I got a question today, and we're gonna run it down to its fullest extent and chase this rabbit.

Is Donald Trump the anti Christ.

Let's use the Bible and figure this out.

Okay, welcome back to this show, and thanks for being here.

Of course you're feeling better.

Last time we had you on, you were coming out of a many stroke, to many strokes.

Too many strokes.

You know, it's been a it's been an interesting journey because it's not just it's over and life returns to normal.

I wasn't on the right blood pressure medication, so now getting on the right blood pressure medication really has been a roller coaster.

Like you feel good one day, you feel terrible the next, and not symptoms that it can really describe other than I just feel off and almost like you're following yourself or seeing things in slow motion or if it were camera nerds, so we have the wrong settings on the camera.

It's kind of what it feels like when I see things, you know, interesting.

It is very I you know, we talk.

You and I talk almost as much as Amber and I.

Talk that way.

Yeah, I talk a lot because we just we have a lot of stuff that we kind of juggle back and forth, most of which is our radio show after midnight.

Yes, because that's a seven day a week show, and so many people ask me about that.

They're like, so, what.

Do you do, Like, what do you do for money?

How do you get paid?

And what do you get paid for?

Which is always a good question.

You know, you know, I know you left music almost two years ago.

Well, by the way, yeah, next month will be two years Oh wow, yeah, I know you'll have music, but you know, what do you do to pay the bills?

Well?

We The first answer is we have this radio show after midnight.

And so they're like, what is is that like your podcast?

No, that's a different country music radio show that I'd host from midnight to five or six am, depending on the market.

And they're like, you stay up all night recording a radio show pre recorded?

Yeah, yeah, but almost always the same day.

At least we're recording it the same day a lot.

Yeah, yeah we are.

Today, we'll play tonight.

Yeah, yesterday was last night's show.

Yeah.

And that's also a common misconception of when it plays.

So is that tonight?

Well technically, I mean, yes, it's tonight, but it's really tomorrow, and you have to talk about.

You know, today is Wednesday, so you're talking about Thursday when you're doing the show, because that's what it is.

And you know you that it's hard for you to explain, like what you do for money?

I think just as much it is for me too, What do you do?

And I try to start explaining, They won't you to say you're a producer.

Well that's part of it, that's not all of it.

So do you want to know what?

Maybe I should just start saying I'm a producer and just leave it at that.

I mean, so I get the show, we call it roll of show from you, and I'm in here and you know, with my coffee in the mornings, and I.

Will do the show.

I'll do the six hour show.

And we have different topics right now, we're running two topics.

One of them is we do so many I start to get what is something that that lightens your mood?

Lightens your mood?

Yeah, whether it's listening to a song yours, is drinking a cup of coffee, drink of coffee.

Then the other one is what's something you wish people did like they do in the old days?

Yeah, did the old fashions.

Old fashioned way.

That's right, the old fashion way.

So then we take phone calls.

People call in, but you gather those phone calls and then I react to them in real time, but it's in the morning, yeah, from the next day.

Yeah, So that's what we do.

So because of that, my point is that we talk all the time.

It's funny to you explaining it is exactly how me trying to explain what I do too.

Is it?

The further you get into it, the more complicated it sounds, and people start going, so I still don't know what you do?

Yeah, okay, got it.

And you know what's crazy that the people that listen to our show.

I don't interact with those people that often.

I don't see them too often.

Every once in a while I meet a trucker or a nurse that goes out and listen to your show every night.

Well, I remember when you first started doing after Midnight and I went out with you a couple of times when you were still doing music.

Is that occasionally there would be somebody who it was their day off and they went back to normal time.

I say normal time.

Normal you know, during the day they're awake instead of being asleep here in the time and they'd come to a show.

Yeah, I'm you know, you know, five days a week.

I'm on the road from you know, eleven p m.

Till you know, seven am, and then I go go to go to bed.

But I flipped it to, you know, for the weekend, and I'm off this weekend and I'm coming to a concert.

And it's like so interesting.

Yeah, and so these days and we're gonna get to if Trump is the anti Christ, We're gonna get to that.

But these days, I don't I don't interact with that many people.

So so it's at some level, I don't know if anybody's listening to the show.

I don't know if anyone's listening to this podcast.

I don't keep up with that stuff.

I don't.

It's mainly just either me having a conversation with you or or my brother or Amber.

But what we do get these emails.

And so that's why it's interesting to dig into this.

Well, two things.

I think that now you're speaking of how I used to hear or see or meet people that listened to one or knew you from this, you know, watch the Smiths or watch the podcast or listen to the podcast.

What have you.

So you're gonna kind of get the chain.

It's to see some of those people again because we are going back out on the road.

That's right, that's right.

We always I mean, you've said this before on this podcast that we we say stuff that we shouldn't before it's supposed to be in the Okay, do you want to do that?

Yeah?

This is something that's so strange, so strange because we you know, I'm approving shows with my brother Tyler, which is something I've done for decades, but we're we're really doing it.

We're gonna We're gonna go on tour.

And that is kind of a click baby way to say it, because when I say we're going on tour, we're going like one city a week, maybe two cities a week, and it's gonna It's something we've been planning for years.

We've been doing After Midnight for almost four years.

We're doing the podcast since twenty seventeen.

Yeah, how many years is that?

That's set seven?

Eight years and have been talking about what would it be like to take the podcast on a tour, and that during the music days that was impossible and even during my when I was speaking heavily for ministry that was impossible.

I'm not doing either one of those things anymore really, and because I'm just really focusing on the local church.

But this is going to give us an opportunity.

Amber's coming out with a book October fourteenth, So get her together and Tyler and you and grizz is going to go with this Muble sound guy and we're going to go to several cities and do what we're doing right now.

Just have a conversation with people.

Get to meet the people that have been silent for us.

We haven't been able to meet like we used to and have these conversations like today, I guess Trump the anti Christ have conversations in real time with people.

So where are we going.

I'm not gonna give you the dates we're actually gonna We're gonna do the full announcement the name of the show and the dates of these of these where we're stopping.

I believe coming up on Friday, if I'm not mistaken.

So just give you a sneak peek.

Here is that we're coming to McPherson, Kansas.

Okay.

So that's just outside of Wichita, Ashland, Kentucky.

I've never been to, do you know where that.

Is close to I believe Ashland is on the on the east side of the state.

Oh interesting, I think so okay, because I was trying to see if it was close to Louis and it's not.

Yeah, that's the only place I've been as little Arlington, Texas.

Been there before.

Yeah, coming Georgia.

Yeah, Franklin, Tennessee.

So it's just outside of Nashville.

And then Clearwater, Florida.

Okay, so excited about I mean I've been to I've been to three three of these six.

Okay.

I did used to do a morning show in Wichita, Kansas.

That's going to be interesting to go back there.

Because this is right as Ashley and I got married.

My face was on billboards all over town, me and and Kathy.

Uh yeah, Kathy Carrier.

I love her and she's still there, still does stuff and radio.

But she and I and Chase Locke were on billboards all over the town.

So we need to go into a place to eat.

Like, if you thought people were just staring at you, they were because they probably just drove by your face on a big giant billboard and it was the first time that's ever Like, I don't I didn't you know in my career, I didn't have.

You've got a billboard worthy face.

I don't a face for radio, I think is more likely.

But the whole idea of driving by on your way to dinner and seeing yourself on what was very bizarre first time it ever happened, and then to think that why is that person staring, Oh, they probably drove by the same billboard and one if it's the same guy.

So but that's gonna be fun going to McPherson and and then of course you and I have both at different times lived in Nashville, so Frank.

It's gonna be kind of Ranklin's like a second home.

That's right.

Yeah, yeah, this'll be great.

And being in Kentucky will be great.

Yeah, of course being in Georgia will be great.

I'm just excited to go out with you guys and there to support and and and kind of start things and in things and help transition things as we go through go through the show, I'll tell you if you can.

And again we'll announce the dates and the times of these stops, I believe coming up on Friday, so watch all the socials for that.

And also just looking forward to to putting faces with names and emails that we've gotten.

Yeah, for sure.

Oh, a chance for you to do a Q and A too, So you come to the show, you have a chance to ask the question in person.

Yeah, that's going to be a big part of it.

The Q and A has been part of the show for a long time, and so I have done men's groups, different kind of speaking events.

We have done Q and A at the end.

It's always the best part.

It's always the best part of the entire night is because you just never know what you're gonna get.

I mean, you get some people that say, you know, the questions that we're used to hearing, but man, there's always somebody that stands up and they've got a bomb they're about to drop, you know, with a question that just just knocks everyone flat.

Can I ask the question?

I think that a lot of people are thinking right now, Yeah, are you taking your guitar?

I don't think so.

That's the honest answer.

There's the answer.

Yeah, I think so.

Maybe I will.

I don't.

I haven't thought about it.

But one thing, I hope, because I hope this is not just a one time thing.

I hope that I hope that every year, maybe in the fall, we pick a time and we go to seven eight nine cities and set up camp at a church or a vineyard, a theater or something like that, and and have an opportunity to share the gospel and meet people.

Meeting people is going to be a big part of this.

You just being able to do a shaking people's hand and hearing their story.

Again that I've been somewhat disconnected from that since I left music.

It was always the biggest part of my night was meeting people and hearing hearing their stories, and then playing the concert and knowing who's there.

During COVID when we didn't get to do meet and greets, I hated it.

I hated playing a concert and I have no idea who's out there, what their stories are, the mood of the place, no idea.

I know those weren't fun.

You know what I I have found myself doing is occasionally because they're still up on YouTube, it's just putting it on on a Friday.

I'm telling about they're live.

Yeah, when you're playing at the Farm, forgot you're playing at the Farm and you talk about the tips and you know the virtual tip jar.

They can do all this stuff.

I haven't seen those since we did it.

It's a very I mean, in the moment, it was like, oh, this is a saving grace, and now it's like, man, this is kind of reminiscing about the apocalypse that happened, but also the hope that was in the middle of all that.

That was kind of cool and still viable today.

I mean, still to have you and the guys all together again playing and you can watch it anytime you want.

No one that's up there.

And like I said, on a Friday, when I'm grilling or I'm doing something else, I put a couple on.

I watched them and uh forgot about those Live at the Grace Live of the EU Farm.

Grace went to I think one concert of yours and so she likes watching them again to okay, yeah, so she put them on and put them on.

And I keep a digital journal.

You keep a journal.

I'm not good at it, but I do.

It's very sporadic right now.

I've been doing it for about eight years.

On day one, the app yeah, I think it goes way back to when I read The Miracle Morning and Hal L.

Rod, author of that book, recommended day one.

I downloaded it and have been consistent, pretty consistent with it.

There's a couple thousand entries in there.

But how part of my morning routine is I'll write a journal injury of what's going on, what happened yesterday, what's going on today, and then I will go back and I'll include a picture, and then I'll go back and see what was happening on this day years ago.

And the COVID the COVID era is super valuable for me to read the unknown and that the fear of what might happen, and to read through that and go, ah, it was it all was okay, Yeah, it was horrible.

He'll look back and you see God's hand through everything.

I mean a lot of times you don't see it in the moment, or you're so focused on you know, what's right in front of you that you don't see it, but looking back you definite least, Yeah, his hand and everything.

You want to get to some questions here, yeah, I would.

If anyone wants to email, you could do that.

Email Granger podcast at grangersmith dot com.

Podcast at grangersmith dot com.

And the first one I have here comes from Colin.

Says Hey, Granger my name's Colin.

I'm twenty one.

I'm a college student.

A few months ago, I went through a tough breakup after dating a girl for a year and a half.

The first year was great, and then things changed.

She became distant and started talking to her ex.

That's no good.

I stuck around for another six months, and so she broke up with me, and honestly, it broke me.

Looking back, I think God used this to draw me closer to Him, since I was putting her before him.

Lately, I've been trying to get to know Jesus better.

I pray morning and night.

I read devotionals in the Bible with the McShane plan.

I go to church, listen to John piper sermons.

I'm working hard to avoid old temptations.

I do feel closer to God, but months later, I still feel anxious and kind of hopeless.

I keep thinking that my faith was stronger, I wouldn't feel this way.

Oh, I keep thinking that if my faith was stronger, I wouldn't.

Feel this way.

So I worry that I'm doubting even though I'm trying my best.

Do you still struggle with doubt and weakness?

How can I really put God first and fully surrender.

Thanks for your music, your book and everything you share.

Ye ye, calling it was there.

Yeah, it's a lot.

Thank you, Colin.

I appreciate the vulnerability.

And that's a very honest question.

And you're not alone.

It's very normal question and these are this would this would be a normal concern from me, from you, from anyone.

And it's this this question of am I aren't I doing everything right?

Lord?

Am I not being faithful?

Why do then?

Why do I feel weak?

Why do I feel like I'm doubting?

I?

Why do I feel like, Lord, I'm trying my best and I'm still struggling.

Does this mean that I'm doubting?

Does this mean I'm not trusting you?

Oh?

Man?

Normal questions?

That normal.

That's the heart of humanity.

And uh, the reason we know that these are normal and not dangerous or abnormal.

Now, this could lead to danger.

This, this this kind of drifting, this kind of worry, this kind of anxiety, this kind of lingering doubt could lead to something bad.

But we shouldn't say that before also saying that being in that moment temporarily is very normal.

And we know this because of the psalms.

We know this from David, who is a man after God's own heart, the Bible says, and he struggled with these things.

And the Bible gives us.

If you take a Bible and you look at you hold it up, and you open up right in the middle, you're going to go right into the psalms.

And that is I have one hundred and fifty psalms.

Plus we have lamentations, we have Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, we have a lot of with the Book of Jeremiah, we have a lot of lamenting, a lot of real talk.

We could say the Bible is full of man crying out to God.

And this is such value to the Church, to the people of God, especially today, that we could open up the Bible and go, here's a man that's just like me, that's crying out to God.

And furthermore, we have Jesus who quoted the psalms many times.

Even on the cross, he says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Which he's quoting Psalm twenty two.

So that's how we start this conversation is by all I have to say, Colin, that's a normal thing.

It's a normal thought.

It is, and you know.

I was just listening to a message from Mark Drescoll and he was talking about Jesus prayer in Guessimite.

He's like, I know what's in this cup.

I don't want to drink it.

Is there a way that this can pass?

Yet?

Not my will, but your will be done?

But if it were mine, I say, we look at another plan.

That's not He didn't say those words, but that was.

His Yeah, in his in his humanity, Yeah, because God was.

I've been trying to get away from saying.

Can we accomplish the same goal.

I think that that's what's important.

Is there a way to accomplish the same goal without me having to be nailed to across in the fatherland.

So I've lately I've tried to get away from saying that Jesus was fully man and fully God.

I'm trying to change that language back to a bit of an older language.

Truly Man, truly God.

That was the clip from and it goes back.

It goes back to the Nicene Creed.

There's different translations of the Nicene Creed, but you could say verily the old English verily God, true God, from true God, verily God from verily God.

But but he was truly man and truly God, and it's and and Sprol made the argument, it's dangerous.

It could be dangerous to say fully man, because then you could say, well, what's a half man?

Jesus was fully man?

Am I only half?

Or Jesus was fully God?

But is there another?

Is there a half God?

So because using that car the man a man made language in that in that aspect is that we're used to that.

You can't the same thing.

Two different things can't occupy the same space, right, So you can't have God and man sitting in the same seat, but you can't have truly Yeah.

That's a great yeah, that's great way to look at it.

So when you think he was truly man, he's truly God Christ and he's truly man, and he in his in his godhood, he he took on in addition to being God, he took on being a man manhood, which it took on humanity.

It was a date.

It wasn't a subtraction of God.

He didn't take a little bit of it out of his godhood and add a little bit of man to make him a God man hybrid.

He was He was truly, fully verily God.

In addition to that, he took on humanity onto onto his He added humanity to his nature, not because he was half of anything, It was always full, truly well.

And no, I didn't want to interrupt you because I wanted and tell me if I'm wrong on this.

But that doesn't mean just for an appearance of flesh and bone and blood, but it is emotions and temptations and thought processes of a human.

That's exactly right.

And so because of that, because he was truly man, you get what you're talking about in Gyseimite.

You get you get a man that looks at the cup that he must drink, which which would be separation from the father and taking on the father's wrath.

Because because God is just and must a just judge must punish rightly, otherwise he can't be a good judge, he can't be impartial.

So because he's just, he must punish the unrighteous, the unjust, and Christ took that on as a substitute, and and so as truly man, he looks at that and goes, I don't I don't want to do this.

I don't want this a man.

But he's also he's also truly obedient, perfectly obedient to the Father, sinless, sinless as a man.

So that's what separates him as a man us as a man.

He was sinless, perfectly obedient to the Father.

So truly man going.

I don't want to, but truly obedient going, but I must and I will.

So he wouldn't be.

He wouldn't be truly man if he goes.

Yeah, it's gonna it's gonna hurt.

But you know, I don't really care.

I'm God, I'm God.

I could do it.

That's right, That's that's not biblical.

Correct.

Remember I said, if you open the Bible and you you just crack it open and there's the Psalms.

Yeah, let's let me show you what I accidentally.

I was kind of scanning in a second ago.

So what did I accidentally open up to Psalm sixty nine And it's it's the subtitle for this.

The heading is save me, Oh God, Verse one, Save me, Oh God, For the waters have come up to my neck.

I sink in deep mire where there is no foothold.

I've come into deep waters and the floodsweeps over me.

I am weary with my crying out.

My throat is parched, my eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.

And it goes on and on.

This this is.

So I'm sixty nine is thirty six verses and we see the crying out.

So, so, Colin, before we say anything else, use the psngs.

They are a gift from God to you to use that language of crying out.

And and when you're crying out to God in this way, you are being faithful because you're not you're not turning away from God.

You're turning to Him as a child to his father, saying help me, help me, Please, help me.

And it's a perfect prayer.

So now let's get let's get practical with Colin.

Here there's a lot of I'm trying to do do do, and there's a lot of trust in what he's doing.

Yeah, And there I don't see much language of submission, surrender, humility.

And so many times we find ourselves on a spot of what can I do more?

Because I feel like I'm anxious, I feel like I'm hopeless, I feel like my faith is weak.

So what do I do?

Do?

Do?

Do?

Do?

And at some level you could say do less, surrender and do less submit to the Lord Jesus and do less and let what you have done in obedience be the kindling to the fire that the Holy Spirit will burn.

And I could say that by looking at a couple of things.

You're praying morning and not, you're reading the Bible, great, going to church, listening to sermons.

So let those things, let that kindling burn with the Holy Spirit.

Let let let let the fire consume all of these things and ignite you.

And so this is kind of like I always think about Karate Kid wax On wax Off, Like you've been doing the things.

Now show me punch.

Yeah, you know, show me block, because let let this stuff work for you now because you've done your spiritual disciplines.

So you go to church, show me show me peace and hope and rest from church.

From from wax On wax Off, show me block.

So show me peace, hope, rest love from church.

Who what do you got?

Well, I've got Bob who said if you ever need anything, call.

Me call him.

He said, Hey, you want to go to coffee sometime, how about Wednesday, Bob.

I'm struggling.

I'm struggling, brother, I I'm doing this and this and this, and I feel like I'm doubting I've came out of this relationship.

And let Bob love you through Christ.

You know.

Yeah, you've been doing your reading.

You've been reading to McShane playing show me, Yeah, show me hope through your reading.

You know, I saw I'm sixty nine.

Did you read it this morning?

Did you cry out to God?

Did your eyes get wet when you read this?

And God?

This is me?

Yeah?

Lord, restore me.

Are you praying the word?

We talked about that in a couple of us.

Well, when you're praying, you're praying every morning, show me rest from your prayer.

Yeah, show show me a peace in your heart from your prayer.

You know so great, it's great you have these routines.

Yeah, but now use that kindling to ignite the fire of the Holy Spirit within you.

And I understand this.

I mean I understand the rotness of just checking boxes.

I read today, Great, I pray today.

I did it.

You know, Okay, I checked all the boxes and I still feel no peace.

I understand that because it's not You're not it's not being practical in your life.

It's a box.

Cha.

Hey I cleaned my room.

Hey I took a shower.

You know, it's just a box.

Checked, and it's got to move past being a checking a box into becoming fabric of your life.

And I'll tell you those really only come from trials.

The trials are what make it and weave it into your life.

That take the words, and the trial is the needle, and the word is the thread, and it starts threading it through parts of your life that didn't connect before.

And all of a sudden you're like, man, that hurt.

But look look what was knitted together after it.

Yeah, and we don't want those like, we don't desire to get up in the morning and go, excellent, what trial we got today?

I'm ready to hit it.

It is a prayer in a garden going I see this coming?

Is there another way it's not okay?

Well, I know you're beside me.

Yeah, here we go.

It's not gonna be fine, good man, it's good.

We we train, and we train, and we train with spiritual disciplines.

Paul says, temp to Timothy, train yourself for godliness.

But at some point training turns into the actual doing.

What are you training for?

And so let the training do its work, Let let it take you, and and may that's lost it.

Sometimes in the routine of it that the Lord.

The Lord uses these things certainly.

Because what you know, football season getting ready to start.

If you just practice, you just show up to two a days and that's all you ever do, Okay, But then you play the game.

Yeah, that's where the magic happens.

So magic is probably the wrong word to use, but you know that's where it's like, oh, yeah, this is why we did that play thirty two times the other day.

Yeah, and that's exist right.

You know, you could be on the side line of the first game or a big game and you go, I don't know if I'm ready.

I don't feel good.

I don't know if and you go, how long did you train?

Six months?

Every single day.

I was out there monotonously training, training, training, trust the training.

This might I don't know if this fits.

Let me see, I'll say it and you tell me if it does.

I think it was Mike Tyson that said everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.

Yeah that's right.

Yeah, So yeah, everybody has what they've been working on until tragedy hits.

Yeah, and then what is it that actually sank in and planeted itself?

You know, the Lord does it the Lord will do it.

The Lord will deliver.

Trust in him.

You mentioned that too about church, just you know about what BA who you know, said, is there anything you need?

That's something I didn't get into when we talked about me having a stroke, was that it really opened my eyes to the important I knew it was important.

Church was important.

I knew that small group was important.

With the people that have in my group, it proved itself.

It was game day when I had my stroke, and it was like, oh, text after text, when can we bring you dinner?

Hey, I'm outside.

Hey, I've got gift cards for you to go eat wherever you want, when you want to eat, and how you know, it was showing up texts people that are that don't even live here, that checked in every day, that knew the situation and asked, you know, how are you feeling today, what are you working on today?

What are they giving you today?

What have they told you about your situation today?

And it was like in some of those, you know, the majority of those were from my church, some of them were people are not at church.

I just know.

And it was like, I think we're closer than I thought we were, and I thought we were fast than we actually were with some others.

You know, well, praise the Lord.

And that's also evidence that you and Ashley were not just consumers of the church, but you were serving.

You were you were knitted into the fellowship as a family, which is a church.

The gathering is a covenant of people that have got that have been, that have been gathered by the Holy Spirit together to meet in one place and each each member serving the other member with the gift that they've been given.

You don't have to do that.

You could easily just be a consumer.

Come in late, sit in the back, consume the message, and then leave and you're gone for six days, come back, you know, at the end of the week, and do it again.

It is that there is not ever the way that church it was designed, and you're not.

And when trials happened, you'll know which one you've done, Yeah.

For sure, and I'll tell you it wasn't us.

Just being coming members of our church was a big step because of history.

And I know there's a lot of people that have a history of being burned or hurt by someone in the church or what they perceive as the church, whether it be a pastor or a member or something like that.

And you know, I was in that situation in from my previous marriage and and I was like, you know, I'll i'll keep everybody, I'll still go, I'll still worship, but everybody's at arm's length, you know.

Okay, that's good to see.

By shake hands, then it'd be about it.

And I remember us being in Israel because I did the pre membership class before I left, and then we went to Israel in February, and while we were there, it was a topic that came up.

I was talking about it, like I'm nervous.

I'm nervous about actually pulling the trigger and becoming a member of a church again, because wow, it wasn't fun last time, and I don't know how much I really trust.

And it took, you know, took a lot of prayer, and it took a lot of great conversations with you and Amber and and Ashley and I talking about it as well, and then then praying with our pastor and getting involved.

And it took humility again, it took vulnerability again, and it was you know it it showed, oh, this is how it's supposed to work.

And it really showed itself during that time and you know, it's something I didn't get to talk I didn't talk about when we talked about on that stroke podcast.

But it's something that I it was it should have been taught because it was.

It was right up.

There's like I didn't know how close we were and how much I needed this and how and also how much I can be involved and should be involved moving forward into other people's lives, you know, putting that as a priority in my life to check in on others when I know that they're going through stuff, and to and to pour into them.

And you know, we literally just a few uh a few weeks later, we're in a in a smaller group that are all ages.

I say all ages.

It goes from I think there's some people that are in their twenties to people in their seventies in our group.

In our group, and one of them had a surgery and I was like, I was excited not about the surgery, but to give back getting to pour into them.

They were there when I was sitting in the hospital and to be able to go, oh, not not about you know Tiki tak now, oh you did that, I'll do this.

It was Oh, I get to I get to do this prison, because I know how it felt, I know how where I was.

I don't know where we were and what that meant when they came and visited us and just met us where we were, and being able to do that is just that you don't.

Yeah, you can do that with friends, I'm sure, but you just don't have that if you don't have a community in church.

You don't.

The Lord blesses us in such unique ways through the gathering of his people that you can't get alone.

He can't get as.

A monk, bearing one another's burdens, confessing.

All the one another passages in the Bible.

Absolutely one another, do this, one another, do this one another, do this together, do this along with Over and over and over in the Bible, we see this.

You can't do it alone.

You shouldn't do it alone.

In fact, you can't do it alone.

And here's the deal.

He'll prove it to you.

You'll cook along and you'll be fine, maybe for months or years or decades, and it'll be like something happened to you.

This is what I was talking about.

Yeah, when I told you you can't do it alone.

I was the other way.

I was for decades a consumer of church.

Didn't know it at the time, but it was you know, how's it fitting into my plan in my life?

Yeah, yeah, okay, I'll take a little piece of that and put it in.

Okay, cool, I've checked a box and yeah, yeah, absolutely, that's that's the majority of American church.

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OK, how about this big one about Trump?

Here?

You ready to get political?

Hey guys, my name is Cody.

I'm from Wheeland Springs, Arkansas.

Listen to 'alls podcast every week when I'm feeding my goats parentheses.

One of them is named Bacon, even though he's not a pig anyway.

I'm not the smartest guy.

I didn't grow up learning much about the Bible or politics, but I've been trying to get my life right lately.

So here's my question.

I'm kind of nervous to even ask this, but is Donald Trump the anti Christ?

I heard someone say on Facebook and that really freaked me out.

He says, I know you'll talk about end times and stuff like that sometimes, but I wanted to hear your thoughts.

I'm not trying to be disrespectful or political.

I just genuinely don't know and it's been bugging me.

Thank you for reading this.

I hope it's okay to ask Cody.

Thanks Cody.

If I was I would be the best anti Christ.

The best.

That's a terrible impersonation.

I know if I was going to be really good.

I was asked the other day what the anti Christ hair would look like.

That's actually really good, I would be that is amazing.

Okay, next question, No, I'm just kidding.

I'm gonna get it roasted for that.

Bring him on.

That's terrible.

Okay, yeah, it's it is a good question.

And and I appreciate we you know, you and I have heard this many times.

It's not this is well.

We've heard so many things about Trump.

He's so polarizing that he draws all the the analogies.

We did the show here Did God Save Trump?

Because of the bullet And the other day I was on I was on another show and the lady.

The lady like wanted to talk specifically about that episode.

Was that a podcast or was that he I think.

It was here, Yeah, did God Save Trump?

I think you were on it.

We talked about, you know, God's sovereignty.

Or maybe it was Marshall was with me on that, but but either way, she wanted to specifically get into that, and I was like, oh, I don't.

I don't remember exactly what we said, but but it's it's just evidence that he is so all rizing that people will really oh, I mean, they'll probably put he's the savior too.

We could probably have just the biggest argument is is is trump Christ?

Yeah, we see the Messiah to save.

The world, and then on the other side, is see the anti Christ man to be one man that draws in modern history, that draws those kind of questions is crazy the times we live in.

But yeah, let's dive into it.

Let's define anti Christ biblically.

So let's go to.

Let's go to first John.

First John speaks of it specifically, and there's other places in the Bible, but John's pretty specific here.

First John two eighteen children, it is the last hour, as you have heard, that anti Christ is coming.

So now many anti christ have come.

Therefore we know that it is the last hour.

They went out from us, but they were not of us.

For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.

But they went out that it might become plain that they were not of us.

Okay, so.

Let's go don verse twenty two.

Who is the liar?

But the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ.

This is the anti Christ.

He who denies the Father and the Son.

So what we see right off the bat from John is that the anti Christ, according to this passage is not one singular future figure.

I know a lot of people hold that view that he is one guy and he is coming.

But here the way John's speaking of him, and this is the time you hear that anti Christ a n t I.

You know, Christ though against Christ basically is what that means.

It's it is a it is a spirit.

It is it is a spirit of many of those who deny that Jesus is the Christ.

That is the spirit of the anti Christ instead of being one.

You know, let's go to chapter four the same book, verse three.

Every spirit, that's where I got that from.

Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.

This is the spirit of the anti Christ.

That's a lower case s.

This is the spirit in general sense of a spirit of the anti Christ, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

This is John speaking.

In the world, already, in the world already four thousand years ago.

Well two or I'm sorry too, that yeah, sorry that yeah, yeah, two thousand years ago.

Yeah, So.

Already.

So what John is saying here and anyone could could could go here with me, and there's gonna be a lot of content.

There's gonna be some.

Huge disagreements on this, which is okay, I'm not I'm actually not trying to put my heels on the ground and and say this is dogmatically what you know, this is where we stand on this.

I'm just trying to to show show that basically John is putting this as a category, not a person, Yes, a category of what the anti Christ, the spirit of anti Christ is.

It's the denial of Christ, not not one person that does it right.

The Westminster Confession, this is fascinating, historically has identified the office of the papacy as Antichrist.

Wow, like a pope, the pope, all of them, all of them, the office, all of them.

As the anti Christ is the opposite.

Interesting and so then you could you talk about comments.

Yeah, and that is that is not political, that's theological.

Yeah.

So this is not that they're not looking at the papacy as the politicians, but the theologians, and they have denied Christ, according to the Westminster Confession, have denied.

Christ through their.

Through their their alteration of the Gospel, which is making it a gospel of addition to faith in Christ.

You must do the addition to the authority of Christ, addition to the to the faith alone in Christ.

There's other aspects.

I don't want to go.

I don't want to get into that.

I'm just simply saying it's interesting that the Westminster Confession has identified the office of the Papacy as anti Christ and not the anti Christ, just Antichrist.

Yes, because of the the plurality of it.

Okay, I don't want to get too complicated.

Here, and it and it can very quickly, and it's you know, some of it is even you know, we'll take study and detail to you know.

But just for the question of his Donald Trump, I think you can identify some things of what the and the category of Antichrist is and compare those two him and and you know what you not what you think about him, but what is proof about him?

How about that?

Yeah?

I mean the biggest thing is that he is Donald Trump is not a theological figure.

He's a political.

Yeah, he's a political He's said he's said a few things, you know, he says the prayer, he says things about Christ.

But no one would consider him a theologian.

And there's no evident that he denies christ incarnation either, you know, and that is a is or the person in uh Christ's incarnation or the person of Christ in the specific way that John defines anti Christ.

We're not saying we're sure he's a Christian, or we're not saying anything.

Not professing what he has or has not professed himself.

You know he has, of course he has.

I mean, if you just want to single out him and say he has moral fair failures, yes, yes.

What we're talking about, yes, yes.

Absolutely, have you yep, just take a second and analyze these and break them down.

We all have so yes, Okay, Uh, he's boastful, prideful, sure, you know, but that that does not fulfill this biblical definition of anti Christ when it comes.

You know.

I think even in second John chapter one, I say this because many deceivers have gone out into the world, they deny that Jesus Christ came in a real body.

Have you heard that from him?

No?

I have not.

And listen if you're like, hey, we're just talking about Trump Ron, sure I have also not.

Have not heard Joe Biden or Obama do that either.

We're just talking about these group of people that you kind of put in a right and left side.

I haven't heard either side of these people say that that Christ did not come in any human body.

Yeah, So, I mean it's those are definitions of what John has been talking about.

Such a person is a deceiver and an anti Christ.

And I think it's out of too when we think of everybody thinks of revelation when they think of Antichrist, because we're talking about the end, the end of the world as we know it and Armageddon and what have you.

Out of that, and tell me if I'm wrong on this.

This is how I imagine it is that this person that comes into power comes out of this category of Antichrist.

I mean that's yeah, denies in a general sense, absolutely, and then.

Says look at me, I am God.

Yeah, you know.

Then that would be the anti Christ, but came out of the category of Antichrists.

Which is Satan correct.

Correct.

So let's all like to get to flipped here to Matthew twenty four.

When Jesus kind of says he says Matthew twenty four to twenty four.

Actually he says, for false Christ and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders so as to lead astray if possible.

Even the elect.

That is such a.

Such a bold statement, such a I don't want to say.

I don't want to say scary because it's not for me.

But it's comforting me because you you look at at the times and you yeah, yeah, I see it.

Yeah he was right, he was right.

Now, I don't see Trump as one that is performing great signs and wonders and leading people astray.

Thinking, thinking purely theological here, I don't see Trump as one that's doing great signs and wonders.

He's prophesying false things and leading people away from God.

Don't see that.

Like you say what you want about his politics and and his moral character, Like I said that, I don't.

He's not.

I don't see that.

Can you tie tariffs to to any theology?

Can we do that?

Yeah?

I joke, But some people will, Yeah, some people will tie the two together.

Here's another This is a big one, second Thessalonians two.

This is the subtitle.

There is the man of lawlessness, and we we It's often tied to anti Christ imagery, but but once again, what we see here with the man of lawlessness for the mystery.

Verse seven of the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.

Only he who now restrains it will will do so until he is out of the way.

So so and then the lawless one will lawless one will be revealed, so that we're we're this is prophetic, the coming lawless one.

Lawless one verse nine is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refused to love the truth, and so be saved once again.

This is very marry Matthew twenty four ish that Paul's writing to the church in Thatsalonaika.

Where did you start on that one?

Chapter two, chapter two, I just kind of did verse seven and verse nine.

If you back up a little bit at four, he will exalt himself and defy everything that people call God in every object of worship.

He'll even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God.

Yeah.

Yeah, this is key for dispensationalism.

Yeah.

And and once again, I don't see Trump.

I don't see Trump than this at all.

Right, I don't see any kind of political leader in this unless unless the political leader makes a turn to a theological leader.

Right.

But although I will say that we are more again, you study like you're in you're in seminary, so there may be things that you get into that I, just as a producer, do not.

But we are seeing more.

I believe we're seeing more and more of theology and politics merging.

And I've heard someone else say this the other day, is that it's not that I'm make sure I get this word incorrectly.

It's not that we are becoming more political.

It's politics is becoming more theological, and things that are in politics are going against or for, either for or against what God calls right and wrong.

Yeah, I mean to that, I would say I'm not buying that totally because I mean, we are way less theological than we were two or three years ago.

And I think that that's maybe that people don't reflect on history a lot.

I mean, you look back through history.

There's two lines in history, the theological line and the political line, and in history they intersect and then they go wide and they come back really close, and then they're right on top of each other.

In the Church of England type stuff like politics and religion or right.

You know, church and state are lockstep, and then it's splits and people go, now we don't want church and state separate them.

And then people go, maybe we need the religion thing to kind of create.

Maybe that's going to help us.

It's a great visual maybe, yeah, maybe maybe this will help me get re elected if I bring God back, you know, and you know, and the American forefathers, you know, said well, we got to bring God in here somewhere, we gotta we got to say we're a nation that trusts God, and we kind of you know, put it on the dollar bill and then it goes it's it's always done that.

Okay, Yeah, that's a that's a great pull, you know, to back up and get a bigger shot.

Yeah, because that you're right, that is you look back and he said, when we came over even you know, starting this country, Yeah, where it was then.

Back then they were all it was lockstep.

So it's not that it's getting more theologically, it is relative to the last twenty years.

Relative to our life, our life, yes, exactly.

So yeah, we see that we see it far apart in our lifetime when we see it close together in our lifetime.

Yeah, We're just happened to see it together right now.

Yeah, that makes sense, you know.

Discernment.

Discernment is a big deal in this when people have these kind of questions and these kind of statements.

Really, first John four four says that he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Believers, we need to be alert.

But our hope is not is not in identifying who the Antichrist is or what an.

Anti Christ like a treasure map.

It's identifying Christ as God and Savior and Lord.

And I think when we look at and I'll speak for myself, is that sometimes I can get caught up and stuff like this and take my eyes of what I should be to have in my eyes on which is not who is the Antichrist, but who is Lord of my life?

And who is God.

Of my life?

You know, in state, it's what you focus on in your you you're going to move in the direction of your strongest thoughts.

And if you're thinking about all the politics and anti Christ, your your life is going to move that direction.

You know, You're you're gonna find yourself watching and reading more and more things about that instead of who God is, what he's called you to be and what He's called you to surrender, to make live, make make Christ, you know, the head of your life.

Man, that's so good.

Cody.

I'm gonna put a check by your name.

I think we ran this one down.

And I'm gonna say this, Cody, based on scripture, Uh, there is no biblical reason to label Trump as the anti Christ or any one person bingo.

But we could say.

This, this was what the Bible does say.

The spirit of the anti Christ is present in anyone or anything that opposes or replaces Christ with anyone or anything.

To finish with this, this is because I'm glad.

I'm glad that Cody is is thinking biblically to try to discern with scripture.

Hey, I'm not that familiar with the Bible.

Is this What do you think biblically with a biblical lens?

What do you think about this?

That's the right question to ask.

Sure, it's not that it's a bad question.

It's any question that says, hey, test this with the scripture is a good question, even if it's you know, I think it's the stupidest thing in the world.

But you're saying before before you say the stupid question, you're saying, test this with the scripture and let me know if this is right.

Then it's a good question.

Yeah, I like it.

Hey, is is there really a cupid?

Test that with the scripture?

No longer is it a dumb question?

Is there really a tooth fairy?

Is a dumb question until you say, hey, test this with the scripture and answer is this is there really a tooth fairy?

That's that's not a bad question now because we should test everything everything with the scriptures.

Let me finish with this.

I think this is this is a good way to in this Isaiah ate was in my reading the other day, in my morning reading Isaiah eight, verse eleven.

There's a in my Bible.

There is a sub sub heading here that says, fear God, wait for the Lord, and at verse twelve it says, do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread verse thirteen.

But the Lord of host him you shall honor as holy.

Let him be your fear, and let him.

Be your dread.

That's so good, so good Isaiah prophesying.

And is that not totally twenty twenty five?

Absolutely the word.

Yeah, I mean the word conspiracy.

Call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy.

Do not fear what they fear.

Stop it.

Yeah, that's great.

Man.

Put down the TikTok.

You talking to me, no one who sends you all the tiktoks on everyone myself.

Yeah.

So that's good stuff today.

Yeah, good talk about good talk.

Yeah.

If you guys have a question anything, there are no dumb questions.

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