It’s a Spiritual War, Not a Political Game

On this episode of the Free Thinkers Podcast, we delve into the Nashville school shooting and examine the underlying spiritual causes. While acknowledging the pain of the affected families, we emphasize the importance of faith and staying true to one’s path. We also cover the alarming suicide rates among LGBTQ+ youth and the devastating violent and sexualized effects of psychotropic medication. Finally, drawing from Viktor Frankl’s principles, the we offer insights on creating a missional purpose for emotional and mental well-being.

Don’t miss this exciting episode packed with insights, humor, and real-world concerns, only on the Free Thinkers Podcast!

Thanks again for being part of the team! Please share this episode with your family and friends. Remember your voice matters!

Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, outlined several principles for suicide prevention in his book “Man’s Search for Meaning”. These include:
1. Finding a purpose or meaning in life: Frankl believed that having a sense of purpose or meaning in life, even in the face of extreme adversity, can help individuals find hope and meaning in their suffering. He encouraged people to identify and pursue their own unique purpose, whether it be through work, relationships, or other pursuits.
2. Developing a sense of responsibility: Frankl believed that taking responsibility for one’s own life and actions is essential for mental and emotional well-being. He encouraged people to take control of their own lives and make choices that reflect their values and beliefs.
3. Cultivating a sense of humor: Frankl believed that humor can help individuals cope with difficult situations and find joy and laughter even in the darkest of circumstances.
4. Cultivating a sense of gratitude: Frankl believed that gratitude can help individuals focus on the positive aspects of life, even in the face of suffering. He encouraged people to cultivate a sense of gratitude for the good things in their lives, no matter how small.
5. Cultivating a sense of love and connection: Frankl believed that love and connection are essential for mental and emotional well-being. He encouraged people to cultivate relationships and connections with others, and to find ways to express love and kindness to those around them.
These principles have been used by mental health professionals to help individuals cope with a range of mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts.

Frankl believed that suffering, when embraced with a redemptive perspective, can help individuals develop greater resilience, compassion, and empathy for others. He emphasized the importance of using one’s suffering to connect with others and to find ways to make a positive impact on the world. In this way, Frankl’s approach to suicide prevention was deeply rooted in a redemptive perspective, and he believed that even the most difficult and painful experiences could be transformed into something meaningful and valuable, if individuals were able to find purpose and meaning in their suffering.

Transcript:

Welcome to another episode of the Free Thinkers Podcast. The show that believes in free speech, original thought and desire for truth. Hope everyone is having a wonderful week, I want to remind you to subscribe to our channel on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Rumble Brighteon and Gab TV, and leave a five star review. If you can, we have quite a few of those and we’d love to have a few more. Also, you can head over to free thinkers podcast.com and sign up for email and text alerts from us we take your privacy seriously, we never sell your information that is a guarantee. Also, for each episode, we upload the transcript and show notes with links to valuable articles, data and research we discuss right here on every single episode. Like we always say don’t believe everything we say, do your own research. And we give you a great starting point to make that happen.

It’s been a tough week. It has been a tough week. I know everyone’s heard the news out of Nashville about the horrific shooting the school shooting that happened up their

hearts go out to those families. We have three just beautiful children whose lives were taken. We have three administrators whose lives were taken.

And it’s tough. It’s tough to

to fathom what’s going on with this. And

I just have to say, right off the bat. I’m tempted to come on here and just trash transgenders. I’m tempted to, but I’m not.

I’m tempted to come on and be hypercritical of a lot of things, but I’m not.

It’s a little different.

Right now.

We’re in a really weird spot.

The atmosphere feels different.

I was talking to me and Joe on the way home I went up to Jacksonville today. And

he’s doing great, by the way, we miss him on this but he’s super, super busy. And God has blessed him with a lot of work. And it’s a great thing.

But I told him I said the atmosphere just feels different. There’s like a there’s a heaviness is a spiritual darkness. There’s

an oppressive feel there’s a possessive feel.

And when you when you just get engulfed with a noose and to see what’s going on like this, it’s just, it’s tough. And again, yes, it was a transgender

person that had a

emotional and mental

illness that did this. I’m going to I’m going to state the facts. I’m not running from that I’m not running from anything of that sort.

That’s been discussed disgust, politicized,

ad nauseam.

One side is blaming

that the other side is calling for guns.

And

you have six families.

I don’t care about either side.

Because you can’t unscramble eggs

you have three families that are mourning the loss of

nine year old you have two girls and a little boy.

And you have other three families that are mourning the loss of adult,

the principal, the school

to administrators.

And

we’ll go into a little bit of detail

with that, but

we have to get to the root of what’s going on.

The root is spiritual darkness, the root is evil. The root of of all this goes back

to the father of lies.

I have to lay it out because I’ve seen you know I kind of went on Twitter and I started looking at some things when on gab and started looking at some things and there’s just some vile people out there

that are saying if this is a Christian school,

where was prayer?

Where was God?

And we’ll address that head on.

Because

we’re not promised.

immunity from bad. If you’re a believer, we’re not promised immunity from bad in fact, we’re promised the opposite. It says we are sent out as sheep among wolves.

were promised the opposite.

But even though we’re we’re targets, and we’re targeted, and we’re seeing that now more than ever, Christians are targeted.

We’re still called to be light.

We’re still called to stand for truth.

To bring hope,

to share joy.

That’s the message. And that’s the life we’re supposed to live and,

and I know that that beacon of warmth and love and light and life is going to come out of that.

And the greatest thing about

the tragedy that happened

is the world gets to see what strength

that only can come from God looks like.

I’ve seen, I’ve seen tragedy.

And I’ve seen the way that people stand up in the face of adversity. And they have a strength that only can come from God.

But I mean, we’ll get into some stuff later. I’ve covered a lot of this stuff on previous podcasts. And it’s just, it’s sad, but I have to I have to lay it out because

God is good.

He’s the father of life.

This is not something that he

wanted. This breaks his heart.

He had plans for those people. For I have plans for you, to prosper you.

And to give you hope, and a future.

And he had plans for these people pass this day.

He’s omniscient, he knew it would happen.

But that’s the realm that we can’t meet. And we don’t have the capacity to understand how God sees things. But there were plans, there were gifts, there are talents, there were abilities that he gave all these people that whose lives were taken.

Why would they take him? Why didn’t God prevent it?

Because we have freewill. And we live in a world that we battle the world, the flesh and the devil every single day. The Bible says that the fights that we fight aren’t against flesh and blood, but there’s principalities and spiritual battles that we’re fighting. It’s interesting in the last podcast the way I ended it at the very last podcast, it says Do not fear.

And I talked about it. And I think one of the last things I said is to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord if you are believer.

The next time we come on

it’s real.

It’s definitely real.

I just I want to I want to encourage people, still to not fear

to live an abundant life. Because it says The thief

comes not but for to kill, steal and destroy. God says I have come to give life and life abundantly or life to the full.

And you know what?

We’re not promised safety. We’re not promised security. Like I said, we’re, we’re promised the sheep among wolves. If you look in Hebrews, look at all the people that were burned at the stake dipped in boiling oil persecuted.

But they were commended for their faith. Because they didn’t waver. They praise God and they looked up to the heavens until their final day then you know what?

They have eternity

with a God of love and joy and peace

and you

you just have to put it in perspective because you again, the flesh every single bit of me wants to come and just trash

we’ve been lied to

and the propaganda for so long.

But there was a side by side picture of the shooter that I saw earlier.

It was

several years ago probably 10 years ago.

I’ll, I’ll post it on the on the website. I didn’t have time to prepare, I just wanted to come on here and do this. I didn’t have time to prepare like slides and videos and all that stuff wanted to, but didn’t do it. Just didn’t have time.

But on the left, they had a picture of the same shooter.

As her biological

sex is a girl cute girl standing on the beach, smiling. You see joy in her eyes, on the right side, dressed up, like she was that everyone has seen

with a gun in her hand,

fatigues, ready to kill

the thief.

Satan

comes to kill, steal, and destroy he came and stole her life.

her joy, her soul

leads to death. The path leads to death, stole her sanities stole stole her

ability to stay on the pathway. And this is I was thinking about this earlier.

If I had a microphone in the shower, this some of those best podcasts ever. I don’t know I just I think so much clearer in the shower.

And

you just think about the people who

wander off the path.

Want to go do their own thing, live their own life, think they’ve got it figured out.

That leads when you get off the path that leads to destruction. Every time.

When I get off the path, it leads to destruction. Every time.

We’re designed we’re created.

For order. There’s an order in life.

We breathe in oxygen, we breathe out carbon dioxide, trees breathe in carbon dioxide, they breathe out oxygen

were created male and female.

And the two shall become one united. God created animals he created the heavens and the earth, the sky, the water vapor goes up and clicks in the clouds falls down with rain waters the plants they produce and give off ah it’s just there’s order.

When you walk out of that order,

you go off the path.

I’m the most nonlinear person around I’m I just I’m all over the place, my mind doesn’t think in a straight linear fashion. But

when we get off of that when we get out of that order,

chaos

ensues.

And

when people say come do this, come do that. It’s like the Garden of Eden.

No, you need you need that you need that knowledge. You need to eat that fruit you need to do this, instead of stay on the path.

God called us to a certain

way and

when we’re living for ourselves, instead of living for God instead of serving others instead of giving of ourselves instead of doing that, we get off that path and we just get bound by self. We get bound by selfishness, selfishness, and then we lose our mission or purpose.

And when we don’t have purpose,

we pursue pleasure.

And that’s the difference between Sigmund Freud

and Viktor Frankl

Viktor Frankl said that man

is driven by purpose meaning and when he doesn’t have it, he pursues pleasure. Freud says that man is is driven by pleasure. And I think he is when he doesn’t have meaning. I

I think I go with Frankel on that much more.

So in our society, we’re told

to essentially live like the snake, or the serpent

was saying to Eve,

in the garden, choose your own thing. You know more than God, you do what you want to do. You go off the path, you’ll be fine, you do what you want to do.

And we see this, this young girl,

who was vibrant, had a beautiful smiles, cute girl.

Go off the path, and choose

whatever she chose, and I don’t know her background. I’m not sure if she was abused. I’m not sure if any of that. And the only reason I say that is I’ve, I’ve had several gay male friends. In my life, one of my, one of my best friends in film school,

was a gay guy. He’s the lead editor for one of the top TV shows in the country right now.

And we’ve had we’ve had talks, he knew I was a person of faith. And I would be I would be open this is back in the 90s, I’d say, Well, you know, why are you gay. And he was sexually abused.

By his uncle.

There was another friend that we used to hang out with, and her brother was gay. And so I talked to him, I was very open with him. He was he was sexually abused by his cousin.

There’s literally not one person. And I, I don’t understand like about females, because I’ve never talked to a gay female like that. I just, that’s not my business, a male I can talk to.

But there’s not one gay male I’ve ever talked to that hasn’t been the victim of some sort of sexual abuse, not one. I’m not saying that doesn’t exist. I’m saying that I haven’t talked to one.

So I can’t

emotionally understand and connect, and I will give empathy

and understanding to people that are victims of sexual abuse. But I will say that, from what I’ve seen,

it’s a cascading effect that goes from generation to generation to generation. Because I would almost bet the bank

that if you talk to that guy’s uncle, and that guy’s cousin,

they were the victims of that too.

And it continues.

That’s not That’s not the order.

That’s we’re created. That’s not the design that’s created.

So back to this girl. I don’t know her background. I don’t know if she was a victim

of abuse or how she got to that point.

But when you think, you know, you see a lot of people they put online, you know, burn in hell and all this other stuff.

Yeah, I’m sure that’s happening. But

when you

when you think of hell, I think we attribute it with physical pain and torture and torment. And

the Bible says that we’re the were the, you know, the tongue is not quenched and that kind of thing that paints that picture.

But there was a book I read called

Crazy Love by Francis Chan. And he asked a question

that I remember exactly where I was, I was in Las Vegas

I’ll never go back we’re staying with the red rock which is way outside it wasn’t on the strip or anything that I was sitting in a chair out by the pool reading this book, crazy love and ask a question. It said if you were promised heaven, and it was streets of gold and you had all this other

you know, luxury riches mansions, all your family and friends were there and just had the greatest time heaven

you had everything that you could imagine.

But Jesus wouldn’t be there.

Would you still want to go?

Not yet me. Wow.

Because it’s saying if the question is asking,

essentially in this in that context is

if you can have everything things all the material things.

Family this that and the other.

But you

you would disconnect your eternity from

love, the author of The of love

The author of grace and mercy and forgiveness, and joy and peace and happiness and all that you disconnect from that, would you really want to go and it made me ask myself

that hard question

which back to

the shooter and to those images and pictures and you see the juxtaposition of

vivacious, smiling, young girl verse

from what I can just

only imagines a demonically possessed killer, I don’t understand how you do that without the influence

of the father of lies and the author of death

the subject of Hell was brought up

and there was probably a lot that

she was searching for, and all this other stuff.

But I just thought, you know,

hell is disconnected from love forever.

Snow, warmth,

just cold. There’s no light, just dark.

It’s sterile, there’s no touch. There’s no warmth, there’s no

grace, no mercy, disconnected from love.

That’s the ideology that I think this generation in this culture is pushing.

And I know this is not your typical trash everybody podcast. But I think there’s more important things to talk about at this point.

There’s a lot of other podcasts. And if you’re looking for somebody to trash them,

man, there’s a lot. So

I welcome you to go catch that.

But

there is

a I think the thing that I don’t want to do, because it’s it’s far easier to be a critic than a creator.

As a filmmaker myself, you see these movie critics who’ve never made a movie. I’ve made a movie before. It’s tough work, hard work.

And then you see these people that sit back and drink sodas and then criticize it.

My friend Kevin and I, we made

beer before.

And that’s hard work.

And I only criticize one beer. That still I think it’s still the worst beer on Earth. But anyway.

Yeah, I think, I don’t know. I just, I just had this. I just wanted to bring up because there’s so much in this world that I think we’re missing. And I think this, like I said that the atmosphere just feels different. It feels like

we’re just so callous. We’re just so numb. We’re just so

self consumed.

And I think we’re just getting used to

living among

some really evil stuff. I think we’re consumed with it. We’re, the exposure has become become consumption.

I mean, it’s when you talk about baby steps, there’s little baby steps that you put in this stuff.

And I’m a

I’m a big supporter

of emotional and spiritual

maintenance that you can do on yourself and instead of chemical maintenance, and only things keep maintenance is just chemical cover.

Um, obviously, if you’ve listened to this podcast before,

you know in a previous episode, we covered a lot of the psychotropic drugs the school shooters have, and I’m a I’ll never get off that soapbox. Because I’ve seen the effects of

that not only have I seen the effects in school shooters, I’ve seen the effects on my family with a lot of these drugs.

And it’s been very, very, very disruptive

there was this shooter

this is going to be nonlinear. Like I said, we’re just we’re looking through a couple of different

articles.

When, when when you look, let’s just take the first

and this is a very common one. This isn’t necessarily a psychotropic but this is one of the most common ones that around this is replaced

heroin and cocaine in any of that, as far as the recreational drug of choice in college campuses and that sanics now this is from the physicians desk reference was the official guide that they have to put out that covers the side effects of any drug.

Now, some of the effects is from the physicians desk reference. These effects of Xanax can occur in both men and women and may include increased sexual desire or libido, sexual dysfunction, including decreased libido and difficulty achieving orgasm. Unusual or risky sexual behavior, including engaging with multiple sexual partners, sexual compulsions, or obsessions. Then it goes into

anxiety. It’s an anti anxiety drug, but the side effect is anxiety. But I’m talking the first part is the Is this the side effects of just increased sexual appetite and homicidal tendencies and thoughts and how that can potentially lead to this. This school shooter

was on psychotropic medication.

I pulled this article up again. Nashville shooter was under a doctor’s care for emotional disorder, psychiatric care for emotional disorder. Now we know what psychiatric means. It’s a drug dealer with a degree.

Yeah, she was under doctor’s care

for an emotional disorder, but did not disclose further details about that disorder.

So now we can start

putting pieces together. There’s never ever ever ever been a school shooter that hasn’t been on psychotropic medication. I’ll post links on the site, you can go back to I think is deer feds, sorry. deer heads, border Feds and prescription meds that episode. I know we covered that.

You can put two and two together. When you start coming up to

the way that somebody that believes in transgender what they call gender incongruence

comes up with there’s a study from Yale.

The study found that transgender individuals who’d received a diagnosis of gender incongruence, which basically means that they did not feel that they were the feel that they were the same sex as their biological sex. They said that those people are six times more likely to have mood or anxiety disorder than the general population. They are three times as likely to be prescribed antidepressants and anti anxiety medications leads right into what we just talked about, which we know they’re three times as likely to prescribe that and look at the side effects that come from that prescription.

And those people are more than six times as likely to attempt suicide

resulting in hospitalization or death, six times

more likely.

Now, let’s go to

one of the other studies that I put today

when we talk about suicide facts about LGBTQ youth suicide, and the reason I’m reading this is this is not what you’re gonna get on the mainstream news because this is these are the actual stats

of what this

affirmation

is causing. They’re affirming

what we’re, what we’re seeing, and I think through the affirmation is causing death

the enemy has come to kill

kill,

steal, and destroy.

Think about that, when I read this next.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 10 to 24.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and questioning youth.

LGBTQ youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide

as their peers.

The Trevor Project estimates that more than 1.8 million

LGBTQ youth 1313 years old to 24 1.8 million, seriously consider suicide, and at least one attempts suicide every 45 seconds.

The Trevor Project 2022 National Survey on youth LGBTQ youth men found that 45% seriously considered attempting suicide the past year, including more than half of transgender and non binary youth.

Data shows bisexual youth are those who have more capacity from attraction to more than one gender report higher rates of depression,

sexual assault and physical harm.

Analysis of the CDC almost half 48% of by young people seriously considered attempting suicide. Transgender and non binary youth face elevated risk for depression thoughts of suicide and attempting suicide compared to youth who are straight.

They’re going to tell you that is because

they don’t have the acceptance.

They don’t have the affirmation.

But go back to what I started with, with a mission or purpose

and staying on a path

of life rather than death.

I don’t think we can affirm this.

I don’t think we can

chemically cover this and treat this.

This is a spiritual issue again. The fights we fight aren’t with flesh and blood but their spiritual and principalities. That’s why I can’t come on here and trash the transgenders as much as my flesh wants to do it. Trust me.

That’s at some point.

I’m not making any excuses for this killer at all.

Horrific,

just horrific.

There’s people out there that are really, really hurting and struggling. And again, I don’t want to come on here as a critic without

having some constructive way to help.

And I know that I’ve covered this before.

But I kind of I wrote a little bit more out today because I really really truly believe when you look at at Viktor Frankl

he was a survivor of the Holocaust. He was put in charge of the suicide ward.

For over 2000 patients who were on the verge of taking their life

and suicide, which it relates, we just covered the increased risk of suicide.

But Viktor Frankl was put in charge of that.

And through

some of the

areas that he really said you need to focus on not one person committed suicide not one.

If you can steer people back on the path with a mission or purpose in their life

that’s what happens. I’m going to read this

Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor,

outlines several principles for suicide prevention, his book Man’s Search for Meaning if you haven’t read that book, I’d highly recommend it. The first finding a purpose or meaning in life Frankel believe that having a sense of purpose or meaning in life, even in the face of extreme adversity

can help individuals find hope and meaning in their suffering. He encouraged people to identify and pursue their own unique purpose, whether it be through work, relationships, or other pursuits. Number two,

develop a sense of responsibility. FRANKEL believed that taking responsibility for one’s own life and actions is essential for mental and emotional well being. He encouraged people to take control of their own lives and make choices that reflect their values and beliefs. This is one of the main

points that I can just camp right here on

personal responsibility because you are taking responsibility for your own life instead of being a victim and just looking at it. Now, let me tell you, I’m going to stop right there and say that I do not know

emotionally what people have physical and sexual, and emotional abuse go through. I don’t I can’t say that.

But Viktor Frankl did. He went through all of those.

And he wrote that he wrote number two.

My point is when you sit back and you listen, and you hear your victim, whether you’re a minority, whether you’re a different color, whether you’re a different sexual orientation, all this other stuff, you listen to this stuff, and you hear Woe is me. And they want to get you into this this victim mentality of because you’re a victim is going to elevate your status and make you more powerful through becoming a victim.

But if you take responsibility for your life, from Frankel,

and your actions,

it’s essential for mental and emotional well being. And I believe that 100% encourage people to take control their own lives and make choices that reflect their values and beliefs. That’s an important thing, your values and beliefs, it’s got to be lined up on the path, your values and beliefs can’t be, I believe this, or this is my truth right there, there has to be a true north compass always goes towards the north. Because it’s programmed to do that if people’s compass went all over the place, you wouldn’t get anywhere.

You got to align to a true north, we’re a source of truth.

I work in

a lot of agriculture and precision agriculture guidance, and you set up before you do a field or anything like that, you set up a base station. And that base station is your source of truth. That’s what they call the source of truth. Because you set that up on something that has a firm foundation, you don’t want to set it up in San Juan trucks come by it kind of moves off, because you’re doing sub AK sub inch accurate, like when you drive a tractor, it’s gonna stay within an inch accuracy, you can drive to the moon.

And it’s gonna stay sub inch, so you can’t have trees around you can’t have obstacles around has to be clear, you have to put it on a foundation, that’s a that’s a firm foundation, that it won’t move and won’t drift. Because you want that source of truth to be relative to what you’re doing. And when you go back, not only when you’re spraying or something like that, but when you’re harvesting way, way, way down the line, that source of truth is the same spot. And when you drive down that row, it’s going to be sub inch, Dad gum accurate and it’s gonna stay right down the line, you gotta have the source of truth because if you don’t have that, you’re wandering all over the place. You’re steering it yourself.

And we know what that leads to. Number three, cultivating a sense of humor. FRANKEL believed that humor can help individuals cope with difficult situations to find joy, and laughter even in the darkest of circumstances. That’s so true.

The Bible says they bring sorrow

to joy and laughter and dancing. And that’s, that’s what that’s what it’s all about. We have to.

That’s one of the things that I love about my family is we’ve always we’ve always laughed about things. It’s just great to get along, not get along, we get them get around each other. It’s great to get along too, but to get around each other and just come together and we all just laugh, all of us like to laugh. And that’s been such a that’s one of the hallmarks of our family. Just to get together and laugh and just have fun and it’s, it’s great. I’ve been around other people’s families where they don’t do that. I’m gonna have a how do you manage this? I can’t imagine being being around an event or something like that, you know, laugh. But yeah, having a sense of humor is great. Definitely great and you can, you can use that to be witty and kind of make fun of the bad situations and, and just come out of that. And it’s, it’s a lot of fun.

Number four is cultivating a sense of gratitude. Frank, I believe that gratitude can help individuals focus on the positive acts aspects of life, even in the face of suffering. He encouraged people to cultivate a sense of gratitude for the good things in their lives, no matter how small. I had a lady that used to cut my hair when I was in high in Junior High in high school. Her name was Miss Kay. And she was a Vietnamese immigrant. She grew up in Vietnam during the war. She saw atrocities that she described to me that I won’t describe here.

She saw a lot of her family members killed

by the Vietcong, I guess it was the VIBs the Vietnamese that were doing that. And

they she and two of her family, men

versus escaped to United States. She was so thankful for the freedom of the United States. She just, she told me every time I saw her how much she loved this country and say how thankful she was for this country.

And I remember one day I was

getting my hair cut. This made an impact on me because I was, I was old enough to drive.

So I was at least 16. But I was sitting in her chair. And she just was so happy this day, so happy this day.

And she was cutting my hair and just smile and everything. And she I remember her taking a step around and looking me in the face. And she goes, I gotta tell you something, and with the biggest smile on her face, and I said, What’s that miscarry? And she said,

Today, I have, I have prayed. But I’ve only thank God today. I’ve never asked him for anything yet today, and I’m not going to do it today. I’m just gonna thank him. Because I’m so grateful. I’m so thankful. I don’t want to ask her anything. I just want to tell him how good he is. And I’ll never forget that. I’ll never forget that she had an attitude of gratitude. And her spirit was just so thankful. And the thankfulness and her gratitude showed through her warmth in her joy in her smile, it was contagious. And so there’s been times where there has been certain days, even to this point in my life, that I still think about that day with Miss Kay. And there’s days that I go, and I don’t ask for anything. I just thank God for all the great things and the blessings and the just amazing things that he provides in our lives. And I’m telling you, when you have that gratitude, I Frank John Gordon, he says, he goes on a thank you walk in the mornings, he just goes on his normal walk. And he just thanked God for everything that he has going on in his life. Some days, everything’s not great. But he’s thankful that there’s an answer, there’s a way to get out and, and, and just a perspective like that. So cultivating a sense of gratitude, I believe is very, very, very important.

Number five is cultivating a sense of love and connection. FRANKEL believe that love and connection are essential for mental emotional well being he encouraged people to cultivate relationships, and connections with others and find ways to express love and kindness to those around them. I think this is what our society is missing. More than ever, because we’re more digitally connected, but not physically connected. We get online and we

post our views or our disagreements or thoughts, and they are way more

vile

than we’d ever do it in person.

I think sometimes if we take a fast from from social media or fast from things like that, it would be great. And I mean, I’ve done that before I have to do that before.

I’ve taken a fast from news I just don’t want to fill my mind with with bad news and that kind of thing all the time. But I believe that that’s a way you know, when you get around others. I mean, how many times have you hung out with people that that are your close friends and you leave and use in your life? Yeah, I just, I don’t feel better. After this. I don’t think there’s anybody that feels that way. I think we all feel that when we’re around people that we’re in an atmosphere of love and encouragement and, and laughter and it just that camaraderie that we leave on our spiritual lifted and we’re just in a much better place. And in the last I talked about a redemptive perspective. But frankly, that suffering when embrace through a redemptive perspective, can help individuals develop greater resilience, compassion and empathy for others who emphasize the importance of using one suffering to connect with others, and to find ways to make a positive impact on the world. And this ways Franco’s approach to suicide prevention was deeply rooted in a redemptive perspective. And he believed that even the most difficult and painful experiences could be transformed into something meaningful, meaningful and valuable. If individuals are able to find purpose and meaning in their suffering.

There’s a lot of families right now that are experiencing suffering.

But

if there’s anybody that can

bring something that’s dark,

to light, bring something that’s cold into warmth, bring something that sad to joy,

sorrow, to happiness.

It’s

people that are connected to the source of life to the source of love to the source of hope and grace.

I didn’t really intend this to be

sermon.

But like I said, I was convicted.

Because I don’t want to have a spirit of criticism, or spirit of complaining.

There’s enough people doing that.

I’m guilty. I’ve done it.

I’ll probably do it. Again. It’s, it’s, it’s the flesh. It’s what I want to do.

It feels good. It’s an outlet.

But there’s something

different in the atmosphere right now. I’m telling you, there’s something different the atmosphere.

And I think we all need to be cognizant of that.

It’s a different time.

It’s a different time. I think I think I think others feel it too. I think others feel

we’re just, we’re just a little bit different, different area.

So

I don’t know.

I don’t know what else

to say. Other than that, I hope, I sincerely hope

that in the sea of, of hate

the sea of anger,

disconnected

that you find hope, or a little bit of comfort in that and in in this.

Obviously, this isn’t going to sell.

I’m not yelling, I’m not

doing a lot of other stuff that the popular podcast get.

But I think there’s some sanity that we have, I think we need to get back to that

source of truth. Kind of like that base station, and feel.

I’m not just telling you to do it. This is a message for me.

I think we all need to do it.

And I think

if we if we strip away the layers of

the people that are aiming to divide us, I think there’s a great attempt

to pit

people against each other.

But

when you think about it

right now.

Right now, as I’m recording this, every 45 seconds, there’s

gay or transgender youth attempting suicide.

We’ve gone 45 minutes

there’s been 55 People that have attempted suicide during the time I’m talking to you.

So I think it’s important to know

some of these aspects of truth that I read from Man’s Search for Meaning from someone like Viktor Frankl that if you come across something like this

hopefully you can pour some of that in their lives instead of

pour fuel on the fire.

Because I truly believe that a lot of those people are truly searching for something

or seeking something, whether it’s acceptance, and the acceptance isn’t in their gender dysphoria, their acceptance is

someone to

to love them, to care for them, to appreciate them, to see them to acknowledge them. So many times lot of these us aren’t even acknowledged

there’s a

there’s a center here in town called Peace River. These were kids that

maybe are suicidal or

have have issues go.

And I had heard from a person that

there were a lot of kids in there whose parents dropped him off and on visiting hours and everyone come

to see him

Again,

I don’t know about you, but

I’ve had the luxury.

The extreme luxury of a loving family.

And for that, I’m thankful.

extremely thankful. Our parents loved me like you wouldn’t believe my grandparents loved me like you wouldn’t believe. I mean, I was, I mean,

luxurious compared to a lot of these kids.

So I can’t

connect on that level of some of the pain and the suffering and the emptiness and loneliness, and maybe resentment that a lot of these kids go through. And because of a lot of that,

maybe parents pushing an iPad as a pacifier.

And not even connecting with their kids. I don’t I don’t know.

So I can’t sit here and just give the answers to everything. But what I can say is, I think it’s worth

being empathetic

to some of these kids that have suffered

atrocities we can’t even imagine.

Because until you walked in those shoes,

it’s hard to say what you do. Truly, it’s truly hard to say what you do.

I can’t make an excuse for, for murder,

for taking people’s lives for committing

atrocities, like I can’t, and I’m not. I think it’s evil. I think it’s vile, I think it’s demonic.

But the thief comes to kill to steal and destroy.

God says he’s come to give life and life to the fool.

So all I would say and ask

is just speak life into people. That’s it.

There’s, I believe there’s a truth. Again, find that source of truth.

And there is a source of truth. It’s not floating. It’s not this your source source of truth is this and what there’s there’s a there’s a source of truth.

That things run off of those those tractors, you can have 18 Different tractors out there, they’re running off of that one unique source of truth. They don’t each have their source of truth.

I think we’ve seen the success in that.

So I just

I don’t know, it’s been a weird, it’s been a weird podcast.

But I just kind of felt that that was on my,

my heart today. And

there’s a lot of other stats I could have read to you.

But that’s a that’s definitely

something that leads to death.

And we’ve, we’ve we’ve clearly seen that. So I don’t want to go political more than that. I think we’ve done a good job staying off of those, those ropes. Again, a lot of other people cover that cover it well.

And much more eloquently than I do we have a serious,

serious issue in this country. But again, I just say step back and understand that there’s a way

that we can guide people through this. And I’m not saying it’s a

it’s a golden parachute by any stretch of the imagination, but affirming

what we’re affirming, mutilating kids, like is being allowed to do in certain circumstances and chemically covering up

and sometimes just drugging to pacify,

which causes serious and severe and detrimental

side effects and consequences.

It’s not it’s not the answer. It’s definitely not the answer.

To next time, love you

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