like I could see his hand on me. I think when I call out music or
23:17
media or expose what's really happening in the agendas, I, for
23:21
me, it's just a point to say like, like, are you cool with
23:24
that? Like, are you OK with that?
23:26
And usually people are not OK with it, right?
23:28
And, and even people who might be lukewarm in, in their faith
23:32
or might just acknowledge there is a God, but doesn't know they
23:35
don't know Christ. They don't know the way they're
23:37
gonna like, whoa, like this is weird.
23:38
You know, a good friend of mine, he's actually, he's not a
23:42
Christian. He is I, I don't want, he's
23:46
Siki. So he's from India.
23:49
He's Siki. And he does tell me we'll, we'll
23:51
have these conversations. He's like, man, it seems like
23:54
Christianity is always under assault in movies and film and
23:58
TV and culture. Why?
24:01
And I'm like, you know, man, that's a great question.
24:03
And we'll be able to open up a dialogue around it.
24:05
But that's kind of the intent is to at least acknowledge what's
24:07
happening, get people aware of it.
24:10
And naturally, I think, you know, Christ often talked about
24:13
the leaven of the Pharisees. And for the Passover, you were,
24:17
you were to leave with unleavened bread.
24:19
You know, you, you didn't keep any leaven.
24:21
And every year you clean it out. I think that that application
24:25
was practical, but also in a spiritual sense, going in and,
24:28
and taking stock of what's in your life.
24:31
Usually when I show someone like, hey, the music that you're
24:33
listening to is just full of profanity, full of curses, talks
24:36
about these very negative things.
24:38
You might be struggling spiritually because you're
24:40
exposing yourself to this every single day non-stop.
24:43
And that's usually like, wow, that's at least a step in the
24:45
right direction. And then the same thing is true
24:47
for music as well, where for a long time, as you said, many
24:51
years, I was really focused on like testimonial music.
24:53
It was the simplest music for me to make.
24:56
I don't want to say my relationship with Christ wasn't
24:59
deep, but it definitely wasn't as deep as it is now.
25:02
And as I've kind of grown in my relationship with Christ, I've,
25:05
I've found a, a very compelling conviction that I need to point
25:08
people back to the word and not always my testimony.
25:11
I think a testimony could still be powerful, but I want to like,
25:14
if you're going to remember lyrics to a song or play it over
25:16
and over, if I can have you remembering Scripture, that's
25:20
where I want to go. You know that that's kind of the
25:22
goal I want to have. Yeah, that's so good.
25:24
I mean, that's a maturity thing really.
25:28
I see it in a sense where it like poetic.
25:30
The way I look at poetry, like the ancient Hebrew concept for
25:33
poetry was it was rhythmic in cycles.
25:37
Like it was a rhythm of right, Like if the father's faithful,
25:41
the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, right?
25:43
The kids will be faithful. It's like this rhythm of life.
25:47
And then we see some of these changes where we've seen it's
25:50
rhythmic only in rhyming now words, right?
25:53
And so you see the the rap industry get consumed with using
25:57
who knows what to try to make examples of to the culture,
26:01
which just sound good. It's like the the itching of an
26:04
ear almost. But yeah, I mean, when you're
26:06
getting into these deeper, more profound things, when you can
26:09
connect the 2 like you do, I think that that's super
26:12
significant. You know, I think that's, it's,
26:15
it's beyond a pun. It's, it's, it's intentional,
26:17
whether we know it or not, because God is a God of justice
26:21
and he's a God of order, right? And he's prophetically spoken
26:25
things beforehand, which means 1/3 of the Bible's prophetic
26:28
stuff still needs to happen. I personally believe we're in a
26:31
generation right now that the Bible talks more about than any
26:34
other generation. That's my, my opinion.
26:37
There's never been a time where the gospel could travel as fast
26:40
as it can now. There's never right.
26:42
There's never been a time where deception can be done in 35
26:47
seconds on a a TikTok video that couldn't have been done 200
26:50
years ago would have took it taken, you know, generations to
26:53
to integrate false beliefs and and system.
26:55
So I think that it's like this hyper vigilant time for
26:59
Christians to not all things are lawful, right?
27:02
Not all things are good for us to do, but I think that there's
27:04
definitely a, a bad stigma on things that we can utilize for
27:09
the Kingdom. And then each man make his own
27:11
decision, right? But as far as the music goes,
27:13
the poetry, right? What God's given you a gift,
27:16
right? I just started getting into the
27:18
music. So I'm like figuring out, I've
27:20
been writing poetry since I was 14.
27:22
But now I'm like, wow, I'm actually expressing this and I
27:26
just want to share something real quick with you and see what
27:27
your thoughts are on it. It's crazy.
27:30
I have a men's group, we call it the Men of Iron and it's a small
27:33
core group of guys that actually get together with in person on
27:37
at least a monthly basis. And we were talking about the,
27:40
the song that I released called Trauma Cycles featuring BHP.
27:43
And I'm explaining to them the the growth of it, right?
27:46
Like, wow, I got this stuff off my chest in a way that I didn't.
27:51
I never thought I'd do music or do like vocal poetry like that.
27:56
I'm just a podcasters. I've been doing this for six
27:57
years, but unique things happen where God changed that.
28:01
And there's literally a medical journal that says if you're
28:06
being, if you know for people who have been amputated right in
28:10
the old days specifically or even just pain now, it could be
28:12
as simple as stubbing your toe right when you yell and scream
28:17
it out. It's actually finishes a
28:19
connection where your body is able to express that pain and
28:24
there's a proven faster healing rate.
28:26
So I started looking into this. I'm like, Oh my gosh, that and
28:29
there's testing. It's called the silent scream.
28:32
It's been proven to release trauma that your body holds
28:36
because there's certain muscles and just your central nervous
28:39
system is looking for a release, right?
28:43
And God is saying, make a loud noise unto the Lord in
28:46
comparison of not trauma, but even when we're declaring God is
28:51
telling us there's power to our words, life and death in the
28:53
tongue right there. There's all of this.
28:55
And I think a lot of the times, at least for what happened with
28:57
me, I sat quietly with trauma for years and years and years.
29:01
And I'd be like, why am I not healing from this?
29:02
Why do I feel like I need to write?
29:04
And then you start to kind of rip your shirt a little bit and
29:07
yell and say, God forgive me, change the way I'm thinking,
29:09
break my trauma cycle. And then it's like healing
29:13
starts to come. And I'm like, there's something
29:15
to this and just we could go on and on and on, but.
29:20
About this that that's interesting idea, but.
29:22
What are your thoughts there? I I think that's really
29:24
interesting. I think, yeah, there's
29:27
something, there's something powerful and profound about like
29:29
a release. And, you know, men often times
29:32
like and, and that this isn't universal, right?
29:34
But I think we bottle up a lot of our emotions and you always,
29:38
every once in a while you need a good cry, you know?
29:40
And I think I've gotten better as an adult on just.
29:42
A so true, you know, process just being.
29:45
Able to I need a good cry. But but yeah, man, that's
29:48
interesting about the about the screaming.
29:49
I never heard that before. It's also kind of interesting to
29:53
me as well. Like I wonder, I wonder.
29:57
Yeah. And this is like maybe a deeper
29:59
conversation, but I wonder how much the opposite is true of
30:01
like I could see music and songs that you reciting or shouting or
30:06
you go to a concert and you're shouting.
30:09
How much of it are you? Are you expressing trauma in an
30:12
unhealthy way or adding I I don't know, you know what I mean
30:15
like. Someone else's trauma.
30:16
Exactly are you are you embodying it and bringing that
30:20
on to yourself in in some kind of way by expressing it even
30:23
though it didn't exist? You know, like I love my my
30:26
children are so amazing and so incredible and they're going to
30:29
get exposed to things that I can't help.
30:31
And sometimes they're exposed to music.
30:32
And I heard my daughter like reciting some song about like
30:37
something about a boyfriend or something like that.
30:39
And I'm like, what are you talking about?
30:41
And she and she got a little shy, you know, and was like, a
30:43
little like nothing. But I'm, I'm, I'm over here
30:45
thinking, I'm like, you have no idea of what you're saying.
30:47
Like you, you just heard something that kind of rhymed
30:50
and sounded good, but you're just saying it.
30:52
I I mean, I wonder how often on the on the flip side as well.
30:55
But that is interesting. I had never heard about that.
30:57
And yeah, man, we just need to get it out sometimes.
31:00
Absolutely. Well, why does God bottle up our
31:02
tears? He says, like tears typically
31:05
mean that there's a wailing. And then it reminds me also, Oh
31:08
my gosh, thank you Holy Spirit. The Scripture where it says we
31:11
know not all how we are to pray at times that there's deep
31:14
moanings and groanings within us and there's, there's definitely
31:17
something to that. I hate to use the scientific as
31:20
if it's proof. I don't need that proof.
31:22
Like I believed it already anyway.
31:24
But I do have kind of brainiacs who listen to my show.
31:26
Like I've gotten into nanoparticulates and we've
31:29
gotten into like some of the crazy, you know, I've had, you
31:32
know, renowned doctors on and, and holistic practitioners and
31:36
we've kind of went down these rabbit trails.
31:38
But my whole thought is like, if God says it's important, it's
31:40
important regardless if you can prove it or not.
31:43
Yeah, but sometimes there's the brain out there that kind of
31:46
needs to hear it or deliver it a certain way because that's how
31:49
they receive it. But I thought that was
31:50
interesting because life and death's in the power of the
31:53
tongue, right? We're supposed to make
31:55
declarations. We're supposed to, you know,
31:57
literally speak, speak things out.
31:59
And then I started thinking, well, music, you're reciting
32:02
other people's music. This is what you've been
32:03
pointing out for years on your show.
32:06
I know the first time you're on, we talked about like ear gates,
32:08
ears being a sacred gate, and now eyes being a sacred gate
32:11
too. And yes, we're all exposed to
32:14
something. My God, I mean, you can't go
32:16
shopping without hearing secular music, the billboards, the
32:18
flashing lights. I mean, I'm driving around right
32:21
on the the peripherals of New York City on a weekly basis in
32:24
Philadelphia. I see the skyline, the people,
32:26
the the go, go, go, the hustle and bustle.
32:27
There's a whole different vibe, you know, and there's pressures
32:32
that I'm sensitive to, but I think I'm kind of overly
32:36
supernatural and sensitive anyway.
32:37
Like I'm always like, no, like something's happening.
32:40
Like it's important. But all right, so let's talk a
32:42
little bit about this season, right?
32:44
So, so third kids, you slowed down a little bit, but do you
32:47
feel like the times that we're living in, like as God kind of
32:50
spoke anything to you, like I'm reserving you for for a little
32:54
bit, Is the is it a reprieve for you or do you plan on kicking
32:57
the doors in again with more projects?
33:00
You know, I think, I think I'll never stop creating.
33:02
I think that's one thing for sure.
33:05
I think, and I don't think anybody should, by the way, I
33:07
think no matter where you're at, what you're doing, I think God
33:12
has called us to be creative, has made us to be creative.
33:15
And creativity can look like a lot of things for a lot of
33:18
different people. And, you know, being at your
33:20
local church, volunteering, helping out with audio ministry,
33:25
serving as a Deacon, welcoming people, those are areas where
33:29
you get to be creative and be able to flush that out.
33:31
So I don't think I'll ever stop creating.
33:32
I think that's going to be something for life.
33:34
But honestly, man, it's, it's hard to reclaim time.
33:36
And I think there's a, a component of balancing I, I, I,
33:41
we are living in some very important times and God has put
33:44
a tremendous weight on my heart. So I have full intention on
33:47
doing that. I just have been praying for God
33:50
to open up more opportunity for time and allow me to get out of
33:52
my own way, right? So if there is time available
33:54
that I'm able to take advantage of.
33:55
But I think, I think there's growth with every kid.
33:59
I think there's growth with every life event.
34:01
And I think I, I heard, and and this is totally secular, I'm
34:06
going to apply it in a simple way, but I heard an actor, Bryan
34:08
Cranston one time who did like Walter White and Breaking Bad, a
34:11
few other notable roles. He had done so many movies in
34:14
the interview was like, well, like you've done so many movies.
34:16
Are you going to are you going to stop?
34:17
And he's like, I need to actually go and draw from
34:19
something, right? So one thing that I have been
34:21
doing is just in my word, drawing close to Christ,
34:25
understanding His, understanding what he reveals in Scripture
34:28
better. And then I know the more that I
34:30
take that in, when the time is right, God is going to allow me
34:32
to be able to hopefully, if I submit to Him, express that in
34:36
the correct way. That's such a good answer.
34:41
For some reason what you just said to me is reminding me of
34:43
the House of David. I don't know if you've seen
34:45
that. I don't think I've I've seen the
34:47
clips of it. That's the like live action
34:49
David show. Yeah, dude, it's so worth it.
34:51
Oh, my goodness. And so they're in season 2 right
34:54
now. And I literally had my podcast
34:56
community kick me in the butt when they came out with Season
34:59
1. Like, Rod, you got to watch
35:00
this. Like, you talk about Genesis 64,
35:02
you talk about Goliath being that tall.
35:04
Like it's not. It means what it says.
35:07
And I never did. I'd literally just in the last
35:09
couple days put it on and went through a few episodes.
35:12
So out of curiosity, in the show, what what, what do they do
35:16
they frame the Genesis 6 for? Do they frame it?
35:18
Like how do they frame that? Yeah, they actually started
35:21
doing they frame it. I mean, the Benihah Elohim came
35:25
to the banath Adam, right. So Genesis 6 for the sons of God
35:29
came to the daughters of Adam and seen that they were fair,
35:32
right? Took them and and you know, the
35:34
Nephilim are born and most translations say giants because
35:37
it comes from Gigantis and it's means earth born, not born from
35:41
above, right. And so we get Gigantis and and
35:45
this is a funny word because Ghia is is you know, Ghia in the
35:49
the Roman pantheon or the Greek pantheon.
35:51
It's it's an earth goddess. Yeah, but it just so happens to
35:54
be that they're tall in stature also.
35:56
So people associate the word giants and its literal usage as
35:59
meaning only tall, but that's just a characteristic, a duality
36:03
of the characteristics where it's earth born, not born from
36:07
above. For example, like Jesus says, he
36:08
must be born from the spirit above when he's speaking with
36:11
Nicodemus. Anyway, that's a whole sidebar.
36:13
But they don't. They did.
36:14
Justice to angels. What is it they're not showing?
36:18
They're not saying angels are the.
36:20
Yeah yeah, they show angels, okay, yeah, yeah listen, I like
36:25
it, all right, For me, I'm just. Gonna say that's the thing.
36:28
See, when I see that, because I spent so many years with the
36:31
belief set very similar to that and then I got into the deep
36:34
Bible study demonstrating why was the sons of Seth and not the
36:37
sons, not the sons of Cain or not angels essentially.
36:40
But like that's an interesting thing to me.
36:42
I I need to watch that and maybe just go through it one time.
36:44
It's. Definitely has everything has a
36:46
little something wrong and a little something in my
36:48
experience. But but the reason I'm bringing
36:50
this up all right is because you were talking about just kind of
36:53
back to the basics of the process.
36:55
What are we drawing from with God for sure and what they've
36:58
really depict well that I that I've been picking up on just a
37:01
few episodes into to the first season.
37:03
The second season's released at this point in time.
37:06
But what I've been drawing from it is is close to my heart as
37:09
well. So you said I need something to
37:11
draw from, right? Like, like life's experience,
37:14
like sometimes we are being wounded by life's pen.
37:19
It's marking us, right? We're experiential to what we
37:23
consider to be things that nobody sees.
37:26
There's these quiet spaces where God is allowing things to happen
37:29
to us. He's not wishing it, but my God,
37:32
I mean, oh, use good and say, hey, they intended it for evil.
37:35
I'll use it for good. And so they depict David that
37:38
way where it's like this process where he's like not known and
37:42
just kind of thrown to the wayside.
37:44
And you can see they do a decent job.
37:47
I'm not going to say it's like biblical to a team, but when you
37:49
read through the Psalms, you really do see this up and this
37:52
down. And David's prayers are not cute
37:55
Christianity prayers. They're like, hey, my enemies
37:57
are surrounding me. I feel like my life's going to
38:00
end. Have you left me?
38:01
Like, can you please catch them in the trap they set for me?
38:04
And then a chapter later, it's like, my God, you did it again.
38:07
You captured them in the very right.
38:09
And and there's some like raw realness to it.
38:11
So when you said that, it triggered for me because that's
38:13
a lot of my poetry, a lot of my works outside of the podcaster.
38:17
Let's let's get into the nitty and gritty like what's what
38:20
about transparency? Just like a lyric in that song,
38:22
I'm like, I'm perplexed how people fake it.
38:26
And so you triggered me to bring that up.
38:28
Sorry if I was long winded, but you're right that creativity is
38:31
drawn from that place. You're 100% right.
38:34
Yeah, when your cup is, you know, out of the abundance of
38:37
the mouth, the heart will speak. And that that applies, I think
38:41
in many in every respect, right. I know for me in particular,
38:45
when I'm creating art, whatever, whatever comes to mind to pen
38:50
down, whatever the Holy Spirit leads me to write or, you know,
38:54
leads me to perform or record, it's going to come out of the
38:58
out of what I've been exposing myself to.
38:59
So often times, especially early in my walk, I think that's quite
39:02
the case, right. We live a very testimonial
39:04
driven life. And as we get older, I think
39:06
things kind of shift. We see things differently.
39:08
We look at the world differently, look at the
39:10
scripture differently. And that that's kind of where
39:12
I'm at right now. Just just filling up that,
39:14
filling up that bucket, filling up my, my, my cup so that when
39:18
it runs over, it'll be of God. And funny enough, actually I was
39:22
talking with my wife yesterday. They're they're releasing this
39:25
David animated movie that we've been excited.
39:27
About Oh my gosh, yeah, I'm excited about that too.
39:29
Angel Studios, right? Yeah, Angel Studios, it looks
39:32
good. And, you know, Angel Studios is
39:34
usually producing pretty quality content, so I am excited about
39:37
that. But yeah, and, and again, you
39:39
know, not everything is going to be perfect.
39:41
Kids love the Prince of Egypt. You know, I don't tell them that
39:43
most didn't actually speak to Pharaoh.
39:45
I don't tell them that in part in one second.
39:48
It took all night. Moses had a stutter.
39:50
He didn't even really speak that well.
39:51
You know, like when he really started getting into
39:54
hermeneutics. He was 80, not, you know, not 38
39:57
or whatever. He was in the movie.
39:58
You know, I don't tell them that stuff.
40:00
I'm like look. Yeah, I understand.
40:03
Yeah, no. No, you're right.
40:05
I mean, we're, we're living in a time where there's so much going
40:09
on, like, I guess you could say guarding what we're allowing in.
40:13
And then what? What do we bring into the Lord
40:15
out of that? You're so right.
40:17
Yeah. I mean, if we're just Netflixing
40:19
all day and we're just, you know, munching and geeking out,
40:21
not taking care of our mind in our temple.
40:23
And we're not, you know, putting on the mind of Christ, as the
40:27
Bible says, washing our minds in the word, renewing and being
40:30
transformed. The, the world is so easy to
40:33
snatch us up. So I love these kind of like, I
40:36
call it the fundamental back to the basics.
40:38
Cause some people will say, well, why do you talk about
40:40
Genesis 64? Why do you talk about the second
40:43
Samuel 21, David, It says that the, the, you know, this giant
40:48
has 6 fingers, 24 digits, double rows of teeth.
40:51
He's a cannibal. This is, this is something not
40:53
normal. And people say, why do you bring
40:54
that up? Why do you bring that up?
40:55
And I have to steal my buddy Pete's line from over the days,
40:59
no podcast because it's the least talked about within
41:01
Christianity. Like when you go to the
41:03
building, like all the word of God is important.
41:06
All of it's there for correction, for proof, for
41:07
edification, for teaching, for doctrine, right.
41:10
And so a lot of the times creating that balance I find to
41:14
be important. But I love the basics because in
41:16
my everyday life, I'm not walking around arguing and
41:20
thinking about Second Samuel 21 giants for sure.
41:25
But there's a time in a season where it's like, God, what do
41:27
you want me to know about this? Yeah, absolutely.
41:30
You know, like, so I love these kind of like reintroducing like
41:34
the sacred time with the Lord and, and really putting on that
41:38
mind, not just for show, but in our creativity.
41:41
And I think really, I mean, that's where we could kind of
41:43
spend a little bit time in this creativity idea, because I feel
41:46
like obviously you're, you have more to say about that because
41:50
we do have a higher a higher threshold when we're Christians
41:55
and we're we're creating because it's, it's the word never
41:58
returns void. So we have a presence to leave
42:00
with, with other believers. Anything to speak to on that?
42:03
Well, yeah, I think yeah. And one of the, you know, just
42:07
like fun anecdote, FLF Floodlight forever was really
42:10
built on that principle of flood light forever.
42:12
So flood from the beginning of the Bible, light when Christ
42:16
came and forever, which we're going to experience eternity.
42:18
That was kind of the idea behind it, this whole journey through
42:21
Scripture. And I, I appreciate the old
42:25
Jesus. When Jesus was on earth, the Old
42:30
Testament was the Bible, right? So no new doctrine about
42:34
salvation was created. It was pulled from the Old
42:38
Testament, right? And I think that's an important
42:39
thing. And even when we see like
42:42
scriptures that Jesus quoted all from the Old Testament, whether
42:45
it was Deuteronomy or even referencing Leviticus, it was
42:48
all from what was already established.
42:51
So I think that's an important part too, that as a Christian,
42:53
you have to be well-rounded to know what happened at the
42:56
beginning, what's going to happen at the end.
42:58
But yeah, I saw a TikTok the other day, a buddy of mine, like
43:01
shared it with me and it was a guy and he pretty much said
43:04
that, you know, secular music does a better job at honoring
43:08
God than Christian music because it captures the, the raw emotion
43:13
of the human story better. And I couldn't disagree more,
43:16
right? You know, I mean genuinely like
43:20
Yep, there there's a a small case to be made to say there are
43:25
songs in secular music that highlight a God-given emotion,
43:31
moment and journey that is experiential that humans share
43:35
naturally because of how God designed us in the sinful
43:38
condition that we're in. Right.
43:40
I could agree with that, but he won't probably won't respond to
43:44
my comment. But I was like, how can someone
43:46
who doesn't know the Lord honor the Lord?
43:48
And that was kind of like my big take away and and you might get
43:52
some part of the way there, but to say all the time, I don't
43:56
think that's I don't think that's going to be the case at
43:58
all. I I genuinely Christian music,
44:01
it's some of the most profound, most powerful, most impactful,
44:06
even when you look at, and I was just talking about this with
44:10
another another podcast. Even when you look at the
44:12
transition from the early days of the church from Catholicism
44:17
to the Reformation, the Protestant Reformation, Martin
44:19
Luther actually re evaluated music entirely to move away from
44:24
language that people didn't understand and maybe pointless
44:27
or meaningless chants to songs that actually had in your own
44:31
tongue with lyrics that you could understand, that you could
44:34
glorify God with. And often times based on the
44:36
scriptures, of course. So when you think about like the
44:39
role of music, the Christian's role in music, we are held to a
44:43
high standard. And I think the high standard
44:45
isn't self-imposed, right? It's imposed by the Lord.
44:49
And if it's a standard that's imposed by the Lord, then it's a
44:52
standard that we can't meet on our own and the Holy Spirit has
44:54
to get us there. So if the Holy Spirit is
44:57
bridging the gap between my lack of and carrying me all the way
45:01
in the exact same way that I can't save myself, only Christ
45:03
can save me. I, I think we have to
45:05
acknowledge the importance and impact.
45:08
And if you ever have a Christian, I'll just say this, I
45:10
think this is a fair statement. If you ever have a Christian who
45:13
doesn't like Christian music, it's because their taste buds
45:16
for the world have been over saturated, right?
45:19
If, if you know if, if, if you don't have a taste for
45:24
something, it's because you haven't been eating and chewing
45:27
on it, right. I heard this doctor say one time
45:30
that a baby is born, the baby has only the taste for breast
45:35
milk. Every other taste is acquired,
45:37
which he was pretty much getting at that what you present your
45:39
child to feed them is what they're going to enjoy.
45:42
The same thing is true for the believer in the world.
45:44
So if you have a disdain for Christian music and hymns and
45:47
Psalms, and I mean, some music's really bad, right?
45:49
Like some, some is not high quality, but we have an
45:51
abundance, we have a an embarrassment of riches when it
45:54
comes to Christian music and Christian creativity.
45:57
If it if you don't like it, I think the the the problem is
46:00
probably in your heart a little bit, right.
46:02
There's some things that you need to some leaven you have to
46:04
clean out would be would be my take on that in love, you know?
46:09
It's a annual thing to clean out the leaven.
46:12
It's maintenance. It's it's rechecking ourselves.
46:15
I mean, the Bible even tells us that check your faith.
46:20
And I don't think we could say one time when I was nine years
46:23
old, I gave my life to Christ or something.
46:25
Like when I hear people say that, I'm just like, like, well,
46:30
OK, I'm not mad at that. That's beautiful.
46:32
But like for sure tell me more like or don't tell me nothing at
46:35
all. Like, you know, 100%, you know.
46:39
We're living in a war, it's like.
46:42
Yeah, there's a spiritual war, literally.
46:43
Amen, priest. And they're soldiers.
46:46
And when you don't sharpen your sword, right, like all, all all
46:51
these amazing analogies. But essentially, if you're
46:53
always ready, you don't have to get ready like that kind of that
46:55
kind of thought. Process that should be a chorus
46:57
that. Should be exactly if you're
46:59
always ready, you don't got to get ready.
47:01
Simple as that. But yeah, praise God for that.
47:03
I mean, I think the journey of a Christian and especially when it
47:06
comes to art, we should be, we should be called to something
47:10
higher and we should be tapped into something higher.
47:12
We should be aiming to glorify something higher.
47:14
And it should be less about like, I just want to replace
47:18
what I'm listening to in the world and more So what do I want
47:20
to take people? You know, I, I, I was talking
47:23
about music on another podcast and one of the things that I, I
47:26
shared was like a Christian rap. I'm a Christian rap.
47:28
I think Christian rap is amazing.
47:30
I think it's really good. But if I was to look at
47:32
Christian rap from the standpoint, I would look at it
47:35
and make it, maybe make it more akin to like if I wanted to stop
47:38
eating meat, then I would have like an impossible burger,
47:41
right? So I'm getting some of the
47:43
enjoyment, some of the satisfaction.
47:45
It's not the same thing, but I am able to do it.
47:48
But if all of my diet, physically or spiritually is
47:51
just this one thing, you're going to be malnourished, right?
47:54
It shouldn't be sustenance. It should be a substitute.
47:57
And I think there's a lot of value and a lot of beautiful
48:02
things that we can experience through other forms of music,
48:05
through just diving into the word of God by itself, listening
48:08
to sermons, audiobooks. If we kind of just isolate
48:12
ourselves to like this one thing, I think that's a problem
48:14
also. So I think it's 1 like, you
48:17
know, going to what you're going to go to, but also being
48:20
receptive to what the Holy Spirit's going to lead you to.
48:22
And, and to your point, if all you ever read was you can get
48:26
saved with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, you can get saved.
48:30
You can, I mean even one line, you know what I mean?
48:33
Like even John 316 can bring you to salvation if you surrender
48:37
your heart and and give it all to Christ realistically.
48:41
Well, won't you be missing out on so many awesome things?
48:43
Won't you be missing out on on all these beautiful other books,
48:46
the the letters of the apostle, the Acts of the Apostles, the
48:49
Genesis first, second Samuel, Chronicles, kings?
48:53
You're missing out on so many amazing things.
48:55
And I think that's kind of the same way there as well, if that
48:58
makes any sense. I hope I didn't go on too much
48:59
of A tangent. It, it once again, it kind of
49:03
goes to this idea you were mentioning prior.
49:06
When Jesus arrives, there's no New Testament.
49:08
The New Testament is based on him and his experience and what
49:12
he did. And he's always saying as it's
49:15
written. And then you look at Paul's
49:16
letters and he's saying as it was written, as it was written.
49:20
And, and there's so much beauty in that.
49:23
And, and I think the transparency there is we assume
49:27
there's some sacred secular divide right in, in gap period,
49:30
this 400 years of silence. God just changed his character.
49:34
Now all of a sudden. No, I think it's it's it's
49:36
absolutely not that. I think the two of them are
49:38
beautiful. Actually had doctor Max Botner
49:40
on again recently and he's like the head, you know, guy at
49:45
Jessup University. He's Jewish, but he's a
49:47
Christian theologian and he specializes in Christophanies,
49:52
Christologies, right? Which are these alluding to
49:56
Christ in the Old Testament, you know, and like things that
49:58
Christ did like when he passed them by on the boat and shows
50:02
them like his shoulder and back like when the storm's happening
50:05
like it's a head nod to this verse over here.
50:08
Those things that I heard him say I'm like this is beautiful
50:11
dude. Like this is Christ in the Old
50:13
Testament like he's not a brand new Christ it the New Testament
50:16
says he was crucified before the foundations of the earth like.
50:20
Before the foundations of the earth, John 11 everything that
50:23
was made was through him, and by him, and by.
50:25
Hand and for him. I mean, so that means beautiful.
50:30
He formed it in the beginning. He spoke to Moses, he spoke to
50:36
Joshua. He he fellowship with Abraham.
50:42
Like all of these, I love Christophers as well.
50:45
But all of these little moments throughout time that you're able
50:47
to go back and to witness and say, you know, like how he
50:51
wrestled with Jacob, which everyone, you know, accepts,
50:53
right? These are just awesome moments
50:56
that we can look back and see that not only was his.
50:59
And again, to your point, yeah. Like, why do you focus on
51:02
Genesis 64? Well, Christ was there.
51:04
Christ was in Genesis, Christ was in the flood.
51:06
He was in there. Was only a couple chapters after
51:08
he was walking in the cool of the day with them.
51:12
Of course he was there. 100% and, and when you, when you
51:16
notice that and when you realize, wow, like Christ has
51:18
been there this whole time, I think it gives an appreciation
51:22
and a deep level of like awe and amazement at he, he did not just
51:28
pop up right now to take care of this little thing.
51:30
It's like, no, he was with us from the beginning.
51:33
You know, he, he prophesied in the garden.
51:35
Like he, you know, you, you will bruise his heel.
51:39
He will crush your head. The the the the seed of the
51:41
woman you know, like from the beginning.
51:44
It was the serpent and the seed of the woman would be at enmity,
51:47
at war with each other. It's the first prophecy.
51:50
It's it's so phenomenal and so OK, the way that this connects
51:53
in my mind, right. So we're talking, you know, you
51:56
mentioned about sometimes people that are Christians or even
51:59
secular people will say I can't do Christian music as I don't
52:01
vibe with the transparency, right?
52:03
Because even when Brian Godawi, he's been on a couple times over
52:07
the year, he's been a Hollywood screenwriter for 25 years.
52:09
He did the end all wars like a bunch of different films.
52:11
But we talked about what was called the Hollywood worldview.
52:14
He actually wrote a Christian college curriculum book called
52:18
the Hollywood world View and it talks about the fundamentals of
52:21
storytelling and engagement that are not exclusive to
52:24
Christianity, but that God of course, got it right.
52:27
Like God's obviously he's the it's the most beautiful love
52:29
story, the most poetic war. Like it's everything is is dry
52:33
jiving with the Bible. It's typically just discrediting
52:36
the God of it. You know, he's the creator of
52:38
all these things. And but so the the way it
52:41
connected for me and tell me if this makes sense.
52:44
Christianity a lot of the times people that are in that heart
52:47
posture of declaration and praise, their lifestyle of
52:51
worship measures up. They're loving to worship God
52:54
communally, privately. And a lot of the times you have
52:58
people that are hurt, they're injured, they're they're
53:00
traumatized from very dark things that have happened in
53:03
their short time here. And they haven't an experiential
53:07
with the love of Christ in a vessel.
53:09
They understand concept cognitively.
53:11
They're like, is it real? They're trying to adjusted in
53:14
their heart. And so I see the disconnect as
53:18
well. They're relating to people
53:19
expressing trauma and pain because they're in a trauma
53:22
cycle. Yeah, yeah, right.
53:24
And so because not everybody's mean who's just like, Oh, you
53:28
fake Christians, I'm not going to worship with you.
53:29
Not everybody says that. If you really get to the nitty
53:31
and gritty and talk with people, they're just like, I don't
53:33
understand it. Like everybody there is like woo
53:35
and their hands float up and they're saying they feel the
53:37
presence of God and I'm there being like, I feel pressure And
53:40
I and this there could be a lot of spiritual conditions here
53:43
too. Ear gates, eye gates.
53:44
What are you practicing? What are you running through
53:46
your cycling through your mind? But I think there's a a level of
53:50
sensitivity within the five gifts that, as Paul says, right,
53:54
pastors, evangelist, prophets, apostles, right to eat, they're
53:57
shepherds. I think when we work as a body,
54:02
the person who who has that sensitivity, who highlights it,
54:05
there should be an effectual nurture.
54:07
And so I look at the disconnect and and I'm like the Holy Spirit
54:11
if I see it this way doesn't mean everybody needs to agree
54:13
with Rod, but that's the way I see it because I was that person
54:17
12 years ago before I took a serious walk with Christ.
54:19
I like DMXI liked, you know, 57 Eminem, you know, I like these
54:23
because they were talking about not necessarily a lot of the
54:26
times things I can relate to, but I've been beaten to death.
54:29
I've ran around with illegal guns and drugs.
54:31
Like I've been in jail. Like there was things where I'm
54:33
like, I can relate to that. I can rock out with that.
54:35
You know, you're reliving that trauma loop and then the the
54:39
connection was I was broken in love over a long period of time
54:43
until I wanted to go into the ekklesia and and worship with
54:46
people. It took like six years on a
54:48
transition. And so I just say that for the
54:50
listener's sake to kind of like broaden our spectrum, like how
54:53
do we work as a unit elbow to elbow to maybe see it a certain
54:57
way and then give access and shameless plug.
55:02
But my new song trauma cycles, that was the idea.
55:05
I told you behind it was this poetic revealing of just, well,
55:09
I've experienced it and I'm definitely not alone.
55:12
I've learned that through this podcast that there's hundreds of
55:14
thousands of people around the world over the years just like
55:16
me that are like, yeah, I asked that question too.
55:19
Yeah, I suppose that too. I'm trying to figure that out.
55:21
And so once I realized that God was pushing me to release
55:25
identifying scars and trauma cycles, I'm like, well, is this
55:29
a place where now people are supposed to come around it and
55:32
help the healing process? Are we supposed to be the body
55:35
here? It was just a fall.
55:37
I mean, I know I said a lot, but no, Yeah.
55:40
Well, I mean, absolutely. And it reminded me of I had a
55:45
buddy of mine and you know, could not care less about
55:50
Christianity, Christian and he was a friend of a friend and he
55:55
knew that I made Christian music.
55:56
And one time I had him come to a music video that I was shooting.
55:59
He thought I was the, the dorkiest person ever thought I
56:03
was a loser, whatever it was, you know, which is fine.
56:05
I, I didn't care, you know, I, I didn't hold that against him,
56:07
but we were, you know, we were acquaintances for a while.
56:10
And then one day he hit me up and he's like, hey, man, like I
56:12
know the Lord. And I'm like, what?
56:13
Hold up, what's going on? And he breaks the story.
56:16
He gives me this testimony and he's like, boom, boom, boom,
56:19
this what happens? What happens, what happens?
56:20
It's like, he's like, man, in that music video.
56:22
I listen to that song again, bro, that was about me.
56:25
And like, he had this profound moment of like, like it, his
56:29
perspective on things totally changed after he encountered the
56:31
Lord. So I think that's it's
56:33
worthwhile to acknowledge that as well as that for myself, I, I
56:37
had, I have profound experiences, songs that I loved
56:40
because they, they gave me access to something.
56:43
They shared a common thing that I had with this, this artist or
56:46
this performer. I admire them.
56:47
I idolize them, of course. And then when I left that behind
56:51
and listened to new music with a, with a mindset that was
56:54
postured towards Christ, the new music that was God glorifying, I
56:58
looked at the old stuff. I'm like, how could I have ever,
57:00
you know, embraced that? You know, it's, it's, it's, it's
57:03
quite a shift. And, and obviously as well, I
57:06
had a lot of loving people around me, a lot of patient
57:09
people around me. And even when I was sometimes
57:11
like passively criticized, some of the worship music that I
57:14
would hear as being like sounds phony or it's kind of goofy,
57:17
they were patient and enduring with me.
57:19
And then eventually I was like, Oh, I get it now.
57:21
Like I get what this worship experience feels like because
57:23
now I'm experiencing what worshiping God in a communal
57:26
setting feels like, you know, and I, I can connect that
57:29
emotion or those song lyrics or that feeling that it's giving me
57:34
to the feeling that I now understand and know.
57:37
But it's hard, you know, if, if you can't relate to being in a
57:40
church setting and feeling welcomed and loved and being
57:44
thankful to God, then it's not going to make any sense.
57:46
You're going to be like, these people are weird.
57:49
You know, which maybe we are a little bit.
57:51
That's OK too. We're a peculiar people.
57:54
That's important. Thing Oh my gosh, I love that.
57:56
Thank you for reminding that and the definition of peculiar is
57:59
definitely worth the listeners time.
58:01
Go look that up and not just exclusive to the the English
58:04
cadence, but but check out that that word.
58:07
Look at the roots of it, hermeneutical hygiene.
58:10
Go back and see what God was conveying there because it's,
58:12
it's actually quite beautiful. There's a legal application and
58:16
then there's literally characteristic and expression
58:19
application to that word. That's just, it messed me up
58:22
when I when I first looked at, but OK, so FLF, so speak a
58:25
little bit encouragement to this generation, to the millennial
58:29
generation, to every generation listening.
58:31
I think the first and foremost is that the word of God is your
58:33
sword and your shield. I think if you want to go in
58:36
prepared with the armor of God, it starts by understanding the
58:39
word of God. I think every Christian
58:41
believer, and this is to myself as well, 'cause I was not this
58:45
person, but I think you should make an earnest effort to find
58:48
verses in Scripture promises that you can claim and write
58:52
them down on a daily basis and repeat and memorize them, commit
58:55
them to memory. Because when we look at Christ
58:59
battling Satan in the wilderness, he quoted scripture
59:02
and he didn't pull out a Bible to do so.
59:03
He did it from from his mind and it was written on his heart.
59:07
We know that the the laws of God, the love of God is written
59:10
on our hearts from from tables of stone and fleshly tablets to
59:14
the heart. So if we can commit those things
59:15
to the heart and to our mind, I think that would be an
59:18
incredible tool set When when challenges come, I'd also
59:23
encourage the believer that it's not going to be easy.
59:25
It is not a straight light up. You know, I heard a really
59:30
profound quote that God has called to spare us from sin, but
59:35
he has not called to spare us from agony.
59:37
And wherever there's a temptation, God will provide a
59:40
way out. But that is not the same, true,
59:43
that is not the same for suffering.
59:44
Christians will suffer. It is Christ like to suffer
59:49
because he suffered. And if if we can embrace it with
59:52
those mindsets, commit our ourselves to the the the word of
59:56
God, committing it to memory and acknowledging that we're going
59:59
to suffer and also be strengthened by the fact that
1:00:02
eternity waits for us. I think that's very easy to lose
1:00:04
sight of. And when circumstances are
1:00:06
pressing down on you, when things feel chaotic, when you
1:00:09
feel like you're barely coming up for breath, you know you're
1:00:12
drowning. It's easy to lose sight that
1:00:15
eternities on the horizon, but it very much is.
1:00:17
And now is the most important time And and you know, to our
1:00:21
our point earlier in the conversation, Christ's coming
1:00:23
back soon. I do believe that, but he could
1:00:25
come back soon for you tomorrow for anyone, right, if if their
1:00:29
time is up. So those are the things I would
1:00:31
probably say, man, I think it's been a huge blessing for me and
1:00:34
my responses might change in a new season of life, but where
1:00:37
I'm at right now, I think that's the most important thing we
1:00:39
could do. Ephesians 28 through 9.
1:00:43
God saved you by his grace when you believed, and you can't take
1:00:48
credit for this. It is a gift of God.
1:00:52
Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so
1:00:56
no one can boast about it. Amen.
1:00:59
FLF love light forever. Your music can be found on all
1:01:03
major platforms type in FLF. There are good letters there you
1:01:08
also have a YouTube channel. I'm going to put some links in
1:01:11
the details of the show notes for you guys out there
1:01:13
listening. So man I just bless you.
1:01:14
I ask that God his light was shine upon you.
1:01:17
His favor would be on your family and that he would
1:01:19
continue to stir that creativity because he's the ultimate
1:01:23
creator. And we're we're like a glimmer
1:01:25
of him. We're like a little tiny speck
1:01:27
of him. So we should be bringing that
1:01:29
creativity as you have been, man.
1:01:30
So I just honour you. You guys like and share this
1:01:34
episode. All the creative people out
1:01:35
there, the Christian hip hops that listen to this share this
1:01:38
episode far and wide coming to you from Southeastern
1:01:41
Pennsylvania. God bless and goodbye.
1:01:53
Hey, I came from the sun. The one and the only straight
1:02:01
from the heavens. He really owed me.
1:02:04
All in my life I was beating up on.
1:02:07
All in my life I didn't handle. All in my life I was stuck in no
1:02:10
trap. All in my life I didn't handle
1:02:13
wreck. I didn't know why my life was so
1:02:15
wet. I didn't know why my life was a
1:02:17
wreck. I didn't know why I couldn't get
1:02:20
up. I was so stuck.
1:02:21
And the monkey was stuck till I found out.
1:02:23
And I broke everything till I found out.
1:02:25
And they took everything until I was hurting my heart and was
1:02:28
strained. Yeah, I was broken.
1:02:30
I had all this pain held on the whom.
1:02:32
It got harder than this hope. Then I went to the side of the
1:02:35
smoke. I had no truth but to look to my
1:02:38
guy. He gave me stomach up, open my
1:02:40
eyes. He gave me earrings.
1:02:41
And he told me I'm blessed. He told me just believe in this
1:02:44
time. I told him I can't change all of
1:02:46
my ways. He said I got you to look at
1:02:49
this. I looked at him and he showed me
1:02:51
his ways. He told me how I am his son.
1:02:54
See, he just told me I'm not in this world.
1:02:56
He told me I come from the heavens above.
1:02:58
I'm a new creature. I come from the sun, from the
1:03:01
one and only, straight from the heavens.
1:03:03
He really owe me. I came from the sun.
1:03:05
I was really with him. And heavenly places I'm still
1:03:08
in. Y'all can't even go that way.
1:03:11
Y'all don't even know that way. Y'all want to play late Patti
1:03:15
Kay but this ain't no game. But it's that way, right?
1:03:46
The only thing is I know when it's true and you know you with
1:03:50
but like I did case when you're done winning games, you can
1:03:53
never win. I know the things that's going
1:03:54
to happen to you when you die. You didn't live in your life
1:03:59
because you know you can never go and get sick.
1:04:02
You know his great thing, his mercy was too from you when
1:04:05
you're my son in the plot thought you can take on my God
1:04:08
spots now, but you can die hot. You was really tweaking.
1:04:12
I come from the sun, from the one and the only straight from
1:04:15
Evans. You really owe me.
1:04:16
I came from the sun. I was really with them.
1:04:19
The heavenly places I'm gonna see the living.
1:04:21
Y'all can't even go that way. Y'all don't even know that way.
1:04:26
Y'all want to play like Patty Kay but this ain't no game but a
1:04:29
stairway.