Everything you need to know about Redeemed Zoomer: Richard Akerman DMW#244

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With tens of millions of views on YouTube everyone knows who redeemed zoomer is but do they really know who redeemed zoomer is 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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Oh Hello, everyone.

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Welcome back to another episode of dead men walking podcast I'm your host Greg Moore as always you can find out more about us at DMW podcast comm check out the merch site support the

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Show find us on socials everywhere at dead men walking podcast and of course on Twitter X at real

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DMW podcast Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend. Thanks for helping the show grow. We appreciate it.

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Just a Another day in paradise here. It's it's fun. You know,

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I got a busy week We did three interviews this week. We're stacking a few of them just because I'm going to be in Fort Worth, Texas at the end of the month here in just a couple weeks or maybe

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Probably about a week by the time you hear this I get ready for the fight laugh feast conference prodigal America running media road down There you got a podcast booth set up.

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We're gonna be doing some live podcasting some interviews bringing you guys some great content from that conference but I just sat down with Richard Ackerman Probably better known as the redeemed zoomer over on YouTube you look at his

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YouTube channel I mean one of his videos has like 12 million views, you know a couple million for some other ones.

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I mean the guy really has created this kind of following and people checking into his

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YouTube channel to see he thinks and he's a young guy and Fairly new Christian. We we talked and I think he

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Gave his heart to the Lord was saved at 14 He's 21 now and he's in college and he's doing a lot of theological stuff

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And you know he has videos like denominational videos like where all the denominations came from and he's done some debates now with latent flowers on Predestination and things like that.

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So a young guy that's really have been has been taking on Kind of some big names and in some big debates and big subjects and it was cool

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So what we did is I told him hey, I want you to come on give a little bit of your origin story backstory

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You know where you came from parents where he grew up your testimony how he got saved all that kind of stuff but then also

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Wanted to ask him some fun personal questions just to get to know him more Because when you go through his

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YouTube channel, he's not talking about himself that much which is good But we don't really know the personality of Redeemed zoomer of you know, kind of not only where he came from and kind of his journey

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But where he's going and then we took kind of the fresh 10 segment idea and I expanded it to 25 questions

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So gave him some some fun ones. I gave him some serious ones what he thought about comedy

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Maybe some of his favorite bands you know historical figures outside of the

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Bible that he reads or looks up to stuff like that just so we can kind of get an idea of Who he is.

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I think it was a fun episode. He's a smart guy He's quick I don't agree with Everything that he believes we didn't really get into that too much

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It was more of wanting to talk to him about who he was maybe someday in the future We'll do something together where he's on one side of an issue.

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I'm on the other side I wouldn't be opposed to that but this one was more focused on just understanding who he was and I've always felt that you can give me all the theological things and doctrinal things and know and in this council and this confession and I can get a kind of a good idea of What you believe theologically

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But I don't know, you know your experience how you grew up how you came to those conclusions

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Those tell a bigger story for me and that's one of the things why I like to do this podcast and even like to do These kind of things, you know, we did this with James White where we had a camping episode just kind of talked about his experiences

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We did this with Doug Wilson. You can go check those episodes out on the YouTube channel or at dmw podcast

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Dot -com and so now we did it with redeemed zoomer Sometimes these guys when they become very big and they

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I have a lot of followers a lot of views and they're just talking about One thing people want to know well

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Who's the actual person behind all these debates and you know posts and thoughts and can you know?

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Defending confessions and things like that. So that's what we did and it was really good It went a little longer than I thought

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I thought we could get it in about 30 minutes But I think we ended up at about a 50 minute episode of his interview

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But I think the whole thing was was really good. We had some jokes in there. We had some fun We had a couple points of disagreement but at the very end

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We got we came out in In the end more about Richard Ackerman redeemed zoomer and who he was and it was a fun episode and he was gracious So guys stick around it's coming up right now

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You're gonna hear redeem zoomer next. Here we go Do people call you Richard or redeem zoomer when you're out and about like when you go to conferences or they're like, hey

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Richard Ackerman Are they like a redeem zoomer? Which one do you get more? Oh, yeah They call me Richard once they know me like sometimes like recently last week

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I went to a conference for the Reconquista movement and lots of young PC USA members came and joined me.

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They called me zoomer for the first day then they called me Richard But older folks always just call me Richard. They don't they don't really know them zoomer or whatever, right?

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Okay, so this is what we want to do for this episode for you guys listening We have Richard here redeemed zoomer on YouTube millions and millions of views over all of his videos

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We always seem debating. We always seem talking theology. I actually found a couple of your denominational videos very

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Informative and interesting and well done for someone who just wants a 10 or 12 minute intro into like where did all these denominations come?

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From that was something I was exploring years and years ago in my 20s And it would have been helpful to have something like that available

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But all kinds of cool stuff. I think I saw something you did with So theology 101

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I've had him on the podcast, what's his name? Provisional ism link flowers blatant flowers.

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Thank you. Geez. Geez. I was just at a conference Yeah, he's a really nice guy

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It was nice because we got him riding my dead men walking e -bike at a conference and he was yelling dead men walking

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So all the Calvinists got to say look at that latent flowers was on a dead man walking bike But what we want to do here is

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I want to talk a little bit I want to know about you and kind of your your origin story

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Give me a little bit of how you grew up Maybe get into test them your testimony a little bit and then maybe your theological journey

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And then we're gonna get into some fun questions after that. So take it away Sounds great. So I did not really grow up Christian.

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I grew up in New York, which is a very secular and progressive environment So I grew up just being a secular progressive.

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I wasn't exactly atheist I had some idea of a God who could help me pass my math tests, but that was it

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So I was also very progressive and I just hated conservative Christians. I thought they were the ones holding society back

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And I sort of had a Damascus Road moment when I went to a summer camp like I'm classical musician so I went to a music themed summer camp in the

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Midwest and it was run by a Christian viola professor at Oberlin and most of the kids there were

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Christian and I just saw that what I had been told by the mainstream media and like the

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Daily Show about red state conservative Christians could not be further from the truth and Seeing the love of Christ that they showed me and each other and just seeing the beauty of Christianity in that place you know, we would sing hymns in a beautiful stained -glass chapel every day and we would do community service every week and Everyone there just had so much more life in their eyes than the people

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I grew up with So that moved me to convert to Christianity I remember talking to my roommate there that one night and just suddenly all the dots connected for me and I was more excited than I've ever been

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I was like, okay Finally this this Christianity stuff makes sense to me now and I want to be a Christian So the next day

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I went to the church for the first time I went to church I mean, I went to church willingly for the first time. Okay?

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my parents sort of Slightly before me came to Christianity on their own

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So I had been taken to church, but not willingly. I didn't like it Because the pastor said

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I had to you know, forgive my enemies and love my enemies. I barely even loved my friends I just used them.

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So That was that was the first time I went willingly and because the camp director was

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PC USA I went to a PC USA church. It was great I mean there wasn't anyone there except us under 60, but it was great and Because of that when

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I got home, I decided to attend a local PC USA Church. So that's how I convert to Christianity Yeah, so growing so growing up you mentioned it were you in and out of church

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Were you in church every week and just not liking it? Like how did you where were you at like?

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Religiously or denominationally or spiritually like growing up as a young kid up until your teens or 20s in and out of church

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So my my mom jokes that she was raised elapsed Catholic She was raised by Catholic parents who didn't really care about it

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She was seeking answers, but the Catholic Church when she was growing up Everyone was just so lazy there the parents the priests everyone they didn't get for any answers

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So by the time I was born she was in this like new age hippie group Not many people know about it's very obscure.

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It's called the Christian community of Rudolf Steiner That's what I was baptized in as a baby I didn't know that it was a heretical non -trinitarian sect

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But I don't really I have only the vaguest memories of it because we left it very soon after I was born

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Now my dad grew up Jewish very Jewish went to synagogue every week had sort of been

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Disaffected with Judaism and religion by the time I was born and we had these you know

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Christian neighbors these very conservative evangelical Christian neighbors They were sort of like the black sheep of the neighborhood because everyone else is very progressive but also everyone loved them because they would host, you know, the most welcoming block parties and They were students of my dad who was a piano teacher and they invited him to church they were going to a

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PCA church one of Tim Keller's church plants and that's where my dad heard the gospel for the first time and He believed and then was baptized as an adult

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Like 2012, I believe but then just due to various things, you know, my mom never really being satisfied with it

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We just stopped going to church for a while And then we didn't start we didn't start going until I had my conversion experience my born -again moment to Christianity Sure And so ever since then my dad and I have been

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Presbyterian and my mom eventually found her way back to the Roman Catholic Church And that's where she is today Okay, so so dad is goes from Judaism to Presbyterianism your mom's back into Catholicism Well, how old are you at this?

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Conversion at this band camp this was not wasn't banned. It was just like orchestra like viola cello

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Okay, so 14 now. I'm 21. I've been Christian for seven years and I I know

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I 14 is a difficult age to say you really had any beliefs when I was 14

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I called myself a socialist not because I read any socialist literature because I liked the Soviet anthem

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But even so based on what I was taught in public school because I didn't go to public school for 13 years

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I was taught that white Christian men are the source of all the world's problems and I believed it

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I mean these days like kids nowadays like young men are hearing that and rejecting it as BS I didn't reject it as BS back then even like the guys in class believed like yeah, man straight white man

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They're behind all the world's problems Yeah, you know what's crazy is when you say like back then

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I kind of chuckle I'm I'm 43 years old so I'm twice your age and I've noticed that Generationally things can move much much swifter than they did in the past and something that took maybe 10 or 20 years

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To work through generation. I've seen from millennial to Gen Z to Gen Alpha You can have a shift in ideas and theological thought within a few years a half a decade even and It's very interesting to me because you know, a lot of boomers a lot of Gen X even a lot of Millennials They they kind of go.

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Oh my gosh, Lord When are you bringing justice and how can we turn this ship and write this ship of what's going on and in?

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churches and the secular realm and I'm kind of encouraged because I've seen Generational shifts now in just a few years and you just kind of made that point

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I mean, you're talking seven years ago. You're talking about that back then. I mean things are moving so quickly

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I think it can be a positive sometimes that God can move on the hearts of a generation Instantaneously, and we can see real change.

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So You're at the camp you go to a PCA Church You're kind of unchurched

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PC USA Yep, and I mean do you dive right in I mean you're well educated you're intelligent

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You know how to hold your own and theological discussions Have you always been that kind of guy that just like really dives into a subject and want to learn about it?

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Or was that something that? The Lord kind of turned your heart from stone to flesh and then you were just super excited about it

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Like what was that journey like ever since I converted? I've always had an interest in theology

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But the first like 18 months I was trying to figure it out all by myself Like I didn't actually read the

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Bible. I just tried to Philosophize the big questions about God and evil and All these things so my theology was garbage.

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It was a weird mix of Semipelagianism and I still retained a lot of liberalism because I went overnight from not

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Christian to Christian But I didn't go from not not Christian to conservative I was still a liberal for like a long time after conversion.

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So I still retained a lot of ideas like supporting gay marriage supporting women's ordination

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Supporting the progressive stance on most points and even to this day I wouldn't say I am like 100 % right -wing or Republican or conservative whatever you want to call it, but I think

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I am I'm definitely not on the left either Right, so it was it was a long process though So what really got me to study reformed theology specifically was when

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I started having doubts about my faith The first year was just fun being a Christian But then I started to face serious intellectual challenges

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Especially because my good PC USA pastor retired and was replaced by a series of liberal women pastors who their whole theology was just God is love and nothing else and that lack of intellectual rigor really caused me to question my faith and It was in my period of questioning that I actually started pursuing answers from good sources

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Like the Bible and then when I first learned what Presbyterians actually believe

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When I first learned what Calvinism was I was like, what the heck is that and I hated it, but then it's a funny story

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So even though my church had a liberal pastor at the time just like an interim pastor I still had a mentor for confirmation and he was really solid.

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He's this Really smart, you know theology scholar. He's also a an

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Ivy League professor He was an elder at the Presbyterian Church and He told me he was gonna teach me reformed theology.

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And I was I learned about Calvinism I I seem to hate reformed theology and I never touched a

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Bible, but I thought you know, I'm seeing him tonight I should open my Bible for the first time just so I'm prepared

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So I opened my Bible randomly with Calvinism on my mind having no background in Scripture.

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Where did I turn Romans 9? and I Was like this is totally

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Calvinism and I hate it But then after talking to him a bit he helped it make sense to me and then soon

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I began to fall in love with Calvinism and reformed theology and predestination And then

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I was willing to be confirmed in the PC USA. It was funny Like at first I was like, I hope the PC USA doesn't teach

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Calvinism and then turns out it does Second I fell in love with it. I realized the PC was he doesn't actually teach

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Calvinism anymore. They just teach liberalism Yeah, I Said to my mentor like hey,

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I want to leave this denomination and go PCA and he explained to me He was like Richard the reason it got this bad is because people kept running away

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You have to stay and not run away and that has stuck ever since so I've been trying to learn more theology ever since Yeah, and you know

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Presbyterianism, I mean not only Calvinistic but a good solid Presbyterian Church is going to be reformed

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Which I would say those those are two distinctions as well We kind of lump Calvinism and reformed in the same kind of we use them interchangeably when in fact reformed tradition is

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Is is definitely different than just when you're talking about the theological system, you know

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True and I'm and I'm reformed Presbyterian myself. So We're you're in good company

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So so can I ask you though? This I had the kind of a same journey with reformed theology coming out of a very legalistic

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Church when I was younger and then We swung to a very Pentecostal kind of charismatic Bethel Redding, you know

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Gold coming from the ceilings and stuff feathers floating in the air and when

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I looked at Reformed theology for the first time. It's just started all making sense to me

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I saw a stripped -down version of the Word of God without the traditions and I actually had the opposite reaction

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I go. Oh my gosh, this is what I've been missing my whole life. You said you kind of hated it at first So you're a year or two into your your

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Christianity walk your sanctification and you say you hate it What did you what did you find repulsive or what didn't you like about it when you start reading it?

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Oh, just the predestination thing. That was all at the time. That's all I knew of Calvinism Now, of course, I know

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Calvinism includes a lot of other things including infant baptism at the time I I was thinking about predestination and Yeah, when

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I first started having doubts about my faith rather than going to the Word of God I went to other sources just to help me believe in God like I wanted to believe in God I was writing atheism not

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I wasn't trying I wasn't trying to convince myself of reformed theology I was trying to convince myself of theism.

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I didn't know so the sources I turned to were Like Ben Shapiro and Dennis Prager and like a lot of Jewish sources

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Right, and I might still had a big affinity for Judaism and free will is extremely important in Judaism They teach straight up free will and workspace salvation like Judaism is what

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Protestants think Catholicism is but Catholicism actually isn't Judaism actually does teach you earn your salvation and Yeah, they very big emphasis on free will they teach we're all a blank slate what makes us human is our free will ability to Do either right or wrong?

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and that listening to Shapiro and Prager helped sort of Mitigate my atheist doubts, but it wasn't good enough

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It wasn't till I got into reformed theology and started listening to Tim Keller that I all my doubts really went away

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So I know people love criticism of Tim Keller. Yes. He woke late in life if it weren't for him

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I mean, I totally wouldn't be reformed I don't know if I'd still be Christian because I just had so many doubts about the faith and his simple stuff

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We forgot his sermons, but a lot of people say They did not believe they believed the

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Bible was the inerrant Word of God because their pastor told them and then they read the Bible And they realized oh, this can't be the

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Word of God It's got like contradictions and it's not just a book of magical sayings. Like I thought it was I I Disbelieved the

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Bible was the inerrant Word of God even when I was Christian I believe in Jesus, but I've been told at school that the

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Bible is full of contradictions and lies So I just thought that was a fact. I thought everyone knew that But when

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I read the Bible, I was like this actually is the infallible Word of God. It's completely self -consistent doesn't say anything That's actually wrong

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So that's what convinced me and listening to Tim Keller exposit the Bible very well. That's what convinced me the

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Bible is infallible Word of God Yeah, it's a beautiful thing that God's Word doesn't go void

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I mean there's some teachers early in my walk and some pastors that I Listened to that heavily pointed me in the right direction and influenced me and now to this day

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I look back and I go I probably don't align with them on most things. I Think they've probably gone a little too far you know,

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I like a Matt Chandler for instance was someone that I really enjoyed listening to him preach and And now you go, you know, we're so far apart on some stuff

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But the Lord will use anyone anywhere and his true word doesn't go void. So yeah,

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I get that early Tim Keller was pretty revolutionary Like you said probably the last seven or eight years.

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I kind of was like, okay I just I just see a lot of seeding ground to secularism and Trying to be neutral and we're living in a day where I don't know if you necessarily

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Can have can have neutrality it's you're either serving Christ or you're serving Satan, you know

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But yeah, good Sorry, I feel like in the 90s when he when most of his good stuff came out

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That was when it was kind of kind of made sense to balance left and right But now the both the left and the right have shifted way to the left since then

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So now if you try to balance the two, you're just gonna be a leftist Yeah, that's true, yeah, you'll be sitting on one side of the seesaw all by yourself

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I guess huh, all right, so So 14 we have the experience

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You start diving in start learning other than Tim Keller What were some guys early that you

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I'm always interested in this that you know, cuz for me it was James White RC Sproul It was believe it or not

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It was Keith Green from some of his sermons in the 70s that were uploaded to YouTube like a weird eclectic

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You know, I got a Reformed Baptist I got RC Sproul who's got some, you know, some weird stuff people say, oh well

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He's not right, you know, right? I mean Keith Green was very charismatic and not even in the Reformer but the

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Lord used some of those things balanced against the Word of God to really Point me in the right direction.

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What were some of yours early besides Tim Keller? Did you have any or was it just like diving into the word and oh, yeah

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Oh, yeah, so I listened to sermons all the time from all sorts of different people especially because School really sucked being basically the only

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Christian there I would always eat lunch behind the school So nobody would see me eating alone because I got canceled by my friend group the second

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I stopped believing in LGBT and transgenderism So school would suck.

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I would come home play Minecraft and listen to sermons My schoolwork got pushed to the side

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But if I hadn't done that, I wouldn't be able to make the videos I do today So I would listen

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I call I was sort of like a presbacterian back then I listen to Tim Keller a little bit of RC Sproul here and there never really went that deep

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I listened to a lot of John MacArthur who today is not someone I would recommend to people

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But it did listening to him did help me through high school because hearing everyone blaspheme God all around me

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It helps to listen to someone who had a strong confidence in the Word of God Even though I was never quite as conservative as him.

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I still respected him. Like I never believed Catholics are damned I never I always believed in evolution.

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I never didn't believe in it and I Was a bit more open -minded towards like other

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Christian traditions than he was but I still listen to him a lot Yes, I listen to James White, especially his debates with like Muslims and stuff

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I also listen to just youtubers like Matt Whitman the 10 -minute Bible hour That's how I started to learn about denominations and I had less to have a conversation with them super nice and humble guy and Yeah, just your average, you know

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YouTube Reformed Baptist people and it wasn't until college that I actually left my mainline

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PC USA Church and experienced Evangelicalism for the first time like until I went off to college

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I had never actually gone to an evangelical church and I saw how I saw how like Unsacramental it was how individualistic it was.

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So that's when I started college. I had like my high church phase I stopped listening to all those Reformed Baptists.

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I started listening to like Jordan Cooper Who's a Lutheran and he's got great lectures on just all areas of theology so he started to inform my theology for the next few years and as I have progressed throughout college and as my platform has grown

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I've had a growing understanding that I should be reading primary sources and not just listening to YouTube pastors

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So it wasn't until college. I started actually reading the confessions of my church reading the

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Scots confession Realizing that not only are Reformed Baptists not performed Most Presbyterians don't even believe the

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Reformed view of the sacraments anymore. And in just the past few years I've been just the past year. I probably read more in the past year and the rest of my life put together

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I'm reading lots of church fathers lots of books from American Presbyterians lots of Reformers all that stuff

25:43

So let me ask you this. You're a young guy. You said you're 21, right? so and it seems like you have enough self -awareness to understand that your

25:52

That your beliefs can evolve and when I say beliefs, maybe I'm saying that wrong Maybe I'm saying the doctrines that you hold to or the systematic theology can evolve

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Over time and I'm gonna tell you right now. Like I said as someone in his 40s, it will evolve

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I've evolved on many things, right? So So because I think when you mentioned evolution it brought to my mind.

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I think I saw something with you and Keith Foskey Did you guys do something on evolution?

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And I think your position was God still the Creator but could use the system of evolution to essentially

26:28

What we have now create what we have now is that kind of am I encapsulating encapsulating that right?

26:35

That's correct Yeah, I did it with Foskey. I mean, I love Keith Foskey. He's such an awesome guy. Yeah, and we've done lots of discussions

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We did an infant baptism debate and then the evolution debate and lots of other videos together But you know, we did that evolution debate and that's pretty much my position

26:50

Yeah So let me ask you this do you just on that one thing or maybe other things it may be on evolution because I had an

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Uncle who was an engineer super intelligent guy super smart My mom was the only saved person in her family

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She witnessed him all the time and I remember him coming over when I was young and making that argument The same argument you did and he said

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I will always hold to that. There's that's that's exactly how I mean, he was so confident Right when he when he first got saved after you know in his late 20s early 30s and now, you know 20 years later

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He's totally flipped on that and he's a young earth Creationist then I always wonder, you know, it's good when

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I'm talking to the younger generation Do you have that self -awareness where you go and I'm not trying to change your mind I'm saying do you ever think that's something where I might be open to believing something different years down the road if Evidence presents itself or the

27:40

Lord changes my heart on it or something like that Or is that something you look at an issue for you and you go?

27:45

I'll always be on that side of the fence on let's say evolution Right, I mean

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I'm aware that my beliefs always could change because many times they have and usually when I do change my beliefs

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It's a change in the conservative direction Like I'm not one of them deconstructors.

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The only thing I deconstructed was my leftist upbringing I changed my mind on gay marriage after two years.

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I changed my mind on women pastors after three years I was actually I was Pretty conservative but still trying to make an argument for women pastors

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Which my wife when I first met her metaphorically tore apart and explained why it's unbiblical

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So now I don't believe in women pastors anymore Well, that's a layer. I have the same story.

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I was soft on it. I I was kind of more like Egalitarian they can still teach let's just not call him a pastor.

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My wife is like no that does not work And this is why and really turn kind of turned me in the right direction on that I'm not, you know

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I'm not afraid to say that because that that's that's part of what the Lord does with a helpmate like that, you know

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Yeah, I yeah, I was I was like saying they are pastors we can call them that and it's a good thing

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Yeah, and I even tried to make a biblical argument and even to this day. I'm working for reform in the

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PC USA There's a lot of great Bible -believing pastors in the PC USA who's still through some mental gymnastics support women's ordination and are trying to convince me to But none of the arguments they give for women's ordination is anything is

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Anything I didn't already try to use in high school and got debunked by my girlfriend. So yeah

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Yeah, it's tough when the work when the Word of God ties it right to a creation mandate, you know It's it's really tough argue culture and things like that.

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But alright, so we're up to you're in college now Are you college right now? Is that what I heard? Yeah finishing it up, even though I'm married.

29:29

Yeah That's awesome though, man Where are you going to school at? So I go to a school in Texas.

29:37

Okay. Oh, you're in Texas. Yeah. Mm -hmm. Okay, and it's a good school It's not like an explicitly

29:42

Christian school But it is like one of those historically Christian schools that were Christian like a hundred years ago

29:48

So they have a really awesome mainline seminary library and lately I've been taking advantage of it to read bunch of Like mainline libraries have just so many more resources.

29:59

They have so many books you wouldn't even think to read They have like 11 Dusty thick volumes on Welsh Calvinistic Methodism in upstate,

30:07

New York It's like stuff you wouldn't think to read like you wouldn't just sit down one day and Google that on your computer it's just The internet is great, but it's not everything being part of like a physical tradition is still very valuable.

30:20

No, absolutely Okay So let's get into some fun questions here because I want to know a little bit more about you and I want the listeners

30:25

To know a little bit more about you and hopefully some of my listeners They'll go check out your channel and see what they like see what they don't like.

30:31

I mean, that's the great thing about The internet we all get opinions and we can watch what we want, but I think there's some valuable content

30:38

So guys if you're listening and we're gonna link up and if you haven't heard of redeemed zoomer

30:43

You're gonna go check out his his YouTube channel, but the very first thing so where you grew up at Yeah, what's what city and state?

30:51

how did that affect your childhood and your upbringing the physical location of where you grew up at New York, New York City and the way

30:59

I grew up being very progressive and you know when

31:04

I Met my midwestern wife from Kansas I learned that the rest of the country thinks we don't have any manners at all

31:13

And then after spending like a month in the Midwest and then going back I started to see why and I still act like a

31:20

New Yorker in many ways like even in my tweets. I just espouse opinions Even if they sound offensive,

31:26

I'm like, I don't know. I didn't care about offending the leftists in high school I don't care about offending the conservatives in college. I don't care.

31:33

Yeah But I love it. Yeah. Yeah, I got it I grew up in the

31:38

Midwest, but I've got a little New York in me and when I was in a band I was signed to a label and we went out to LA and it was everyone just talking about things they were going to do and then we went to New York for a week and I Was like I like New York a lot better people getting stuff done telling you exactly how they feel

31:53

Like no one's afraid to offend you out in Los Angeles. It's all you know, they're just blowing smoke

31:58

So yeah, I get it. I kind of get that a little bit from you too, even in your tweets and online You're just very direct and I am too.

32:04

I like that. So, all right, we're gonna try to get through these You don't have to elaborate a whole bunch on these because you want to see we get through them all

32:12

What is your favorite funny story or joke to tell people like if you're introducing yourself or you've just met someone you have a funny

32:18

Antidote a funny joke a story that you tell something you go to or do you not have one at all?

32:24

And you just let it you know, you're not one of those guys that joke around I have one.

32:30

Is it okay if it's like slightly offensive if everyone knows it's a joke Yeah, I offend people every week on this podcast.

32:36

Go ahead. Great. Um, ethnically, I'm Italian and Jewish So what I say is

32:41

I'm both the guy owning the bank and robbing it That's you know, I was

32:46

I'm I'm Irish and Polish and my joke growing up was is I love to drink, but I can't find the bar

32:53

You know, so we're right in there. I say we're tracking man. We're like stepbrothers here. We're just we're gonna become best friends on this one

33:00

Number three go back in time to visit your great great great grandfather Are you going forward in time to visit your great great great grandkids the flux capacitor is fluxing

33:08

We're going 88 miles an hour. We're getting in the time machine you going back or forward Um Well, it depends if I could do other things while I'm in the past I would go to the past because I don't really care about my visiting my family.

33:22

I want to see what the churches were like But going forward in the future. I want to make sure my descendants are still

33:27

Christian. Oh Man, that's a good answer. Yeah, I've never had anyone give me both sides of the answer just one or the other.

33:33

All right What's something people would be surprised to know about you? Like what you tell them and they're like,

33:39

I don't see that. Are you kidding me? I don't know. I mean, I'm kind of stereotypical in many ways

33:46

So most of the time it's like yeah, you seem like a guy who would be like that I Guess for people who don't know me the fact that I'm like a mainly a classical musician in school might surprise them

33:59

But I don't know what what instrument I play the viola. Oh, that's right

34:05

You said the affirmative action of the orchestra like a violinist of my skill level could not get into an orchestra that I'm in right now

34:13

The affirmative action. I like that Top three bands or music albums that have influenced your life the most if you can't think of three you can just give me one

34:21

Like what's what's a record that's influenced you? Okay. This is where my New York Presbyterian snobbiness comes in number one box

34:30

Brandenburg concertos Johan Sebastian Bach Classically trained pianist man. Absolutely.

34:35

Yeah, great Number two, I would say The Geneva Insulter by Claude Goodamel Calvinist music.

34:43

Yeah It's like there's so many great pieces. Okay, number three number three

34:49

Hmm, I would say Giuseppe Torelli's concerto grosso. Oh Man, those are probably the best three answers

34:56

Which I've got some surprising ones too, though You know when you get some of these old

35:01

Presbyterian preachers on and they tell you, you know, Metallica, you're like, oh wow crazy Okay, so what properties in Monopoly are you going for are you like a slumlord guy?

35:10

Are you like boardwalk or you somewhere in between? I was a driver boardwalk in Park Place Yeah, take them out in one fell swoop.

35:17

You can get Hotels on those babies. Yeah. Yeah. All right. What do people misunderstand about you the most?

35:24

What's something they assume about you and then you go now you're misunderstanding. Yeah, I'm not really like that I don't really say that or that's not really me

35:30

Yeah, so I grew up a leftist so I know how leftists think and I know why

35:36

I always win So I often criticize the strategy of people who are more conservative. I criticize their strategy of you know

35:43

Retreating from the institutions and when I criticize them people misinterpret me as like punching, right?

35:49

Or they think I'm attacking the conservatives or they think I'm like that. I want the leftist to win

35:55

No, I want conservatives to start winning more in the culture right now So I'm trying to I'm trying to help

36:03

Conservatives have more of a better mindset of engaging with the culture rather than retreating from it. Yeah, so I've been involved in politics since 2006

36:12

I'm an elected official here in my county for the last eight years. I hate the term punching, right?

36:18

I'll punch whoever isn't right. I'll Like not correct if you if you're if you're not a you know what

36:25

I mean? It's like I'll punch, right? I'll punch left. I'll punch modern. I don't care I know I'm using that term incorrectly, but it's like I don't like it's like why can't we correct those that are on our side, too?

36:35

If they need to be corrected, so yeah, if you could sit down with For a cup of coffee, let's say for like an hour or two with any historical figure outside of the

36:46

Bible So it can't be a character in the Bible can't be Jesus or Paul or something outside of the Bible It can be you know, like theological or even secular.

36:54

Who would it be? Why would you want to sit down with him and talk chat with him for an hour? It'd be Athanasius because he the church was hijacked by heretics at most of the bishops were

37:05

Arian during his time and People told him you're the world is against you not just because the secular world was but because the church was against him

37:13

But he said that I'm against the world and people tell me oh the PCSA is mostly liberal

37:18

Why did why don't you just leave? Well, I think they just didn't leave the church when it was hijacked by heretics So I will say even though I'm Protestant I've never actually done this the one

37:27

Saint I'm tempted to pray to is st. Athanasius Because he was against the world and he never even saw the fruits of his labor

37:34

But he never gave up fighting heresy in the church Yeah, okay So you're like a true reformer at heart is what it sounds like like you're sticking it out like I'm not leaving

37:44

Well, if you're if you're still in the PC USA, you have to either be a reformer or a heretic Okay, what's a movie that you've watched multiple times or that you can just put on and rewatch and not even really think about it

37:55

I'm gonna say something that's gonna make everyone get mad at me. You're ready for this

38:00

Okay, what's that? I really like the Harry Potter movies even more than Lord of the Rings.

38:06

I'm sorry That's more natural than Aryan ism in the church, but It's it's what

38:16

I think I still do like Lord of the Rings I just like You you just lost every all three fundamentalists that listen to my podcast.

38:25

You're now going to hell according to them Harry Potter That's about wizards Well, so is Lord of the Rings. Yeah, is that funny how that one gets through?

38:32

I feel like there's a lot of like fundamentalists that will watch the Lord of the Rings, but Harry Potter's bad He's like, how is well,

38:38

I don't know Lord of the Rings is based on Christianity Harry Potter's based on paganism and Star Wars is based on Buddhism Star Wars is

38:44

Buddhist propaganda. I still love it I'm a Star Wars fan, but it's very Buddhist in its philosophy Okay Moving along tell me about a time

38:54

That you got in the most trouble with your parents as a kid Well, I was a very totally depraved kid.

39:00

So I would get in serious trouble in school all the time I was suspended just for misbehaving when I was in fourth grade. So it's probably that Like you got suspended in fourth grade, but how are you in fourth get like eight

39:11

Total depravity is real. I was like I was like the kid who always misbehaved

39:16

I was the kid who was like always sent to the principal's office. Okay So like the reason

39:22

I say my conversion experience was like sort of dramatic not everyone has a born -again experience it just sort of happens, but I was my early life is an evidence of total depravity like A lot of people are like rebellious as teenagers

39:37

I sort of got that over with an elementary school and then when I was a in high school I was just like yeah, I want to be

39:42

Christian. I want to rebel against all the rebellious spirit of my generation Wow, yeah, so it was kind of a rebel even then being saved.

39:50

Absolutely If you could eat one food only one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? Hmm. What are we snacking on?

39:58

What do you like? What's your go -to? I mean if I Assuming this would actually be provided not just I can't eat anything else or I'll starve to death

40:07

I'd say sushi because it's very good and assuming this means I actually have an unlimited supply. I would eat it I love how technical you are.

40:14

You can't even get into fantasy world without defining parameters that it's hilarious You're like, well, are you saying?

40:21

It's sustenance. I can't I'll die if I don't eat it. Hey, man, what's your favorite food? Is that so sushi?

40:27

I mean, can you eat sushi like anytime? Yeah in general, I mean I do have a generally a general seafood diet

40:34

I see food and I eat it I'll eat anything but I Sushi and seafood the best.

40:41

He's got jokes What's the most ridiculous fashion trend that you like secretly kind of like and you're like, hmm

40:48

Like I see something ridiculous. You're like, yeah, I'm not gonna tell anyone but I can't I'm done with that fashion trend

40:54

Is there one or now or do you not pay attention that stuff? I I don't pay attention I know what I don't like. I don't like how a lot of Gen Z has like the broccoli hair

41:02

Right. I think I think it looks silly But in terms of fashion trends, I positively I just don't think about that Okay.

41:10

All right. Let's say you're at the let's say you're In your late 50s, they come to you and they go.

41:17

Oh my gosh your storied career. We absolutely love you We want to make a movie about you and your life and you get to pick the actor who's going to play you

41:26

Who is that going to be if it were right now? I don't know actors That's good

41:33

That's an answer. Okay, one of one of the James Bond actors like because they're handsome and stuff. I don't know

41:42

All right, so this tells me a lot about a person Money's no limit

41:48

You're safe. You're not gonna die or anything But if you have the chance to explore the deepest depths of the ocean and see what's down there

41:56

Or the outer limits of outer space, which one are you choosing? Um, I guess the outer limits of outer space if safety is not an issue then yeah,

42:05

I mean There's a lot of a lot of cool stuff out there and I've always liked astronomy in theory.

42:14

I've never been smart enough to study it in school, but I've always liked. Yeah Yeah I would like to Go look at the edge of the universe and like what's on the other side of that because my head can't wrap around the fact

42:25

That there's an edge of you know, there's an end to the universe, but yet it's expanding into something But they all say it's nothing.

42:32

You know what? I'm in mind bending. I love it All right Moving right along.

42:37

We have a few more here. Um, what futuristic technology do you wish existed right now? Stuff that I mean,

42:44

I'm a bit sick right now So I'm biased but I've always thought stuff that could just instantly cure any common illness like My greatest fear.

42:55

This is another fact about me is getting the stomach virus. It's not lethal, but it's horrible

43:00

So if there was a technology if everything else was the same, but you could just take magic pills Well, not magic you take high -tech pills that could instantly cure any common like virus

43:12

I'm from the Midwest. We have that it's called ginger ale and in Michigan. It's called Verner's you never heard of that Come on one thing.

43:19

I don't like about Midwesterners They're normally the best people. Normally, they're much better people than New Yorkers, but they don't believe in jerks

43:25

It's like if someone gets sick, they're like, oh must have been the weather Yeah, oh that's funny my wife has a cough and she's like ops the seasons changing

43:37

Okay, what's the craziest rumor you've ever heard about yourself Cuz you um in online too and being in debates and going to conferences.

43:45

I'm sure people say you've heard some weird thing Every single Christian of a different denomination

43:52

Thinks not only thinks I'm about to convert to their denomination, but has heard a rumor that I'm actually planning to yeah

44:00

I've I've seen that on Twitter. Well, I heard X, you know, I've seen tweets I think you tagged in like, oh, he's close.

44:06

He's coming over. That's like, okay the thing is ever since the very beginning like in when I made a tiny

44:12

Instagram page in at the beginning of 2022 I said like hey, we should care about tradition more and they're like Catholic and then it's the same exact thing now it is

44:22

All right. This one kind of goes hand in hand, but I'm just interested to know What's the funniest YouTube comment you've ever read on one of your videos whether it's like good or bad for funny's sake like you read it and it's a horrible comment, but you're like That's kind of funny or like even or even just the best comment that you got you like I really like that comment

44:39

Yeah, so I made a video called how to get a good girlfriend and one of the comments was

44:46

What's a girlfriend? I wish I wish for deemed zoomer would stop using such complicated Calvinist terms.

44:53

Oh That's pretty good. Yeah, those comments can be fun What subject has your perspective changed the most on in the last five years

45:03

So the subject that's changed the most your perspective on just in the last five In the last five, okay five years ago was 2019.

45:15

Yeah, you'd have been like what's 16 I mean about five years ago. I stopped believing that homosexuality was okay.

45:22

So that's pretty big Okay. Yeah, a few more here.

45:28

What conspiracy theory? Do you think really happened or do you have a favorite and or do you have a favorite conspiracy theory?

45:36

My conspiracy theory is that Conspiracy theories are actually planted by foreign powers to weaken and destabilize

45:44

America Like because I still have some elements of Yankee elitism I'm against all conspiracy theories

45:51

But I do actually believe that conspiracy theories are promoted by like Russia and China to weaken

45:56

American culture For example the moon landing I think it's an active attempt to demoralize

46:02

Western men to think Oh Western men could never achieve such a great thing I think they did achieve it and I think

46:08

Most a lot of the wokeness we see is really funded by like China because it weakens

46:13

America well 100 % disinformation is a real thing and you got to remember the

46:19

CIA is the one who defined what a conspiracy theory is and Really promoted it is like crazy people that believe it to destabilize saying people think thinking about things

46:29

So I think you're on to something there. I wouldn't say that's far off Do you have one that you think is like real though?

46:36

Do you think all conspiracy theories or do you have one where you go? I think there's some shadowy information around it.

46:42

But I think Here's here's my conspiracy theory. And this is an actual conspiracy theory. Not a

46:47

Yankee elitist counter conspiracy theory I think most of what we hear about mental health is fake and it's a combination of sin and demons

46:56

Dude you and my wife would be best friends between that and like I'm so self -contradictory.

47:01

It's like I am when I'm Talking about evolution. I'm like, dr. Fauci. I'm like you gotta trust the science

47:07

But when we're talking about mental health, I'm like, you don't need a therapist. You need an exorcist Right, okay.

47:14

Do you have a favorite professional sports team you watch sports at all the Yankees normie answer

47:20

Okay, they're in the playoffs right now, right? For once yeah, I if my

47:25

Tigers my gritty tags would have won against the Guardians we would be facing I married into a Kansas family.

47:31

So I have to support the Chiefs for legal reasons first For legal and mental health reasons for relationship reasons.

47:38

All right, my mother -in -law is gonna hate me if I don't yeah go on Right. All right, three more. Here we go

47:44

When are you the most creative morning afternoon or night? When I'm supposed to be focusing on something else in school, which is usually in like the morning, so yeah

47:55

Okay, so you get you get some great ideas when you're supposed to be focusing on something else And then the ADD kicks in ADHD kicks in you're like, oh, dude.

48:02

I gotta go. I got this great idea Is it kind of like that? Yeah, it's like when my Like I thought of all those little denomination logos when

48:10

I was sitting in Calculus 3 class freshman year of college And we had the worst teacher ever and he was so boring and I was just doodling them all in my notebook

48:19

Right. All right last two What's one thing?

48:25

you would go back and tell your Self when you were like a little like a younger kid like maybe nine or ten like before you hit teenage years

48:35

What would you go back and tell them that they could grasp and that not like a it'd be a life lesson

48:41

But in in a young kids terms, is there anything you'd go back and say to yourself give yourself advice

48:47

Stop being so terrible to your parents. You're not as smart as you think you are believe in Jesus. I Love it.

48:53

All right. Lastly, where do you see yourself in 30 years? I Don't know. I mean you care at all you think about yes

49:01

I think about all the time because I'm planning to have kids so I hope I'll just be a Have kids who are still in the faith and if that's the case

49:09

I'll be satisfied and I hope I will be in a good Presbyterian church because I do have like my fears about what's going to happen to the church in the future

49:18

Yeah, so regard. I don't really worry about my own future I know the Lord's gonna take care of that but the future of the church it seems to get worse every year

49:27

So that's what I'm worried about. Will there be a good church in 30 years for me to raise my kids in? Yeah, no,

49:33

I mean that's also a heart of a shepherd man to not only be concerned about you and your immediate family But the outlook of God's people and his church, so that's awesome.

49:42

All right. Well, let's wrap it up there Richard Thanks so much for coming on Can you we'll link everything up but shout out to everyone what you've got going on where they can find you if you got anything

49:51

New coming up you need to promote Go ahead and let the people know And YouTube is my main platform but the work

49:58

I'm doing is Presbyterians for the kingdom a nonprofit that I helped start to retake the

50:03

PCoSA which as of last week is Affiliated with the PCoSA seminary. So go to kingdom Presbyterians comm to learn more about it.

50:11

That's the most of the work. I'm actually doing All right, you guys you heard him. Everything will be linked up whether you're watching this or listening click on those links below Give him some views check out what he's doing and partner up if he needs you to Richard Thanks so much for coming on man.

50:26

Thank you Awesome guys. Thanks so much for listening to another episode of dead men walking podcast as always

50:32

You can find out more about us at DMW podcast .com or find us anywhere on socials. We got the snarky merch there

50:38

You can support the show the wine. I'm dying. I'm Romans 9. I'm shirt is a bestseller Sounds like you needed that Richard when you opened to Romans 9.

50:45

I was thinking about that And also, how about you just shut up and let that be your wisdom Job 13 5

50:51

We love giving that one to the pagan. Sometimes you just got a quote scripture to the unbelievers, you know So those shirts are there and as always remember the chief end of man is to glorify

51:00

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51:12

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