12 Days of Charity - Joel McDurmon and John Reasnor

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Alright, alright, well... Today is, uh, 12 days of Christmas charity. If you don't know what

I'm doing, I'm selecting 12 people that, uh, I know online, that I don't think like me very much, but I like them.

And, uh, I want to talk about why I like them. In the spirit of Christmas charity, it is the glorious season, as I've been saying, and I'm trying to be as charitable as possible with as many people as possible and the biggest number

I can think of is 12. Anyway, today's people are very related, very connected, and it is

Joel McDermott and John Andrew Reisner. Now, I don't know for a fact that these two don't like me, but I have a sneaking suspicion, and the reason why

I have that suspicion is because both of these guys, as far as I can remember, I could be missing something,

I could be, but anytime they respond to anything I put out on social media, it's always, it strikes me as, first of all, it's always negative.

It's never like a, hey, right on, I agree with you kind of thing, which is fine. I'm not looking for people to agree with me, but it always seems like they're trying to catch me in an inconsistency.

It's always like a gotcha kind of kind of thing. I remember two examples. One was Joel. I had said something about the situation in South Africa with white farmers and things like that being dispossessed of their land, and he was trying, and he tried to get me and saying, well, if they're being dispossessed of their land, don't you believe that God is doing that because God dispossesses people of land or something?

Something to that effect, and my answer is yes, I do believe that, and just because I think

God is behind something doesn't mean that the people that are doing it are in the right. So, for example,

God used to judge Israel with the Babylon, Babylonians, for example, but he also judged the

Babylonians, I can't talk, because the condition of their heart, the reason they were doing that was a wrong reason.

They weren't doing it for God necessarily, even though God was using them as a rod of his anger.

So I can keep those into two separate categories. I think a lot of people can, but I think Joel was trying to get me, you know what

I mean, trying to catch me in an inconsistency. I think he also thinks I'm white, at least at one point he did. Anyway, I mean,

I don't take that as insult, but I guess in some circles it might be. And then John, he kind of does the same thing.

He's been, he's been, especially with the topic of immigration, he's trying to find me in an inconsistency. He's been very interested to see if I've read the

David Chilton book in its entirety to get to the point of immigration, to see if I agree with that or not.

And I've been very open about my beliefs regarding immigration. They are nuanced,

I have to admit, they're nuanced, there are parts of it where I agree with Chilton, there's parts of it where I don't, and that's that.

So again, these guys might like me, this might just be their personalities, I don't know, but it certainly strikes me as they they don't like me very much.

But I like them both very much, very much. Joel, I'll never forget Joel McDermott, because I saw his

YouTube video, I've said this before, I saw his YouTube video very early on in my conversion. It was called,

I think, Don't Limit the Gospel. Joel McDermott, Don't Limit the

Gospel. This is back when he was at American Vision. And that video changed my life.

I mean, there's just no question that that video changed my life. So I have a lot of gratitude to Joel McDermott for that particular video.

It's like a three -minute video, if I remember correctly. It's very short, it's definitely not more than 10 minutes, that's for sure. And I've watched it again recently, and it's good, it's a really good video.

So I owe Joel McDermott a lot of gratitude for producing that, because that really changed my outlook, and it changed the way

I looked at the Bible. I understood the world, and I started consuming American Vision media like there was no tomorrow.

I mean, I just read all kinds of stuff, listened to all kinds of podcasts, and all of that.

Now, Joel McDermott has changed some of his beliefs, you know, there's no question about it. Some people think he's changed a lot more than I think he's changed, but he definitely has changed.

There's no question I don't think he would deny that. And so I don't agree with a lot of things he says now. Well, I shouldn't say a lot,

I probably do agree with a lot of things he says now, but not as much as I used to, I guess I should say. But what

I do like about him, and John for that matter, this is kind of the same thing for both of these men.

I'll have a lot of disagreements with this dude and this dude, but what I like about them is that they are obviously very motivated and very productive.

They write a lot. They do a lot. And I look up to that.

I look up to that because, you know, I only have so much time to do stuff, you know, my YouTube channel and to read and to do this, because I've got a lot of stuff going on.

I've got three kids, and I've got a job that I get most of my income from that needs a lot of attention.

And I'm self -employed, so there's a lot of extra stuff I've got to do that that normal people don't have to do. Anyway, but to see the amount that they produce, and this was all the way back from his

American Vision days, there's no question about it, the sheer volume of it, it motivates me, man.

It really does. It motivates me. Yeah, but seriously though, I mean, if I could be as productive as Joel McDermott and Reisner have been in the next year or two,

I would be a very, very happy guy. So that's very motivating. I'm very motivated by the amount that they're willing to produce, even though I don't agree with all of it.

You know what I mean? I might not agree with the focuses that Joel and John have, and to be honest,

I don't really follow them as much as I used to because I don't find their stuff as helpful as I used to find it.

But, you know, so their focuses might be different than the last time I remember.

That's all true, but it's still good to see the amount of productivity they have. I like that very much.

Joel's new project looks like it's his website, his blog website, Lamb's Reign. I have not read too much of it, but it definitely looks interesting.

When I first kind of saw this, I went through some of the articles. Definitely a mixture, a mixed bag.

More of a mixed bag than back when he was at American Vision. No question about it. Hey, but check it out, Lamb's Reign. I think

Joel McDermott's a good guy, you know what I mean? A lot of you guys might not agree with me, that's fine.

But I like him, and even if, Joel, if you ever watch this, even if you don't like me, which I'm not sure if you do or not,

I don't really care, it's okay. But I like you, and I'm very grateful for you, and John.

Anyway, I hope this was helpful. Hope you have a Merry Christmas, and we've got two more people to do before the year is out.