Eric Luppold: Through the Fire, Sacrifice to Moloch, and some Local Politics #238

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We're talking through the fire with Eric Leupold stick around exploring theology doctrine and all of the fascinating subjects in between Broadcasting from an undisclosed location dead men walking starts

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Podcast as always you can find out more at DMW podcast .com or follow us on socials.

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Oh Anywhere you type in dead men walking podcast. We're on Instagram and Facebook and X although at X we're at Real DMW podcast, but how's it going?

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Another episode another day another week I'm doing all right this week.

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We sat down with Eric Leupold. He is an Author he's a teacher.

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He's a pilot and the Coast Guard He hosts governed by God a podcast and it was fun.

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It was a fun discussion. You're watching the video right now I'm holding up the book through the fire. This is a fiction book based in around the 1400s

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I'm sorry, I say 1400s, but BC and It's a cool book two chapters in he sent it to me and he's using fiction to really tell the story

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Of a Canaanite woman as the Israelites are coming into the promised land and her struggle with trying to Rationalize the customs of sacrificing her firstborn to Moloch and it really parallels some of the stuff that's going on right now in the abortion industry and in the

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United States with the celebration of death and I always love when and we talked about this a little bit in the

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Episode I always love when we take art And we use it to glorify

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God by really focusing on those biblical characteristics truth justice mercy beauty revenge bitterness, right all those things that Point us back towards needing a

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Savior and towards Christ and I think that book does a very good job of doing that. So When we had

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Eric on we talked about the book a little bit why he wrote it we got into some politics

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He covers local politics on his podcast I'm involved in local politics.

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So that was fun. It was all -around good episode But just want to thank you guys too.

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We've had some orders come through on the merch cave I appreciate that some wine. I'm dying in Romans 9 shirts and mugs we sold

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You can get all your merch there help support the show Sends us down to places like fight left feast, which we will be next month live broadcasting there.

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So look out for that That'll be fun. We'll be bringing you some of the speakers and things like that I was gonna go to the conference the war conference in Tullahoma Jeffrey Rice and the open -air theology guys

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I'll be hosting that in February. So we'll be there as well But when you guys go through and pay 20 25 bucks for a shirt

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You know goes into a fund allows us to travel do those things bring you guys content. So I appreciate it But I'm not gonna go on too long here.

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We've got a beautiful Michigan day. We recorded today School is is homeschools back in swing for my family early morning

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Bible studies back in swing Our small groups at church starting up. That's awesome.

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So it's kind of a busy time volleyball for the girls Oliver starts Basketball pretty soon.

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So this is a very busy time for our family But I really enjoy the transitioning of the seasons, especially in Michigan.

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We're in a four season state You know the allure of those states like in Florida or Texas, which

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I'll be in Texas next month You go. Oh, man, it must be nice just to be kind of warm all the time, you know

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Especially when it's like 12 degrees here in Michigan and there's a foot of snow on the ground but then again boy this time of year for us

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Midwesterners where it's starting to Get a little cooler at night the bonfires in the backyard are a little crisper you get a little closer to them

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And then you get into winter with all the winter sports and fun. I don't know. I just love the seasons

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I really do and I saw a quote somewhere Can't remember who said it, but basically

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I'm a paraphrase it but basically said, you know when we curse the weather Oh, it's too hot. Oh, it's too cold.

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Why is it raining? You know, God created that weather for us We're really cursing him so keep that at the top of your mind, too

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Maybe you're not in a state where seasons are changing like here in Michigan But you know when you're supposed to go golf that day and it's raining

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And you go. Oh, man, I can't go golfing or whatever it is the Lord sent that rain and it's going to feed our crops and Gonna provide food and sustenance for your family.

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So be grateful for rain shine wind snow and the leaves changing

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I wrote an article for Living stones Tim Murphy, he's been on the podcast before and Just talking about how when

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I walk out back in the fall and I see that maple tree that I have and it goes from beautiful green to fire red and orange and I look at that and I go wow that means the

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Tree is dying. The leaves are dying. Not the tree the leaves being You know withheld the chloroform or the chlorophyll they need

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But even in death even in the cycle of death and sin where a tree has to shed its leaves and then regrow and spring

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It's aesthetically pleasing and it's beautiful and I can look at it and give God glory. So That's my two minutes on the weather.

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I don't know how I got on that But in any way air club loophole through the fire. He's coming up next on the podcast.

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Enjoy guys So we want to talk about through the fire, which is your new book But before we do can you give us a little origin story of yourself?

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Maybe Where you come from Married kids any of that stuff maybe a little bit of the testimony and let the listeners know a little bit more about you

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Sure. Absolutely. So I was born in Reading, Pennsylvania and grew up in both

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Pennsylvania and Maryland and then entered the ROTC program at college went there for engineering down to Embry -Riddle

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University in Florida And after that joined the Air Force became a B -1 bomber pilot and was first stationed in,

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Texas I got married had my first child in Texas and then got reassigned to fly the

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MQ -9 the Reaper the Remotely piloted aircraft and so it got sent to Vegas Had my second child in Vegas and then joined the

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Pennsylvania National Guard and now I live Here in eastern, Pennsylvania been here for about 10 years or so had my third child here

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I teach and also have been an elder at my local Baptist Church I grew up kind of in a

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Christian home I would say but I didn't really accept the Lord until around 16 years old got baptized and then from from there on just Became more reformed in my theology.

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So there you go So, what are you doing right now teaching? What do you teach? Well, I I teach

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Sunday school adult Sunday school for my church, but I'm full -time with the Pennsylvania National Guard So that is my

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Monday through Friday job a lieutenant colonel in the in the Air National Guard So what do you do in the

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National Guard? I'm a pilot. Yeah. No, I'm a pilot for the MQ -9 the the

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Reaper I guess a lot of times commonly known as the drones. Yeah Okay, and I'm also a staff officer so I work

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I work for the wing commander and Shuffle papers and have meetings and write emails and make phone calls and things like things like that Okay, very interesting.

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And you said you became more reformed in your theology. I'm always interested in that journey as I grew up you know in a non -denominational church a little more legalistic than a little more

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Pentecostal and another church in my teens and Then actually read the Bible through and went oh my goodness these doctrines of grace or what the

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Bible say What was your journey like that when you say became a little more reformed? Yeah, absolutely I mean

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I was saved in a freewill Baptist Church in Maryland altar calls every

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Sunday, you know come as you are Every every Sunday and at first I was kind of our minion.

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I believed you could lose your salvation Absolute freewill all the things but then what really changed me was in my first assignment in Texas I met a guy

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I'll never forget him chaplain galleon. He was a captain he was a former Baptist minister and we just walked through the book of Romans and Once we got through Romans 9,

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I could no longer hold to the Arminian perspective You know, what's funny about that is

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I was looking at shirts this morning And I almost put on for the podcast our wine.

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I'm dying. I'm Romans 9. I'm sure I think that would have been great You can find that at dmwpodcast .com

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free shameless plug there. It's a popular one. We have mugs, too But yeah, that would've been good

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Romans 9 will do it for you But then you start reading through the rest of not only the

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New Testament but Old Testament and you start to see the continuity of the sovereignty of God of his election of his

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Predestination of his sovereign plan and will over his created beings

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His love his justice all those things really start to come into focus Once you have that kind of mindset that understanding that systematic theology.

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So yeah, that's cool. I'm always interested in that. So man pilot In the armed forces

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Having kids Baptist and now an author. Is this your first foray into Writing a book or do you have some other stuff under your belt that I don't know

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I have actually I have two other books So I wrote I think the first one was a fiction novel back in 20

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I want to say 14 or 15. It was kind of like a futuristic fiction novel where It was illegal to to share the gospel with your children in the

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United States so that was a I enjoyed that book writing that book and then

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I I Dove into some nonfiction. So in 2019, I wrote a book called image of gold basically talking about how our idolatry leads to a tyrannical tyrannical, you know political situation really just just everything kind of goes back traces back to Idolatry and that's kind of where we end up with with statism and things like that So I've been speaking against you know,

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I work for the government But I'm you know trying to kill the beast from the inside No same here.

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I'm very outspoken about Elected officials and politicians. I haven't been a duly elected County Commissioner since 2016

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So kind of the same thing you're kind of within that system and you're trying to reform it from within so from pilot to Author had you always been interested in writing and was it something you said?

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Well when I get time, I'll do that or did you try early on and then go hey I've actually sometimes, you know in the arts.

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You got to support a family. That's not not the most Steady income, you know, you know,

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I'm trying to put it delicately But you know, I was a musician in my 20s and you're grinding it out. So Yeah, so where did that come from the writing part of it?

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Have you always got a creative? I I don't know where it came from. Honestly, like I I Enjoyed learning.

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I enjoyed reading Reading Calvin's Institutes rushed uni all the all the books

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Fiction nonfiction a Lord of the Rings. I enjoy reading but then I guess in the in the 20 teens or so I decided to start writing and then soon after that launched a podcast

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Called governed by God And and so I just really enjoy now.

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I want to do more writing continue reading but also speaking podcasting so I guess most of my life was more about learning and now

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I actually want to try to teach and I teach in the Military, like I've been in a an instructor pilot for oh my goodness.

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I mean 12 years or so, so It's aside from teaching people how to how to employ missiles drop bombs things like that.

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Now. I want to teach other things Yeah, very good. So yeah the book we're talking about here and if you're watching on YouTube or anywhere else you can get the video you can see through the fire

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Holding that up there. I do have a copy of it. I appreciate you sending me that I'm a few chapters in I want to talk

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Really Maybe you can give us a synopsis of it. Don't give away anything. You don't want to give away, but I'm always interested in the difference between Art that people say it's

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Christian blank, you know, it's Christian rap. It's Christian novels to where the difference of It being art and the

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Christian the person who made it as Christian. Does that make sense? Like I I've talked about this at length on the podcast to where you know general

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Simpson has a great quote to about music and art say it is art and music in the seventh and the diminished chord

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Belong to Satan because if it does we'll go down to hell and plunder it back all for the glory God Meaning we create things to reflect the beauty of God It's for our enjoyment, but it also glorifies

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God when we make beautiful things And I love books music arts plays anything that That isn't

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Specifically grotesque just to be grotesque But has has defining features in it that you can see the principles and characters of God truth justice beauty, right?

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Even revenge we just watched me and my family just rewatched counter Monte Cristo with Caviezel from Yep And the book is better, of course because I'll always tell you that the books always better guys read the book first But if you you know, you don't have eight to ten hours, you have two hours watch the movie.

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It's good It's good adaptation for the most part But we love those movies because sure it deals with some sinful things revenge and bitterness and right and anger but there's also truth and justice and love and beauty and I love when

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Christians make art like that. It doesn't have to be overtly you have to say the word

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Jesus or Christ every two minutes, right? But you're taking

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Deep themes that are biblical that are characters of God that are in this reality in which he he made and then putting it down Into your case written format.

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That was a very long intro for this book. But can you I'll let you talk here Can you tell me through the fire?

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Can you tell me what this what this book is about and kind of where you got the idea for it? Yeah, no, it's it's basically like a five -year long project

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I it's slow and steady after I finished my nonfiction book image of gold

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I I was really diving into idolatry and what that looked like What what is the connection between?

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Old Testament paganism and idolatry and what we see going on today and Especially when when kovat came and you start seeing what's going on in the public schools.

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You see the rise of transgenderism Or abortions always been or always been around ever since you know

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I was born essentially and I always kind of made the connection between abortion and the worship of Moloch but I only started recently making more connections such as between Ashera the worship of Ashera and Transgenderism and then several books came out that kind of helped me along the way

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One was the rise and triumph of the modern self by Carl Truman Another one was return of the gods by Jonathan Cahn.

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That one was particularly Insightful and very moving but but even Other things not not books like the haunted cosmos podcast

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Just seeing the spiritual nature and the demonic behind so many things

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And so then I started doing a deep dive into the historical sources I was reading dozens of articles on Canaanite worship practices the

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Ammonites the Amorites Reading mythologies like the mythology of Baal and Ashera the epic of Baal the descent of Inanna who's another name for Ashera and there's a lot of nonsense to comb through with all that with all those documents, but it all started coming together and I wanted to do a

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Fiction historical fiction. I wanted to be as faithful to scripture and to the historical record as I could

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But then tell a story of essentially a pagan Ammonite family living in the land of Canaan Right before Israel is entering the land.

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So you have this scenario where these these people they're they're worshipping Baal Ashera Moloch They're doing horrible things.

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It's a time of chaos destruction and then coming judgment famine quote -unquote climate change, right the

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The storms the rains aren't coming insects stinging insects you see all that in Scripture and you know

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The question is I wonder what it would have been like from their perspective the perspective of of the pagans living there

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What do they think of? Israelites that coming and what do they think of all these bad things that are happening?

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how would they interpret that would they interpret that as We're not honoring the pagan gods enough and that's why

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Baal's angry Moloch's angry Asher's angry or is it something more? So that's the story that I'm trying to tell it is a story of of judgment, but also of redemption and repentance in it

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Yeah, no, it's really good. It's good when you can take a kind of pinpoint history like that and then kind of tell a story within that and like you said staying within the guardrails of Reality of what what the historical context was, you know

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I have a feeling we've had a lot more people especially in the Western Christian Church have their eyes open

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To what abortion and transgenderism is in the last few years But I mean for years and years and years even as a young Christian in my 20s

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I you know I kind of had this ability and I think you do too and some of us do which Can be a hard road for us to be able to step back

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You know, we get so micro focused on our culture and our year in our decade in our country And well, this is what's happening here.

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Sometimes you have to step back and you look at the the the historical context the entire

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History of the world and you can start to see things like well, the spirit of murder is still alive and well today this the spirit of theft and fornication and pride and all those things that we look

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You know two four six thousand years ago and go. Oh, well, that was them.

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They were archaic. That's not our Technologically advanced society with all these medical procedures and technology and all these things

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Then we say but the sin is still the same. We're just doing it in a different format that's why this book was interesting to me because you're gonna get a lot of readers that you're probably gonna open their eyes to kind of the the relation between Abortion and child sacrifice that that a lot of people don't make that connection and even a lot of Christians people who've been sitting in church for years and Years, and they don't understand that that's exactly what we're doing with abortion

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We're sacrificing our children at the altar of Planned Parenthood or in the name of safe medical procedure

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They did the exact same thing. You know, I saw a meme. Tell me what you think about this I saw a meme and it said it might be too simple

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But let me know because you wrote a book on it. So and it said Sacrificing your child to Molech for a for a plentiful crop is the same as Sacrifice is take having abortion at Planned Parenthood so you can have a career and I know that hits hard man

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What do yes, absolutely. Absolutely. So Molech was a fertility

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God a god of life and death as well There's a whole bunch of interesting stories in the mythologies and and Baal Asherah and Moloch kind of go together

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You certainly see that in the Old Testament. So first Kings chapter 11 where Solomon actually sets up Worship to these false gods and all three of them are named together and in the same same situation happens when

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King Josiah comes in and purges The paganism in second Kings 23, it's

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Baal Asherah and Moloch are paired together. So the mythologies talk about that But essentially, yeah, you're absolutely right.

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Like Moloch was a was a fertility and a harvest God So the idea was that if that you needed to offer

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Your firstborn typically your firstborn and if you did that you would earn a better harvest a greater

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Harvest a more bountiful harvest and you would also have greater for fertility.

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So you'd be able to have more children. So it was always about sacrificing your children now for an economic blessing of some kind or a future

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Larger family of some kind and and really nothing is new under the Sun So what was offering to Moloch?

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Well today it's the same thing. It's just it's just labeled differently now Well, you need to enter the workforce you need to get an education get your master's degree get your

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PhD You need to do all those things and if you if you sacrifice your child now, you can have a better family

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You'll be better suited to raise your future children better If you just get rid of the current children now, and so Jonathan Cahn did a very good job showing that and then showing the issue of transgenderism and and How Ashera was an androgynous goddess and she believed or she said that she the power to change men into women and women into men and so the passage that that Jonathan Cahn referenced from scripture that really hit me hard was

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Matthew chapter 12 verses 43 through 45 and it's kind of an obscure Passage in many ways, but I'm just gonna read it.

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It's very short It says Jesus says this he says when the unclean spirit has gone out of a person it passes through water

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This place is seeking rest but finds none Then it says I will return to my house from which

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I came and when it comes it finds the house empty swept and put in order Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself and they enter and dwell there and the last date of The person is worse than the first so also will it be with this evil generation and Cahn in his book?

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He argues that you know societies that were Christian Western societies the United States places like that When they when they essentially booted

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God out of the public square out of their thinking The house was essentially empty and the void was there as a vacuum but vacuums don't stay vacuums

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They get filled and so what happened is the previously cast out spirits now

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They come back and the house is empty. It's not in developed by the Holy Spirit. It's not filled anymore And so they come back in with seven times

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It's worse than before and and guess what now we see on such a grand scale abortion

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Transgenderism homosexuality all these things just you know scales above what the what the pagans did in ancient ancient

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Israel Yeah, no, you're so right It doesn't there, you know, the vacuum doesn't stay a vacuum.

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I think I heard Pastor Toby Sumter do a sermon on this talking about when you remove

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God from a country. It doesn't stay, you know It's not like it's then neutral and you're like, oh, well, we're just kind of out there floating something has to be worshipped

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It's either gonna be God or it's gonna be Satan I was trying to buy me some time here to find a good JC Rao quote that I just posted a few days ago

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But I post too often on Twitter So it's way down in the feed because it has something like that because we're seeing what we're seeing us

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Kind of embrace not not only embrace evil, but now celebrate it I mean think about the fact that at the at the

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Democratic National Convention. They they offered they offered free abortions right and vasectomies but and and I believe if the count was correct, they they committed 20 25 murders at the

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Democratic National Convention like Just how I don't understand how someone can't see has how pagan

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Demonic that is and essentially we are we're going back to to worshipping Moloch Very publicly he might not be called that right now.

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That's not the name that he's called But it's just a different name, but it's the same false

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God Yeah, well, I mean it's once again we get caught up in the details

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I kind of have this ability to step back and go. Well, I think it's bigger simpler things as well, too It's it's the garden.

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It's Satan questioning God. Did he really say that and then us thinking? Well, yeah, we want to be like God, right?

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So we have now your truth instead of the truth So everyone's their own God their own moral lawgiver, right?

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so you can see very easily when you don't have a standard of truth or a standard morality or objective morality and we are

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Our own gods and everyone has their own truth Well, then we can do pretty much anything we want to do and we can justify it but not only have we embraced it but now we're to the point to where anyone who stands for righteousness is mocked and backwards and traditionalist and you know hurtful and Judgmental and all the words that they well much worse words than that that they do they attach to it, right?

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But But yeah that's why this book is so interesting too because you're kind of wrestling through those things because there's a character in here who she's starting to Kind of question like wait a minute.

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Should I sacrifice my child shouldn't I like I didn't get all the way through it But that's kind of the gist right?

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Like she is in this land. She's brought up a certain way You're supposed to do this thing and I've got this enemy at the doorstep and you start questioning.

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What is the Correct the moral the right thing to do here and that journey is is what

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I found interesting Why pick that time period? Oh I I picked it because I mean if you think about it

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You know in the book of Genesis we're told that the time of the Amorite was not yet complete And there's there was a long time period that God was very patient and long -suffering even with the pagans that didn't have

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Scripture, but they were still held accountable For not, you know not engaging in child sacrifice and things like that and you just have to imagine

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Okay, the time is is now fulfilled the time is complete. It's time for Israel to go in They are the instrument of God's hand of judgment upon the pagan peoples

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So you're kind of seeing like a peak level of depravity in in the land of Canaan Just prior to Israel entering the land and so it's a time of judgment

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And I saw I just think that's a very fascinating time Just to understand like what's going on there.

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And then of course the pagan worship practices are Really not stopping they continue

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Israel sadly ends up adopting those those you know those issues as well those pagan practices and and God judges them and so Whether whether it's the

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Old Covenant people or or whatever whatever time period you're talking about God judges nations that that worship false gods particularly as you know

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Evil gods like Baal Asherah and Moloch and so what makes us think that That our country is any different And so what

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I'm trying to do in this book is to use story the idea of story to try to combat this

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There's plenty of good Nonfiction books out there. I mentioned several already but I think a problem that we're facing is that Christians are often accused of not telling good stories and You know the other side they're using stories, you know, very very heart tugging at the heartstrings heartfelt stories to defend

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Abortion or women's rights, right? But we need to do a better job of telling a better stories.

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That's what I'm trying to do in this book No, I like it. I think you accomplished it too through the fire with Eric Leupold You know

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It's crazy because we've kind of lost our way in kind of Christian writing I mean you go back to the tokens and the

29:17

CS Lewis I'm working through the space trilogy right now again just for fun

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Audiobook not reading it. My wife says I have to I have to say I can't say I'm reading it if I'm listening to it

29:29

There's a difference. I do audio. Well, yeah but yeah, and you look at that and then you look at even pockets of it to like I think of like some of the

29:40

Christian air quote Fiction Fiction that like Doug Wilson will do and he has a very similar writing style to a

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Lewis because that I you know He kind of looks up to him, but there's these pockets where you're just writing really good stories like sometimes in the kind of more

30:00

Evangelical Christian world. I'll see like a book or a movie or a show and it's like Overtly Christian and I get into it and the quality stinks, you know

30:12

And in the storytelling and the writing is not great and you go well for this I'd rather just have my kids watch

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Breaking Bad with me And then we'll sit down afterwards and talk about the story arc of a great character who comes to realize yeah, it was all about me and pride and I really liked it and Not people are going

30:30

I tell you kids to watch break me. We haven't yet I have my kids are 15 and 13 this month but my point being is as a young adult even you can get a lot more out of something that is secular that has good storytelling and that actually has the

30:45

I guess the it's lined up correctly on how God's universe works right like like you reap what you sow like justice will be served like, you know good and righteous

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Good and horrible evil things are bad and It's refreshing to see someone like you writing a book like this to where it's like it's written really well

31:05

I'm only two chapters in but I'm and I'm no expert Okay I've never written a book but I know what

31:11

I like to read and I've read many many books and I can just tell the listeners I'm two chapters in and It's clear that you're an experienced writer.

31:20

It's very easy to read. The Dialogue is great. It's not over wording and I went okay good

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We've got a good solid book here with a good story Fiction, but it's gonna bring out all these all these things all these characters

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Characteristics and principles that we want to see in good storytelling and that ultimately glorify God I don't know where I was going with that question.

31:43

I was pretty much just complimenting you on the book. No, I appreciate Why we're on it. Where can people find it?

31:48

We haven't said yet. Oh, yeah Yeah, well, it's published through width and stock which is a Christian publisher in Oregon You can find it on their website.

31:56

Whip is w IPF and then stock common spelling But it's also on Barnes & Noble comm

32:02

Amazon comm so you can find it there and I I do want to work on an audio version

32:08

Self -recorded. I'll just I did that in my previous books. I want to do it for for this book So I'm gonna start working on that as well

32:15

Okay so just for my own Curiosity because I tell people too that's one of the reasons why

32:20

I have a podcast is just a little bit selfish I just bring interesting people on and asking questions that I want to know

32:27

How is how was that recording an audio book yourself? Was there a lot of it?

32:32

I mean, obviously the editing probably takes longer than the actual spoken word That's with everything. But how was that process?

32:39

How did you find that? It was it was interesting to say the least I mean, I I do my own podcast as well

32:46

So I'm kind of used to using, you know, the right tools or a microphone and everything but you know having to read the book and then try not to make a mistake when you're reading an

32:57

Entire chapter and if you do make a mistake You just have to know that you're gonna have to go through it and edit that out

33:03

But the editing part is definitely the longest because you can make a mistake. It's fine. You stumble over your words

33:09

Okay, fine. I start over again, but then okay now I'm reading and now I'm listening through it

33:15

And if an audio book is usually about like, you know, six seven eight hours long

33:20

So you have to you have to edit that as well and you don't really want to speed through it

33:25

So you're gonna be listening to yourself and and try not to you know, try to catch everything For six hours.

33:32

Oh Like the actual editing process I'd say probably 20 hours or so You know what?

33:39

I found a little daunting because I went if I ever did an audio book or a long format because we do stuff here

33:44

We're just pre recording but we haven't really scripted anything, right? We're just going back and forth. It's more conversational

33:50

But I found even when I do like pre like my pre -roll and post -roll ads and things like that And I'm talking in and I've got it right in front of me to read, you know,

33:58

I'm not recording video It's just the audio rolls and then even if you have to edit it and redo it you have to start thinking about speed

34:06

Inflection what octave you said that in like there's a lot of stuff with speech You just take for granted because I've done before I'll just go back and do that last segment

34:14

I do it. I go to splice it in I go sounds like two different people talking I was talking a little faster here and a little higher and now

34:20

I'm a little slower and lower and it doesn't you know What I mean, so I was just asking personally because I've always had interest in going

34:26

Well, maybe I would like to do something long format audio and just going oh my you know What I mean, you have to really be you're trying to read it trying not to mess up trying to make it all flow

34:36

And I know I'm probably in the minority here But when I listen to a really good audio book, I'm actually going.

34:42

Oh, wow. This audio sounds good. It's Chris I like that whoever's or rating it did a really nice job I mean you just pick up on those things, especially like you and I were both in podcasting

34:51

So you kind of understand, you know, how important audio is? So I was just wondering personally with that, but you said you have a podcast.

34:58

Can we talk about that for a minute governed by God? Yes, what do you talk about?

35:04

Yeah, so the name originates from one of the founders I say William Penn Founder of Pennsylvania if you will so and I I respect the man greatly and even though he's okay

35:14

It's theology not quite not quite there as a Quaker But I would encourage folks to read some of his writing so he's known for making this statement

35:23

He says if men will not be governed by God, they will be ruled by tyrants. I was like, wow, that that's that's punchy

35:30

That's pretty good. And so I named the podcast after that governed by God. I'm a Pennsylvania man, and I want to look at Civics and law and government from a biblical perspective now

35:42

I I do sometimes hit very broad topics like things like theonomy Christian nationalism But I also look at local issues whether it's our school board or or the or Pennsylvania itself and in a lot of ways

35:56

Bucks County We've got some interesting spiritual warfare going on here.

36:02

We have two Locations called the rainbow room. So the rainbow room is essentially youth group for LGBTQ+.

36:12

It's for children and it teaches them all the things that you can imagine

36:17

Right, and it's so and then we also have our central buck school board president

36:24

She was I think I think some of the news channels Mentioned this but she gave her oath of office on a stack of LGBTQ plus books

36:33

When she swore in as the president of our public school board not on the

36:38

Bible purposely not on the Bible So so we've got a lot of spiritual warfare going on. And so yeah,

36:44

I care about Pennsylvania. I care about Bucks County So I'm trying to trying to address things there

36:49

So let's touch on the school board issue really quick because this piques my interest I got involved in local politics in 2008

36:57

Helped out on some state and national campaigns ran a couple state campaigns Been a legislative liaison at our state

37:04

Capitol help write legislation review it for senators things like that. So I've been around it and when

37:10

I ran for local office to People said well, how do I get involved? You know, what can I do and I said man if you don't have a whole lot of time

37:18

But you really want to affect change go run for school board. Now. This was in 2011 or 12 people were asking me this like a school board, you know

37:26

It was almost like like 10 years ago 12 years ago school school. What do they do order buses?

37:31

What are they doing? You know, thanks cleaning cleaning gum off the bottom of seats and I went no man You guys got to realize they sit over a huge budget.

37:38

They make curriculum decisions. They make administrative decisions It's a board of locally elected officials, right?

37:44

Most school board members in a average county or township here in Michigan might get five or six hundred votes

37:51

So the threshold to win is not very Big but yet they're making humongous decisions

37:59

Momentous decisions on behalf of the children in the school district and parents for that matter And everyone just kind of shrugged me off.

38:05

I want to run for Senate I want to be in Congress and it's like okay But the rudder moves a lot more swiftly at the local level as you know, too

38:12

I can get a lot more done and I have gotten a lot more done in the county as a county commissioner that I could

38:17

Ever probably do if I ever ran for let's say House of Representatives and Congress in Washington, right?

38:22

because now I'm dealing with with national level things, but my point being is you're in an area where you're seeing that direct effect of not having the right people in school boards and now

38:36

I've I've kind of noticed we're on we're on defense right now as believers and now it's all go to the school board meetings go go out right now, we've seen all this in the last few years and We should have saw it coming though I mean you can't have it look at if Satan wants to rule the civil government

38:54

He's gonna want to rule the family government as well that God has established He's already break broken that down by redefining marriage and now he's gonna say yeah parents.

39:03

You don't have any rights of your kids We own them Yeah, and I'm but you know all my kids we've homeschooled since the time they could

39:11

You know go to the bathroom on their own and hopefully they never step foot in a government school.

39:17

That's just my opinion I have lots of listeners that send their kids to public school. That's fine If you want to have a debate offline on why you should be homeschooling

39:24

I'd be more than happy to take it up with you. But You're you're seeing that so you're talking a lot about that on God and governed by God on the podcast, which

39:33

I find very interesting I think I'm a little jealous I wish I would have thought of that name and started a podcast like that because this is very interesting to me

39:42

Yeah, because I'm in it. You're in it, right? So how important is it to expose to other believers

39:49

What we need to do to be rightly governed by God. No, it's it's vital.

39:54

I myself Had to get woke woken up. I mean so when

39:59

I went Cove it hit I did not know the names of my county commissioners If you know 2019 or my or my school board,

40:09

I didn't know their names I mean our kids go to a private Christian school. So Okay, sure

40:14

But even if even if my kids had gone to public school I doubt that I would have known the names of my school board before I did but then everything happens and now everyone starts to care about what's going on in the local level because Well, the counties and the local townships have a lot of authority more than we realize that they influence

40:38

And so ever since then I've made it a point to not to not be so so lazy if you will or put my head

40:45

In the sand, so I know the names of my county commissioners. I know the names of the public school board

40:50

There's nine of them my township supervisors Yeah, I pray for them all all of them by name

40:58

I think all Christians should be praying for them. We go to the meetings. We pray at the meetings I've spoken at the school board meetings and have been called white

41:07

Christian nationalist and things like that First for simply arguing that there's only there's only two genders, you know

41:13

Yeah, but you know, so it's it's it has been a wake -up call in that regard

41:19

And so I just think that I just want to do my part in trying to get you know Folks in the churches here in Bucks County in Pennsylvania to make get them aware and to start, you know

41:29

Start doing stuff even if it's just praying start doing something Yeah, no, you know, look at I have no ill will against anyone who got woken up after kovat

41:38

You're doing your part now You're understanding that we do have to be up involved and you got to realize it's been a push for decades and decades

41:46

To really break down the local community in the neighborhood as well to not just the family They got to break down community you go back 50 70 even a hundred years

41:55

Community was different. You knew everyone's name you kind of visit a little bit now We're all very individual and kind of in our own thing.

42:01

But um, yeah, you're never gonna run out of Materials for the podcast if that's the name of it because it's just crazy how it keeps coming really quickly though I I say

42:11

I don't hold it against anyone woken up in kovat because I felt like I was the person Like I said,

42:17

I in high school my senior year I did a my senior project was on the buying of Congress, right?

42:22

Everyone else was doing Van Halen and my trip to Cancun and they're like what you didn't a lobbyist in the in the hypocrisy of Congress I go someone needs to be talking about this.

42:32

This is insane. There are leaders, right and for a long time I was like Lord when you gonna wake up people's eyes

42:38

What are we gonna turn this thing around right and then the first couple months of kovat? I started to complain and I went look at all these sheep, you know three months in I knew what it was

42:47

I'd done the research. I knew that it was in the corona family It wasn't life -threatening to children or even someone my age a little more for older people

42:55

But I don't go around my grandma when I have a cold, okay I'm just respectful like that.

43:00

I know how diseases and viruses work and two months in I was Complaining I started to complain and the Lord said

43:06

I thought you wanted people's eyes open like because I can just make people's eyes open like that and it's really crazy how the

43:13

Lockdowns and the clinch on you have to believe the science right and the more you press It seemed like the more people's eyes were opened and yes, we saw some churches fall to the wayside

43:23

But I saw so many people's faith become Strengthened and and we kind of found out where the true

43:31

Church of God was right where the true churches were People's eyes were open to kind of mainstream media kind of BS for a lack of better term and I went

43:40

Oh the the the Lord can people the Lord can opens people's eyes. Anyway, he seems fit

43:47

Now I'm not making a statement here going Oh Cove. It was because you know, God sent it to you know, I'm not going you know

43:55

Tpn on it from the 80s here. It's a judgment again, right? I'm saying the Lord is sovereign. He's in the heavens

44:01

He does as he pleases and I saw a lot of good come out of Coven all the bad Yeah that frustrated me but a lot of good to wouldn't you say didn't you see some shifting to even within the body of Christ?

44:11

I'm going oh, okay. So that's what we're doing We can just take away the gathering of the Saints at the drop of a hat

44:17

Okay, we need that we need to you know, be serious about this. No. Yeah, we a large number of people that come to our church now

44:26

Came since 2020. Okay, so I mean People have been starting to think more about these things

44:34

You know the the schooling at the public schools People have been leaving the public school doing homeschooling going to private

44:41

Christian schools Our church ever since then has been trying to help out

44:47

We our church offers financial support for anyone that wants to either homeschool or go to private

44:53

Christian school So either helping out with tuition or homeschool curriculum Things like that.

44:58

So we're doing what we can to we recognize now Just how just how dangerous things were

45:06

And now we're starting to move to move in and I think the enemy The enemy sees that like everything was, you know from the enemy's perspective

45:14

Things were going well From from the devil's perspective before kovat. But now we have some more reaction.

45:21

And so there's gonna be a lot more hostility I think Now than there was in the past Yeah. All right.

45:27

Let's wrap this up here. We appreciate your time today. I appreciate your time Started with a co -host like you were three years ago, and I'm still in the habit of saying we

45:35

I'm not crazy I don't have multiple personalities. Just me. I used to have one too. I used to have one too.

45:41

So I'm by myself as well Well, but let's give the final word Obviously, we're gonna link everything up so you guys can click right through by the book

45:48

It'll be in the description below by the time you're listening to this through the fire with Eric loophole What's what would you want to tell to a possible reader out there about the book to where they go?

46:00

Yeah, I should go buy it and spend the time because there's a lot of books right? There's so many good books out there

46:06

Why should they go by through the fire and experience that story? What do you think? Well, I think they should see it or see it.

46:13

I think they should buy it. Well because if they If they see what's going on around them and and they want to have a better understanding of what of the spiritual

46:25

Aspect behind it the the the dark spiritual aspect behind it. They're gonna want to read this book

46:31

It's as historically accurate as possible I pull actual citations and and quotes from ancient pagan sources

46:42

Regarding things they said and things that they did to themselves to their children and things like that, so I think that if people are at all interested in what's going on behind the scenes

46:56

You know behind the scenes of the abortion the transgenderism Then they're gonna want to read this book and see it from from that perspective of story and they can

47:05

Like I said, they can go to amazon .com or they go to my website. I have a website. There's Eric loophole calm There's one word

47:11

Eric here. I see a loophole l -u -p -p -o -l -d You can find links to the podcast and to my books there if you're interested

47:19

Awesome. We'll get it all linked up Eric. Thanks so much for joining us. And I think I just Accomplished something great there.

47:25

I made an author self -promote his own work as we know they historically do not like to do We're just happy that you actually published it and let us read it

47:33

I know many authors that are kind of working on a novel and it's you know It's kind of like musicians that don't want to show their music.

47:40

Sometimes it's for us creatives. It's never finished, right? You finish it and you go. I probably could have done one or two things differently, but I appreciate you publishing it and Allowing me to read through it.

47:51

I thought it was really good throw out your socials if anyone wants to follow you Where can they where can they find you? Well, I said eric loophole calm, but I'm also on Twitter Instagram Facebook you can look at look for Eric loopholed or if you search for a governed by God You'll find my my podcast page on those sites as well.

48:09

All right, Eric. I appreciate you being here today, brother All right. Thank you, brother. Take care. Yeah, absolutely guys

48:14

Thanks so much for listening to another episode of dead men walking podcast as always you can find us at DMW podcast

48:22

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48:27

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48:34

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48:44

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48:49

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48:55

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49:00

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