The NXR Podcast - THE LIVESTREAM - Is Nicotine Addiction Sinful？

00:00:00.000 Leave us a five-star review on your favorite podcast platform.

00:00:03.820 I get it.

00:00:04.620 It's annoying.

00:00:05.380 Everybody asks, but I'm going to tell you why.

00:00:07.540 When you give us a positive review, what that does is it triggers the algorithm so that

00:00:12.440 our podcast shows up on more people's newsfeeds.

00:00:16.160 You and I both know that this ministry is willing to talk about things that most ministries

00:00:20.820 aren't.

00:00:21.580 We need this content for the glory of God to reach more people's ears.

00:00:26.860 tobacco and nicotine both have a rich heritage both in the church and in the country you've

00:00:36.520 probably had some progressive liberal tell you that slaves built this country of america

00:00:42.220 that's not true tobacco built this country slaves were used in the process but tobacco has had

00:00:48.460 a powerful effect on the american ethos but also as it pertains to the church there are

00:00:55.680 theologians throughout church history who have used tobacco and even ministers. I think of Charles

00:01:01.640 Spurgeon. Charles Spurgeon was known for keeping a very rigid schedule, a weekly planner, and even

00:01:08.180 in his weekly written schedule, he would write down on the Lord's Day, on Sunday, smoke a cigar

00:01:14.660 in the afternoon after the morning service to the glory of God. In fact, he was so notorious for

00:01:20.940 smoking cigars on the Lord's Day, immediately after the Sunday morning service, that there was

00:01:25.880 one instance, legend has it, where an elderly woman of his congregation came outside the church

00:01:32.800 building as the service was ending and met the minister, Charles Spurgeon, saw him smoking his

00:01:38.820 usual cigar. He would finish preaching, he would give the benediction, then he would quickly exit

00:01:43.500 the church building so that he could say goodbye and greet and say goodbye to each individual

00:01:49.620 parishioner as they were leaving the service and so he'd be standing outside smoking a cigar every

00:01:54.620 single sunday afternoon this elderly woman she passes by and sees him smoking his usual cigar

00:02:00.540 and says don't you think that this is a bit excessive and what she means of course is

00:02:06.060 implying you smoke a cigar every single sunday immediately after church and charles virgin

00:02:12.660 responded by simply saying no and then she said well then what would be excessive i mean how

00:02:19.460 much more would you have to smoke every time i see you as soon as the service is over you're

00:02:23.120 smoking a cigar what what would it take in your mind to be excessive and he simply responded by

00:02:29.740 saying if i was smoking two cigars so if he was double fisting a cigar in each hand then in the

00:02:36.160 mind of pastor spurgeon that would be excessive so the point still remains uh even for more modern

00:02:41.660 guys because i understand that some would push back and say well spurgeon wasn't aware of some

00:02:45.740 of the health concerns. And there's a truth to that. But R.C. Sproul was, and it did not stop

00:02:52.880 Pastor Sproul from enjoying his tobacco and nicotine from time to time. So there is a rich

00:02:59.660 legacy when it comes to nicotine and tobacco. And what we want to do in this episode is we want to

00:03:04.340 address an article that should be satire. But in looking into it, I am grieved to report to you

00:03:11.520 that this article is quite serious. They are not trying to be funny. It is funny, but they did not

00:03:18.240 intend to be funny. Christianity Today has just put out recently an article about Zen and how

00:03:25.020 terrible it is. And in typical gospel coalition Christianity Today fashion, of course, their big

00:03:31.820 concern is that nicotine could be an idol, as can everything, right? Don't get married because you

00:03:39.020 might idolize your wife. Don't have kids. You might idolize your children. You better not be

00:03:43.100 productive and work because you could idolize your job. You could be a workaholic. And so now

00:03:47.500 Zen nicotine pouches has been thrown on the chopping block. So I want to take just a quick

00:03:53.560 moment here. If we could pan out to the main frame, I think it's fitting right here from the

00:03:57.760 outset to go ahead and do a little promo for some nicotine. So you might see on the coffee table

00:04:03.860 here, I've got some Alp. There's a roll and a couple of cans of Alp. If you're watching the

00:04:08.700 video. We have a little lower third text here. You can save 10% on ALP. ALP is a nicotine patch.

00:04:16.460 And I am obligated, if I advertise this, to read the warning, which states as follows. This product

00:04:23.200 contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical, right? Insert meme. I was already sold.

00:04:30.220 You don't have to sell me on it. Yes, nicotine is addictive, and we're going to talk about that

00:04:35.380 in the episode, but there are actually a ton of health benefits about nicotine, and I think that

00:04:43.920 the Bible does actually not exactly explicitly deal with nicotine, but there are multiple

00:04:52.640 principles and virtues throughout the scripture that I think can help us form a Christian theology

00:04:59.600 and how we should think about nicotine. Is it permissible? Is it not permissible?

00:05:05.500 Spoiler alert, I absolutely think it's permissible, but just because something's

00:05:09.240 permissible doesn't mean that we necessarily do it. So we're going to make a case today,

00:05:14.020 both from scripture and from some of the health benefits and science for nicotine,

00:05:21.200 that it actually has a net positive good. There are some warnings that you should be aware of,

00:05:27.000 one of them I just read on the screen. But I think it's still important for us to address this topic

00:05:33.300 as especially young right wing and many of them Christian men are using nicotine. So we want to

00:05:39.600 address that. If you want to use the promo code and get 10% off of ALP, all you have to do is go

00:05:46.300 to the show notes, right? So if you're listening through a podcast or if you're on YouTube,

00:05:50.460 go to the show notes and you will find a link. If you follow that link, click on it, you'll be able

00:05:55.620 to get 10% off if you would like to try Alp. That's Tucker Carlson's brand of nicotine pouches,

00:06:01.820 and they're pretty good. I've used some myself. Last thing before we jump into the show for today,

00:06:08.360 this episode, per usual, is brought to you by our premier sponsors. That's Armored Republic

00:06:13.800 and Reese Fund, as well as our Patreon members and our generous supporters. If you'd like to

00:06:20.500 join our Patreon for exclusive content. You can go to patreon.com forward slash

00:06:26.320 Right Response Ministries. And if you'd like to make a donation today, you can do so by going to

00:06:32.180 rightresponseministries.com forward slash donate. Let's go ahead and dive in.

00:06:39.540 all right all right all right here we are happy friday happy friday okay uh so we're talking

00:06:53.460 about nicotine and tobacco and the two we're going to talk about them collectively but also

00:06:58.360 separately because it is possible to use nicotine without using tobacco um for the longest time

00:07:04.460 those two were usually kind of two peas in a pod, right? So whether you're chewing tobacco or

00:07:11.580 smoking tobacco, you're getting nicotine from the tobacco leaves. But now, in modern times,

00:07:18.080 it is quite possible to use nicotine without using tobacco. So whatever you might be afraid,

00:07:23.240 you know, whatever concerns you might have with tobacco being cancerous,

00:07:26.880 those can be avoided by using nicotine in isolation, whether it be through pouches or

00:07:32.620 those kinds of things and in regards to tobacco yes there can be cancerous effects as there are

00:07:38.960 cancerous effects with many things but in modern times i think it's important to note and we'll

00:07:45.860 talk about this in the episode that a lot of the harmful effects when it comes to modern cigarettes

00:07:51.380 is not the tobacco itself but actually all the additives and chemicals specifically the pesticides

00:07:58.000 so your crop if you're growing tobacco leaves you want to harvest tons and tons and tons of it

00:08:02.480 the best way to keep any type of rot from growing on it, the best way to keep bugs off it

00:08:06.180 is to douse it in pesticides. Now, it turns out those pesticides that kill other bacteria,

00:08:11.480 that kill other bugs, that's also not really good for human beings to somehow get into their lungs

00:08:16.300 or get into their bloodstream. So specifically, that avenue in particular, which is a more modern

00:08:21.580 one, this is the 70s, the 80s, and the 90s, that route in particular, that risk, that's what's

00:08:27.260 actually going to drive a good bit. I'm not a doctor, and I'm not going to say, oh, for sure,

00:08:31.260 that's the only risk whatsoever. But a good bit of that risk is going to just be driven by

00:08:35.700 consuming mass produced tobacco. Right. So second segment of the show today, we're going to try to

00:08:41.580 keep it. We're trying to stay closer to about an hour, hour, 15 minutes. So our second segment

00:08:45.680 here in just a few minutes, we'll start to address some of the benefits and some of the potential

00:08:52.400 pitfalls that you should be mindful of when it comes to tobacco and particularly nicotine.

00:08:56.700 but in this first segment what has brought us to the topic today is again we regret to inform you

00:09:03.640 that christianity uh they posted something um pretty much anytime they post something christianity

00:09:09.240 today um it's always uh it's always negative um and this has not broken that trend uh this is

00:09:17.340 another slop article that's um pretty pretty pathetic and so we're going to read a few quotes

00:09:23.580 and uh and engage uh wes or wes you want to read the first quote sure i'll start with it so we're

00:09:30.760 not going to read the whole article here you can go just literally search zin on christianity today

00:09:34.920 and you'll be able to find it we've pulled three kind of longer sections out of this to kind of

00:09:38.680 get a sense of how the author is talking but also to how he's trying to burden the consciences of

00:09:43.920 the readers so he says this he originally had started smoking i think vaping in high school and

00:09:48.800 then someone turned them on to zin as an alternative. So this is zin for anyone not

00:09:52.740 familiar. It's literally a pouch that's maybe the size of a fingernail, your thumb, and then you just

00:09:59.120 store it in your lip. And then the nicotine from the tobacco, or if there is any tobacco in it at

00:10:03.560 all, that simply gets into your bloodstream and then you experience the effects of nicotine. So

00:10:08.000 this is what he's talking about now. He talks about all the benefits. It's discreet. It's this.

00:10:12.060 And then he says this. And the buzz, of course. Oh, the buzz. Not harsh or overwhelming, but steady

00:10:18.040 and smooth zin didn't hit like a cigarette or haze my lungs like a vape it sharpened me just

00:10:23.380 enough to take the edge off for a few minutes i felt more capable i could do more and think faster

00:10:27.960 and feel better and stress less and sleep less and work longer and push harder and then suddenly i

00:10:33.360 realized i don't feel anything at all this tiny white rectangle was no longer a tool crutch shield

00:10:38.400 or coping mechanism it was a murderer that that even the way it's written it just drips of a

00:10:46.540 femininity i can't believe a man wrote this yeah it's hard to believe you would think a woman wrote

00:10:51.120 that yeah yeah we'll continue on here this is a little bit longer section this where he's kind

00:10:56.380 of applying it to gen z men in the church so he says it's not just me there are many gen z men

00:11:01.180 churches right now quietly dependent on nicotine pouches zen keeps them steady focused and

00:11:07.440 emotionally level so subtly that their use of it goes unchallenged this kind of self-medicated

00:11:12.820 serenity is especially tempting for men who are already taught to hide weakness and power

00:11:18.000 through pain that's that's good zinn presents itself as an emotional sponge soaking up just

00:11:23.560 enough stress and sadness to keep us composed driven and in control for young men chasing

00:11:28.420 achievement and terrified of vulnerability it makes it easier to quote man up bury your feelings

00:11:34.920 and push forward without ever confronting what's underneath i'm sold i'm sold but you're telling me

00:11:41.300 all of these things just get easier with this substance there's something super nefarious and

00:11:46.560 dangerous that's floating out there in the ether there's a bunch of young gen z men who have found

00:11:52.400 a substance that the bible doesn't forbid and that does not alter sober-mindedness and it's causing

00:11:59.160 them not to be emotional feminist i'm sorry what's the problem like what you're telling me this is an

00:12:05.320 issue it's causing them to be but you didn't hear the scary part yet they're actually working harder

00:12:10.740 and being productive and being less emotional next you're going to find out there's this bean

00:12:15.820 that god made and you take this bean and you grind it you can grind it up and put it in water

00:12:21.260 through it right it tastes good and it wakes you up in the morning yeah it wakes you up in the

00:12:25.640 morning it's enjoyable you find yourself being even more productive um there's a lot guys be

00:12:31.380 safe out there yeah right there's a lot of there's a lot of dangerous things out there i actually

00:12:36.120 find that like more than the conversation we're having about zen is like that that last quote in

00:12:41.540 particular was pretty revealing because that's really what it is about right as you look at it

00:12:45.780 it's it's talking about you know men who are taught to hide weakness and power through the pain like

00:12:50.240 that's really what these kind of people who are criticizing this kind of the use of nicotine for

00:12:55.480 example but many other things that's really what they're concerned about yeah it's some and it's

00:12:59.800 something that allows men encourages men to be men right um and and i just find it fascinating

00:13:05.380 that that it was that does that honestly like i mean we're being facetious but in all

00:13:09.940 truthfulness it does seem like that's kind of the subtle undercurrent it's like are we really

00:13:15.420 concerned uh that all these guys are addicted to something and that they're actually in sin or that

00:13:20.660 they've actually committed idolatry like they're worshiping you know a white rectangle more than

00:13:25.320 the triune god or uh have we noticed a pattern that young men are not going to the gospel

00:13:31.820 coalition conferences and they're not subscribing to christianity today and they're trending more

00:13:37.740 masculine and we know that this might be part of what's causing that and we're going to get into

00:13:44.180 that in the second segment but but nicotine actually does boost testosterone so i could see

00:13:49.880 why um i could see i could see why um this is a dumb analogy but uh i have kids all right so that

00:13:58.460 i didn't sit and watch this movie by myself but uh with with a couple of my older kids for for uh

00:14:03.820 fun we watched a boss baby have you guys ever seen boss baby yeah it's pretty funny it's pretty

00:14:09.620 funny so basically it's like you know all these babies are like corporate you know um workers and

00:14:14.820 so they're you know they're uh looking at spreadsheets and talking about business and

00:14:19.700 all this kind of stuff and it's baby corp is is what they work for and it's like you know

00:14:23.800 basically the consumption of like how many you know how many people worldwide and particularly

00:14:28.440 in america you know love babies is there is there a demand you know a uh is there a consumer base

00:14:34.280 for babies and so they're they're great you know arch nemesis is um is puppy co and so it's like

00:14:41.760 you know uh the the more the cuter the puppies are then it you know it hurts the bottom line

00:14:46.620 in the baby business because people opt for puppies instead of babies and honestly i i feel

00:14:53.180 like with you know organizations like the gospel coalition or christianity today in this case um

00:14:59.720 testosterone going up is not good for their bottom line it is not like i mean they they

00:15:07.320 birth control being flushed down the toilet in the water yeah i mean that's good for business if

00:15:12.260 you're uh russell moore you know your clothing made with artificial uh fabrics like polyester

00:15:17.340 yes i mean selling tickets right there any yes anything that's like they're like i'm surprised

00:15:23.000 haven't wrote you know written an article yet that's like actually you need even more seed oil

00:15:27.760 you know like i wouldn't be surprised if next week they're like you know a shake shack um is

00:15:33.520 idolizing beef tallow because they i mean really idolization of health yeah but because for them

00:15:40.780 yeah idolization of health because seriously like if um a lot of it there are spiritual root

00:15:47.120 spiritual issues sin sin is a real category but there are actually chemical and um and food

00:15:53.560 nutrition and health issues at play um that's part of the reason why testosterone i mean it

00:15:58.860 could be measured it has drastically gone down in the last couple of generations and if it hadn't

00:16:04.980 you you would you would not have christianity today you would not have the gospel coalition

00:16:09.960 their audience is women of both sexes and without having women of both because here's the problem

00:16:15.500 it's like well they'd still have you know the women who are actually biological women they'd

00:16:19.160 still be a part of their market share you know they wouldn't because um if testosterone boosted

00:16:24.380 and men um were were more um more driven and ambitious and uh then they one of the things

00:16:33.240 they'd be doing is not just being productive and and working but they'd also would be getting

00:16:37.400 married and and all these married men would be telling their wives yeah you you cannot go to

00:16:42.880 that gospel coalition conference right and you you need to unsubscribe from christianity today so

00:16:47.980 um i i see if you are christianity today why it would completely make sense to uh to view nicotine

00:16:55.600 as a threat i this feeds into a point that i think you want to make joel but um it's a it's

00:17:02.540 a very insidious kind of pietism that posits that every single good thing that there's always a risk

00:17:07.840 of overusing it like practically alcohol as an example the bible has a good amount of warnings

00:17:12.320 about alcohol because alcohol honestly like it's millions and millions of people have ruined their

00:17:17.780 lives through alcohol addiction that is not just we found someone somewhere and can you believe it

00:17:22.280 he was addicted to alcohol right the number of people that have ruined their lives over a caffeine

00:17:26.400 addiction now truly over literally just caffeine not maybe like pre-workout or other substances

00:17:31.260 is a tiny amount if practically anybody but just even comparing the two very popular substances

00:17:37.300 very commercialized. One has destroyed millions of lives. The other simply has not. They are not

00:17:42.320 equivalent. Same thing, it would be like marital relations with your spouse. Could it theoretically

00:17:47.320 be possible that a couple could idolize that and it turn into idolatry? Yes, that's possible.

00:17:54.120 Practically, Joel, in your years of pastoring, have you had dozens, 10, 5 couples coming in and

00:18:00.460 like, we are straight up idolizing the marriage bed. No, it's a good thing that God gave to enjoy.

00:18:05.880 And so when it comes to nicotine, we are talking about an addictive substance.

00:18:09.360 I have counseled several cases where people have neglected the marriage bed.

00:18:15.200 Like the problem of a married couple not having enough sex, that problem is prevalent.

00:18:22.420 But the problem of like, I'm sorry, it's been a month since we've been at church.

00:18:26.480 We just can't physically make it because we can't get out of the bedroom.

00:18:30.620 I've never had that problem.

00:18:31.880 That's never come in.

00:18:32.760 and the point being there are some things that just don't have not everything has the risk on

00:18:37.700 the other side of it the way things like alcohol do now sex certainly has women outside of marriage

00:18:42.300 but you come to something like this and it's just what makes a nicotine different than for example

00:18:46.700 heroin or caffeine or alcohol well for one it and you can talk about this joel it sharpens the mind

00:18:51.820 it doesn't dull you it doesn't it's not the the chemical word or the the terminology be intoxicating

00:18:57.440 right it doesn't have an effect like alcohol where you're out of it oh i can't drive a car if i've

00:19:02.040 head too much like weed where it puts you to sleep right the command exactly weed and alcohol

00:19:06.660 marijuana and alcohol are both downers they you know both of them uh they suppress the central

00:19:12.040 nervous system yes and they suppress your your inhibition um so so the things uh the part of you

00:19:18.920 and your mind uh that would keep you from making foolish decisions um is suppressed and dulled i've

00:19:26.300 heard it said like this maybe you guys are familiar with this saying um good times make weed boys

00:19:32.120 weed boys make hard times hard times create nicotine men and nicotine men create good times

00:19:39.760 have you ever heard that uh said that way right so yeah but it's pretty true that's for the

00:19:45.460 listener um the actual adage is that you know good times create soft men soft men make bad times bad

00:19:51.280 times create hard men and hard men create good times uh but honestly i think it's pretty fair

00:19:58.040 to say and even historically looking at our country um you had a time when uh tobacco

00:20:03.560 uh was raining and uh and there was a lot of productivity and then you have marijuana coming

00:20:13.080 in and tobacco is bad bad bad and now you kind of got bad times yeah i think there might be

00:20:21.780 something there uh in the chat nathan can you scroll up just a little bit uh there was someone

00:20:26.720 andy i think yeah right there go down yeah there it is so andy said the bible clearly says it's a

00:20:32.040 bold claim uh because the bible actually does not say this but he said the bible clearly says

00:20:37.320 to put no unclean thing in the body. Our bodies are temples which God has chosen to dwell in.

00:20:46.020 I'm preaching to myself too. I appreciate the humility right there at the end, preaching to

00:20:49.940 myself. You definitely need to add the humility piece, especially when you say the Bible clearly

00:20:54.140 says something that it does not say. So what the Bible actually says is precisely the opposite.

00:20:59.060 The Bible says it is not what goes into a man's mouth that defiles him, but what comes out of his

00:21:05.540 mouth, not speaking of his diet, but rather his speech. So it's actually not what goes into a

00:21:10.180 man's mouth. And this is Jesus himself saying this. It's not what goes into his mouth that

00:21:14.820 defiles him, but rather what comes out of a man's mouth, his speech that defiles him. And then the

00:21:20.000 parenthetical statement right there in the text next to it says, and thus he declared all things

00:21:25.220 clean. This is also similar to what we see in Acts chapter 10, as the Lord is speaking through

00:21:32.040 a vision to Peter right before commissioning him to go to the house of Cornelius, who was a Gentile,

00:21:39.020 to preach to him and his household the gospel. And what Peter sees in this vision is a sheet

00:21:45.040 from heaven being lowered down by its four corners with all kinds of different beasts of

00:21:50.520 the field and animals that were, according to the Jewish custom under the Old Covenant,

00:21:56.940 unlawful for him to eat and he hears a voice and it's very um it's very clear that this voice is

00:22:03.540 the voice of the lord corresponding with this this visual vision that he's having that says take and

00:22:09.380 eat or kill and eat and peter responds and says uh surely not no um for i i i've never defiled

00:22:17.620 myself or eaten that which is unclean and uh and it happens over and over again and then finally

00:22:23.300 do not call unclean what I, the Lord, hath made clean. So I think what Andy is probably thinking

00:22:30.220 of would be 1 Corinthians 6, would be the closest that the Bible gets to, but it does not clearly

00:22:34.540 say what Andy said. 1 Corinthians 6 does, however, it does say that your body is a temple of the

00:22:41.760 Holy Spirit, whom you have received from God. You are not your own, therefore. You were bought with

00:22:46.880 price therefore honor um honor uh uh honor god by um by i think by being good stewards of your body

00:22:57.520 i'd have to i'd have to look at it i think it's first corinthians chapter 6 verse 12 is where it

00:23:02.340 picks up let me i've got a bible in front of me might as well grab it trying to look for it too

00:23:06.680 here we go we'll find it first corinthians chapter 6 well he says this i'll follow it up while you

00:23:11.600 find that piece later on in the chapter and remember the context of first corinthians 6

00:23:15.800 is sexual immorality, which is a different category of sin than every other sin.

00:23:19.760 Alcohol addiction is not a sin against the body the way sexual immorality is.

00:23:23.980 But 1 Corinthians 6, 12,

00:23:25.560 All things are lawful for me, reading the New King James,

00:23:28.380 but all things are not helpful.

00:23:29.900 All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought into the power of any.

00:23:33.000 Foods for the stomach, and the stomach for food,

00:23:35.300 but God will destroy both it and them.

00:23:37.000 Now the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord,

00:23:39.880 and the Lord for the body.

00:23:40.940 And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.

00:23:45.500 Right.

00:23:45.800 yep um you were bought a price therefore glorify god in your body and in your spirit which are

00:23:51.060 gods you were bought with a price therefore glorify god with your body so yeah so this

00:23:54.840 is first corinthians chapter six starting uh with verse 12 and going through verse 20 wes is right

00:23:59.580 um but what i did want to point out right there in verse 12 all things are lawful unto me but

00:24:04.220 all things are not expedient um other translations say beneficial so all things are permissible

00:24:10.300 but not beneficial necessarily i'm reading from the the king jimmy then it says all things are

00:24:17.080 lawful for me again permissible morally permissible but i will not be brought under the power of any

00:24:24.460 other translations say i will not be enslaved to any or i i believe um the esv might use uh the

00:24:30.880 term mastered by any and so that's the only thing biblically speaking because i've i've thought

00:24:36.000 about this because I use nicotine from time to time, and I'm a Christian man first and foremost,

00:24:42.860 but secondarily, I'm also a local pastor, and I want to be above reproach, and I want to be

00:24:48.720 biblically qualified. I want to honor the Lord, and so I don't want to be sinning, a breach of

00:24:53.900 any clear commandment in Scripture. And the only thing, and I've done a fairly deep theological

00:24:59.280 study on, you know, the Bible's principles, how it would apply to the modern use of nicotine. The

00:25:04.660 only um forbearance that the bible would even have and it's a it's a possible forbearance it

00:25:11.240 depends on the manner of use and the frequency of use um but the only possible forbearance that

00:25:18.000 the bible offers is being mastered by something so the addictive nature of nicotine um that can

00:25:26.520 not not by necessity it doesn't necessarily create a problem but it creates the potential

00:25:31.780 for you to actually be in sin. If you've gotten to the point, and that goes for anything for that

00:25:36.900 matter, that would go with caffeine. Like if you're at the point where if you can't get a cup

00:25:42.040 of coffee, you know, you ran out of coffee, you forgot to buy some more at the store and you find

00:25:47.360 yourself, you know, unable to get out of bed, or you find yourself not just a little, you know,

00:25:52.980 on edge, but you find yourself with such a loss of control that you're viscerally angry

00:26:01.660 and and shouting at your children or your wife um then yeah that's that's a problem uh but you can

00:26:08.580 be mastered by food in that way right in such cases like hangry anybody ever heard i mean it's

00:26:14.100 kind of a dumb word um you know but but it you know i've heard it before you know or like the

00:26:19.420 the commercials like hungry grab a snickers you know and the whole commercial is like some guy

00:26:23.780 you know raging because he hasn't had his you know his his mid-afternoon snack you know and he

00:26:29.120 and without satiating his physical hunger he cannot control his emotions right so you can

00:26:36.760 you can be mastered by food and yet food is a need so i understand food is different than caffeine

00:26:42.460 and different than nicotine because if you never use nicotine your entire life here's the good

00:26:47.520 news um you'll be all right you won't die if you stop eating food from this point on for the rest

00:26:53.960 of your life you will die right you'll be okay for about five days and then yeah you'd be okay

00:26:58.760 for a little bit. But so I do want to make that categorical distinction, to be fair. Food, I'm

00:27:05.700 not saying that it's in the same category as caffeine or nicotine, because it's not. Food

00:27:10.640 actually is a necessity. But here's the point. You have to eat, but you don't have to be mastered

00:27:16.060 by food. A godly, self-controlled man should be able to miss a meal without lashing out at his

00:27:25.040 family right you should be able to miss a meal um without you know i mean that's and and there is a

00:27:31.000 biblical principle of intentionally missing meals first and foremost to spend time with the lord so

00:27:37.480 fasting and prayer but also part of that is it there's there's a message that's being conveyed

00:27:43.400 part of what we're saying when we fast and pray is we're we're saying um to the lord it's not just

00:27:49.500 like, man, the amount of time that it takes me to eat, I've got to miss this meal so that I have 15

00:27:56.720 extra minutes to pray. You could probably find that you could go to bed 15 minutes later, right?

00:28:00.720 You can make up that time. If it was just creating room for prayer, you can make up the time somewhere

00:28:06.060 else. But there's something significant with giving up food, because what you're saying is

00:28:10.940 you're not just creating extra time for the activity of prayer, the discipline of prayer,

00:28:15.320 but you're also conveying something you're saying that man does not live by bread alone that

00:28:20.160 ultimately the lord is my true nourishment that he is um he's my portion right he's the strength

00:28:27.000 of my heart it is the lord that sustains me um you know man's not sustained by bread alone but

00:28:32.420 every word that comes uh proceeds from the mouth of the lord and so my point is that every christian

00:28:37.600 man should be able to fast it's a spiritual discipline you should be able to fast and what

00:28:43.440 that implies and includes is that you're not mastered by food. And we all know that it is

00:28:52.000 entirely possible to be mastered by food. So 1 Corinthians 6, verse 12, I think is one of the

00:28:58.500 only texts that would even give a yellow flag, a potential warning towards nicotine. It's not

00:29:07.980 because nicotine is going to make you fat. Well, actually, it will, if anything, suppress appetite

00:29:13.040 and you'll lose some weight. It's not that nicotine, like alcohol, will cause you to lose

00:29:17.960 sobriety. Well, actually, it sharpens your attention, your focus, and you'll get more done.

00:29:22.840 It's not that nicotine will cause you to be lazy, like marijuana, and just want to eat a whole

00:29:28.840 pizza. Nope, it actually causes you to narrow and focus in and be more productive. So it's like,

00:29:34.760 oh my gosh, are there any negatives? There are a ton of positives, but surely it would at least

00:29:41.760 make me a little bit more effeminate actually it raises your testosterone i mean at every single

00:29:46.300 level nicotine is an incredible it's an incredible substance um and who made it that way like god did

00:29:52.560 not wake up and be like oh my goodness i did not realize in this plant it affected these different

00:29:57.580 receptors all across the body that stimulated the central nervous system right oh i designed it that

00:30:02.420 way right exactly so the many many many positive effects of nicotine um however the only negative

00:30:10.000 of potential pitfall is that you can become addicted to the point where you are dependent

00:30:18.080 on nicotine, where you are unable to go without it, without, you know, being enraged, without

00:30:25.380 losing self-control, where it's very clear that you have become mastered by it. So all that back

00:30:31.040 to Andy's comment when he said the Bible clearly says to, you know, I forget exactly how he wrote

00:30:37.300 Nate, scroll up one more time. Put no unclean thing into your body. Put no unclean thing into

00:30:41.680 your mouth. The Bible clearly says put no unclean thing in the body. Our bodies are temples which

00:30:49.040 God has chose to dwell in. So the Bible does say that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit,

00:30:53.800 yes, but Jesus actually says the opposite in terms of unclean thing into your mouth. He actually

00:30:58.640 says it is not what goes into a mouth that defiles him, but rather what comes out of a man's mouth.

00:31:03.840 his speech is what the Lord is concerned about. And thus he declared all things clean, all things

00:31:09.760 clean. So the Bible does not say that part, but the Bible does say that our body is a temple of

00:31:14.300 the Holy Spirit. And in that same text where the Bible says that, namely first Corinthians chapter

00:31:18.500 six, and now looking at verse 12, the Bible tells us that all things are lawful or permissible,

00:31:24.600 morally permissible, but we should not be mastered by anything. And because nicotine is, it does have

00:31:30.580 the potential to be addictive. It therefore does have the potential to chemically bind a man,

00:31:36.880 enslave a man to where he is mastered. And so does caffeine for that matter. Nicotine is more

00:31:42.020 addictive than caffeine. I don't want to say that they're equal, but there are many things that you

00:31:46.240 can be mastered by. And nicotine is one that has the potential to master you. And so you need to

00:31:51.400 be aware of that. Other than that, I'm unaware of any biblical argument against it other than

00:31:57.380 school marms just you know repeating propaganda from a bunch of different corporations and a

00:32:04.700 government that for the last 50 years has tried to emasculate men yeah that's i like how someone

00:32:11.140 said it in the comments because it's a good example joseph said uh if you could scroll up a

00:32:15.240 little bit nate said i used to be addicted to nicotine it was a bad addiction i needed it to

00:32:19.780 function would sometimes wake up in the middle of the night for it would sneak dip in class having

00:32:24.600 to swallow it when the teacher called him yeah that's too much too much got addicted need to

00:32:30.100 cut down a bit yeah like that that category does exist yes but practically that's not 95 percent

00:32:34.560 of people right antonio any thoughts no no i i like the way you framed it because like that

00:32:39.240 going back to the article that gets to the heart of the matter which is um there is the christian

00:32:44.620 is expected to exercise discretion and and discernment with respect to these things like

00:32:50.740 i was just thinking a thought popped in my head as you were framing it like courage um is

00:32:55.380 demonstrated in the presence of fear self-control is demonstrated in the presence of deprivation

00:33:00.780 yeah and so it's actually not the thing itself it's not nicotine itself or the absence of nicotine

00:33:06.640 that that is the problem it's your lack of self-control nicotine has revealed that and so

00:33:11.800 a discerning thing to do would would be to say i ought not use this thing when i can't exercise

00:33:18.540 that control right well i mean and i'll just i'll just say that in the sort of in contrast with what

00:33:26.420 the article is saying which is i couldn't exercise that self-control and so no one should use this

00:33:33.640 thing right right yeah that's a great great we can end this first segment with this quote from

00:33:39.580 this article listen to how he pretty much ends it if the church wants to disciple my generation

00:33:44.760 this is a young man gen z it can't ignore this this being nicotine pouches many gen z men like

00:33:51.220 me the biggest obstacle listen to this the biggest obstacle can i keep a straight face

00:33:56.000 i don't think i can that's funny the biggest obstacle the wholehearted devotion to jesus

00:34:00.660 isn't on their phones or at their schools it's in their gums right yeah so it's yeah it's not

00:34:05.900 only fans it's not pornography on their phones this is which is written in the bible about

00:34:10.420 many times yeah so yeah the things that actually are clear in scripture uh like avoiding sexual

00:34:15.800 immorality that's not actually the biggest enemy of young men today guys uh if you thought that

00:34:20.560 pornography was a problem you'd be wrong uh that's a minor problem the real problem is uh is knick

00:34:26.880 knacks uh the real problem is zen and that's the biggest obstacle to wholehearted devotion to

00:34:33.000 jesus the biggest obstacle for gen z is uh is nicotine no that is not the biggest obstacle

00:34:39.940 Not even close.

00:34:40.820 Let's go to our first commercial break, and we'll be right back.

00:34:43.920 America is a country that was founded for the purpose of allowing Christians to do their

00:34:47.160 duty before God and not to have their consciences ruled by the doctrines and commandments of

00:34:50.900 men.

00:34:51.800 Reese Fund exists in order to see the Ten Commandments properly applied, not just as

00:34:56.140 a plaque on the wall, but to actually be used in business as though they're commandments

00:35:00.360 from God that we're supposed to obey.

00:35:02.360 Our goal is to find businesses and to buy them and to build them up.

00:35:07.240 We want to find manufacturing businesses and use them to make sure that we can maintain our capacity to do things here.

00:35:14.080 Reese Fund, Christian Capital, Boldly Deployed.

00:35:18.140 Running your business with purpose means looking beyond last month's numbers to next year's vision.

00:35:24.800 Kaylee Smith offers CFO-level strategies scaled just for small businesses.

00:35:30.520 At Mid-State Accounting, she takes care of your compliance, bookkeeping and tax returns,

00:35:36.340 while providing holistic advisory and fractional CFO services

00:35:41.340 to help you steward your resources with a distinctly Christian perspective.

00:35:47.300 Ready to align your finances with your future?

00:35:49.900 Then call Kaylee Smith at 573-889-7278 for a free, no-obligation consultation.

00:36:00.720 Mention the Right Response podcast to get 10% off your first three months.

00:36:05.880 Prefer to explore online? Then you can visit MidStateAccounting.net to learn more or schedule

00:36:13.520 a call. Again, that's MidStateAccounting.net. With MidState Accounting, you'll plan for tomorrow

00:36:20.660 while operating in faith today. So call Kaylee Smith at 573-889-7278. Again, that's 573-889-7278.

00:36:35.260 Heaven's Harvest takes pride in providing you with the best freeze-dried emergency survival food kits on the market.

00:36:42.940 Their kits stand out because they prioritize serving sizes and calories that will sustain you for the long haul.

00:36:50.080 No gimmicks, no fillers, just a diverse array of nutritious options that will pleasantly surprise you.

00:36:57.340 But they're more than just emergency food.

00:36:59.940 They're advocates for sustainable preparedness.

00:37:03.040 Their heirloom seed kits include heirloom, non-GMO, non-hybrid, open-pollinated seeds, ensuring that your garden produces the same quality and variety year after year.

00:37:16.940 Packaged in high-grade Mylar foil, their seeds have a 10-year shelf life.

00:37:22.560 So get 10% off your Heaven's Harvest order by using our special discount code RRM at checkout or by clicking the link in the description below.

00:37:34.600 Made in the USA and free shipping on orders above $99 for the U.S. only.

00:37:42.420 All right, real quick, I got to say this.

00:37:44.340 somebody in the comments uh is and i you know you gotta he's probably nicotine maxing right now

00:37:50.140 because you gotta appreciate the drive the ambition the persistence right just the sheer

00:37:54.640 diligence uh he is in the comments his name is paul baker and we appreciate you paul thanks for um

00:38:00.680 for piping in um kind of like the persistent you know uh old widow you know just 10 times knocking

00:38:06.300 at the unrighteous judge is finally like yeah he's yeah so i mean every few comments he's right in

00:38:11.900 there um now here's the unfortunate uh thing and this is why i'm going to hand it over to west in

00:38:15.980 just a moment as soon as i make my joke uh but um i can't pronounce the word that he's even using so

00:38:21.120 pyrazines pyrazines pyrazines nailed it first try um so he keeps saying uh pyrazines are the

00:38:27.680 addictive uh element uh but not nicotine itself um but i'm pretty sure that nicotine itself is

00:38:36.240 addictive and again we're not saying therefore don't do it we're just saying you know proceed

00:38:39.600 with caution um but i'm pretty sure uh nicotine itself in and of itself is addictive and the

00:38:45.760 reason why i know is because uh because wes is absolutely addicted wait a minute um to you wes

00:38:54.300 yep so pyro cnc is completely correct these are additives to cigarettes and typically cigars it's

00:38:59.320 an organic compound has some additives some flavor that it helps with especially when you're burning

00:39:03.980 it and so he's kind of making the argument that the nicotine in and of itself people could take

00:39:07.740 it or leave it, but it's really this kind of flavor additive in there that really is getting

00:39:11.120 people hooked on it. The reason I, at least in a limited, what I know of nicotine, that really

00:39:16.520 doesn't hold up. You have a lot of studies with rats where they'll add nicotine to water, for

00:39:19.900 example. Pure nicotine. Pure nicotine. You're not adding pyrazine into that. Rats will self-administer

00:39:24.580 to the point of absurdity. They will get addicted to it. Just water with nicotine. You also, in

00:39:30.900 pouches, those also don't have the pyrazines added either. So a pure pouch like Alp that isn't a

00:39:35.540 tobacco leaf ground up like dip or something like that that's also not going to have pyrazines and

00:39:39.480 there are many individuals like the individual in this article who have said i use pouches 24 7

00:39:44.400 and i am addicted and all that's to say is nicotine has a positive effect it makes you sharper it makes

00:39:49.020 you focused it suppresses appetite like it's it boost testosterone it's normal it's expected that

00:39:54.280 people would continue to use something real quick i got an important question um what can i get this

00:40:00.220 nicotine water from i saw the other day for a friend yeah nicotine water nicotine water

00:40:07.180 no um so i don't i don't see any scientific basis that the only addicting thing about nicotine is

00:40:15.640 these pyrazine additives that they've added to it they are certainly there in cigarettes and

00:40:19.360 cigars he's not completely off base but they're just not in every form and people and rats and

00:40:23.360 animals they all still get addicted to it i want to bring some of the science in because we've

00:40:26.820 talked about the testosterone piece and we even talked about this is really interesting about it

00:40:30.740 the list keeps growing anti-parasitic and anti-viral a lot of studies which seem to suggest

00:40:36.600 that nick uh nicotine and tobacco leaves nicotine obviously being most of the active ingredient in

00:40:42.060 tobacco has a very positive effect as far as warding off uh ticks is one example birds very

00:40:48.460 interestingly in the city they'll sometimes line their nests and then when they've gone and studied

00:40:52.580 those nests when they've lined them with cigarette butts they'll go and they'll look at them and

00:40:55.860 they'll say yeah there's actually less activity of typical worms parasites sea elegans that find

00:41:00.920 their ways into birds nests and so we see in nature a lot of animals they kind of recognize

00:41:04.820 like hey whether it's leftover from humans whether it's tobacco just on its own this has an

00:41:09.300 antiviral property that helps protect me let's go to the scientific literature and this is kind of

00:41:14.460 crazy i will say there have been times i have five children one in glory six but five you know with

00:41:19.840 us and um there have been times the entire webbing household is just down for the count with sickness

00:41:26.120 all five kids and mom and i am by the grace of god i'm able to serve everybody i'm taking care

00:41:32.040 of mom i'm taking care of the kids and this has happened a few times and my wife would be like

00:41:35.700 how are you not sick and i'll look her in the eyes and i'll say nicotine you have not missed

00:41:41.940 a day of recording never in a year and a half never i've never missed a sunday nope never and

00:41:47.380 i almost never get sick either it's like oh that's case study too but that's that prosperity

00:41:52.180 gospel preaching uh no no no no it's nicotine yep yep yep um check out this study so this was

00:41:58.660 very interesting during covid which was a respiratory illness of the lungs spread virally

00:42:04.180 this is a study from 2024 a huge study in south korea i think it was 12 000 individuals

00:42:09.920 the relative risks so this is comparing two groups and their relative risk relative to each other

00:42:14.320 The relative risks, 95% confidence intervals for COVID-19 related hospitalization were lower among current smokers, 0.51.

00:42:24.500 That's almost a 50% reduction, half as likely.

00:42:28.200 So current smokers were half as likely and current users of any tobacco product relative to never users.

00:42:35.400 So users of any forms of tobacco were half as likely to be hospitalized for COVID.

00:42:41.140 and again just for the listener for the record uh we're not saying so you know go and buy a pack

00:42:46.880 of paul malls and uh start smoking smoking behind the mall paul malls now these days because of all

00:42:52.600 the tobacco tax which i think is a lot of that is propaganda to stop um americans from doing

00:42:58.640 something that uh would cause it like like why does the government want um want states like

00:43:04.460 Colorado to have weed dispensaries everywhere because it makes the populace more docile they're

00:43:11.680 easier to govern there's actually a reason for that it's much easier to pull the wool over a

00:43:17.860 bunch of you know people who are stoned out of their minds and and I actually think there is

00:43:23.000 kind of an effort and has been for decades to to take away some of the drive and some of the

00:43:29.780 ambition, particularly from men, and kind of lower testosterone and masculinity and those kinds of

00:43:35.340 things by demonizing tobacco. Now, that said, modern cigarette companies put a lot of chemicals

00:43:44.260 and pesticides and additives into their cigarettes, and those are not good for you. So if it's like

00:43:50.020 a viral disease like COVID, then yeah, smoking cigarettes may stop you from getting COVID.

00:43:56.860 um but over the long haul you'll get something else from the cigarettes and so we're not saying

00:44:02.840 you know everybody should go out and buy you know a carton of cigarettes and start chain smoking

00:44:07.420 but we are saying that there are wise and prudent ways of using nicotine that uh that doesn't have

00:44:13.420 the additives and also doesn't involve inhaling smoke into your lungs even if you're not using

00:44:18.440 tobacco if you um if you for instance like if you know back in the day if you were a blacksmith and

00:44:24.140 you were constantly over a fire right like um a lot of times guys like that would eventually you

00:44:29.880 know they'd have a shorter lifespan they would get certain you know diseases related to inhaling

00:44:34.680 smoke you know 12 hours a day or somebody working in a coal mine or something like that so uh

00:44:40.400 inhaling that's a different calculus right and then inhaling not just nicotine or tobacco but

00:44:46.300 but additives and chemicals well now that's certainly a different uh calculus but if it's

00:44:51.460 not inhaling the smoke and especially not inhaling regularly it's different smoking a cigar once in

00:44:56.500 a while with your friends but if it's not inhaling smoke and also it doesn't have all these chemicals

00:45:02.080 and additives and pesticides uh then really all you're talking about from a christian perspective

00:45:06.820 at that point is like everything else do not be mastered by it and we are admitting that nicotine

00:45:13.140 is more addictive than uh cheetos you know and on the inhalation piece like it is carcinogenic like

00:45:20.260 i'll just i'll be right up front compared to for example like dip or something like that a nicotine

00:45:25.080 pouch by with cigarettes where you specifically inhale the ash and the byproducts of the flame

00:45:30.700 that you're bringing in they're not great for your lungs yeah nicotine is good the ash is not

00:45:34.880 great like i'm not going to sit here and bs you like no probably not the best thing in the world

00:45:38.500 all things all else being equal but it's also not the worst thing in the world yeah okay back to you

00:45:44.580 all right so this was another study uh this is another one from 2024 our study suggests this is

00:45:50.120 a conclusion from the results and this is incredible because i mean like the public

00:45:55.220 health was they were basically saying like oh man smokers you're at huge risk the evidence this is

00:46:00.080 another one our study suggests a potential association between smoking and a reduced risk

00:46:04.700 of SARS-CoV-2 infection and pneumonia this indicates that nicotine and ACE2 it's a receptor

00:46:09.500 in the lungs play important roles in preventing COVID-19 and its progression. I'll even highlight

00:46:15.160 one comment we have here because I've seen research on it. If you scroll up just a little

00:46:18.520 bit, Nate, from MB East, I think it's a woman. And she said, my husband, hope it's a woman.

00:46:23.880 My husband uses it for a protocol against his brain cancer stage four. I've heard doctors say

00:46:29.940 we think it has some anti-carcinogenic cancer properties to it as well. That is not proven

00:46:35.060 in the literature now again the literature is five to ten years behind what people already knew

00:46:39.760 for the first time right like oh the science says eggs are bad like 20 years later it turns out they

00:46:44.020 weren't and people who were smart knew that 20 years ago right so i will say it's not born out

00:46:48.560 in the literature however i've heard doctors real doctors say i'm wearing a nicotine patch for the

00:46:52.860 rest of my life because i want to be healthy and so nicotine patch if you can't tolerate the pouches

00:46:57.000 you don't want to do the smoking that is another way to potentially get it if you think that's the

00:47:00.820 right choice for you they've demonstrated i think there are some studies coming out about

00:47:04.840 alzheimer's and parkinson's and nicotine's ability to abate uh the risk for those things so um so

00:47:11.940 there is something there is more to it i think even than than what we've been talking about like

00:47:17.340 testosterone for example i think general health and obviously you can supplement the thing these

00:47:21.140 things and you should and we're not saying you shouldn't with metabolic health exercising

00:47:25.360 regularly eating properly like all of these things are playing into it in fact as we like look at

00:47:29.920 some of these studies i'm sure that that's a large uh variable is people who are smoking tend to have

00:47:36.700 a particular lifestyle that is that subjects them to less risk for example we've talked about

00:47:41.280 appetite suppression so they're more like they're less likely to be overweight we know that that

00:47:45.820 covid19 was um incredibly deadly for those who were morbidly obese so yep yep and none of these

00:47:52.400 paul baker real quick he piped back in and he said thanks for bringing up the clinical research guys

00:47:57.080 you're welcome paul thanks for well here's the most for i have the best one yet comedy best

00:48:01.200 clinical research save it for the end all right so this is a meta-analysis a meta-analysis is not

00:48:05.500 a single study but it takes all the studies that have methods that are similar enough

00:48:08.940 and it pulls them together to get an analysis so in 22 studies this is a meta-analysis from 2016

00:48:15.160 of 13 317 men mean age aged 18 to 61 years old so 13 000 men of prime of their life smokers had

00:48:25.820 higher mean testosterone than non-smokers by 1.4 uh moles nanomoles a liter 95 confidence in full

00:48:34.440 1.11 to 1.96 which is actually pretty meaningful 1.11 to 1.96 so you actually you have to do some

00:48:43.200 like conversion with that to actually convert it to the nanograms so the typical testosterone

00:48:47.480 measurement is nanograms per liter or per deciliter i think it actually is average ranges in the past

00:48:54.140 six seven eight hundred most men on average today two three four hundred and so you're talking about

00:49:00.440 right there with your conversion potentially up to about 100 to 200 nanograms a deciliter

00:49:06.320 difference in testosterone which could be 10 20 percent higher i will caveat and say here is the

00:49:12.640 difficulty with parsing out this data are these the bad boys that already are higher testosterone

00:49:18.520 It's a higher testosterone man, just more attracted to nicotine.

00:49:22.920 Are they more likely to engage in high-risk behavior?

00:49:25.500 That's possible.

00:49:26.380 But again, we're talking about 22 studies, 13,000 men,

00:49:29.920 and even if it is that, fake it until you make it.

00:49:32.940 But practically, the clinical research, it does bear out.

00:49:35.740 This is a random effects model, inverse variance, weighting.

00:49:38.340 I've looked at the methods.

00:49:39.420 It all looks good.

00:49:40.480 Like, we can definitely say, on average,

00:49:42.620 men that smoke have higher average testosterone than those who ever have.

00:49:45.720 I mean, in both cases, it's pretty significant

00:49:47.660 because what we're essentially saying is this it's either you don't use nicotine and you might

00:49:53.660 actually cause lower testosterone in yourself or if you don't use nicotine and as this research

00:50:00.120 becomes more mainstream people will think that you have less testosterone so in either case

00:50:05.420 you need to be nicotine maxing all right yep and all that all that being said like i'll just say

00:50:12.400 practically i don't really use pouches i don't feel great it's very easy for me to leave it in

00:50:16.380 too long. And then I just, I get lightheaded. Every single person is going to have to make a

00:50:20.760 calculus. There's some risk to this. There's some downside to this, or I do enjoy it. And so what

00:50:25.360 we're saying is that when you do that calculus, the biggest thing in your mind does not have to

00:50:29.060 be as Christianity today, try to burden your conscience and tell you, well, what if I get

00:50:33.400 addicted? What if I'm addicted? What if I'm dependent on this? Sure. That maybe happens.

00:50:37.340 We had someone say like, I was waking up in the middle of the night to get a dip in, you know,

00:50:41.540 grab a quick smoke outside yeah that's too much to be honest i don't know if i've met

00:50:46.600 more than five people in my life or you just have to go to sleep with the dip already

00:50:51.140 the other day it's like me going me going to sleep knowing i get to wake up and pop another

00:50:58.060 it's like a kid giggling in his bed yeah so practically speaking it's just it's a different

00:51:06.320 calculus like people have to understand it's very easy in our egalitarian time to say well

00:51:10.120 there's caffeine there's alcohol there's nicotine you know they're all fun all enjoyable but really

00:51:15.620 the christians shouldn't be mastered by anything used sparingly and just practically they are

00:51:19.640 different caffeine doesn't have these effects alcohol has way more downsides you just can't

00:51:24.620 take that away every single one we've been reading proverbs in family worship and man does solomon

00:51:30.080 over and over stress not individual hard rigid fast rules but wisdom and understanding right

00:51:36.320 this works for me this doesn't he would much rather his son as he's instructing him

00:51:40.560 much rather him be wise be instructed be contemplative he'd much rather that than

00:51:47.480 sit there in proverb and say i'm going to lay down a list to you of all the streets in jerusalem

00:51:51.460 that you shouldn't go on because a wicked woman could be there right he always prefers to defer

00:51:55.280 to here's the wisdom you should inculcate yeah exactly um real quick nathan go ahead and pull

00:52:00.620 up the lower third one more time i want to promo again and i also want to give a little future

00:52:05.420 direction for the listener so uh right now um we are advertising on this episode alp and basically

00:52:12.420 this is how it works if uh if you use the link that is in the show notes below that they just

00:52:18.100 copy when they check out well i in the show notes we added a link so you just you click on the link

00:52:22.720 and uh and you're good to go oh it's a code i'm sorry okay so in the show notes there is a code

00:52:28.760 then you would go to their website, which is alppouches, Nate, .com?

00:52:35.220 Alp Pouch.

00:52:36.340 It's all in the show notes.

00:52:38.080 Great.

00:52:38.520 So there's a link to their main website in the show notes,

00:52:41.460 but the website is alppouch.com.

00:52:44.900 And then also in the show notes, you'll find a promo code.

00:52:47.380 If you use that, you'll get 10% off of your purchase,

00:52:51.180 and also Right Responsive Ministries will get 10% as well.

00:52:54.380 So you're helping us out.

00:52:55.380 You're helping yourself out.

00:52:56.400 There's no reason not to do it.

00:52:57.540 You save 10%.

00:52:58.540 we get uh an additional 10 that said um i do agree with christianity today at least on one

00:53:06.700 one issue uh they made it about zen and i i thought of the meme was like you know uh you

00:53:13.120 don't do zen because you know you're a part of christianity today and wrestle you know friends

00:53:18.100 with russell moore i don't do zen because it's a liberal left-leaning company that gives to act

00:53:23.700 blue and supports uh a bunch of terrible things like abortion um so nobody actually should be

00:53:29.800 using zen i just want to make that abundantly clear tucker carlson you know alp is his his

00:53:34.700 pouch of choice it's uh it's what you know what he uh promotes on his show and he was a um a zen

00:53:41.660 aficionado i mean the guy was you know zen maxing um delivery trucks pulling in the other ones

00:53:47.700 pulling out all the time i mean you still see him like on this show like as you know as he's you

00:53:52.360 know podcasting he'll be popping them in but he stopped doing his end when he found out that

00:53:56.600 zen is just a terrible progressive liberal company that supports all these terrible progressive

00:54:01.560 liberal um values and so uh don't don't do zen um alp is much better that said i will i will mention

00:54:09.300 not trying to disparage tucker carlson or alp uh the one thing that i don't like about alp is that

00:54:15.500 it is made in india so it is not an american made product and we want to be america first

00:54:20.960 I'm aware of a few but there's one major name that is continuing to kind of rise you know to

00:54:28.220 the the cream of the crop I've used it it's a great product it's called knickknacks okay so

00:54:35.360 knickknacks are American made it seems as though the company from the little bit of research I've

00:54:41.520 done I don't know if they're expressly Christian but they definitely seem like they are politically

00:54:46.840 and culturally right wing um so it seems like a right wing company and uh and they make their

00:54:51.960 product here in america uh and instead of pouches they're um they're dissolvable tablets and so you

00:54:59.880 you put in like a hard uh tablet kind of like almost um pez you remember pez the little candies

00:55:07.300 you know you're pushing like your little mickey mouse or whatever like an altoid it's like it yeah

00:55:11.900 or an altoid it's like a mint exactly except it's it's a little bit larger rectangle it's flat

00:55:16.820 and so it's it's comfortable um and it just dissolves in your mouth so there's nothing

00:55:20.940 there's not even you know a pouch to spit out when you're done and it lasts probably 20 minutes

00:55:25.000 before it dissolves but uh they they you know tucker carlson is right wing uh knickknacks also

00:55:30.180 seems right wing but also made in america and what we'll probably do um is because i think it's a

00:55:36.240 worthy topic we're not going to you know do it once a week but probably you know in the next few

00:55:40.360 months or so we'll probably hit the topic one more time for guys who didn't tune in today um

00:55:45.100 you know what what what is a christian you know view towards uh the consumption of nicotine and

00:55:51.040 the wise prudent use of nicotine so we'll probably do this topic again in the future and hopefully

00:55:56.620 by then one of the things that we'll try to to iron out is um an affiliate deal with knickknacks

00:56:03.000 so we'll be able to offer um a promo code for knickknacks so knickknacks because here's the

00:56:07.600 only thing so they're american made they're right wing but they are a little pricey they cost like

00:56:11.800 a little bit more uh alp is is significantly cheaper um so like zen uh for instance is 15

00:56:19.100 pouches inside of a can um and it's maybe seven bucks depending what state you live in and what

00:56:25.220 the taxes are if you go to you know the corner store um alp is closer to six bucks a can so it's

00:56:30.440 like a dollar cheaper and then today again you can get 10 further off get it close to five bucks a

00:56:35.940 can and it's 20 pouches instead of 15 so when you factor in you know the amount of pouches

00:56:41.420 you got a you know a 33 increase in the number of pouches and a dollar off plus 10 if you use

00:56:48.420 our promo code today which is in the show notes um you're looking at like two-thirds the price

00:56:54.100 and a third more of the pouches so again um christianity today and joel webin boom we are

00:57:02.560 united uh do not use in yeah we are united for very different reasons but uh united nonetheless

00:57:10.080 less yeah yeah just practically if you're listening to this you're like i want to start it where do i

00:57:13.800 start i want to try and use it you can always you can always uh add more but once you have nicotine

00:57:19.380 in your system if you start feeling sick it's impossible to take it out just has to get out

00:57:23.120 of your system so i would say start low if you're a bigger dude if you're 220 pounds you're probably

00:57:27.620 going to be able to tolerate more than someone who's starting at 170 i would recommend everyone

00:57:31.820 i think alp starts at three milligrams three milligrams a great place to start don't start

00:57:36.080 with nine milligrams nope don't lock in three of them and just be like i'm taking off you will take

00:57:40.800 officer to the bathroom to throw up uh yeah so start low uh you can also pop it out throw it in

00:57:45.520 for 10 minutes see if you're feeling a buzz take it out um don't be start small and uh and that's

00:57:50.720 gonna be your best way to not overdo it and actually get the benefit so say like i'm gonna

00:57:54.480 sit down and write at 2 p.m 1 31 i'm gonna pop one of these in i'm gonna leave it in for 10 minutes

00:57:59.340 i'm gonna see how i feel with writing and a lot of people they just some of them respond differently

00:58:03.420 some of them take it and they're like i love it some take it they didn't feel great some take it

00:58:07.980 and feel nothing in terms of not being mastered by anything like you know here's your sign right

00:58:12.420 like if you if you're starting today you've never used nicotine once in your life and you start with

00:58:16.580 three milligrams one pouch right so you're at three milligrams and by the end of the month you

00:58:21.640 find yourself you know uh buying the nine milligrams and and doing an upper and a lower you

00:58:26.280 know so you're like i graduated from three to 18 in 30 days yeah then okay like you know it may

00:58:33.060 maybe time to take a week off you know but even there some people just have a high genetic

00:58:37.140 tolerance you're 250 pounds high genetic tolerance that would be addicting for someone else right that

00:58:41.960 has lower tolerance but you're gonna have to search your conscience and say lord i'm not

00:58:46.120 idolizing this i'm using it to be productive it's a good thing that's the one i'll turn it to you

00:58:50.460 but that's the one last i it just it came to me about 10 minutes ago in the conversation so i'm

00:58:55.560 glad you mentioned it the only other scriptural uh potential forbearance um so we said not being

00:59:00.540 mastered by anything and the addictive nature um and so you know being on check uh with that and

00:59:05.900 having some accountability uh which you know again you can be mastered by food you can be mastered by

00:59:10.700 sleep you could you know like you can be mastered by a lot of things so that's not that doesn't you

00:59:15.340 know take it you know off the table entirely it just means you need prudence and wisdom and

00:59:19.220 self-control uh the only other scriptural potential forbearance that i could think of

00:59:23.140 is romans chapter 14 where it says anything not done in faith where anything that does not proceed

00:59:27.980 from faith is sin. So there actually are things that categorically in the objective theological

00:59:34.900 sense are not objectively immoral, not inherently immoral in and of themselves. But you could do

00:59:41.260 something that biblically speaking is not inherently immoral, but it actually is subjectively

00:59:47.140 immoral personally for yourself because you're doing it with a seared conscience. You're doing

00:59:53.860 something that god actually does allow for but in your heart in your mind you actually even though

00:59:59.760 god objectively allows for it you subjectively think that he doesn't allow for it and yet you

01:00:04.300 choose to do it anyways so in your according to your personal conscience you are breaching the

01:00:11.280 law of god now it turns out in the final analysis that there actually wasn't a law of god against

01:00:15.760 said thing and so you actually were not doing something that was inherently immoral but it was

01:00:21.180 still immoral for you at a personal subjective level because you with a mind uh that said that

01:00:27.940 it was immoral were willing to do something that you thought was immoral uh nonetheless and so

01:00:33.460 that's what you know what romans chapter 14 is getting into anything you know because it's

01:00:37.640 talking about meat sacrifice to idols um that it's actually permissible but for some it's not

01:00:42.360 because if they think that it's wrong then they shouldn't sin against their conscience and then

01:00:46.720 it's also talking about alcohol and in the case of alcohol basically what romans 14 anything that

01:00:52.960 does not proceed from faith is sin rule of thumb uh the the theological principle is this um if

01:00:58.940 you think it's sin then for you it is i'll say that again that's basically that that's my exegesis

01:01:05.180 on romans 14 um anything that does not proceed from faith is sin in other words if you think

01:01:11.080 it's sin for you it is right so if there's something that you think is sin or something

01:01:16.880 that for you you don't have a clear conscience it's it's on the fence it's even questionable

01:01:20.880 even if it's just questionable you think it might be sin well if you think something might be sin

01:01:25.940 and you choose to engage in it anyways then you've made a calculation privately subjectively in your

01:01:32.360 heart that says i'm i'm comfortable with the possibility of transgressing god's law and so

01:01:39.140 then what is God going to think of that? Well, not very positive. So don't do it. Anything that

01:01:46.980 you think is sin is sin. So we're sitting here saying, no, there's a way of using nicotine

01:01:50.980 in certain forms and certain products that avoids being mastered by it. And there's a way of doing

01:01:58.000 it with a clear conscience because objectively, in that sense, it does not fall into the inherently

01:02:04.020 immoral category however if you're still on the fence after this episode for some of you this

01:02:09.400 episode actually might be something that the lord uses to clear your conscience and you go out and

01:02:14.280 you try three three milligram again not zen use alp promo code is in the description the link and

01:02:20.380 promo code in the description get 10 off but um you might go out and buy you know your first can

01:02:25.900 of alp uh and three milligrams and try it because this episode actually cleared your conscience so

01:02:32.220 you actually thought it was a sin 15 minutes ago in the live stream but you've been persuaded over

01:02:36.640 the course of this last quarter of an hour and you're like you know what i can do it now with

01:02:41.340 a clear conscience and i'm going to do it responsibly and i'm going to give it a try

01:02:44.300 great uh if you get to the end of this episode and you still think it's wrong then please hear

01:02:49.040 me at a pastoral level um if you finish this episode and you still have um moral questions

01:02:55.920 in your conscience about whether or not this is actually permissible according to the word of god

01:03:00.620 then then hear me pastorally when i say do not do it and if you do do it for you it's sin because

01:03:08.220 you're not doing it in faith antonio yeah i was just going to say you know quickly for those who

01:03:13.180 maybe they're trying for the first time or they're planning to or they've been doing it for a little

01:03:17.280 while like practically try to create associations with nicotine that um are are productive so you

01:03:25.720 know that means sort of well two reasons not to take it at night one it will tarnish your sleep

01:03:31.880 um and i and that's demonstrated it's not good to take nicotine um when you're trying to fall

01:03:37.620 asleep it will prevent that um even after you've fallen asleep you won't you know achieve the same

01:03:42.340 uh depth um and then uh also at night you're probably not trying to be productive you're

01:03:48.120 probably winding down so just be smart about the you know the times that you're using it when you

01:03:53.040 wake up in the morning wake up naturally try to do those things and then you know when you're

01:03:57.740 starting work then you can you can use nicotine to um sort of lock in right or focus up but but

01:04:04.020 those are just real practical tools yeah that's helpful yep it's funny even the way god designed

01:04:08.700 caffeine in our brains your best caffeine is going to be taking it 90 minutes after you wake up

01:04:12.900 because there's adenosine in your brain which induces sleep which has to clear so even in god's

01:04:17.360 design of the human body we're not designed to wake up five minutes in lock into the screen

01:04:21.880 lock in the nicotine pouch lock in the coffee the best waking up is going to be to do it naturally

01:04:26.940 and then about 90 minutes in you started your day you have a cup of coffee you pop in his in

01:04:31.540 whatever it would be pop in a nicotine pouch that's when it's actually going to be most

01:04:35.320 effective so even in god's design he's not designed us to hammer substances like alcohol

01:04:40.040 disrupts your sleep he did not design us to hammer substances into the late night

01:04:44.200 then wake up and go back to it use it in moderation use it wisely and don't become

01:04:48.720 dependent on it right yep so three clear takeaways from today's episode number one uh join us and

01:04:54.600 being diligent to make fun of christianity today all right number two um if you use nicotine do

01:05:00.120 not purchase zen uh because it's a bad product that supports bad things and then number three

01:05:05.640 if you're making fun of christianity today if you're not using zen and you're using a different

01:05:10.940 company and your conscience is clear before the lord to do so uh then then nicotine max for the

01:05:18.020 glory of god let's go to our last commercial break and then we're going to come back we're

01:05:21.920 going to deal with questions in the chat so you guys go ahead and cue them up uh we're going to

01:05:26.080 start with super chats first we always prioritize those for those of you guys who've already sent

01:05:30.380 some in thank you we appreciate it help support this ministry uh for everybody else get in a

01:05:34.760 super chat or uh if you don't have the funds to do so we understand just make sure that it's clear

01:05:40.240 that it's an actual question and if we have time we all we don't always have time but if we have

01:05:45.760 time to get through all the Super Chats first, then we'll deal with some of the other questions

01:05:49.900 that people send our way. Here's our last commercial break for the day. Hello, brothers in Christ. Let

01:05:55.060 me ask you something real. Are you truly protecting and providing for your wife and children? Not just

01:06:01.060 in this life, but the one to come. Here's a reality check. Only 45% of adults in America have life

01:06:07.760 insurance, and of those, nearly two-thirds are underinsured. That's not good stewardship. And as

01:06:15.180 Christian husbands and fathers were called to do better. But what if you could protect your family's

01:06:21.360 future and wisely grow your wealth right now? That's where private family banking comes in.

01:06:27.300 It's a proven strategy that allows you to leverage your existing cash flow, build tax-free legacy

01:06:33.460 wealth, and give your family lasting security, all while aligning with your biblical call to provide

01:06:40.660 and protect. This is what it looks like to turn post-mill talk into post-mill action. Tap the

01:06:48.100 link in the show notes to book your free discovery call and take your next step toward financial

01:06:54.100 discipleship and multi-generational impact. In the future, it may be hard to persuade people

01:07:09.100 that what happened starting in the spring of 2020 really did happen. A fake pandemic was the signal

01:07:16.640 that one morning began the foreclosure on everything that had until the evening before

01:07:22.920 been central to the idea of democratic constitutional republics. The most shocking

01:07:29.060 thing was not so much that this started to happen but that almost no one seemed to object to it

01:07:35.740 happening almost no one sought to defend the rights and liberties being overturned leftists

01:07:42.560 clamored for more and more tyranny while most conservatives fell silent in this book the

01:07:48.920 abolition of reality irish dissident leader john waters describes not merely what happened but the

01:07:55.140 meaning of what happened in what may well be judged by history as the most heinous crime

01:08:00.740 of all time. This book, as Winston in 1984 said, is for the future for the unborn. Get it from

01:08:10.260 Western Front Books at the link below. That's www.westernfrontbooks.com. Again, that's www.westernfrontbooks.com.

01:08:22.840 Sending your son to a competitive school often places a significant additional burden on the

01:08:29.120 family while these schools promised high academic rigor character development and preparation for

01:08:36.080 top-tier universities much of the workload ultimately falls on the parents the combination

01:08:42.480 of early dismissals as early as 2 30 pm heavy homework demands and sports commitments can create

01:08:50.400 an overwhelming and stressful experience for both students and their families at st john's our

01:08:57.520 philosophy is different we prioritize structure balance and efficiency to ensure students thrive

01:09:05.200 academically physically and spiritually here's how we do it our instructors are the cornerstone

01:09:12.400 of our commitment to excellence bringing a unique blend of expertise discipline and leadership to

01:09:19.120 the classroom earning two hundred thousand dollars annually our educators are among the most

01:09:24.640 accomplished in their fields nine hour school days classes run from 8 a.m to 5 p.m maximizing

01:09:32.640 learning during school hours our confession brings clarity fosters unity and glorifies christ as we

01:09:41.280 seek to instruct develop and mentor young men in loving god and neighbor rightly to the glory of

01:09:48.640 god ordo amoris et soli deo gloria and finally our curriculum integra is a challenging blend

01:09:58.960 of stem with classical christian humanities campuses opening in the summer of 2026 in dallas

01:10:07.360 houston austin and san antonio visit st johns dot academy to learn more and sign up today

01:10:15.200 again that's st st johns dot academy to learn more today all right we're back uh yeah so let's jump

01:10:25.760 right into some questions here we'll start with the super chats and see if we get to any of the

01:10:29.680 the questions in the main chat uh first one here from evan davies uh evan says zen's great anglo

01:10:37.360 spirit has just started shipping to the us he's one of our guys and does great pouches blessing

01:10:41.360 to you chaps i haven't heard of anglo spirit i'll have to check them out though yeah and get get

01:10:46.760 our promo code oh yeah yeah yeah oh cool okay yeah well that's yeah i'll definitely check them

01:10:55.220 out i'll do the next one here and then i'll let one of you guys take the take the one after um

01:11:00.000 luke mclam sends ten dollars thanks luke uh yeah he says what churchill said of alcohol i save

01:11:06.280 cigars i get more out of cigars than they take out of me nicotine pouches have changed the game

01:11:11.660 thanks for sticking up for the boys gentlemen well we'll always stick up for the boys don't like the

01:11:16.100 the churchill reference uh it's a good it's a good proxy like tons of guys in their 30s stop

01:11:22.960 drinking and it's not because well i think the bible forbids it they just say practically i'll

01:11:27.100 drink a beer and i don't sleep great and i wake up and i'm like why did i do that i didn't even

01:11:31.740 enjoy it so that's a good proxy that's where i am it's permissible yeah but like yeah it's

01:11:36.640 permissible and on special occasions i will you know yeah and that that's something we actually

01:11:40.500 didn't say i don't think we said explicitly like some people some people just won't like nicotine

01:11:46.100 yeah you know what i mean they just get nothing out of it it's not even worth any potential risk

01:11:50.460 that you're taking by by you know using an addictive chemical um some people they find it

01:11:55.720 super super um uh you know that increasing their productivity so on and so forth so

01:12:00.920 yeah we're not trying to make a moral argument that binds the conscience right to nicotine

01:12:05.480 we're simply trying to unbind the conscience for those who feel as though it's inherently

01:12:09.620 immoral because it's not yep okay next this is a good one for you joel okay uh von bright

01:12:16.340 off go hard all right what a name um this is a two dollar super chat we appreciate it he said

01:12:23.380 zen is for kings and weed is for slaves that's true uh again don't use zen but let's insert you

01:12:30.840 know the word nicotine pouch um alp promo code in the description in the description in the show

01:12:38.580 notes uh we got the promo code and the link go ahead and use it get 10 off gotta just gotta

01:12:43.660 throw it in there uh yes um nicotine pouch is for kings and wheat is for slaves yeah i that's kind

01:12:49.660 of what i was saying earlier um there are certain things that make uh the populace more docile and

01:12:55.780 easier to uh to govern easier to influence and marijuana is one of those things now marijuana

01:13:02.420 just like nicotine you know earlier uh in in passing west made a comment about you know like

01:13:07.460 we don't live in an accidental world it's a world that god created um everything that's baked into

01:13:12.640 the world uh is something that god put there that doesn't mean that it's all good for you there's

01:13:16.460 things in the world uh that are poison um you know we live in a world that's created by god he said

01:13:21.780 it's good but it's also a world uh in the same breath that has been tarnished and fallen by sin

01:13:26.500 um so that doesn't just mean oh because it's natural uh therefore it's moral that's not the

01:13:32.520 way it works uh but there are certain arguments from nature and uh and some guys will use that

01:13:38.320 back to you know the comment about you know weed boys making hard times uh weed being the substance

01:13:43.520 of slaves and it is um you know some people would you know play the devil's advocate um while smoking

01:13:49.860 the devil's lettuce and you know and they would say well uh well god made nicotine but he made

01:13:55.720 marijuana too and and i would say a hearty amen yes he did but the question with everything that

01:14:02.080 god made is uh what is its use what is its purpose what is its function what is its benefit and i

01:14:08.640 would say that you know it's the same kind of argument it's not an accidental world uh god did

01:14:12.740 all these things with design and with intention so i think marijuana is a part of our world for

01:14:17.560 reason and that it has good uses. I just don't believe that recreation is one of those good

01:14:24.160 uses. I think that there are actually medical uses for marijuana that can be incredible and

01:14:31.480 not made up medical conditions. Like I get a headache once a month and so I need my doctor

01:14:36.380 to write me a prescription for marijuana every day of the week. So not abusing it and being

01:14:41.800 deceitful in line, but there are certain medical conditions where marijuana is a blessing from the

01:14:47.380 lord that eases pain without some of the side effects of nausea you know or um or being as as

01:14:53.700 nearly as addictive as vicodin or you know something like that so praise god for so so that

01:14:59.020 the person who would make that kind of counter argument and say uh well you know you're saying

01:15:03.200 you're you're you're dogging on weed but speaking highly of nicotine you know nicotine is you know

01:15:08.640 the substance of kings and weed is for slaves uh yes i stand by that uh that argument i think

01:15:13.840 that's absolutely true. And that person, if they were pushing back, playing the devil's advocate

01:15:17.660 and said, but both were made by God, I would simply say C.A., which is both were made by God.

01:15:22.940 That's certainly true. But made by God for what purpose? To what end? Marijuana does actually

01:15:29.720 have, I believe, a God-ordained, designed purpose. But I don't think it's Monday afternoon chilling

01:15:36.380 with the boys. I don't think the purpose is daily use. I don't think the purpose is recreation.

01:15:41.060 um i think the purpose is uh more of a medical um a medical use and medical properties especially

01:15:48.300 when it comes to doling pain without some of the severe uh side effects whereas nicotine uh does

01:15:54.940 not dull your um ambition uh you know and increase your appetite where now you're going to eat a

01:16:00.840 whole pizza by yourself uh nicotine is literally the opposite it ups your testosterone it suppresses

01:16:06.100 your appetite causes you to lose weight causes you to focus more not less nicotine has positive

01:16:11.740 more daily use or regular use function than marijuana yep and then five dollars nobody

01:16:19.700 special jesus drank wine amen yeah he just wasn't refrigeration to prevent fermentation from

01:16:25.420 happening so some will argue well it just didn't have alcohol one or two percent like my brother

01:16:31.080 in christ did you see fridges there to prevent the the byproduct of yeast which then breaks down

01:16:36.040 alcohol because i don't see any whatever whatever was in the wine you know people have made that

01:16:41.060 argument typically baptist like well there was no alcohol you know it was just grape juice or

01:16:46.440 there was alcohol but it was a very very low percentage um whatever the percentage was it

01:16:52.400 was high enough to where a man named lot was able to sleep with both of his daughters without

01:16:59.000 knowing it so i mean people people were getting drunk um in the old that was not miller light

01:17:05.300 yeah it was yeah it was not millilite millilite might actually hydrate you you might you know

01:17:10.060 if you need to sober up yeah you can get a millilite um all right what's the next so there's

01:17:14.400 some scientific questions that i'll hit uh yamcha's corpse they left two comments for the record this

01:17:19.400 individual they said they are a tobacco user probably relatively infrequently but they give

01:17:23.540 a decent critique here so they said i'm assuming it's going to be a he he said i wouldn't make a

01:17:28.220 biblical argument against nicotines you say the bible doesn't necessarily forbid it but you are

01:17:32.300 pretty ignorant of the long-term effects. Stimulant that hammers your adrenal glands every time,

01:17:37.800 spiking adrenaline and cortisol. And then you can scroll down Nate. And then he followed up just a

01:17:42.600 little bit later. Stimulants like nicotine pouches raise your cortisol, which is your stress hormone

01:17:46.620 long-term that will take out your adrenal glands and your testosterone will, he says take, but I

01:17:51.620 think what he means is tank. This is a big topic in the literature, the question of adrenal fatigue.

01:17:56.500 So your adrenals, this is what secretes epinephrine, norepinephrine, which it basically, it gets you amped up, it gets you for maybe a car accident, you almost get in a car accident, you find yourself shaking afterwards, that's adrenaline that your body released to go ahead and prepare yourself for fight or for flight.

01:18:14.260 And so the point would be if you stimulate your adrenals through the use of a stimulant like nicotine again and again every single day, long term they would become fatigued.

01:18:22.120 You can imagine if you skydived daily, that little ordinary things like a birthday party,

01:18:27.200 you'd be like, well, where's the pleasure?

01:18:28.560 Where's the excitement?

01:18:29.420 Where's the joy?

01:18:30.560 I just simply don't think the scale of the stimulation, unless we're talking like a pack

01:18:34.540 a day, at which point we would say, hey, that's unhealthy because of the carcinogens as well.

01:18:38.820 Unless you're reaching really high doses, you're not stimulating your adrenals to the

01:18:42.840 point that you're going to destroy them.

01:18:44.800 And then he says, well, it releases cortisol.

01:18:46.900 Cortisol is not necessarily a bad thing.

01:18:49.180 It's like inflammation.

01:18:50.100 Like the goal is not zero inflammation.

01:18:52.400 Inflammation tells you when things go wrong.

01:18:55.100 Inflammation after muscle soreness is also what tells you, hey, I had a good workout.

01:18:59.300 I've got muscle protein synthesis.

01:19:01.200 So stimulating adrenals, not bad.

01:19:03.440 Cortisol, not bad.

01:19:04.840 It's too much of them, which goes all the way back to the main point.

01:19:07.400 If you use tobacco at a relatively moderate, I don't know if pace would be the right word,

01:19:13.180 but at a relative pace, that makes sense for you and you're not experiencing negative effects.

01:19:17.580 You're not going to destroy your tea.

01:19:19.020 You're not going to get adrenal fatigue.

01:19:20.340 I don't think I haven't seen the clinical literature I want to be fair to him maybe it's out there

01:19:24.960 I have not seen any clinical literature suggesting that you're going to destroy and get adrenal fatigue

01:19:29.640 just from nicotine now if you're a thrill junkie and you're going 150 on your motorcycle on the

01:19:36.200 freeway and you rip a carton of cigarettes every single month and you're like well my adrenals are

01:19:41.760 burned out well my brother in Christ that was not just the nicotine there so yeah I appreciate the

01:19:45.580 pushback and that is something to consider like just there could be long-term effects we don't

01:19:49.140 know about take that calculus in yeah and i on the cortisol i think like again be cognizant like

01:19:55.180 do you have high blood pressure already right like there are there are things that can be germane to

01:20:00.120 you and your own health that you should consider when you think about this i'll also say i think

01:20:04.580 from what i understand you correct me if i'm wrong caffeine does the same things yeah so caffeine if

01:20:09.580 you drink too much caffeine you'd have three cups of coffee in the morning you typically drink one

01:20:13.460 you'll get the shakes you'll get a similar experience as if you were in a new york car

01:20:17.300 accident um and where you're sort of dumping a ton of adrenaline to your body and it doesn't

01:20:21.580 know where to go and so um so that's just something to also be aware of that there's

01:20:26.420 there's there's always an excess of anything that you you do and that that moderation is important

01:20:31.820 yep a few points of order real quick if you are watching on x uh do us a favor and retweet the

01:20:39.380 video uh right now we are broadcasting live when we stop broadcasting as you probably know

01:20:45.100 x is a great platform for many different things but it has its shortcomings and video it's it's

01:20:52.620 not the most video friendly platform i know that elon allegedly is working on it um but uh it's

01:20:59.400 it's not the most uh friendly towards promoting uh pieces of video content so the best thing that

01:21:05.200 we can do is right now before it just disappears into the ether as we're still broadcasting live

01:21:11.000 is retweet our posts so um if you're not on x maybe you're on youtube but you just want to help

01:21:16.760 us out go over on x our handle is at right response m the letter m as in macy's at right

01:21:24.220 response m and you'll find this is uh one of the i think if not the most recent post on the twitter

01:21:30.880 handle go ahead and retweet it and get the message out to as many as possible if you're watching on

01:21:36.080 youtube make sure to subscribe if you're new to the channel click the bell so that you'll be

01:21:40.440 notified every single time we come out with new content and the regular schedule for that new

01:21:45.680 content is that we live stream three times a week so we have a monday wednesday and friday schedule

01:21:51.720 monday wednesday friday three times a week always at 3 p.m central time three times a week

01:21:57.180 at 3 p.m central time all right so make sure to do that and then one more uh this is a question

01:22:02.860 from vlad uh yakubets yakubets yep y-a-k-u-b-e-t-s yakubets it's a pretty cool name i like it vlad he

01:22:15.020 says this question what are the best flavors of alps or knickknacks answer beets bears battle

01:22:23.220 star galactica no um answer refreshing chill i don't know if here let's see there it is

01:22:30.960 uh you can't read it all right alp go to alp um and refreshing chill i think is the best flavor

01:22:39.760 do you guys have a flavor of choice i like the fruit i don't know exactly is it tropical fruit

01:22:46.620 tropical fruit that's a pretty good one yeah yeah yeah tropical fruit's a good one knickknacks those

01:22:51.560 peppermint i think it is those are pretty good yeah so if you're doing out tropical fruit i i

01:22:56.060 can vouch for that tropical fruit and refreshing chill would be uh two of the best and in the show

01:23:02.120 notes you'll find the link and the promo code use it to get 10 off um okay we've got a couple more

01:23:07.500 some faithful yeah yeah go ahead antonio yeah uh so danny bradley sent two dollars uh says off

01:23:14.600 topic but epstein cover-up episode coming soon yeah do do us a favor guys uh maybe just in the

01:23:21.520 comments um if you're watching on youtube or x either or i noticed a few people he's the only

01:23:27.560 guy who put it in a super chat but a few of you have commented and we were debating that actually

01:23:32.820 today we it was kind of between this episode on um christianity's today's uh laughable article on

01:23:40.300 zen or the epstein um uh saga that continues to go on um and we kind of felt like with the epstein

01:23:48.320 thing we're like are we a little bit late you know and and the answer is yes undoubtedly but

01:23:53.220 uh most news stories have you know maybe a 24 48 hour cycle this one's not going away and actually

01:24:00.200 i i think is doing um more more to damage maga's brand than just about any other blunder that

01:24:09.400 we've seen in the last six months of the trump uh administration so um i'll say i'll put it like

01:24:15.480 this assuming that the story is still developing and still um a big piece of conversation online

01:24:23.380 uh when we get to monday if that's the case i'm down to do an episode and you have steve bannon

01:24:30.240 i think is releasing a documentary uh on epstein with like 16 hours of that he's had for a while

01:24:37.520 he's had for a while so that will be big too so that will there's so much information like a watch

01:24:41.480 party yeah yeah there's so much information still coming out i'm sure we'll talk about it many many

01:24:46.600 more times okay yeah so we'll do we'll we'll try to do an episode next week uh maybe on monday if

01:24:52.140 the story is still um pertinent to the conversation all right jesse hughes wes you want to read that

01:24:57.700 two dollars from jesse jesse says watching this discussion from a cigar lounge props to jesse it's

01:25:03.200 a four maybe five o'clock on a friday he's in the lounge he's locked in he's got the stream up on

01:25:09.000 three devices no uh thank you jesse for the super chat and uh enjoy your friday night yep all right

01:25:15.060 well that's it we've got one more here okay do it so this is christ servant seven christ servant

01:25:19.880 seven says paralyzed vet i'm assuming he's referring to himself uh for one thank you for

01:25:24.600 your service as well as uh our condolences and sorrow for that state he asked any actually good

01:25:30.600 stuff to know please let me know i'm guessing he's referring to probably nicotine in relation to

01:25:35.120 being paralyzed like would this have similar type of cognitive and central nervous system effects

01:25:40.880 um nothing that we said especially about focus and appetite suppression none of that would go

01:25:48.720 away if you're paralyzed or potentially an amputee so i think all of that would probably

01:25:52.640 still be applicable definitely the risk with you're just not able to be as physically active

01:25:57.260 so when it comes to cigarettes like someone asked about american spirits like yeah american spirits

01:26:01.120 Hestia is even another one. Those are organic. Those are better. But even then, if you're not

01:26:05.380 able to be active, you're not able to kind of offset some of that stuff that you're breathing

01:26:09.520 into your lungs. And so I would definitely say as far as the inhaling, as far as your cigarettes,

01:26:13.760 your cigars, those probably less of, but something like a nicotine pouch, assuming you don't have any

01:26:18.960 other, maybe it would be heart condition, blood pressure condition, something like that that

01:26:23.880 would interfere with it. The effects that we're talking about, if you want that, like, hey, I still

01:26:27.300 work i would appreciate the greater focus or this would be helpful as far as appetite suppression

01:26:31.500 they should still hold yeah who are some of these people in the chat man we've got somebody who said

01:26:36.660 i don't eat ribeye oh my goodness why well why would you not eat ribeye and and perhaps even

01:26:43.940 more of a relevant question why would you publicly feel comfortable sharing that you don't eat ribeye

01:26:50.020 on public record yeah i feel like you would need to be uh that's that's a closeted kind of behavior

01:26:55.940 you know what i mean like if if somebody is uh sexually perverse back into the closet if somebody

01:27:03.580 is publicly announcing they don't eat ribeye like you need to be shamed into the closet that is uh

01:27:08.880 that is an unforced error and you got to stop uh deacon saint john he said i'm going to eat a

01:27:14.720 ribeye right now out of spite god bless you deacon saint john in christian nationalism you will be

01:27:19.720 under christian nationalism you will be forced to eat a ribeye or you will be going back with

01:27:24.680 millions you will be deported uh you're doing the lord's work deacon saint john eating a ribeye to

01:27:29.780 the glory of god and out of spite for uh that that very strange comment um that's all we got

01:27:35.240 for today uh again we're still technically broadcasting we're going to stop it here in

01:27:39.520 about 60 seconds but do us a favor while we're still live if you are watching us on x retweet

01:27:46.500 the video just share it get it out share it um it it means the world to us uh it triggers the

01:27:52.960 algorithm uh helps it to not disappear so quickly and and gives it exponential reach and then again

01:27:59.980 for you guys who are watching us seems like a lot of guys today are watching on youtube that's great

01:28:03.820 we appreciate it uh if you're not subscribed subscribe to the channel and click the bell

01:28:08.780 there are guys who subscribe and they'll you know six months later they'll you know a video will pop

01:28:13.860 up for them for the first time in six months and they'll be in the comments and say where have you

01:28:17.040 guys been you know how come i don't i ever see you know when you guys are are live streaming it's

01:28:21.600 you didn't click the bell so click the bell you'll be notified every single time we broadcast

01:28:25.840 uh if you are watching us on youtube subscribe and click the bell all right that's it for today

01:28:30.640 uh it is friday make sure to go to church on sunday and lord willing we'll see everybody again on monday

01:28:51.600 You

The NXR Podcast - July 11, 2025

THE LIVESTREAM - Is Nicotine Addiction Sinful？

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript