Latest / The K.B. Radio Network / Televangelism/The Righteous Gemstones - Series Review

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Televangelism/The Righteous Gemstones - Series Review · The K.B. Radio Network

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Hello everyone and welcome to Movie
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Goodness where we examine life through cinema here on the KB Radio Network.
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I am your host Kevin Reed and I welcome you all to the KB Radio Network.
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This is it.
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Thank you all for joining me on today's show.
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You could be anywhere else in the world but you're here with me and I greatly greatly appreciate it.
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For those who are new to the show
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Movie goodness is where we take a topic,
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we discuss that topic,
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and we review a movie that is related to said topic.
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And today's a tad bit different.
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We do have a topic to talk about,
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and we do have a review that coordinates with that topic.
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But it's not a movie.
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It is the
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HBO comedy drama television show.
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the righteous gemstones which is just one of the most hilarious shows on television and it wrapped up it's three uh no four it's four seasons on hbo it ran from 2019 to 2025 and it just wrapped up this past week on hbo and
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you know i i really enjoyed that show yeah i have some problems with it
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But we'll go over that when we get to the review.
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But since we're talking about the righteous gemstones today,
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a show that deals with televangelists,
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I figured,
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hey,
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let's talk about televangelism.
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Let's dive into the world of televangelism and not so much all of them,
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but the ones that are sketchy.
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And there are a lot of them.
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There are a lot of these so-called men and women of God who get on television or probably have podcasts,
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probably have radio shows and everything else,
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have these mega churches.
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But nothing they're doing is of God.
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Nothing they're doing is to spread the good news,
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if you will.
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But it is more.
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for selfish reasons money hustling if you will and before we get into all that let me just start off by saying i'm a christian i believe in god i'm not a religious person i don't believe in religion but
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i do believe in spirituality i don't really rock with the denomination stuff that's not i don't i don't see where that's of god it oh you're this
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type of christian so yeah you get to go to heaven but that type no you know i feel if you follow the words of christ in the way that he lived i think you're good but i i'm not i'm not into the all the extra stuff that all the extra stuff you can keep and
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so and that's just my thing and with that being said i made a point throughout the what four years
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three four years i've been doing this show not to be preachy and not to uh push my agenda it may come off as that sometimes but that's not my intentions i really do this show to give my opinion on things not to uh
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try to convert nobody into my beliefs and that's that's rather it's a film review you know because i don't really speak about my uh spiritual beliefs here but
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film reviews if i feel a film is super good really excellent a masterpiece i'm not trying to convince you that the movie's good if you feel the movie stinks and if you think the movie stinks that's your opinion and hey you have valid reasons for feeling that way who
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am i to try to flip you over to my side and you know and vice versa if i think a movie stinks and you think a movie is good,
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you know?
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I mean,
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hey,
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I'm not going to try to convince you,
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no,
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you're seeing it wrong.
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That movie really sucks.
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No,
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that's not my goal here.
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And the same is true when it comes to spirituality.
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You know,
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these are my beliefs.
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I'm not trying to flip nobody to nothing.
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You're a grown person,
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I assume.
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You know,
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I don't think any little kids listen to this.
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But if you do,
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hey,
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you know,
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I'm not vulgar or anything.
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So kids can listen.
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But at the same time.
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uh you're grown you're grown you can i mean i'm pretty sure you didn't hurt at all at this point depending on what age you are but in the case that you do want to hear all that you know go find somewhere you can hear it you know i
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don't use this platform as that and i'm an ordained minister but i don't use this platform to preach you know i when i preach i preach at a church
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So if you want to hear it come to the church that I go to when you could hear it,
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you know But here we talk movies we talk entertainment.
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We talk all pop culture and stuff like that
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So I said all that to say dad this show this show may upset a lot of people if you are a hardened
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Christian if you are he stone-cold Christian who look at
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shows like the righteous gemstones as blasphemous and stuff like that uh you know okay this isn't your episode you know and it's fine you don't have to listen to it but just be sure to come back when we do another episode
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but you don't have to listen to it you don't you don't have to listen to it if you may find it offensive even with some of the uh people real life people
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we're going to discuss today you know these these pastors and leaders at these mega churches and these televangelists and things of that nature uh who you probably listen to who you probably follow but what all i'm gonna go through is
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stuff that are stuff that is facts that are facts about their ministry and it's hypocritical in the way they conduct themselves it is it's sickening to me.
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I can't stand when people use the Bible or
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God in general in a way to make a profit.
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You know,
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that's not what it's there for.
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You know,
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that's not what it's meant for.
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And I think that is,
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that's just flat out,
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straight up wrong.
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Any church,
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anything,
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I don't care what the denomination is,
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it's wrong.
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And so that's what made me.
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really enjoy that show you know the righteous gemstones i really enjoyed it because it really shined a light on how ridiculous these people are you know using the bible for their self-interest
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and we're going to touch in on a few of them and then get into the review of the four seasons of the righteous gemstones uh first let's break down
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televangelism if you don't know what what it is it's uh occasionally termed for radio evangelism or or tele ministry and it denotes the utilization of media platforms notably radio and television but for the marketing of religious messages particularly christianity which
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is uh I guess you could say my quote-unquote religion
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you know,
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my faith is in Christianity,
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and that's the part that is really disturbing to me,
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because I'm kind of linked to these people,
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and,
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you know,
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I don't want to be associated with these people,
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that's like being linked to MAGA,
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you know,
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because there's a lot of Christians who follow this MAGA
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Trump trope,
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and that could be further from my feelings,
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my beliefs and everything else.
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I would...
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I would rather follow behind the leadership of a nutless monkey than Donald Trump.
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But for some strange reason,
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Donald Trump has become the president of Christianity,
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and it still baffles my mind.
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This dude is the furthest example of a Christian you can get.
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There is nothing about Donald Trump that says
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Christian.
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Absolutely nothing.
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He follows not one value.
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a Christian not one but he has swindled in some shape form or fashion a great contingent of people to believe that God sent him
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I've heard these words uttered and it's so disturbing it is so disturbing but there's another show for another day tell him well well at least some televangelists are
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also regular pastors or ministers on their own place of worship,
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often in a mega church.
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And a mega church is these churches that are just...
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they're in stadiums man it is not your little uh hole in the wall uh church with maybe seven or eight pews in it a choir stand that consists of uh 18 folding chairs and you
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know it's it's a just a regular little church no mega churches are like stadiums man they're like event halls concert halls,
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if you will.
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Just huge.
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You know,
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with...
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thousands of people who they come there every week until to praise and worship i guess uh but the majority of their followers come from tv and radio uh that's where they get a lot of notoriety no notoriety uh is from those uh uh media
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outlets other others do not have a conventional congregation and work primarily through television.
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televangelism began as a uniquely american phenomenon resulting from a large deregulated media where access to television networks and cable tv is
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open to virtually anyone who can afford it combined with a large christian population that is of able to provide the necessary funding.
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It became especially popular among
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evangelistic
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Protestant audiences,
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whether independent or organized around Christian denominations.
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However,
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the increased globalization of broadcasting has enabled some American televangelists to reach a wider audience through international broadcast networks,
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including some that are specifically
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Christian in nature.
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Some countries have a more regulated media
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with either general regulations on access or specific rules regarding religious broadcasting.
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In some countries,
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religious programming is typically produced by TV companies,
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sometimes as a regularity or public service requirement,
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rather than private interest groups.
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But the thing about it was what really disturbs me about it,
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because this is a good thing.
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This could be a good thing if it was used properly,
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you know,
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because not everybody has access to the church.
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You know,
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not everybody can go to church.
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Some people are sick,
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you know,
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sick in their beds,
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can't get out,
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can't go to church,
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can't go anywhere.
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But if you're deeply rooted in your spirituality,
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you want to go to church,
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you want a fellowship,
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you can't.
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You know,
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so what's the next best thing?
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Turn on the TV.
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you know turn on the tv and find especially on sundays i don't know how how it is now because i don't too much mess with cable uh tv uh everything i do is do streaming now but uh i know at one point on sunday morning almost every channel had
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uh one of these televangelists on you know in the event that you couldn't make it to church you can have you can watch somebody on tv
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And that's a good thing.
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thing you know because it allows access to those who want to hear preaching or teaching of the word and so that made sense but just like everything in this world once a human being gets access
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to it they mess it up they mess it up and they mess this up as well you know and not everybody you know and that's something i probably should have said to start it off
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Not all televangelism or televangelists are bad.
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Some people are purely in it to do what God instructed them to do,
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preach and teach the word.
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And that's great.
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But if you really know,
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you know.
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You can tell when somebody is not of God,
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is not doing this just to...
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boost themselves up,
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if you will.
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And it's sad to see it on TV.
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There was one that I was watching.
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I used to watch a few years back and I was enjoying them.
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Joel Osteen.
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And Joel Osteen,
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I really enjoyed listening to him.
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But then as time went on,
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after listening to him for about a month and I was sitting there like,
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man,
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this sounds,
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everyone sounds the same and everything.
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Everything is about prosperity,
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prosperity,
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prosperity.
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I don't ever hear nothing else.
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it dawned on me and this man is a millionaire this man this man is all about prospering this man is all about making money you know and i just couldn't rock with it after that i couldn't ride whenever i hear him it just doesn't sound right and
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then not too long after that i had uh saw a video or interview i should say of joel osteen and everything he was saying was so pretentious
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And I was like,
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this dude,
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he didn't lost somebody.
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He didn't lost the loyal listener because I was actually,
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I was all in for about a month strong.
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I was telling people about him and everything.
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You know,
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I was enjoying what he was saying.
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The sad part is what he was saying wasn't wrong,
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but he was twisting it to his advantage,
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you know,
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and
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I just can't rock.
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can't rock with that at all and there are some other things that he got into which we're going to touch on when i get to the controversial part of televangelism uh in a couple of minutes here but yeah he he's one that just just
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kind of broke my heart really but since we're talking about the the controversy and the criticisms let's jump into the criticisms you know most most televangelism uh
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televangelists frequently draw criticism from other Christian ministers and I guess I fall in that category for example
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John MacArthur who was a preacher he published a number of articles back in 2009 that were highly critical of some of these televangelists this is a quote from an article that he wrote someone
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needs to say this plainly the faith healers and
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health and wealth preachers who dominate religious television are shameless frauds.
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Their message is not the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
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There is nothing spiritual or miraculous about their own stage persona.
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It is all a devious ruse designed to take advantage of desperate people.
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They are not godly ministers,
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but greedy imposters who corrupt the word of God for money's sake.
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Their love of money is glaringly obvious in what they say as well as how they live.
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They claim to possess great spiritual power,
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but in reality they are ranked materialistics and enemies of everything holy.
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That is a quote from John MacArthur.
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who is a minister of a non-denominational church in california and has a tv program if i'm not mistaken himself so you dare that um some of these some of these televangelists i'm
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telling you bro and it's not just televangelists it can be the local pastor at yahoo baptist church or whatever somewhere in your city but
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They all have their issues.
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Number one,
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these are human beings.
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They're not God.
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They're not Jesus.
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They're human beings.
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It don't make sense deifying these people.
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They are not,
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you know,
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they didn't descend from heaven to bring these messages.
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You know,
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they're normal human beings like me and you.
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And this is coming from an ordained minister.
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I'm not to be deified.
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So there's no,
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I'm just a human being.
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That's it.
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They're all just human beings and there's nothing special about them.
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I believe in my little humble beliefs that a pastor of any congregation is the last.
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He's not the first,
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he's the last.
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You know,
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if he's the shepherd of the flock and if you've ever seen shepherds out there in the fields,
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they're not in front of the flock.
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they're behind the flock you know they're shepherding the flock on you know the the cattle or whatever they're behind and making sure they all stay in line this they're not in front they're not the center of attention but for some strange reason some
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of these uh so-called uh preachers are and and that's that's not how that's not supposed to go do y'all remember the 700 club
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i remember the 700 club coming on tv back in the day and it used to drive me crazy
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Because they used to always come on after I was watching something that I was,
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you know,
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I was into.
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And then all of a sudden the 700 Club would pop up.
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Why is this coming on TV like this?
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After I've just finished watching something that is completely opposite to what the 700 Club represents.
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But one of the individuals on that show was
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Pat Robertson.
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Pat Robinson,
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a renowned...
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minister who passed away a couple of years ago at the age of 93 years old he he's probably the first one that i saw on tv that i actually paid attention to because because of the 700 club it popped up everywhere you
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know it was like i don't i can't describe it man it was it was it just popped up on every channel um and you know back in the day we didn't have 200 channels like we do now
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You know,
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we only had what about
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12 channels or whatever.
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So it would always pop up.
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But anyway,
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Pat Robinson was on there.
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You know,
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he has said some things.
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He has said some things that makes you scratch your head.
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Like what is what is what is what is this?
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What?
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How do you consider yourself a man of God with some of the comments?
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that you make let's go through a few let's go through a few let's start with a big one here uh 9-11 y'all remember that tragic one of the most tragic events that ever take place on american soul on september 11 2001 pat robertson felt the need to comment on it now he was interviewing uh jerry farwell who is
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no wallflower himself
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uh he also who also expressed he had an opinion that the aclu has to take a lot of the blame for what took place in new york with the twin towers and whatnot and
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you know along with pat robson they they blamed they shifted blame in them and in addition to the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who have helped
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the terrorist acts on september 11 happened and so pat robertson agreed with him he concurred he completely agreed with him what that had to do with september 11.
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what does homosexuality have to do with september 11.
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how did they help did one of the people that helped out those terrorists terrorists i should say
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Happen to be gay?
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Hey,
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that's a possibility,
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but that don't mean the whole LGBTQ community was behind him.
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Just like with this,
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not every Christian is behind all these comments,
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namely me.
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I'm not behind all this.
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I don't agree with nothing he said here.
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You know,
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but it's crazy.
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George W.
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Bush,
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who
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I'm not a super fan of George W.
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Bush.
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uh as a president but i give him this i give him this he called pat robertson and jerry farwell out on that you know he he felt they should apologize and i know uh farwell did apologize pat
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robertson did so uh i give president bush that but speaking of w uh george w bush um katrina
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Hurricane Katrina and this was
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I want to say two three weeks after Hurricane Katrina killed 1,800 people in the metropolitan area here in New Orleans.
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Pat Robinson implied that on a broadcast on the 700 club that the storm was God's punishment in response to America's abortion policy.
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I can't make this up.
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He suggested that the September 11 attacks and a disaster in New Orleans could be connected in some way.
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I'm telling you this came out of his mouth.
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This is not
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I'm not making none of this up and as a individual who was affected
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by Hurricane Katrina,
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family members being displaced by Hurricane Katrina,
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and countless other
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people family and friends who have to go through this tragedy or had to go through this tragedy and some still are going through it still fighting to get back to New Orleans still fighting to get their lives back in order let
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me say this I know the man is dead and gone good riddance that's all I'm just gonna say that we're gonna put us on that man
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Who says that?
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Who does that?
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Anywho,
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we move on to another one.
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We move on to one that's kind of close to home here,
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and that is none other than Jimmy Swagger.
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Jimmy Swagger,
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who my mom used to watch him,
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and
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I remember his sermons and stuff like that.
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He's Pentecostal.
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He was a Pentecostal minister.
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And so,
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uh,
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growing up in a Baptist church,
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I saw things a little differently,
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but that was my first exposure to the Pentecostal denomination and how they rocked.
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It isn't like night and day from Baptist,
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but,
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you know,
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there were subtle differences.
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And,
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you know,
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it wasn't bad.
26:19
I actually enjoyed it.
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It was entertaining.
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I'll say that much.
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But he was a very popular preacher.
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Very.
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very popular.
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I know a lot of people who still to this day listen to Jimmy Swagger,
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but going back to 1988 and this was,
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this was an event.
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I remember this all so clearly,
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like it,
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like it happened yesterday.
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It was probably one of the funniest things
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I ever experienced around that time of my life because number one,
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I didn't 100%.
26:59
know exactly what was going on you know because i'm like around that time i'm about nine to ten and i'm i'm not really watching this stuff anyway my mom was watching it but i was just there somewhat
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listening somewhat not not really paying attention and so when this all happened i remember when the news broke that jimmy swagger was caught with a prostitute
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you know with a woman of the night i remember the the just the worldwide buzz around it this this was like the first time uh in my lifetime that i saw a scandal
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play out on television once again this this before cnn and tmz and you know all of these
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24-hour news outlets and definitely before the internet and whatnot but
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every station was in on it you know they were reporting on this uh scandal because around that time jimmy swagger was the was the bee's knees man i mean that was a big big congregation he had well
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he got caught with his prostitute and what made it hit so home so close to home literally uh in my house where it happened at was like
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I don't know,
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it's about two to three miles away from where I grew up,
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you know,
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airline highway there at this hotel that that's still there today.
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And it basically all started with beef.
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There was a there was a there was a rap battle in the in the churches.
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It was Jimmy Swaggart versus Melvin
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Gorman, who was another.
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prominent uh preacher around the area here in new orleans and they were just vying for territory or whatever well swagger had accused gorman of having several affairs and this caused him to be deflocked
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which i didn't even know was a term but he was deflocked um from his church the assemblies of god um which is if you know what deflocked is your script of your
29:25
ordination ordination you know you can no longer uh preach in a church you know you can still preach
29:35
But you can't do it in one of their churches.
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So he was the flop.
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And so his ministry had all but ended.
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And so
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Gorman filed a lawsuit against Jimmy Swagger for defamation and conspiracy to ruin his reputation,
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if you will.
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And he won.
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It was a successful lawsuit.
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And he was rewarded damages amounting up to $10 million.
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dollars this he didn't get that until
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uh i think
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1991 and so we move we move back a little bit and so after all of that right before the trial and all that stuff came and the lawsuit or whatever there was a setup if
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you will this was a retaliation measure here uh gorman hired his son randy and his son-in-law
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Garland Bilbo to watch the travel in on Airline Drive in Metairie,
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you know,
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which is a suburb of New Orleans,
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about six miles away from New Orleans and about three miles away from where I grew up.
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And at that travel in,
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the two men photographed Jimmy Swagger outside of Room 7 with Debbie McGee.
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Or Murphy,
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I should say,
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who is a local prostitute.
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And
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Gorman arrived at the travel inn a short while later,
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and he confronted Jimmy Swagger face-to-face.
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He didn't just do this under the cloak of darkness.
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He went to his face and confronted him.
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Well,
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that led Jimmy Swagger to come on TV and...
31:31
in
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one of his televised worship services and confess.
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And this is the part that was the funny part.
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It is not funny,
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but it's funny.
31:49
He was crying down in his words.
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It was the most quoted meme that before memes happened.
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I sinned.
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And he just,
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he was just crying down,
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snot running out his nose and everything.
32:07
And everybody somewhat forgave,
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well,
32:09
not everybody,
32:10
because he was the flock too.
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And so he got kicked out of the assemblies of God and his congregation shrunk.
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And he did restart his ministry after all that,
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but he was,
32:25
you know,
32:25
non-denominational and non-affiliated at that point.
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So,
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uh,
32:31
It damaged him,
32:32
but that was after he damaged,
32:35
he damaged another man.
32:37
And so,
32:38
uh,
32:39
I think he moved it,
32:40
moved his,
32:41
uh,
32:41
congregation to Baton Rouge around that time.
32:44
And I think it's still there and I think they're still on TV and I'm not mistaken,
32:49
but he is a non-denominational,
32:51
uh,
32:52
Pentecostal minister,
32:54
uh,
32:55
at this point in time of his life.
32:57
Uh,
32:57
but it doesn't end.
33:00
there we fast forward to 1991 and yet again yet again jimmy swagger was found in the company of the woman of the night uh for a second time and he was pulled over by the police this time in california before driving on the wrong side of the road and
33:23
so uh i don't know what was going on in that car but he was driving on the wrong side the road.
33:30
And so the police pulled him over and with him in the vehicle was a woman.
33:35
And according to the woman,
33:39
Swagger has stopped to,
33:41
you know,
33:42
proposition sex to her on the side of the road.
33:46
He proposed.
33:47
Let's get it.
33:48
Let's do it right here.
33:49
I ain't going in a hotel.
33:50
Last time I did that,
33:51
I got let's do it in a car.
33:55
And so she later told reporters he asked me for sex.
34:00
I mean,
34:01
that's why he stopped me.
34:03
That's what I do.
34:04
I'm a prostitute,
34:05
you know.
34:05
So this time,
34:07
rather than confessing his sins to the congregation,
34:11
Jimmy Swagger told those at his family worship center,
34:16
the Lord told me,
34:18
it's flat,
34:18
none of your business,
34:20
end quote.
34:20
So he stood ten toes down on this one.
34:25
He wasn't going to give that speech.
34:27
And so he was...
34:30
He temporarily stepped down as the head of his ministry for a time of healing.
34:37
and counseling and so uh up to this point he hasn't been busted with anybody else uh but uh yeah that that dude that dude he tripped me out man he tripped me out a matter of fact uh i want to say last year i went by my mom house and she was watching tv and jimmy
35:00
swagger was on and i'm he's still on tv and she was like yeah
35:04
Yeah.
35:05
I still enjoy him.
35:06
I like,
35:06
hey,
35:06
go on with your bass.
35:09
He's still rocking it,
35:10
man.
35:10
Then there's Clifto Dollar.
35:14
And now the man name is Dollar.
35:16
So that lets you know exactly where,
35:19
where is it?
35:20
It is in his name.
35:21
Uh,
35:22
the dude,
35:23
the dude is,
35:26
I don't,
35:26
I'll just put it like this.
35:28
Uh,
35:29
I think it was 2015.
35:30
He asked his congregation to
35:32
buy a
35:33
65 million dollar g uh i think it was a g6 or whatever jet you know that and he was serious he was serious he said it this was a sermon of his that if i want to but if i want to believe god for
35:54
a
35:55
65 million dollar plane you can't stop me you can't stop me from dreaming i'm gonna dream until
36:02
jesus come it uh it followed the loss of a previous uh golf screen aircraft he owned that had left the runway ran off the runway if you will and uh knowing i think that was in london and
36:18
um there were no injuries but the plane was kaput so he wanted his congregation to to flip the bill for him to get another private jet uh investigators concluded that
36:31
the pilot of that plane that went off the runway had misidentified lights marking the edge of the runway,
36:41
believing them to be the centerline and bada-beam,
36:46
bada-boom.
36:48
He's been in quite a number of lawsuits.
36:51
He's been audited by the
36:54
IRS multiple times.
36:59
The dude's a crook.
37:00
I'll just say like he's a crook.
37:04
Along with him,
37:06
you also have from accusers that were a part of his congregation and what it was just a mess.
37:16
Sickening,
37:17
really.
37:18
It was sickening to hear all that stuff.
37:22
Another clown locally here where I'm at in Louisiana,
37:27
Jesse DePlantis.
37:28
He's another one.
37:30
who has private jets and all this his church isn't too far from where i live and it's to pass that thing up it is i don't know man i think the thing that disturbs me about these
37:47
preachers of these mega churches and stuff look it it's fine to have a mega church that's fine if you want a big old edifice for a lot of people to come and uh uh uh praise god
37:59
That's all fine and good.
38:00
My problem with it is half if not
38:05
75% of that congregation are struggling to keep the lights on struggling to keep food in the refrigerator and this preacher is standing up there got private jets got all these fancy cars and
38:23
Tailor made suits and all this here money just just pouring out they diving in it like
38:28
Scrooge McDuck in a vault,
38:31
but your congregation is starving.
38:33
I mean,
38:35
what sense does that make?
38:37
I just don't understand that.
38:39
That whole structure just doesn't compute in my head.
38:44
I'm sorry.
38:45
It just does not compute to me.
38:47
And what makes it even more disturbing is the fact that these broke people are giving their last to this church.
38:56
I don't get it.
38:57
I just don't get it.
38:59
It's good to give.
39:01
That's fine.
39:01
Give.
39:02
But I'm not giving all my money to this church.
39:07
And this church ain't helping.
39:08
And when I need help,
39:10
I can't get help.
39:11
No,
39:12
no,
39:12
no,
39:12
no.
39:14
That dog don't hunt.
39:16
But the part that gets me with the private jet thing,
39:19
going back to Jesse DePlantis and Kenneth Copeland.
39:25
because they both have the same stupid reason why they need a private jet they need a jet so they can physically uh uh go to different countries and spread god's world word
39:38
they those countries don't have a tv i mean you're on tv why you need to physically be there why you gotta go there and if you gotta go there why does it have to be on a private plane well they have an answer for that the reason they don't uh drive
39:56
um drive don't fly commercial and only use private planes because they say commercial planes are full of demons yeah you can't make this stuff up man
40:09
You honestly cannot make this stuff up.
40:13
But enough of that.
40:14
Enough of them clowns.
40:16
Let's get into these clowns.
40:18
Let's jump into our review.
40:20
Our review of the HBO comedy drama
40:24
The Righteous
40:25
Gemstones, which was created by Danny McBride,
40:30
who also stars in this show,
40:32
along with
40:33
Adam Devine,
40:35
Etta Patterson,
40:36
Walton Goggins.
40:38
and john goodman this show uh depicts a family of south carolina based televangelists and mega church preachers led by widowed patriarch eli gemstone eli and his immature adult children jesse judy and calvin lead
40:58
lives funded by the church uh this was this show this show automatically had my attention because of
41:07
Danny McBride and his relationship with
41:11
HBO and his two previous shows he had on there,
41:15
Eastbound and Down,
41:17
along with Vice Principals,
41:19
which I love.
41:20
I love both of those shows.
41:23
And so you have the same team returning here who was behind those shows,
41:29
also a part of this show.
41:32
So I was in.
41:33
I was in automatically.
41:36
Danny McBride is one of those comedic actors that man anything he pops up in
41:43
I'm with it you know
41:45
I'm down the clown and he hasn't let me down
41:49
I mean the dude is electrically funny he his his style of humor is my style of humor
41:57
I love
41:59
Danny McBride and you know along with uh starring.
42:04
He also directed a few episodes throughout the series.
42:07
He also wrote a few,
42:09
if not the majority of them,
42:11
along with his partners here.
42:14
A little tidbit,
42:15
little note here.
42:18
The recent Halloween films that came out,
42:21
you know,
42:22
that trilogy that came out,
42:23
that was,
42:25
you know,
42:26
I would say one and a half of them were good out of the three.
42:31
But Danny McBride co-wrote.
42:33
those films you know the first one was excellent first one was great uh it was the law of diminishing returns after that but danny mcbride is very talented and this show when they announced it when they made
42:49
it known that this was what they were going after these televangelists you know telling the story of of this mega church and these children who are dysfunctional at best was
43:03
Like the,
43:04
it was the stuff of legend.
43:05
I'm like,
43:06
man,
43:07
this is gonna,
43:08
this is gonna piss so many people off,
43:10
man.
43:11
And I'm here for it.
43:13
I'm all here for it.
43:14
Cause they need to be poked at.
43:17
They need to have that light shined on them because they're not beyond reproach,
43:22
you know,
43:23
and they held nothing back on this show.
43:27
Absolutely nothing.
43:29
Four seasons.
43:30
And I would say the first two.
43:33
were great.
43:35
The final two were all right.
43:37
It was the tale of two halves here.
43:40
You know,
43:40
I died laughing that first season.
43:43
I thought it was some of the funniest stuff that you ever go to see in a show that is based around this material.
43:52
You know,
43:53
in the first season,
43:55
Eli,
43:57
who's played by John Goodman,
43:59
and that was another thing that kind of brought you.
44:01
brought me on board was John Goodman because I wanted to see him in kind of a different kind of a screwball-y type of role but he wasn't he was the scrape man on this show you know as the father of these these three misfits uh it's it
44:18
is it was hilarious to see John Goodman play off of these three hilarious actors and and John Goodman is hilarious in his own right but that wasn't his role here
44:30
But in the first season,
44:33
we meet
44:36
Baby Bop.
44:38
baby billy freeman who is who is played by walton goggins who is the the unsung hero of this show i had problems you know give
44:53
or take throughout these four seasons with every actor here or every character not the actor but the character either it was undeveloped in season three or uh they peaked in season
45:07
two or you know season four they disappeared or whatever whatever i have my little gripes with these characters throughout the season but the one that stayed consistent that stayed true from season one all the way to season four was
45:24
walton goggins was a baby uh uh baby billy i i love that he was hilarious every scene he was in
45:36
was funny everyone even the ones that was meant to be serious was the dude is amazing i love walton goggins walton goggins is the most slept on actor i think in hollywood i don't think i don't think he gets his proper due the
45:54
dude plays anything i've seen him in dramas i've seen him in uh quentin tarantino film you know the 848 uh uh django unchained and stuff like that
46:05
i've seen him on justified as this villain as this as this just coincidentally enough old snake or a preacher you know on that show uh he was just the most scum of scums there but
46:22
he made a turn on that show but he was amazing on that i've seen him in uh uh it was recently uh fallout uh he was good on fallout that show
46:35
um the white lotus uh just a couple of months ago the new season that just uh passed he was on that really good so he can play anything and vice principals man vice vice principals he stole that show that
46:52
was his show he stole it and it's no wonder that him and danny mcbride re-teamed before this show uh they play well off of each other but uh walton goggins was the hero
47:05
of this entire run here for the Righteous
47:10
Gemstones.
47:12
Yeah, it was kind of interesting.
47:16
That first season,
47:18
it got you hooked because it got you into the characters.
47:21
You got introduced.
47:23
You see where everybody stood.
47:26
You saw where the church was and what the church was battling against and so on and so forth.
47:34
you got a good idea how this show could play out.
47:37
So it really did a good job of hooking you in.
47:40
Season two,
47:42
it wasn't as good as the first one,
47:44
first season,
47:45
but it was good.
47:47
It was still funny.
47:48
It was still gemstones.
47:50
You know,
47:52
you got
47:52
Danny McBride and his wife trying to branch off,
47:56
if you will,
47:57
from the gemstone church and do their own little thing.
48:03
try to get a timeshare resort uh a christian timeshare resort if you will and the family uh they're in uh facing this investigation from this journalist uh who's an old friend of
48:20
eli's from his past and uh this mysterious kind of biker assassin he was all out of left field type stuff
48:32
But it fit the show.
48:34
All that popped up in season two.
48:37
Season two,
48:38
it was good,
48:39
but it wasn't as good as the first season.
48:42
It had its moments in season two.
48:45
Season three is where it kind of started to slow momentum.
48:49
Season three,
48:50
you had
48:52
Eli,
48:54
John Goodman's character.
48:55
He kind of started falling back a little bit,
48:58
you know,
48:58
semi-retiring from the church.
49:01
and you know
49:03
allowing the children to have more of a leader leadership role at the church and you got this dynamic between those three trying to be the leader instead of them coming together and leading as
49:18
one if you will and you had that going on that little civil and rivalry rivalry there you had a christian militia that was thrown in here
49:31
for good measure who had a grudge against the gemstones and
49:35
You had Judy,
49:36
who was involved in this kind of affair,
49:40
but not an affair.
49:44
It was a weird thing.
49:45
But anywho,
49:47
it was funny.
49:49
It was good,
49:50
but once again,
49:51
just every season went down a notch.
49:54
Just a notch.
49:55
It wasn't like flat,
49:57
but it kept going down.
49:58
I think it was more of the story beats that started to kind of go.
50:05
each and every way and it wasn't uh streamlined if you will but season three was fine you know it was funny it had its moments it actually had some great moments uh but uh it wasn't as many as the first two seasons the fourth and final season that just wrapped up uh
50:25
this past week here on hbo ah i was really disappointed i'm gonna be uh
50:34
frank and honest with you it was it was disappointing it had moments and i mean little bitty moments and it felt rushed it felt rushed it felt like they had to or they were trying to wrap it up you
50:49
know by any means necessary it wasn't it wasn't dealt with love you didn't really get too many side characters as you did in the previous three seasons.
51:02
You know,
51:02
we got introduced to an old family friend of theirs who was the best friend of
51:10
Amy Lee,
51:10
who was the mother of the kids and the wife of Eli.
51:16
And she comes into the picture and begins a relationship with Eli.
51:22
The kids don't like it,
51:24
and they're trying to break it up.
51:25
And there's this other little plot where her ex-husband is...
51:31
trying to ruin her life and all this other stuff and it's causing a strain on eli's uh relationship with her and you know the kid it wasn't you didn't get much of the church and and that's where i'm kind of i just didn't like the end you
51:48
know this final season the church had nothing to do with this season and this isn't me trying to be a christian thing this this was just
51:59
that's a major part of their story and it disappeared in his fourth and final season it it didn't play a major role as it did in the previous three seasons and you felt the the uh absence of it but
52:16
overall uh it wrapped up i guess you could say with a happy ending for everybody uh still it was kind of anticlimactic for me but you know
52:30
they wrapped it up it wasn't open-ended it pretty much wrapped up every storyline that they had going for it so i do appreciate it for that but ultimately it uh it just didn't end in
52:44
a super satisfying way for me the righteous gemstones all four seasons gets a letter grade of a b minus there is a good show it is a funny show
52:59
and it's offensive it is it is super if you are a pearls clutching christian do not watch this show and it is not it's not going to uh it's not it's not going to make you happy is that but if
53:17
you are a realist or if you are somebody who uh like myself don't take things that serious that is the show for you
53:28
dude it's rather you a christian or not i mean come on it's not like it's you only only way you get offended if any of these characters represent you that's the only thing that would offend you but otherwise it's it's sheer entertainment and
53:48
in the christian way um i think there was a scene at the end of the season at the end of this show uh that kind of
53:59
it kind of made me proud you know as as vulgar and ridiculous as this show is as a christian i was kind of proud of uh one of the final scenes in this show that made me feel like oh okay
54:15
it was something that got something out of it uh uh spiritually but everything else it was for gut-busting laughter oh but that's the show today everybody uh uh
54:28
televangelist and the review of the righteous gemstones complete
54:35
season uh four seasons i should say but i would like to hear from you all do do you sit down and still watch uh what's that channel tbn is that is that the station for all the christian uh uh televangelists
54:52
and uh 700 club and all that good stuff i i don't know like i said i i got rid of i cut the cord uh i got rid of cable years ago and i just i just operate off of screaming
55:06
I couldn't do the prices with cable.
55:08
But do you still watch all of that?
55:11
Maybe there's an app.
55:12
Maybe there's a streaming service for that too.
55:14
They got it for everything else.
55:16
Do you watch all that good stuff still to this day?
55:19
If you do,
55:20
that's fine.
55:21
You know,
55:21
to each their own.
55:23
I would love to know your thoughts and your thoughts of The Righteous Gemstones if you watched that.
55:27
I doubt it.
55:28
But it was a good show.
55:30
And if you haven't watched it,
55:31
I highly recommend it.
55:32
I would love to hear from you all.
55:34
kbradiopodcast at gmail.com also on social media you can look up the kb radio network on all social media platforms don't forget about youtube subscribe to the kb radio network channel and like this video if you don't mind don't forget about the five stars the reviews and sharing this show if you're listening on apple podcast spotify iheart radio wherever you
55:59
are currently listening to movie goodness here
56:04
on the kb radio network everybody thank you for joining me for this episode as we dove into televangelism i don't know why i couldn't this whole show i could not get it out on the first try televangelism i did it and the review of
56:24
the complete uh series the righteous gemstones want you all to know that i love you continue to love everyone and until we speak again
56:33
You all be blessed.