Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 789 | Phil Gets a New Phone Line Courtesy of Elon Musk & the Cause Phil Will Absolutely March For

Episode Date: November 17, 2023

Phil gets on his soapbox about a certain technology overtaking today’s youth as Jase attempts to point out the pros rather than the cons. Phil gets a new landline from an unlikely source, and the guys issue a stern warning to parents about cell phone use for themselves and their kids. The guys discuss how to approach the Kingdom with a childlike mindset, full of trust and wonder. In this episode: Luke 18, verses 15-17 — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to unashame. Dad, I was thinking, you know, we've had a lot of different people through the years. It's kind of been part of your entourage that have fit into different schemes. The latest is our man, Jersey Joe, who seems to be like a Swiss Army knife of, I mean, the man's got a lot of different talents, you know, that seems to be helping out the cause. And we had him on the podcast a while back. A lot of people had been asking about him because we talk about him quite a bit.

But it's because the man is so useful. I mean, he's like your security guy sometimes. He's your personal chef. He comes in every week and cooks you a fantastic Italian meal. Here's what he does. He's a fireman. Here's what he does. He's a fireman.

I read my lips. I said, I don't want. to own a telephone. But I'm going to do it because it trumps the cell phone. Cell phone. I don't want the cell phone. I want the telephone. I said, but I'm having trouble finding them.

And I call a genius, a genius in that world. Oh, so you couldn't find a telephone to purchase. Couldn't find one. They don't make them. Yeah. He said, I can get, I can make you one. He made a telephone. Make me a telephone, teller, not seller, teller.

I said, because, see, there's no funky pictures on a telephone. But saliphone did all kind of mischief. They tell me. So did he do it? Yeah, he did it? He made you a telephone. He said, you will have a telephone after tomorrow. all I want is somebody wants to talk to talk to me.

I want something that I go, it's a telephone. You get up, you walk three feet, you pick it up, hello. There's no button punching. There's none of this, what the world? Because anything else, you get into the cell phone and there's somebody that said there's naked women running around that people jumping off buildings and tiring and looking.

I mean, it would ruin your kids. It drives them nuts. Yeah, we've got to have our children. Give them a cell phone, son. And the hell, here they come. It's funny, but it's not one of a rant, but I mean, I'm just saying, give it a telephone. That was the definition of a rat. Yeah.

Bring back the, of all the things I thought we were going to get into, bring back the telephone. Yes. back the telephone. You need a, I would pay you. I don't want a picture of somebody's butt. I want to say, yeah, what you need. Yeah, okay. All right, bye.

I mean, I'm not asking for the world here. Hey, Phil, I will pay you $10,000 to go to the steps of Congress with a sign that says, bring back the telephone. I'm about terror. I'll tell you that. I like how he went like Reverend Jesse Jackson by rhyming telephone with cellophone. But y'all do see that. I mean, give me a break.

It was way better off without all this funny stuff. Wading through all that. I don't know. We're, well, we kind of moved on that and kind of accepted the risk of the cellophone and kind of like having it with us. Unlike you, who seems to be bothered by that, it would take us back to one spot. But the difference is you live in that one spot in your living room.

So a telephone works perfectly for you. But I'll tell you this. Emergencies, you call. At one time, you know, they had about 10 people on one telephone line. They called a party line. It's a party line. But there wasn't a party going on. There wasn't a party.

But mostly old women who chew you out if you pick the. up the phone when they were on it. They said, get out of the telephone. So they went ahead and talked, you know, but old women do a lot of talking. But here's what's interesting. You've got a lot of carrying on there. So here's something else now that you don't know. You can throw an apparatus in the middle of 10 old women in their 50, 60s, 70s.

And, boy, you have got something there. But that's better than this cell phone where you're looking at naked women. And they're all all around. They tell me. I haven't seen them. They just tell me that's on there. I said, why would they put that on there? I mean, it's just nonsense.

It's back to the women. You got something. You're in trouble. Something call you on the telephone. Tell you, your car broke down. Okay. Your telephone, it's a good thing to do. Call somebody.

Here's something you don't know, Dad. They just went too far with all this. But here's going to add more flavor to this story. Because your story is a unique story because you were old school, party line, we grew up there, telephone. So your local redneck. Do you think that was better than the cell phone? Than the cell phone. What do you think?

No, not for me. But for you, yes. So the. Yes and no. I mean, more no than yet. But yes. It has presented some problems. You're right.

It has presented some problems. Which, you know, could be correctable. But overall, no, because if I have a flat tire, you're just waiting. You're, you know, I'll call somebody or, you know, if I don't have a spare or if I'm lost, I can call somebody. I mean, it's actually, you know, has a few success stories. But here, but look, this tale, we've only told the beginning of this tale. This thing is fascinating. So, so dad's down there where he lives.

where we grew up, you had the old hard line down there. It was party line. Everybody used to be on it. Louise Hudson was, you picked up on her call. She chewed you out. Right. We remember it well. So then we moved to the new era.

Time goes by. It's business lines. It's this, it's that. Then it's cell phones. It's cell towers. A lot of time has passed at. So you had that old line run down there where your local redneck,

Jimmy Red, when moving the house, cut through all that line. And the problem is the, now the phone companies don't do hard lines and hard phones anymore. So there was no, there was no solution for dad. There was no running anymore of a hard line because it would cost a ton of money

to rerun a line down there to where you are. Yep. So here's what happens. You know who you have to thank other than Jersey Joe, who was the implementer of this, but the real person you have to think is one Elon must. That's what Jersey told me. Elon Musk is the man that made your new phone possible because he sent rocket ships up into the sky, put new satellites up, which now can send a satellite signal down to your house that Jersey Joe can plug in your hard phone line into to have a phone again.

So it's really interesting that we've had to go full circle back to satellites just to get that a hard line phone. Can you believe that, Zach? I mean, it's an amazing story when you think about it. So you're saying that the Jimmy Red cut the line and then you could not because of that. I gave him a house being nice. Jimenez is the local redneck. I told him I'll find out how much to take it a move. There's a little house in the back.

I all lived in it for a while. He and his wife. I did. It was my first house. And as a gift, I said, you can have that house. You got to move it. Well, he came back and said, it cost $7,000 to move it. I said, watch all my lines out there now, my telephone lines.

I told him that while you're out there. He didn't obey me on that. So not only did he get the house, and I paid to have it moved, that had about $7,000. So he's got his, and he's gone. Thanks for that. So I get slick there. My telephone lines are now nonexist, because he rooted them up with a bull,

dozer and there goes all my phone line. So I'm just sitting on a couch and if somebody wants to talk to me, they'll have to drive down there and say, you're there. I said, I'm in here. Come on. So I got caught up in the world's transition stage from cella.

I mean, from teller to cellar. That's when the trouble started. Yeah. But what you got now is satellite. So this even, like we're in, You're actually more advanced. That's right.

I have what y'all still have. But if somebody wants to call me, I don't have to pick up a cell phone and go, I don't have a phone anymore. I mean, I have a cell phone, but I don't have a landline. Yeah. Well, all I want is just, okay, somebody's in trouble. Somebody wreck the car. You need to talk to me.

How would anybody know you're? number. That's a good question, but I keep it hidden as much as I can. Do you know my telephone number? I would say it. I don't know what my telephone number is. And that's coming tomorrow. He's going to bring this thing.

So maybe it's for you to call out. Watch my number. So I'm going to have it written down on a piece of paper. Give it to me when you get it so I can get a hold of it. All right. That's your new movie idea. I've been unreachable for about six months when red took the bulldozer and dragged up my wires. Well, now I know why you haven't.

Shut me down. Well, I've called you. I like it, but I mean. I've called you multiple times. Zero answered. That's why. Now you feel better. It's not like a wire coming out from under the floor.

It looked like it came from. And they gave me a little old thing about that long. And I said, what in the world is that? He said, it's just a small cell phone. I said, oh, my goodness, here we go. People call me. They want to take my bladder out. Some nurse in your breast care.

I said, I hope that never happens to me. And when she's talking about people's breasts being removed, I'm like, where do you know these people are coming from? Because the only people left who are calling people with a telephone, they're trying to sell you something. Don't buy anything, Phil, from anybody that calls you on that side. Oh, Zach, you do a comedy. You go out a totally different direction.

And Phil is a telephone salesman trying to bring back the telephone, and you call it the Babel. That's actually a good idea. The Babel. And you can do a tower of Babel lining in it. Surely, surely there are some people out there mailed, on their way to be an 80 years old, it just looks like to me,

there would be more than me that if you, that this is the last resort, get on an apparatus and then they talk. I would just, I want to do that. So it's not so,

there's so many people. I have to have no idea what they're talking about. As long as you realize that there is a possibility that you're the only one, left. It's possible. You're making me feel like a lonely man. A man without a phone or without a cellar phone.

He's gone. He doesn't want to know what the world situation is. He don't want that. That's the funniest cold open since Dad got lost on the way to the wedding. I don't know the transition, though. I mean, I'm like, I guess the transition is. is we are talking about little children today. Jesus compared them to the kingdom of God and Phil without knowing it.

He did give a moment where it is more difficult for kids to be protected in this world. That's what I'm saying. It is. I'm looking at our children and the school systems, and I'm seeing these young people. They all carry that thing. Oh, I agree. You can't get it off of them. It's the equivalent.

You say, hey, get off of that thing. You can't, oh, don't say that to him, you know. But I'm just saying, it takes too much out of our children. And y'all, I raise y'all down there without that cell phone. And it would have been way more difficult. Well, we didn't have cell phones back then. Well, that's what I'm saying. Yeah.

It was good news. I didn't realize how bad the bad news was. If I had to raise y'all under that. cell phone thing. I don't know. And all of you got one. I don't know. It'd have been much more difficult. Y'all turned out wonderfully. So with the cell phone. Thank you, Dan. You're right. It's definitely a lot more work. Let's take our first break. How many people could I get in the march when we march in Washington, D.C.? I think that would probably be a...

Stay with the telephone. I think you could get 100, but I don't, I think you're average age would be 75. It'd be a slow march. I mean, our children are being hurt because of that blooming cell phone. I agree with that. That is the one thing I do agree with. Because it just sped up the process, which people said, well, they were going to do it anyway. But they're speeding up the process that's a very dangerous process, because it's way more dangerous.

When you don't even know, Jace, what's your children? are watching until somebody holds it up and says, look what they're doing now. Oh, no, I agree. I mean, I don't even know how funky it is because I have no way to know, and I never saw it. But I'm just saying for children, that thing needs to be discarded somehow. And I say, just go back to the telephone. On the way down here, I was heading toward the roundabout, and there was a young driver, teenager, a girl. just driving two miles an hour on the roundabout on her phone.

That's what I'm saying. And then she was looking at it. And then she slowed down. And I was, you know, I started rolling down a window, you know. And she's looking at me like, what's your problem? I said, hang up. Yeah. Hang up.

And she, boom, took off. Oh, yeah. You're going to cause a wreck here. I said, hey, that's what you need. I said, no. That ain't what I need. No. Well, I think to be fair, we should call Dad's March.

It should be the telephone shuffle. It's going to be more of a shuffle than a march. But I'm all for it, Dad. We're going to film it when it happens. You're going to be the leader with the sign. Life tough enough without adding some other instrument that glorifies that. It just glorifies sin and all that, Jay. I mean, come on.

Well, it does. It does have a lot of pros, though. I mean, as far as communication. It's right in front of your kid that thing is with all this funky stuff. Look, but you can still be a parent. I mean, look, I once took one of my kids' phones away for two years. You better know what your child is looking at every night. So I'm just saying I warn all y'all with children, you got to have certain times where they can't get to that thing.

I mean, you're right. I've said, I said at an event, I said, I wouldn't even entertain them. the thought till they were 16 and then I would check it every day then. I mean, to me it's much more dangerous than like a gun. I'm old school and I'm nuts, you know, for saying that, but I'm just saying the world's bad enough without adding that thing to just glorifies it. Now the kid and the kids are getting younger and younger, parents are turning them over to them younger.

What's happened is Jason's made this point before. A lot of times parents are distracted on. the internet. And so they use those kids' phones to keep them distracted from bothering them. And so it's spiraled into a not positive thing for families. It's a lose situation. Much more

difficult to raise children with those things. But I will say this. I'm saying go from seller to teller. There are hundreds of thousands of people that are now watching the Unashamed podcast on a device. And so it's not all bad because they are at least getting to hear this

on that same device. I'm just giving them the downside. of it. There you go. Well, in a very humorous way, which we appreciate. I ain't laughing about it. We're in Luke 18. And we just finished up the second parable of prayer, which was in the last podcast, which was the Pharisee and the tax collector. And it is interesting, I think, Jay's, that Luke puts in this little story, which in this story is, told in all the different gospels in a lot of different contexts similar to this about him blessing these children. And it is interesting that he comes out of a parable.

He's talking about an arrogant Pharisee and a self, you know, righteous attitude. Well, and then he comes to. Well, and we added in the overtime that his biggest problem was he thought he was better than other people. Well, maybe his biggest problem was he thought he could save himself. Now, this is Luke what? Luke 18. Luke 18.

Why are you there? 9 through 16. But I was just going to make this one point. And one of the qualities that little kids possess, they're not, they don't look at other people and make, they don't think they're better than other kids. You know, you put a kid in a room with a bunch of other kids, they play. It doesn't matter what color they are or what they look like. Have you ever noticed that? Yeah.

Yeah. And I do think it's a, it's a. perfect place to put that because that is a great quality and and we went through this whole thing about Jesus how he brought us all together we're not better than anybody else we're that's right we all were created by God we all make dumb decisions and we all need the Lord to be our savior to see this instruction jays I just want to bring up the point and because it just didn't come to me just overnight. But I got 17, Luke 17, Luke 18, and I turned that page over. And this right here, it comes up all throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We're going up to Jerusalem. Here's

the deal. He took the 12 aside and said, we're going up to Jerusalem. And everything that is written, everything that's written by the prophets about the son of man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him. He's talking about himself. And then flag him and kill him. On the third day, he will rise again. And that right there, if you turn over about two or three pages,

three or four pages later, the last thing that said is, this is written, Christ will suffer and rise from the day out on the third day. And repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I'm going to send you what my father's promise, talk about the Spirit of God, but stay in the city until you've been clothed with power from on high. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all say the same thing. So we're in Luke 17, 18, 19.

All this instruction has to be there, or we wouldn't have anybody to follow. So God himself says, I'm coming, I'm on my way, I'm showing you how you're going to live and how you do your neighbor and how you view God. All the questions there are all answered. And Jesus died, was buried and raised from the dead, which is the gospel.

And that's how all this works out. No, it's a valid point. Because at the end of Luke 18, we get to his last miracle that involved people. You know, when he heals the blind man, then it's pretty well the road, you know, there's a change. Yeah, we're going to wind up and when we get to 19, I've had it in Jerusalem. So the mindset here is one of humility, which is what the guy didn't have in the prayer situation with the tax collector. And I think that's why he brings this up.

So I want to read this text. Before that, I want to take another break. He brings up all, in my opinion, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, he brings up any and all of anything as far as your view of God and each other. And it all is going to come out, love God and love your neighbor, which is the greatest commands. And he proved it by sacrificing himself. It's amazing.

And he shows that. the ultimate humility, right? When the creator of the universe becomes a person to not just come to save the world, but to be humiliated and suffer so greatly in the process of doing it, you're right. I think it shows the ultimate example. So here's what he says in 1815. So people were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. And just to provide a little context here, this is an old process that goes back. You remember even when Jesus was born, they took him up to the temple and he received blessings from some older people that were there at the temple. So this is kind of an old process of people, rabbis, especially blessing children. So that's why they're coming.

And you can kind of imagine it's almost like there's a line of people doing this. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. So they rebuked the parents and the people. for bringing all these kids to Jesus. But Jesus called the children to him and said, let the little children come to me and do not hinder them. For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. That's why I brought it up about their learning table on how it's going to be. And with this modern day phone,

they've got this apparatus that you can see all this stuff that you should never show children. You see what I'm saying? Well, and even the more dangerous part of it, Dad, Jason's brought this up before, is what it does of their self-esteem. They've gotten some cop. He said, don't hinder them. You see what I'm saying?

Let the little children come to me. Don't hinder them. Because there's a lot of ways to hinder children, as we're all saying, it's what I was hauling about a while ago. You're right. And they get caught up in this world where they're liked or disliked on a phone. and it winds up hindering them in their development. So then he says, I tell you the truth, verse 17,

anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. So it's just, it's a blurb in the midst of all this, but really it's a huge important point about how our approach should be about kingdom mindset. Critical. I mean, Jason is right. It's like kids. When you think about kids and their ability to let stuff go, to be unified, to play together. I mean, kids, you can learn a lot from kids.

They have a lot to learn as well. But the innocent idea, I think, is what he's trying to bring out here. And to go back to our thought about time and how everything changes for the worst as human beings on a planet that's wearing out and we're wearing out. You know, when you're a kid, you're oblivious of time. Yeah. I mean, just like when I was a kid, it seemed like the summer would last years. I mean, it's critical that you love them and train them and chastise them. It's critical.

Right. And at some point, without time speeding up, your perspective change, it changes. And then all of a sudden it feels like time is getting faster and faster and faster as the older you get. I'm not sure what that phenomenon is. is, but a kid seems to be oblivious of that. And look, Matthew's whole chapter in, or at least the first two paragraphs in Matthew 18, I mean, that's all he talks about. You know, he said, who's the greatest?

And Jesus says, who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? I mean, what a question? And he called a little child and had him stand among them and said, I tell you the truth, unless you change, become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Boy, what a statement. I mean, you think about what we just talked about in the last podcast and what we'll talk about in the next part with the rich and the kingdom of God. And then sandwiched in between that is this stark difference in how we approach

entering the kingdom. One is, what do I got to do? Let me do all the right things and keep the commandments, do all the things. And then the other is these kids. And they're like, what's the difference? And the difference is this. A youth pastor told me one time that, And this is so true if you've ever had kids, you know this is true.

That before your kids turn 13, he said, this is what it's like. He said, it's like you live in a house where all of the, all the windows are at basically your shoulder width and higher. So they can't see out the window. And then he said, with the day they turn 13, so anytime they need to want to know what's out there, you got to lift them up and show them or you got to tell them. He said, when they turn 13, it's like the whole house turns into windows and they know everything. And you know that's true. When you have your own kids, like when they're younger, they just trust you. They believe you.

They're following what you say. And at some point, you know, that changes. And then everything is a battle for a number of years. You know, at least it seems like we've got five kids and that's been the case. I think that there's this idea that when you approach faith like a child, it is a, it is a trust. It's, we talked about it on the previous podcast with our buddy Zach Stevens, whose kid would fall back off the couch doing the trust fall. He never thought dad's not going to catch me or never thought dad can't catch me. He was having the time of his life and he's fought.

Now, me, I don't care who you are. You want to do a trust fall, even my own dad now. I'm like, I don't trust anybody. I'm like, I'm probably not doing the trust fall. But when you're a kid, you come in it that way. And I think that that's kind of this mentality that he's. trying to bring forth with these little kids is like they're not skeptical, they're not jaded, they haven't been corrupted yet.

They're coming in with pure. So you see why I'm saying be careful of what they hear and what they see. Oh, no question. Well, you try to protect them. Jay explains up a really interesting point about time, though. And he's right. In our case, when we look back, you know, we had to go to school. We had to ride the bus a long time.

And so it was like a process. but other people were in charge of all that. And so, Jay, I was just thinking about it, even when we were in school, when you got home, you had those, man,

those two or three hours a daylight left to go do what you could do, whether it was play baseball for us or football or go fishing or do something, whatever we're doing. And then after that,

someone else was in charge of getting us fed, getting us ready, and then starting the process over. But there was a freedom there from not having to worry about time and responsibility. And I think if you bring that forward into the kingdom of God mindset, if you really trust God like you did your own family,

your parents, or in our case we had parents and grandparents close by. And there was no cell phone in your childhood, Al. No, and you're right, Dad. It wasn't anything other than what we discovered on our seven acres of property. That's what I'm trying to get people to see. Well, it obviously wasn't monitored. wasn't perfect, but, you know, children, they expect acceptance and love and direction and

advice and security. They just expect it. Whether you're getting it or not, they expect it. When they don't get it, then they're the most forgiving people on the planet. Yeah. Especially the smaller that they are. I mean, you can one minute get on to them and, you know, they're probably just going to lose it. And then 10 seconds later, they're, you know, like, you know, I.

you know you offer them something there's oh yeah okay all right that's over and uh yeah so and you just don't see that with adults it scares the daylights out of me jays if if you're watching a ball game in there but one of your children or two of them but one or two or two or whatever and and they're they're deep inside that phone you know all this information they shouldn't be even thinking about when they're 12, 13 years old. No, you're right. It's a practical thing. I mean, my wife is...

All you parents out there know what them kids are looking at or not looking at. Well, true. But I mean, look, it's just, it's a device, I think you have to... Because I think parenting's way deeper than just what they're doing on the phone. But there has to be a structure with that. I mean, like, Missy was great. When our kids sat down, oh, there's no cell phone. Like we sit down at the dinner table or there's no cell phone.

That's why I was on her part. Which eventually. That's what I'm saying. Just be aware. When it's time to go to bed, you turn the cell phone in. It does not leave the middle of the house, you know. It's very. Because if you don't, well, they'll stay up all night on it.

I mean, and if you don't think that's going on. That's a good way to. Then you have to have checks, which I mean, I don't have a list of this. This is off the top of my head. But you have phone checks, which is why they always got in trouble. because I would say, turn in your phone, I'm fixed to look at it. Because I'm paying for it. And so I have every right.

You know, you're like, well, don't invade their privacy. No, invade their privacy. There's no privacy when you're paying the tab. That's the, you don't ever. My kids tell me that. I'm like, well, there ain't no privacy here. And then you pay your own tab, then you got privacy. But I said, well, I'll pay my own phone bill.

That's what Max told me. I'll just pay for my own phone bill. I said, that's not just the phone bill. those it's it's all of it you know it's the phone you got to take it all on the best question that you can ask them is it before you check up on what's in the phone is you say is there anything here that you've been doing that jesus wouldn't approve of and and then when they immediately say oh no it's fine i'm like i want you to think about that question again because i am fixing to get down into the cracks and the crevices i'm sweating right now and the deleted five

And we're, let's pray right now. Let's invite the Lord in. He was here the whole time. But in this moment of me investigating right now, what are me, me and the Lord, what are we going to find? Yeah. Chase, you're also bringing in an interesting point, a kingdom point again, is that you can't get stuff past God anyway because he knows everything. But I tell you something else, you can't really get stuff past your parents either because they have ways of figuring things out. And so you're showing that same mindset with kids. Of course, we're

describing more of the teenage phase of children, but it's definitely there. Another thing I love about the concept of children here is their sense of awestruck wonder, which is really great. And that's one thing Jesus loves about them. And I love that because kids just give you the truth, right? They don't try to sugarcoat it when they're small. Now, when they get older, the line comes in. Then you've got to deal with that. Most of what we're, We're blurring what we're talking about. You know, there's a kid, and then once they get old enough, you know, because I wouldn't even entertain the thought of my kid being around a phone, you know, until they were a teenager.

I mean. Because it hinders them. Well, it's because they're, no, it's really, they're not mature enough to handle that. That's right. Dangerous of a device. That's why I brought up the thing about a gun. I wouldn't hand, you know, my 8-year-old son a gun and say, good luck, buddy. You know, no, there would be a learning curve of, because he can hurt himself or others with the phone.

Well, you know, with a gun. And the phone is the same principle applies because you can scar yourself for the rest of your life on whatever happens. And one of the big things they do now, especially in the teenage world, is these predators get out there and convince these young girls because they're looking for approval along, you know, with the same. same vein of what we talked about before. Everybody has that desire to be wanted and noticed and liked, and they're convincing immature people to take their shirt off and let me see you on the phone. They're doing it every day. And then once it's out there, then they take that photo and make money off of it or put it wherever. Now, here's your daughter being plastered to the world. I mean, it's going on every day. That's why I gave my little rant. Well, true. But what I'm saying is

it would be better off, but I don't think you're going to pull that one off. So forever, it's just this is the way it is. That came and went, and we ain't going back there. But I'm saying you can put parameters on it that's got to be a top priority in how are you going to deal with your kids in the cell phone. And I'm sure, you know, I've made a lot of people mad. in my speeches when I go around the country, because I talk about it. And they come up to me after. Nothing, no argument about who Jesus is and theology,

but it's like, now you brought up that cell phone, you know, my kids got a cell phone. I'm like, how old are they? They're like, eight. I'm like, too young. There's nothing what you're fixed to say is going to convince me. They're too young.

You are a heavy cell phone. Even if they accidentally put something in there, then you're taking a chance that whatever goes into their little brain is going to screw them up the rest of their life. Or people are using phones as a way to be a predator. That's the biggest problem I have with kids 12 and younger. They're not able to recognize robots and con men and schemes. And all you got to do is click a couple buttons and the next thing you know, your whole world's turned upside down. Well, and what I love about, like I said, the truth and wonder of kids, especially the littler they are, is that they'll just tell you what they're thinking.

We had a grandparents day this last week. I was in town. And so I went down to the school and you have a snack with the kids. You take them to do a little book fair. You spend about an hour with them in their environment of the school. It's a wonderful idea that the school has to bring in parents and grandparents into that setting. So we went into Pearl, who's my little secret. year old granddaughter. She's my youngest granddaughter. We were in her room and she showed us some stuff

she had made for me and Lisa, her ma'am. And she said, I just want to tell you what, you know, what I love about you. And this is just her telling us, you know, and I said, okay, go ahead, Pearl. And she said, now, you know, sometimes I get a little emotional. Now, this is a six-year-old girl telling me this. And I'm laughing. I said, that's okay. And she said, well, first of all, I thank you for being our preacher. you know, and I thought, man, that's, it made me feel good, you know. And then she said, and also thank you for making lots of money. It shows you a kid's perspective, Al.

That's exactly right. You're not making a bunch of money over preaching. That's right. That's the best two things that are usually mutually exclusive, a preacher who makes a lot of money. But from her worldview or perspective, she sees me up preaching, but she also knows that we live a good life. You know, she's in a big compound there. She has lots of cool stuff.

But a kid will tell you how they see it. And that's one of the things I love about it. He says, that's what I want to see in the kingdom. Hang on, let's take her a file for you. Well, that's true. But since we got on this cell phone theme, you know, I've told this story many times. I'm going to tell it. My kids hate it when I tell it because it embarrassing them.

But it was a good story that came out of it. But when we had a disagreement about what was appropriate on one of my kids' phones, you know, I took their phone away and I posed as them on social media. And so, you know, I got into Snapchat because I just followed all the trails. And that seemed to be where the most time was being spent. And so once I got past the security measures that they set up, so if your parent grab your phone and look at your Snapchat, everything's fine. Once I got into the world underneath, which is the world that they create, well, I mean, every other word was a four-letter word.

You know, I saw, see all these things. I'm reading all where the next party is going to be planned. And I was, you know, I was really shocked. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. And so, but I would say this, after the two days that I spent, until they figured out that I was not, you know, who I was presenting, you know, I had a talk with all of them because you can command a chat. That's what it is.

And so I was like, you know, actually, I'm the dad. And if you want to be friends, you'll need to come over to my house and and we'll show you a better way. But that happened. But one of the people, one of those kids there that I reached out to, you know, she eventually came to the Lord. I mean, now, so it's been a few years. And I, you know, I treat this person like they're a child of mine. I mean, and so I'm saying to Phil's point, we got to address what's going on here.

And I know that was drastic and seems crazy, you know, and it was eye opening. And I mean, I thought there was some stuff going on there, but I didn't know all this was going on. And but you use it and you put on the armor of God and you go to work. And so most of those kids that I confronted came to my house because they valued that relationship and they didn't want to lose it. Because I said, it's over until you have a conversation and bring, you know, your mom or dad. And I shared Jesus with every one of them. And, you know, there were tears and there were confessions and there were, you know, it really rallied all the other parents to realize the consequences of just handing your kid a phone.

Yep. Because, you know, half of them wasn't even believers. Yep. But they were friends. And so I do think there are ways to combat it and have conversations that are positive. That's, Jay, so you'll know, I got a letter from your oldest son. Yeah. Here's what he finished.

He wrote you a letter because he couldn't call you and he couldn't text you. That's right. He wrote that letter a month ago and I gave it to you this morning because it took that long to actually get it to. He ends it up by saying, thank you for the man you are, the grandpa you are, and the man of God you have taught me to be. Well, I hadn't read it, so he said he wrote you a letter. He watched the movie, Zach. the blind and he wrote that letter to fill which i thought i didn't know what it said but i figured it was probably going to be pretty good for whatever it's worth uh y'all watched all three of you and

you and have your kids but uh you've done a good job all of you a great job in this culture at this time in these united states of america so kudos to y'all following jesus christ does work, especially for your children. No doubt about it. It's got to be there. Just a thought. No, it's good. I think when you have your grandkids writing your letters like that, that's a positive sign.

You bet. What I was going to sell on that, Matthew 18, 5, I was trying to get to this. Because a lot of people say, oh, you know, I don't know why you make it with such a big deal about the cell phone, which was not our intention for this podcast, but Phil went there early. But, you know, we really focus in on that about when Jesus said, let's say, let's, let's be. you change and become like little children, you never enter the kingdom of God. And whoever humbles himself like this will be the greatest in the kingdom. But you know, that next paragraph, it says,

But if anyone causes one of these little ones to sin who believes in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. I mean, look. It's a serious thing. usually doesn't make comments quite like that. I mean, it is a graphic, scary threat for when it comes to messing around with kids. That's why my voice raised a while ago when I was talking about, that's why my voice raised up.

Well, that's why I'm bringing it up because, look, to me, you know, I give a speech about Jesus. I'm not up there trying to, you know, think I'm better than any more. anybody else, but I'm trusting his principles, and the cell phone is a problem with our kids, and so I bring it up in speeches. And to me, you know, before a person comes and confronts me and tries to defend them, given small children, cell phones, I'm like, have you not read this verse? Yeah.

You know what I mean? I mean, I would think that would be a very good qualifying way to cause a kid to stumble, is to hand them and give them free reign of a cell phone. A little kid? They're not going to be able to navigate that. Dangerous. That's right. In a way that's pure. I mean, that's just dumb.

You ought to be commended for bringing this up, all of us. That was my rant. I mean, I agree. I mean, I think it's, you know, you look at the stats on even just mental health and associated with cell phones. I mean, I think it is an issue. I mean, we've got to, we've got to, we've got to, to have conversations with our kids.

I think it seems over like overpowering of what kind of we're up against, but we do have to develop new rhythms in our life. And I think that's one of the things that you want to think about how powerful rhythms are. I mean, if you're, if your kid is, and even a teenager, even an adult, if I'm just scrolling through, you know, a TikTok or, or Instagram. And look, I mean, I've gotten pulled into the, just the, the, the, the, the, the, world of the internet and you get just you're renumbing ourselves to death there's a book written called um by neil postman called amusing our ourselves to death and it's an old book but i mean

it's like prophetic if you read it but that what happens is is that those practices because they're we're we're spending so much time even if it's not like the most twisted stuff it could be subtle subtleties but it's the it's the continual rhythm of being in in a cell phone looking into a screen five hours a day, that is shaping a generation of people. And so we have, we definitely, look, nobody does it perfect. So if you're like, man, man, that's the battle in my house. I wish I'm not that bold or not that. Look, it is hard.

I mean, you're dealing with teenagers to, you're trying to, like, curb them and you're trying to, you know, do it. So it's a battle, but I think it is probably one of the major battles of our lifetime. That's why it's, I mean, we are laughing at what Phil was saying. but the truth is that a lot of what you're saying was correct. These things can be used as gifts, and technology is a gift. But if we're not careful, it can also become idolatrous, which I think it certainly has in a lot of culture. You and your dad, along with myself, we have a book coming out.

And the name of the book is, we could be wrong, like Jay says. but we doubt it. It is on the way. It's on the way. It's on the way. But we doubt it. It could be wrong. We're sorry.

So we're almost out of time. I want to introduce one thought and we'll talk about it in the overtime so you guys will be thinking about it. That another view here is that Jesus sees children differently than his disciples saw these children. Because he does like a lot of times many of us do. We'll say, well, how old way, move back. We've got important things going on here. We don't need children messing this up. But Jesus viewed them as the future.

And I think many times this is what happens. We look at people. And Jason and I were talking about this off air, that we look at people sometimes and we make these judgments. And we figure out that they don't matter because they're having a bad present or they've had a bad past. But Jesus looks to something else. He looks to the future. So we'll talk about that in the overtime because I think it's another little subtle point that he brings out here. BlazTV.com slash unashamed as well.

we'll be. 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 blazed com slash Unashamed.