Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 939 | Russell Brand’s Jesus Journey & the State of the Race | Guest: Ron Simmons

Episode Date: January 24, 2024

Today we're giving a quick recap on the New Hampshire primary, where Donald Trump won and Nikki Haley claimed she has no intention of dropping out. Allie's dad, Ron Simmons, joins the show to break down our many questions on the upcoming election: What support does Nikki Haley actually have on the Right, and is Haley betting on Trump being incarcerated and unable to be the Republican candidate? Then, Russell Brand revealed that he's been reading the Bible and exploring Christianity. We explain why people like him are so needed in the commentary world and how exciting it is that he's exploring truth. We give a bit of advice on reading materials and encouragement for those in his position. We also take a look at a new mega-shark study that only further proves we don't actually know what dinosaurs (or things like "megalodon") looked like. Go to alliemerch.com to get our new Valentine's Day merch! --- Timecodes: (00:44) Intro / new merch (02:35) New Hampshire primary recap (07:59) Allie's dad on the primary race (32:16) Russell Brand explores Christianity (44:13) New dinosaur development --- Today's Sponsors: Naturally It's Clean — visit https://naturallyitsclean.com/allie and use promo code "ALLIE" to receive 15% off your order. If you are an Amazon shopper you can visit https://amzn.to/3IyjFUJ, but the promo code discount is only valid on their direct website at www.naturallyitsclean.com/Allie. Carly Jean Los Angeles — use promo code RELATABLE25 for $25 off an order of $125 or more, or RELATABLE50 for $50 off an order of $200 or more at CarlyJeanLosAngeles.com! Jase Medical — get up to a year’s worth of many of your prescription medications delivered in advance. Go to JaseMedical.com today and use promo code “ALLIE". Patriot Mobile — go to PatriotMobile.com/ALLIE or call 972-PATRIOT and use promo code 'ALLIE' to get a free smart phone with activation! --- Relevant Episodes: Ep 902 | Kat Von D on Becoming a Christian https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-902-kat-von-d-on-becoming-a-christian/id1359249098?i=1000633896154 Ep 861 | Did Dinosaurs Exist? | Guest: Ken Ham (Part One) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-861-did-dinosaurs-exist-guest-ken-ham-part-one/id1359249098?i=1000625452083 Ep 862 | Can Christians Be Evolutionists? | Guest: Ken Ham (Part Two) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-862-can-christians-be-evolutionists-guest-ken-ham/id1359249098?i=1000625594270 --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise – use promo code 'ALLIE10' for a discount: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey

Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort.

We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Russell Brand is reading mere Christianity. We are going to talk about the faith journey that he has been on according to his social media posts and how exciting I think that is. We are also going to talk to my dad about the New Hampshire primary that happened yesterday. what the results mean and what we can expect going forward.

And we've got the latest in Dino news at the end of this episode that you do not want to miss. This episode is brought to by our friends at Good Ranchers. Go to Go to GoToDrengers.com. Use code Alley to check out. That's good ranchers.com code alley. Hey guys, welcome to relatable. Happy Wednesday. I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far.

All right. Like I said, we've got my dad here. He's going to give us his analysis not just on the New Hampshire primary, the state of the race. but also going to give us some encouragement because I've just been feeling, I don't know, kind of sad this week about the state of our country and politics, which you might think, well, I mean, shouldn't we always kind of be bummed about that? I mean, it's not like things have been going that great for the past few years, but I don't know, I guess realizing that we are about to be thrown into what is probably

going to be a chaotic storm of an election year. I guess I just have some trepidation about that. But my dad is really, really good about giving us perspective and giving us encouragement. So you're going to love that interview as you always love the interviews with my dad. But before we get into some of that, I do want to remind you, especially related bros out there, that you're related gal in your life. She wants relatable merch. Okay. She just does. She wants our self-love won't save you. Merch. We'll put that up. if you're watching on YouTube. We've got our four new shirts. We've got a chambray color.

And guys, if you don't know what that is, that's like a light blue. We've got a purple. We've got a red. We've got an ivory. And then we've got the crunex sweatshirts. I don't even have my product in yet. I'm super excited about those crunex.

We've got our totes. And we've also got the same design on a sticker. Check that out. Alliemerge.com. The related gal in your life will love it. Or related gals, get that Valentine's Day gift for yourself. Not in the name of self-love. just because I'm telling you to.

Okay, let's talk about this New Hampshire primary. So before we get started with my dad, I'll just give you a little bit of information. Yesterday was the primary in New Hampshire. And going into this, Trump was leading with a 53.9 percent. And Nikki Haley was at 36.3%. So Nikki Haley, honestly, pretty competitive. And with DeSantis dropping out, obviously both candidates are vying for the votes of his supporters. And so here's what Nikki Haley said to the DeSantis supporters who are looking forward to voting

for him in the primary who obviously are not going to now. She said what we say to DeSantis voters is it's time for a new generation, which is just I think like a funny line considering that she has been a politician for so long and she's older than him, but whatever. What we say to DeSantis voters is it's time for a new generation. It's time to stop the chaos. It's time to stop the noise and get America back on track. We know that DeSantis supporters love America and we know that they want a new generational conservative leader. And so what we're saying is we're going to fight for you. We're going to earn your support. Okay. Independent voters make up roughly 40% of the electorate and can vote in either major parties contest in New Hampshire. My dad will

explain a little bit more of that and how that may be played into the results. So Nikki Haley's we'll talk about. She came in second. And here she is saying, you know what? I'm not dropping out. Not now. New Hampshire is first in the nation. It is not the last in the nation. This race is far from over. There are dozens of states left to go. All right. So she's going to continue going. Her next primary or the next primary is in South Carolina. February 24th. Now obviously people are calling for Nikki Haley to drop out Trump supporters like J.D. Vance. He said, congrats to Donald Trump and the entire team on a decisive victory in New Hampshire. At this point, Haley can either drop out or help the Democrats. So that's where things are right now. She's going to hold on. And we'll see what happens. I'll leave the

rest of the commentary on that to my dad that he'll be giving in just a second. Meanwhile, while that was happening, President Biden spoke at a pro-abortion rally in Virginia yesterday. And here's what the president had to say. Hello, Virginia. And the real governor, Terry McCullough. Okay. So as Megan Kelly said, election denialism is only bad if your name is Trump. If Trump, something like this if he had gone to a Democrat run state and he said oh the real governor is ex-Republican i mean there i mean joy reed would have had a connipion we would have had a thousand op eds about how this is dangerous rhetoric that undermines democracy but because the dementia patient and the white house said it oh it's just cute and it's just sweet uncle joe um so it's actually

kind of funny but also sad i'm not saying that Trump's mental state is the same place as Biden's is. But both the Twitter pages, like the war room Twitter pages for the Biden campaign and the Trump campaign are both posting videos of the other candidate talking incoherently, saying things that just do not make sense. And again, I think that Trump is much more coherent and eloquent than Joe Biden is, but both of them are getting up there. They're very far up there. And so, So they say things that just leave you scratching your head and you're like, what was actually said.

So that's going to be also the next several months of our life. All right. That's enough of my commentary on that. My dad has a lot of good things to say. Dad, thank you so much for joining us again. We are going to talk about a lot of things. I'm going to talk about New Hampshire first. Yesterday, Trump got 54.55% of the vote.

Haley, 43.2%. So just tell us, what is your take on the state of the race? DeSantis dropping out, these last two people, what's going on? Well, you know, there was a lot of talk about maybe some Democrats because New Hampshire has an open primary, much like Texas, actually, is that you don't have to declare whether you're a Republican or Democrat. You can vote in either you can vote for Democrat or vote for Republican in the primaries. And so a lot of people thought that there was going to be a lot of Democrats voting. for Haley to try to make Trump look bad. And there probably was some of that.

But when I looked at the numbers from the prior elections, for example, in 2020, when there was a contested Democrat primary, there were about 286,000 New Hampshireites, I guess, that voted in the Democrat primary and about only 155,000 in the Republican primary. In 2016, where both of them were contested, because remember Obama had gone to his term limits, there were 200,000 Democrats voted and 285,000 Republicans voted. And this year, in 2024, there were 300,000 Republicans vote and a little over 100,000 Democrats vote. So it tells me that it really was mostly Republicans that voted in the Republican primary. A lot of Democrats stayed home because Biden,

obviously he didn't even participate. He just did a right-in thing. So I don't think it was quite that. So that tells me that moderate Republicans, which are a lot of the people in New Hampshire, we would consider them moderate, certainly socially moderate, if not physically moderate, there is some concern about former President Trump with that particular part of the electorate, and therefore they voted for Ambassador Haley. Okay, we do have a video of a Democrat.

saying, yeah, I voted for Nikki Haley. Here's SOT 1. Nikki Haley. And why did you vote for Nikki Haley? It's a vote against Trump. I think it would be better to have her against Biden in the elections, then it would be Trump and her. Do you consider yourself generally, independent, Republican, or Democrat?

Democrat. So when you undeclared, you voted for Nikki Haley. if it was Nikki Haley against Joe Biden in a general election, who are you voting for? Joe Biden. Yeah, that's interesting. That's just one person, but I do think that's a strategy. I guess he is trying to say, either he's trying to say that he thinks Nikki Haley is more likely to lose against Joe Biden, or he's trying to say, well, if Nikki Haley won, I'd be happier with that than I would with Trump.

I mean, some people just, they'll do whatever it takes not to have Trump in office. Yeah, I think he's really trying to say I'm ignorant. Yeah, maybe. And what I mean about that is if he looked at the polls, Nikki Haley actually beats Biden worse than Donald Trump beats Biden. I do. So that's just, I don't know what the guy is thinking. He just did something somebody told him to, right? Most people are sheep, unfortunately.

And he just was led to slaughter on that one. Okay. So Nikki Haley, there are a lot of people in the Republican Party, the Trump Party, the don't like Nikki Haley, they call her a warmonger. They think that she's far too moderate. She flip-flops, they say, on things like abortion and gender issues. Obviously, these culture war issues that conservatives care a lot about. I mean, you don't have to give your personal opinion on Nikki Haley, but what is your, what is your thought about what support Nikki Haley actually has on the right? Hey, this is Steve Dase. If you're listening to Allie,

you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you, about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV

or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Yeah, and I think that it's difficult in the primary because generally what happens in most primaries in any state is that the further right you are, the more likely you are to win the primary because the further you are on extremes, whether it's right or left, alley, those people are more charged up about voting, right? the people in the middle, especially in a primary, are not necessarily as excited about even going to the polls. And that's disappointing. It's not the right thing to do. And that's why we need to make sure that your audience gets out there and vote, whether they're right, left, or middle. They need to get out there and vote because if we let the extremes of each party control who's going to be elected, then we're always going to get some type of what might be considered by some an extremist government. And Nikki Haley doesn't fall on the extreme either side.

She's more of what we would consider a traditional conservative Republican. And yeah, there are some personal things that I might disagree with her on. But I will tell you that she will be a better president if elected than anybody that's being considered, especially Joe Biden, on the Democrat side, in my opinion. Yeah. But it's probably not going to be her. It's probably going to be Donald Trump. I would say that Trump was not the most conservative person in the field.

I think DeSantis was probably just looking issue by issue, probably the most conservative candidate. Obviously, DeSantis couldn't get the support that he needed. I don't think DeSantis being as conservative as he was. Certainly, I don't think that he would have been any kind of like extremist leader. I just worry about someone like Nikki Haley and a little bit about Donald Trump too, that they're going to be too compromising. on the things that I care about.

But obviously, I agree with you that they're better than Biden. Yeah, you know, it's interesting. You brought up Governor DeSantis. And it's just, I did a social media thing on this the other day. And it's just confusing to me. I can't tell you how many people, and probably you experienced this as well in messages that you get, how many people told me, look, I love the policies of the Trump administration if he would just, but not be so bombastic or so condescending.

or just get off of Twitter X more, I would be 100% behind him. Well, you had that in Ron DeSantis. His policies were every bit as conservative as anything the Trump administration did. He's proven that as a governorship. And yet he wasn't bombastic. He wasn't someone out there that sought personal attention. And yet he didn't get the traction related to that. So it's disappointing to me that people.

vote for someone that they like or someone that they feel like has the pizzazz and that type of thing. Because really, you're not voting for the person. Will you understand this, folks? You are voting for the policies that his or her administration puts into place. All right? I don't care if they've got a green head. If they've got the right policies, that's how we should vote. And, you know, people who vote for Trump in the primaries, they, of course, would say that they do

like his policies and they would point to plenty of his accomplishments. And they just don't feel that it is DeSantis's time yet. I disagree with that. I think it would be better to have someone a little bit younger. I think that DeSantis is more conservative than Trump. But, you know, people like Donald Trump. I get it. They really like Donald Trump. They think that he didn't get the opportunity to have the eight years that they really wanted him to have. And so they want him to have a second chance. But what is your thought about the legal obstacles that he faces? It looks like he's the presumptive at this point. Haley said she's not dropping out. I think the Trump is going to take the nomination. But do you think he's going to be able to overcome all of these indictments that Democrats, I think,

shamefully have thrown toward him? You know, I think that he will be indicted. Well, he's been indicted. I think he'll be convicted one of these cases because they're held in large Democrat areas where the jury pool when there is a jury will be almost exclusively Democrat. But I do think that he will be exonerated in a sense by either an appeals court or the Supreme Court. And here's one of the reasons why. And I know that courts don't necessarily like to get involved in the political side of it. But if you go down this road where it's obvious that every single case against him has been brought by a Democrat, every single thing as a political motivation behind it, the worst one probably being the one in New York,

relating to the banks and what have you, then the Supreme Court allows that to stand. It's going to unleash the future of our electorate or electoral process like we've never seen before in doing the same thing. Because you know what? As they say, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. And Republicans will do the same thing. if this door is open. So I think the Supreme Court will shut the door and say,

let the people decide. And again, I think it's going to be close. I do think Donald Trump can win, but I think it's going to be very, very clear. He's probably the only, he's probably the, he probably can win, but he's also probably the only guy that could lose to Joe Biden that's on the Republican side, only candidate.

I think that too. And dad, let me just tell you, I have gotten a lot, a lot of hate and a lot of anger. and a lot of anger over the past couple days for saying that. I mean, people know I voted for Trump in 16 and 2020. My personal opinion, and I hope that I'm wrong about this, my personal opinion is that Donald Trump may not be able to beat Joe Biden. And it's not that I agree with the people that will vote against Donald Trump.

It is because he has these legal obstacles. We already saw in 2020 that these progressive institutions nationally, internationally all said that we're doing everything possible to keep him from getting in the White House. Now you have not only those people, but you've also got the January 6th problem that people are going to point to. I feel like he's only gotten less popular, at least with people who support Joe Biden. And so I'm just afraid that he's not able, that he's not able to do it. That's my biggest concern. And people get really angry at me when I say that. I hope I I hope I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong. But then you've got the RFK issue. He's going to be taking a lot of votes.

Yeah, I think the RFK issue will split on both sides, honestly. But I do think, first of all, anybody that's angry with you, just tell him to come through me first, okay? Because we've got issues with that one. And then secondly, I get that. And I'm going to vote for Trump in 16 and 20. I'm going to vote for him again in 24. If he's a nominee, and we're going to know whether or not he's a nominee. And, oh, just about. five, six weeks because Super Tuesday comes on March the 5th. And no matter what Nikki Haley has done between now and then, this race and the Republican primary will be over by March the 5th. No question about it. Now, I want to say something real quick, though, I want to encourage your people, because I know you have listeners all over the country, do not stay home if you're a Republican, even a Democrat, okay? I want everybody to vote. But don't stay home because you think it's a fade of complete for the president. Those down ballot people need to either get your vote or vote against them by voting for somebody else. But please don't stay home because you think it's going

to be Trump or you think it's going to be Biden. You need to vote down ballot. November. I'm talking about in the primary as well. They need to vote in the primary. Well, a lot of people are very discouraged because, and we understand this is how it works. You've got the Iowa caucus. You've got the New Hampshire primary. But I think a lot of people living in the other states feel like, wow, I didn't even get to, I didn't even get to voice my support for DeSantis or whoever they were going to vote for. They feel like Iowa just decided it for all of them, and they're very disappointed about that. I do see that a lot of people are going to be too demoralized to go out and vote in the primary, and I can sympathize with that.

Well, I, well, I can sympathize with it, but it is a dereliction of our duty as a citizen. It's kind of like I talk about in my book. You want to be a participant. or a crusader. A participant does just exactly what you're talking about. When things don't go their way, they usually take their ball and kind of go home and maybe they'll have opinions, you know, from the peanut gallery. But that's not what we want. We need people that are listening to your show and watching your show to be crusaders, to be out there. And I get it. It feels like your vote doesn't count. But believe me, if 100,000 people go out there and vote that we're individually thinking, their vote didn't count. It makes a huge difference. Or 10,000. In some local races, maybe it's 500. So I want you to be a crusader, not just a participant that usually just chirps, right? Let's be

action people, not be people of just words. Is there any possibility that if things go south for Trump legally that Nikki Haley being in second place could take the nomination? Is that how it would work? Do you think that's what she's better at? So I think she's holding her car just in case because she doesn't know either. And I think that's smart for her. Now, what will determine whether or not she stays active in the race is money. That's what it always determines, right? So it's not that she can't stay on the ballot, but she may not be able to be as active

after maybe even South Carolina, certainly after March 2nd, just because the donors will probably have quit giving to her. Now, what can also happen, we can talk about this later, but the convention is something that I need to explain to people in the future as to how that could work if something happened to either Donald Trump or Joe Biden. Who do you think is going to be Trump's VP pick? What's your prediction? I think it will be a lady. Okay. And I think a good pick, assuming that they want to do it, would be like a lady.

like a governor, like Christy Noem, might be a pick for that. Someone in that Sarah Huckabee Sanders could be a pick for that. The only negative about either of those is their states are solidly Republican already, so you don't really pick up votes. But I'm not sure that's important for Trump. You know what I mean? I mean, Trump is such a populist candidate that he's going to be so domineering. I would have a lady, if I was him as my vice president,

first of all, because I think we have a lot of qualified women in the Republican Party that are just at that level ready to explode. And the two ladies that I've mentioned are two of them, and I'm sure there's more. But we'll just have to see as to who that is. I don't think it'll be DeSantis. Although whoever it is, we'll have the frontrunner's choice in 2008. There's no question about it. They will be the assumptive Republican nominee in 2008.

Yeah, I said the other day that I would like Sarah Sanders. Now, I know Arkansas would be very sad to lose her because she's a great governor, but I also agree with you. It's not like he needs help winning Arkansas. But I just really like her. I really like her. And I think a lot of other suburban moms really like her. She's relatable, but also strong.

And so we'll see. We'll see. That'll be interesting. She's a no nonsense. And I like, you know, no nonsense is what we need. And she's not going to be intimidated by the press. And she's not, in other words, the show will not, the stage will not be too big for her. No.

And she's handled it. She obviously handled that as the press secretary. Well, this is going to be a crazy year. And if I'm honest, I don't know if other people feel this way, but I've just kind of, I don't know. This week, I've just been anxious about it. It's been a weird week. And I am just kind of worried about what 2024 holds.

I don't have any specific predictions, but there just seems to be a lot going on at once that puts us in a very precarious spot. So tell me what you think. You don't think. Well, it's not much different. It's really not much different than in the past. I mean, if you look at history,

there have been elections that have been a lot tighter than the ones that we've seen. And what generally happens is, is yes, these are unusual candidates. No question about it. Ronald Reagan was an unusual candidate. Remember, people would say he was just an ex-actor and whatever. Yeah, he had been a governor, but people didn't look at him that way.

I mean, Jimmy Carter was a governor of a small state peanut farmer, and people thought, oh, the world's going to come to an end, you know, people on my side of the fence or whatever, and it just doesn't happen that way. The great thing about democracies is that things tend to change slowly. Now, we have had a rapid acceleration of that. due to COVID and some, you know, where we allowed as a people, in a sense, the government to gain more control, a little bit like we did after 9-11, which I would say that we all need to be careful about in the future. But the day-to-day things that people live their lives about, okay, those things change very slowly.

And I have more faith in the American people than I do in any individual. And what usually happens is things adjust to the mean. And the mean of our country is that we're a law-abiding country, that we care about others, not only in our country, but in others, okay? And that we believe that we want to have leaders that fit within a parameter that uphold those values. And I get it, we're being attacked by different value systems and all that type of stuff. But I believe the silent majority, which represents the 65 to 70 percent that falls inside the extremes are the ones that ultimately make. the decisions for this country? I hope so. I do hope that you're right. I just look at the Biden administration coming after its political opponents in a variety of ways. I mean, people literally going to

jail for peaceful protesting, pro-life protesters, and then you've got everything happening at the border. Oh, my goodness. There's just a lot. There's a lot. It's a very politically tense moment and everything Donald Trump is going through, people fearing that this election isn't going to be fair. Thankfully, we know that God is on his throne, and that's the only place that I really find peace. But there's, well, and that's the way we should find peace, but there's no question that there will be concerned. There will be tents and all that type of stuff. But I will tell you that ultimately American people always end up winning. When I say winning, I mean, within their own system. And I, listen, in hearing you tell some of the,

the stories you tell us and some of the other podcasts I listen to and the people that are listening, I'm very encouraged, especially about people of the age of your audience. I think America's future is going to be great. Now, will we go through some turmoil to get there again? Yeah, but I absolutely believe in the millennial generation and Gen X and not quite sure about Gen Z, but I'm praying for them. And I believe that we can, you know, that our, the better days are going to become it. I think we're going to have a huge revival in this country. And I don't know when that's going to be, but I absolutely believe that's going to happen. Well, I hope so. That's true. You and mom do get all of the positive sweet messages that that I get. And God is always really faithful to

send me those messages when I'm most discouraged. And so I appreciate that. And I do agree. People's minds can change and are changing in a lot of very positive ways. So thank you for that encouragement. All right. Just remind people about your book quickly and then where they can get that book and we'll put it we'll put the cover up on the screen if you're watching on youtube okay yeah sure my book is life lessons from the little red wagon and uh you can find that on amazon or anywhere that you buy books you can get the audible version if you're a ronald regan fan ronald ragan i'm not going to tell you how i did this but ronel ragan helped me read a portion of this book so if you're ronald rachel fan go to audible and download that i think you'll

enjoy it yes you will the audiobook is really really good so i encourage you people to go check it out. Very, very, very encouraging book. Easy to read to with a lot of good lessons. So thank you so much, Dad. And my dad will be back soon. He'll be giving us election updates and analysis periodically throughout the year. So y'all can look forward to that. I know you like these segments. Thanks, Dad. And enjoy your vacation. All right. I will. See you. Bye. Bye, Shosh, we need. Okay. Switching gears now. I want to talk about Russell Brand. So I think Russell Brand is one of the most fascinating people. I really like following him, seeing his takes, listening to him. He's just extremely refreshing, obviously a critical,

independent thinker. I'm sure there are plenty of things that we don't agree on. I don't think he's, you know, the same kind of traditional conservative that I am, but he does encourage people to question and to think through things and not to just listen to all of the talking points that are parroted to them, but to really be inquisitive and to ask the right questions and to not be controlled by propaganda. And I really appreciate that about him. I think he's really courageous and calling out a lot of the lies that we are told by the establishment, by the most powerful entities. And we need voices like that. We need independent voices, voices that aren't necessarily partisan who maybe are stepping outside of the traditional political binary and saying,

I got questions about both sides of this. So I think that he has had a very positive impact on people and getting people to just critically think through things. And he has been posting recently about his faith and how he is learning more about Christianity, which is awesome. I think some people would have maybe considered him, I don't even know if there's one label that you could give, but some people may have considered him kind of woo-woo. he's very into yoga, like he's very spiritual in that sense. And so maybe some people even would have said that he's kind of new age. I don't know that he has ever expressed traditionally his affinity toward Christianity. But recently he's been talking about it more.

I find it very exciting. So here's a clip of him talking about why he wears a cross. I need a personal relationship with God. It occurred to me that if instead of always talking to myself inwardly, I could replace one of those voices with an indwelling God. He says in Galatians, it is our job to die so that as Christ died on the cross, he might be reborn in us. I'm very interested to hear what you think, because for me, my heart is open. Yeah, you know what? That is so interesting. And before that, we couldn't play the entire video, but he says, the reason I wear a cross is because

Christianity and in particular the figure of Christ are it seems to me inevitably becoming more important as I become more familiar with suffering purpose self and not self. Now does he believe that Jesus was a real man really God made flesh who came to earth in a virgin birth and lived a sinless life and then died on the cross for our sins and was raised again three days later and now stands at the right hand of God. I don't know if he believes literally in all of those things or if he sees Christ more as a figure, more as a metaphor, more as someone to emulate rather than a God to worship. I'm not sure exactly where he is, but I'm excited to see this. And I love that he's talking about it. And you know, God is so faithful and the Word of God does not return void. So even hearing

him quote Galatians, it's exciting to me because I so trust. the Lord and I so trust the power of his word that no matter where Russell Brand is right now on his spiritual journey, I can be so enthused about the fact that he is reading the Bible and that he is considering that he's considering Christ. And he posted also just the other day, maybe it was yesterday actually that the post went up on Instagram that he's reading two books right now. And one of them is mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. And the other one is, yep, there it is, and the other one is purpose-driven life by Rick Warren. Now, these are two very different books. I'm not the biggest fan of Rick Warren. He is considerably more to the left

than I am. I'm not calling him a communist or anything like that. But he's certainly egalitarian when it comes to gender roles and the roles of women in the church. He's been very outspoken about that and I might have made an error and I do want to apologize for that I think I said on Instagram that he was pro same-sex unions and I should have been more careful before saying that so I apologize because I'm not sure if that's entirely true he said something recently that made me think that he was wavering on that but you know what before I said that I should have I should have checked I should have thought more carefully about that so I do apologize but regardless of that issue

Rick Warren is more of a prosperity preacher than I would say is biblical than I would say is good. So I'm not in alignment with everything that Rick Warren says, theologically, I personally have not read purpose-driven life. A lot of you have shared your concerns with me. And so I'm sure that I am in line with my reformed brothers and sisters when it comes to the problems with purpose-driven life. However, I am still very excited to see this post. First of all, mere Christianity is one of the greatest contributions to the church that exists. I don't even agree with C.S. Lewis on everything theologically. But gosh, that is such a transformative book. It's such a foundational book to

encourage people to think about the existence of absolute truth, the necessary existence of God, the existence and the reality of Christ. made flesh, it was life-changing for me. I mean, God used that book when I was in high school to really just create in me an appetite for theology and for apologetics and thinking through my faith and taking my faith seriously. C.S. Lewis was the author to introduce me really to the world of theology and the world of apologetics. And I realized in high school that Christianity has such a rich intellectual history. to be explored. And so I love that Russell Brand. I love that Russell Brand is reading

Mary Christianity. And I would just encourage you if you see him post things that you're like, I'm not so sure. Gosh, why is he listening to Rick Warren? Or why is he reading that book? Or why is he, you know, saying these other things that don't seem to be in line with Christianity? Like, let's just allow the Holy Spirit to do his work. I know that when I was in high school, when I first started taking my faith seriously, that I was reading a lot of different things, a lot of different things. I mean, a very wide range of authors. And I would not recommend all of these authors today. Like I was reading Rob Bell. I was reading Donald Miller. I was reading Stephen Ferdick. And then I was also reading David Platt and Tim Keller and Matt Chandler and C.S. Lewis and John

Piper. I mean, I was reading all kinds of people when I was in high school because I was just devouring whatever Christian book and whatever sermon people were giving to me. And the Lord is so faithful to give us to sermon and to give us wisdom and to surround us with the people that he needs to surround us with. It was really the gifting of the ESV study Bible from a friend of mine when I was going into my sophomore year of college that kind of refined my theological beliefs and kind of put me on the path towards reformed theology, and I'm very thankful for that. But let us just be so encouraging of Russell Brand and anyone, not just a celebrity, but anyone that we see wrestling with their faith, working out their salvation, perhaps, we don't know where

people are on their journey. And it's really easy to discount someone because they seem to be embracing something or someone that is not representing, you know, biblical truth. but God is really faithful. He's really faithful and he's really powerful. And there's a lot of power in prayer too. Like we should be praying for these people. Again, not just Russell Brand, but anyone that we see on this path. And it's so easy when someone has a public platform like that for us to point fingers and for us to expect them to be perfect in their faith and perfect in their message. But you know what? Public people are still fallible people. They're still finite people. And so let us be gracious. let us be patient, just as we would want and do want for ourselves, because no matter where you are

on your spiritual journey, there are going to be things that you get wrong. And I hope I'm making that clear about myself that I certainly don't think that I was on some journey of sanctification, and now I have all of my theology figured out. Of course, that's not true. I learn new things every year. It's even interesting to look back just like five years ago and I'm like, oh, I didn't understand that then or I thought that then and that wasn't true. That wasn't in line with scripture. Again, God is just so faithful and so persistent. And so I'm really thankful for that. I'm thankful for his testimony. Pastor Greg Lorry responded to Russell Brand when he was, you know, has been posting things like this. He posted a long letter addressed him in which he

explained that he was once put off. Greg Lorry was once put off by Christians until he heard the gospel. And so explain the gospel to him Babylon B. CEO Seth Dillon wrote if he, if Russell Brand is not a Christian already, he may get there soon. The important question he needs to answer for himself is not whether Christianity is useful, but whether it is true. And that is absolutely, absolutely true. Independent presidential candidate, RFK Jr. replied to Brand's video simply brilliant. So that's really, it's really interesting. It's really interesting to see all of this. Russell Brand, I would love for you to come on relatable like Kat Mondi did and talk about your face. and talk about theology.

I think that that would be, I think that would be fun and very encouraging for me. All right. Just a couple other things that I want to talk about, but I wanted to give you that good news that God is working. God is working in people and changing minds. Absolutely. My dad was right to bring that up. And that is just, it's so true.

And we can be so uplifted by that. Okay. We don't have time to talk about all the things that I want. want to talk about. We had like a whole segment plans that has to do with surrogacy and sperm donation might need to just dedicate a, we might just need to save these actually. We might just need to save these for another day because they all go together. You know what? I think I'm about to make a game time decision. Uh-oh, I'm going to make a game time decision here. And you know what we're going to talk about, Bree, instead of talking about those subjects, we're going to

talk about dinosaurs. I thought you might go there. I went there. Okay. And, uh, okay. So here's what, here's what is sparking today's discussion of dinosaurs, which per usual is going to make people angry. So this is from the Washington Post, and this was posted on January 21st.

uh, megaladone study reignites debate over. extinct sharks. Okay? So this is what the Wapho says. A new study published in the journal, Paleontology Electronica, a bunch of nerds, is fueling the ongoing debate about what the Megalodon really looked like and what its role was in ancient ocean ecosystems. The extinct shark, megalodon is often imagined as a beefy, supersized great white with a gaping

maw of pointy teeth, capping off a powerful body. and 50 feet from nose to tail. Now a team of more than two dozen scientists argues that the megalodon may have been slimmer and longer than previous estimates. According to the Washington Post, the otodus

Megalodon has been extinct for 3.6 million years. According to the Washington bus. 3.6 million years. Okay. If you're just listening to this, I have my eyebrows raised to that. Okay. So now they're saying that it looks different.

And here's what I think is pertinent to our conversation about dinosaurs. Much of what is known about the Megalodon's body stems from a collection of 141 pieces of its backbone. Discovered in the 1860s in Belgium. Okay, can we just talk about for a second that a lot of weird stuff was happening in the late 1800s? Okay. There's a lot of weird religious stuff happening. A lot of strange discoveries happening in the late. 1900s. I just think it's interesting that so much of paleontology and so much of what we know about

Darwinism and so much of what we know apparently about the world and philosophy and all that stuff happened in the late 19th century. I just think it's interesting. And okay, so this was happening in Belgium. Okay. In 1860s, we found 141 pieces of its backbone. And then from there, from there. We decided that it is a megalodon. Okay? This huge fat shark with tons of teeth.

And now they're saying, well, maybe not. In modern day, Great whites, there's a mathematical relationship between the width of their vertebrae and their total length. Okay?

So it's not like they just completely guessed. In the 1990s, scientists applied that to the megalodon, vertebrae, and calculated that the Belgian specimen must have been 30 feet long. I don't know. I don't know.

It must have been. It must have been. Okay. Here's what Michael got freed, a vertebrae paleontologist in Michigan State University who is not involved in the new study has to say. We're trying to speculate on something based on the very incomplete pool of evidence. Huh. Huh. That's interesting, Michael.

That's so interesting. That's kind of what I've been saying about dinosaurs. Oh, cute. At the end of the day, I don't think it brings us that much closer to knowing what Megalodon really looks like, says Robert Bosenacker, a coastal paleontologist at the nonprofit Charleston Center for paleontology who is not involved in the news study. Outside experts said the studies on different parts of the Megalodon still use speculation to arrive at their different interpretation. Yeah, dinosaurs are speculation. You know what's funny is they did this whole stuff. And then some guy came in and said,

yeah, this doesn't actually get us closer to knowing anything. Yeah, nothing. Like, how much money did you spend doing this to learn nothing? I know. I'm picturing like what happened in the Washington Post newsroom. Like, you got Megalodon? I got Megalodon. I'm going to do what I've been covering Megalodon since 1890.

I knew this day was coming. We were going to find out he was slim and slender. I don't know. All I'm saying is that. this triceratops you know what he might have just been a hippo is all i'm saying like maybe a large hippo now this would be sad because if you remember i'm pretty sure that baby bop on barney was a triceratops yeah i think so and so you're telling me the baby bop was it real what is barney supposed to be Barney is

Barney looks like a hippo Oh, that's a good question What kind of dinosaur Was Barney? Does anyone know in this room? A T-Rex? No, he was definitely not A T-Rex? Oh my gosh.

A T-Rex? Picture T-Rex Barney and how terrifying that would be. Oh, he's a T-Rex. No way. Yeah, he's a purple T-Rex. Purple T-Rex. He was a T-Rex. He didn't have sharp teeth.

True. but he doesn't have little arms. Yeah, he has little arms. Not as little as they say. Well, on YouTube, we're going to have to pull up a picture because Joe was right and I was wrong. I was thinking there's no way. But you know, the existence of Barney just goes to show how little we actually know about T-Rexes because I thought T-Rexes looked one way. And then they put out this like plush purple and green. Barney has flat teeth. Okay. Barney is an earth. above war. That's why I am confused about this. I'm Bree is looking. I'm looking at pictures of Barney. There's no, I cannot believe that Barney is a T-Rex. Look at his little arms. Barney T-Rex. I'm looking it up right now.

Okay, very strange pictures. Oh, I said that's because I said, I said Barbie T-Rex. And I was like, why? A picture of Barbie in a dinosaur outfit that comes up. Okay, yes, we'll have to pull this up. Wow, wow, wow, wow. Barney really was a T-Rex.

I had no idea. Do we think the T-Rexes were really purple and green? I mean, if they were that cute, then. Maybe. Yeah. I just can't get over the flat teeth thing. This is just, wow, this is rocking my world, changing my childhood.

Okay. Anyway, all that to say, I'm just saying, all I'm saying is that we don't know what dinosaurs looked like. We don't know what they sounded like. We don't know what their skin was. Remember that hair doesn't fossilize. They could have had long, they could have had mohawks. They could have had long hair. We have no idea. We don't know. And of course, I don't agree. I'm sorry, I don't agree with the age of the earth being tens of millions of years. I just don't. I just don't. I can go. Listen to my interviews with Ken Ham, if you want more on that. Okay, so that's the latest. That's the latest in the history of dinosaurs is sketchy news. You don't get mad at me. All you want to, I'm just saying baby Bob was probably a hippo. Okay, that's all we got time for today. We'll be back here tomorrow.

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