Ep 721 ｜ Covid Jab or Death, Drag Queens or Bust ｜ Guests： Kirk Cameron, Chrissy & Lee Hicks
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Summary
A 14-year-old girl in North Carolina is being denied a life-saving kidney transplant at Duke Durham Medical Center because of her parents' refusal to give her the COID vaccine. After talking to the Hicks family, we will talk to Kurt Cameron, who is here to discuss getting barred from at least 50 children s libraries for his new book, The Fruit of the Spirit.
Transcript
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A 14-year-old girl in North Carolina is being denied a life-saving kidney transplant at Duke
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Durham Medical Center because of her parents' refusal to give her the COVID vaccine.
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Chrissy and Lee Hicks say Dr. Dan Chang and Dr. Eileen Cy Chambers, as well as a committee at
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the hospital, are telling them that their child must get a vaccine that she does not want or need,
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or that they will not perform a surgery to save her little life. Chrissy and Lee are Christians.
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They're an army family. They adopted Yulia and her brother from Ukraine early last year.
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They love her as their own flesh and blood, and they are begging for help for their daughter.
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They are with me today to tell their whole story. It is emotional. It is unbelievable. But we have
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the power right now to raise a respectful ruckus and to rally around them as the body of Christ and
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help as much as we can. Also, after talking to the Hicks family, we will talk to Kurt Cameron.
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He is here to discuss getting barred from at least 50 children's libraries for their story hour.
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They all denied his request to read his new book at a story hour, which is about the fruit of the
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spirit. And of course, this must be because Kurt Cameron made the mistake of wearing men's clothing
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while reading rather than putting on makeup and fishnets. We will also discuss his new movie about
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adoption. So two conversations to do with adoption today, and both conversations in their own different
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ways remind us that this world is not our home, that the hope that we have does not rest here,
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and that we have a lot of work to do to shine light in the darkness while we are still on earth.
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Chrissy Lee, thank you so much for joining us. If one of you could tell us a little bit before we
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even get into the story about your daughter, if you could just tell us a little bit about who you
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are. Chrissy, you can answer that. Well, my husband's retired military. We've been a military
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family living all over the country and the world. We have 11 children. Three of them are adopted for
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eight of them are biological children. And we're a homeschooling family. We're into swimming and
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football. Yeah. And you have found yourself now embroiled in a new story, a controversy with a
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hospital, Durham Duke Hospital Medical Center. And it is about your 14-year-old daughter, Yulia. Is that
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how you pronounce her name? Yes. And she has a genetic kidney disorder. She needs surgery.
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And the hospital is saying she cannot get this surgery without getting the COVID vaccine. Is that
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correct, Lee? That is correct. And in fact, the hospital actually plays semantics with us.
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We probed them on the requirement to have the vaccine shot. They said it's not a requirement. It's
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actually a recommendation. But if you don't follow their recommendation, then we won't get the
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kidney transplant. So that makes it a requirement. But they just keep playing semantics with us on that
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topic. So tell us about what this process has been like. When did you guys find out that she needed a
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kidney transplant for this disorder? So we got Yulia and her brother, Vanya, in January of 2021. They had
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been through two other families in America. We had three-hour notice to pick them up from the airport.
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And we brought them to our house because we knew of them. We knew Yulia had a kidney disorder. But
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they kind of fell off our radar. We adopted another girl from the Ukraine. That's how we knew who they
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were. So we took them to Duke immediately because I didn't know how long it had been since she'd been
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seen. And then we started being seen by Duke in January of 2021. And how quickly did they tell you,
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all right, she's going to have to have this kidney transplant? We already knew she needed one. What the
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issue was is dialysis. So she needed to go on dialysis basically immediately. Her kidneys, I think, were at
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like 13% function or something when we got her. So but they would not do the dialysis port until she had
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a stable social environment. And so we had kind of felt that God was tugging us anyways to adopt these
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two children. And so we were able to get the adoption through in 90 days, which is miraculous in
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and of itself. All right. And so this was beginning towards the middle of 2021, correct? Correct. So her
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port was actually put in July of 2021. We adopted her in April. She had the surgery to place the port in
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July of 2021 and then started dialysis at home in August of 2021. So the majority of her care is
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done at home. I do her treatment at night, every night. And at that point in 2021, when you brought
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them to Durham Duke Hospital, did they say anything about her or you guys needing a COVID vaccine?
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At that time, it was not. I don't think they even had it for children yet until maybe March or April
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of 2021. So as soon as it became available, I was at an appointment and the nurse practitioner said,
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OK, it's available now. Let's give her the shot. And I said, no, we're not going to take it right now.
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We don't feel comfortable. And so she said, OK, but you just remember no vaccine, no transplant. And I
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said, well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Wow. And so through the next 16 months,
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occasionally they would bring it up to us like, you know, you need to get the vaccine. And I said,
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well, we'll talk about it when we get to transplant. Right. And so that was the only
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response. But at that point, I'm sure that you guys were troubled by this, knowing the prospect
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that, I mean, she would be getting a transplant or needing a transplant sometime soon. And so what were
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the kind of behind the scenes conversations like, Lee, did you talk about, OK, are we going to have to
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move or what were you thinking kind of the process would be?
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No, I thought. So at that point, we were in up until about a few weeks ago, we were hopeful that
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the doctors would not we would go and do a transplant without it. We understood that there
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were other patients that had received a kidney without the vaccine, the COVID-19 vaccine. So we
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were hopeful that the doctors would see would allow us to go ahead and go through the surgery
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without the vaccine. And it wasn't until just a few weeks ago that when we had our final
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workup for a unit to get her surgery, that the doctors then at that point in time said,
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hey, you're going to have to have the vaccine in order to get to hit the kidney.
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And that was that was a doctor lead. That was the director of the program.
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And so we talked to her. We also talked to infectious disease doctor, and he said it was
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not a requirement. It was it was just a recommendation and that he wished he could
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make a requirement, but it couldn't. And so we were hopeful at that point in time that we would
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still be able to get the kidney without the vaccine. And what did they say when they're telling
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you this? And obviously you're saying, no, we're not going to do this. What what did they say to try
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to persuade you? What did they say their reasoning is why this child needs a vaccine in order to get
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a life saving surgery? So the other thing I want to just add real quick before I answer that question
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is that Yulia already had COVID and she recovered from it in I believe it was January of 2022. It was a
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24 hour. She had a little bit of a cough, sniffles and a fever. She did test positive for COVID,
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but she got over in 24 hours. She was completely 100 percent. A lot of kids do. Right. Right. And so
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when they were telling us that we needed to get the vaccine, I said, well, can we test her titers to
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even see what her natural antibody level is? But of course, we were shut down that they're not going
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to do that. Dr. Chang said, I don't know if you've heard the call that national file recorded and put
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out said that it was it's better to have natural immunity with the vaccine immunity, which has been
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proven false also. But they're trying to tell us that they want to boost her immunity as high as
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possible before she gets the transplant. But what we've been saying is like, well, before kids could
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get the vaccine and they got transplants, what did you do if they got COVID? And they said, well,
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we had treatments. And I'm thinking, why can't we just do the same thing? Like we're choosing to not
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take this vaccine. If she gets COVID, why can't we still use those same treatments?
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And so when they are met with a question like that, what is their response just kind of to shut
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you down? You have to have the vaccine. Yes. So they just repeat the same line. They're not even
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really trying to reason with you. Did you feel like these doctors, Dr. Dan Chang, he's a pediatric
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infectious disease specialist. And then Dr. Chambers, did you feel like they were being kind
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and understanding to your concerns? Or do you, did you feel like they were just dismissive?
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Very dismissive. Very, I will say draconian about the whole thing. And that's basically what they said.
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If you're not going to follow our recommendation, uh, then you're not going to get a kidney.
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In fact, uh, in the appointment with Dr. Chang, I broke down in tears because I said,
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what you're doing is horrible. You've put us in a terrible position.
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Yeah. And so in his, the other baffling thing to us is that we have been totally, uh, compliant with
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what they've asked us to do all the way through this point. So she's been the model patient. She's
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not had any issues at all. In fact, they always tell us that she has, she is a great patient. She
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has been doing everything we've asked, they've asked us to do. And she looks great. She looks
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healthy. She looks, uh, except for her kidneys are failing. And now we're at the point where we need
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a transplant because her kidneys are failing. And now they're denying the kidney.
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And Chrissy, I know that it's emotional. I can see you holding back tears and I just
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want you to know that it's, I mean, it's okay. It's okay to cry. We've got thousands and thousands
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of moms listening right now who can at least imagine what you are feeling as parents. And can you,
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I know it might be difficult. I know it's so difficult to talk when you're feeling this much
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understandable emotion, but can you just tell us both of you, like, what have the feelings
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been as you have tried to navigate this? And as you are facing a choice between giving her a vaccine
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that she does not need and this surgery, which is necessary to save her life.
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It's been stressful. Um, we we've always, it's kind of always been looming. So every time we would go to
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another appointment, you know, I would really have to steady myself like, okay, it's coming.
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Just be prepared for them to ask for it again. But after our big meeting where they told us like
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it was mandatory, I just stopped going to appointments and they sent my husband because
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the stress level was just too much. Because they would tend to bully Chrissy, uh, to get the vaccine
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and continue to press and press and press. But when I go, they don't ever, they don't really impress me
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at all about it. I just tell them, Hey, no, we're not going to do it. And they don't say anything else
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to me. So yeah, it's just, it's just stressful situation all the way around because here we are,
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this child has been, has been her and her brother. There's so much lately in the last few years. I
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mean, we got a family that adopted him in 2018 and that didn't work out after about a year. They
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sent the boy back to Ukraine, uh, to just go away. And then it sent her to Arizona, to another family
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to kind of go away. And then that family kept her for about four months and then sent her back
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after they got her brother back and, uh, after about a month. And then, so then we got, like,
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so Chrissy said earlier, we got a phone call because I, uh, from someone else from the Dodge
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station that I met in Ukraine, um, knew we were close to Raleigh and said, Hey, can you go pick
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these two up? Cause they're going to be arriving in about three hours and no one's going to come to
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get them except for the police. So sure. We, I said, absolutely. We'll go get them. Um, and so
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we did, and we were just going to keep it for the weekend, try to figure out what's going
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to happen. So we rearranged our lives a little bit to kind of help rectify the situation that
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they were under. And now when we, of course we adopted them, uh, without hesitation really,
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because we said, Hey, this is what God wants us to do. So we're going to do it. And now we're at
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this point of getting a kidney where she needs it. And it's doctors are saying no, because you won't
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get this, this, uh, vaccine, which has been known to hurt children. In fact, I've had some people
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reach out to either myself or friends that have said, well, my child is being seen at Duke and
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they haven't told me I need a COVID vaccine. And I said, well, have you been through the
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committee yet? And they said, no. And I said, well, that's where they'll get you. You have
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to sit before, not us, but our, her packet will sit before committee. And then they'll decide
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from the criteria, whether or not she can be activated or the child can be activated onto
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the, um, kidney transplant list. And that's when we were rejected solely for the COVID vaccine.
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Okay. So let's see, I have a little bit of this. So October 7th, you had an eight hour
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appointment at Duke to talk to these doctors. Dr. Eileen Sidechambers, the pediatric kidney
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specialist was the one pushing the vaccine. Dr. Dan Chang, pediatric infectious disease specialist
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said he highly recommended it, but that it was not mandatory. Correct. And that families had
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gotten transplants without it. Um, but when it, so then, but on November 9th, so you were hopeful,
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but on November 9th, you got an email from Catherine Thomas, a wellness coordinator stating that
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what vaccines Yulia needed, the first email was what they recommended. Then in a second email,
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the verbiage changed to what she must have or what was required. Then November 10th, as you were just
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saying, Chrissy, Yulia was presented to the committee. Her packet was presented to the committee
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and then denied because of, uh, the lack of the vaccine. So are they essentially saying that it's
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better for her to die from kidney failure? I mean, I don't want to put words in their mouth,
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but they're denying us a kidney because we won't get the vaccine. That is supposedly not a requirement,
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just a recommendation. And HPV. Yeah. They also want her to have the HPV, which we haven't really
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talked about that one much, but that's completely unnecessary. Totally unnecessary. And also has
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potential side effects. So for the people who say, well, gosh, why don't you just get it? Obviously
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it's a matter of life and death for your daughter. Why not just get the vaccine and just comply? What
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do you say to those people? I can't, I can't in good conscience. No, it's, it's, it's, it's
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uncomfortable. Actually, the whole thing is just, if we don't have the right to choose what we decide
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is, is injected into our body, then I think we've lost all of our rights. We're no longer
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in charge of our own body. Now it's up to the government to decide what, or the medical community,
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what's, what's going to be injected in our body. We have no choice of it anymore. And said that this,
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I don't understand. And this is what frustrates me the most. And I don't understand.
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You know, we looked at it, we said, this is a risk that we're willing to accept. And I even told that
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to the Dr. Chamberlain, I said, this is a risk we're willing to accept. Why can we not have the,
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the, the kidney? And she basically said, because we're putting her staff at risk,
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but I'm not sure how that's possible if they've got the vaccine.
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And boosted. Exactly. Right. So they're vaccinated, their staff is vaccinated and boosted,
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but apparently that is not enough because your daughter who has already had COVID might potentially
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maybe be infected with COVID at the exact same time that she is having her transplant. And then maybe
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give it to the staff there who not only have been vaccinated and boosted, but are wearing the masks,
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which we've been told a million times are so protective. They're completely foolproof.
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So none of that is enough. We have to put your daughter at risk who is already at risk in a lot
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of ways because of her low kidney function. We have to give her this risky vaccine because
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all of the adults in the room apparently aren't willing to take the risk of potentially getting a
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cold. That's what's going on. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And I just, in good conscience,
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I'm sorry, I broke down earlier. We can't, we can't give her this vaccine. I know
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that God will make a way for us. There will be someplace else in this country that says,
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come here, we will give your daughter a vaccine. I mean, give your daughter the transplant and it
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will be harder on our family. It will be logistically a lot harder, but we're willing to take that,
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take it on to not be forced to give her a vaccine. Yes. Well, I just have to believe that it is
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the providence of God that she, that Yulia was passed around, unfortunately just
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breaks my heart that she was given to one family, sent back, given to another family,
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sent back. She's given to you all. You all didn't even plan this. God planned it. And he knew that
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you were the exact parents that were going to protect her, that were going to show her what the
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gospel is. I mean, we are adopted by God when we did nothing to deserve that. And God keeps us even
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when it is difficult. He protects us and leads us beside still waters, even when we want to go
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astray. And in a similar way, you are with your daughter through difficult times to when people are
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trying to pull her in different directions and give her, and you are trying to give her that which is
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good. So this is a picture of the gospel. And I have to believe that God is using something so evil
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for his glory and to show people what the love of Christ looks like through adoption.
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Amen. Can you tell us? And if you, I hope one day somebody that you all get to meet Yulia,
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she's the happiest child. Like you would never guess that she's been through what she's been through
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because she just keeps going with a smile on her face. She doesn't just keep going. She's happy
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and joyful all the time. Right. Amen. She's an amazing, amazing child. I'm so thankful for that.
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And I do believe that she is going to have an incredible testimony and that possibly God can
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use this story to make a change across the country because I'm sure Yulia is not the only one
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who is facing this kind of ultimatum. So I know people can obviously pray for you. They can try
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to follow your story. But if you're looking at other hospitals to get this surgery, it's probably
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going to be expensive. And as you said, it's going to be logistically harder. You guys have 11 children.
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So tell people how they can support you. I know people are just looking for ways to kind of buoy you
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during this time. So we had a friend set up a give, send, go for us. It's give, send, go.com
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backslash kidney for Yulia. It's with a Y Y U L I A. And we were advised to, you know, increase the
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amount that we're looking for because we do have, we are, we have retained a lawyer. So we're going to
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have legal expenses on top of all the travel. And we have vowed that whatever money is left over,
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we will help another family in our same situation. Yes. Well, thank you so much for being willing
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to tell this story. As you know, it's hard. It's difficult to do. It's very emotional.
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You're talking about your daughter facing death. And, um, I can't imagine. I just can't. It's a,
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it's a parent's worst nightmare. And I hope that this wakes people up, but I know that there are
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going to be millions of people praying for you. Um, thank you so much. We can feel the prayers
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already. I feel like, um, we just know that there's a way, like it's hard, but we just know that
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there's a way forward. Yes. And I believe that too. And I'm going to be praying so hard for you
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all. And I hope that we can stay in touch and I can stay updated on this. Um, thank you guys for
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Guys, evil is among us. I mean, if we didn't already know that the medical industrial complex
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and the power that it has, I mean, it would only get worse by the way, with government run healthcare,
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you think this is bad. It would only get worse with that man. Systemic changes need to be made,
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but right now we just need to focus on this family. So please try to help them as much as
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you can. I know that we're going to try to help them as much as we can in my family too. We're
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talking about a life here and just the emotions that were behind their words, how much they truly
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love their daughter. It's such, again, just a beautiful picture of how much God loves us and
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he has adopted us Gentiles. And so it is the perfect depiction of our redemption, um, as Christians as
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well. And here to talk to us about the beauty of adoption, the importance of adopt, uh, adoption
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and the redemption that is inherent in that, um, is our friend, Kurt Cameron. We're also going to
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talk about this story that has blown up over the past couple of days that he was a denied entrance
00:22:49.280
into the story hour. I mean, I guess not entrance, but his request was denied by 50 libraries across
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the country when he said, Hey, I would like to read my book about love, joy, peace, and patience,
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you know, things like that. And they said, of course not, you're not a drag queen. So he's
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going to talk to all of us, uh, about that. He's going to talk about all of that to us today.
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And so without further ado, here is our friend, Kurt Cameron.
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Kurt, thanks so much for joining us again. Um, first let's just talk about your movie came out
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in August life, Mark. What is this movie about? Why'd you make it?
00:23:28.200
Well, thank you again for having me on the program. I'm glad I passed the test the first time
00:23:31.620
and I got, uh, I got another invite. Yeah. It's barely, just barely.
00:23:36.780
Well, thank you. And thanks for highlighting life, Mark. This is a true story. It actually
00:23:42.660
is based on a story of a young 18 year old girl who changed her mind on the abortion table.
00:23:48.740
Uh, she was experiencing, um, that moment of panic, not knowing what to do with this unplanned
00:23:54.860
pregnancy. And so she and her boyfriend, um, did the only thing they thought they could do.
00:23:59.240
They hid the pregnancy. They went to the clinic. She changed her mind. And then she actually gave
00:24:04.600
birth to this baby boy, placed him for adoption, thinking she'd never see him again. 19 years later,
00:24:10.240
she has a chance to reconnect with him. She thinks he probably hates her for abandoning him,
00:24:15.260
but the opposite is true. He gives her this big hug and says, thank you for the loving choice that you
00:24:21.260
made. I love my family. I've got this great life. And, uh, the story just takes off from there. I play
00:24:27.200
the adoptive father in the movie, which is really cool for me being an adoptive dad.
00:24:32.500
And it was in theaters this summer, right after the Supreme court ruling came down,
00:24:39.600
which essentially overturned Roe versus Wade. So what are the chances first that Roe v. Wade gets
00:24:44.860
overturned, but then that a movie comes into the theaters, championing the value of life in the womb
00:24:49.980
and the beauty of adoption. That is really incredible timing that after the Dobbs decision
00:24:55.780
and a lot of people were talking about who were angry about that, well, Christians, um, aren't doing
00:25:01.800
enough. Why aren't all Christians adopting when really there are millions of Christians, not just
00:25:07.700
to adopt, but who are waiting to adopt, who would love to adopt. Yes. Yes. And that's something that I
00:25:14.680
really am excited about life Mark doing is it's, um, recapturing the beauty and the magic of adoption.
00:25:21.480
Many people don't even think of the adoption option in birth mothers often, um, sadly would
00:25:27.040
rather statistically speaking, um, abort their child, then place their child for adoption. They
00:25:32.380
think that adoption is the morally worst choice. It makes them feel like a bad mom. Like I abandoned my
00:25:38.060
baby. But what life Mark does is it shows the beautiful side of what happens. Uh, if you choose
00:25:44.580
life, there are literally lines of adoptive parents who are praying for an opportunity to raise a little
00:25:53.120
boy or a little girl. And, uh, adoption is this loving choice that not only helps a birth mother in a
00:26:02.180
difficult situation, it saves the life of a human being like my four adopted children and my adopted
00:26:08.060
wife. And it answers the prayers of these couples who are longing for children and are not able to
00:26:14.560
have them. So I just am thrilled that life Mark is, uh, now coming out on DVD. Uh, it's streaming on
00:26:22.260
pure flicks and just in time for Christmas. It's a great movie for everybody to watch.
00:26:26.500
And it's such a beautiful depiction of the gospel too. Obviously there are so many physical and
00:26:31.040
tangible benefits to adoption. And then when we think about, well, we have also been adopted,
00:26:37.780
we have also been taken in. We didn't do anything to earn our adoption. There was nothing that we
00:26:42.440
could do, but God, because of his love for us decided to redeem us and adopt us. I mean, I don't
00:26:47.780
know if there's a better earthly picture, maybe besides marriage for what the gospel is.
00:26:54.340
I loved it. It's so great to hear you say that. Um, wow. What more beautiful thing than to be
00:27:01.840
unconditionally loved and chosen by the creator of the universe? Yes. I mean, this speaks of
00:27:08.900
forgiveness. This speaks of reconciliation. This speaks of new beginnings. Yes. And that's what
00:27:14.720
life Mark is modeling as well. You know, Ali, when I think about adoption, it's crazy. You know,
00:27:21.080
sometimes like once something's on your mind, you start to see it everywhere. Like, you know,
00:27:24.920
I'm looking for a red pickup truck and all of a sudden you see hundreds of red pickup trucks on the
00:27:28.840
church. I think of the scriptures and adoption, as you pointed out is so central. It's even central
00:27:35.960
to the Christmas story. Think about a young girl who woke up one morning and found herself with an
00:27:42.480
unplanned pregnancy from Mary's human perspective. And then Joseph full of faith, love for God and for
00:27:51.120
the mother and the child adopts that baby and raises him as his own son. And as a result,
00:27:57.760
salvation, reconciliation, and a new beginning comes to the entire world. Uh, adoption is huge.
00:28:07.640
Yeah. And I'm really hoping that people grasp these themes when they watch the film.
00:28:11.900
Yes. And you know, a lot of people, a lot of Christians, pro-life Christians, after the Dobbs
00:28:16.540
decision came out, were very discouraged by the anger that they saw and some of the misinformation
00:28:23.280
that they saw about pro-life laws and the media coverage and just felt like, oh my, oh my goodness,
00:28:29.680
the darkness is much louder than we thought. And people who are now just even more outright than
00:28:34.520
ever saying that they are pro-abortion, even that they are against adoption. Can you just give
00:28:41.000
Christians some encouragement who just feel kind of the weight of the world, maybe more than ever,
00:28:46.520
now that there is even more vitriol against pro-lifers, um, because of the changes in laws and
00:28:54.420
because of the Dobbs decision, like what kind of encouragement and maybe advice for these pro-life
00:29:00.440
Christians do you have? The encouragement is these are exciting times. We don't have the misfortune of
00:29:09.980
living in boring times. Uh, you know, this is the very wake up call that the family of faith needs
00:29:17.880
that people who love God and love their family and love this country need. We've been asleep for
00:29:23.820
decades, culturally speaking. Sometimes our, our, our mind gets, it wanders off to this land of heaven
00:29:30.740
where everything's going to be okay. And there's no more problems, uh, forgetting that we're here to be
00:29:36.620
conduits that bring heaven to earth. And culturally we need to re-engage. So I see this as the very
00:29:42.820
pressure needed to awaken the heroes of our generation. We speak of them in the past. We
00:29:50.620
tell stories about them. We write songs about them. Uh, and we need them in our generation.
00:29:56.020
So much is at stake. We have so much on the line. We have children, we have grandbabies.
00:30:00.000
And, uh, just like coal requires tremendous amounts of pressure before the diamond is formed.
00:30:09.620
I believe that, uh, people who love God and their family and biblical values and this country
00:30:16.160
are now experiencing the pressure that we can thank God for because it's waking us up and it could be
00:30:23.800
the shining moment that we need. Uh, so I'm hoping that this is culturally transforming stuff, not just
00:30:32.200
for public schools and, uh, you know, government halls, but for the hearts and minds of people to
00:30:41.320
say, we have a rare and precious gift in this nation and we will lose it if we don't engage. So I think
00:30:48.600
God's waking us up. Mm-hmm. And the light shines most brightly in the darkness. And if we look at
00:30:54.240
the history of the church, the history of the church is not smooth sailing. It's not ease. It's
00:30:59.580
not, um, enjoying special privileges and special favor typically from government. It's very often
00:31:07.300
hostility. It's very often being on the margins, going against the grain, pushing back against the
00:31:13.280
powers that be in the cultural zeitgeist of the time. And we are simply today as Christians carrying
00:31:19.740
the torch that Christians have been carrying for thousands of years. Yes, in the advocacy of the
00:31:25.020
most vulnerable, which Christians have always done, but also in standing against the immorality and the
00:31:30.240
darkness of the day and just saying no and looking at the ways that we can put a stop to it. So I know
00:31:37.420
it's easy to think like, oh my gosh, things are worse than they have ever been. I just kind of want to
00:31:42.040
sit on my hands until Jesus comes back or just to pretend like all this darkness isn't there because
00:31:46.840
you know, we're going to heaven one day. And we forget that one of our roles as Christians
00:31:52.400
is to advance God's kingdom here on earth. And God has placed us here, not accidentally or just,
00:31:59.600
you know, arbitrarily, but because he's going to equip us to face the exact obstacles that we are
00:32:06.200
facing today. And he can do that just as much as he has done for the past 2000 years.
00:32:11.220
Oh, so well said, beautifully said. I agree with you. And the truth is, for those who say,
00:32:18.620
oh, you know, the end is near, the end is near, it's getting so bad. It's just getting worse and
00:32:22.660
worse. Well, you know, the truth is, if you were to go back 1000 years, you wouldn't have wanted to
00:32:28.520
live as a Christian back there in Europe, you wouldn't have wanted to go back 1500 years,
00:32:32.760
you know what they were doing to the people of faith back then? They were burning them at stakes,
00:32:36.840
they were sawing them in half, they were feeding them to lions, they were hiding in caves, they were
00:32:40.680
being drowned. All of these things are horrifying to us, but it was normal back then. Things are
00:32:48.480
actually much better now than they were 1000 1500 years ago for people of Christian faith. And that's
00:32:56.800
because the gospel has flourished because God is faithful. Covenant keepers win, covenant breakers lose.
00:33:03.560
Every time, you just have to stick around long enough to see the end of the story. And you can see that
00:33:09.220
with St. Patrick and how he transformed pagan Ireland. You can see that with John Knox in Scotland, Luther
00:33:15.380
in Germany, you can see that with Calvin, you can see that with the Puritans and the pilgrims, and the
00:33:20.700
formation of the greatest, freest nation the world has ever known, built on biblical principles here. So if those
00:33:26.940
people could do that in far darker times than what we're experiencing in America today, why can't we
00:33:34.660
see a great revival, a great awakening, with all the resources we have with all the churches that we
00:33:41.020
have with all the great teaching, we can, we just have to stop sitting on our hands and get involved. And
00:33:47.580
Ali, that's why I appreciate you so much because you speak to cultural issues, and you are involved. And
00:34:06.920
Well, thank you so much, and I appreciate you as well. And that pushback that, you know, Christians
00:34:12.480
are engaging in is not going to be, it doesn't go over easily when you're talking about some of the
00:34:22.340
entities and institutions that absolutely don't want to see these kinds of values that we're
00:34:27.500
talking about flourish. And there was a Fox News story that I saw. And you said that you just heard
00:34:33.600
about it. I woke up to it this morning, and I didn't even have my first cup of coffee yet. I was
00:34:37.740
not ready for this. Yes, Kurt Cameron gets denied story hour slot for new kids book. Kurt Cameron has
00:34:44.500
called out this is Fox or, oh, wait, hang on. All right, I guess I don't have the article. So I don't
00:34:53.480
know, as you grow your book, you were passed up because of the, you were passed up for the story
00:35:01.640
hour, because this is a Christian book, I guess. Oh, I see. I see the article. I see the article now. So
00:35:07.980
it is San Diego library system. They host like drag queen story hour and things like that. But they
00:35:14.820
didn't want you to read your book. Interesting. So if you read the whole article, you'll find that
00:35:21.640
there's over 50 public libraries that denied us the ability to read my children's book about biblical
00:35:31.720
wisdom and the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, patience, kindness. Right. And yet these are the
00:35:38.380
same public libraries that claim to be inclusive and want to be about diversity. They have drag queen
00:35:44.760
story hours at these same libraries, along with name change clinics for children who want to change
00:35:51.300
their gender. But at Christmas time, we can't talk about love and joy and kindness. In fact,
00:35:56.380
I believe that public libraries ought to be safe spaces for free speech and should allow the
00:36:06.580
communities to hear ideas from all different points of view, including the ones that made this country
00:36:14.520
so unique and special. So in fact, we're getting so many emails from not only parents within those
00:36:21.920
communities, but librarians in those communities who want to host their own story hours with my book
00:36:28.540
and other books from the publisher that are championing these values that are pro-God and pro-America
00:36:35.420
in their public library. So we're sending them free books and they're hosting their own public story
00:36:43.300
hours. So we're hoping that this starts a whole movement of people to say, look, this is the stuff we
00:36:49.460
want. Stop silencing part of the public in the public square. Right. There are millions, millions
00:36:55.120
of parents. I guarantee there are far more parents who want their kids to learn about God and love and
00:37:01.580
peace, the fruit of the Spirit, than they do to watch a man dressed up as a scantily clad woman
00:37:07.280
reading to them about things that they don't even need to know about. And yet one is censored and one
00:37:13.020
is not. So that just shows the spirit of the age and what we are up against. But thankfully,
00:37:17.760
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever, as Hebrews 13 says, and that is the God
00:37:24.660
that we serve. So we have to continue to be joyful warriors for what is good and right and true.
00:37:30.180
And you are a wonderful representation of that. I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful for how you do
00:37:34.740
engage in the culture and you create things that are God-glorifying rather than only complaining about
00:37:41.100
the things, as many of us do, that are not God-glorifying. So thank you. Thank you for
00:37:47.520
that. I really appreciate it. Well, that's a great encouragement to me because I don't want to be
00:37:52.280
that guy. I think that's one of the things that's made me lean into my faith and the transforming
00:37:59.320
biblical truths in the scriptures even more now than ever before, because I'm finally seeing that
00:38:05.920
as good as conservative politics are, they're advancing ideas. The truth is those ideas,
00:38:14.820
if they are not connected to the root of eternal truth and the authority of the word of God,
00:38:22.420
it ultimately is not going to get enough traction to transform society. So I want to lean into the
00:38:28.760
very root that our founders and our forefathers and mothers said was indispensable if we want to
00:38:34.740
continue to be a free republic. And that is faith in God and true morality, which we find in the
00:38:41.820
ancient Mosaic code that's worked for 4,000 years and produced human flourishing, not this woke
00:38:49.160
garbage that some are trying to replace good values with. Yep, absolutely. Well, thank you so much. And
00:38:57.500
tell everyone where they can find Lifemark. Oh, Lifemark. All right. So Lifemark, it looks like
00:39:05.360
this. It's now available on DVD and Blu-ray and you can go to lifemarkmovie.com. It's on social
00:39:13.000
media as well at lifemarkmovie, but lifemarkmovie.com. And you can pick it up pretty much anywhere
00:39:17.680
starting December 13th, Amazon and everything else. And your book that is being refused by these
00:39:25.720
libraries. And what's that called? That's called As You Grow by Brave Books, the great publisher.
00:39:32.280
Yeah, As You Grow by Brave Books. And you can just go to bravebooks.com and you can find my book
00:39:41.440
and a whole bunch of other books that are about courage and leadership and all the kinds of values
00:39:46.320
and fruits of the spirit that we talked about. I love it. Well, thank you so much. I really
00:39:50.040
appreciate you taking the time to come on. Appreciate you as well. God bless you. Keep