Courage and Faith in Today's World with Kirk Cameron
Episode Stats
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Summary
In this episode of the Gains For Girls podcast, my mom's heartthrob, Kirk Cameron, joins me to talk about his new adult book, Born to Be Brave, as well as what inspired him to write it.
Transcript
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what's up everybody welcome back to the gains for girls podcast as always thank you for tuning in
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appreciate your support you can check us out at outkick.com anywhere where you get your podcasts
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be sure to like and subscribe share these episodes um very excited for today's guest
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I told my mom that I was interviewing this person and she was jealous she wanted to tell me that she
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had a poster of him hung up in her room I think a magazine cover when she was in her her teens her
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childhood it is none other than Kirk Cameron this is someone who I've been able to to develop a pretty
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personal friendly relationship with over these past two years or so and he is amazing of course
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as a person but what he is doing for this country how he has taken a special affinity with improving
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the education and the culture as it pertains to our youth God's most precious the most vulnerable
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the most impressionable the most innocent he and whether it's what he's doing with brave books
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he's got a new show out for children that we are going to talk about today he also just released a
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new adult chapter book it is called born to be brave um he's just doing so many amazing things
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I would argue he's one of the uh most influential and pivotal uh culture shakers that we have in this
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country really across the world today um so couldn't be more excited to talk to him but before we get
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into that gotta tell you about xxxy athletics um if you've watched this this podcast uh you've heard me
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better time to invest in values based apparel than right now amidst this culture war that we are in
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and we are going to talk about this culture war and how it is shifting with my mother's heartthrob
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kirk cameron well kirk thank you for joining the gains for girls podcast uh we've gotten to know each
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other over the past i mean two years probably now uh and you have been one of of the faces at the
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forefront of this uh one of the people who has pushed back the hardest with with what i would
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argue uh i mean you have a lot to lose compared to other people and so uh before we get into anything
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i wanted to thank you number one for for everything you've done for the movement everything you've
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done for the country everything you have done to restore godly traditional biblical values to this
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nation uh you've got a new book that has has just come out it's called born to be brave uh i got this
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book uh and i was so honored when i read it because i had like a little shout out a little mention in
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there and so i just wanted to start off by by you know asking you what inspired you to write this this
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book born to be brave and and how does it reflect your own personal journey from hollywood star to now
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again faith leader and and cultural warrior well thank you for all the titles i'm not sure i'm
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deserving of all of them but uh but it's exciting to think about being alive right now i think it was
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some famous president that said we are not cursed with being born in uninteresting times this is it baby
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we've got an opportunity to really shake things up and do some great things for our children and for
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the next generations uh well thank you for reading my book uh born to be brave is the first book that
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i have written for adults i've written a few for kids and uh this one was really born out of wanting
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to share the recipe that has given me so much hope and courage and has shaped my character over the last
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three or four years uh and i think it started during covid when that hit in california we live here in the
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communist state of cali and our governor essentially put everybody under house arrest we were stuck in
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our backyards in our houses six feet apart you know we couldn't go to church you couldn't go to school
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you couldn't go to work if you wanted some weed you could go to the weed shop if you want an abortion
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or go to a strip club you could go there but those were only for essential services you know not stuff
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like going to church on sunday at easter and taking communion or having thanksgiving dinner with your
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families and so then there was the first 100 days of biden's administration and everybody was just
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sort of waiting to see all the stuff that he was going to unravel that trump had done and implement
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for the next 100 days and i thought well what's our 100 day plan and so i started something called
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the american campfire revival from my backyard making 100 consecutive campfires and praying repenting
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publicly on facebook live and then teaching through the founding principles of america which are
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biblical principles and during that whole time uh i i was just struck by the worldview that so many
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christians have lost which is that guys we're not fighting for victory we're fighting from victory
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these people are not the enemy they're the opportunity and that nobody in politics can make or break this
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country uh the culture is up to us as the people to create and a good government will simply provide
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air cover or an iron dome to keep the missiles from flying in and wrecking our world but we've got to
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build the world for our kids through our families and through our marriages and through our communities
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and our churches um government can't do that that's called communism so let's not go there i mean we can go
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there and i think that uh other administrations want to go there but for me i was like it's time to lean
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into the birthright of courage that god has given his followers the enemies are not too big for us to
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overcome culture is not something to be afraid of it's something for us to create and so i want to
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share people with people biblical insights and true stories from people like you and other friends who
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are acting in courage out of love for god and love for people and not just whining about the culture
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but winning the culture that's what born to be brave is all about i love that i love that and i think it's
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important you mention whining uh because in thinking about my own personal experience and again using your
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book to really relate to to me and what you know caused me to take that initial leap of faith uh my
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parents just always told me you know you can complain about something all day long but unless you're
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willing to do something about it uh then you're then you're merely just complaining you're whining and no one
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wants to be around someone who complains all the time so so there were several parts of your book
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that that really spoke to me um but you mentioned this word courage uh i picture our founding fathers
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and i would imagine they would not think it's courageous to say that men and women are different
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uh i think maybe you know uh 250 years ago that's not what would have been defined necessarily as
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courage and so certainly this word has has maybe its implication hasn't really changed but
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what it takes to be courageous has changed um and so what are some of of these other people in
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your book that you mention uh people who who you describe as being courageous and again uh why that's
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important right now i think you're right our founding fathers and founding mothers even before
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them the forefathers and foremothers did truly courageous and heroic things they stood for truth
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in the midst of religious tyranny and government political tyranny and they risked their lives on a
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little boat and crossed the ocean landing in a wilderness with uh you know really really having
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no support and they built the greatest nation on earth i mean you know the the the soldiers on
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normandy did courageous things against all odds when there seemed to be no hope but for today us to
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say that it's controversial and takes courage to say that men cannot have babies is insane that's just
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crazy that shows how far we have degraded in our basic knowledge of anything i mean i had this
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conversation with my dad and my mom the other night where it just seems silly that we have a supreme
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court justice who says she cannot um decide uh define what a woman is and you know it was it was
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not a biologist like yeah she's not a biologist but i'm like well that's actually why matt walsh was
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able to make an entire documentary called what is a woman and if you haven't seen am i racist that's even
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more fantastic and the truth is is that when you eliminate god and his word from your knowledge you
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become you become a fool you really do and i don't say that as some sort of a derogatory term i think
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that i think it is the right definition you can't really define anything absolutely because everything
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has become just a human construct it and it can shift and change so while gay rights were once rooted
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to biological hardwiring of attraction to someone who is biologically the same sex as you are and that
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was the basis for for gay marriage the transgender movement is now undermining the very foundation of
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that argument and saying that gender is now fluid it's on a spectrum it's not biologically hardwired
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into the person that i love in fact they can change and i can change and so those two things can't
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coexist at the same time and they're at odds with one another but they're in the same alphabet army
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so it's hard to fight against your own soldiers but this is the lunacy that we have to deal with today
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and um i'm i'm so grateful for people like you who are just standing for simple common sense truth
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i'm thankful for jonathan isaacs who uh refused to go along with all of the other basketball players
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when it came time to sing the national anthem uh or or raise the fist of power or the black black lives
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matter square or whatever i've got buddies who are doing a better job than fema when it comes to disaster
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relief by getting men to stand up and volunteer be men of courage compassion and character and rush
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to disaster sites and voluntarily give their time their energy everything to rescue people out of
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their homes and you know dig them out of the mud uh i can think of other business owners who are
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changing the health care place and paradigm by offering something better than health care insurance
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so when things are not working and they're not broken it's usually the best time to offer positive alternatives
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that's what you're doing that's what my other friends are doing that's what brave books is doing
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when scholastic is putting literal pornographic descriptions in books for kids in schools
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to where if you read those pages at a school board meeting they they remove you for for vulgarity
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yet they want their kids to be able to read them and you know it's like cognitive dissonance it's
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schizophrenia it's a conflict of interest but they don't know how to fix it brave books comes in and
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says we'll offer you book fairs with wholesome good pro-god pro-america values and it can still
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benefit your school with a pro with a portion of the proceeds from the sales and you don't have to be
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a whiner anymore join us and we'll create the book culture for our kids and it'll build their
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character at the same time so this is the kind of mindset i think that we need to keep encouraging
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out there for people who who want to see a hopeful future no doubt no doubt about it uh i love brave
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books i've got tons of little cousins they all subscribe to brave books uh so if you haven't heard
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of brave books uh which i'm sure you have or or if you haven't invested and it truly is an investment
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it's an investment in your children's future if you have not invested into brave books i encourage
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you to look at it i've got a book with brave books it is called happy no snakes day that is about
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standing up for for the truth despite the consequences you may face and so what a phenomenal
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way to to counter again yeah like you said the the grooming for lack of a better word uh that we see
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the culture putting into schools that the kids are being taught uh so really really awesome stuff going on
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at brave books um and in congruence with that something you've been you have been incredibly
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effective that is communicating with the youth and so uh you have just been a a very busy person because
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on top of your new uh chapter book uh you just launched a new show a children's show it is called
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adventures with iggy and mr kirk it is amazing uh it focuses on teaching timeless uh virtues to kids
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uh what inspired you to create the show uh and how do you hope that it impacts families and children
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i'm really excited about this because the the pollution that's coming to kids through
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disney and nickelodeon and some of their favorite cartoons and kids shows is just awful it's as it's as
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bad as it is in the books so the the trans movement you know kids today are likely to come home with a book
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that is where they're learning morality from gay dinosaurs or trans ducks not from christians and
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people who love god and love their family and and love this country and so parents are just yearning for
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a time where tv can actually be a support to the things they're trying to teach them at home shows like
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mr rogers neighborhood that was a little before my time even but mr rogers was somebody that embodied
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uh a man who cared about the souls of children he would listen to you and he would deal with difficult
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questions that kids are wrestling with and so that's what we have created our version of a modernized
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mr rogers neighborhood or think of sesame street that is faith forward that teaches kids to love god
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to love their family and warns them about the dangers of gender queer theory that warns them about
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socialism and communism and teaches them the value of humility rather than pride about teamwork and
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family and facing your fears like uh and standing up for the truth like riley gains and it's all done
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in the context of mr kirk that's me raising a five-year-old iguana named iggy and he is a little green
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puppet and we actually got one of the uh world the world's best puppeteers from jim henson's
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sesame street to to make and operate the puppet and he's absolutely adorable and he has a relationship
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with this colorful cast of animals on freedom island and we have finished two seasons 20 episodes
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of adventures with iggy and mr kirk and children and parents are just raving about it we had our green
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carpet premiere iggy insisted that we change the red carpet to green it's his favorite color and uh
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it was awesome so it's coming out this spring it's going to be everywhere we'll even give it away for
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free if we have to and we're asking people who want to support this kind of children's television
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programming to go to watch brave.com and there's lots of ways to get previews of the show and ways to
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support the movement that's right you've got characters in there like uh culture of the vulture
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uh which represents the challenges that kids face in today's world uh that that you described but i
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mean how do you balance balance teaching these important lessons that kids need to to be taught
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with keeping the content still fun and engaging yeah that's that's the beauty of this and i'm so it's a
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dream team of people there the the animation is beautiful and you can see that in the books but
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now we bring it all to life through through movement animation we've got stars from um disney's good luck
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good luck charlie uh lee allen baker and we've got these world-class puppeteers so it's fun it's funny
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it's entertaining but you've got you know i'm a grandpa now my daughter just had a little baby girl
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and my little three-month-old maya is gonna be watching these things and so i'm making sure that the
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lessons are solid that they are true lasting that they're going to get to their heart and reach
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those kids where they really need to be nourished so for instance when we dealt with the sanctity of
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life we deal with the sanctity of all life and teach little iggy who has a bird's nest full of eggs
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that he can't just like throw the eggs away because there's something inside of them there's little
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baby birds and that mommy is caring for those little baby birds and that we just like those
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babies and the eggs start out inside of our mother's womb and god's knitting us together in
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there and he learns to take care of all life not just pre-born life but elderly life and disabled life
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in the episode of adventures with iggy and mr kirk and then dealing with uh gender identity which is a
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really hard topic to deal with uh culture the vulture suggests to iggy that because he's an iguana
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and mr kirk is a human and mr kirk's family is human that they don't love him quite as much the
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way he is and he ought to consider becoming more like a likable human boy and so he now tries to
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change his identity and his expression of who he is by dressing and acting like someone other than
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the iguana that he actually is and this leads him down this identity crisis and the vulture named
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culture keeps trying to teach him how everyone's against him and to feel sorry for himself and he
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just feeds this monster until iggy finally breaks down and it's the loving wise advice of mr kirk that
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leads him back to understanding that god made him special just the way he is and that he's got a purpose
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for him but he has to embrace his identity in order to discover that purpose and that that that
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treasured value so these are the these are the kinds of things that we do while every everything
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is crazy and entertaining and fun for the kids absolutely uh again that is adventures with iggy and
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mr kirk uh i encourage everyone to check that out when it's dropped i saw i saw clips of the premiere
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and it looked amazing um but i mean last thing for you i mean it seems like more people are willing to
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speak out uh whether it's against the gender ideology movement uh whatever the cultural chaos that that
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plagues this nation might be that at one point i mean really held people and and even still it has
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held people hostage for lack of better word you have people like i think in hollywood uh your realm you
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have people like of course yourself rob schneider uh people who who are now uh bold and brave and
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unapologetic and stating the truth you've got athletes who uh people like um john jones who we
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just saw i mean how amazing he won this ufc title uh ufc 309 he the first thing he does he says look i
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want to honor god my lord and savior because without him i am nothing i thought that was amazing uh people
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of course like harrison butker we're seeing this uh i think to to uh really highlight how cancel
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culture has lost its grip we're seeing people do this this silly little trump dance which um has taken
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over social media it's being done by collegiate players uh professional players uh even female
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golfers which is amazing but but i think it's more than just this embracement of donald trump i think
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it's a rejection of absurdity um as as we have a society again have been placed in a chokehold by
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um and so it just shows me that cancel culture is losing its grip do you feel like we're on the
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winning side of this and that our culture is shifting absolutely we're on the winning side of this
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and i i think in order to not be nervous about saying that we're on the the winning side we have to
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really rightly frame our optimism and to rightly frame it we have to recognize that
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as i mentioned earlier we're not fighting for victory we're fighting from victory and by that
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i mean the ultimate victory of the gospel when our founding fathers and mothers gave us this country
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they didn't have delusions that their children would all follow the the the precepts and the
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guidelines of god found in the bible and in the constitution they hoped that they would but to
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the degree that we get away from that stuff we will suffer and we can absolutely implode and
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disintegrate but the kingdom of god goes on and i don't know what's going to happen here in america
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i'm very hopeful in the next four years i think could be our finest hour as the family of faith
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and those who love god and love the country but there is massive global shifts the winds shift
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and change and in south america and in africa and in asia and in the middle east there is revival and
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awakenings that are taking place underground and in unexpected places and to the degree that we in
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america and europe walk away from god rip the 10 commandments out of out of our legal system and
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prayer out of schools we may see a terrible decline but here's my theory my theory is that god is a god
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of grace and second chances and we see that kindness and mercy over and over in the scriptures and
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throughout history what if the current cultural setback in america is really a divine setup for a
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cultural and spiritual comeback led by the family of faith i firmly believe with all my heart that it
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is and it's not going to happen because god's going to drop it out of the sky his spirit works in your
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heart and then you begin to heavenize your your home your community your state and from the local
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grassroots level we begin to change everything from the inside out and i think we're at the heart of the
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beginning of a new awakening in america i love it i love it if you want to to hear more about america's
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spiritual and cultural comeback uh you can check out again kirk's new book it is called born to be
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brave uh if you want amazing resources and guidance and these wonderful virtuous lessons for your children
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you can check out uh brave books at bravebooks.com you can get my book happy no snakes day but they have
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tons of amazing authors it's a monthly subscription again in total contrast to what scholastic is
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pushing for putting in your your children's school libraries uh and and furthermore for your children
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check out adventures with iggy and mr kirk uh really really great things that you're doing that you have
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done that you will continue to do uh we will certainly be looking out uh at what is next for you
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because i know you're not done uh it is always thing after thing after thing how can you uh restore
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traditional biblical values and we appreciate you for it you've got an amazing team of people around
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you i got to spend some time with your sister also uh by the way a few months ago and she's she's just
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as amazing uh so what a wonderful family you guys have uh but just could it be more grateful for
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everything you've done uh for me personally for the movement for the country so thank you kirk
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well thank you i'm i'm grateful for you and i'm grateful for your parents and uh the guidance
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that they've given you over these years and now you're passing that on to everybody who's listening
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to you week after week after week so keep up the great work let's let's go fight win all right lots
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of action items for you uh make sure you check out kirk cameron's newly released book born to be brave
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uh again i read it it's amazing uh i could not believe when i was reading it that i got a shout out
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in there so again born to be brave uh if you have any children in your life whether that's your own
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other children that you know and that you love uh check out bravebooks.com of course you can sign
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up for the monthly subscription they drop a new book off at your doorstep every single month written by
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a different uh influencer a different author uh who represents these values that they are teaching
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these children about in these books or you can buy a book one-off you can check out my book
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uh happy no snakes day at bravebooks.com and i encourage you to check out kirk cameron's new
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children's show uh adventures with mr kirk and iggy uh wonderful things he's got going on over there
00:25:17.060
everything he is doing for this culture everything he is doing for for the future of this this nation
00:25:23.360
the future of the world uh our children again that is xxxy athletics.com use the code rileyg20 for
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20% off at checkout and we will see you guys again next week