AD Responds to Some Pushback on Gospel Coalition Canada - Also Bruce Jenner

Hello there, this is A .D. Robles, and you're listening to A .D. on the Fight, Laugh, Feast Network. All right, well, before we begin today, let me just say this. If you have not considered doing so, please consider becoming a Fight, Laugh, Feast Network club member.

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Thank you if you already support me. Much appreciated. Don't forget to use the show code ROBLEZ on the Fight Laugh Feast Network as a club member. Let's jump into it today. There's a few things I wanted to mention today.

And two of them are kind of some pushback that I got from my videos. Actually, one of them is not really pushback. It was just a comment. And I felt like both of them were worth responding to. And then I want to mention the parade of conservative values politicians that are supporting Bruce Jenner's ridiculous run for governor in California.

Hedging Against Inflation by Buying What You Use

Anyway, so let's jump into it today. So first off, yesterday I had made a video about inflation and hedging against inflation. And I made the case that basically it's not that complicated. You could just buy anything that you need, and it's a hedge against inflation.

Since the things you need are going to cost more in the future, if you buy more now, you're actually going to end up making money or saving money in the future. And actually, you'll probably get an outsized return over the S &P if you do that kind of thing.

And somebody pushed back on me, and here is what he said. I thought this was worth responding to because I think I need to provide some clarification. Here's what Joe said. He said, I made a comment how I bought 500 batteries because I like to buy in bulk, that kind of thing.

He said, if your 500 batteries last 10 years, they'll use 10 of their value in one year. If inflation is 5%, you'll only lose 5 nominal, but still 10 real value. And Joe makes a good point because if I was buying 500 batteries as an investment, it would be a poor investment because batteries go bad.

You know what I mean? Batteries expire. It's not like gold. Gold never expires. Gold never goes bad. It doesn't really corrode, that kind of thing. So you can keep that gold essentially forever, and nothing really will change in it.

That's why we find gold artifacts and stuff like that that really haven't changed all that much in thousands of years. But anyway, that's not what I meant. I meant I'm not buying it as an investment. I'm buying them because I use them.

And I made the comment to Joe, and also my kids' toys use them, which is very true. My kids have a lot of toys that use AA batteries like they're going out of style. And so when I say I'm hedging against inflation, it's not an investment per se.

It's just knowing I'm going to use a lot of batteries in the next five years or a year or whatever it is, and I want to buy more than I need right at this moment because when I go to the store tomorrow, they're going to cost more than they will today.

That's what I meant. So when I say hedging against inflation by buying items you're going to use, I mean exactly that, items that you're going to use, food, batteries, cleaning supplies, stuff that you use in your household.

Because if you wait, if you have the opportunity to buy it now and you wait, it's just going to cost you more dollars in the future. Now there are opportunity costs there, like maybe you might miss out on the interest that you get in the bank with your money.

You know, like the penny for every thousand dollars that you put in there, that kind of thing. That's an opportunity cost. Potentially you could buy some stocks and maybe miss out on the gains of the stocks, but obviously stocks are a lot more risky, especially right now.

So if you know you're going to use 500 batteries in the next few years, you could buy them now. There's very little risk there, as opposed to buying a share of Tesla or something like that, which, you know, that could go, you know, that could be cut in half overnight pretty much and you have no idea.

I mean the stock market's crazy right now. I'm not saying don't invest in stocks, I'm just saying be careful because people act like stocks aren't that risky. They're very risky. Anyway, so that's a clarification.

Why I Called Paul Carter an Enemy of the Cross

Good comment though, Joe. I think that's a very good point that I should make very clear. Now, this one was more pushback, and I want to respond to this because I think it's worth responding to. By the way, commenter, I'm not mad at this comment.

I think it's totally fair. I disagree with you 100%, so I want to talk to you about it, and I want to, you know, kind of explain myself because I think you make a valid point of pushback. However, I don't agree, and I'm going to explain myself here.

So here's what his comment said. This is about my video Farewell Gospel Coalition where I said that Pastor Paul Carter, by pretending that the government isn't abusing Christian pastors for meeting for church, is actually revealing himself to be an enemy of the cross.

Okay? An enemy of the cross. Those are strong words. And so this guy's a little taken aback by that. Here's what he says. He says, Love you, old AD, and the rest in the comments section. And I'm usually on your side of things, and I'm definitely on your side of the church being open and on TGC.

Open and on TGC. I'm not really sure what that means, but that's okay. Anyway, he says, I think you can call a brother dead wrong on an issue without labeling him an enemy. Canadian pastors are being taught an important lesson about our government, and old habits die hard.

Show some grace and patience. I think probably if a lot of you in the comments section or people who are watching this video, you probably resonate with that a lot because that is harsh language that I used.

An enemy of the church. So, you know, how do I defend myself there? So a couple things about this. The first thing that strikes me, it sounds like this—I don't know this. I don't know this commenter. But it sounds like he either knows Paul Carter personally or at least is much more familiar with his writing than I am.

To be honest, I know very little about Paul Carter's writing and hardly anything at all. So there's that. This sounds like more of a personal thing. And secondly, he says that Gospel Coalition Canada is better than Gospel Coalition United States.

Well, I hope so. I mean, could it really be much worse? You know, that kind of thing. So I'll grant you that. And he makes an important point, and I agree with this point completely. A brother can be dead wrong on something and not be an enemy of the cross.

I 100 agree. I don't think that there's any question about that. A brother can be dead wrong on an important issue and not be an enemy of the church. I go to a Baptist church here in New England. I go to a Baptist church, and I think that my pastor is an honorable, Christ-honoring, just a good guy.

I really do. I think he is dead wrong to not give his children the sign of the covenant. I think that's dangerous. I think it's wrong. And frankly, I think it's sinful to not do that. Likewise, I would expect an honorable, Christ-honoring, biblical, trying-to-be-faithful-to-the-Bible pastor like he is would think the same about me, would say it's dead wrong and dangerous to baptize my children before they show signs of faith.

In fact, I would argue he probably, if you asked him, would say that that's sinful, what I did, to baptize my children in that way. Neither one of us, though, thinks that we're enemies of the church, right?

We honestly disagree. I think they're dead wrong. I think it's a very serious issue, just like I think my pastor would say it's a very serious issue. However, we can understand how someone would come to the different conclusion, right?

We understand that they're basing it on the Scriptures. They think anyway, and they're wrong about how they're interpreting it. But it doesn't require us to be at each other's throats, right? And so I completely agree with this sentiment.

Someone can be dead wrong. I think my pastor, with all due respect, Jerry, you're dead wrong on baptism, and I think you know that I think that, right? But I love you, and I don't consider you an enemy.

I don't consider you a danger to my children or anything like that. You know what I mean? So I agree, totally. And there are lots of things like that. Baptism is an example I typically use because so many of us disagree about baptism.

But there are other things that I think likewise don't require the other person to be an enemy of the church. You know, there's eschatology. You know, even to some degree, I think some of the issues with charismania and some of the issues with Arminianism and Calvinism, I get a little heat for being a little soft on Arminians, stuff like that.

But I think that those things don't require someone to be an enemy of the church. They simply don't. So where does that—how does that fit into what I said about Paul Carter? You see, this is the thing.

This is the problem. Like, his actions and what he did in that article, he lied about what the Canadian government is doing. He said that abuse wasn't abuse. He said that nobody had been ill-treated by the government.

Even as churches are being fined through the roof, pastors are being jailed, have been jailed for holding church on Sunday. He can sit there—and he knows this. Obviously, he's not living under a rock, right?

Paul Carter knows this, and then he sits to his typewriter, and he types up a little article in defense of the government, the pagan, secular government, saying they haven't done anything wrong. Those things are absolutely legitimate.

You should fine churches for millions of dollars for meeting for church. It's okay to jail a pastor simply for refusing to close down his church and abide by their policies. These things are okay. So here's the reality.

All things don't require someone to be an enemy. But what else would you call it when somebody supports the pagan government over their brothers in Christ in a matter of biblical fidelity? That's the thing.

It's not like these guys are doing something evil. They beat somebody up or something like that, and then you're like, yeah, the government was right to arrest him. Of course the government was right to arrest him.

We understand that you can't just go around beating people up, right? We get that. That's a biblical imperative, right? But also a biblical imperative is to meet on the Lord's Day, sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God, take communion with each other, greet each other with a holy kiss, you know, be together in other words.

That's an imperative from God. And you're siding with the pagan government over those who are seeking to do that very thing. You see, I'm calling him what he's revealed himself to be. This is not my opinion.

When you come out in favor of the pagan beast over your brothers in Christ, you've revealed yourself to be an enemy. And this is the thing. I'm not saying that's the end for Paul Carter. That's the other thing.

He says, show some grace and show some patience. Old habits die hard. Okay, fine. So you're in the habit of defending the government over your brothers and sisters in Christ. That's up to you. I'm not saying that's the end of your story.

But here's the reality. You're going to have to change your opinion 180 degrees. You're going to have to turn from your sin and your idolatry of the government, and you'll be able to—God's grace can cover that.

You know what I mean? Christ's sacrifice can cover that. But as long as you're for fining and rounding up Christians because they had church, then unfortunately you've revealed yourself to be an enemy.

Now you might say, well, A .D., he didn't say that. He didn't say he was for it. And my response to that is, right, but he lied on their behalf because he knows these things are happening to his fellow brethren in Canada, and yet he pretended like they were not happening.

That's ridiculous. That is absolutely complicit in it. So if you can, in your mind, kind of separate the two so I know—like, in other words, if I knew that my local city government had rounded up pastors and jailed them and beat them, right, I know that.

And then I write an article on Gospel Coalition saying how nobody's been abused here in Keene, New Hampshire. Nobody's been abused by the government for meeting for a church. I would now be complicit in their crime because I know what has happened, and I'm covering for them as if it hasn't happened.

I'm sorry, but I don't think enemy is even a strong enough word for that. It is absolutely—it's a traitor, a turncoat. I can't think of a more horrible thing to actually do to your brothers and sisters in Christ.

And whatever you might think about him as a man, I'm looking at his actions and saying, you know, maybe he's honorable over here, but he doesn't seem like an honorable man in general as he lies for the crown.

That doesn't make any sense at all. It's absolutely disgusting, and I don't see any reason to try to defend it, to try to soften it, to try to say, well, you know, we agree to disagree. It's just like baptism.

It's not like that. It's not something that you can just be wrong about. Oh, brother, we can agree. No, nobody should trust Paul Carter. Why would they? He lied on behalf of the crown as his brothers and sisters in Christ are being fined and jailed for their faith.

And then here's the other pushback that I got, too. Well, it's not for their faith. It's just they were breaking an ordinance. And it's like, are you—seriously? Like, we can't think of it more deeply than that?

The thing is, if your faith does not require you to go to church, does not require you to take communion with your brothers in Christ, does not require you to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God, I don't know what faith that is.

You see, that's the thing. This pastor, Coates, he understands the importance of the assembly. It's his whole entire job. It's why he has a job. He's there, and he's leading the assembly. He's ruling over the assembly, right?

That's his whole job. His whole reason for existence is that. So he's doing it. That's what his faith says. And so whatever else the pagans say, well, you can't do it. It's too dangerous. Well, you can't do it.

It's a health violation. It doesn't matter. He's got a job to do before God. And so, yes, he is being jailed for following and obeying and acting as if he believes that Christ is in charge and not the crown.

So I just—you know, I appreciate the pushback. These are important things to think about. Yes, of course it's possible to disagree with someone without them being an enemy, but this does not qualify for that.

It simply does not qualify for that. So, no, I don't hesitate to call him what he has revealed himself to be. It's just that simple. Now, one last thing. By the way, again, I'm not mad at you for commenting this.

I think it's fair. You seem to know the guy a little bit better than I do. And so it's probably harder for you to see the juxtaposition. This is the other thing. I don't know Paul Carter at all. So to me, there's no just juxtaposition here.

He's in Big Eva. Big Eva is very obviously, you know, in the state cult. We all get that. So to me, it makes perfect sense that a Gospel Coalition article would be covering for the pagan state over their brothers and sisters in Christ.

That's what they do. You know, very few Big Eva people have even mentioned the James Coates situation. So this is just run-of-the-mill. Obviously, it fits right in with the narrative for me. But if you know Paul Carter and you know him to be smart and he seems to be faithful in other areas, I could see this being very challenging.

And I'm not saying that to insult you. People that I know, when I found out that they were woke, that was a very big challenge for me. It's like they know how to read the Bible, right? But then there's people that I didn't know that were woke that, you know, didn't really affect me at all because I didn't know them.

I mean, they're just woke. So I get it. I understand the reason to want to defend him. I don't share the desire. I have no problem calling him what he's revealed himself to be. So I get that. I get that.

Bruce Jenner, Fake Pronouns, and GOP Worthlessness

Thank you for your comment. Here's the other thing, guys. This is this one. I've been seeing this. Every Republican and their mother is coming out in support of Bruce Jenner, who goes by Caitlyn now, his run for governor.

And I find that it's so hilarious. I mean, this is how worthless most GOP conservatives are. They're even using his fake pronouns and stuff like that. And, you know, to be honest, I don't want anything to do with this kind of conservatism.

This is worthless. There's no conserving going on. You can't buy into someone's ridiculous, insane fantasies and be like, oh, yeah, totally. I agree with their policies. You know what I mean? And it's just absolutely ridiculous.

So I'm glad that this is happening because it's revealing what's already the case. The Republican Party is essentially worthless. And so I'm glad to see that that it's becoming patently obvious to many, many people how worthless it is.

And so I look forward to the big Eva think pieces about how we have to support Caitlyn Jenner. We have to support her candidacy. It's very important to empower and all that kind of stuff. I can't wait to see some of that stuff.

It's going to be hilarious to tear that apart. We're going to have a good laugh and it's going to be great. Now, as far as, you know, in reality, it is clearly judgment from God, which is a very solemn, serious matter.

But, man, like, you know, on the one hand, it's very upsetting. On the other hand, it's going to be hilarious to tear this up. So I don't really know how to feel. But it's just it's just so crazy to see.

It's so crazy to see. Obviously, you can't vote for Bruce Jenner for governor. That's insane. Obviously, that's not an option for a Christian. Anyway, I hope you found this video helpful. God bless.