Dead Men Walking Podcast: Consumerism

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00:05

Exploring Theology, Doctrine, and all of the Fascinating Subjects in Between, Broadcasting from an

00:11

Undisclosed Location, Dead Men Walking starts now. Well, hello everyone.

00:23

Welcome back to another episode of Dead Men Walking. I am Greg Moore. And I am

00:29

Jason Hamlin. And I'm excited to be here today, Greg. All right. Jason's head is coffee. Oh yeah.

00:35

What are you drinking there? Are you drinking a... It's seltzer water. No caffeine in that, huh?

00:40

Ice Mountain. You better get a hold of us, Ice Mountain. You're like, we want sponsorship,

00:46

Ice Mountain. It's actually really good. So you're all juiced up on seltzer water. Yeah, lemon lime.

00:51

Is what you're saying. If you go to Kroger, they have a plethora of different flavors.

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And yeah, it's actually, it's a really good pop alternative, if you will.

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And I'm not really the pop guy. I used to, when I was a kid, I was all about, you know, Pepsi Cola, you know,

01:13

RC, you know, those... RC Sprol? Sorry, I had to say that.

01:20

You can't say RC on a recorded podcast. I thought I would say one that was like from the 1950s that nobody drinks anymore.

01:27

RC was pretty good back in the day. It was, man. It was really good. I'm sure there was real sugar in that one.

01:32

You know, you mentioned Kroger. I'm sure anyone listening in the United States knows what Kroger is.

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But as you know, according to our stats, we have six different countries listening. But for United States listeners,

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Kroger, okay, which one do you think is higher on the Fortune 500 list?

01:52

Out of? Out of Kroger, Verizon. And AT &T.

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Think of those three companies, how large they are. AT &T has over 300 ,000 employees globally. Okay.

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See. Which one is a larger company? Which one's higher up on the, on the

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Fortune 500? Right now I'm trying to think of the stock prices that they have. I'm talking total volume and revenue and sales.

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Man, I, I, I mean, groceries comparative to phone companies.

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I mean, phone company, everybody has a phone. Everybody has a phone. Yeah. So, I mean, I, I don't know the, the largest one

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I would say out of those three would probably be Verizon. It's Kroger. Really? Yeah. Kroger.

02:37

Trick question then. Kroger ranks about 12th on the, on the Fortune 500 and Verizon and AT &T flip flat between 17 and 18 and 16 in there.

02:45

You know, these super Kroger's are starting to show up. We just got one. Now that stats, that stats from 2010. Oh, really?

02:53

So I can be totally wrong by now. Someone go look it up. Somebody needs to fact check this guy.

02:58

Someone fact check me and see. I just was surprised because when I read that a few years ago, it's not 2010, but as a few years old, it could be different now.

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I couldn't believe how big Kroger is. You just think of Kroger as, you know, like a Meijer. Like we have Meijer around here in the

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Midwest. Meijer's if you're in the North. Well, it's Meijer. It's Meijer if you want to say it correctly.

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Yeah. Meijer's if Walmart. Meijer's. Ford's. Kroger's. Kroger's. Yeah. I work at Ford's.

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So we, Ford's. Yeah. We add S's to everything in the Midwest. Yeah. Yeah. Cheeseburgers.

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I just couldn't believe how big that, how big of a company it was. Yeah, I know. I just thought of it as like a regional food chain. I did not know that, but they do have a lot of really good food there.

03:37

You have to go look into some Kroger stocks. I know, dude. See how they're doing. So how you been, man? Man, doing awesome.

03:43

Yeah, just... Getting ready for Christmas or what? Getting ready for Christmas. We have, you know, a few presents on the way already.

03:53

Yeah. And you have a little one too, so... We do. So it's a lot easier. We just buy boxes and she plays with them.

03:59

She plays with the boxes. Yeah, more than the toy. From the toys that the older one got. Right?

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Yeah. Man, you should see her with like paper towels. She's just like, oh my gosh.

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You know, I mean, she doesn't say that, but then, you know, she'll find a little piece of cotton on the floor or something.

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Sure. She's just, you know, so enamored by it. Oh, and they're... Because how old is she? She's 10 months.

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Yeah, she's crawling, starting to maybe pull herself up and walk. I mean, Emsley is just going, man.

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It's crazy watching her. She's starting to cruise around the couch. We have this, you know, one of those L -shaped couches.

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Sure. So she'll cruise from one side to the other. And I'm just hoping that she just starts walking.

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I mean, I know I'm going to get my exercise for sure then. Oh, when she starts walking, you're in trouble, because now she's into everything much faster.

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Right now it's a crawl. And she's already crawling like a madman, man. It's crazy. Isn't it cool to kind of watch them just like grow up and experience new things, learn new things.

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And then I'm going to tell you right now, you will have so many God moments of just like, oh, that's what God was talking about.

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Yeah, right. When you become like, you know, from... It's true. It's already been happening. Yeah. From a young age like that, you see them grow and learn and do something that you go, that's not going to be good for you.

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Right, right. They do it anyway. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Just wait until like three, four more years when Christmas rolls around, when they really get, start getting excited.

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Man. I remember when I was young, my parents, I would say, why aren't you excited for Christmas like we are? And they're like, well, we're excited that you're excited.

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I was like, lame -os. What are you talking about? And then when you become a parent, you...

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I am so excited for my kids' excitement. You know, it's just, it's so fun watching them.

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And obviously we, you know, we're doing the Charles Spurgeon Advent right now, which is cool. A morning and a night for 28 days leading up to Christmas.

05:46

That's awesome. In the morning and the right before they go to bed. And we try to reinforce what

05:52

Christmas is about, right? The real reason of the season. But... So can I ask, do you, did you ever tell them about Santa or...

06:00

Oh, no. No. No Santa, okay. They knew what... Okay. Yeah. They knew who St. Nicholas was. So were they the kids that were in school?

06:07

Like, hey, Santa's not real. And then the teachers were calling home. Well, luckily we homeschool. So they were just telling each other that Santa wasn't real, but going to church.

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Go to church. And some of those families don't do that. I have my middle child, Coralie. She was definitely the one like, hey, you need to know

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Santa isn't real. And I was like, well, we had to sit them down. Not every parent, you know, parents the same way. Let's respect their, you know, them telling their children lies.

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I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Bunch of liars. No, I'm joking. Yeah. Yeah. But no, we just went, you know, we don't do tooth fair, but you don't do

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Easter bunny. We don't do Santa. We're just like, you know, we expect our kids not to lie. So I don't want them to get to an age and just go, well, you told, you taught us not to lie.

06:45

I do this the whole time. Right. And that might sound harsh for parents out there that are, you know, if you're listening right now and you're a parent and you, you know, you do the

06:54

Santa Claus, please. I'm not making a personal judgment on you. It was just for us and our family.

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It just made more sense to say no. The reason for Christmas is the birth of Christ, our savior, who then died, rose again, beat the power of death.

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And, um, you know, and then Easter, obviously I would even say even more significant than, than Christmas in the, in the

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Christian kind of, uh, belief system. Is this our world series? And then, uh, Easter is probably the super bowl.

07:21

Oh, wait a minute. The world series more than this. Oh, you do a really good baseball guy.

07:27

Okay. I like stats. Yeah. You know, I figured you were a more super bowl because you do the fantasy.

07:33

I do that because we have a mutual friend and his name is, uh, Ryan Martin. Okay. And you go find him online and tell him

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I said this, but he ropes me into it because he needs a 10th guy and I know nothing. I had,

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I had a guy in that was on the injured list for like five weeks and Ryan texts me, he goes, you know, you've had that guy in your lineup now for like three weeks has been out.

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And I go, Oh, is that what that means? He goes, that's what the red O means. Yeah. It means out means he can't play and you're not getting points.

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I go, Oh, geez. And it's a pay league too. Yeah. So I'm just donating money to whoever wins. Usually Nathaniel Herrera.

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You know him. Yeah. He always does really good. And I'm serious. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I got roped into doing the basketball one, one year.

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And, uh, yeah, I literally picked my team and did not touch it again the rest of the year. So I, I still, to this day have no idea.

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I just don't have time to watch and dedicate time to it and know who the players are and all that stuff.

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I don't even have enough time to remember to set my league half the time. Yeah. Right. Weeks. Yep. And, uh,

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I don't know. I just think sometimes that can become a little too obsessive. I know I'm, I have an addictive personality.

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If I really got into it, I could go, you know, hours a day, just looking at stats on meaningless football players who promote black lives matter.

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So I don't really want anything to do with it. And they have COVID. They have

08:53

COVID. Yeah. But, you know, talking about Christmas and talking about gifts. And like I said, we try to teach our kids the right way of what

09:00

Christmas is about. And it's not all about getting gifts, but of course they have that nature. They have a, uh, a fleshly nature like we all do.

09:09

And they like receiving gifts. Yeah. And, um, it's very hard when you have an 11, nine and six -year -old to really keep them focused on, you know, giving gifts instead of receiving gifts, but it's ingrained in our culture, which is what we were going to kind of talk about.

09:25

How'd you like that? Segway. I loved it. It was going to talk about consumerism. We are talking about consumerism.

09:30

Not just material consumerism. But before we do that, you had a couple of fun stories. Yeah. Yeah.

09:35

You'd seen in the news. We are going to start introducing a little segment on here and we're kind of doing it flying by the seat of our pants tonight.

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But in the future, we have a little segment where we'll just talk about news. A couple. Some headlines.

09:48

Yeah. A couple little headlines. Maybe it'll be a Christian related, church related, theological, doctrinally related.

09:53

Sometimes it's just going to be fun, little new snippets that we saw and thought were interesting and we can discuss for a few minutes.

09:59

Yeah. So what was the first thing you saw? So I saw that an owl got caught up in the

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Rockefeller. Oh, Todd Bentley. An owl got caught up in the

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Rockefeller Center tree, I guess. And he's doing well. He has recovered and he's about to be released.

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So is that that big tree they put up in Central Park? The big one. Yep. By the ice skating rink. So outside the

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Rockefeller Center. I feel like this would happen all the time. Wouldn't an owl go right to a big tree? It seems like they would.

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And I'm pretty sure they cut down that tree, a tree every year. And then bring it in, like on a semi, because it's huge.

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So I don't know if the, if the owl was already in it on the way there. He just wakes up, he's like New York City.

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New York City. So was he caught in the tree? Yeah. Yeah. Like he couldn't get out.

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He couldn't get out. They had to go rescue him. Well, he was without food and water for a few days, they said.

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And whoever wrote this, they were on CBS News. They were really horrified for this little baby owl.

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And there are pictures, there are pictures out here. If you want to check it out on cbsnews .com.

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Don't send people to cbsfakenews .com. We'll just post the picture for you on your Instagram account.

11:25

Uh, and then, and then, uh, the last thing I was going to bring up. Um, uh, what's his name?

11:33

James Bond. Yeah. But what were you thinking of? Sean Connery. Why couldn't I think of his name?

11:39

Sean Connery. I guess the 007 gun from Dr. Like the original. Dr.

11:44

No. Yes. So not like, uh, the golden eyed James Bond series. That's a

11:49

Pierce Bronson. That sounds like a Nintendo game. And it was. Was it? Yeah. That's based on James Bond. Yeah. Yeah. And then, uh, so the original

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Sean Connery, Dr. No gun was just sold. Now, you know, I'm a gun guy. Do you know what kind of gun it was?

12:04

Uh, $256 ,000, 256 ,000. Let me find what kind of gun was it?

12:10

You know, look it up and see, because I feel like he had some type of Ruger. It was always a revolver.

12:16

It was a pistol. I thought, oh my gosh, there are people that are listening to this podcast right now.

12:24

James Bond fans and they are so mad at us. It was a semi -automatic Walther. Walther.

12:29

That's what it was. Not a Ruger, a Walther. Yeah. Yeah. That's a cool gun. That's a slick looking gun.

12:35

Yeah. Right there. Yeah. There's the pick. Oh, wow. 200 and what? 256 ,000. Did you hear about this guy that bought a banana for 300 grand or 150 grand at some art exhibit?

12:47

Was that the one that was duct taped to the wall? Yeah. Duct tape to the wall. Back or whatever. Did the auction bought it for 150 grand.

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Grabbed it and ate it in front of everyone. Just like I bought a $200 ,000 banana and now

13:01

I'm going to eat it. And he just ate it. I think we need to do an art installation. I mean, that sounds great. Yeah. Yeah.

13:07

Dead men walking a hat. Yeah. And we'll tack it to the wall.

13:13

And we're going to auction it off, guys. We're starting at $99 ,000. It'll support the show. Yeah. Yeah. And you can eat it.

13:20

If you can wear a bite of it. Oh, wow. Yeah. Maybe I don't know.

13:25

It's new era delicious. Yeah. We got to think of something here. I think we're onto something though. So, you know, cause all

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I need is one person to buy it for a hundred thousand. Yeah. I don't need to sell 10 ,000.

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Not multiple. For a hundred dollars. How much is, I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah.

13:42

Just one person is all we have. I don't know math. So we got a, what are you talking about? You don't know math.

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So we got a Walther sold for 250k. Do you know who bought it? Did it say, did you look and see? Are we over that story?

13:54

You already got the phone put down. I think it was John F. Kennedy Jr. What? What?

14:01

Back from the dead. No, he actually. Have you heard John F. Kennedy Jr. Conspiracy theory that he's, that he's still alive.

14:10

That he's still alive. But isn't he like, like he's been spotted in New York is like a bald guy now with a hat on.

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I've seen pictures. He's been to Trump rallies and really all the Trump supporter. Yeah. John F.

14:21

Kennedy Jr. Oh, Elaine Bendis would be so upset. Oh man. A little Seinfeld reference for you guys right there.

14:27

Oh, all right. Let's get into our subject here. Yeah. We were talking, we're going to talk about consumerism tonight.

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And I, when you brought this up, Jason, I said, what a great idea because consumerism. When we think of consumerism here in the

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United States, we think of material consumerism, which we're going to talk about. But it really has a lot of kind of trickle down effect on everything else.

14:52

I'm just going to throw out a quick definition like we usually do here on the podcast, just so you kind of know where our frame of mind is, because we know that in this day and age, and I was just talking to someone on social media about this, you know, definitions keep getting redefined.

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So we want to make sure we're talking about the same thing. Consumerism is the preoccupation with consuming more and more goods and services.

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So not just goods, but consumerist mentality lives with chronic dissatisfaction with what he or she currently possesses.

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And in juxtaposition to that, often considers that a positive trait. So consumerism, when we're talking about it in physical goods, focuses on having the latest, buying the best, and discarding last year's model in favor of the newest, fanciest, and shiniest.

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So although that's more of a physical good definition, there are services in there, which

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I think we're going to get into as well. It sounds emotional. It does sound very emotional, doesn't it?

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Yeah. I mean, psychologists and psychiatrists, they actually treat people for consumerism, and they usually find that it has deep -rooted emotional issues attached to it.

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Needing more, wanting more, always trying to fulfill with material goods, services, emotional consumerism through relationships, things like that.

16:08

Right. Full disclosure, I'm not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, so.

16:13

No, you've tried with me, but it doesn't work. You're not going to stick. So maybe we can give some biblical verses or some biblical references.

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Did you have something, or did you want me to start with something? I had some verses that I could throw out.

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Yeah, see what we got. Hebrews 13 .5. Nice. Keep your life free from love of money.

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Love of money. And be content with what you have, for he has said,

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I will never leave you nor forsake you. I love that. So he's saying the reason why not to have a love for money, and it doesn't say keep yourself free from money, right?

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Now we're not prosperity preachers. In fact, we come against that pretty wholeheartedly here on the podcast, anyone who's listened for any amount of time.

16:59

But the Bible never says that money itself is evil, right? It says the love of money.

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And it says, be content with what you have. And why? Because he said, I will never leave you or forsake you.

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For God is saying, I will never leave you or forsake you. So be content in everything you have because your contentment is in me.

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And we talked about this a little bit on one of our shorts that are going to be coming out here soon on contentment. Look, look to that.

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We're also starting a new segment here, a little segue segment on a little five minute shorts.

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Yeah. Called Dead Men Walking Shorts. We'll do a little five minutes on contentment, on meekness, on, you know, different subjects.

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Keep it to five minutes and it'll be packed full of information for you guys. So be on the lookout for that. We had touched on our contentment being in Christ.

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And that's really what Hebrews 13, five, I think is saying there. Right. Yeah. And I mean, you know, just to dig a little bit deeper into that,

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I mean, we can find ourselves even in the church, not content in certain situations, you know, maybe at a church, maybe they're not singing the right music.

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Maybe the pastor isn't, uh, you know, uh, saying, um, preaching, preaching the way that you want them to.

18:13

Um, you know, doctrinally it's okay. It's important.

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You're saying like stylistically, Stylistically. Yeah. Visually, if they have different carpet, if they have, you know, if they're not serving you the right coffee temperature or the right coffee or whatever.

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So you're like, I'm getting out of here because this just isn't for me. And then the music, oh my goodness.

18:35

It's just not what I want. Well, so I'm going to go across the street. Well, here's the problem.

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Uh, and you hit, he hit it on the head. We're talking about contentment, but, um, that's consumerism essentially, uh, makes you seek sensationalism.

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Like you said, it's an emotional, you're trying to fill an emotional gap, right? So what you see is that trickle down into kind of the church hopping, seeking goods and services from a church.

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You're like, Hey, I want a certain type of music. I want to consume that. I want a certain type of preacher. I want to consume that.

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I want a certain type of look. I can consume that. I want a certain type of, uh, coffee and children's ministry and all these things.

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And consumerism really leads to discontentment. Yeah. Right. So I think complacency as well too.

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I think it trickles down. So when we talk about Christians and consumerism, it's not just Christians who have to have the latest and greatest thing at the, you know, the latest and greatest truck or jet ski or house or clothes or, you know, whatever it is.

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I think it trickles down into more walks of life and especially into attending church, just like you said.

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Yeah. Narcissism floats into that because it's all about, Oh, what do I want from this service?

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And it has nothing to do with, well, what is God trying to teach me here in this moment? You know, in this, in this music that may not be working out for me or, you know,

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I mean, maybe the pastor's, uh, coming down a little bit harder than you're used to.

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And you're just like, well, well, what about you? You know, and you're sitting there, but yeah.

20:11

Yeah. And consumerism stirred up a little bit. Consumerism by definition is very self -involved.

20:16

Yeah. It's very self -pleasing, right? I mean, the reason why you're going out and consuming is to get a certain emotional feeling, an attachment, a feeling, a filling of a void, like I just said.

20:28

So by definition, consumerism is, excuse me, is very self -involved.

20:36

Yeah. And the Christian is called to selflessness, right? We're supposed to be crucified with Christ, raised up with him, no longer our will, but his will.

20:45

Yep. Right. Amen. So, and I want people to hear this too. I'm not saying it's bad to own material goods.

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I'm not saying it's sinful to have nice things. I think anytime, and you touched on this a little bit before we started recording, anytime it gets to a point of consumerism to where I need that to fulfill something in me, well, then that's a form of idolatry.

21:07

Right. Now we've moved into idolatry. And, you know, I have a personal prayer to the

21:13

Lord that, you know, and my father actually taught me this, is give me just enough to survive and get by, but don't ever give me too much to where I take my eyes off you.

21:23

Yeah. Right? I want to be right in that middle place. I don't need a hundred million dollars, but Lord, if you could feed me, clothe me and shelter me, my family and my children, and make me comfortable to a point to where I'm not so comfortable that I take my eyes off you, because I don't trust myself.

21:42

Yeah. In my own fleshly desires, I do not trust myself. When things are going good, it takes everything in me not to take my eyes off Christ.

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Now, you know, and I'm admitting that. Yeah. I'm not saying I'm some pious, you know, uh, great

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Christian where it's like, I mean, and, and I only take comfort in that because I look at men of men and women of God in the

22:03

Bible that things got really good. They almost acted like they didn't need

22:08

God anymore. It's true. You know? Yeah. I mean, especially when you, when you you're in that Valley and you're sitting there, you know, just like, why is this happening?

22:20

You know, and you're, uh, you're going through the emotion of that. And, uh, you just want out of it.

22:26

Well, it's, you know, I think John Piper, didn't he say, don't take me out of the Valley until I've learned exactly what

22:34

I need to learn in this. I mean, I've had, I've had glorify you in it. Yeah. Yeah. I've learned at times.

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I mean that I will just be in that Valley for months. I mean, for months,

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I've, I've had a few years that, that I felt like, Oh man, I, and you know, it was one of those, it was one of those, uh, it was just a cycle.

22:56

It would run for four months. I thought I learned and all of us.

23:01

Nope. Nope. Not at all. You know, and it, and it turns into that. It's just a, a, a pleasant, a pleasant treat.

23:09

Well, I think it's important too, when you, when you get into those valleys too, when you have a paradigm shift of how you deal with those.

23:15

Yeah. Right. And I think we've talked about it before. Some people's valleys are deeper than others. I just had a friend on Facebook, uh, posting, uh, you know, very publicly about her struggle.

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She's a believer, her struggle with depression. And, um, you know, the

23:30

D word isn't a bad word, right? Like Christians have depression, even when they're safe. That's, that's a real thing.

23:36

The church I was at this morning, actually, um, he was preaching on that and said that exact word is like people can be depressed, uh, when they're believers, but it's how, who we cling to in those times of depression, how we, um, perceive what is happening and, uh, how we rightly see

23:53

God during those times. Right. Right. Uh, I think that's the important part on, on how we deal with that and how we deal with it biblically, but getting back to consumerism,

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I think it, uh, also it forms ungratefulness. Right. In our hearts.

24:07

Yep. When we're always trying to fulfill our fleshly desires with consumerism, whether it be goods or services or a certain type of church service or whatever it is we mentioned, um, the mentality feeds off an ungrateful spirit.

24:20

You know, Philippians four 11 says, uh, not that I'm speaking of being in need for, I have learned in whatever situation

24:26

I am to be content. And then first Timothy six, eight says what I was just saying a few minutes ago, but if we have food and clothing with these, we will be content.

24:35

Yeah. So I'm seeing a running theme here to where consumerism and contentment are kind of.

24:41

Uh, you know, two, two different sides of the same coin. They parallel or they almost have a relationship because I feel like if you're content, then it's harder to slip into consumerism.

24:54

Right. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, whenever I think, whenever I was thinking about this subject, writing down some notes,

25:00

I mean, I started thinking even about just how, you know, if, if, if you're looking for the next new shiny thing, it could float into so many different areas of life.

25:12

I mean, and one huge one that I think is affecting. Um, our culture in a huge way is men and women that don't want to get married or, you know, have babies or, you know, they're, they're afraid to commit to just one person because what if there's somebody else out there that might be better, you know, than the person that is in front of them or that they're with for, you know, six, seven years.

25:39

And then all of a sudden they're just like, yeah, I just don't feel like being with this person anymore, you know, and I'm just going to go over here and go to a dating site where I can see.

25:48

A thousand people, you know, all their, all their pictures and, uh, you know, yeah.

25:53

Swipe right. You know, and try to figure out, well, this isn't the one now she's not pretty. Oh no. Her, her earlobes are too big or whatever, you know, but, you know, it's like, man, this floats into so many areas in life.

26:08

Well, in that example, it absolutely is consumerism. They're consuming an emotional attachment, a physical attachment, uh, fulfilling themselves and saying, look,

26:17

I'm just going to, you know, no commitment because I want to go to the next person. I know lots of Christians, which, uh, my wife and I've talked about this too, about dating versus courting.

26:25

Right. Um, and we're going to have to have that discussion with our, with our daughters here. Um, sooner than later, unfortunately, uh, you know, my daughters aren't going to date until they're 50, but yeah, that still feels too soon as a father, 50, 65, getting social security.

26:43

Well, you got your first ARP letter. You can, you can date now. It's time.

26:49

It's time. But, uh, you know, I know, I know many Christians that are, uh, that, that are addicted to the consumerism of the very first three months, six months, one year of a relationship, right?

27:00

Because the way it makes them feel the excitement, the physical, the emotional, even sometimes the mental connection that you make with, with another person.

27:09

And it's really sad because it is a form of consumerism. Oh yeah. You know, once again, we're not just talking about material goods.

27:16

Of course, that's very prevalent in the United States. When you say consumerism, we think stuff because we have a lot of stuff, but you can be a consumer of relationships and wrongly so, and not good for the unbeliever and definitely not good for the professing

27:30

Christian. Right. Well, and even, even friendships on social media that can really feed into your, you know, into your ego and your, um,

27:40

I know people who consume social media. I've been caught up in that. Yeah. I talked about it on here.

27:45

I had to step away from consuming political content. Serious. I was just, man, it was like night and day.

27:50

I was spending more time in political content than I was in the word about two years ago.

27:56

And I was, but I was justifying it by like, but I'm, but I'm used, I'm using that information to compare it to godly principles and trying to, you know, do what's right in local government.

28:06

And the Lord was just like, no, you're doing it because it gives you an escape. It gives you an excuse not to be in the word.

28:13

Right. And it makes you feel, um, I don't know what the word is. Not superior, but it almost feels like, well,

28:20

I know this and I can argue this. And it was really just self gratifying.

28:26

It was not, it was not glorifying God at all. Right. And I got, dude, I got super convicted of it after some prayer and, and, uh, my wife and some other people coming to me and I posted a few, cause

28:38

I'm still on social media. But, uh, I posted something, geez, a few months ago and it was just like,

28:44

I've been so disconnected with the, with, and I say disconnected. I'm probably still consuming more political content than 50 % of the

28:52

United States. Well, you, you kind of have to, in a way. Way backed off. And it was like the most peaceful year of my life.

28:58

This last year, it was like in the word with, with the kids, homeschool praying, and then not really getting into,

29:05

I mean, I haven't, I had a whole folder of all my news apps, man. I'd get up every morning and boom, boom, boom. My left, my right, my moderate, my, you know, secondary sources, my primary and look at it all, read it all dwell on it.

29:16

It's like, before I knew it, I was an hour. I'd been up in bed for an hour. Hadn't even got out of bed and was already had an hour's worth of, you know, this content in my mind rolling around.

29:26

And the Lord just convicted me like you rightly does. Yeah. And, uh, it's,

29:31

I've, I've never felt, I mean, I've, like I said, we still look at stuff and do stuff for the show and you gotta, you gotta be aware, but man, not having that consumer mentality of that information.

29:41

Yeah. Uh, it's just really freed me. Or, or the, the missing out, like you're going to miss out on something as well.

29:49

I think I went, I went through that a little bit, um, or I got to get to the bottom of it or prove this person wrong or writer or, uh, you know, have this information.

29:58

So I know about it. So when it, when this subject comes up, I can say, oh yeah, what about this? And it was just, it was just very argumentative in nature.

30:05

It was very, um, I don't know. It just, it just wasn't good for, for, for my mental or spiritual health.

30:11

Yup. And yeah, I freely admit that there was a spirit of consumerism there because it was all these things we just talked about.

30:18

It was ungratefulness. I was dissatisfied. I was, you know, trying to, um, uh, you know, uh, that's the word

30:28

I'm looking for. I just drew a blank, just trying to consume, try, you know, myself trying to please myself.

30:34

Yeah. Oh yeah. You know, narcissistic. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, I, I used to, before I was reformed,

30:42

I used to do a lot of, uh, church visit mushrooms. Yeah.

30:47

Oh yeah. No, never. Well, I mean, I do love mushrooms on my salads and my pizza.

30:53

Hey, now, thank you. Um, um,

30:59

I used to do a lot of church hopping. I would be like, oh man, this is, this is cool.

31:04

You know? And then, uh, and then, uh, I would move on either within a week or, you know, a month or whatever it was.

31:13

I know you gave one service boy. You guys get one Sunday and one minutes. I was sitting there with my arms crossed, just staring at him.

31:22

That's right. It's being like, go ahead, give me your best, you know? But yeah, man, but I, I was never like that.

31:30

But, um, but yeah, I mean, it, it was so easy to just go a mile down the road to a different church because there are churches everywhere.

31:40

You know, there are people with platforms everywhere. There are podcasts everywhere. You should really just listen to dead men walking podcast, but no,

31:48

I'm joking. But, uh, or am I, but, uh, there's tons of podcasts. Sure. There's so much music out there.

31:56

There are so many different movies out there. I mean, everything is competing for your attention at all times.

32:05

And it's like, I mean, you're, you're consuming all these different things, but I think within the, you know, where, where's the contentment in any of that, you know, like, where, like, where are we, uh, content just in hearing, uh, an expository preacher who is just going line for line rather than hearing someone that has a, a new comedy act, you know, a new, a new joke to tell that week, you know, and he just can't wait to throw it in there or he's just up there, you know, telling you about his, his week and, uh, and it, and it sounds like it could just be a podcast, but, uh, but yeah,

32:46

I mean, it's like we, we have so many different things that could draw our attention away from Christ.

32:53

And I just really would love to see, you know, the church come back to saying, okay, this isn't about me and my next breakthrough.

33:02

This isn't about me and my next healing. This isn't about me, you know, running out there and trying to heal somebody and then tell them about the gospel.

33:12

No, this is like, we, we tell people about the gospel. We talk about Christ. We talk about, you know, the things that, that scripture says, right.

33:21

And, uh, and that's where our life, um, should be centered. Absolutely centered around.

33:27

Yeah. So one last point I had, and then if you wanted to add anything else to, uh, consumerism,

33:32

I noticed that consumerism also, uh, leads to jealousy, uh, which jealousy usually when.

33:42

Long -term in, in someone's life, then moves into envy, which is that next level up.

33:48

And I've been seeing a lot of people in our culture go right to envy. We're even setting policies. So let me unpack that a little bit.

33:55

Jealousy says, uh, I want what you have. Uh, I want it.

34:02

Envy takes it a step further and says, because I don't have it, you shouldn't have it either. And I should have it.

34:07

So envy actually takes it, takes it from you. Um, so when the Bible, uh, talks about God being righteously jealous after his children, um, he does, he rightly owns us and someone else owns, owns us when we idle worship and in turn and, and those things, it never says he's an envious

34:26

God, envious God, you know, envious says you shouldn't have it because I want it, which we're seeing even like political policies, like, you know,

34:34

Oh, the rich are too rich. They shouldn't have those things. They worked for because there's people who don't have it. So we've moved as a culture in from just normal jealousy through consumerism to now it's been infested with us for so long in this country.

34:46

We've now moved up into consumerism. That's just goes right to envious covetous covetousness.

34:52

Thank you. That's another word for it. Right. So, you know, consumerism when goes unchecked for a long time turns into jealousy and jealousy then turns into envy.

35:02

And then you get into a state that we're in this country that says, Hey, you who worked very hard, who use biblical principles, who, uh, you know, got up early, stayed up late, worked hard, read the, you know, just your life reads like a proverb you've made

35:20

X amount of money. But me over here who it says, you know, in Proverbs, the sluggard can barely raise his hand to turn over in bed because he doesn't want to get out.

35:29

Doesn't work. Doesn't have godly principles and goes, Oh no, you're not allowed to have that.

35:35

Those material goods of that money that you worked for so hard for because I don't have it. That's what consumerism ultimately leads to.

35:43

And we're seeing that in our country right now, even with the Marxism and the socialistic kind of rhetoric that we're hearing from.

35:51

You know, our political leaders and even, you know, laws that have been acted over the last five, 10, 15, 20 years that are trying to level the playing field, right?

35:59

We hear fair share, right? You know, I hate to break it to the Christians that want that, that love that fair share talk.

36:06

God is not fair, right? God is just fair is a man's idea of justice.

36:14

Justice is the bright legal action of God. Um, you know, I would love to have, make a t -shirt just as God isn't fair.

36:21

Yeah. You know, and then have someone go, what are you talking about? Yeah. Right. He's not fair. Yeah. Life isn't fair. Yeah. But God is just exactly.

36:30

You know, I read this thing. Oh man, it was a quote and I don't know who it was. If any listeners out there know who said it,

36:36

I saw this quote. I can't remember who said it, but it said, um, justice is getting exactly what we deserve.

36:44

Mercy is God withholding from us what we deserve. Grace is getting something we don't deserve. Yeah. Isn't that good?

36:50

Yeah. And it was, it's a famous, that was Todd white. No, it wasn't.

36:56

It was definitely not. If I had to pick my top three of who it might be, he would not be in the top.

37:04

Oh yeah. Well, oh man. So what else you got on consumerism? We'll wrap it up here. We're getting to the 40 minute mark.

37:09

I just said, I just had one more verse that I was going to share and share as many as you want. Yeah. Yeah. Right.

37:15

Um, Haggai one, five through six. Now, therefore, thus says the

37:22

Lord of hosts, consider your ways. You have so much and harvested little.

37:28

You eat, but you never have enough. You drink, but you never have your fill.

37:34

You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.

37:45

Wow. Yeah. That was, that was in your face. That was straight up into grill. I'm going to,

37:50

I'm going to end with, uh, one of my favorite, uh, versus Matthew six, 19 through 21.

37:56

And I'm sure everyone's heard it. Uh, do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves rather treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there.

38:16

Your heart will be also. Yeah. Amen. Isn't that powerful where you, where your treasures are, that's where your heart will be.

38:23

Yeah. So guess what? If you lay up treasures here on earth, that's where your heart is. It's focused on earth.

38:28

If you're laying treasures up in heaven, that's where your heart is up in heaven. Cool. Well guys, thank you so much for listening to this episode.

38:36

As always, uh, make sure you check us out on social media. We're on YouTube, Instagram, uh,

38:42

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38:49

We'll come right up. We do really appreciate all your follows and likes and reshares, um, your comments.

38:54

I know we, we, Jason and I get private messages as well with comments. We've had voicemails saying, Hey, we've been listening to the podcast.

39:01

We've been ministered to it, man. That stuff just, uh, just awesome. Just makes us so happy that we can bring glory to God.

39:07

Just two normal dudes sitting here talking about the Bible. Uh, you know, none of us have went to, uh, uh, you know, divinity school or, you know,

39:16

I have theological degrees or anything like that, but we love the Lord. We love the word. We love talking about it.

39:22

And we love that you guys love listening to it and then responding to it. Um, but as always, if you're on Apple or Spotify or any of those places too, where you're listening, leave us a review or a comment that always helps as well.

39:34

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39:40

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39:46

Yeah. You guys should jump on YouTube foam pads. Yeah. Check us out on YouTube. We've been getting a lot more traction on YouTube.

39:52

Uh, people watching the videos. Um, it was so funny when I first started listening to podcasts,

39:58

I said, who's going to watch a podcast. And now it's all I do is watch podcasts, dude. And I watch our podcast.

40:04

I watch other podcasts. I go, I don't know why I'm watching two people talk, but there's just something about it where, you know,

40:10

I get sucked into it. So we've seen an uptick on our viewership on YouTube. You guys can check us out there too. It's of course, dead men walking podcast.

40:17

But Jason, uh, before we go, did we have any final words? No. Well, thanks guys.