Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - September 04, 2019


Ep 158 | Freedom & Harm


Episode Stats

Length

29 minutes

Words per Minute

189.89227

Word Count

5,611

Sentence Count

2

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

2


Summary

In this episode, we discuss the tragic mass shooting that took place in Texas on Labor Day weekend, and the lack of protection from the law in the wake of this mass shooting, as well as what we can do to prevent future mass shootings.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 hey guys welcome to relatable thank you for being here i hope everyone has had a wonderful week a
00:00:06.060 good long and restful labor day weekend unfortunately something very tragic happened
00:00:12.440 this weekend in west texas another mass shooting today that's what we're going to talk about we're
00:00:18.360 going to talk about mass shootings we're going to talk about gun control we will touch on red flag
00:00:22.100 laws and the solutions that have been promote uh proposed and the differences between the right and
00:00:27.680 the left on this particular issue this is something a lot of you have asked me to talk about we did
00:00:33.720 many evergreen topics over the summer the second amendment is not one that we got to i'd like to
00:00:40.480 do a more in-depth episode on really what the second amendment is the history of court cases surrounding
00:00:47.160 the second amendment and why conservatives support it that's not what today's episode is but i do hope
00:00:52.680 to offer a little bit of clarity to you on this particular subject first okay so like i said over
00:00:58.640 the weekend another tragic shooting happened in midland texas this time it wasn't in a store or
00:01:03.700 at a concert or in a building that's something that we're used to this time it was a person identified
00:01:09.280 as a white male in his mid-30s in his car shooting at people in other cars he was pulled over on saturday
00:01:15.860 afternoon for not using his turn signals this was a totally routine traffic stop but he then started
00:01:22.560 shooting at the officers and then he drove off and started shooting at other drivers and passengers
00:01:26.840 he hijacked a postal truck and drove to odessa about 20 miles away shooting and killing people
00:01:33.000 on route he killed seven people and injured over 20 people among the seriously injured was a 17 month
00:01:40.640 old baby girl her mother apparently was not injured there was a story of someone coming out of a
00:01:45.140 restaurant and seeing the mother and her child covered in blood in the back seat in a car seat
00:01:50.380 and her mother was just hysterical of course exactly how i would be as well i can't imagine the terror
00:01:56.500 and the helplessness that she felt in that moment and the heartache and the fear and the anxiety that
00:02:02.240 she's probably experiencing now reportedly this young girl is in stable condition which is great
00:02:08.720 but i'm sure this mom and her dad are probably dealing with a lot right now and so while i'm praying
00:02:14.080 for all of the victims and their families uh this particular story since i am a new mom of a baby
00:02:19.640 girl just really gets me in my core into my heart just because i can feel and empathize how scary that
00:02:27.400 must be and i'm i'm just thinking about them a lot and have been over the past few days uh so law
00:02:33.200 enforcement cornered this guy in the parking lot of the movie theater they shot and killed him thankfully i am
00:02:38.420 so thankful so thankful for our police officers proving yet again that the only way to stop a bad
00:02:44.420 guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun bad guys are always going to find a way to harm and to kill
00:02:49.500 and even to illegally buy guns so the need for well-armed good responsible citizens will always be
00:02:56.200 necessary for our safety and we'll get into more of that in just a little bit so a little bit more on
00:03:01.460 this guy i'm not going to name him because one of the motivations they have found and researchers
00:03:08.080 have found in these mass shootings is publicity is fame is notoriety i'm not going to give him that
00:03:14.600 satisfaction i'm also not going to be a part of any kind of complicit encouragement or indirect
00:03:21.600 encouragement of people who are maybe considering doing something like this because they want some
00:03:27.160 kind of recognition i'm not going to give them that thing that they crave the question always is
00:03:33.180 were there any signs leading up to this should we have known that this guy was a threat did he have
00:03:39.680 a criminal record what was the context of the shooting what's his online history and of course
00:03:44.440 the big question that law enforcement is looking at and that we wonder too what is the motive what we
00:03:50.260 know is that he was fired from his trucking job just hours before this so that could explain a little
00:03:55.380 bit of it maybe he was angry but of course a lot of people get fired from their jobs and they don't
00:03:59.920 go on some kind of killing rampage so clearly there's something else going on here he actually called the
00:04:06.080 fbi tip line just before this happened after he was fired apparently he got into a verbal altercation
00:04:11.660 with his boss they both uh called 911 this guy called the fbi tip line but apparently according to the
00:04:18.880 fbi he was just rambling he wasn't actually threatening to do anything and so no action by them was taken
00:04:24.360 public records show that he was arrested way back in 2001 for two misdemeanors one was trespassing
00:04:30.940 the other was evading arrest that was 18 years ago the guy was 36 and so he was 18 when he was arrested
00:04:39.400 for those misdemeanors most people wouldn't say that a misdemeanor alone when you're a teenager
00:04:44.440 necessarily means that you pose a risk to society he doesn't have much of an online footprint from what
00:04:50.840 we know that's a little bit rare a lot of times when we see these mass shootings there was some
00:04:54.920 kind of sign online but his neighbor did tell officers that he threatened her with a gun for
00:05:00.440 leaving her trash in a dumpster close by she also reportedly said that he would shoot at animals in
00:05:06.460 his yard from a structure on top of his house every night which is extremely disturbing especially
00:05:10.280 to people who love animals i mean i guess it's disturbing to everyone we don't know maybe they could
00:05:15.160 have been rats or raccoons or something like that but they also could have been cats and dogs
00:05:18.880 we do know that animal abuse especially in a grown man and especially of domesticated animals is
00:05:24.040 typically some kind of indication of other kinds of violent behavior not every time but many times
00:05:30.620 the fbi also believed that there had been a lot leading up to this as there almost always is these
00:05:36.800 things just don't happen in a vacuum there is always something that precipitated it or something that
00:05:43.120 had been going on along behind the scenes for a long time this is according to usa today
00:05:47.840 fbi special agent christopher combe said the shooter's home was a very strange residence that
00:05:53.780 reflected his mental state he was on a long spiral of going down combe said after a search of the
00:05:59.220 property west of odessa he didn't wake up saturday morning and go into his company and then it happened
00:06:05.180 he went to that company in trouble and had probably been in trouble for a while but that's really all we
00:06:10.840 know at this point we know that he used a rifle texas governor greg abbott tweeted that the shooter had
00:06:15.620 failed his background check to get a gun but he didn't say how or why it's probably not because
00:06:21.720 of the misdemeanors because in texas only felonies or domestic violence misdemeanors stop you from
00:06:26.700 being able to purchase a gun the texas tribute says this in texas licensed licensed dealers must conduct
00:06:34.400 background checks through the national instant criminal background check system or in ics however
00:06:39.520 there are exceptions to this rule such as if the buyer already has a texas license to carry a handgun
00:06:44.880 private sales between individuals also do not require a criminal background check which includes
00:06:50.460 some gun sales at gun shows this is exactly why advocates for gun control believe that there needs
00:06:56.520 to be a universal background check which supporters say would close the so-called gun show loophole and
00:07:04.240 make private transfers pretty much impossible every firearm purchase would have to be registered
00:07:09.460 with the nics some have also suggested red flag laws you've probably heard a lot about this in the
00:07:15.880 news recently which allows family members or police to ask a state court to temporarily remove guns from
00:07:23.020 someone they believe is a violent threat based on something they've said or done better work and other
00:07:28.920 democratic candidates for press for the presidency propose gun buyback programs where the government
00:07:35.180 would literally confiscate certain kinds of guns what they consider assault style guns or military style guns
00:07:42.220 the pushback on all of this from gun rights advocates is that each of these suggestions limits the freedoms of
00:07:48.560 responsible citizens that's the big argument that that we've been having universal background checks would
00:07:54.100 essentially require a registry of all guns which many believe is an invasion of privacy privacy and an over
00:08:00.700 encroachment of the government the check also adds a cost to the purchase of buying a gun which could make it more
00:08:06.540 difficult for poor people to purchase a gun legally that's a problem the red flag laws they sound really good in
00:08:12.600 theory i think that they sound good on the surface but there is a risk of manipulating them there's a risk of
00:08:19.720 politicization for example someone disagrees with you politically or maybe it's theologically or whatever and they
00:08:26.560 petitioned the court to remove your weapons the court may share this person's political inclinations
00:08:31.700 and agree to take your weapons away for that reason there's just no way of guaranteeing that there would
00:08:37.460 be a fair objective standard for these laws and president trump actually interestingly demonstrated this
00:08:43.880 problem when he tweeted about chris cuomo getting angry at someone in public for calling him freedom
00:08:48.520 he said that maybe cuomo poses a threat under red flag laws and should have his guns taken away because he's an
00:08:54.520 angry guy well obviously president trump was being sarcastic he was being facetious uh but that is
00:08:59.960 exactly what we should be afraid of with these kinds of laws using red flag laws as either a personal
00:09:05.160 or political or professional whatever it is weapon against someone uh red flag laws would just be very
00:09:12.460 difficult to enforce there was actually a story last week out of portland about a marine who said online
00:09:19.220 that he would quote slaughter antifa you know antifa the violent thugs uh if he were attacked so he's
00:09:26.280 talking about acting in self-defense and all of his guns under these red flag laws in uh in oregon were
00:09:32.620 removed from him that is crazy i don't see how that's not unconstitutional and while i do think that we need
00:09:38.100 to do a better job of that a better job of tracking people who potentially pose a threat that's just very
00:09:43.020 difficult i mean think about it there are a lot of just weird erratic people in the world who are
00:09:48.440 into some really freaky stuff who don't necessarily though pose a threat of violence and they have a
00:09:55.080 right to be weird they have a right to be into freaky stuff we don't have to agree with it but that
00:09:58.980 doesn't necessarily mean that they don't have a right to own a gun people have suggested gun buyback
00:10:04.320 programs where the police buy your guns it is mandatory of course we know that bad guys won't turn in
00:10:10.700 their guns and this costs money it's a terrible idea here is better work talking about that we're
00:10:15.940 going to speak as defiantly and as strongly as we can but we're also going to take action universal
00:10:21.020 background checks red flag laws and into the sales of weapons of war and buying those ak-47s and ar-15s
00:10:27.920 back so there have been supposed solutions put forth but really the conversation after something like
00:10:35.200 this happens is predictable before the bodies are even cold liberals are saying that it is a gun
00:10:41.920 problem that it's even a white male problems conservatives are arguing that it's not a gun
00:10:47.200 problem guns don't shoot people and let me just give credence to both arguments on the one hand
00:10:54.000 conservatives are right guns don't shoot people a gun has never committed a crime a gun is neither good
00:10:59.660 nor bad it is an inanimate object that can be used in self-defense it can be used for sport for hunting
00:11:05.600 or for evil it depends on who is behind the gun a bad person behind a gun means that bad things are
00:11:11.440 probably going to happen and if a responsible gun owner is behind the gun they probably won't bad
00:11:17.400 people will find a way to do what they want no matter what the gun laws are no matter what their
00:11:22.660 weapon of choice is so there's no use in passing laws conservatives say that would violate the rights of
00:11:28.900 responsible gun owners who do make up the majority of gun ownership to which however the left says
00:11:36.360 sure a gun doesn't fire on its own but we already have laws that make assault and murder illegal and
00:11:42.580 these people are still assaulting and murdering people there has to be a law or a series of laws
00:11:47.840 regulating the weapon of choice for these mass shooters they would say yes a bad person may use a
00:11:54.100 knife or a truck or a shovel but in this country they typically don't and these kinds of
00:11:58.680 weapons are apparently capable of killing a lot more people a lot faster than other kinds of
00:12:03.720 weapons so why don't we try to limit the casualties as much as possible as much as we can by getting
00:12:09.620 rid of these guns that's what people on the left would say or gun control advocates would say and i
00:12:14.080 get that i understand how that makes sense i really do and these what i just did is a really good faith
00:12:20.220 rendering of both arguments both sides really have a lot of dishonesty uh but taking the most honest of
00:12:27.200 both sides the best of both sides what we're talking about essentially is how to balance our
00:12:32.780 personal liberty our constitutional right to bear arms with public safety the nature of personal
00:12:39.020 liberty is that there will always be risk same thing with free speech for example free speech means
00:12:44.080 there is a risk of you being offended there is a risk of hearing me say something that you don't like
00:12:49.920 the question is how much risk are we willing to bear and is it possible to mitigate the risk of harm
00:12:55.560 without severely hampering individual liberty that's the real question that we're asking that's the
00:13:01.460 real debate that we're having if we can get past all of the punditry punditry and all of the
00:13:09.000 politicization of this that is the question that we are trying to answer so the problem is and here's
00:13:16.720 where i reveal my issue with the leftist position on this in particular is that the left especially today
00:13:22.680 just has a very low value on individual liberty whereas the right cares about both harm and liberty
00:13:28.700 the left really only cares about harm especially in this case and they believe that taking guns away
00:13:34.140 and making it harder to get guns is the answer to preventing harm while the question is is this true
00:13:40.740 because i think all of us would like to prevent mass shootings all of us would like fewer casualties
00:13:45.160 but does taking guns away really prevent shootings there is a meme that you've probably seen that goes
00:13:51.680 around every time a mass shooting happens with a list of flags it's you know the flag emojis and a
00:13:57.880 number next to it and all next to all of the flags is the number zero and then there's the american
00:14:02.780 flag at the very bottom and the number next to it i think is like 250 accounting for how many mass
00:14:07.500 shootings have occurred this year celebrities share it everyone shares it it's been shared millions of
00:14:12.500 times and people share it without giving any kind of source without citing hey this is where i got these
00:14:18.300 numbers from uh they just say nope this is a fax because someone tweeted it out but we should
00:14:24.040 probably ask some questions before we just take this at face value like this person who created this
00:14:29.700 meme what is the definition of mass technically it is four or more people shot at the same time
00:14:35.280 but we don't we don't know if that's this person's definition of mass shooting say that it is we don't have a
00:14:41.880 citation for it so we don't know if it's really true that four or more people haven't been shot at the same
00:14:46.920 time in any of these other countries that are listed especially considering that the homicide
00:14:51.280 rates for some of the countries on this list are much higher than the united states in brazil for
00:14:56.300 example they have extremely strict gun laws and yet their murder rate is one of the highest murder
00:15:01.320 rates in the world that goes for most of central and south america and mexico by the way there is a
00:15:07.720 non-partisan study that i've cited before by lot and moody i have it in the highlights on my instagram
00:15:12.420 uh that you can you can go look at it there you can just swipe up and see the whole study for
00:15:18.000 yourself so you know that i'm not making this up they found that there is no correlation no
00:15:23.140 correlation at all between the number of guns in a country and the number of homicides a lot of people
00:15:28.720 say that if you look at other countries shootings go down after strict gun laws go into place but if you
00:15:34.900 look at the charts that these people are citing uh before and after those gun laws are actually put
00:15:40.860 into place what you'll see is that the number of shootings was already on the decline before the
00:15:46.000 laws were even passed getting rid of guns is only going to make people like you and me unsafe we are
00:15:54.480 not safer as a society if i for example don't have a gun by taking away my guns from me and my family
00:16:02.200 are making it harder for me to get a gun you do absolutely nothing to contribute to the safety of
00:16:07.520 this country you've done nothing all you've done is violate my freedoms and make me more vulnerable
00:16:11.640 because guess what if a 200 pound guy or less than that about even if a 150 pound guy approaches me and
00:16:18.480 my child on the street and tries to assault me i'm powerless it doesn't matter how quick i am with my
00:16:23.820 mace it doesn't matter how good i am with my knife um not that i carry a knife but if i did it doesn't
00:16:31.000 matter how many self-defense classes i've taken i probably won't be able to fight him off maybe if
00:16:36.920 i'm lucky maybe if i'm really lucky and he happens to be really slow but my trump card is going to be
00:16:43.400 my gun if i and if you gun owner know how to handle it well and this is the same for almost every woman
00:16:52.840 and a lot of men and of course it's not just criminals uh the second amendment protects us
00:16:57.920 against it's the government it's tyranny the taking away of our freedoms you've probably heard the second
00:17:02.300 amendment protects the first amendment and that's true this is precisely why the second amendment
00:17:07.240 exists the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed for some for some reason for some reason
00:17:14.520 some people like to pretend like that part doesn't exist that it's just a well-regulated militia
00:17:19.860 no the founders did not want a nation in which only the government and law enforcement are armed
00:17:27.560 that makes you powerless to the whims of a tyrant and that is exactly what they sought to avoid
00:17:33.400 you don't have to like guns or own a gun to respect the rights of people to defend themselves how they
00:17:39.640 see fit i don't judge you if you don't own a gun or if guns scare you that's totally fine i want you to
00:17:45.080 be able to protect yourself with pepper spray if you want to i want you to be able to protect your
00:17:49.280 family uh by i don't know taekwondo if you want i also want you to be able to own a gun if you want to
00:17:57.160 i want you to be able to take your protection into your own hands i want you to have the ability
00:18:02.120 to defend yourself and to help those around you should the opportunity arise there is this utter
00:18:08.640 misconception among a lot of people on the left especially the coastal elites especially those who
00:18:14.720 live in big cities who just don't seem to understand this that people who own guns or people who believe
00:18:22.520 and the right to bear arms aren't gun nuts maybe you are and that's totally fine if you love guns and
00:18:28.800 you love going out and shooting guns and you're obsessed with going to gun shows that's totally
00:18:32.460 fine but the vast majority i would say of gun owners aren't like that like i really don't care
00:18:37.820 about guns i'm not obsessed with guns i'm not in gun culture again that's cool if you are but i'm not
00:18:43.040 like that all i care about is protecting myself all i care about is the right to protect my family
00:18:48.560 that's that's all i care about and i want you to have the right to do that as well you don't have
00:18:53.780 to but i want you to have that right what we care about way more than guns it's freedom uh they think
00:18:59.800 that we are i don't know excited about the opportunity to use our gun on someone and what
00:19:05.400 they must not realize is that all responsible gun owners pray pray that we will never have to use our
00:19:13.080 gun on a person no one wants to be in that situation i think they think that we are like
00:19:18.460 warped in our minds and that we love violence no not at all we hope that violence is completely
00:19:24.620 eradicated of course those of us who are christians know that that's not going to happen until jesus
00:19:28.500 comes back but that's not our desire at all we're not more violent people we just want to be able to
00:19:34.300 protect ourselves and protect our families but the question is the question is misconceptions aside
00:19:39.200 is what do we do about this because both the right and the left again if we take the best of both
00:19:43.820 sides want to do something about this we don't want casualties we don't want this to happen again
00:19:48.440 we don't want ourselves we don't we don't want to be put in this situation we don't want those that we
00:19:52.060 know to be put in this situation we don't want to see another one of these stories and we don't want
00:19:56.380 to have this twitter dialogue where it's so exhausting where both sides are so dishonest and
00:20:01.420 it's it's it's it's the worst it's the worst of the american soul the conversations that we have
00:20:10.720 after these tragic shootings it is the worst part of us that seems to come to the forefront
00:20:17.140 and i would say that most of us don't want that anymore most of us would love to never have this
00:20:23.360 conversation again and so what do we do again we are trying to find the balance between liberty
00:20:29.680 and preventing harm last year congress passed the fix ncis bill and since then over six million
00:20:37.180 records have actually been added to the federal databases this is from conservative review.com
00:20:42.120 the fix nics act was passed in march 2018 and aimed to increase compliance with federal background
00:20:48.500 check laws by providing additional reporting resources imposing penalties on federal agencies that
00:20:54.600 fail to comply and promoting state level compliance through incentives and public reporting of
00:20:59.460 those who don't comply the doj numbers also indicate that the department has now received
00:21:04.040 implementation plans from all 50 states the district of columbia and 71 federal agencies the plans are
00:21:10.120 meant to evaluate and approve current nics reporting practices so as far as i'm concerned that's a good
00:21:15.720 thing we don't want people falling through the cracks that's a big problem that we have is not that we
00:21:20.000 don't have that ground checks because we do but people fall through the cracks that is a problem and i hope
00:21:26.720 this uh that this act continues to be implemented and work well is there more that we could do maybe
00:21:32.780 and i know this might be unsatisfying to you but i don't have the perfect answer for this i want one
00:21:37.760 i want congress to work on this i want the left and the right to come together i want democrats and
00:21:42.280 republicans to come together and have a conversation about this but i also want to get rid of the talking
00:21:47.860 points that say neither side really cares because i believe that both sides do and i also think it's a myth
00:21:53.240 perpetuated by some people on the left to say that uh the politicians that support the second
00:21:58.740 amendment are just beholden to the nra they just want nra money no the nra supports them because they
00:22:05.400 ideologically support the second amendment because they've probably always supported the second amendment
00:22:10.240 maybe not every single politician that they support but um politicians conservative politicians
00:22:16.160 are ideologically inclined to support the second amendment so that's not why we're not having
00:22:21.540 a serious conversation about this at least that's not the main reason why we're not having a
00:22:26.820 conversation about this it's just a back and forth of scoring political points when really i would
00:22:32.400 really like to see these things come to an end i simply don't believe that any of the so-called
00:22:38.460 solutions that democrats have put forth will do anything i mean they put forth these solutions in a very
00:22:46.100 emotional state and they don't correspond the legislation that they put forth doesn't actually
00:22:51.800 correspond with the crime committed so often the legislation that they put forward wouldn't have
00:22:57.240 stopped the particular shooter that they are reacting to which just goes to show again it's about
00:23:02.420 political points it's not actually about fixing the problem and so i'm ready to hear more solutions from
00:23:10.140 our congress people i am ready to hear how we can make these tragedies stop or at least stop them from
00:23:17.700 happening as often without limiting the freedom of people like you and me responsible gun owners who hope to
00:23:24.640 never ever have to use our guns uh on a person in self-defense i i hope that that never happens but
00:23:32.140 nevertheless who want to protect our families um what we know also as christians what we know as
00:23:40.940 christians is that no legislation will fix this no bill will fix this no pundit will fix this no
00:23:47.640 politician will fix this that sin is the problem and sin is going to persist and yes i i will say that
00:23:55.880 mass shootings look different in america than they look in other countries homicide rates are higher in
00:24:01.160 other countries but this kind of crime is unique to us it's not completely exclusive to us but it is
00:24:08.320 unique to us but what we know as christians is that no matter what kind of crime is prevalent in our
00:24:13.320 country no matter what the problem is the solution remains the same like if our essential and ultimate
00:24:19.560 problem is that we are dead in our trespasses if our essential problem is that we are broken in the
00:24:29.240 core of our being that we are totally depraved then the ultimate solution can only be the only one who
00:24:36.120 can save us from those things the only one who can make us alive who can make us a new creation
00:24:40.240 whose kindness can lead us to repentance who can make us love god's law and walk in his ways and that is
00:24:45.880 jesus which means a few things that means that our sole responsibility our ultimate responsibility
00:24:52.900 responsibility as christians is to share the gospel if that's what changes hearts and minds and we
00:24:58.680 believe that this is a heart problem then that's our sole responsibility we can't say you know this is
00:25:03.440 a heart problem this is a problem in people's souls and not give people the solution we can't just be
00:25:08.200 people who talk about problems we also have to share the solution which is jesus it's really easy to score
00:25:14.080 political points on twitter and say this isn't a gun problem this is a heart problem okay well who fixes the
00:25:20.740 heart who changes the heart who makes the heart of stone a heart of flesh who makes us a new creation
00:25:26.260 who saves us who reconciles us a wicked people to a holy god changing us completely and eternally
00:25:32.200 it's jesus so we can't just be people that state the problem we also have to know the solution and
00:25:38.280 because we know the solution that means something else that we don't live in fear so much easier said
00:25:43.540 than done anyone who is in my family knows what an anxious person i am how paranoid i can be how i'm
00:25:49.400 always thinking about the worst case scenario and how worried and fearful i can be and yet jesus tells
00:25:54.960 us over and over again in his word do not fear do not let your heart be troubled do not be anxious do
00:26:04.240 not worry your heavenly father knows what you need that is much easier said than done but i have to
00:26:12.780 believe that the god of the universe who existed before time began who is suspended in the eternal
00:26:19.020 now who was ever on his throne who is the same yesterday today and forever knew exactly what
00:26:24.980 we would be up against in 2019 and i don't believe that it was arbitrary that you and i were placed
00:26:30.780 on the time in history on the specific point in eternity that we were placed not that god needs us
00:26:37.720 but that he chooses to use us when and how he does and i believe that he equips every generation you are
00:26:44.940 not here by accident god doesn't do anything flippantly he doesn't do anything arbitrarily he
00:26:50.500 doesn't do anything accidentally he's not surprised by anything he's not thrown off by anything he's not
00:26:56.220 looking down and saying oh my gosh i made a huge mistake no because he is gracious because he doesn't
00:27:03.160 um he doesn't experience time the same way that we do uh he is patiently bringing people to himself
00:27:11.000 even as we are experiencing these scary circumstances and the way that he has chosen
00:27:16.040 to bring people to himself is through the power of the holy spirit through christians so that's still
00:27:22.740 our responsibility we can stay steadfast we can stay assured knowing that our obligation
00:27:28.140 does not change uh that god is the same that we serve a god who is the same and that he has equipped
00:27:37.120 us and he has called us to the same thing that he has called christians to for thousands of years so
00:27:42.080 the thing that we should pray for is to be obedient and is to be bold and not to shrink back just because
00:27:48.860 things are unsure i know that's the temptation that's certainly my temptation but to go forward
00:27:54.440 in truth speaking the truth in love and sharing the gospel that is just as good of news today as it has
00:28:03.280 always been that is our role it is not to be paralyzed it is not to be ridden with anxiety
00:28:09.660 even as we look to our children and say what kind of world is this how could i bring kids into this
00:28:14.860 world some people are are asking themselves right now god has called us to the same responsibility
00:28:21.080 that he always has and he's not going to leave us behind he's not freaking out even though we are
00:28:28.600 and he's on our side if our god is for us who can be against us we know that they're going to be
00:28:33.040 trials and tribulations we know that there are going to be difficulties we know there are going
00:28:37.320 to be surprises for us and yet uh we know that god is sovereign that he is in control and that he knows
00:28:43.320 everything and that he is all powerful and we also know there's a day when jesus is coming back when
00:28:48.680 we won't worry about mass shootings that'll be in the distant past what what is that what is strife
00:28:54.520 what is division what is politics will ask what is it disagreement what is uh what is sadness
00:29:01.420 what is sorrow what what are what are tears uh we will only know joy we'll only know perfect peace
00:29:09.480 and we all look forward to that day until then we've got a job to do this is spiritual warfare
00:29:14.720 and god has shown us in his word how we can stand up uh for what is true uh that's all we have today
00:29:21.840 i will see you back here on friday
00:29:23.960 you