Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 1122 ｜ New Age Oils & California’s Corrupt History

00:00:00.660 Is anointing yourself with oil biblical or is it witchcraft?

00:00:07.340 We will get into this controversy on today's episode of Relatable, but first, we are going

00:00:12.620 to take you through a detailed timeline of the political history of California and even

00:00:19.140 the United States that has led to the disaster that we are seeing in the LA wildfires.

00:00:27.500 What specific environmental policy decisions and social policy decisions have been made

00:00:36.660 over the past several decades that have made it so difficult for California to control

00:00:42.180 these fires?

00:00:43.100 We will go through all of those today.

00:00:45.480 And then at the top of the show, we will take you through a little bit of a summary of Pete

00:00:51.000 Hedgeseth's confirmation process so far as he is sitting before the Senate.

00:00:57.000 He is up for the Secretary of Defense position.

00:01:02.060 So we've got all of that on today's episode of Relatable.

00:01:05.160 It's brought to you by our friends at Life or Death Con.

00:01:08.080 Go to lifeordeathcon.com, code ALI10.

00:01:11.460 It's a conference on January 23rd in D.C.

00:01:14.660 lifeordeathcon.com, code ALI10.

00:01:16.700 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable.

00:01:29.220 Happy Tuesday.

00:01:30.680 Hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far.

00:01:32.640 So we've got a good theological segment for you at the end of this episode.

00:01:37.300 We're going to get to all of the California wildfire stuff, but I first just wanted to

00:01:41.360 give you some kind of breaking news.

00:01:43.880 What's going on right now on Capitol Hill, Pete Hedgeseth right now is going through his

00:01:49.300 Senate confirmation process for Secretary of Defense.

00:01:54.260 You'll remember we've talked about a little bit all of the accusations that have been lodged

00:02:00.160 him sexual misconduct, even sexual assault, sexual harassment.

00:02:05.740 And so a lot of people think that he's just not going to be able to get through the confirmation

00:02:10.320 process, but others are saying, no, he probably has the votes.

00:02:15.080 And I think what he promises to do as Secretary of Defense is going to be really, really positive

00:02:20.740 for the United States.

00:02:23.400 My understanding is that he is a repentant and redeemed man, husband, father.

00:02:29.080 And I hope and pray that's true.

00:02:31.180 I don't really know him personally, but I think we have no reason not to take him at

00:02:36.660 his word there.

00:02:37.500 And actually in his opening statement today, he does give glory to Christ.

00:02:42.400 And I really appreciate that.

00:02:44.400 Here's someone.

00:02:44.980 And as Jenny and I pray together every morning, all glory, regardless of the outcome, belongs

00:02:53.940 to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

00:02:56.160 His grace and mercy abounds each day.

00:03:00.640 May his will be done.

00:03:03.740 OK, so good for him.

00:03:06.260 Good for him.

00:03:07.980 He is going to get a lot of really tough questions.

00:03:11.260 He's already fielded several senators.

00:03:14.960 Maisie Hirono of Hawaii, Tim Cain of Virginia, both questioned Hedgeseth on the sexual assault

00:03:19.380 allegations against him.

00:03:21.260 Hedgeseth responded to Cain's questioning by saying, Senator, I was falsely charged, fully

00:03:25.700 investigated and completely cleared.

00:03:28.500 So he says some of these accusations just aren't true.

00:03:31.960 Other ones like, you know, the stories of him cheating on his wives.

00:03:36.560 I don't think he denies that those things were actually true.

00:03:40.160 But again, he says, you know, that was my past.

00:03:42.880 That's not who I am anymore.

00:03:45.080 Senator Kevin Cain of North Dakota questioned Hedgeseth about the cross tattoo on his chest

00:03:49.000 because there was this ridiculous accusation at one point that this is some kind of Nazi

00:03:53.380 symbol.

00:03:54.600 And he responded by saying, it's a tattoo I have right here, Senator.

00:03:58.200 It's called the Jerusalem cross.

00:03:59.540 It's a historic Christian symbol.

00:04:00.980 In fact, recently, I attended the memorial ceremony of President Jimmy Carter.

00:04:04.220 On the front page of his program was the very same Jerusalem cross. 0.63

00:04:08.600 That was a good catch.

00:04:10.000 Good inclusion.

00:04:10.720 Obviously, Jimmy Carter is a Democrat.

00:04:12.220 So it's like, what are you going to do, Senator Kramer?

00:04:16.320 And all you Democrats, are you going to call Jimmy Carter a Nazi?

00:04:18.760 Come on.

00:04:19.600 During the remainder of Kramer's questioning, he also said that service members who were

00:04:23.460 discharged from the military for refusing to get the COVID vaccine would be, quote, so

00:04:28.540 during the remainder of Kramer's questioning, Hedgeseth said this, that service members who

00:04:35.180 were discharged for not getting the COVID vaccine would be apologized to and reinstituted

00:04:40.380 with pay and rank, because, of course, that's justice.

00:04:43.260 They never should have been discharged in the first place.

00:04:45.740 That is absolute insanity and cruelty.

00:04:48.680 So, again, I think he would do a really good job as Secretary of Defense.

00:04:52.860 It'll be interesting to watch these confirmation hearings over the next few weeks.

00:04:57.400 Obviously, a week from now, we've got the inauguration.

00:05:00.620 We're super pumped about that.

00:05:02.200 There's going to be a lot of celebration.

00:05:03.580 It cannot come soon enough.

00:05:05.740 Let's be praying for President Trump.

00:05:07.420 These next 100 days, or after he officially becomes president, are absolutely crucial for

00:05:13.840 the policy setting for the next four years.

00:05:15.900 So let's just pray that he has the best, most effective people around him, that the Lord

00:05:20.340 would protect him and all the people around him, keep them safe, that God would give them

00:05:24.380 grace and biblical wisdom and discernment and the courage to do the right thing, and that

00:05:31.140 God would show his mercy and a really good and wise and strong presidency.

00:05:37.060 So let's just be praying for that fervently, especially over the next week or so.

00:05:41.980 On Monday, we will have Kevin Roberts, the head of the Heritage Foundation, on, and he

00:05:45.860 will be talking about the first 100 days of Trump's presidency, also a little bit about

00:05:50.320 Project 2025.

00:05:52.080 You'll remember how crazy the media was about that.

00:05:54.800 But specifically what Donald Trump should do is going to do when it comes to encouraging

00:06:00.940 the family, mom, dad, kids, helping make sure that those families are cohesive and are flourishing

00:06:10.660 and safe.

00:06:11.740 What is President Trump going to do to make America the best place to raise babies?

00:06:17.920 So be sure to tune into that conversation.

00:06:20.180 It will give you a lot of clarity for what to look for as a Christian as Trump's presidency

00:06:25.020 starts.

00:06:26.200 All right, let's get into everything that's going on with these fires and then my response

00:06:31.780 to the big controversy that was stirred up by me saying that using oils for spiritual

00:06:38.300 uses that are not found in the Bible is witchcraft.

00:06:41.960 We've got all of that today, but let me pause and tell you about our first sponsor, and that

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00:07:36.360 Okay, I want to give y'all a thorough update of what is happening in California with these fires,

00:07:45.960 and not only an update, but also to take us back to look at the timeline of how this disaster

00:07:53.540 occurred.

00:07:54.220 As I said on Instagram, this disaster was not inevitable.

00:07:58.920 There were deliberate policy decisions made that have, if not enabled, exacerbated everything

00:08:08.840 that has gone on and has led to the loss of life and the loss of homes, the loss of wildlife.

00:08:16.640 And so I am going to go through specifically what some of those policy decisions were, when

00:08:23.040 they happened, and why they happened.

00:08:25.840 And I hope for many in California that this is a wake-up call.

00:08:31.760 Not that this is a primarily political conversation.

00:08:34.740 I think no matter who you are across the political spectrum, that your life matters, that your family

00:08:40.840 matters.

00:08:41.480 And I mourn with those who have lost their valuable treasures and their homes and their memories.

00:08:50.200 There's so much there.

00:08:51.320 I'm not trying to chastise people who politically disagree with me, but just to say that, again,

00:08:58.600 our political decisions, our worldviews actually have consequences.

00:09:04.020 And it's really important that we look with specificity at the choices that have been made

00:09:09.780 over the years that have led California to where it is now.

00:09:12.700 But first, let me give a bit of an update.

00:09:15.240 Firefighters are working to contain still three active blazes in the Los Angeles area.

00:09:21.320 Ahead of a predicted return of winds this week.

00:09:24.420 So you'll remember, it was kind of a perfect storm.

00:09:27.220 Like, leave policy decisions out of it.

00:09:29.840 It was a bad mixture of things that were occurring, even outside of human control.

00:09:38.240 You had the start of the fires.

00:09:40.240 And you had the crazy winds.

00:09:42.920 You had the lack of rain.

00:09:44.300 L.A. hasn't seen rain, really good rain, in a really long time.

00:09:49.540 And so that caused the wildfires to spread and cause the damage that they have.

00:09:55.220 A week ago, Tuesday morning, a wildfire broke out along Piedra Murata Drive in Pacific Palisade.

00:10:02.960 So this has all been a week now.

00:10:04.440 By evening, it had grown to 2,900 acres.

00:10:07.880 And then the two other fires also started near Los Angeles.

00:10:11.740 The wildfires have now burned over 40,000 acres, an area bigger than San Francisco.

00:10:17.920 They've killed at least two dozen people.

00:10:21.860 Just devastating loss of life.

00:10:24.200 This is bigger than the Chicago fires that happened decades ago that are infamous for the damage that they caused.

00:10:33.420 A wind warning is in place for parts of the city and county.

00:10:37.000 Wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour are expected.

00:10:40.480 As of Monday evening, the Palisades fire, the largest fire, the first one that started, was 17% contained.

00:10:47.520 That is, I know that sounds really small, that is better news than we've been hearing.

00:10:51.980 We heard just a few days ago, even after so much effort, that it was actually 0% contained.

00:10:59.080 The Eaton fire, which just killed 16 people, was about 33% contained.

00:11:04.160 As of last night, at least 150,000 people have been forced to evacuate.

00:11:08.980 The potential property damage and economic losses in this area could amount to as much as $150 billion.

00:11:15.800 We are looking at years and years of recovery.

00:11:19.480 Monday evening, Mayor Karen Bass, she's back from her trip.

00:11:23.040 She was in Ghana.

00:11:24.200 We don't know why an L.A. mayor was in Ghana.

00:11:28.320 Like, what business did she have there?

00:11:30.100 It's not necessary for the constituents that she serves for her to be in Africa for some kind of business or political trip.

00:11:37.960 But she's back, I guess.

00:11:40.020 I think she's back.

00:11:40.720 It's actually issued an executive order, I suppose, locally and not all the way from Africa, to speed up rebuilding efforts after the wildfires.

00:11:49.900 Will that actually be helpful or productive?

00:11:54.360 I'm not sure.

00:11:55.660 It directs city departments to expedite building permit reviews and creates task forces to speed up debris removal.

00:12:02.660 This followed Governor Newsom's executive order issued on Sunday that would cut red tape and regulations, including environmental review requirements to allow faster rebuilding.

00:12:13.340 There were a lot of memes and justifiably angry responses when Gavin Newsom announced that he was cutting red tape.

00:12:20.060 People were like, who put the red tape in, Gavin?

00:12:22.640 Who put the red tape in?

00:12:24.200 Was it not you?

00:12:25.740 So Democrats are really good at this.

00:12:27.800 Politicians in general are really good at this.

00:12:29.760 But it seems especially progressives who rely on government larges to keep power.

00:12:36.540 They love to solve problems that they created themselves.

00:12:41.020 And so he's coming in like a hero to solve a problem that he helped create.

00:12:45.160 Here is a map of the fire.

00:12:47.260 So here's what we're looking at right now.

00:12:49.980 These three areas, you can see the varying sizes that we're dealing with.

00:12:54.580 Just devastating.

00:12:56.080 It looks small relatively on the map.

00:12:58.120 But when you think about how densely populated L.A. is, again, you're talking about a lot of lives affected.

00:13:05.900 So I want to get into the timeline of everything here.

00:13:11.480 I want to get into how this started because you've heard a lot, both on this show and elsewhere, about DEI,

00:13:18.980 about environmental policy.

00:13:21.920 Maybe you've even heard about Gavin Newsom giving in to tribal demands to save certain kinds of fish that has led to the emptying of the reservoirs.

00:13:32.620 But what is actually true?

00:13:34.760 When did this all happen?

00:13:36.040 Because this is not just recent.

00:13:38.720 It's not like this has been policy that has been put into place just over the past year or the past few months.

00:13:45.040 We are talking about years and years, really about 30 plus years at this point, if not more in some cases, as we will see, of mismanagement, largely in service to very arbitrary environmental whims of the radical green activists.

00:14:06.800 So we'll get into that.

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00:15:37.860 All right, let's get into it.

00:15:39.640 As I said, a lot of this has to do with environmental policy.

00:15:42.300 So before I get into the years that each decision was made, let me give you a little more background to set this up.

00:15:50.760 The California that we know today, this is via California Insider, by the way, is only possible because the state moves water around, which makes sense when you think of the location of the state from areas of abundance to areas of need.

00:16:06.920 Two-thirds of the state's water falls in the northern part of the state, while most of the population in agriculture are in the south.

00:16:14.180 So since the early 1900s, engineers have been developing ways to store and transport water across the state, allowing California to grow into the state with the largest economy, population, and agricultural output.

00:16:27.840 And for many, many years, California was the place to be.

00:16:31.940 It was an immaculately run state.

00:16:36.660 It was run mostly by Republicans, really, until I believe it was the 1990s.

00:16:41.800 It was not only clean, but it was safe, and it was fun, and it was beautiful, and it has just deteriorated because of progressive policy over the past several years.

00:16:53.000 Over the last 50 years, environmental-focused laws, environmentally-focused laws, both federal and state, have deeply impacted how that water, which California relies on for everything, is prioritized.

00:17:07.220 California produces one-third of the nation's vegetables and over three-fourths of the fruits, and that's especially right there in central California.

00:17:16.360 It is also the leading dairy state, providing 20% of the country's milk.

00:17:20.440 When I visited Bakersfield and Visalia several years ago, first of all, I've said this before, but some of the nicest people in the world, and, like, I grew up in Texas, have lived in the south, and that part of the country is known for being hospitable and kind.

00:17:36.700 I'm telling you, the people, strangers I met in central California were some of just the randomly nicest people that I've ever met, and I learned a lot during that short visit about the output of that part of the state.

00:17:49.640 Not only is it extremely conservative, but, as I just read, much of the food that not only the state relies on, but the country relies on actually comes from that part, and the food there is amazing.

00:18:05.680 No matter, like, what restaurant you go to, I went to, like, a variety there.

00:18:09.900 It was all really good and really fresh.

00:18:12.800 California produces virtually all of the U.S. supply of almonds, pistachios, and walnuts.

00:18:19.520 Food production, you might not think of it this way, is also a national security issue.

00:18:24.000 Because if our country can produce our own food, we are less dependent upon imports from other countries, which can be cut off during conflicts, etc.

00:18:32.380 This is also a personal anecdote note from our researcher, Debbie.

00:18:37.100 She says, my family has been farming in California for four generations, since 1929.

00:18:41.920 They have given tours to Department of Defense officials, and when asked what their biggest threat to production is,

00:18:47.320 they respond that the biggest threat to California's food supply and agricultural output is the state's own environmental policy.

00:18:54.880 So, all of this is working together, and I will explain how, with the water supply and how the water supply can be used for wildfires.

00:19:06.480 One example of water policy that is currently being discussed by many, including President-elect Trump, involves this tiny fish called the Delta Smelt.

00:19:15.080 And I remember the citizens of Visalia and of Bakersfield telling me about this several years ago when I was there.

00:19:24.080 This is a small endangered fish in Northern California's Delta region.

00:19:28.960 Environmental policies aimed at preserving the Smelt's habitat have led to water regulations that send excess water to the habitat,

00:19:36.260 rather than to storage for the state's large population in agricultural uses.

00:19:42.220 And this has led to a lot of difficulty for the farmers there.

00:19:47.340 Natural resource economist Dr. Scott Hamilton estimates that the amount of water supplies restricted due to protecting the Delta Smelt exceeds 10 million acre feet,

00:19:59.380 which is enough water to supply Los Angeles for about 15 to 20 years.

00:20:05.880 That is according to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

00:20:09.360 The cost to replace that water is about $5 billion.

00:20:12.460 So all to protect that little Delta Smelt. 1.00

00:20:15.580 And we'll talk a little bit more about the Delta Smelt.

00:20:17.800 Is she really that vital?

00:20:20.120 Is she worth protecting that much?

00:20:23.940 And have their efforts really worked?

00:20:26.160 How has this worked out for not only the state of California,

00:20:29.060 but for the country who takes all of the exports from California for our food supply?

00:20:35.480 So let's look at this timeline.

00:20:36.800 The 1960s and early 70s, this saw the beginning of the environmental movement in the U.S.

00:20:42.680 For example, the first Earth Day was on April 22nd, 1970.

00:20:46.500 I'm pretty sure Earth Day was started by like some weirdo freak.

00:20:50.520 I don't know, Bree.

00:20:51.540 You might have to tell me the specifics.

00:20:53.060 No, I'm pretty sure he like murdered someone and like composted their body.

00:20:57.280 So the environmental movement, while I'm sure there are a lot of great people in it,

00:21:03.500 like it's got some really weird roots when you look into it.

00:21:07.200 We don't have time to do all of that today.

00:21:09.160 In 1970, Republican President Nixon signed the National Environmental Policy Act,

00:21:14.600 requiring federal agencies to fully determine the environmental effects of any actions they take,

00:21:19.660 known as environmental impact statements.

00:21:21.940 I'm sure that President Nixon thought that he was doing the right and sophisticated thing at the time.

00:21:28.020 Also in 1970, California Governor Ronald Reagan, these are two Californiamen,

00:21:32.880 signed into law of the California Environmental Quality Act,

00:21:35.580 which also required environmental impact studies before any major construction project.

00:21:41.220 You know, growing up is realizing that my favorite president, Ronald Reagan,

00:21:45.780 he actually signed a lot of policies, both on the state and the federal level,

00:21:50.480 or he supported a lot of policies, at least on the federal level,

00:21:54.820 that have laid the foundation for bad things today when it comes to immigration, 0.80

00:22:00.440 when it comes to things like environmental law.

00:22:03.060 This law that Ronald Reagan signed is central to California's regulatory landscape.

00:22:08.040 The law's purpose is to ensure projects with significant environmental impacts are mitigated or stopped.

00:22:16.080 And that all sounds good until you realize that these regulatory agencies have so much power

00:22:22.720 and are really able to make these kind of like arbitrary decisions that can greatly harm individuals,

00:22:31.960 their businesses, their ability to farm.

00:22:34.880 Brie, did we get something on Earth Day?

00:22:37.440 Yeah, yeah. Ira Einhorn, he was on stage hosting the first Earth Day event.

00:22:42.500 He claims to have co-founded it in Philadelphia.

00:22:45.160 And then seven years later, police raided his closet and found his ex-girlfriend's composted body

00:22:51.000 after she had broken up with him.

00:22:53.500 It's very stable.

00:22:54.620 Okay. Earth Day.

00:22:56.260 Yep.

00:22:56.760 And yet we are still celebrating.

00:22:58.340 It's just like Kwanzaa. 0.62

00:22:59.140 I think I'm pretty sure the guy who founded Kwanzaa was like a murderer too.

00:23:03.940 Like we don't have to do, there's no law saying that we have to have these holidays.

00:23:11.660 Well, I guess there is, but well, I don't know.

00:23:14.620 Actually, I'm not really sure the process of declaring these national holidays,

00:23:18.000 but you don't have to declare national holidays that are started by murderers.

00:23:22.080 I just feel like that's a good rule of thumb.

00:23:24.360 Okay.

00:23:25.060 1980.

00:23:25.820 The last time a big dam was completed in California.

00:23:28.680 This means no significant water storage products have been built in California in over 45 years,

00:23:33.100 despite the state's population increasing roughly 67% from 1980 to 2020.

00:23:40.820 2020, farmers and conservatives cite increased environmental regulations and bureaucracy

00:23:46.440 as their reason for no new water storage projects being started, being built in the past several decades.

00:23:55.340 Then if you look at the early 1990s, this period marks a critical shift in California water policy

00:24:00.440 with growing federal intervention and a stronger focus on environmental protections for endangered species.

00:24:05.780 So 1993, Delta smelt was listed as threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act, ESA,

00:24:13.820 and the California Endangered Species Act, CESA.

00:24:17.760 1994, the Environmental Protection Agency established federal water quality and flow standards for California's Delta region.

00:24:25.400 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also designated the Delta region as the critical habitat for the Delta smelt.

00:24:31.040 1996, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service adopted a recovery plan to improve habitat conditions for the Delta smelt.

00:24:40.940 And then in 1994, and this part doesn't have to do with the Delta smelt, doesn't have to do with environmental regulations.

00:24:48.880 It's pertinent to the conversation about the water supply in California.

00:24:56.080 1994, billionaires Stewart and Linda Resnick purchased a controlling stake in the Kern Water Bank,

00:25:02.480 which refers to both a facility and one of California's largest underground aquifers.

00:25:08.320 This facility in 32-square-mile basin was initially developed with taxpayer money in order to store water for drought years.

00:25:16.640 It was later transferred from state control to private entities,

00:25:20.320 including a significant portion to this billionaire couple, the Resnicks.

00:25:24.040 This was legal under California water law, but despite the legality, this was unusual and controversial,

00:25:30.640 given that such water facilities are usually managed publicly and with different regulations, accountability, transparency,

00:25:39.680 that is supposed to ideally come with the public control of something like a water supply.

00:25:46.220 The Resnicks also owned the Wonderful Company, which is a major producer of mandarins, pistachios, and pomegranates.

00:25:52.800 They have been criticized for using the water resource to not only irrigate their vast agricultural lands,

00:25:58.600 but also for selling water back to the state or to other users, especially during droughts, at a profit.

00:26:07.000 This practice has been seen as turning a public resource into a private profit center.

00:26:12.660 Yeah, I would say that that's problematic myself.

00:26:15.080 The Resnicks have many political allies, were also a top donor to Gavin Newsom when he was recalled in 2021.

00:26:22.640 So some people are saying they are accusing this couple of hoarding the water and of making it more difficult,

00:26:29.740 not only for other farmers to be watering their crops, but also for the state to be able to access as much water as they need.

00:26:40.460 Some people are saying in 2008, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a biological opinion,

00:26:46.800 so this is back into the environmental world, or scientific data that included regulations regarding Delta water flows to protect the Delta smelt.

00:26:54.120 This created water restrictions that meant water must be sent to the Delta to protect fish rather than being used for farms, cities, or storage.

00:27:02.180 In 2009, the Delta smelt status was changed from threatened to endangered 2011.

00:27:08.880 Then California Governor Jerry Brown issued an executive order which required state agencies to develop consultation policies with Native American tribes.

00:27:19.140 Native American groups who consider the Delta their ancestral home,

00:27:22.880 the Delta in California filed a petition in 2022 to state regulators and local water districts,

00:27:28.700 along with several environmentalist groups, to request updates to the water quality control plan in order to protect salmon.

00:27:36.000 So not specifically the Delta smelt, could have included the Delta smelt, but salmon,

00:27:40.320 because the salmon was significant to these tribes, apparently tribal members.

00:27:44.760 And activists called the failure to regulate water on their behalf,

00:27:49.060 so in service to their interests, to protect things like the salmon, quote unquote, cultural genocide.

00:27:54.680 That is according to the Guardian, all right?

00:27:58.340 So now you've got pressure from environmental activists, those groups.

00:28:02.180 You've got pressure from the tribes.

00:28:05.080 You've also got this billionaire couple that owns a good portion of the water supply that the state doesn't have access to without having to pay for it. 0.54

00:28:15.720 And so you've got a lot of groups who have a claim over the water.

00:28:19.340 That is part of why the water is not as accessible or easily used as it should be.

00:28:26.760 But again, these were all decisions by the state over many years.

00:28:30.700 2014, California approved Prop 1, which allocated $7.5 billion to build dams and other vital water facilities

00:28:38.340 that would serve as new water storage and help protect California's people and agriculture from the effects of drought.

00:28:44.540 Okay, so it seems like, okay, they're waking up, they realize this is not good, something bad's going to happen,

00:28:50.440 we're going through a drought, what if we get a wildfire, maybe they foresee that kind of disaster,

00:28:55.140 and they're like, all right, we got to allocate some money.

00:28:58.460 But over 10 years later, over 10 years later, okay, this is just a look into how government so often works.

00:29:06.640 Not in well-run states like the state of Florida, but in states like California, with so much money and so many resources.

00:29:13.100 As of today, over 10 years after Prop 1, no major construction has been completed due to lengthy engineering environmental impact studies,

00:29:23.080 along with slow permitting processes, as even the LA Times admitted.

00:29:27.260 And so remember, go all the way back several decades to Nixon and Reagan,

00:29:33.140 making sure that all of these studies and all of these very complicated permits had to be conducted,

00:29:41.100 had to be given before anything could be built.

00:29:43.380 The proposed dam, so it's still proposed, would have stored as much as 1.5 million acre feet of Sacramento River water

00:29:52.960 and could eventually boost water supply, especially in dry years for more than 24 million people,

00:29:58.940 mostly in Southern California, and 500,000 acres of Central Valley farmland.

00:30:05.400 Okay, so they need that.

00:30:07.180 Construction on a new dam in Northern California is now expected to begin this year, in 2025,

00:30:14.000 11 years after Prop 1.

00:30:17.900 Also in 2014, when we're looking at forest management on the federal level,

00:30:22.440 Republicans in Congress proposed an amendment to the Healthy Forest Restoration Act,

00:30:26.740 which would remove some of the regulatory hurdles and simplify the process for hazardous inflammable trees

00:30:32.380 to be cleared through controlled burns and timber harvesting.

00:30:36.360 The bill did not make it past committee, thanks to environmental lobbyists,

00:30:40.300 according to the California Policy Center.

00:30:42.900 Worth noting, the California Policy Center points out that overgrown forests also reduced the water supply.

00:30:49.300 Also, the brush that environmentalists don't want to be cleared because they say,

00:30:54.680 oh, it just needs to go through a natural process.

00:30:56.580 That is what exacerbates and spreads the fires more quickly.

00:31:01.040 In 2019, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued another biological opinion

00:31:05.340 and imposed continued environmental regulations to protect the Delta Smelt under the Endangered Species Act.

00:31:11.960 This led to the unnecessary restriction of vital waterways.

00:31:15.500 We're going to get back to the Delta Smelt in just a second.

00:31:17.400 In 2020, then-President Trump signed a memorandum that would allow the federal government

00:31:22.320 to redirect millions of gallons of water to the Central Valley and Southern California

00:31:26.220 rather than be needlessly flushed into the Pacific Ocean.

00:31:30.200 Gosh, the federal government should not have to be involved in that at all.

00:31:34.500 California, the states, should be able to run that.

00:31:37.620 Newsom then filed a lawsuit to block Trump's move,

00:31:40.720 arguing this would harm endangered species like the Delta Smelt.

00:31:44.460 Newsom succeeded in blocking Trump's order.

00:31:47.800 2021.

00:31:49.080 This is, again, a different realm, but it all works together.

00:31:52.720 321 firefighters from the L.A. Fire Department filed for an exemption for a rule requiring them to get COVID vaccines.

00:32:00.020 113 of those were laid off.

00:32:03.420 2022.

00:32:04.060 In a report for the California Water Blog, UC Davis fish biologist Peter Moyle was critical of the recovery efforts for the Delta Smelt

00:32:12.560 and has pointed out that even with increased water flows, even with all of these regulations,

00:32:17.440 even with preserving all of the water for the Delta Smelt that can't be used for watering crops,

00:32:22.000 that can't be used for putting out wildfires,

00:32:25.400 that the Delta Smelt have still not recovered because other environmental pressures,

00:32:30.560 like invasive species and food, have not been adequately addressed.

00:32:36.500 Since 2007, there have been 20 studies analyzing the effectiveness of the water increase to protect the smelt.

00:32:43.200 The majority of the studies found no benefit or the results were inconclusive.

00:32:48.520 Surveyors from the California Fish and Wildlife Department netted two Delta Smelt in 2017.

00:32:54.860 So apparently they found two Delta Smelt in 2017.

00:32:58.880 After all of these efforts, after all of the harm that they've done,

00:33:02.860 they only found two of these fish.

00:33:04.780 So there is actually no proof whatsoever that these regulations, that these programs,

00:33:09.060 that all of these efforts, this blocking of water access has actually helped the survival of the Delta Smelt at all.

00:33:17.320 And since 2017, they have caught zero Delta Smelt.

00:33:22.580 So that is at least partly, in large part, what has happened to the water supply in California.

00:33:30.860 It is largely environmental.

00:33:32.400 But as we articulated, there are other factors playing into this, but none of that was inevitable.

00:33:40.880 None of that was accidental.

00:33:43.740 All of it was the result of a deliberate policy decision.

00:33:48.820 All right, we've got more on that in just a second as we get into the DEI programs that have been put into place over the past few years that have also impacted California's ability to deal with these fires.

00:34:03.500 But let me pause and tell you about our next sponsor.

00:34:05.160 That is Life or Death Con.

00:34:06.420 So Life or Death Con is going to be an amazing pro-life conference in D.C. next week ahead of the March for Life.

00:34:14.940 You guys love Seth Gruber.

00:34:16.880 He sat down on this couch and y'all just absolutely loved that conversation as he talked about the history of the abortion and eugenics movement in the United States and throughout the world and called Christians to Clarity and Courage.

00:34:31.500 And that's what this conference is going to be.

00:34:34.020 I am going to be speaking there as well as some other amazing speakers, and we are going to be calling people to Clarity and Courage.

00:34:41.940 It is going to be a rallying cry for those on the front lines of the pro-life movement.

00:34:47.940 You do not want to miss it.

00:34:50.120 Go ahead.

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00:35:00.900 That's LifeOrDeathCon.com, code Allie10.

00:35:08.020 Okay, 2022.

00:35:10.140 We've got new L.A. Fire Chief Kristen Crowley, who announced a new program to allocate resources to a DEI program that focuses on meeting sexual orientation, racial, and gender quotas.

00:35:23.340 Here's that one.

00:35:23.900 On March 27th, that will change as Crowley becomes the LAFD's first-ever female chief.

00:35:31.060 She took time out of her already busy schedule to tell us about her vision for the department's future, one that includes a three-year strategic plan to increase diversity.

00:35:40.560 People ask me, well, what number are you looking for?

00:35:42.700 I say, I'm not looking for a number.

00:35:43.940 It's never enough.

00:35:44.880 Out of 3,300 city firefighters, only 115 are women right now.

00:35:50.200 She's already looking at ways to change that. 1.00

00:35:52.200 The chief also checks another box when it comes to inclusivity and diversity at this department.

00:35:57.860 She's a proud member of the LGBTQ community.

00:36:00.860 Okay, because that's what's most important when you are saving people's lives from fires, but apparently so.

00:36:09.020 The LA Fire Department Assistant Chief, Christine Larson, she also heads the Equity and Human Resources Bureau because you need that at a fire department.

00:36:16.980 She claims that they're doing all of this because when you are about to incinerate to death, you want to see someone running towards you who looks like you.

00:36:28.580 Here's thought two.

00:36:29.140 You want to see somebody that responds to your house, your emergency, whether it's a medical call or a fire call, that looks like you.

00:36:36.660 It gives that person a little bit more ease knowing that somebody might understand their situation better.

00:36:41.880 Is she strong enough to do this?

00:36:43.640 Or you couldn't carry my husband out of a fire, which my response is, he got himself in the wrong place if I have to carry him out of a fire.

00:36:50.140 There's so much to be said there.

00:36:56.820 First of all, can we start at the end with that evil statement that she just made? 1.00

00:37:00.460 Like, okay, so your husband, he has just saved you and saved your children by making sure that you were able to get out of the window safely as your house is burning down.

00:37:14.220 But now after he has saved his family, he is unable to get out.

00:37:19.320 And so you see this 250-pound lesbian catching her breath, making her way towards the house. 1.00

00:37:28.220 And, like, we're supposed to, and you say, hey, can you, I'm sorry, but, like, are you able to get my, like, 200-pound husband out of the house?

00:37:36.700 And she's like, well, serves him right, I guess. 0.98

00:37:40.300 What's he doing in a burning house, loser? 0.98

00:37:43.240 Like, is that supposed to be the attitude of firefighters? 0.99

00:37:47.200 I'm just confused.

00:37:48.080 Also, if I am in a burning building and I see someone who looks like me, who looks like Allie Stuckey running towards me to save me, I'm just going to jump out of the window.

00:38:03.300 Because I'm telling you right now, I wouldn't be able to save most of you.

00:38:08.420 I just wouldn't.

00:38:09.320 I'm not strong enough.

00:38:10.820 I'm not brave enough to do that.

00:38:12.580 I don't have the ability.

00:38:14.440 Like, if I see someone that looks like me trying to save me, I'm like, you know what, I might as well just do this myself then.

00:38:22.540 I will make a rope out of my t-shirts and I will get out of this building before I allow someone who looks like Allie Stuckey to run into the building to save me. 1.00

00:38:31.800 That is absolutely stupid. 0.99

00:38:33.620 I want someone who doesn't look anything like me. 1.00

00:38:36.540 I want, like, a 250-pound marine-looking male with a buzz cut to be running towards my house to save my family and me, obviously.

00:38:48.300 And so all of this DEI stuff is misguided. 0.99

00:38:51.020 And when you put resources towards creating these arbitrary, stupid, and I would say even deleterious quotas, people are going to die. 0.99

00:39:01.060 When you prioritize the color of someone's skin or someone's sexual orientation or so-called gender identity over competence, people are going to die. 0.99

00:39:08.700 That's not only true when it comes to the fire department.

00:39:10.680 That is true when it comes to the police department.

00:39:12.480 It's true when it comes to the military.

00:39:13.860 You should be looking at competence, effectiveness, lethality when it comes to the military, and that's it.

00:39:20.500 No matter what the skin color is, what the people look like. 0.82

00:39:24.820 In 2023, California sent 600,000 acre-feet of water, which is more than the total annual water use of Los Angeles, through the Delta for the purpose of attempting to protect the endangered fish.

00:39:38.360 All right, 2024, LA Mayor Karen Bass cut $17 million from the Los Angeles Fire Department budget.

00:39:47.600 Now, there is debate over this, I will say.

00:39:51.520 There is debate over this.

00:39:52.840 Some people said that that was what she proposed, but that it ended up increasing.

00:39:57.700 But there are many sources that say, no, it was actually a decrease.

00:40:01.120 It ended up in a $17 million decrease.

00:40:03.580 I have seen some, like a Politico article, I believe it was, said, no, it actually increased by $24 million.

00:40:09.660 So it seems like there is some disagreement over that.

00:40:14.440 Last week, LAFD Chief Kristen Crowley told CNN, we can no longer sustain where we are.

00:40:18.820 We do not have enough firefighters.

00:40:21.680 Yeah.

00:40:22.660 Then there's the whole union contract issue.

00:40:25.480 Some news outlets, like ABC7 and LA, are pointing to an overall increase in an LAFD budget.

00:40:31.340 But this is referencing the union contract.

00:40:34.080 Okay, so this is kind of what I was talking about earlier with the disagreement.

00:40:36.740 So they're reconciling that disagreement by saying, no, it's not an increase in the budget that actually, like, gives more firefighters or makes them more effective.

00:40:46.980 But it's an increase in the budget because of union negotiations that makes their retirement and makes their salary really high.

00:40:56.260 Which, of course, means that they can't afford to hire enough firefighters.

00:40:59.940 I'm not saying that firefighters shouldn't be paid well or that they shouldn't get any retirement.

00:41:06.000 But obviously, there needs to be some kind of limit on that.

00:41:09.800 A 2022 report from the California Policy Center wrote that the biggest cost to employ firefighters is paying for their pensions,

00:41:16.400 which, on average, cost California cities $52,000 per year per firefighter.

00:41:22.680 2025, during the recent fires in LA, firefighters discovered that many fire hydrants were empty.

00:41:30.400 The city has 114 massive tanks that store water and help ensure consistent flow.

00:41:35.160 All were full when the fire started Tuesday.

00:41:37.780 Three 1 million gallon tanks supply the hydrants in the Pacific Palisades.

00:41:42.260 The first was empty before 5 p.m.

00:41:44.660 There's just not enough water.

00:41:46.380 NBC News and other media have been reporting that the reservoir would not have made much of a difference.

00:41:51.600 People are saying that reservoirs were empty.

00:41:56.700 And NBC is saying it wouldn't have made much of a difference given the size of the fire.

00:42:00.540 However, a whistleblower came forward to environmental journalist and author Michael Schellenberger to say that this is not true.

00:42:09.340 She has two decades of experience in California water utility and said that the reservoir never should have been drained.

00:42:16.280 It was drained for some reason that we don't really understand.

00:42:19.300 117 million gallons is a huge amount of treated water storage to have available for firefighting.

00:42:24.860 Massive.

00:42:25.620 Maybe one of the biggest treated water storage reservoirs on the whole West Coast.

00:42:30.860 And it was empty, presumably for environmental reasons.

00:42:34.640 The person added that the reservoir should have been kept full for emergency use and only drained for repair after the fire risk was far lower.

00:42:42.960 Gavin Newsom said he's going to get right on that.

00:42:45.960 He's going to investigate that.

00:42:47.320 He's super worried about it.

00:42:49.200 Now he's going to investigate it.

00:42:51.920 Kyle Mann points out that a Babylon Bee prophecy was fulfilled.

00:42:55.180 Gavin Newsom demands answers from whoever's in charge of California.

00:42:59.680 Going to find that guy.

00:43:01.140 Um, 2025, California government continues to ignore a growing issue of homeless encampments that could have played a part in all of this.

00:43:10.700 Also, the illegal immigration problem.

00:43:13.100 Apparently, um, one of the people who helped start one of the fires was an illegal alien.

00:43:20.420 This is according to Bill Malugan of Fox News, who reports on the border.

00:43:25.560 He says that, um, a man seen in a viral video being subdued by residents and arrested by police with a blowtorch near the Kenneth fire in West Hills is an illegal alien from Mexico named Juan Manuel Sierra Leyva.

00:43:41.000 So apparently that is part of the problem.

00:43:43.040 The homeless encampments creating these fires and them getting out of control.

00:43:46.960 That's part of the problem.

00:43:48.540 California has refused to deal with that in several parts of the state.

00:43:52.520 Donald Trump is calling, is calling this out.

00:43:55.480 He said, Governor Gavin Newsom refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water from excess rain and snow melt from the north to flow daily into many parts of California.

00:44:08.320 On Thursday, President Biden announced the federal government would cover 100% of the cost for the initial disaster response to the Los Angeles wildfires.

00:44:16.520 And so now we all have to subsidize the disaster that is the leadership of California.

00:44:24.860 Politics matter because policy matters because people matter.

00:44:27.660 Politics affects policy.

00:44:28.780 Policy affects people.

00:44:30.140 People matter.

00:44:31.040 You are seeing right now the result of elections, the result of putting people in power who are corrupt, who are beholden to these progressive activist groups and who care more about lining their own pockets, taking trips to Africa, appeasing.

00:44:45.600 Taking billionaires who want to help control the water supply than actually serving their constituents.

00:44:51.820 And so while we absolutely need to have compassion for everyone, no matter what their political background is, like, let us remember this during the next election.

00:45:00.660 All right, I want to end on a theological topic.

00:45:06.820 And this is like, this is OG relatable.

00:45:12.100 And this subject of anointing ourselves with oils came up because of a video that I posted over the weekend that caused, like, a huge controversy and made a lot of people, a lot of people mad.

00:45:28.200 So we'll get into that last theological segment in just one second.

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00:46:55.660 Okay, the question that is being debated right now, thanks to my video on Instagram,

00:47:02.500 should we be anointing ourselves with oil for the purpose of declaring or endowing ourselves with certain powers?

00:47:11.900 Over the weekend, I posted a short reaction video to a Christian influencer who shows herself rolling oil on herself

00:47:19.720 while saying that she is anointing herself to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, to prophesy, and to hear directly from the voice of God.

00:47:29.600 And I said in response, this is witchcraft.

00:47:32.980 This is an attempt to wed the New Age with Christianity and syncretism. 0.98

00:47:37.600 I did not anticipate the massive blowback that this would cause.

00:47:43.760 Some people respectfully disagreed, which is great.

00:47:46.860 I always appreciate that.

00:47:48.020 Others lost their wits entirely and evolved into all kinds of personal insults,

00:47:53.400 as people often do when they don't have a substantive response to what you're saying.

00:47:57.540 But those in both camps had a common theme in their rebuttals to what I said, which was that, quote,

00:48:05.040 this is biblical.

00:48:06.320 Anointing oil is biblical.

00:48:07.900 We see it all over scripture.

00:48:09.560 So I wanted to respond to that assertion as well as to some other criticisms that I received.

00:48:17.740 I want to give my theological defense for what I said.

00:48:21.540 But before I get into the theology of anointing oils, a couple things I want to say.

00:48:28.340 So first, I want to assent to two criticisms.

00:48:32.780 I want to validate them.

00:48:34.100 I will take these two fair critiques and apply them because I think that there is some truth to them.

00:48:41.880 One criticism I got from this video that my video was done in a mocking way rather than a loving way.

00:48:47.160 And while my words themselves were not mocking, they weren't.

00:48:52.660 They weren't rude.

00:48:53.920 They weren't attacking.

00:48:55.560 They weren't making fun of her.

00:48:56.680 My expressions, the elements used in the video, did amount to mockery.

00:49:00.900 And I would say that that was counterproductive.

00:49:03.040 So I'll take that.

00:49:04.180 A second criticism I received, there wasn't enough explanation of my statements in that short video,

00:49:09.320 which is part of the reason it elicited such an intense response.

00:49:13.340 And that may be true.

00:49:14.640 I agree that when dealing with theological claims, we should provide as much clarity as possible.

00:49:19.880 So I do apologize for not doing that.

00:49:22.820 Second thing, however, I will not apologize for publicly rebutting a public theological claim.

00:49:32.120 It is stunning how many Christian conservatives take on the progressive tactic of calling disagreement

00:49:37.020 hate or an attack when it comes to their own personal beliefs.

00:49:41.000 I make a lot of content, and it gets responded to publicly constantly.

00:49:46.540 There are so many videos out there giving responses to things that I've said.

00:49:51.280 Some are respectful.

00:49:52.880 Some are not at all.

00:49:54.400 But I truly don't get my feelings hurt by that or lose my mind about that.

00:49:59.820 I understand that that is part of publicly saying things that many deem controversial.

00:50:04.500 I think the debate and the discussion is really good and productive, actually, as long as it

00:50:10.000 doesn't sink to the level of the personal.

00:50:12.520 And if that is not something that you can stomach, like if you see all disagreement or even someone

00:50:18.100 defending their own beliefs as a personal attack, then truly, and I say this sincerely,

00:50:23.160 I encourage you not to be on social media.

00:50:26.420 That's just not something that seems to be healthy for you.

00:50:29.480 Now, on to the question of anointing oneself with oils, specifically to declare certain

00:50:36.520 Christian powers available to you.

00:50:39.360 Is that biblical?

00:50:41.280 And does it really matter?

00:50:44.380 It is true that the Bible speaks of anointing oils.

00:50:47.760 I count 20 times in Scripture, both in the Old Testament and the New, where the Bible talks about this.

00:50:53.280 In the Old Testament, we mostly see oils used by priests in the tabernacle or for priests in the tabernacle.

00:51:01.300 There are a few examples of this.

00:51:03.660 In Exodus 29, God gives instructions to Moses to consecrate priests.

00:51:08.280 Verse 7, you shall take the anointed oil and pour it on his head and anoint him.

00:51:13.700 In Exodus 40, God gives instructions to Moses for building and consecrating the tabernacle.

00:51:18.560 Verse 9, then you shall take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle in all that is in it.

00:51:24.500 And then we see Leviticus 8.12, Moses pours anointing oil on Aaron and consecrated him.

00:51:30.040 And then we also see oil used in a different way.

00:51:32.720 Ruth 3.3, Naomi tells Ruth to anoint herself before going to Boaz to see if he will be her kinsman redeemer.

00:51:40.400 And then in Psalm 23, David says of the Lord,

00:51:42.840 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

00:51:45.860 You anoint my head with oil.

00:51:48.000 My cup overflows.

00:51:49.700 In Micah 6.15, God says to the wicked,

00:51:52.340 You shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil.

00:51:57.300 And then in Matthew 6.17, Jesus says,

00:52:00.120 When you fast, anoint your head with oil.

00:52:03.300 It doesn't say with oil in my version, but I'm adding that.

00:52:06.200 In other versions, it does say with oil.

00:52:08.140 In Luke 7.46, Jesus rebukes the Pharisees who looked down upon the prostitute,

00:52:13.980 who worshipped at Jesus' feet, who poured ointment on his feet.

00:52:18.820 Jesus says,

00:52:19.720 You did not anoint my head with oil to the Pharisees,

00:52:23.020 but she, this woman of the night, has anointed my feet with ointment.

00:52:27.740 He goes on to say,

00:52:29.140 Yeah, she's got a lot of sins, but she has shown more humility and honor than you have,

00:52:33.100 and she's forgiven for her sins.

00:52:34.720 In Mark 6, the apostles cast out demons.

00:52:38.060 And in verse 12, I think I have a typo there,

00:52:42.680 it says that anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.

00:52:48.140 Actually, I think it's verse 13.

00:52:50.060 James 5.14,

00:52:51.940 If someone in your church is sick,

00:52:56.600 then this passage in James says,

00:52:59.360 Okay, so in order to understand what these examples mean,

00:53:11.040 we need to define a couple words and then look at the context and then decide,

00:53:15.020 okay, is anointing yourself with oil, rolling on oil,

00:53:18.080 saying that you can hear directly from God, prophesy, raise the dead?

00:53:23.060 Is that biblical?

00:53:23.640 So first, this word anoint, this just means to smear with oil.

00:53:28.140 In the Old Testament, we see that God commanded anointing with oil some individuals

00:53:33.160 or even objects that were set apart, like priests or tabernacle furnishings.

00:53:38.060 This is the main purpose of anointing oil in ancient Israel.

00:53:42.340 In Exodus 30, God tells Moses the specific ingredients of the sacred anointing oil,

00:53:46.940 that included cane, cassia, olive oil, this oil,

00:53:51.240 and this oil alone was to be used for the particular purpose of consecrating priests in the tabernacle.

00:53:57.020 People were anointed who were set apart.

00:53:59.860 David in 1 Samuel 16 was anointed as king of Israel.

00:54:04.400 So this word anoint is also used to describe God's chosen ones.

00:54:08.980 Psalm 28.8, for example,

00:54:10.500 he is the refuge, the saving refuge of his anointed.

00:54:14.680 That was ancient Israel.

00:54:15.860 That's us today who have been adopted into God's family through Jesus's blood,

00:54:20.940 his sacrifice, his redemption.

00:54:22.540 That word consecrate that we see over and over again in these passages is very similar.

00:54:27.540 It doesn't necessarily have to do with anointing oil.

00:54:31.260 It means to separate oneself from that which is unholy.

00:54:35.260 There are many commands throughout Scripture to consecrate themselves,

00:54:39.200 to consecrate someone in a variety of ways.

00:54:41.500 But in some cases, oil was a part of the consecration process for certain people in particular roles.

00:54:47.740 Now, how about when we see oil used in other ways throughout the Bible?

00:54:52.040 When we're told to put on oil when we're fasting or when we're told to use oil,

00:54:56.680 when we're praying for a sick friend's healing.

00:54:58.840 Not every reference to oil in Scripture is about setting a person apart,

00:55:03.980 like the priest in ancient Israel.

00:55:05.640 It was also used for aesthetic purposes.

00:55:08.260 So when Jesus says to put oil on your head when fasting, for example,

00:55:12.160 in context, we see that this isn't some kind of like anointing,

00:55:15.900 but because at the time people used oil to make themselves, make their faces look better, more alive.

00:55:22.540 So in that passage, Jesus is telling people to fast in a way that only the Lord sees,

00:55:28.120 not in an obvious gloomy way to everyone else so that we can get their applause.

00:55:33.420 And then in Mark 6 and James 5, when oil is used for the sick,

00:55:37.500 the best understanding that we have for why they do this is that oil was used symbolically.

00:55:42.780 It could be that they believed that there was some medicinal benefit,

00:55:46.900 but we have no reason to believe that they believed the oil in itself had any power.

00:55:52.580 And in fact, in that passage, that James 5, 14 passage,

00:55:56.000 we see that we pray that a person would be healed in the name of the Lord.

00:56:02.020 Okay, so it's the Lord who heals, not the oil, but the Lord.

00:56:06.060 So all of this said, I think oil can be used in a symbolic way for some purposes.

00:56:12.320 And of course, there are actual benefits to some essential oils.

00:56:16.260 This doesn't carry spiritual significance, but of course,

00:56:18.880 I'm not against using essential oils for fragrance or some ailments as it applies.

00:56:24.220 But what I am against is using oil in a way that is not biblical.

00:56:28.440 We see nowhere in scripture, not a single place,

00:56:31.900 where anyone anoints themselves with oil to declare over themselves

00:56:36.020 or to endow themselves with particular powers.

00:56:38.380 This is not even a debate over whether the gifts of the spirit,

00:56:43.920 like prophesying or speaking in tongues, still exist today.

00:56:47.140 That is a cessationist versus a continuationist debate that is absolutely worth having.

00:56:51.540 I've talked about it before, but that is a longer discussion

00:56:54.300 that we do not have time for right now.

00:56:56.620 This is about anointing yourself with oil to activate certain abilities,

00:57:01.840 which is not biblically founded at all.

00:57:05.940 Now, the question is, is it really witchcraft, as I said,

00:57:09.540 or is that just like way too harsh?

00:57:12.280 It is certainly closer to sorcery than it is to scripture.

00:57:16.300 It is very similar to using a potion or a crystal or a sage,

00:57:21.000 or if you remember those power beads,

00:57:22.980 do you remember those power beads that you could get?

00:57:24.580 It was like, this will make you like happy.

00:57:27.380 This will make you fall in love.

00:57:28.700 And they were like marketed to eight-year-olds.

00:57:30.960 So strange, very strange time, the 90s.

00:57:33.720 But all of these things are thought to like give you some kind of special power.

00:57:40.160 Witchcraft seeks supernatural power outside of God's bounds.

00:57:45.000 And it often relies on some kind of medium,

00:57:47.700 some kind of object or material or liquid or plant,

00:57:50.860 while also repeating a mantra.

00:57:53.540 This, as we see throughout scripture, is strictly forbidden by God.

00:57:56.840 I don't think this person in the video that I reacted to intended it in that way,

00:58:03.200 but we should be very careful when encouraging any spiritual practice

00:58:07.780 that is not explicitly rooted in scripture,

00:58:10.800 or is even close to something that we know is forbidden in scripture.

00:58:15.100 We shouldn't mess around with that kind of thing at all.

00:58:17.900 And this is why I think it is important to refute this kind of theology.

00:58:22.220 Whether you think so or not, it places a difficult yoke and a heavy burden on people,

00:58:29.540 just like all superstition does.

00:58:31.640 It treats God like a genie.

00:58:33.440 If I do this, this extra biblical or even unbiblical thing,

00:58:37.220 then God will do this for me in return.

00:58:39.920 But then when he doesn't, because he's not a genie,

00:58:43.300 then that often causes a crisis of faith.

00:58:46.400 Remember Leviticus 10, when Nadab and Abihu offered a sacrifice to God

00:58:51.900 that was not in alignment with his rules for sacrifices?

00:58:55.280 Leviticus 10, 1 described it as an unauthorized fire.

00:58:59.480 Some translations say a strange fire.

00:59:02.140 God rejected it.

00:59:03.120 And not only did he reject their sacrifice,

00:59:05.140 he consumed the two men with fire.

00:59:07.580 So I think we see here, no, we're not in Old Testament Israel,

00:59:10.720 but I think we see here that God takes our worship very seriously

00:59:14.520 and that he actually cares that we are honoring him,

00:59:19.500 that we are honoring his protections and parameters in how we serve him.

00:59:25.300 And that is a good reminder for all of us.

00:59:27.200 I'm not just talking to my charismatic friends, but really for all of us.

00:59:31.060 This is an issue, though, with much of the hyper-charismatic world

00:59:35.940 that's seeking, it seems, in many cases, the thrill of emotional experiences.

00:59:40.720 Rather than a biblical life.

00:59:43.140 And I am not saying that this is everyone who is charismatic.

00:59:46.800 There are a lot of charismatics that I follow that I really respect,

00:59:50.420 that I partner with when it comes to really important issues like the pro-life cause.

00:59:56.120 I really appreciate how, in general, strong charismatics are

01:00:00.140 when it comes to issues like abortion and gender,

01:00:02.460 something that really can't be said for many Christians.

01:00:05.320 I appreciate the charismatic enthusiasm for Jesus,

01:00:08.240 the desire to see people know him.

01:00:10.720 But all of us in our different subsets of Christianity have to be really careful

01:00:14.960 not to veer into unbiblical realms, no matter how that might look.

01:00:20.240 All right, guys.

01:00:21.700 That's all we got time for today.

01:00:23.340 And did we keep it under an hour?

01:00:26.760 No, we did not.

01:00:29.240 But many of you have expressed that you like the longer episodes.

01:00:32.860 So I hope that you enjoyed this one.

01:00:35.300 We will see you back here tomorrow.

01:00:36.380 We'll see you back soon.

01:00:44.720 Bye-bye.

01:00:44.900 Bye-bye.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - January 14, 2025

Ep 1122 ｜ New Age Oils & California’s Corrupt History

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