Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - February 21, 2022


Ep 568 ｜ The CDC's 'New' Speech Milestones & the Latest on Canada's Crackdown ｜ Guest： Pastor Steve Richardson


Episode Stats

Length

58 minutes

Words per Minute

171.00143

Word Count

10,020

Sentence Count

596

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

18


Summary

In this episode, we discuss the CDC quietly changing the developmental milestones for toddlers, and what this may have to do with the harms of mask-wearing and virtual learning. We also talk to a Canadian pastor who has been on the ground in Ottawa, Canada, where the protests are happening.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Monday. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. This
00:00:05.780 episode is brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers. Craft beef, better than organic
00:00:11.380 chicken, all American made, shipped right to your front door. Use goodranchers.com slash
00:00:16.580 Allie, goodranchers.com slash Allie. All right, guys, we've got a lot to talk about today. We
00:00:31.200 are going to talk about a couple things. We are going to discuss the CDC quietly changing the
00:00:37.340 developmental communication, fine motor skills, milestones for toddlers, and what this may have
00:00:43.600 to do with the harms of mask wearing and virtual learning, lockdowns, things like that. We are
00:00:48.660 also going to talk to a Canadian pastor who has been on the ground in Ottawa, Canada, where the
00:00:55.240 protests are happening, where Justin Trudeau has seized the bank accounts of peaceful protesters
00:01:00.580 and has ordered the police to break up the demonstrations. The police are doing that.
00:01:04.580 They're following orders very violently, as we will see. So he is going to tell the truth about
00:01:09.820 what's going on there, because we keep hearing that these are violent protesters, they're terrorists,
00:01:14.600 they're fascists. Well, he is going to bust a lot of the myths that we have been hearing from
00:01:18.780 our propaganda peddlers here in the United States and in Canada. He is also going to deliver us a
00:01:24.740 message of gospel hope that I'm really excited for you to listen to, because man, that is what we
00:01:30.820 need in all of these crazy times. So first, before we get into that, I'm going to talk about this
00:01:35.720 CDC story. And then I'm going to tell you why we have to care about what's going on in Canada.
00:01:42.100 And I'm going to tell you why these stories, why the encroachment of the tyrannical government in
00:01:50.880 Canada matters so much for those of us who are in America. So I'm going to articulate that as clearly
00:01:57.620 and as emphatically as I possibly can, because there are too many people who just don't, who just,
00:02:04.260 quite frankly, don't get it and they need to. OK, the time is now for us to understand what's
00:02:10.760 happening in Canada and why it matters here. But first, before I get into all of that, let's talk
00:02:15.920 about this crazy CDC story, because I saw a lot of you freaking out about it on social media and
00:02:20.780 totally rightfully so. This is a crazy story. And some of you don't know this story and it's just
00:02:27.060 going to blow your mind. So the CDC has quietly changed many of the communication, fine motor skills,
00:02:35.560 developmental milestones for toddlers, specifically for ages about 18 months to 30 months. They've
00:02:44.460 changed the standard and they haven't just changed the standard. They've actually lowered the standard.
00:02:48.920 And you have a lot of speech pathologists who are speaking out, who are very angry about this
00:02:53.860 and are worried about the implications for kids. And I'll get into more of that in what they're
00:03:00.960 saying in just a second. Let me tell you, though, what exactly happened. So the CDC quietly changed
00:03:07.420 the developmental fine motor skills and communications milestones for toddlers. And so let me compare
00:03:15.820 what the milestones were in March of 2021 and what they have just changed it to without saying,
00:03:22.060 hey, here's the science behind this. Here is why we changed these milestones, which have been in place
00:03:27.500 for decades. By the way, this is not like, oh, they change it every few years as the data develops,
00:03:32.220 as the science comes out. And they are at odds with other organizations who are experts in young child
00:03:40.120 development and communication. So previously, the CDC was saying that two-year-olds, by the time they're,
00:03:47.240 by the time they turn two, they should be able to put sentences together that are two to four words.
00:03:52.060 They should be able to follow simple instruction. They should be able to point to things, name things
00:03:56.780 in a book, familiar things that they have seen before. They should be familiar with people,
00:04:04.160 the different kinds of people, their different body parts. But now they've actually lowered those
00:04:08.680 standards. So the CDC is saying that they should be able to point to things in a book when you ask.
00:04:14.320 So where is the bear? They should be able to point to that. They should be able to say two words
00:04:19.240 together rather than two to four word sentences, just two words together, like more milk. Points to
00:04:24.920 two body parts when you ask him to show you. Uses more gestures than just waving and pointing,
00:04:30.460 like blowing a kiss or nodding yes. Honestly, things like nodding yes and blowing a kiss, that's
00:04:35.900 something that kids really should be doing before two years old. So the CDC is changing these milestones
00:04:42.340 and they are lowering the standard for kids and communication. It's obvious that they are trying
00:04:51.800 to say that now two-year-olds really shouldn't be quite as independent when it comes to what they
00:04:58.140 are communicating. Really, they should still be, the CDC is now saying, kind of in responsive and
00:05:04.400 repetitive mode. But in reality, if you look at other standards by other pediatric organizations that
00:05:10.700 specialize in this kind of thing, speech development, communication for kids, by two years old,
00:05:16.700 they should really be past that. And while there is a range of development for children, these standards
00:05:22.960 are really important because they help parents understand when their child might need to go into
00:05:29.360 speech therapy or to look for early intervention or to simply work with their child more. Maybe parents,
00:05:36.480 they look at the standards and they say, okay, you know, my child is two years old and they're
00:05:40.500 only saying two words. I need to be working with them a little bit more and ensuring that they're
00:05:45.020 communicating better and more effectively. But now that the CDC has lowered these standards, again,
00:05:50.680 it seems arbitrarily they haven't revealed the science behind why parents aren't going to know
00:05:57.640 that they actually need to intervene. The CDC has also added a 30-month milestone. This did not exist
00:06:05.300 previously. And these markers include, says about 50 words, says two or more words with one action like
00:06:12.060 doggy run, names things in a book. When you point and ask, what is this? Says words like I, me, or we.
00:06:20.140 So this is at two and a half years old. The problem is, is that previously two-year-olds were supposed to
00:06:27.800 say more than 50 words. And according to the ASHA, if a two-year-old could not say 50 words, that was
00:06:35.040 actually a sign that that child needed some kind of intervention. They needed some kind of help.
00:06:39.580 They needed some kind of speech therapy. Now, again, because that standard is lowered and we don't
00:06:47.820 know why, parents aren't going to know to seek out the help that they need. So people are
00:06:56.020 understandably upset about this. They're frustrated with this because they feel like
00:07:01.680 the standards are just going to the least common denominator. And this is not actually going to
00:07:07.980 help kids who need the help. And this is not going to make kids better communicators. Simply lowering
00:07:15.260 the bar because so many kids are behind over the past two years is not what is going to help kids
00:07:23.660 develop in their language and communication and find motor skills. Providing the resources,
00:07:32.300 providing the tools, providing more resources and training for speech pathologists, more resources
00:07:38.120 for parents. That's what we need to be doing. What it seems like to me, and this is just speculation,
00:07:42.900 but it also seems like common sense, deductive reasoning. The CDC doesn't want to admit that mask
00:07:48.620 wearing on nursery workers, on babysitters, even on parents has been extremely detrimental to kids
00:07:57.160 development over the past couple of years. I mean, we've seen the data about this, that toddlers on
00:08:01.820 average have a lower IQ than kids that were born pre-pandemic on average. And they're not admitting
00:08:10.760 that this probably has to do with a lot of the arbitrary, unscientific restrictions and mask
00:08:16.740 mandates that have been put in place that have seriously affected kids. I mean, this is just
00:08:21.380 obvious. You don't have to be a speech pathologist to know this, although I happen to have talked to
00:08:25.620 a lot of speech pathologists. Their jobs, especially where they have to wear a mask, has been rendered
00:08:30.960 almost impossible. It is a normal part of human communication, human understanding to read lips.
00:08:37.340 It's actually very hard to understand what someone is saying when they are wearing a mask,
00:08:43.080 especially if you are learning language. I was on the plane a couple days ago with my husband. And
00:08:48.840 of course, we have to wear our masks and he's trying to say something to me, but he obviously doesn't
00:08:53.620 want to talk too loud because we're on an airplane. I literally could not for the life of me understand
00:08:59.320 what he was saying. He had to pull down his mask and use the same volume to communicate what he was
00:09:06.040 trying to say to me. I had to read his lips to understand what he was saying. I mean, you can
00:09:12.220 multiply that times 10 if you're talking about a child who is just learning how to talk, how to form
00:09:17.880 words. And then you can multiply that even more when you're talking about a child that either has
00:09:22.120 special needs or is just a little bit behind when it comes to speech. They're trying to learn how to
00:09:26.520 say their R's. They're trying to learn how to say their L's. They're trying to understand, especially kids
00:09:31.140 with autism, trying to understand human emotion, understanding facial expressions to try to mimic
00:09:38.360 those facial expressions and emotional reactions and also understand emotional reactions in other
00:09:43.700 people. I mean, that's also part of building empathy and good listening skills, not just good talking
00:09:48.820 skills. All of that is taken away with masks. And so to think that mask wearing wouldn't have
00:09:55.020 negatively affected kids in their most formative years, it's illogical. That is
00:10:00.780 anti-science. But we already know the CDC is an anti-science organization. I'm sure there are a lot of
00:10:06.680 great scientists that work there, but they are a political front and they are never going to admit
00:10:11.440 that they were wrong on masks. They were wrong on recommending any kind of virtual learning if they
00:10:16.780 ever when they ever did. They were wrong to side with the teachers unions and Democratic politicians
00:10:22.920 when it came to shutting down schools and lockdowns and things like that. They were wrong. And we may
00:10:28.780 have irreversibly damaged an entire generation. This also, I think, reflects really the progressive
00:10:35.360 ideology about anything when it comes to economic policy, when it comes to social policy, when it
00:10:40.100 comes to any kind of academic policy. They always try to achieve their convoluted versions of equity
00:10:46.840 and equality, not by trying to raise up those at the bottom, but by trying to lower the standard to
00:10:54.420 have some kind of fake definition of success. I'm sure you guys saw this story several weeks ago.
00:11:01.560 There was a story about a high school in Baltimore where it was like 70% of the graduating class
00:11:10.640 had a kindergarten reading level. Kindergarten reading level, guys. A lot of kindergartners go
00:11:16.700 into kindergarten not knowing how to read. And by the time they are finished with kindergarten,
00:11:21.420 I mean, they can read like really short words. We're talking about like the basic Dr. Seuss books
00:11:26.660 for a lot of kindergartners. You're talking about 18 year olds who could barely even read at a
00:11:32.740 kindergarten level. And yet the part of this story that was stunning was that they had this particular
00:11:39.120 high school still had like an 80% graduation rate. So what was going on there? Was it because all of
00:11:45.060 these kids just happened to be really good at math and science? They just happened to kind of be bad
00:11:49.060 readers. And so they were still, you know, graduating, reaching high standards in other
00:11:53.400 ways. No, it was because this school, just like schools in a lot of liberal areas, simply lowered
00:11:58.520 the standards. They didn't require them to be able to read hardly at all. They're almost, they're
00:12:02.880 basically illiterate. And you could be illiterate in this district and graduate from high school.
00:12:07.720 They lowered the standard to say, hey, we have this high graduation rate. That's what progressive
00:12:12.280 policy so often does. Even if you think about like the principles of socialism, it's not actually
00:12:17.260 uplifting those at the bottom. It's just taking away with the people at the top, not even people
00:12:22.460 at the top, but people in the middle have given it to those at the bottom. So everyone has equal
00:12:28.140 levels of misery. That's what the CDC story reminds me of. Rather than, again, equipping people who are
00:12:35.060 struggling to help kids who have fallen behind, especially over the past couple of years, we're just
00:12:40.200 going to make sure that all toddlers fall behind. And like, when did they catch up, by the way? Because it
00:12:45.200 has been known, again, for decades, that if a two-year-old can't do the things the CDC used to
00:12:50.460 say that they had to do, like speak 50 words or more, that that was a serious problem. That was
00:12:55.840 a developmental problem. Again, that necessitated intervention. So that's no longer the case. Like
00:13:01.800 if we're saying, okay, fine, you can be two and a half and you can be not saying 50 words. And just
00:13:06.440 for reference, like I have a two and a half year old. And I mean, she is very smart, but I, you know,
00:13:12.340 I think a lot of two-year-olds are like her. I mean, she's always loved like books and words and
00:13:17.640 songs and all of that. But she probably knows, because we keep track of this, she probably knows
00:13:22.520 300 words. She just loves, she's very observational. She loves naming things. And she just, sometimes she
00:13:28.860 just shocks me with how much she knows. And I don't even remember teaching her that, but she probably
00:13:33.160 knows 300 words. So that's, that's her. And then this is the CDC saying that when you're two and a half,
00:13:41.140 you shouldn't even know 50 words. Oh my goodness. She probably knew 50 words. Like, I don't know,
00:13:46.520 right after she turned one. And, you know, I think, yes, she is smart, but I think that there
00:13:52.280 are a lot of smart two-year-olds who we are now going to say, like other people don't have to try
00:13:57.960 to reach that standard. Talk about creating gaps. Like this is actually not going to create the equity
00:14:03.900 or equality that maybe the CDC and progressives say that they want, because I'm not going to stop
00:14:10.840 teaching my children and making sure that they know tons of words by the time they're two or two
00:14:15.540 and a half. I'm not going to start applying the CDC's lower standards to my kids. I'm going to ensure
00:14:23.160 that they know as much as humanly possible. But then maybe you have new parents who don't know any
00:14:28.500 better, who look at these new CDC standards and just think, well, yeah, 50 words is fine by two
00:14:33.460 and a half. And they're not going to get the intervention or the help or the speech pathology
00:14:36.740 that they need. This is a huge problem. So again, going back to my question, which I never really
00:14:40.960 fleshed out, like when, when do they catch up or are they just going to be set back for the rest of
00:14:47.620 their lives because of these lower standards? Are they going to be bad communicators, bad readers,
00:14:52.900 have bad reading comprehension for the rest of their lives? Like at what point do they get to
00:14:58.220 the standard that is necessary to be a productive working human being? And of course, it's hard not
00:15:03.440 to kind of get conspiratorial and ask if, is that, is that the purpose? Is the purpose to hold young
00:15:09.360 people back? I don't know. I just know that this is wrong. Again, the CDC is so untrustworthy.
00:15:15.160 It's so untrustworthy that of course people aren't going to listen to them when it comes to other health
00:15:20.460 measures because they are so, same with the American Academy of Pediatrics, they are so
00:15:25.060 political and they don't actually communicate the science, if there is any, behind the things that
00:15:31.160 they do. Never articulated science behind child, especially two-year-old mask wearing. They never
00:15:37.160 articulated the proper science behind how the vaccines were actually going to be effective. They've
00:15:43.480 never even articulated good science or provided good studies for universal mask wearing for adults.
00:15:49.140 And now, unfortunately, our kids are going to be negatively impacted by this. And this makes me
00:15:56.360 really sad. And I feel for a lot of you speech pathologists, you've been put in a really hard
00:16:00.540 place. I would just encourage you, even though I don't know everything that you do, I would just
00:16:04.780 encourage you to keep on raising the bar because you are why there can be high standards because you
00:16:11.060 help kids who just need a little extra help to reach the standards that are in place and have been in
00:16:17.120 place for a very long time for a reason. So keep pushing your kids, keep pulling out their potential.
00:16:22.920 What you do as a speech pathologist is so, so important. And don't worry about the CDC
00:16:28.980 lowering standards. They're a political, arbitrary, ideological, almost governing body at this point
00:16:38.680 that in a lot of ways, not always, but in a lot of ways really just needs to be ignored. At the very
00:16:43.620 least, they need to be rebuked. All right. That's all I want to say on that. There's a lot more that
00:16:48.280 we could say. Maybe we'll have a speech pathologist on sometime in the future to talk about why this is
00:16:53.200 such a big deal. I just wanted to give you my perspective as a mom. This just makes me really
00:16:57.480 sad. And I know that I speak for a lot of you when I say not my child, not my child. I don't look to the
00:17:04.440 CDC to tell me how advanced my child should be verbally. We should all be dedicated to as much
00:17:14.820 excellence as possible. One thing I want to say about that, I think it also has to do with not
00:17:18.900 just COVID stuff, but also just like the rise of virtual babysitters in that I think a lot of kids
00:17:25.100 are in front of screens more than they used to be. And that is probably negatively affecting
00:17:29.920 their development in some ways, in some ways, too. Probably. That's, again, just my guess. All
00:17:37.280 right. Okay. So before I get into the conversation with the pastor, Pastor Steve Richardson, let me tell
00:17:45.980 you why we've talked about Canada so much. So we typically focus on this show on American culture
00:17:52.960 wars and issues within the American church, but we've also dedicated quite a few episodes to Canadian
00:17:58.660 tyranny. And the reason for that is this. Canada is our closest ally. They're supposed to be a free
00:18:07.060 representative democracy. They're supposed to, alongside us, uphold the ideals of Western
00:18:12.980 civilization. They're supposed to respect freedom of religion, the freedom of speech, the freedom of
00:18:19.140 protest, and the right to due process. And in the last year alone, they have failed on each of those
00:18:25.040 vital fronts. So they threw James Coates in prison last year for refusing to close the doors to his
00:18:31.800 church. And he was just one of a few pastors that were imprisoned for this crime. And the total lack
00:18:37.680 of outcry from Christians here in the States who pride themselves in, quote, speaking truth to power
00:18:43.320 and social justice and making good trouble was and still is appalling. And then you've got Bill C4,
00:18:51.160 which we've talked about, which is billed as a ban on conversion therapy, but is actually just an
00:18:57.880 outright criminalization of biblical counseling, of talk therapy and Christian speech. It is an attempt
00:19:03.940 to criminalize Christianity, which is in the business of conversion, not from gay to straight,
00:19:10.600 but from dead in sin to alive in Christ, which does involve repentance from a whole host of lifestyles
00:19:16.580 and behaviors. Thus, it is a bill, Bill C4, to make Christianity illegal. Now we are seeing Canada
00:19:24.660 crush the freedom to protest, arresting peaceful demonstrators, seizing their bank accounts so that
00:19:31.260 reportedly even family members of protesters are having difficulty withdrawing money. Trudeau invoked
00:19:36.660 emergency powers, something that has never been done to basically turn Ottawa into a police state.
00:19:42.420 This also violates the right to due process, all because truckers and other working class Canadians
00:19:49.520 were opposing, are opposing the vaccine mandates and the lockdowns and the restrictions that have
00:19:56.260 unscientifically and in such a draconian and cruel way have inhibited the lives and the freedoms
00:20:06.060 of Canadians. All because they resisted that. Trudeau and his regime have crushed them. So without
00:20:14.540 committing an actual crime, Canadians are being punished, left destitute because they disagree with
00:20:20.340 the government. And what are all the loud and proud pro-democracy leftists in America doing?
00:20:26.940 Nothing. They don't care. They think Trudeau, the same guy who said in 2013 on tape that he admires
00:20:34.960 China because of its, quote, basic dictatorship, is right for punishing these truckers and working
00:20:41.920 class families. They think it's great. They would not bat an eye if the police started spraying these
00:20:46.800 people with bullets. And how do I know? Because similar things have happened, have been happening in
00:20:52.240 countries like Australia and France for the past year. Peaceful anti-lockdown protests met with
00:20:57.160 brutal disproportionate police force. These are not just rumors. We can see on Twitter videos of this
00:21:03.800 happening. And the same people who claim to care about police brutality here just pretend like it
00:21:11.060 doesn't happen. And now they're saying that this is law and order in Canada. Okay, so just so I get
00:21:18.100 this straight. When BLM and Antifa are literally assaulting and murdering innocent people, they're
00:21:24.100 burning down buildings, they're ruining communities, filled with people who did nothing wrong. When
00:21:30.760 they're threatening to murder cops, that doesn't count as something that requires a police response,
00:21:36.700 but peaceful protesters in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France do. So violent riots are the voice
00:21:45.700 of the unheard, but peaceful protests aren't? Where's the bodily autonomy crowd, by the way? So you'll
00:21:52.360 march for your right to kill your baby, but not for someone's right to earn a living without getting a
00:21:57.840 vaccine that they don't want? Where are all the socialists? Wasn't it Karl Marx who said workers of the
00:22:03.920 world unite? They're uniting right now. They're literally uniting right now in Canada and in other
00:22:09.260 nations, and you're cheering on their oppression? So to everyone who looks back on the 20th
00:22:15.400 century, when tyrants came to rise in Italy and Germany and the Soviet Union and Cambodia,
00:22:22.380 and who says, I know I would have stood up for the people being targeted by the government. I would
00:22:28.580 have stood up for their freedoms. I would have been on the right side. Where do you stand right now?
00:22:34.100 Look at where you stand right now. That's where you would have stood then.
00:22:38.180 You know, I don't agree with many of the narratives and the arguments put forth by
00:22:44.280 Black Lives Matter. That's no surprise. There's so much propaganda that goes out after a news story
00:22:49.760 is released about a police officer and a black man. And yet, number one, I do think that they have
00:22:56.260 legitimate points about the power and the authority of the police and how that can be used arbitrarily,
00:23:05.260 and that can absolutely be used for oppression. I've always said that. And number two, I will always
00:23:10.380 defend, no matter how much I disagree with them at a certain point, I will always defend their right
00:23:15.220 to protest, their right to free speech. Same with pro-abortion groups. Same with just about any
00:23:20.300 group or cause or organization that exists. I will vehemently and publicly disagree with them,
00:23:25.540 but I will stand up for their ability to exercise their constitutional rights. I understand that's what it
00:23:31.020 takes to live in a free society. I want to live in a free society. I do agree with the protesters in
00:23:37.180 Canada. I agree with their aims. Vaccine mandates and lockdowns are oppressive. They're cruel. They're
00:23:42.000 unscientific. But I would disagree with them inflicting violence on innocent people and the
00:23:47.440 desecration of property, no matter how much I might agree with what they're fighting for or what
00:23:52.580 they're claiming to fight for. That's called a principle. Quite a few people apparently have never heard of
00:23:58.480 that. And to those who say, well, how could you care more about this? How could you care more about
00:24:04.400 Canada than what's going on in Ukraine? Russia is invading Ukraine and thousands of people may die
00:24:09.660 or become refugees because of that. And to answer that question or that critique, let me give you
00:24:15.380 a metaphor to explain. If something bad happens to a friend of yours, say they get mugged in the
00:24:21.900 neighborhood right next to your neighborhood, and then you turn on the news later and you see that a
00:24:27.340 stranger in another state was murdered by a gang. Are you a bad person for caring more about your
00:24:33.620 friend who was mugged a mile from your house than you care about the random person murdered? No,
00:24:40.500 that's normal. I would even say that's natural. Now, that doesn't mean that you think getting mugged is
00:24:45.200 worse than getting murdered. That doesn't mean that you don't care about the person who just got
00:24:49.740 murdered. It just means that you care about your friend and you care about yourself and your
00:24:55.280 family and their safety. I really think that's instinctive and that's normal and that's right.
00:25:01.220 That's what's going on here. I care more right now about what's going on in Canada than in Russia,
00:25:07.700 not because I think Russia should invade Ukraine or not because I don't think there will be
00:25:12.520 dire consequences to that. I think that's horrible. But that's also Russia. They are,
00:25:18.120 unfortunately, an imperialistic, brutal dictatorship. So I can say, yeah, that's really bad.
00:25:23.700 But look, we've also got really big problems in our own backyard right now. Plus, just to be honest,
00:25:31.760 I'm a little skeptical of the motivations of at least some or maybe even many of the politicians
00:25:36.920 and media saying that we have to care about Russia first and foremost or what's going on with Russia.
00:25:43.460 We have to care about Ukraine first and foremost for the sake of democracy and the sovereignty of
00:25:47.780 their borders. Well, first, again, many of those politicians are decidedly against democracy here
00:25:53.480 in the West. And two, these are many of the same people who don't care about enforcing our own
00:25:59.240 border laws. So why is the sovereignty of Ukraine and their borders more important than our own?
00:26:04.580 Like, isn't it kind of logical to be a little skeptical of the motivations of people who care
00:26:10.260 more about Ukraine's borders than our own? Why is it that so many of the same people who have no
00:26:15.520 problem with our borders being wide open are so concerned with the borders of an Eastern European
00:26:20.500 country that isn't even in some ways even all that democratic? We can say, yeah, what's going on in
00:26:28.520 Russia is bad categorically, objectively. Lots of countries do bad things, including China, which is way
00:26:36.500 more of an international threat, in my opinion, than Russia. And a lot of the same people who care so much
00:26:43.120 about what's going on in Ukraine don't care at all that that China has been colonizing countries in
00:26:48.800 South America and Africa for years and has said nothing about the fall of Hong Kong. So again, I'm
00:26:57.000 just a little skeptical about the motivations there. I'm not saying that what's happening in Russia and
00:27:01.960 Ukraine doesn't matter again or that I approve of it. I just care more right now about what is going on
00:27:11.160 in our backyard. I'm watching our closest ally, a supposedly democratic country, devolve into
00:27:17.700 tyranny. And that's not supposed to be high on my priority list. I would have to hate my own country,
00:27:24.800 be apathetic toward liberty and be totally calloused toward my children and their future to not be paying
00:27:30.440 super close attention to what's going on in Canada. Canada is a bellwether of what's to come in the
00:27:36.960 United States. So it is only right, logical, reasonable to dedicate my attention to this.
00:27:43.140 We will talk about Russia and Ukraine in the coming weeks and months, I'm sure, but not today.
00:27:48.140 Today, our eyes are here on the United States and on Canada. And in just one second, we are going to
00:27:54.400 talk to a pastor who is going to give us an up-close and personal look at what's actually going on
00:27:59.920 there and give us the Christian perspective. Okay, so one more thing before we actually start
00:28:06.860 that conversation, because I want to set this up and I want to give you a picture of what's
00:28:11.800 really going on, like why this is such a big deal, why I'm so fired up about this. If you're not on
00:28:18.420 Twitter, you haven't seen this because, of course, most of the mainstream media besides, you know,
00:28:22.980 the Blaze, Fox News and, you know, conservative media, they're not playing this stuff. And so I
00:28:29.820 just want you to see what's actually happening. First, we're going to play the protests, the
00:28:36.400 demonstrations themselves, which we've done a few times. Just to show you, this is not like some
00:28:43.600 violent insurrection. This is not a bunch of people desecrating property like we saw in several
00:28:50.180 cities in the United States last year in the name of so-called racial justice. I mean, these are
00:28:56.480 people, just normal, salt-of-the-earth people who are having a good time and truly trying to be as
00:29:02.780 peaceful as possible. So here's one piece of footage of a couple dancing that was taken this weekend.
00:29:20.180 So, I mean, that's just pure, like, does that look like, does that look like a protest or a
00:29:32.480 demonstration that needs to be broken up by police with batons? No, no, I don't, I don't think it does.
00:29:39.960 And I'm not saying that that's indicative of every single part of the protest, but talk to anyone who
00:29:45.320 has been there, who is not purposely trying to spout some kind of anti-conservative propaganda,
00:29:51.540 and they'll tell you that's what it's like. Spirits are high. People are trying to be joyful
00:29:55.720 and steadfast. And then here is the response of protesters. So I just want to set this up for
00:30:04.060 those of you who are just listening rather than watching on YouTube. This is, these are peaceful
00:30:09.360 protesters and you see a line of police officers who are trying to push back against them. And the
00:30:16.960 protesters are yelling at the, are yelling at the police officers, I love you. I love you. I mean,
00:30:25.280 that's incredible. Here's that clip.
00:30:27.060 So that loud bang that you heard is the police officers. That's their, that's their warning
00:30:51.980 bang. So you heard the protesters saying, I love you. I love you to the line of police officers.
00:30:56.240 And then you heard that loud bang, which is basically a warning that we're about to push
00:31:00.920 back against you until you leave. And as we will talk about with this pastor, and as you're about
00:31:05.320 to see, that also means abuse by the police. There was one clip that was going around of a woman who
00:31:12.560 had a walker who was at the protest, who was knocked over by a police officer on a horse. And then
00:31:20.160 you actually see the horse walking over this woman. She, um, was later hospitalized. Here's the footage
00:31:28.000 of that. So the Ottawa police of course is saying, Oh no, someone that no, someone threw a bicycle in
00:31:40.100 front of a horse and injured the horse. And we had to push, we had to push them out of the way. That is
00:31:45.180 an elderly woman. That's an elderly woman that is not a man with a bicycle. I mean, this is straight
00:31:51.920 out of, I mean, I know people are like, don't compare, don't compare to Nazi Germany. I'm not
00:31:57.980 saying it's the exact same thing as what happened to Nazi Germany. Okay. But as Brett Weinstein said
00:32:05.360 on this podcast, whenever you get in the same quadrant of any form of totalitarianism, it's time,
00:32:11.500 whenever you get to that proverbial segment of the library, that's when you look around and you say,
00:32:15.560 I don't think we should be here. I think we should head on out. That's what Canada needs to do right
00:32:20.120 now. They need to look at what's going on, whether you're on the right or the left. And you just say,
00:32:24.840 you know what? I think that we are in the wrong segment of the library. You can say it's not exactly
00:32:30.560 like Nazi Germany. I'm not saying that it is exactly like Nazi Germany, but there are too many
00:32:35.880 similarities, how the police are acting to what went on in the 20th century to say that it's,
00:32:43.340 oh, that's a little bit fascist-y for my comfort. All right. So that was the trampoline of the
00:32:49.220 elderly woman. She is alive. She did go to the hospital. She did get treated. There was some
00:32:54.040 misinformation about who she was going around. And then some people were saying that that's not true.
00:32:59.340 The Ottawa police saying that that clip was deceptively edited. If you watched it, like
00:33:02.900 there's no editing. I'm pretty, I think I'm pretty good at recognizing when something
00:33:08.320 is edited. I don't see how that could be changed by any context. If, I mean, I will be the first to
00:33:15.600 let you know. If so, I would love for there to be somehow more context to the police officers
00:33:22.220 trampling a woman with a walker. I would love to be corrected on that. All right. And then here's
00:33:29.460 more brutality from the police, which again, I just, there's just no amount of context that could
00:33:34.960 justify this. I mean, that just makes me want to cry. Makes me want to cry. You're seeing the police
00:33:55.560 knee this guy in the stomach who's not armed. He's just trying to defend himself, holding his hands
00:34:00.520 up. He starts crumpling to the ground. And then a wall of police officers tries to cover up the
00:34:07.700 beating, what's happening. And so that the camera can't see it. And then here's this woman. She is
00:34:14.680 in Ottawa. She is trying to get some coffee. And here's how the police handle that interaction.
00:34:20.640 I can't even go down there for a coffee. Go grab yourself in the red zone right now. If you don't
00:34:25.320 leave right now, you will be arrested. Do you understand me? I can't go for a coffee.
00:34:31.260 Grab yourself. If we see you, we'll be patrolling all day. We see you again. It'll be different.
00:34:37.160 Leave. I tell you. Take your camera and get out of here.
00:34:41.660 I mean, if you're not watching on YouTube, you really need to. It's hard for me to describe that.
00:34:46.080 She's filming it, obviously, with her phone at the end. You see the police officer grab her phone.
00:34:51.200 Like, push it down. And then you actually see the camera is then aimed right at the gun that's on
00:34:58.340 the holster. And he's saying, what did I tell you? If I see you again, it's going to be different.
00:35:03.040 What does that mean? So these people are being threatened, threatened with their lives. I mean,
00:35:09.240 they're being threatened with violence by the police in a so-called Western democracy
00:35:15.100 for peacefully protesting, for walking outside trying to get coffee. She's not doing anything.
00:35:20.640 And you're going to tell me this isn't the biggest freaking story in the world right now?
00:35:25.900 I'm sorry, but no. Thankfully, our guest is going to, well, his story is gut-wrenching,
00:35:33.680 but he's a lot calmer than I am about this. And so he's going to remind us, he's going to give us,
00:35:39.660 remind us of the peace of Christ and the hope that we have. And it's good too, because it's easy for me to
00:35:44.880 get very worked up about all of this. We have to care, but we have to balance it with trusting
00:35:50.920 God's sovereignty. And that's exactly the balance that our next guest brings us. So finally, no more
00:35:56.020 buildup. Without further ado, here is Pastor Steve Richardson. Pastor, thank you so much for joining
00:36:03.220 us. Can you tell everyone who you are and what you do? So I am Steve Richardson, pastor of New Life
00:36:10.040 Presbyterian Church in Tilsonburg, Ontario. And I've been following some of your tweets about what
00:36:16.640 is going on there in Ottawa and different parts of Canada. Can you tell our American audience who,
00:36:24.820 like a lot of Canadians, are basically just hearing the negative side of the story, or really what I
00:36:29.540 would say is propaganda, that these are violent protesters, they're breaking the law, and Trudeau
00:36:35.440 is just, you know, very gently kind of enforcing law and order so that Canadians can get back to
00:36:42.720 their life. What would you say to that as someone who has kind of been on the ground and talked to
00:36:47.940 people and who really knows what's going on? So I went up a couple weeks ago and met some of the
00:36:56.040 protesters, well, a number of protesters saw the kind of environment. It was a happy environment. The
00:37:01.120 message was peace and love. I know some of the truckers that are there and all of them fully
00:37:07.640 committed to peace. Their desire is simply that our freedoms, our liberties would be given back to us
00:37:13.700 as people. We'd have the right to make decisions for ourselves. So what I saw when I first went up was
00:37:19.080 just this very upbeat, positive atmosphere. I went back on Friday night and I ended up in Ottawa on
00:37:28.220 Saturday morning. And I went because I was seeing on social media what was happening, the brutality on
00:37:34.280 the part of the police, and I couldn't bear to just watch it and do nothing. So I went up and I, like the
00:37:40.100 others with me, took with me two other pastors and another fellow, and we went, also committed to be
00:37:46.080 peaceful. And so we joined with the remaining group that was there. And we watched as the police
00:37:53.920 began to make their, um, their march forward. And I can tell you that I was stunned right from the
00:38:01.320 beginning with the level of violence that was used on entirely unnecessarily. So just picture you've
00:38:08.020 got, you've got, uh, uh, uh, crowds of, uh, unarmed peaceful protesters. Some of them were, uh, hurling
00:38:15.740 insults and those became worse as the police became, uh, more violent, but you've got this, these rows of,
00:38:22.440 uh, officers armed, some with batons. Um, and, uh, all of a sudden they would begin to push and,
00:38:29.360 and move quickly and, and, uh, striking with their batons, retreating protesters. Uh, I myself was,
00:38:37.840 uh, on four separate occasions assaulted by a police officer, um, different officers, different scenarios.
00:38:45.340 Uh, and I can say that none of them were provoked. I wasn't hurling insults. Uh, I wasn't, uh,
00:38:51.100 involved in any kind of, uh, altercation at all. I was simply there with the people,
00:38:56.320 uh, just happened to get in the way. And when you say assaulted, what, what was that specifically?
00:39:02.460 The first time I was struck by a police officer in the head, um, and thrown to the ground. The second
00:39:08.440 time, um, I was trying to help, uh, a, an older man who had been knocked to the ground and was being
00:39:15.020 beaten. And I was struck with a baton. The third time I was set beside a truck driver who got out
00:39:21.840 of his truck. He got done. I had said to him, you know, we're with you. So he got done on his knees,
00:39:27.140 put his hands on his head and surrender. I decided to do the, do the same. I thought, okay, he's going
00:39:31.540 to be arrested. And I was watching how they were arresting these men. And every time they were
00:39:35.780 brutal, they didn't peacefully arrest these men. They were, they would often beat them.
00:39:39.700 And these are truckers. These are truckers who were, who had hands on their head in full
00:39:45.120 surrender, quiet surrender. So I'm sorry, I'm just going to pause for a second, just because I want
00:39:49.520 to make sure that everyone has the context. Not everyone has, a lot of people in America really
00:39:53.860 haven't been following this very closely. Of course, we've talked about it on our podcast a lot,
00:39:58.460 but the American media is focused, you know, on other things as you can imagine. And they're
00:40:03.440 certainly not covering what you are describing. So we know kind of what is, why the police are there
00:40:11.840 because of the emergency powers that were invoked by Justin Trudeau. And we know that the police have
00:40:18.000 been trying to basically break the back of these protests for the last week or so. You described
00:40:25.700 though, a couple minutes, minutes ago, I think it was in Ottawa that you said that you saw the police
00:40:31.080 marching forward. Like, tell me what that confrontation was like, like what, what exactly
00:40:38.020 did that look like? And when you're saying that you saw several instances of violence, police against
00:40:42.920 peaceful protesters, what exactly went down in those incidents? So if you can picture, you've got
00:40:50.640 the trucks, the remaining trucks were on one side and you've got a line of protesters who are standing
00:40:57.340 there in a sense trying to protect the truckers. But of course, without any weapons and without any
00:41:04.760 violence. I mean, they don't dare touch the police officers. No one did that I saw. And had they done
00:41:09.960 so, it would have gone very badly for them. So you've got the line of protesters and there's a face-off
00:41:16.520 and you've got rows and rows of police and various kinds of uniform. Some who are on, there's no
00:41:25.380 markings, no names, no badge numbers, and heavily armed, more police than there are protesters.
00:41:33.940 There would be a sudden loud bang and then they would begin to march forward. And the march forward
00:41:40.180 was a rush. We didn't have, there was no, the warning was the bang and then they would begin to rush
00:41:45.380 forward. If you got trampled, if you got anybody in the way would of course be pushed. But often
00:41:51.820 struck with batons, knocked to the ground. If somebody was knocked to the ground, instead of
00:41:56.880 helping them up, the police kicked, beat them with their batons. I saw this again and again and again.
00:42:06.040 Wow. And how did this, what effect did this have on the protesters? Did this make the,
00:42:15.240 the protesters dissipate? Like how, what, what was the impact of this?
00:42:21.680 It was very emotional. I, there were a lot of tears. A lot of people are just brokenhearted.
00:42:26.200 A lot of protesters saying, guys, what, why, why are you doing this? Well, you don't need
00:42:29.840 these weapons. Why are you hitting us? We're peaceful. We just want peace.
00:42:34.620 Of course, the police, there was no introduction on their part. There was, there was some anger. I mean,
00:42:41.840 some of the protesters would, would hear insults like Nazi. And I think that's the only, the only
00:42:47.860 thing that I could say against the protesters are that points, the insults were pretty serious. But
00:42:53.020 you can imagine their frustration and anger as they were seeing these kinds of things, not being able to
00:42:58.380 do anything, realizing that they, they, there was, it was futile to attempt to in any way resist the
00:43:05.200 police. So for the claims that these are violent protesters, insurrectionists, rioters, is there any
00:43:14.300 truth to that, at least from what you've seen of these protesters? I saw nothing of them. I saw,
00:43:21.380 of course, you got a mix of people. I saw a lot of just ordinary Canadians, working Canadians, and I
00:43:29.020 was, I was actually stunned at the, the, the peace and the self-restraint of these people. There were
00:43:36.760 certainly a few that were trying to rally the crowd to, to, to hold the line, but holding the line
00:43:41.600 simply meant standing there as the police pushed them. But there was, there was a real general spirit
00:43:47.560 of wanting to be peaceful and not allow the police to, to, to sort of, to suck them into a confrontation.
00:43:56.160 And so it was, it was, that was quite moving. And I can tell you, I saw nothing of violence on the part of the
00:44:02.540 protesters, not on Saturday, not the previous week. It's possible there were occasional moments, but if you saw
00:44:11.760 what I saw, what would have amazed you is the self-restraint. To see, for example, an older man,
00:44:17.000 on the ground, being beaten, helpless, it would took all that was in me, not to act out, to protect him.
00:44:27.300 Yeah. I can imagine that's just kind of instinctive. And so you said that the police don't respond,
00:44:35.720 that they don't, you know, have any interaction on their part with the people who are either
00:44:39.760 hurling insults at them or who are just asking them, why are you doing this? Does it surprise
00:44:46.980 you that the police, at least in Ottawa, have followed these orders, that they're willing
00:44:52.200 to treat their fellow working class Canadians in this way? Has that shocked you?
00:44:58.920 Absolutely. Yeah. I think that's probably what caused so much dismay and so many tears on Saturdays.
00:45:06.080 I think we're shocked that our fellow citizens would do this, would in some cases seem to relish it.
00:45:11.840 Um, I, um, I had one encounter where a police officer spoke to me. I was stuck myself and a
00:45:18.400 reporter were stuck between two trucks and the crowd on the other side and we couldn't move and
00:45:24.120 he's pushing us. Um, and, uh, and so I, I, we tried to reason with him and the reporter said,
00:45:32.340 I'm a reporter. I can't move. I said, I, you know, I'm a Christian pastor. We're stuck here.
00:45:36.760 And he just looked at us and said, I don't care. Wow. So I think that reflected very much the spirit
00:45:43.320 of it. There were occasional police officers who, who had tears in their eyes. I think not everyone
00:45:48.540 there wanted to be there, but there were definitely those who seemed to enjoy it.
00:45:53.240 Wow. That's really such a shame. I think the feeling of helplessness is what makes me the saddest
00:45:59.260 in thinking about, in thinking about this, that there's no reasoning with the people who are
00:46:04.360 inflicting this kind of violence and brutality, um, because there's really no rationale. There's
00:46:10.280 no rationale to it. I'm sure they have their own, the police have their own, you know, justifications.
00:46:15.440 Maybe they just say, we're just following orders. We're just, um, doing our job, which that in itself
00:46:21.260 is quite frightening in your opinion. Yes. Where do you think this goes from here?
00:46:27.480 It's hard to say. I, I, I see a growing momentum on the part of ordinary Canadians to, uh, resist and to
00:46:37.800 want to do something. I've heard of a call for a general strike across the nation. I know there's a
00:46:43.520 convoy in, in BC. Um, I don't know, but I, I mean, I fear, uh, that the peaceful protesting not being
00:46:53.220 received, not being heard, uh, will at some point, uh, turn to violence. And, uh, that's, I think that's
00:46:59.860 the fear of many right now. Now, this is not your first time, um, dissenting, disagreeing with the
00:47:08.100 Canadian government. You racked up, I think it was $600,000 in fines. Is that correct? And, and, um,
00:47:16.820 you were, I guess, faced with six years imprisonment because of your defiance to lockdown orders,
00:47:21.920 your refusal to close your church. Is that correct? Yeah. So basically, um, on six separate
00:47:28.560 occasions, I was charged by the police, uh, for gathering my congregation for worship and each
00:47:35.000 charge carried with it a maximum of $100,000 in fines and one year in prison. So the total tally
00:47:42.200 at the end, uh, was six years in prison, $600,000 in charges and, uh, in fines. And thankfully, um, that
00:47:49.860 has been resolved in court at this point. But, um, yeah, I mean, and, and of course in our case,
00:47:55.500 it, it wasn't a protest. It was simply, uh, Christians meeting for worship.
00:48:01.460 Wow. Um, and you were officially censored by the Canadian Presbytery for violating his ordination
00:48:08.260 vows and not following the right procedure for leaving the ARP. Can you tell us a little bit more
00:48:14.320 about what that's about? Yeah, I don't want to say too much, uh, uh, for, for their sake more than
00:48:20.700 anything else, but, um, the, uh, the decision on my part to, uh, obey God rather than men, uh, angered
00:48:28.800 my Presbytery. I was charged with being schismatic and, um, the, uh, the decision, uh, to leave the
00:48:37.100 denomination was not also not received well by the Presbytery. And so they decided to excommunicate me
00:48:43.880 without trial. And, um, uh, as far as they're concerned, I am no longer ordained, but happily
00:48:50.220 that I'm part of another Presbytery that has decided, uh, to, uh, ignore, I guess, what, uh,
00:48:57.760 the Canadian ARP decided to do. Can you tell us a little bit about the theology behind the, um,
00:49:08.060 the civil disobedience that you have participated in over the past couple of years? Because while
00:49:15.140 you and I are on the same page, you have even Christians and of course, non-Christians, both
00:49:19.940 in America and Canada who say, you know what, this is not the right thing to do to stand opposed to
00:49:26.560 the government when it comes to vaccine mandates or lockdowns. You've got Christians making the
00:49:30.420 argument of Romans 13 that you just need to obey civil authorities. Obviously you disagree
00:49:35.680 with that line of argumentation. Can you just articulate a little bit of why you disagree
00:49:40.440 with that and why you've taken the stand that you have?
00:49:43.620 Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's two separate issues. I would say that the far greater issue
00:49:47.980 is the church. Uh, so, um, when we, when we disobeyed the government back in 2020 and in 2021,
00:49:57.380 it was because it's absolutely clear in scripture that the governments are under the authority of God.
00:50:05.680 Their authority is borrowed and they are to uphold the law of God. God's law says that we are to
00:50:11.080 worship him. It tells us when we're to worship him, how we're to worship him. And the government
00:50:16.320 has no authority in the church. And so it was as clear as day to me that when the government begins
00:50:22.420 to interfere with the worship of God, tell the church how to worship, when to worship, um, whether
00:50:27.480 they can worship, that we simply have to disobey them. We don't have to do so in a, um, a rude way.
00:50:33.400 We ought to be quiet and peaceful about it, but we must do it. And our forefathers,
00:50:37.540 um, uh, they did so that's the history of the church. So that was as clear as day to me that
00:50:43.120 this, the other issue in terms of, uh, civil disobedience, if it's, um, going to a protest
00:50:48.700 that the government has decided is unlawful. Uh, I think that's, um, uh, maybe less clear
00:50:54.840 than the other, but it, to me, the, the justification for that is the same justification
00:51:00.320 that sent my grandfather off to World War II, that it's worth fighting for liberty. We are
00:51:06.520 citizens of the country as well as citizens of heaven. And so, um, it falls on us to defend the,
00:51:13.120 the freedoms that are God given. And if we don't stand up, then our children and grandchildren suffer.
00:51:19.780 Yes. Do you agree with the statement by John Knox? We, I think we still have it up that resistance
00:51:26.400 to tyranny is obedience to God. Is that a maxim that you agree with? Absolutely. Yeah, I, I agree
00:51:33.360 with it too. Unfortunately, you know, even among those who, okay, say you disagree with that, say
00:51:38.800 you have theological contentions with that statement there. Unfortunately, a lot of Christians,
00:51:43.780 a lot of so-called evangelicals here in the United States, that they allow their disagreement in that
00:51:49.620 with that to, um, refuse to stand up for people like you or James Coates. They refuse to even see
00:51:57.340 it as a religious liberty issue. And they have their Christians like Russell Moore, like Tim Keller,
00:52:05.480 Francis Collins, who have basically castigated anyone who has, you know, kept their doors open and
00:52:12.740 defied lockdown orders. Has that surprised you seeing the, the cowardice and really the divisiveness
00:52:19.560 lack of integrity of a lot of Christians who have kind of thrown other Christians under the bus?
00:52:26.340 Yes and no. Uh, so when it comes to some like Russell Moore or Tim Keller, it hasn't surprised me.
00:52:31.500 There's been a trajectory we've seen already, uh, with others, it has been a tremendously surprising
00:52:36.200 and disappointing. But I think at the heart of this is, uh, that we are beginning to see more clearly
00:52:41.840 that Christianity has become very man-centered. It has been, uh, become very much, uh, influenced by
00:52:50.400 humanism. So everything is, is, is along the horizontal. It's about what, uh, is best for my
00:52:56.580 neighbor? Uh, what does the world think of us? All along the horizontal. And we have forgotten God.
00:53:02.460 That what people are not thinking about is how these things affect God. So people might get upset.
00:53:07.240 They might get riled up if a, if a, uh, a neighbor is trampled on the ground, but if Christ is trampled
00:53:14.100 on, his rights are trampled on, his church is trampled on, uh, most Christians seem to have little
00:53:20.540 problem with that. And so we've seen this, uh, compromise and this, I think cowardice. Um, but I,
00:53:27.620 I think it reflects, uh, a failure to recognize what belongs to God and that he is worthy.
00:53:33.540 Hmm. You know, I'm not sure if you meant to do this, but, um, Alexander Solzhenitsyn who wrote
00:53:40.560 the Gulag Archipelago, who is obviously a dissident to the Soviet regime or was, um, he said that the
00:53:49.580 reason why they got to where they were, uh, with the totalitarianism that reigned in the Soviet Union
00:53:57.840 was that men have forgotten God. Now, when I hear that from Solzhenitsyn, I think of atheists or I
00:54:05.000 think of agnostics, people who have just shunned the faith. What I think is interesting and very
00:54:10.780 profound, maybe unintentionally on your part is that you use, we have forgotten God to actually talk
00:54:16.640 about professing Christians, Christians who are looking at their faith as exclusively horizontal
00:54:22.500 rather than vertical. And maybe that is actually why here in the West, we are where we are, not just
00:54:29.360 because men in general have forgotten God, but because professing Christians have. So interesting,
00:54:35.440 uh, but a sad state of affairs. Absolutely. Can we end though on, um, a bit of a, a hopeful note for
00:54:42.660 those who don't know the gospel, who don't know the hope that you have and why you can remain hopeful
00:54:47.640 and steadfast and joyful, even in the midst of the threat of tyranny and the consequences that you've
00:54:53.420 endured over the past couple of years. Can you just share that hope with people? Yeah, sure. Before
00:54:59.640 I do just want to say too, that I heard a pastor say just yesterday that we do not give up what we
00:55:05.200 love. Um, there are many people who draw the line with their children. Uh, they, they would allow the
00:55:10.740 government to have anything but their children. Well, as Christians, we love no one more than we love
00:55:16.340 Jesus. And we, and we loving Jesus means that we worship him. And so the one thing we will not give
00:55:22.780 up is worship. Uh, what, and as far as the message of hope, I mean, the reason why we love him is, uh,
00:55:29.900 not only because of who he is, but what he has done that when we were lost in sin, uh, Christ died for
00:55:37.240 us. And that though we deserve, because of how we have lived, though we deserve to be punished in hell
00:55:45.020 forever and ever, that Jesus has paid for our sins at the cross. And there's not a single sinner
00:55:50.320 that is too sinful, that is too far gone to be rescued by this savior. Uh, the wonderful message
00:55:58.020 of the gospel is that Christ has paid it all. It's free to all who will come. And he has said he will
00:56:02.620 cast out no one who does come. So we look at what's happening in our country and what's going on
00:56:08.020 across the world. Um, I have hope and peace because I know first of all, that Jesus Christ
00:56:13.320 is King, that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. The kingdom will continue
00:56:18.620 to advance world without end. And that it is often the case that when the church is under,
00:56:23.500 uh, persecution, that it has thrived. And as I look at a church that seems to, as the Bible says,
00:56:30.040 wax fat and become complacent and, uh, lukewarm, that what would be the most helpful, I think,
00:56:39.140 though I don't relish it, would be persecution. Because then it seems that God's people are cast
00:56:45.160 upon God and, uh, begin to see the vanity of what the world offers. And it is then that they become
00:56:51.840 alive. And so perhaps, uh, this is what we need. Perhaps we'll see in the next, uh, generations,
00:56:57.160 hard times, but also joyous times and refreshing from the presence of God.
00:57:03.220 Yes. The true church is refined by fire, not destroyed by it. And I think that is a place
00:57:10.080 where we can put our hope and that ultimate victory is sure. Even if we don't see small
00:57:16.000 scale victories, political victories here in this life, we will see an all encompassing total victory
00:57:22.600 when Jesus rules in totality. And, um, that's certainly where my hope is drived. So thank you
00:57:29.940 so much. Thank you for sharing what you have. We will continue to pray for you. I encourage people
00:57:34.700 who listen to this show and who are watching this to send you encouragement and to pray for you
00:57:39.600 and all Canadians, but especially Canadian Christians and, and pastors. So thank you so much.
00:57:46.000 Thank you for having me. It's been good.
00:57:47.320 Okay, guys, that's it for today. We've got lots of good stuff coming out this week that I'm
00:57:57.400 really excited about. I know we've done a lot of interviews over the past two weeks,
00:58:01.380 but that's because there's so many people to talk about who have so much good expertise to lend.
00:58:07.140 Um, if you haven't listened to last week's episodes, we did a lot of goods. We just did,
00:58:12.160 we covered so much last week. So make sure you go back and listen to those.
00:58:15.080 I also did a bonus birthday episode on Friday, just gave a little
00:58:18.680 life advice and travel down memory lane. And so go listen to or watch that. If you haven't,
00:58:25.920 subscribe on YouTube and also leave us a five-star review. If you love relatable
00:58:31.180 on Apple podcast. Thanks so much for listening. We will be back here tomorrow.