Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 647 | Phil & Jase’s Movie & TV Reviews, the State of Faith-Based Films & 'Cheers' in Church?!

Episode Date: March 13, 2023

The guys spend a lot of time giving their reviews of recent faith-based movies and television. Zach has insider insight as a producer of the movie about Phil’s life. The guys look to 2 Peter for advice on what to do about media and the portrayal of biblical principles. Plus, the Bible’s complex history as a book, not just as the word of God.  In this episode: 2 Peter 1, verse 16; John 17, verse 17; 1 Peter 2, verses 23-24; 1 John 1, verses 5-7 "The Blind" hits theaters this fall. Get updates, trailers, behind-the-scenes moments, and special opportunities here: https://theblindmovie.com — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am Unashamed What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed It's always good to have Zach in the house We never know if we'll happen the whole time He just, he's kind of like a ghost He just floats in and out

He just comes and he goes He's like a mist, Jase Yeah I was there yesterday Diva-like status Yeah you were there but we were having a discussion I noticed you usually tend to fade out right after a really strong, you know, point or you really make a case for something that's

really strong. Then you're just, before we can rebut or... Well, he was kind of... Comment, then just... He was kind of taking, you know, me on. Yeah. About whatever it was. Right.

And then he's like, I said my... He said his piece. And then he's like, talk to the mic. I wasn't taking you on. I was just... I was just... giving a word of caution not to move quickly into Gnosticism. That's all I was doing.

I was taking you on. I got to look this up. Let me see if I'm getting. There's a word of the day. There's a word of the day. It starts with the G. Don't be full there, Jay. That's a salad G.

Who in the world knows what Gnosticism means? I know what it means. Do you? Yeah. Well, what is it? Oh, look. It starts with the G. Look, I'm typing it like I'm sending it as a message.

And I was like, there's nothing coming out. I was sending a Nosticism a message. What would be the message that Nosticism needs to hear? G-N- what? O-S-T-I-C-I-S. Look there, it came up. Oh, man, long definition. Oh.

Actually, I think it's very apropos for where we're fixing to go in this. Now, whoever wrote this, because this is not inspired. This is coming from the internet. Why is that funny? It was good you said it wasn't inspired. Well, these people are world, you know. I get a message every other day. Yes, my account, my Twitter account has been hacked.

I just say that. I'm not even sure with this. Let's keep that going because we've been talking about that for two weeks. And I'm getting hammered on Twitter. People are like, your brother. I don't know about the computer. They're like, dude, I ain't paying. $600 for that, you know, would you do it for five?

I'm like, it's not me. It's not me. We can't, look, all of our Twitter contacts are gone. I don't know. It's hard to get a whole. If you know anybody at Twitter, just, they reach out to us because, yeah, we got to get Jay's fixed up. I try to eat long must. I told my assistant, I said, start at the top.

And she said, what do you mean? I was like, try to get a hold of him. Tell him, you're, you're, because everyone. Every once in a while he'll just randomly answer. That's what I said. So I don't know. I'm waiting on the call. Somebody told me, this is true.

Somebody told me that they got Elon Musk cell phone. And they swear it was his actual cell phone and texted him about this particular issue and never got a response. So I don't know. They also said he changes his cell phone number every six months. So it could be an old number. Oh, so we did theoretically send him a text saying we theory. Yeah, he has. We have a number.

that has been reported to the Elon Musk phone number that has been that someone texts, one of my guys texted him and said, here's the situation. And to our surprise, he did not respond. I'm sure Elon Musk was thinking, these people, who are these people? I don't know. I thought he might have been a duck on there. I don't know, maybe not.

So this nausea, or do we want to do this? I didn't know what it was. I mean, who's, no, I think it's important because I think we're going to wind up there. Because I wanted to later. Is this a current thing? Yeah, because it actually is going to... People are Gnosticisms? Or what would they be a Gnostics?

Nostics. Are they Gnostics today? Well, yes. Yes. There are narcissism still right there. I mean, they wouldn't call them... Yeah, they probably wouldn't call themselves Gnostics, but narcissism is alive and well, for sure. I mean, at least the remnants of it of kind of that way of thinking.

This just says a prominent heretical, so I guess that's the... Heritageative of heresy. Yeah. Heretical. movement of the second century Christian church. Partly a pre-Christian origin. It teaches that the world was created and ruled by a lesser divinity. And, I mean, they have a word, I don't know, the demurge, I don't even know what that is,

that Christ was an emissary of the remote supreme divine being. I mean, they're using words that I'm not really something about knowledge of whom enabled the redemption of the human spirit. I don't even know what this meant. They said they were saying he wasn't really God in flesh. Well, thank you. You know, if you're into something that when you read the definition,

you're more confused, then, okay. I mean, just get it to a bumper sticker. They didn't believe God came in flesh. Well, not necessarily that. It could be that the spiritual world is inherently good, and then the physical world is inherently bad. So there's this dichotomy of spirit versus physical, spirit being good, physical being bad. So he couldn't be a flash because flesh was bad. Well, they probably get that point because the Bible says the works of the flesh.

Right. But he's talking about the central nature. Right. That's not, he's not talking about the physical. Like, what God made is good. And so like,

I got a book back here on my shelf by Nancy Piercy, where she elevates the position of the body. It's called Love by Body. And it's, the true Christian principle would be that it's an elevation of the human body. Like we, like, the Christianity doesn't devalue the physical.

elevates the physical and to be human is to be physical right i mean we have a body with a spirit there's a bodily resurrection there's going to be so my point was i'm only not not that you were disagreeing with me i was just when you went to romans eight well when you started when you started talking about gnosticism i just my brain just stopped working but now we can clarify this yeah we clarified you know yeah because i'm like what did he call me you know i feel like that would you call me. But you're going to be surprised. Listen, you'd be surprised that I'm telling you, and as soon as this episode airs, you're going to read the comments and you're going to be surprised at how many people that listen to this podcast, they know the term, Gnosticism.

Well, you're going to be surprised. Let me give you a surprise. I will not be reading the comments. So surprise. I will read the comments and I'll report back. Surprise, surprise, surprise. We got all kind of surprises. And it's not that I don't care. I just, I really just don't have time. I'm literally leaving here. On a jet plane. On a jet plane. It's funny because it's the third Tuesday in a row.

So I just thought about this. So three Tuesdays ago, Dad was leaving on a plane, which is the most unlikely, but he was. And then last week I left on a plane. And then today you're leaving on the plane. And I'm cutting it way more thin than y'all. Well, actually, I was on the same flight you were on last. week. So yeah, yeah. But you can make you have where are you going jace? I'm going to the east coast. Yes, I can all you can always generalize everything.

He can talk in regions. But we're actually going to do two episodes. That's the plan. You know, so I'm going to be gone for a very long time. So in fact, the next time you're on the podcast, you'll be remote from one of your secret locations. From a secret location. So, and then, but, you know, lots of stories and adventures await, so I'm excited. This is real adventures. It's not the jungle island living off the land sleeping in a tent, but it's a big area we're going to a different spot, so there have been a lot of adventures.

So there was a couple of things I was going to mention. It just made me think of it when we were talking about reason. So when I was on the road last week, I was actually up visiting, and it was in Zach's area. And so we saw Jesus Revolution while we were there. Now what is that? It's a movie about the Jesus Revolution of the 60s. Was it 60?

Yeah, late 60s. Yeah, Calgary Chapel. And it was actually Greg Lurie. Dad, do you remember you and I went out to California maybe 15 years ago? And we went to Anaheim Stadium and Greg Lurie, the pastor out there. He did a Q&A with you right in the center field. I remember that. An Angel Stadium.

A little bit about it. It was 45,000 people. That's what I'll never forget. I led the opening prayer and then you did a Q&A. But he was a fantastic guy. They were. And he has this crusade. Well, it was his story of conversion.

But it was set in this whole revolution of all these people coming to Christ out of the hippie movement. And the movie was fantastic. Zach had mentioned it a couple of podcasts ago. But I had not seen it. I was moved to tears, I would say, three different times. One of them was when Greg Lowry, who now is a pastor and has led many people to Christ, was baptized himself. And they had this, they call it Pirates Cove, this cove out in California that set up,

and they were doing all these baptisms. And it was really amazing because it was all these hippies. who were, you know, all this drugs and rock and roll and trying to find themselves, and trying to find the freedom of the 60s. And the whole idea was they were searching for something. And, of course, they were searching for God is what they were looking for. But they didn't know what it was. They didn't know what they were looking for.

Well, you know, they found him. Eventually, a bunch of them did. And so it was just really fascinating. I thought, and Zach, and you had met these guys that made the movie. But I was just, I just wanted to mention to the audience that I thought it was fascinating. And it really showed a lot of the weaknesses of men and ministry. And I thought they did a really nice job. It was just showing the frantic.

It wasn't perfect. You know, I love that they showed. Right. But no ministry leader is perfect, right? So you have issues in sin and God just works with sinful people. But luckily, I had already seen the movie because I had to leave about five minutes in because our kid was, our youngest was not. having it. So I went with Zach's family and his kids, which was hilarious, because they're just like a moving beehive of activity. And so Zach gets up because he's got his little one.

He had to take the little one out. And so we were laughing at his kids. But it was just, I was really, I really loved the movie. But while we were there, I also saw another movie. Did you ever see the movie Harriet Tubman? I don't watch a whole lot of movies. I'm going to tell you, you need to watch this movie. It's a she she was a she was a runaway slave. Hmm. And what fascinated me. It's powerful.

It's very powerful. And she and so she's basically set up, she was one of the main people that set up, they call it the railroad of runaway slaves where she would go in and then help people escape to the north. And she was one of the main people that did it. But what got me about it was I had always imagined in my mind that. that she was somewhere in the deep south doing this. But I guess I didn't realize that, you know, during the Civil War, I mean, it went all the way up to Maryland. You know, the war was fought much further north than you think about.

But she was taken off from just right up in the Virginia, Maryland area. But they were going all the way up to Canada, you know, taking these, you know, other slaves up north. But she was one of the most courageous people that's ever lived. And it's her story. And so Lisa and I just happened to catch it. it while we were up there at Bist and Zach, and we watched it one night, and I was, I just, I had not seen it. And I just thought it was really, really a powerful story.

I mean, her story was. Yeah, the Mason, the Mason Dixon line actually goes through New Jersey. So the southern tip of New Jersey was below the Mason Dixon line, which is incredible. Think about it. So that was going on all the way up that far north, not just in the deep south. But, yeah, I mean, those are both two incredible movies. Jesus Revolution is doing very well. I mean, I think it's, what a bright spot, you know, and kind of media right now to see that kind of movie do so well.

You know, speaking of, speaking of movies, you know. And by the way, Jay's the guy that plays Jesus in it is, I mean, the guy who plays Jesus in the Chosen is, is he's one of the main stars in this movie. Oh, really? I met him. Yeah. I like that. Yeah. And they've got Kelsey Grammer is in it.

Yep, he's in it. Who is that? He played. The guy that used to play Frasier. Cheers. And Chairs and Cheers and then Fraser and Frazier. He's a big time after. Never watched it.

Yeah. He's a big time after. Never watched it. Well, they were in a bar. I thought, well, I bet I'm going to get some advice there. No, I never watched one episode. I loved Frasier.

He's got to have his morals. I didn't really watch Cheers, but I loved Frasier, which was a sequel of Cheers. I love that show. I heard a guy. I almost watched it one time, because if we had a guy at our church,

he got up and recited the song that they sing. Everybody knows your name. I wasn't real sure what his point was. Actually, I remember that exact thing. He was one of our elders. He was talking about how that it was a description of what the church should be, but it was about a bar.

That's what I thought I thought. I got lost in translation because I hadn't seen the show. I still remember that too, which actually is a pretty good illustration. if you and I both still remember that. It's true. I do remember that. I do too.

Well, and I thought, I remember that. I remember that, too. I thought if you're going to sing, sing, if you're going to preach, but, you know, I mean. But you can't do both. Well, I just, because he was saying, I was just, go ahead and just, you know, sing it. That's right. Boy, fly me over the moon.

I wish I had the lyrics to it now. I interrupt you, Zay. What were you saying about movies? No, I was going to say, on our. I met with our marketing company who's going to be marketing the film. And I've been pushing the email list and all that to get folks involved in what we're doing. But they've worked on a lot of Christian films. And they're like, man, we've never seen an audience this fired up.

The amount of emails, the amount of people that signed up for emails that want to be part of helping us launch. So I did want to thank the Unashamed Nation for, you know, signing up at theblindmovie. because it's been overwhelming. I mean, it's really helping us meet with distributors. They're like, wow, you guys have a very loyal, excited group of people that want to back what you're doing, which always helps. So I did want to take a moment just to think if you have signed up to get information about the blind and how you can help us get it out there. By the way, the website, Theblindmovie.com. I do want to thank you guys because that campaign is doing really well.

So I think that it, but the Jesus Revolution maybe just shows, though, that I think people are hungry for content that is not degrading culture, if any, and even more so uplifting culture and telling a bigger story, you know, the gospel. I thought they did a really good job. It was filmed very well. You know, so I think it's an elevation of kind of, you know, the kind of stories that the church needs to tell, you know. And it seems to be now, I don't know, maybe, maybe COVID and post-COVID that, you know, that. that faith movies and uplifting movies are definitely showing that they can make money and compete with, you know, Hollywood movies and kind of the typical genre stuff. And Chosen Dallas and those guys have shown by putting the chosen deal's own big theaters that they can compete.

We can compete. Yeah, but, you know, what I thought the thing is, the sad thing is, though, is that you have to kind of go around the apparatus to do it. Yeah, you do. Yeah, we don't get a fair shake. You have to, no, we don't get a fair shake. I mean, the Chosen had, they have like a group of people that said, no, we're going to support this and be behind this and we're going to go download the app. That's why our email campaign is so important because you have to have, you have to come to the table. If you're coming with a story about faith, you have to come to the table with a group of people and say, hey, here's who's coming to the table with us or they won't take you serious.

And I'm hoping that through, with every success that these kind of movies have or this kind of content, the more success that we have in the marketplace, it's kind of forced in the discussion, you know, with the people who own the apparatuses, the distribution models. I mean, I think it's a big deal even beyond just the story of redemption. It's about, you know, our information about Jesus is consistent, I mean, constantly the devil's trying to throttle it and stomp it out. Good news is, I mean, we go back to this a lot, is we do. believe that we belong to a kingdom that can't be shaken or destroyed. So in the end, God's information is going to get out. But, I mean, it is kind of cool to see how God uses people to make that happen. Sunday morning, 90% of the people I spoke to on the side of where they have the main services,

it was a packed house, and 90% of them were from our state, out of Louisiana. Are they listening to the podcast? All the way across the United States. I was there because I met them at the next part. Because we hung around. I was like, when you can't find a parking place, you realize this is going to be a long day. But, yeah, I met a lot of them.

It was good. I was going to make one comment. The winds of a mass repentance I can feel coming up. Well, good. I've just watched the traffic. Maybe it's a Jesus revolution. There you go. I love to say it.

I always believe in the Jesus revolution. It's just one, the next person you share with is liable to be a spark. Exactly. But I was going to say, I think the Christian world has closed the gap on, I mean, let's face it, there's a reason Christian movies didn't do very well. Yeah. And it was because they weren't very good. That's exactly. But now they, I do think there, there's some people out there putting some money in it

and just putting hard in it and trying. And on the other side in the culture, you know, the movies, I think because the arrival of the streaming industry, the amount of great movies are just slim now because they're just trying to turn it out. It's become a volume. It's a race to volume just to put. whatever out there. And even, I've heard some big time actors say,

it's, that's the problem now. Nobody's making a great movie. It's, how quick can you get it to me? We want it. Well, then,

and that was not just that. It's not just that. How many times, when think about this, when you, when you, when you've heard, how many times you heard this phrase in the business?

It's just too earnest. You know, it's like, that's like, anytime you do something that's wholesome or good, then it's like, oh, it's too earnest.

And it's, I think it's, It's not just quickness. I don't think they like the kind of content that we would want to see in the world, which is why, I mean, that's why I go, like when Al went to the movies with us.

I mean, our whole church was there. I mean, I'd say, you know, we filled up half the theater with people from our church. And, I mean,

I want to support any kind of content that's coming out like that. I mean, the chosen, Jason, you've been a big part of the, of the work. Well, that's what I'm saying.

But the gap has been closed is what I'm saying. I mean, like the world. is saying some of the actors uh my son was telling me this that that you know he was i forgot which actor it was but he was saying the reason that movies aren't as good anymore is he's like we don't go to locations anymore it's all and i mean he he was quoting him saying this is about going in the studio and and just pumping out as much stuff as you can pump out they're paying you're astronomical money just to do shortcut versions of it.

And of course, you know, when you don't have Jesus as your center and you're coming up with all these ideas, I mean, once you get away from the top 30 ideas out there, and I think that's why the gap has been closed. But to your point, I knew a little bit about some of the principles in this story, but I didn't know a lot about it. and I didn't know a ton about this revolution that happened in the 60s. I knew about the era. So I went into watching this film not knowing a lot about it.

It was visually very well done. The acting was very good. But I'm telling me, I watch a few movies. I haven't watched a movie where I was moved to tears on three different occasions. Maybe ever. I'm saying I'm watching a movie and was moved to tears. three different times. I mean,

I was suddenly, what was the last time that happened? I mean, so, so I was, I was emotionally invested enough in this film that I was moved to tears three different times in the film.

That's the way I am about the Chosen. When I watched the episode, you know, it's moving to me. But what an opportunity, though. I mean, I do think we're at this kind of crossroads

and media and film and TV and content where a lot of the distribution, barriers are starting to, you know, the foundation's starting to shake and there's cracks in the wall that you can see the, like, godly content breaking through. So I think it's a great opportunity because I think content and movie, yeah, there's not been a lot of good movies. I actually tear it up and top gun. I don't know why.

It was like, I think it was like nostalgia. Yeah, I did too. Yeah, that was a good movie. But they're rare these days. They are rare. It's rare, but you're in there and you're just like a movie. where there's like clear good and evil. And it's like, man, this is like,

it kind of took me back to my childhood. But it's like, where are the good movies? So I think for the church, you know, history shows that the church is typically, points in history have been at the forefront of the arts. You know, you look at what Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci and Rembrandt. I mean, back when that was kind of the art of the day, I mean, those guys were cutting edge. And the content that they were, the art they were developing was. beautiful and the church was leading the way in that.

And I think part of the secular, sacred divide that we talked about a few podcasts back where Phil talked about, hey, we're duck hunters, you know, but we're doing our ministry in our, in our vocation. But when the divide happened, it was like the church shows over here and then entertainment and arts, that's over here and it's separate. I think what's happened in the last, you know, 20 years is that, 25, 30 years is that, particularly in the arts and entertainment, is that. line is being erased.

No doubt about it. And so, yeah, the first people. No doubt. No doubt about it. It's got to happen. I mean, I think at first, to Jason's point, the people that started the first kind of broke ground, we, you know, I don't laugh at what used to have. I don't laugh at cheesy Christian movies from the past because I'm like,

we're all kind of standing on their shoulders, right? These guys are the first people in it. They raised money at their church, put a movie out, whatever it was. And you saw it was cheesy. Well, it was the first one done. And it showed them that there was a market there. You know, and we've just consistently been building. And, I mean, I think Jesus Revolution, I think our film, The Blind, is on, is on par with that.

And I think when you see the quality of it, you're going to be like, whoa, it doesn't feel like a, it feels like a film. You know, this feels like a mainstream film. So I think the gap is certainly closing, which is the chosen is another prime example. Oh, no doubt. Willie told his mother, that'd be Miss Kay. Willie Willie just watched the whole thing and he said it was the greatest thing

he's seen lately he was really impressed The blind Oh well how did he get to see it And we know because he's an executive He saw the first The whole thing Whatever stage they're in

But he was He saw the lock cut He said I was shocked Which is kind of weird Because he got on stage And he's an EP in the project and the first thing out of his mouth was, I haven't watched this movie yet.

So it was the first time he had seen that cut. He had saw an earlier cut that was really rough. And so I think he was very surprised at how far it had come. He was. Yeah. Well, I just want to reiterate, like when you invest in participating in even things like signing up for an email list

or going to buy a movie ticket or. to watch Jesus Revolution or download the app of the Chosen. All of those things matter. And I think it's another way that we are kind of advancing the kingdom just by participating in these things where these kind of stories are being told. I mean, it takes people to get, you know, to get these things out there. So I'm just thankful again to Unashamed Nation. That's why I brought it up. I brought it up to get folks to go watch it that are listening, but not just.

to be supported because I'm like you. I support a lot of the early movies, but even those, they had great messages. I mean, you know, fireproof that Kirk Cameron did still means a lot to me because it meant a lot to me and Lisa because of where we were as a couple because we were rebuilding our marriage. And so that movie, even though, you know,

it was in the early stages of faith films, I mean, it still had a meaningful message for me. So, but what I'm saying is about Jesus' Revolution is I went to it, not knowing what to expect, And it was a home run movie. I mean, it was really, really, really well done. And so I was, you know, I was blessed by going to see it. So I would make one point.

I would recommend it highly. That 99, 99.9 percentage in the last 50 years, 60 years, the movies that's been made, it all boils down to, and this is 99% of, this is just what I think. from my observation and watching in various movies and films. What it all comes down to over and over and over and over is good and evil. And 95% of the time, good triumphs over evil. And they all are the same. No matter where they started, where they are in the middle of nowhere.

and the job it all come down to good and evil good and evil well where do you get that idea huh i wonder where they got that idea i wonder where they got that idea there's no god but there's a lot of movies made on good and evil a whole lot of them well yeah i think a lot of people don't realize how much of the way you view the world and what you consider to be the good life how much of that like What we think the good life is is tremendously shaped by the content that we consume. I mean, it really is. So you think about what's the importance of telling, I read one guy said it's not telling a better story. It's telling a bigger story.

The gospel is a bigger story. It is better, but it's a bigger story. It's transcendent. So why does it matter that we tell these stories in the way that we're telling them? Because this is a medium through which people kind of develop their view of the world. And so if the church just says, eh, we're not going to really participate in that. We're not going to go there.

Then we're giving the most powerful medium over to the evil one to say, I'm telling us. All you have to do is what I do. I watch Matt Dillon on a concurring one after the other. And you say, what did you learn from all these Matt Dillon shows? Because they churned them out by the hundreds and hundreds of. At this stage, have you not seen them all? Huh?

Oh, I've pretty well seen them all. and what it always is the same thing. The wages of sin is death, and there he comes right there, Matt Dillon. He's going out there to punish the wrongdoer, and I mean, it's a shoot-em-up. I guess I'm going to have to watch the episode of that. But look, don't ever doubt it.

I mean, you're right, but I just experienced it again. We were in North Carolina. It's interesting, Zach, because I'm driving from where you, are over to Rale. So I passed the sign that said Mount Airy, you know, as I'm heading that way. And immediately I thought of Mayberry, you know, and Andy Griffin, because that's the

actual town, you know, that's based on. And so as I passed that sign, I thought about it. That show was made. Oh, I still watch that. 60 or 70 years ago when that show was made. And you can still see it right now. if we found the television with all the channels, we could find Andy Griffin.

I've watched it. I've watched it. I'd say in the last 10 days, I've probably watched it five times. And any time you turn it on, you can sit down and watch it, right? It's engaging. It's funny.

I mean, Cillop has application 60 and 70 years later. What do you think about it? Duck Dynasty didn't stay long five or six years, which is pretty lengthy and those kind of stuff. But if you just looked at it, you know, it was just a picture of a, family of faith. They had some more coming up with several families, the family shows, you know. Cameron, Kirk, Cameron, and them, they had just a little faith show. And they usually last at seven,

eight, four, five, six years, and they hang of the past. Right. I mean, they come and go. So this is my point. So my point is I drive past that sign. I think about that show, and one of those generational shows that has a lasting impact. So I get to where I'm going. And the reason I'm asked to come and speak there. It was a wild game supper, which we've all spoken at many of those. Next day, I speak at this church, which is packed. And they're wearing camo, and we've all been in this scenario. It's a great Sunday. People are streaming down. They're giving their life to Christ. The reason they're all there is because of this show. That's right. And we've been off the air now for six years. I've said to nobody yet, but I will say it today. We were all interviewed at some point during the

week when we were making these things. We would sit down and they would turn the cameras on and they would begin to ask questions. 98% of my answers to their questions. This is being filmed. I'm filmed somewhere. They have the film somewhere. I'm seated in a chair and the movie people all gathered around and they did it with everybody.

Not only me. They had Miss Kay. She sits down for an hour with them. But every week, at least an hour of it or two, we would elaborate on following Jesus, Christianity. Look, 99.9% of that would have a run. But that's just how, T. I mean, Phil, I'm doing that right now. And I would give them a sermon.

Right. They would ask me a question. I'd give them a sermon. That asked me a question, I'd give them a sermon. And I was sitting there thinking, I'm hoping this is reaching out. But it was, though, Dad. But look, the fact that... Very little of it being shown.

But the fact that none of that made it doesn't matter in the big scheme because it does make it because six years later, I'm in North Carolina speaking, you're in Mississippi. And they just got a little bit. They just got a little bit. I'm doing a TV show now, and I'm still doing those same interviews. I'm doing it way more than an hour a week. Oh, I know it. And I know what you're going through, Jay.

It's still working. They're like, you know, they're not. You know, there's... Good luck, because I didn't lay a glove on. You did lay a glove on. They're building an episode, you know, so you're... They're not going to put your mini sermon in there. No.

To Zach's point, the medium is so powerful. So I'm meeting these kids dad at this event. These are kids that are too small. They're too young to have watched our show. So I was like, well, how do you know about this show? You know what they said? We just started watching it. Yeah, rerun.

This year in rerun. Well, I wanted to read this. It's like Handy Grown. It just starts all over. I would ask them, I would ask them while I was talking with them. I said they would ask some crazy questions, you know, just slow down, sorry. And I'm trying to put a spiritual twist on it. But I would say something like, where are you from?

You asking me these questions. What state are you from? California. I said, California, that's why I'm getting this information I am. That's why this thing is turning out to be a bunch of bull crap. But Phil, you are. Where are you from? New York City.

We were doing a TV show that you were oblivious of the plan of the actual show. When the redneck world met, you know, California. Let me read this, Phil. This is Second Peter. I think this is where we actually left off, but I think it applies to what we're talking about. In Chapter 1, 16, a second Peter, when he said, we did not follow cleverly invented stories. which is basically what movies are. Yeah.

Oh, no doubt about it. And so it's like he was very clear on that. When we told you about the power and coming over Lord Jesus, but we were eyewitnesses of His Majesty, which is, I think that's the number one accusation to what we're involved in is, oh, this is just something made up. I mean, of course, people will say, well, yeah, this is the inspired word of God,

well, how do you know he just didn't make that up when he said that? But I think those who are searching and who are open-minded, once you start reading this book, I mean, there's a reason that it's been translated,

I think, into 700 different languages and been the number one seller for how many years? Every year... Every year since the printing press, yeah. I mean, that's... And it's just a book. Yeah.

So, and there are shows about it, and there have been movies about it, but, and what I mean. And it shows. Just a book. How many books have been written? I mean. And then we've theorized for many years, as you, the leading one on it, is that every main idea and thought from almost every successful movie series and whatever on all these thoughts have come from a biblical narrative on. No doubt. And then when you get into the commercials, I tell you, and look, I got a lot of.

a lot of people that are that are following my idea now because every time you know they they see some commercial whatever that uses a godly principle you know they let me know my friends are like here we go again you know i mean ain't from angel soft toilet paper to to you know to you know eternal eyeliner to forever 21 there's actually an eyeliner which i don't even know what that he is but some of our lady listeners will that they it's eternal eternal eyeliner what does it mean what does it even mean you know forever 21 grasping at straw wait i forgot they went bankrupt i guess 21 is it forever wow yeah what happened until chapter 9 bankruptcy yeah i was going to be 21 forever so you know if i wear this under

underwear. I'm going to be, you know, forever 21. No, not going to happen. You're going to get into your 50s and your city. Lord willing. Seven. And then at some point, you got to deal with reality. That's why we spent the whole last podcast talking about what does it mean to find this eternal kingdom. This is not a marketing campaign. Peter was like, I'm not trying to give you some marketing campaign where, oh, we came. These are actually principles that we saw. I mean, I mean, to go back to what he saw with the Transfiguration, he was talking to a couple of fellas that hadn't been on the earth for a thousand years. I mean, this is, he's like, I'm an eyewitness.

And when you look, you know, look at Josephus and some of the other historian writers that give, give, I mean, none of this is contrary in our history books to what they did. I mean, it, it only validates what they saw. I mean, here, read it, try to disprove it. I'm telling you, you're going to have a hard time doing that. That's why it is the number one book and will continue to be so. Because what if it's really true? That's a good point. What if this is really true?

Which he goes down to verse 19 and he's like, because a lot of people say, well, how do all the prophets and how do we know this is valid and this is reliable? And I mean, I think Peter makes a very resounding argument. He says, we have the word of the prophets made more certain and you'll do well to pay attention. to it. So these are the, I'm assuming my take, is these are the prophets that were prophesying about the coming Lord and Savior Jesus. You can go to the Old Testament and read prophecy after prophecy after prophecy, and then you can read multiple times where Jesus said to fulfill prophecy, I will do this or I will do that. And what Peter is saying, I mean, if you want to check back into his history, he certainly didn't start that way. Jesus proved it to him.

Exactly. He was saying, what you're saying you're going to do, die for the sins of the world, and be resurrected three days later. He looked around the rest of them, and they were all looking at each other like, I don't know what he's talking about. Yeah.

Peter said, that's not going to happen. I mean, he's been on both sides of this thing. Well, he's making the distinction between the ones who have invented the stories versus the stories that have been around from the very beginning. Well, we referred to in a previous podcast that, you know, Peter uses all this graphic imagery in this book, which caused a lot of controversy among the religious world because they're like, I'm not even sure Peter wrote this, you know. And so here's one of these illustrations he uses that I find actually quite beautiful,

but people are like, well, this is a strange way to put this, because he says, you know, paying attention to the certainty of what the prophet said, it's like a light. This is verse 19. It's like a light shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophets at own interpretation, which is one of the accusations against the validity of following Jesus.

They're like, well, these people just made this up. This is all just kind of like a bizarre movie script, which he's saying the exact opposite. It's like, we didn't make it up. And the prophecies came true. Jesus fulfilled them. We saw what we saw, and we're writing it down. And the more certainty that you are that these people were being carried along by the Holy Spirit,

which is what he says in verse 21, for prophecy never had its origin in the will of man. but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. I mean, what a thought. Which I always saw that picture he painted with the light and the dark sort of goes back to the Transfiguration reference, kind of that brightness idea, and that it also compares a lot to First John, chapter one, you know, where John has this idea of Jesus being light as the light of men,

and he does this whole exact same thing where he compares it to light and dark. I think it's a good, I mean, to me the two choices that are the most, I would put the top two choices for what that is, is either down in your heart, like on an individual basis, and when the confidence of who Jesus was predicted to be and who he claimed to be and who he ultimately is when that light bulb goes off so it's either in your heart or it's he's meaning the world as in darkness and it's meaning the group of individuals as a church that he could be addressing that has jesus as the centerpiece and the certainty of i mean i those are i i think most people think the dark place is the world and the church because jesus

because Jesus is the head of the church. And he's talking about the kingdom here in this context. So, I mean, when that light, we're the light of the world. Man, when Jesus, we're the light of the world. So individually and collectively or both. I mean, I think that's what he's getting around. Well, you can make a case for both. Because, you know, when you think about John 1, you know,

in him was the light of men, you think about the word being with God and was God. And we've talked about that before. And you go back to Genesis 1, and you see the Spirit of God. hovering over the waters and the word said let there be light so even from the very beginning the word spoke light into existence which is really powerful and the idea the spirit was there so you read through you can make the case for both first and second Peter in second Peter down in chapter two Peter it was guilty as charged when he said Jesus committed no sins no and no deceit was found in his mouth

That's First Peter, too. Yeah, First Peter, too. Yeah. When they hurled their insults at him, look, Peter, guilt is charged. I mean, he said, you're not going to die and be buried, and you're not going to do that. He was hurling his insults at him. Peter was. He did not retaliate, though, fortunately for Peter and all the rest of it, when he suffered.

He made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to, the one who judges he himself bore our sins in his body on a tree. Peter was the one saying it ain't going to happen. It's pretty amazing when you write about yourself what you were saying. He's including himself. True. Peter knew the other writers.

He knew Matthew, Mark, Lug & John. He understood what they had to say. But he was, along with everybody else, guilty is charged, and just march on. Right. So it all worked out. I think that underscores when he says that no prophecy originated in the will of man. But each one was to say a matter of or is a matter of one's own interpretation for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God, which would include Peter. And so all these prophecies in the Old Testament that were fulfilled that were given by men, right?

I mean, Isaiah, the Psalmist, they're writing, but all these prophetic things that they wrote did not originate in their own will, but they originated from God through the Holy Spirit. So I think when you talk about the light, I just pulled this up, the light, listen to this, Psalms 119, verse 105, your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. or John 1717 in the whole context of sanctification by the truth, your word is truth. So I think the word of God, the scripture is one of the primary sources of light for us to see. How would we know, right? We read what was written by God through men. So when you hear the word like inspired or God breathed, it is different.

It's not that God dictated this and said, hey, write this down word for word. Because you have even different accounts in the Gospels. You know, you have, if you go read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, who all witnessed the story of Jesus unfold. There's a lot of different details that are given in each one because they're, you know, they're participating with the Spirit. The Spirit's moving through them and inspiring them. But he's not dictating it like word for word, write this down. He's inspiring the author to write and moving them. And it's being breathed out of God, which is just kind of an incredible thought.

I think that's... It is. Yeah. You know, to think about God took sinful people, people who were limited. And honestly, I probably didn't even realize a lot of the prophecies they were writing about. They didn't even really understand what all this was going to mean in the grand scheme of things. So they're writing into this narrative that we're participating in now thousands of years later. And when they wrote these prophecies, you know, they didn't understand the full depth of where this

was going, but God did. And God had a purpose in it. And I think he... Go ahead. The writers, while you're there down in the first chapter of First Peter, concerning this salvation, the prophets who spoke of the grace

that was to come in, come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances which they were living, living out at the time on which the Spirit of Christ and the impotting when they predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would be that would follow. It's pretty amazing.

Yeah, but if you get off on this, though, yeah, if you get off on this, though, this is the thing we can never bend on. We can never bend on the fact that the final authority is not with us. It is with God's word, with His scripture. It is inerrant. It is holy. It is true. It is without error. We have, that is the church, we can have, we can argue about interpretation. We can argue about what does it mean?

And I'm okay with that. But once you leave this as the authority and you put humans in charge of getting to dictate what truth is, then that is, to me, that is that is the end of, that is where deconstruction begins and ends is when we get away from the authority of the word of God because it is, it is his word. And it's his communication. They are correct. Well, that's what happens in, that's what happens in Chapter 2. I think that was the thought that he was having when he was writing this, because the next phrase in Chapter 2 is there will also be false prophets among you. You got that keyword, but, all right, we'll get to that in the next podcast.

Before we do that, we'll discuss a little bit more of this idea of prophecy in our overtime segment. BlazTV.com slash Unashamed if you want to come with us in the overtime and talk a little bit more. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes. And for even more content that you won't get anywhere else, subscribe to BlazTV at blazestiv.com slash unashamed.