Breaking News

Jeremy Walker (00:21):

And welcome back to another episode of The Last Kingdom. I'm your host, Jeremy Walker. This is episode number 14 for April 26th, 2024, and this episode is entitled Breaking News. Well, today I'm going to be discussing lots of various news articles that have been jumping on the landscape, social media and social media news outlets. For this podcast, we like to talk about faith, family, and the future, and a lot of that plays out on the national scene on our social media streams, in news and articles. And I kind of want to talk about just lots of different things that pop up and from a Christian perspective, what are we supposed to think about all these various topics? And are they really news or are they distractions from our real life? So welcome back again guys to The Last Kingdom. I want to jump right in to this episode with various topics and I do collect ... I'm not sure about other people, but I don't have all the time in the world to read articles when they come across social media feeds and whatnot.

(01:44):

So I like to grab those URLs and save them and come back to them later when I have more time. So I end up with a lot of clips and a lot of links I eventually get to eventually, and then of course I'll delete them and store those in the old brain and get back to them later. But the one interesting thing that Christians in particular should know is that what you see played out in culture and society is the religious foundations of those people, of those individuals, of that nation being played out. That's right. And so let's jump to one of my first topics because we have lots of different things to talk about.

(02:28):

First, what I want to talk about was I was dealing with something this week and we were talking about the concept of why do things not last as long as they used to? Like old cars, cars have to be repaired all the time or light bulbs or AC units or anything that you have to do because nowadays, everything breaks down. Everything has to have a repair man or "Oh, we're sorry, but we have to replace this." And so I was talking to somebody about this subject and I remember it came to me that they called it something, they called it planned obsolescence. And so if you're not sure what planned obsolescence means, basically it means that things are built or designed on purpose not to last forever. That's right. Products like refrigerators and cars and many other things could be better designed. There are other materials that could be used to make things last longer, be more durable, not need to be replaced or repaired. But because of the concept of planned obsolescence, a lot of products that we use all the time aren't.

(03:38):

Now the lifespan is purposefully being shortened. Now, the design, we call it design flaw, but it's not a flaw. It's actually a feature. The question you have to come and ask yourself is, is this wrong? Is it wrong to create a product that isn't going to last forever? Or it could be of a better quality, but it's not. And so you use a lesser product in order to produce a product to sell, and of course have repeat customers, you could say. Now is that wrong?

(04:09):

Well from a Christian perspective, as long as you are not trying to sell a product as if it was going to last forever, then there's no problem. Does a person have to use the very best materials in any product that they sell? Well, no, they don't. In fact, a lot of people go to discount stores where they know they're getting a lesser quality of a product because it costs less. It's going to be the same type of concept, if it's a car or if it's forks or whatever it might be. But we know that it's not used or made with the best quality of intent so it's going to have to be replaced. It's kind of like the idea of buying really nice forks for your silverware drawer versus deliberately buying plastic. This is an argument to be made here, same as using paper plates versus a porcelain plate or ceramic plate. But why would you use something different?

(05:08):

Well, I guess it really comes down to what do you want, what you're trying to get out of it. And so a lot of people don't like this. They think it's some kind of a shenanigans that people aren't doing this, but no, it's really not. If you are not lying about your product, there's nothing wrong with people wanting repeat business. There's really nothing wrong with that. So let's move on. I just thought I'd share that little idea that popped out of my head today.

(05:33):

Another one was a funny little meme that somebody had shared on social media and it has our current sitting president on there, and it looks like a Banana Republic ad of sorts. And it says, "America, take 50% off your entire net worth." Now of course, it's meant for a joke, of course, about high taxes in America, but it does lead you to think, is there a limit? I don't think people really stop and ask themselves that question. Is there a limit? Or to what limit would it be immoral or oppressive for your government to demand your money? Where we are today, it says 50%. It's much more than that because while you're alive and you're making your money, they're going to either be taking it through ... When you make your money with your checks, or of course at the end of the year whenever you have to pay your taxes or with every product that you either buy or sell. And then of course when you die, they come back and they take another 50%.

(06:35):

So if you were going to just say, "Well, they take 50% of my income," if we were only going to use that term, "50% of my income when I'm alive." Let's just use that. "And then when I die, anything I still have, they're taking another 50%, which that means that about 75% of my income throughout my life and my death goes to the government." That's what they've determined is their worth, what they are rightfully supposed to have from me, what I'm supposed to give them, they deserve 75% of my life. Does that sound like free people to you? No, it's not. Does that sound like [inaudible 00:07:16]? Yes, it does.

(07:17):

And if truth be told, they would take all of it if they did not think that there would be some form of uprising. And in fact, the concept of socialism and communism is just that. You work for free, you're a government slave and you own nothing, and you make nothing. We will give you what we think you deserve or what we want you to have, and that's it. You don't have any rights, no property of any sorts. That's what they want.

(07:48):

Now, what is the Christian's perspective on this idea? Well, if you go back in the Bible, the Israelites did not want a king like what they had. They had God as their King, but they did not have a king that was a man like all the kingdoms around them. And so they wanted one of their own to be their king. And so Samuel comes back and God tells him to talk to the people and he tells them the horrors, the horrors that were about to come upon them if God gave them their way and gave them their man king. And do you know how much of their income that this horrible tyrannical tyrant of a king was going to take? 10%. 10. 10%. Not 50% and then 50% again.

(08:38):

See from a Christian perspective in America today and all other governments and nations around the world, if you get above what God would demand, which is 10% via the tithe concept, then they have entered into godhood, God status and they believe that they are worth more, they deserve more than even what God would enact of men. We deserve 75% and your life and the lives of your children and all of your property is all ours, ours, ours. But this is what happens when we give up God and we want man, we want to be governed by ourselves, by those like us. And God says, "Let them have it." Us as Christians, we try to teach liberty and liberty comes through obedience to God's commandments and rejection of humanism. We could be doing better, but we'd have to go back to God first. And that's why people will always prefer tyranny.

(09:43):

There was another that was very interesting that came across my feed this week. It was a clip. It said it was a study on ADHD by the University of Central Florida. And it shows two different videos, two different students sitting in an armchair in front of a TV screen, and ADHD stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. So basically they don't have self-control. That's what it really means. And the two students are sitting there, one on the left says math video, and the one on the right says Star Wars. And then it says, "Same student, 10 minute time-lapse." So it's not two kids, same kid, different things to entertain, one being a math video and the child is spinning around, spinning around, not paying attention to it whatsoever. And the one on the right, Star Wars, he's sitting still, not moving at all. Why? Because one has his attention and one does not. One is entertaining to him and one is boring to him.

(10:39):

Now, what are Christians supposed to think about these kinds of subjects? Well, very simple. You have to have the self-control to understand that not everything is about you or your personal entertainment. That's right. You have to control yourself. You have to sit, you do things you don't want to do. You have to complete tasks that you don't necessarily want to complete. People are giving people excuses for a lack of self-control, a lack of self-discipline. And what are you going to get besides somebody that is at their job when they're 25, who has their phone in their hand, and they can sit there and watch that phone for hours on end as they watch stupid TikTok videos? But give them a job and give them a task and they cannot accomplish it and therefore they go down, down, down, lose, lose, lose, fail, fail, fail. And it's not some kind of chemical reaction in your brain that's preventing you from doing it. You never learned self-control.

(11:45):

One of the foundational things that God tells us we need is to be able to control ourselves, control our spirit. That's what makes a man strong, not his muscles. It's his ability to maintain control of himself and to submit himself to God and His commandments, be diligent, be honest, be hard-working. We need to stop giving our children crutches for the rest of their lives, saying that "They just can't help it." Yes they can. And you are like the drug dealer, if you're a parent giving your kids excuses of why they can't succeed, you are going to create a failure. And then they're going to turn around and say, "It's not my fault, it's just somebody else. The world's just a difficult place. I just can't succeed." Wrong. You can and it's not a chemical problem. It's a character problem.

(12:42):

Moving on to another interesting tidbit, another meme, of course, people love memes. And this one said, "Sorry, not sorry." And it has a guy kind of in the center of the meme, and it's one of these ... I forgot the little buff guy. I don't even know where this picture came from, but he's supposed to be the picture of masculinity of sorts, and he's wearing a kind of a conquistador outfit and it says, "Sorry, but the human sacrifices will stop." On the left-hand side, it's like an angry Mayan of sorts. And on the right, it's woke people who I'm guessing is supposed to be correlation, loving the idea of abortion, murdering children in the womb. And of course he's saying "Sorry, but not sorry."

(13:23):

Well, as Christians, it's not necessarily something to joke about per se. I mean, we love memes. Who doesn't love memes? But it's actually a really serious subject. This is a subject we're telling people you are murdering other people. God is going to hold you accountable. We are going to stand without apology against you. That's right. Cry all you want. We're still going to be here standing in the gap between you and those you want to murder to the extent that we can. And of course people are going to be upset at us, be angry at us. And like little children that never learned to control themselves, what do children do when they can't get their way? Scream, cry, yell, throw fits. And that's exactly what you see from the vast majority of the modern people in America who are from the liberal woke areas who don't get their way. They scream, they cry, they even sit on the floor and scream into the heavens because the President that they wanted voted in didn't get in. These are adolescent children and they are going to lose in life.

(14:30):

But Christians, we can stand behind memes like this and say, "No, I'm not sorry that I stand on these principles and this is where I'm at." And that's what Christians have to do to a certain extent. I mean, we love to watch the memes and whatnot, but it actually is a more serious subject.

(14:46):

Another meme that kind of went with these is one of these to go back and forth, back and forth. A "Babe, tell the truth" kind of a thing. And one has somebody saying, "I want to fight climate change." And then the guy's head sticks to the door and goes, "Be honest." And then it switches to the woman saying, "Well, I am being honest." And then the guy's head pokes back up, goes, "Nope, be honest." And then the woman comes back and says, "Okay, I want communism." He goes, "Thank you." And this is an interesting, funny meme, which we love memes because they have the ability to confer, like all humor does, something that is true via humor, and we're allowed to laugh at it even though it's a serious subject.

(15:27):

People are not concerned about saving the world. All the concept of climate change used to be global warming and all the rest is only about trying to get socialism and communism, basically humanistic death of all people that stand in my way. That's what it really means. So whenever you hear people talking about the arguments, ignore them. And that's kind of what this meme is all about. Ignore the rhetoric, ignore the pseudoscience. It's all about control, rejecting Christianity and embracing humanism and tyranny of men.

(16:01):

So our job as Christians is to move forward in promoting the idea of submission to God, not submission to governments, not to be submissive to communism and socialism who is politicized envy, where I hate the fact that other people have stuff. I hate the fact that I don't have all power and I'll murder anybody who gets in my way. We are supposed to be servants of others instead of their tyrannical overlords. And that's the difference between dominion and domination. Very important distinction. In dominion, we are servants who have authority and power to help raise others up. In domination, it is all about you having power so you can keep others down and murder anyone else who gets in your way.

(16:50):

Moving on to another tidbit, there was some breaking news. There was a Black athletic director in Baltimore, high school, arrested for producing an AI deep fake of a white principal in what was called a race hoax. It says, "A former high school athletic director, Dazhon Darien, was arrested for utilizing an AI generated impersonation of Pikesville High School Principal Eric Eiswert, to falsely portray him as a racist and anti-Semitic. The spread of fabricated recordings about him at the school led to his temporary job suspension and compromised his safety. Darien made the recordings to retaliate against the principal who had launched an investigation into the potential mishandling of school funds."

(17:37):

Oh my gosh, these things are getting more common. It's sad, and it's not about black versus white, and I know how people like to portray that. But as Christians, we look at this and say, "This is righteousness versus evil." And if the man is Black or white or Hispanic or whatever, and he's doing something evil, we can call it evil. It doesn't matter the color of his skin. Darien just happens to be a Black man who is mishandling school funds, an evil thing to do. And the principal who's trying to hold him accountable, a good thing to do, was now being lied about and the man was trying to destroy him and even compromise his safety. These are evil, terrible things.

(18:18):

But once again, as we just mentioned with the other stuff, we still have to stand up. We cannot be afraid to do our jobs as Christians. And when you are in a position of authority and responsibility, holding people accountable is exactly what we should be doing. This principal, I'm glad it all came out because they're going to use it as some kind of a black versus white thing. But instead, we should be using it as a evil versus godly thing instead. That's where the war is at, is Christianity versus humanism. And a man trying to hold another person accountable for his theft and misuse of funds. That's a godly venture, even if the man himself didn't think of it in those terms, but that's how we're supposed to be acting.

(19:05):

Another one that came across my feed, which was interesting, was something that was going on in China, it looked like. It said, "Basketball training at a school in China" and a very interesting video. It showed a school ground. All these little kids, I'd put them at about six, considering I know kids pretty well. And they are in a line of about 10 kids, single file, dribbling a basketball in unison without mistake, legs are parted and they're bouncing it with one hand through the legs back and forth in complete unison. And it is quite a thing to behold considering I know kids. Going back to the ADHD kid who can't sit there for five seconds unless he wants to, and China, unlike America's schools, is raising children who are disciplined.

(19:54):

Now, here's the question, and this is part of the TikTok battle that's going on, is that what is it that China wants that it doesn't want in America? Well, China does not want America to thrive. It wants America to die. So how do you do that? By compromising the character of its people. That's really that simple. The same thing that it does want for you, it doesn't want for itself. And of course people are going to want to think that physical training, being able to self-discipline yourself, sit in the chair properly, they're going to think, "Well, that's where it's at. We need to institute this kind of thing in our schools, and then we could then get it going." Well, physical discipline, meaning that you can physically discipline yourself, like say to wake up on time or to dribble a ball in unison with other people is not the same as self-control. There's a giant difference. Let me show you the difference.

(20:42):

You can take a person like let's say bodybuilding. It takes an immense amount of physical restraint, physical discipline to get yourself up to eat right, to lift the weights, to push yourself, to do it consistently for years, day after day after day after day. It's an immense amount of ability to discipline yourself. Physical discipline. But look at the bodybuilders. Are they character disciplined at the same time? Do they have a moral discipline, not just a physical discipline? Well, they don't. See if America is going to get where it needs to be, it's not about a physical training and discipline, the ADHD kid being able to sit. Now, that's good, that's a good place to start, but that's not it.

(21:28):

You can have a really disciplined person in the White House or in government or anywhere else, and they're physically able to restrain themselves, physically able to restrain their mouths. But behind closed doors, they're trying to destroy every single person around them because they have a breach in character, but not in physical discipline. The bodybuilders take Arnold Schwarzenegger as a great example. He may have been able to give himself physical discipline, but his moral restraint was and is abominable. The man slept with everything that moved, including his own, not babysitter, but the maid, and ended up in a divorce and everything else. He did not have a discipline of character even though he had a discipline of physicality.

(22:13):

So when we see things like this, it's important to understand the difference between those things. Christianity is not just about a physical discipline, being able to control your physical motions, although that is true. But psychopaths can restrain the outside. A old story that was a book and then a movie, Clockwork Orange. I forgot the author at the moment. If you haven't read that book or if you haven't watched the movie, do so but do so knowing that what you're going to see is mass mayhem. It's what the ADHD kids are if left unrestrained able to go around, run amok, beat, pillage, murder, drugs, alcohol abuse, you name, it's all there, home invasions. It's all there, the horrible natures.

(23:00):

And they said, "Well, how are we going to solve the problem of delinquency?" And the idea was to give them a physical discipline. Physical discipline. Strap him to a chair, open up his eyes, get him to stop the outward physical problems, and then we'll change the man. Wrong. The end of the book, the end of the movie is that it didn't work. He could restrain himself outwardly, but inwardly, he was still there. The manic mayhem of a man was still on the inside, and that would come out, but not necessarily in a public display, but more in private.

(23:40):

See, that's what Christianity is all about. We are against such ideas as the concept of only outside restraint. No, no, no, Christianity, it says you start from the inside and you work your way all the way on the outside. There are many other subjects that I wanted to touch on, one of those being a marquee that said, "My child is not rude or weird. It's called autism." And there's a difference, I would definitely say, between people who have real mental problems that are more physical than behavioral, and a lot of these people are claiming their children have problems physically when it's really just bad parenting. Sorry, bad parenting. Anyways, thank you for joining me today on The Last Kingdom. This is Jeremy Walker. I'm glad to have you with me to share some thoughts, but I'll be with you again next week with a new episode and new topics. Talk to you again soon. Have a great day.