Speaker 2: 0:02

Welcome to the Saints that Serve, podcast where, each week, your hosts dive into the crossroads of faith, culture and the unknown.

Speaker 1: 0:14

Christ is Lord and the kingdom is now. We are the Saints that Serve. Hello everybody, and welcome to the Saints that Serve podcast. That is the Saints that Serve podcast. That is the Saints that Serve podcast. This is episode 24 of the podcast and sadly I'm back, hey you're not sick anymore, are you?

Speaker 2: 0:57

I'm not, by the grace of God. I am restored to health and unfortunately, you guys don't get to listen to an awesome guest. You have to revert back to me, but next week we're going to have a guest. We are Episode 25. So it's going to be something fun. So make sure you listen to this all the way through and then listen to next week's episode when it comes out and then after that wait a week and listen to that episode too.

Speaker 2: 1:26

But if you are just tuning in or maybe you missed a couple episodes the past two weeks where I haven't been on the show, they were really good. They were very good. Listen to them. It was a great conversation, it was a great time. So I highly recommend you go back and listen to episodes 22 and 23.

Speaker 1: 1:45

I want to talk about this real quick, go for it. So we recorded those episodes, right, yeah. So recorded episode 22 on a Thursday, yeah. And then we planned ahead like man John's going to be might be sick for a little while, so we planned on the other episode and two days later recorded episode 23 on a Saturday. And then so it was like, okay, we're prepped, john's, he's good, you know, he can just rest. And then Sunday we walk into church and you're in church and you're fine, yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:16

Well, I wouldn't say fine, but I was not sickly anymore. I still had, and every now and then it'll randomly have a coughing fit, but yeah, by sunday I was no more fever, no more exhaustion nice, and I walked in with a little bit of a surprise too. That surprised you and your wife yeah, we both just in the middle of worship and we just see you walk in and we're just like who is this? Guy. It made me smile really big.

Speaker 1: 2:43

Yeah, so you want to tell everybody what I did? Yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:46

He shaved his head and then he tattooed the very top with the Star of David.

Speaker 1: 2:52

So it was very and then underneath that I put STS rocks. That's right, so very yeah, yeah no. But seriously, I shaved my head. Yeah, he just shaved his head. First time in my life, I ever did it. First time in my life, I ever did it. Yeah, surprisingly looks really good, yeah you look good.

Speaker 2: 3:06

You look like a younger, more in shape, jean Valjean, maybe not. You look like a younger, healthier Jean Valjean. There we go, thank you.

Speaker 1: 3:17

Thank you Because he looks like you know, dehydrated and poopy, like he's been in a prison camp for 40 years, exactly, yeah, how long was it actually? I think 10. I think 10 years Imprisoned for—.

Speaker 2: 3:29

For a loaf of bread, for a loaf of bread. Stealing a loaf of bread, yeah.

Speaker 1: 3:32

And for those who don't know what we're talking about what are we talking about?

Speaker 2: 3:36

The musical as Miserable.

Speaker 1: 3:40

Or Les Miserables, yeah, or les mis or les mis for those who don't know how to speak French. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 3:47

But yeah, so we're going to get into our main topic in a minute, but first make sure that you are following us on social media and leaving comments and likes. Another big thing guys, we're on YouTube, so these aren't like videos of us, it's just the audio right now. But still, if you're on YouTube, make sure to go and check out our videos and comment on them and leave a like. It really helps the we're on all of it. So make sure you're following us and you're sharing our posts and our content with your friends so that we can just grow, because Jairus and I are both pro organic growth and that's how we want to do it. That's right. Ain't none of that synthetic, artificial growth in here.

Speaker 1: 4:43

So I wanted to play this because I just think it's really funny. Okay, last week was Janelle's episode. We talked about ADHD Correct. While I was editing the podcast, I came across this yeah, I get in trouble.

Speaker 3: 4:57

I don't know if I don't think I do this so much anymore, but I used to get in trouble finishing other people's sentences for them. I felt like they were taking too long or like I felt like I was helping them. I thought that they were pausing because they couldn't think of a word, they were struggling. And they were struggling with the words. So I was like, oh, then I'll.

Speaker 1: 5:18

So I'm just like I love how, in the moment we are recording that, she is saying how ADHD people struggle with interrupting people and finish their sentences and right after she says that I interrupt her and finish her sentence. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 5:34

Well, you know.

Speaker 1: 5:36

You know how it is, you know.

Speaker 2: 5:37

I mean, you know how it is. I mean everybody listening to this knows how it is, because there'll be random interruptions talking over somebody else while we're talking. But we always bring it back around At some point At some point. It's not a big deal.

Speaker 1: 5:51

So I thought that was really funny. That is funny, quite humorous. So another thing before we get started. I figured I know you're not prepared, wow, well, you're not because we didn't talk about it. Oh, but let's. But it's been a minute since you've been on the show. Okay, your show, our show, our show, god's show, god's show, praise the Lord. A little bit of surprise Fum, facebook, Marketplace, madness, oh great. So I know. That's why I said you're not prepared. Okay, but I've got a couple. I've been going on now and just saving things, saving things going buck wild. So I think I'm gonna do like, yeah, I'm gonna do two of them, okay, and then, uh, just save them going forward. I'm looking at here okay, all right, so the first one is apple chair like an actual apple shapedshaped chair.

Speaker 2: 6:45

That's what you're getting, okay.

Speaker 1: 6:47

You know what I got. To read the whole thing, though, okay. It says apple chair with core footstool.

Speaker 2: 6:55

I'm going to say $75.

Speaker 1: 6:58

You're saying $75? Yes, the actual price of the apple chair with core footstool is $75. Hey.

Speaker 2: 7:10

Is it like actual human size?

Speaker 1: 7:14

It doesn't say it could be for a Barbie doll. Oh my gosh, that looks so uncomfortable to sit in. Okay, I've got one for you.

Speaker 2: 7:22

Oh, you found one already, you should be able to get this one $75. I haven't even said it yet I got it. No, it's not $75. It's a Sega Genesis with games. The games are eSports college football Looks like a bass, like a pro bass, outdoors bass something, tournament 96 and then pga tour, uh, three. Those are, those are the games and yeah, it's a sega genesis.

Speaker 1: 7:57

I'm gonna say 36 dollars, 60 bucks, 60 bucks yeah, dang yeah, these old vintage games, like the systems themselves, I don't believe are that expensive. It's the games that, depending on what games you're looking for, are the ones that are the big money.

Speaker 2: 8:15

Yeah, yeah, and that's the thing. The only reason I'm getting older consoles is because I was looking up Game Boy colors, seeing if anyone was selling them. I really wanted to try and get some for the boys to play on, because I got you the nostalgia of it. Right, right, do you have any other-? Yeah, I've got one more, okay.

Speaker 1: 8:36

Original painting GameCube.

Speaker 2: 8:40

What.

Speaker 1: 8:44

Original painting.

Speaker 2: 8:46

GameCube. I'm going to say someone thinks they're all that and a bag of chips. I'm going to say they're selling it for $150.

Speaker 1: 8:54

So an original painting GameCube. So that's the picture of it. It's really not that great $30. Oh, okay, I was way off, you were way off. Somebody did not think that they were all that and a bag of chips.

Speaker 2: 9:09

Yeah, okay. My last one is a Starbucks coffee sign. It's a 24 inch in diameter. It is like from an actual Starbucks store, right? How much do you think they're selling it for? I'm going to say $150. $20. Jeez, well, we didn't do too well this time.

Speaker 1: 9:30

I saw one, though I was like I almost sent it to you, because we've been talking about doing worship nights, live streams and whatnot, which we need to talk about.

Speaker 2: 9:37

Yep, on the podcast or On the podcast. I mean it's an announcement.

Speaker 1: 9:49

We just need to let people tune in. I mean, I can take this out. If you want to wait, no, go ahead and talk about okay, cool. So I saw it where it was one of the what do you? How do you say the cajon? Because cajon, yeah, it was like 20 bucks on facebook marketplace. That's like I almost sent it to you.

Speaker 2: 9:58

But I'm like I don't want to be like, hey, go buy this now no, I, we really do need to get like a jim bear cajon, but the problem is I can't play the guitar and the drum, so we need a drummer. So I need either a guitarist or a drummer to come out and play. So we'll we'll work on it, but we did want to bring up. We put it on the count in our internal calendar, but we are going to be doing a worship night live stream. It'll be the last Friday of March, so make sure you are following us on social media for updates on that. It'll be through. We try to do it through Twitch and YouTube.

Speaker 1: 10:37

So when we did the political election night live stream. It was supposed to be through multiple places, but I don't think we were quite equipmently prepared. We will be this time.

Speaker 2: 10:50

We were prepared and then it fell apart on us when we actually jumped in and did it. But this time around we will be prepared.

Speaker 1: 11:00

Just like Scar was. Yes. Did you take a second for you to get that reference?

Speaker 2: 11:06

No, I was just trying to think about how he was kind of prepared, but not prepared.

Speaker 1: 11:12

His plan worked for quite some time. It fell apart when Simba came back Exactly, but Simba wasn't supposed to come back.

Speaker 2: 11:22

That's the point is he was supposed to be dead.

Speaker 1: 11:24

Yeah, you hear that. Don't come back or we'll get you.

Speaker 2: 11:32

Don't come back in 10 years when you're fully grown and can kill us, because we'll get you.

Speaker 1: 11:38

I love how Scar's just so weak yeah what's up with? That he's just a timid little sissy man timmy, timid little timmy, timid little timmy.

Speaker 2: 11:50

Yeah, but like so, all the lionesses just caved because of all hyenas backing him, but the only difference before, up until that point, was one male lion. So you're telling me that mufasa was keeping hundreds of hyenas?

Speaker 1: 12:19

at bay. What's even funnier is like female lions are the ones who hunt, they're the ones who protect and then, just when, like major things happen, that's when the males lions actually do anything, and they're typically lazy. So it's like like you're saying is like this whole entire situation. They could have just easily overpowered all the hyenas.

Speaker 2: 12:44

Yeah, they could have just easily overpowered all the hyenas. Yeah, I mean, I will have to disagree with you a little bit there, because there is documentation of the lion king of male yeah, the lion king of male lions participating in hunting and they predominantly do act as protection for the pride specifically from other lions, but also from other things. They just don't really have anything to do with nurturing. Like the, the male um lines don't do a whole lot of nurturing, whereas obviously the females do as mothers.

Speaker 1: 13:21

But seriously, mufasa was such a bad movie.

Speaker 1: 13:25

Oh yeah, I didn't watch it, but just hearing about it made me realize it was so funny because I told you about maybe stop me if we talked about this on the podcast already. I think I did with Ashley, but we'll do it again real quick. Okay, so it's so funny because we were talking me and Ashley were talking to you and your family over lunch about it. Yep, and typically I do embellish my stories With relish, embellish with relish, embellish with relish. But it was so funny because I'm sitting there saying, well, this is what was wrong with the movie and the songs are really, really bad and it's awful, and you and your wife are just kind of like okay, cool, thank you. And like a couple days later, you're like I thought you were over embellishing.

Speaker 2: 14:09

No, seriously, you were spot on listening to the because you started listening to the soundtrack literally you talked about how bad the song was and how bad the soundtrack was, and the first thing that bigfoot did when we got home. When we got home was hey, alexa, play Bye-bye, yeah, or whatever, however he worded it. But he was like oh, they think this is awful and they hate it. I'm going to play it just to mess with everybody.

Speaker 1: 14:35

And then you're just like no, this is just as bad as Jairus described it.

Speaker 2: 14:40

Yeah yeah, I was like this is awful. Anyways, tyler, this is your transition into our main topic for tonight, and tonight we wanted to talk about something a little different, something a little a little thin, thin pages.

Speaker 2: 15:02

Oh, oh, oh yeah a little nostalgic, a little timeless, a little printed, a little printed manually, physically, digitally, yeah, I guess so. So, yeah, you're right, it is digital, but we don't do that right, we don't do the digital. We're gonna talk about books. You can legally get ebooks, no, I know. But I'm saying like, what's like I get people read ebooks. I even think I have one, but I don't know. I feel like books are the thing it's like. This is how I escape from my screen. But you know, to each his own. That's just my opinion.

Speaker 1: 15:47

There are e-book readers that you can get that are e-ink. So it's not technically a screen. It is a screen, but it's a screen like a calculator is a screen. Yeah, that's what the. So it's not like you're sitting there with a glowing thing in your face Like a blue light yeah, Blue light and whatnot. It is a screen that creates still images. Essentially, it's not a constant on screen. You just press the button and it'll change the image on the screen and it's just letters. So I think that's pretty cool. I have of those. That's pretty neat that's pretty neat.

Speaker 2: 16:29

I have one of those, but yeah, we're going to talk about books tonight. So, jerse, what is your favorite book, or you know what? What's your comfort book like? What's something that you like enjoy as a story and you could go back and read it again if you had to?

Speaker 1: 16:49

Green eggs and ham. Green eggs and ham.

Speaker 2: 16:52

Short, easy read. There you go. Short, easy read, like you, short, easy guy.

Speaker 1: 16:56

Short yep, six foot two, jairus, Super short, short, easy guy. No, I'll be honest, I didn't come super prepared tonight.

Speaker 2: 17:07

I know it's okay. You've been telling me all week.

Speaker 1: 17:12

Hey, I'm letting you know in two weeks I'm not going to be prepared. No, I'm thinking about it. It's just like I, like you, know all of the movies. I know this is a weird way to go back to it, yeah, but I do like the book, the adaptations, yeah, that were adapted from. I think the last time I really sat down and actually read a book was Hunger Games, back when that phrase started. I mean, that craze, craze Started with that. I like a good read of Harry Potter, lord of the Rings, narnia is a good read. Yep, yep, it's just, it's been a while. Really, the only thing I'm currently reading legitimately is the Bible, yeah, yeah, the last book I listened to, I think, was I'm trying to think back on it I do a lot of audio books, yeah, same, I think it was a Stephen King. I think I did the Shining or Dr Sleep. I believe the Shining Dr Sleep is the sequel to the Shining Gotcha.

Speaker 2: 18:11

Hack for anybody out there. There is an app called LibriVox and it has a bunch of public domain books. So they're free audio books but they're public domain. So that means you could be listening to one chapter and then you get to the next chapter and it's a totally different auditor who's reading it to you, it sounds like you're just on a weird app. I guess you could say it's weird, but it's just a library of public domain books.

Speaker 1: 18:39

I know what you mean, though those are not that hard to find. There's there, you know there's hundreds of those kind of apps.

Speaker 2: 18:46

I'm just letting people know that's the one that I have. That's the one I have, so it's the only one. Libravox I listen to a lot of edgar rice burroughs books, like a lot of his books, are on why does that name sound so familiar?

Speaker 1: 18:59

I'm feeling really stupid. That's uh alice in wonderland, right?

Speaker 2: 19:03

no, he is the author of the jungle book. He did the jungle book, right. Maybe he did all those tarzan stories and he did all of the mars stories, like john carter of mars, warlord of mars, princess of mars, all that stuff.

Speaker 1: 19:23

Sorry, Rupert Rudyard Kipling did the Jungle Book.

Speaker 2: 19:27

Yeah, no, edgar Rice Burroughs, he did do a lot of fantasy, he did.

Speaker 1: 19:33

I'm sorry. I know why I recognize that name, why I know I keep bringing this away from books. But so every time you boot up Kingdom Hearts 1, there is an acknowledgment on the loading screen saying because Tarzan is a world you go to in Kingdom Hearts 1. It says the copyright Edgar Rice Burroughs at the bottom. That's where I recognize that name Every time I turn on Kingdom Hearts.

Speaker 2: 20:02

Yeah yeah, he wrote a ton of tarzan stories. Like there's a like we just think of the animation, the disney animation, and some people may think of like an older movie or maybe the more recent movie that came out, the live action. But I mean there is like I think we're doing another one.

Speaker 1: 20:21

Those aren't. Aren't we Like a good live action? Tarzan movie.

Speaker 2: 20:24

Maybe I don't know. Here's my issue. Do you remember the movie John Carter? Yeah, you remember how it was like an okay movie. Yeah, that movie was okay. It was okay. It was terrible compared to the actual story, the Edgar Rice Burroughs story for John Carter of Mars. I mean, it's an awesome sci-fi epic and when they made the movie, they just like took a handful of things from the series and then just made their own story with it. Pretty much.

Speaker 1: 21:01

Yeah, it's pretty frustrating because there's a lot of like good stuff in the book I feel like they do that a lot right, where they just take the source material and just say let's just slap the name on it and do whatever we feel like. Yeah, because it's a lot of stuff in public domain, they can do that. It's funny because I don't think you like the wizard of oz, which is like a really heavily beloved story. Yeah, like that adaptation of, like the movie, if I'm not mistaken, is not accurate to the book.

Speaker 2: 21:33

Maybe I'm wrong no, I think, I think you're right, but I mean disclaimer. You know that's how most of them are like.

Speaker 1: 21:39

There's a lot of liberty taken which're going to talk about next week. Ooh spoiler. No, it's called a tease, Tease. Spoiler tease Tease spoiler I'm really excited about next week.

Speaker 2: 21:52

It is going to be good. But we're not going to tell you anything about it, you're just going to have to listen. But anyways, yeah. So Edgar Rice Burroughs ton of good stuff. He did the Land that Time Forgot. I'm pretty sure he did Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Speaker 1: 22:07

Isn't the Land that Time Forgot? Isn't that what they based Land of the Lost on?

Speaker 2: 22:13

Maybe the idea of Land that Time Forgot is it's basically a basin and inside the basin is dinosaurs and like cave people and stuff that like, as the world progressed, everything got caught in this perfect little bubble inside this dome and just stayed the same. And the main character is a pilot who flies over the cliff edge of this little bubble thing, over the cliff edge of this little bubble thing and crash lands in this prehistoric landscape. So it's kind of taking a hybrid of, like jurassic park, hollow earth, and like the peruvian caps, mountain caps. There's like a. It's literally what it is. It's like a basin in the Peruvian mountains and you can't fly into it, you can't really climb it Like you'd have to, almost you'd have to take a helicopter and maybe you could make it.

Speaker 1: 23:14

So it's not quite in the earth. It's just, like you said, a bowl, that everything's kind of trapped in above ground.

Speaker 2: 23:20

Exactly. Yeah, he kind of was like it's a hollow earth, but it's not in the earth, it's just in the ocean somewhere it really does sound like the way you're describing that, like land of the lost.

Speaker 1: 23:32

Yeah, this is probably what inspired that. Yeah, because the land of the lost was a old TV show. Yeah, and then they adapted it into a Will Ferrell movie. Yeah, adapted it into a Will Ferrell movie. Yeah, and then, after the Will Ferrell movie, you bought a mask.

Speaker 2: 23:46

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 23:54

Yeah, which I don't think that lizard people were in the land that time forgot. And if you want to see what mask we're talking about, you can tune into the Regal Shenanigans YouTube channel. Oh no, oh no, we used that mask a lot on that channel, we did we still have it somewhere.

Speaker 2: 24:08

I have it, yeah, yeah, maybe we'll have to bring it back for when?

Speaker 1: 24:11

it's on the set when we do live streams. Yeah, yeah, just you have to wear it the whole time yeah I couldn't. I couldn't wear that mask I get so. I'm so claustrophobic I barely survived us filming that video, yeah.

Speaker 2: 24:23

All right, so my favorite book.

Speaker 1: 24:27

Oh hey, hold on, hold on. So hey, John, since we talked about my favorite book, but not really, but not really.

Speaker 2: 24:35

Just say Green Eggs and Ham, and then you're like and I read the Bible. Last book I read was back in 2012.

Speaker 1: 24:44

The actual first, like last, physical book. Yes, besides the Bible, but yeah, audiobooks for me. Yeah, Big audiobook guy myself as well, hey, john, what's your?

Speaker 2: 24:55

favorite book I like, so I enjoy JRR Tolkien books.

Speaker 1: 25:03

But just oh, I was about to make a joke about the screw tape letters. But that's CS Lewis, that's.

Speaker 2: 25:08

CS Lewis, but he did dedicate it to JRR Tolkien, nice. So Tolkien was basically warning Lewis, saying like hey, don't try and get into the workings in the mind of the enemy, it could be very dangerous for you. And then then he does it anyway. He writes a book about demons talking to each other, and then dedicates it to Tolkien.

Speaker 1: 25:32

They have like a stage play in Atlanta they're about to do based off this. I mean, it's literally the screw tape letters and they did like a stage play of it. Yeah, ooh, that would be weird.

Speaker 2: 25:42

I would not want to, because it pretty much ends with like the uncle like having a dinner party and he's going to eat the nephew Jeez, I think if I remember correctly. If I'm wrong, reprimand me, community.

Speaker 1: 25:57

Yeah, because it is.

Speaker 2: 26:07

It's letters being written back and forth between two demons about how they need to conquer humankind and planning on correspondence, and so the nephew is basically dialoguing with the uncle about how to deceive his target. So the nephew has a target that he's supposed to deceive and lead astray, and so the letters are correspondence to his uncle's screw tape and the uncle's just giving advice on what he should and shouldn't do.

Speaker 2: 26:34

And the uncle and nephew, being they're both demons. They're both demons. Yeah, they're not related, but it's an uncle-nephew relationship. It's the way that it's presented in the book.

Speaker 1: 26:46

But it's written. You know it's not like demonic in that sense, though it's written from the point of view of how essentially almost like a warning of how demons are viewing us as humankind.

Speaker 2: 26:57

Yeah, it kind of puts a different perspective on it. How, like when we think demonic, we think goat-like red skin with big horns guy that's just like wild and crazy and trying to run around and maybe he does magic He'll whip people and he's just cackling and stuff.

Speaker 1: 27:19

Yeah, kind of like a stupid enemy, just an outlandish. Yeah, outlandish, not conniving or intelligent.

Speaker 2: 27:26

Yeah, and that's what the letters do, is they put the idea out there that demons are strategic and they are smart and they've been around for a long time and they're really good at observation. So they're not all knowing like God, but they are old and they've got nothing to do but watch you and so they will use anything and everything that they can get against you for your destruction. So that's kind of the idea that it presented, and I think that that's an important thing that we need to be aware of as believers and as humans. Like, hey, the demonic world, the demonic forces. They're active and alive and roaming this world seeking to bring destruction. I mean, the Bible says that Satan is like a roaring lion seeking for souls to devour, like he's out there, roaming around. He's not trapped in hell or hiding somewhere, like he's on the earth.

Speaker 2: 28:27

So him being trapped is later on, guys, yeah, yeah spoilers, but it's coming anyways, yeah, you were talking about, uh, tolkien yeah, tolkien, uh, jr tolkien, I like, I, I really do enjoy the fellowship of the rings as a story. The, the book, the book, the first one, the first one, yes, yes, but I mean the trilogy altogether is great. We all know and love the lord of the rings movie trilogy, and it's long, and then the extended editions, even.

Speaker 1: 29:02

But they are in some aspects terribly inaccurate to the book.

Speaker 2: 29:07

There's a lot cut out, and I mean Peter Jackson. He cut a lot out. Even from the extended edition he still cut a lot out.

Speaker 1: 29:16

Didn't you say that he has an edition where there's a lot of stuff that he filmed that would end up making all three movies like 24 hours long or something like that 20 I think 21 hours, 21 hours.

Speaker 2: 29:28

Yeah, yeah, there's like an entire fight scene in the caves after the two towers at helms deep. There's like an entire fight scene where eowyn fights off a bunch of orakai that make it into the caves after they rush out on horseback. And there's a couple other like long, like cut scenes that just never made it into the story for the movie. So anyways, all that to say, the movies are really the, the source, the resource, not resource, the source material, source material for the movie. There's a lot, and then on top of that the books. There's way more.

Speaker 2: 30:05

So it's kind of like Peter Jackson he didn't really he added some stuff, but it was more of he cut a lot out is Tom Bombadil and the Barrow Downs. Like neither of those things are in the movie, but those are like a massive key point in the story for Frodo and his hobbit companions and I mean that's like a good chunk of the book at the beginning. I mean I think it's a whole chapter, maybe a chapter and a half, in the first book and it's just there's no, no reference, nothing about it in the movie. So yeah, that's really good.

Speaker 1: 30:55

I wanted to say this real quick while being on the topic of Lord of the Rings Yep, I am getting a lot of a very specific type of TikTok showing up in my TikTok feed right now. Yeah, and it is this one guy doing like POV watching Lord of the Rings for the first time with me. Okay, and it's so funny because he's just like every time something happens on the screen he's like he states like a fact about what's going on yeah.

Speaker 1: 31:20

And the very first one I watched was like all the thing moments I paused when watching Lord of the Rings with Ashley recently, like right there when Aragorn kicks that helmet and he screams. He actually broke his foot. The other one I remember that made me laugh was like when the orc guy throws the knife at Aragorn and he didn't mean to throw it at him, but because Aragorn is such a boss, no, what's the actor?

Speaker 2: 31:48

Viggo Mortensen.

Speaker 1: 31:49

Because Viggo Mortensen is such a boss. He actually deflected the knife.

Speaker 2: 31:54

A real knife. It was a real knife, A prop knife. Viggo like demanded that it be. He had a real sword and that it was a real knife and all that stuff.

Speaker 1: 32:06

Well, another fun. Vigo just disappeared like and then just came back.

Speaker 2: 32:13

He had hunted down a deer as a person hunted it down and they cooked it and ate it on set so stuff like that there's a lot of, and that's the fun stuff is like there's a lot of like bonus material from the movie, like from behind the scenes, stuff that like just add to the fun of the story of them coming together to do this project.

Speaker 2: 32:36

Like one thing was sean bean was terrified of flying in helicopter and so he would put on his entire garb, all of his entire costume, and then he would hike up the mountain to the shooting area to do the shoot, and I think it was like maybe it was like a five mile hike or something like that. He's like no, I am not taking a helicopter up there, I'm going to walk, I'll get up at three o'clock in the morning and I'll meet you guys up there. But he did it. That's awesome, yeah, but yeah. So I think my, I think the Lord of the Rings story, overall the trilogy is enjoyable and it's kind of inspired me to go and look at other Tolkien things, like the Salmarillion, which is where the deep meat and potatoes of the lore of Lord of the Rings is at.

Speaker 2: 33:32

Yeah, yeah, meat and potatoes of the lore of lord of the rings, is that? Yeah? Yeah, it does give an explanation for, like, the creation of the world that middle earth is in, or that middle earth is a part of. It gives kind of a history of the elves and kind of how they came to middle earth and how everything happened. Like, who are the Numenoreans? Because that's the descendant that Aragorn is from. He's a descendant of the Numenoreans, which are old. They live longer. Right, they're a human race. Yeah, they are a part of the human race and they are a group of mortal men who've been blessed with long life. So I'm gonna blank on his name, even though I was listening to it earlier today. I was listening to some really audiobook earlier today nerd, uh, dork, elrond, elros. So elrond and elros are brothers and they basically are a key point in a battle that defeats Morgoth, which is the main bad guy for all of the world, the Middle Earth. He's the main guy.

Speaker 1: 34:52

Sauron is a like lieutenant to morga, I know that lore because they go into that in the rings of power yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 35:02

So they help defeat morgoth and basically they're given the option of you can, because I, I believe they are part human, part elf, and so they're given the option you can either be a part of the first children, which are the elves, and live forever, or you can receive the blessing of man, which is death. Mankind's blessed with the ability to die.

Speaker 2: 35:33

And so Elrond chooses to be a part of the elves and then we see him in the trilogy the House of Elrond Both trilogies Rivendell, yep, yep Both trilogies, yep. And then Elros, his brother, decides to be of man and he's still blessed with long life, but he is the first king and founder of the kingdom of numenor and they're blessed with long life and he lived up to 500 years, so that like that's kind of the staple, like hey, they could live up to about this time. So, yeah, pretty good, pretty good stuff. But there, I mean, that's the thing it's. Lothar, lord of the Rings is a good story, and what makes it a good story is there's a ton of information that is riddled throughout the book that's not explained. It's just kind of a given.

Speaker 1: 36:31

It's like hey, this is a part of the world Like everybody knows about this, because you know it's almost written not from the point of view of a fantasy book, but more of like a chronicling of a real world events.

Speaker 2: 36:41

Yeah, a historical narrative almost, and and yeah, so that's what draws you in is like hey, there's an entire world here and even though we've only got this one story that we're following along, we see all these different shoot-offs um that that really create the immersion of like hey, this is a world, this is a place you know. It's like there are things that exist outside of our friends, the hobbits, yeah, so really good story, really like it I like.

Speaker 2: 37:12

I like Lord of the Rings the book, yeah, yeah, I like it a lot. What else? You know You're the reader here, so yeah, well, I'm not even a reader, I'm not that good at it.

Speaker 1: 37:25

What did your wife say? She said something about her favorite book. Oh my gosh dude.

Speaker 2: 37:32

I asked her and she's like I can't pack and because she reads like, she reads a book in like three days, not even that. So she's a chicken, no. And then she just started.

Speaker 1: 37:41

Oh, you can't pack.

Speaker 2: 37:42

Oh yeah, she can't. No, then she wouldn't be a chicken, because chickens can't pack. Got me there. You know what? You're a chicken man.

Speaker 1: 37:53

Well, you can't even peck.

Speaker 2: 37:55

Yeah, yeah, yeah, dude. She listed off a ton of books and I was like man, I'm not going to be able to keep up with all that. But she said that her comfort book I use the term comfort her returning book, one that she could read over again, she said was Pride and Prejudice, and she admitted that she understands that it's a very girly, basic white chick book.

Speaker 1: 38:21

Luckily, your wife is a girl and she's white.

Speaker 2: 38:25

Well, I don't know if that really matters but yeah. And she's very basic.

Speaker 1: 38:29

No, how dare you, sir, put the knife down. John, put the knife down. I challenge you to a duel.

Speaker 2: 38:40

To the death. No to the pain, To the pain.

Speaker 1: 38:46

Princess Bride. Maybe I've never seen that. I'm kidding, I've seen it with you. I've only seen it a couple of times though.

Speaker 2: 38:55

We watched Ashley the other night with the boys and they enjoyed it. Nice, and she mentioned that she liked that book as well. My wife likes it. Sorry if you heard her rustle everyone. It was Trash Cat's Tale, rubbing against the mic. Rubbing against the mic, trying to get situated.

Speaker 1: 39:12

Isn't your boys really into the wild robot right now?

Speaker 2: 39:16

So Bigfoot, the oldest, I mean they all liked the movie. We watched the movie, but before we watched the movie, bigfoot read the book. We were like blown away because he just started reading, you know like six months a year ago, and he has already, like he sat down and read the whole thing.

Speaker 1: 39:37

Now is it a large book like a novel.

Speaker 2: 39:39

It's not crazy big, or is it like?

Speaker 1: 39:40

one of those.

Speaker 2: 39:41

It's a children's novel.

Speaker 1: 39:43

Okay.

Speaker 2: 39:43

So. But I mean, it was just impressive that he read through it. So when we're watching the movie, after the movie he'll do the critiques like oh well, in the book this is we're like yes, son, that's how it works. Yes, son, you're my son, but there's actually three books for that series the Wild Robot, but yeah. So he said that that's what he really likes. And then Park Ranger. He said that he's been carrying around this book that they got from the library and it is a book about jurassic park legos and those are things he likes. He likes dinosaurs, he likes legos, he likes dinosaur legos. So that's why he picked that book. And then dasher, he doesn't have a favorite book. He brings a different book every single time we ask him.

Speaker 1: 40:35

I'm so proud that you remembered all of the names that we came up for your children. Yeah, the stage names, their stage names, because I was like who's Dasher.

Speaker 2: 40:43

Yeah, yeah, that's the youngest, but yeah, he doesn't have one, he's got a different one that he'll bring every time he likes the I don't remember the name.

Speaker 1: 40:53

It's like busy, busy construction site or something the other night well, it wasn't like about a month ago, yeah, when I came over to record the podcast, he came over with an atlas dasher did and sat down and wanted me to read him the atlas. Yeah, and I'm just like all right, I'm just like that that's India, yeah, that's Japan. And then I just pointed to two other places and he's like okay, and he just leaves.

Speaker 2: 41:22

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But so oh, and I have to say, my wife, she also likes Little Women, she likes that book as well. So there you go. She read a book about it's kind of like Egyptian mystery-esque I can't remember the name of it, but it's like a two-part series or two-book series and she liked it. I can't remember it. But the reason that she read it is because it was like people were talking like comparing it to the mummy movie, which we both really like.

Speaker 1: 42:01

So of course she jumped on the first opportunity to To read the book, To read the mummy, to read a book about. There's got to be like a adaptation novel of that right.

Speaker 2: 42:17

I don't know, I don't know if there is, because you know they did the mummy with brendan fraser, but that was really just, you know, a remake of a classic, a classic horror monster movie, and it just the brendan frzier one is timeless. It's just a good movie which, on that note, since we're talking about the mummy, I saw that there is rumor that they're gonna make a fourth bernard frazier mummy movie I heard about that as well with the aztecs that it was funny because I think you were saying you wanted to be the Peruvian mummies.

Speaker 1: 42:53

Yeah, and then not too long ago they did say it's rumored that they're bringing him back and actually making another mummy movie.

Speaker 2: 43:01

Yeah, Universal Studios is in talks about doing it, which would be cool if they did it.

Speaker 1: 43:06

So I have found for you the Mummy by Max Allen Collins, and it's a book adaptation of the Mummy by Max Allen Collins and it's a book adaptation of the Mummy for $51 I'm sure you can find it cheaper.

Speaker 2: 43:23

that's just no, that's Thrift Books has that but you know, talking about books, I like CS Lewis' Chronicles. What C cool of narnia chronicles? What of narnia product? What cools of narnia um to? To be honest, though I I enjoy the last battle, I think, out of all of them I think that's my favorite one.

Speaker 1: 43:50

It's funny because that's the only one I haven't read.

Speaker 2: 43:52

I really yeah, well, I like it. I think I like it just because of the all right?

Speaker 1: 43:57

which one's the one with the talking donkey? Is that the last battle was?

Speaker 2: 44:01

I think a swift the monkey and donkey yep I've read some of that then, yeah, I like it because it's not the end of our world, but it's the end of that world that narnia is in and it really brings like, even though the last battle is really kind of dark and defeating in a sense, the ending is really encouraging and uplifting because they go to. They go to heaven. Yeah, the aslan's country, right is what. That is what it's called in Narnia, it's called Aslan's country, but spoiler alert for those who haven't read it it's heaven, it's heaven, and when they get there, aslan's image becomes less lion and more man, alluding to Jesus Christ. So that's what I. For those who, don't know.

Speaker 1: 44:57

Chronicles of Narnia is a Christian inspired book series. Yeah, and it parallels a lot of things in the Bible, yep.

Speaker 2: 45:07

So, yeah quite enjoyable.

Speaker 1: 45:11

I have heard somebody say that they cried when reading how they describe aslan's country at the end of that book.

Speaker 2: 45:18

I believe it I believe it also a good, so not really like fantasy book. But francis chan, he's a pastor in california. He's written a couple books, but he's got one called crazy love and the book's good. It's so convicting because, basically, like, if I had to summarize the book, it would be this hey, god loves you like a lot, like you're forgiven of everything. God loves you a lot. Why don't you go out and tell people about how great God is, about how much he loves you? Because he loves you so much, why would you keep that to yourself? Why don he loves you so much? Why? Why would you keep that to yourself? Why don't you just let other people know? That's the yeah, that's how it sums up the book. Like I was reading it one time. It's only like one page really bold, yeah, but I I mean just the way he he writes. It is like, hey, like, don't be, don't, don't beat yourself down because of sin. Like you've been redeemed, like god loves you, like this is god's love for you and he'll give examples and stuff. And he's like don't hide that, don't keep that you know. Like, share that you know. Why aren't you getting up right now and letting somebody know that God loves them.

Speaker 2: 46:24

I was reading in a coffee shop and I was like I felt so convicted. I was like I just need to tell everyone in here that God loves them. Mind you, it wasn't Starbucks. Actually, it was Starbucks. Okay, sorry, sit around, yeah, but I don't even remember why I was in there and it was like not anywhere near where I normally would hang out. It was in the Marietta Square. For those of you who are in Georgia, marietta is a city and it has are in Georgia. Marietta is a city and it has a square park, and it has a square park and outside of the square park is a Starbucks.

Speaker 1: 47:02

I know exactly which one you're talking about. I used to work really close to there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, not the Starbucks.

Speaker 2: 47:10

I didn't work at the Starbucks. No, you worked really close to the Starbucks At. I didn't work at the Starbucks. No, you worked really close to the Starbucks At downtown Marietta, yeah.

Speaker 1: 47:18

Or Marietta Square, some would call it, or as locals call it as the locals would say, the Marietta Square, anyways.

Speaker 2: 47:25

so yeah, those are some books for me. What would you say, just from the groups that we interact in, would be a common favorite book? Lord of the Rings.

Speaker 1: 47:37

Yeah, isn't it kind of weird? How Lord of the Rings, and I would say I know that your family's not big into it, but Harry Potter is also a big one, yeah.

Speaker 2: 47:46

Yeah, a lot of people like Harry Potter. But what is it about Christian young I mean not even young people, but like what is it about the Christian circles, especially non-denominations churches that are just all about?

Speaker 1: 48:05

Lord of the Rings Because it's a Christian author. He wasn't necessarily writing Christian related things yeah, not like CS Lewis does with Narnia but I guess it's just because, as a Christian author, creating content is acceptable.

Speaker 2: 48:25

Well, there are Christian undertones in it. Yeah, but not like. But it's not blatantly, yeah, like CS Lewis is blatantly like. This is imagery of this. This is imagery of this, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 48:37

I got you Because didn't you tell me one time that the only people in Lord of the Rings that use magic are evil, and that what Gandalf and other wizards are doing is not exactly magic.

Speaker 2: 48:50

It's hard because, like different things have different like deep power and they use. But they use, I mean he uses the term magic in it. You know, like the elves have their own magic that they use to craft these magical rings of power and doors have their own magic that they use to harness stone and and all this other stuff. He uses the term magic but it's not like incantation, spell sighting. You know there is like necromancy. They acknowledge the existence of necromancy but it's evil.

Speaker 2: 49:30

Shapeshifting, typically is evil. There is, like you know, race of shape-shifting giants but to my understanding, like they can take one other form, like there's their normal form and then they can take one other form, but sauron is a shape-shifter, he can turn into whatever he needs to turn into to be able to deceive, kind of a deal. And then the wizards they're called wizards by different some people groups but then they've got a name from other people groups but they're more so like angels or like demigods that are sent down by the gods or the angelic host to help the people of middle earth. And then you know, obviously they can still be corrupted because saruman ends up getting corrupted. But yeah, they're not actual like wizards who practice incantation spells and stuff like they just have power because they're supernatural creatures.

Speaker 1: 50:28

Yeah, so so more like not black magic, not not evil witchcraft, but though it is labeled magic, it's more of like divine power.

Speaker 2: 50:39

Yeah, that would probably be the best way. Like they're, just they're beings of power and knowledge. The closest thing like to our reality that you could liken them to is angels.

Speaker 1: 50:51

They're like angels you could liken them to as angels. They're like angels which I'm sitting here trying to differentiate, being like look, the phrase magic is in this book.

Speaker 2: 50:59

Yeah, I mean all that right after saying that I read harry potter well, yeah, and so that's like the, because in harry potter I haven't read the books. I've watched the movies and I've talked to people who've read the books, but harry potter is very much. So it doesn't matter if you're good or bad. You all learn magic, which is incantations and divination and a couple other things, right, but in lord of the rings it's one of those things where it's less of people learning it and more of it's you have it or you don't.

Speaker 1: 51:33

Yeah, kind of a deal the other thing too is is it's human beings in harry potter learning these things? Where, with lord of the rings, like you said, they are angelic, they are otherworldly people born with this power well, the elves have their own magic, that's right.

Speaker 2: 51:51

So you know, like each race has its own kind of thing. But there's not a school of divination, there's not like a training or a practice to become a witch or become a wizard. Wizard's just a term that the like hobbits use to describe what they do. Yeah, so, because I mean, the men of rohan call him the wanderer. I think is what they call him, and different, different peoples have different names for him, but it's just.

Speaker 1: 52:24

It's more of a description and not the fact that he is practicing witchcraft correct.

Speaker 2: 52:30

Yeah, yeah, but yeah, like normally, when you see all these different terms like witch, like there's the Witch King of Angmar. He's acknowledged as like super evil dude who's delved into dark magic and he's dark and he's bad, and it's very clear. I guess that's my point is there's no gray line, there's no gray area in Lord of the Rings, whereas kind of in Harry Potter there's a gray area, there is a little bit of a gray area, and it really comes down to your morality, you know, like, are you going to change your morality to be on this side or on this side, you know? Whereas in Lord of the Rings it's like these are good guys, these are bad guys, these are what the good guys do, this is what the bad guys do, you know.

Speaker 1: 53:21

And I will say, because this is what we say all the time on this show yeah, it's okay if you read Harry Potter, it's okay if you enjoy these things, but as long as you don't put that above God and you don't allow that to engulf your life.

Speaker 2: 53:40

Yeah, and have grace with people who think that Harry Potter is evil and it's a sin, because Harry Potter could be an entertaining story and it is an entertaining story, but just remember, you don't need it for your. It doesn't help you in your sanctification or salvation process.

Speaker 1: 54:00

So as long as you're not out there trying to cast these spells, practicing witchcraft, doing all that other stuff yeah yeah, that's one thing, like if we go to me and Ashley go to Universal Studios, iley go to universal studios, I'll ride the harry potter ride, but I'm not carrying around the wand, waving it around, yeah and going back around to that, like you don't need it for your sanctification process.

Speaker 2: 54:26

If you are in communion with someone who has a hard time with accepting Harry Potter as just neutral or not a big deal, they do think it's demonic.

Speaker 2: 54:41

It would be beneficial for you to put it away for the sake of your brother or sister in Christ, because Paul talks about that like, yes, I'm free to do all things, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial. And you got to think about it that way. Like your salvation is not dependent on what you do, it's dependent on Christ and we are called to just receive the grace that's been given. But now that we are inside that grace and we're living in that grace in Christ, if we have a brother or sister or someone who's lost and they're struggling with you know, is this right or wrong? Is it more beneficial for you to just not try and defend why you get to do it or participate in it, or is it more beneficial for you to just lay it down and say you know, hey like, and if it's a problem for you to lay that down, then that's something that you shouldn't have in your life at all okay.

Speaker 2: 55:42

So example for me if I find myself in a conversation with somebody and the and this, they're struggling to become a believer because of the Lord of the Rings series and they can't justify that it's good in Christianity, like. Whatever the argument would be, basically it's hey, you read Lord of the Rings and you're a Christian. How can you? How can you reconcile those two things? How can you reconcile those two things? Rather than me defending like why Lord of the Rings is okay and why, as a Christian, I get to have Lord of the Rings, it would be more beneficial for me to say Lord of the Rings and do or participate in Lord of the Rings around you or with you if you struggle with that, because what's more important to me is for you to understand the truth of the gospel than for me to have freedom to watch or read a book that has nothing to do with my salvation.

Speaker 1: 56:54

The only book that is essential in your life is the Bible. Yeah, anything else is extra and unnecessary.

Speaker 2: 57:01

Yeah, it's extra in entertainment, yep and I, you know I do want to bring that up. We will talk, we'll get into more about the Bible in our lives, but I do want to read this verse. It's in John and it talks about the Word of God. It's John 1.1. It says In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. And then it continues on in verse 2, and it says he was in the beginning with God. Verse 3, all things were made through him. Him and without him was not anything made. That was made. So the context for everybody.

Speaker 2: 57:41

This is the opener for the gospel according to John, and he starts it with saying that Jesus Christ is the word of God and he existed in the beginning with the Father and through him all things were created. Because Jesus is God, the Father, the Son, holy Spirit. It's a triune God, three persons in one deity. But it's important to notice that John gives Jesus a title and the title is the Word of God. So here we are, we read the Bible and it's like, well, the Bible's the Word of God, right. It's like, yeah, it is, but so is Christ.

Speaker 2: 58:25

And why is Christ the Word of God? Christ dictates the text. So the Old Testament, the New Testament. It is relayed to the authors through Christ and they write down God's word. They're divinely inspired by Christ to write down each book of the Bible and our truth comes from the truth giver, which is Jesus Christ, who is the forgiver of sins, he's the lamb that was slaughtered as payment and he is the intercessor who sits at the right hand of the Father and intercedes for those who would believe. So God's word is huge, it's important and it's important to acknowledge that Christ is God's word.

Speaker 1: 59:13

So yeah, belief. So yeah, to sum it up, put God first, then you can do what you want. But if doing what you want gets in the way of putting God first, don't do that thing.

Speaker 2: 59:26

Yeah, and when we talk about it on and off on the podcast, it's like you know assess everything that you're doing, doing, and if there's something that you're doing that you can't bring glory to the kingdom, then don't do it, just don't get it. If you can't reconcile honoring god with whatever this is, then just get it out of your life.

Speaker 1: 59:47

It's not necessary, it's just a want not a need, and if you feel the need to defend that thing, that extra needs to be out of your life.

Speaker 2: 59:57

It would be considered an idol If you can't bring glory to God with it. But you cannot lose it. It means that you set it up as an important idol in your life, something that you worship, something that receives your praise. That's not God. So you know, in the Old Testament we talk about idols and it's like why do you worship these pointless things? They're carved images, they're made out of wood and stone and precious metals. They're not anything. They're not alive, they're just motionless objects, but you give them all your worship. And here we are, the modern, secular society that has all the knowledge and who has all the answers, and we're so much smarter than these ancient peoples. And yet we can't go 30 seconds without looking at our cell phones, or we can't go three days without air conditioning, or we've got to get home in time so that we can watch the most recent release of that Netflix show that we're watching, or this, that this, that Our car we have to have a car, can't live without a car. So it's all these different things that it's like. They're not necessarily bad, they can be used for good, but we carve them into these non-negotiables. So, yeah, as a believer, it's good to pull back. You know what I mean, vern, mm-hmm. All right, so on that note.

Speaker 2: 1:01:34

What is your favorite book of the Bible, jairus, favorite book of the Bible? What's a book? Let's pick one Old Testament, one New Testament. What's an enjoyable Old Testament book? What's an enjoyable New Testament book?

Speaker 1: 1:01:47

I'll tell you right now. I just went through Exodus. That's a fun book.

Speaker 2: 1:01:53

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:01:58

Exodus. That's a fun book, yeah, it's just like going through it and just seeing these things that are. You know you wouldn't think are comical, but they are, and I think a lot of people forget about I don't know. I think what makes me laugh is just the stupidity and defiance of people and it's just like no, I'm God, yeah, you know stuff like that. Yeah. And then also going through right now, matthew, okay. So our Bible reading book that we're going through kind of jumps around a little bit. They'll do a little bit of the Old Testament, a little bit of the New Testament, yeah, and just going through Matthew, okay. And that's where I'm at. I'm in the Bible, nice, yeah, name only, name only.

Speaker 2: 1:02:41

Old Testament for me. I don't know why I have this fascination with the book of Judges, but I've just always enjoyed the book of Judges. Which is weird because the last couple of chapters of the book of Judges are really dark and it's like man. This sucks, but I just, I just enjoy it. I enjoy the. You know, mankind left to himself will do whatever he thinks is right in his own eyes and no one else can judge him. But reality is he is judged by God. All man is judged by God. And so the book of Judges is about God judging sin and raising up judges to save sinners from their sin and lead them. And so it's a foreshadowing of Christ. You see all the different judges in the book of Judges. None of them are perfect, none of them are great, but they serve the purpose of being a deliverer. They deliver God's people from bondage or from, you know, attack or enslavement, and it's foreshadowing Christ. Christ comes to deliver God's people from the slavery of sin.

Speaker 2: 1:03:56

So I enjoy Judges and the New Testament, love the Gospel of John. We just read a couple of verses from it. But I love the Gospel of John. It just really punches in the divinity of Christ. That's what he focuses on. He's coming against Gnosticism in its earliest form and he's making the point that Jesus is fully God and fully man. He is not a spirit who puts on an illusion of physicality and he's not some guy that at one point in his life God appoints as the Savior. Jesus was destined before the beginning of time to be who he is and he was born physically to a virgin and grew as a man the entire time, holding the divinity of God within himself. So, really like the Gospel of John Honorable mention, the book of Hebrews. I don't know why I have a fascination with it, but I do. It's because it's a funny sounding word Hebrews. Yeah, you know that's what he does, right? Yeah, if Jesus was here today, he'd be a barista, because Hebrews, but he'd have his own.

Speaker 1: 1:05:11

You know coffee house. Heck yeah, he wouldn't be working at Starbucks. No definitely not. Actually, he probably would work at Starbucks. He would work at.

Speaker 2: 1:05:21

Holy Covenant, something I don't know.

Speaker 1: 1:05:23

No, he'd work at Starbucks because he'd go where the sinners are. That's true.

Speaker 2: 1:05:28

Yeah, anyways, that's all. I've got pretty much for that. I did want to talk about favorite stories, and I also wanted to talk about what we think is the worst book ever. So do you think we got time to do that? Yeah, we got a little bit of time, okay. All right, let's start with that second one. What do you think is the worst book slash story ever?

Speaker 1: 1:05:48

I think that a book is bad if it's hard to even read it. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, like stories on it are justifiable to some degree, as long as you're able to read it. Right. You might not like the actions of it, but what makes a book bad is one that you can't read. And I tell you what when I tell you that I can't?

Speaker 2: 1:06:13

read this book. Flip it over, wise guy. You're reading it upside down. And I tell you what? When I tell you that I can't read this book, Flip it over, wise guy. You're reading it upside down. Dracula Dracula is the worst book.

Speaker 1: 1:06:23

I tried to read Dracula and maybe got a page or two in and never picked it back up. It's because it's written as a dude writing letters and it's very descriptive, yeah, and it's just overly, overly descriptive of describing everything to the degree of like the grains of dust on the wall, and he starts counting the dust on the wall and it just gets so down to a degree that, like you forgot what even he was talking about, you know. So I think probably story-wise it's fine, but just the way that Dracula is written is probably one of the. Maybe I'm just stupid, but it's just not a good book to me. Yeah, you do sound pretty stupid, I'm an idiot. Hey, stupid, you can't even read Dracula. That's classic.

Speaker 2: 1:07:13

Maybe we should do that sometime do a deep dive into the comparison of Dracula the vampire and the original source inspiration for Vlad the Impaler, because that's who Dracula's based off. Yeah, so that would be a fun thing to go into.

Speaker 1: 1:07:30

Mm-hmm In the future Anyways that'd be a whole corner segment, a whole episode dedicated to a corner segment. Yeah, conspiracy.

Speaker 2: 1:07:39

Yeah, because there's a lot of people in in that realm that are like he's still around, like dracula is a real vampire deal and it's still affecting you know the unseen, the darkness that hides in this world. I guess you could say how do you feel?

Speaker 1: 1:07:54

about count orlog orlog. Yeah, no idea who that is. Nosatu Nosferatu was like a ripoff of Dracula. Oh, it was a German ripoff of Dracula Gotcha, and they just had a movie come out about it.

Speaker 2: 1:08:09

Yeah, yeah, I remember you telling me it wasn't that great.

Speaker 1: 1:08:12

It's just, it's a well-made movie. That's very depressing, ah, and just downright not good for your soul.

Speaker 2: 1:08:22

on a spiritual level actually talking about that. Not good for your soul. Depressing movie. Dracula is dracula 2000 that um gerard butler butler and like the, the breaking point of it is like yep, I, I'm Dracula that count, but I'm Judas. I betrayed Christ and my punishment is to be a vampire for all eternity.

Speaker 1: 1:08:49

I do. That sounds really familiar. I might have seen that movie. Yeah, you know what other? Who also can't count? No the count, but he can count, I assure you he can. Ah, ah't count. No the count, but he can count, I assure you he can. Ah, ah, ah.

Speaker 2: 1:09:07

I think the worst book slash story ever is probably Harry Potter. No, I'm just kidding, probably not the worst book, but just so that I can throw shade and throw hands, I'm going to say that the snow white live action that's coming out is gonna be the worst story ever oh, I thought you were talking about books. I, I mean, I said book slash story, so I also like you're not being edgy.

Speaker 1: 1:09:36

Everybody's gonna hate that movie. Yeah, it's true, you're, you're, you're siding with the largest crowd there.

Speaker 2: 1:09:41

Yeah, so maybe no one's going to get down to me, but book, I don't think that it was necessarily the worst book. It's just really really hard to get into. And it's War and Peace. I tried to read War and Peace. I got one, one page in and I just gave up, yeah, and it was like a weird. It's like on my own. I was like you know, it wasn't like an assignment, that I had to read it or whatever. It was like, uh, you know what? I want? To be really cool and sophisticated and read war and peace, so that I can say that I did it. And I made it like, yeah, I, I did it. One or two pages, one page, yeah. And I was like it took me two weeks to read two pages out of this book and it's a big book, mm-hmm. I was like I'm never going to finish it, so goodbye.

Speaker 1: 1:10:33

What is a really bad book in an otherwise good franchise of books or book series? And I have my answer.

Speaker 2: 1:10:42

You go ahead and give your answer, because I don't know if I've got one off the cuff.

Speaker 1: 1:10:45

So feel free to make fun of me, but New Moon, the second Twilight book, is so bad in an otherwise good series of four books, Like seriously, it's just so. It's like filler, it's so stupid. So you've read the Twilight series. I've read all the yeah, I've read all the Twilight books. I don't know what to say here. Christ is looking.

Speaker 2: 1:11:11

So are you team, edward, or are you team?

Speaker 1: 1:11:13

Jacob, I read the books. That's what I did. I'm not on any team, I just read the stories.

Speaker 2: 1:11:19

I thought that was a requirement, that if you read the books you had to pick a side. I think Bella could do better. I thought that Twilight was just a allegory of the American Civil War.

Speaker 1: 1:11:31

The North- versus the South. You're on one side or the other. I'm currently living in Europe during the Civil War, I don't know. I mean yeah. So it's like I was in high school, yep, and trying to get the chicks.

Speaker 2: 1:11:46

Yeah, that's what it was Trying to be relatable.

Speaker 1: 1:11:49

No, it was just. That was the thing I did read a lot in high school. Yeah, and that was the big thing at the time was Twilight I got you, and though it's not the best made, I don't think it's the best written franchise. You know stories? Yeah, like the books are tremendously better than the movies. Yeah, like, that's all I can say. Like they aren't as cringy when you're reading a book. Yeah, like, because I just think it's done better. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:12:25

I don't have one, because I didn't really read throughout school unless I absolutely had to. When I got out of school I was like I don't have to read anymore, so I didn't read anything. I was like I don't have to read anymore, so I didn't read anything. And then when I got into mission school and then became a missionary and started doing mission work, that's when I started reading again. But I only really read the Bible and then other books like commentaries and Bible research documents and stuff like that. So now here we are today and I'm in my 30s and I've read a couple of fantasy books, primarily, you know, the big two CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. Jrr Tolkien, cs Lewis and JR Tolkien yeah, jrr Tolkien. And then outside of those, the only thing I've really read is that it's Bible-related resource documents and commentaries and Bible study-esque like devotionals, and then obviously the Bible itself. So not a big big thing, I will say.

Speaker 2: 1:13:46

In high school I did read a book that I enjoyed and it was on my own. It was the Flying Dutchman by Brian Jocks. I thought you were going to say the Cat in the Hat. No, that was my second book. I had my mom read that to me. I didn't read it myself, john. That was last week. Yeah, made her come over and read it to me.

Speaker 1: 1:14:10

I sat in my mom's lap and she read me Cat and the Hat. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:14:14

But yeah, if you got little kids, I highly recommend the Red Wall series Good books. I highly recommend the Redwall series Good books. We used to read those growing up and haven't, you know, haven't really done a whole lot of it, but I remember them being great, A little confusing, you know. Like how does a bobcat that's, like you know, two to three feet long, two feet tall, pair up against a mouse that's about two inches long? You're right, but you know it works. I just spit up nothing. I didn't even have anything in my mouth.

Speaker 1: 1:14:51

I spit you just like you did a spit take laughing at nothing. Yeah, yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 2: 1:14:59

So, anyways, all right, I have one more thing I do want to talk about. Do we have enough time? Oh, absolutely Okay. We are transitioning Tyler into the corner, because this is a conspiracy.

Speaker 1: 1:15:13

Oh, we have the corner tonight. We have the corner tonight. Hey everybody, welcome back to the corner. Too bad, we don't have the song I know.

Speaker 2: 1:15:20

Well, we need to get a new one anyways. Yeah, because the other one apparently we could get striked on YouTube.

Speaker 1: 1:15:26

For it. I can say things that YouTube doesn't like, but I can get away with playing a song for some reason. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:15:34

Anyways, so this is a very recent one. Do you remember all the fog at the beginning of January?

Speaker 2: 1:15:42

Yes, thick fog that everyone talked about that was causing people to have like scratchy throats and nasally congestion and all that stuff. Yes, so people reported it in the UK, in Canada and in the US in the beginning of January. It was a really thick, weird fog that people going into it would come out of it and have just problems with their respiratory system. So it was weird, right and fast forward. Literally four weeks, three weeks, four weeks. Everyone started getting a terrible case of influenza or the flu. Like a bad flu that was. If you got it, you were out for a week. That's what I got. That's what I got when we were all sick. I was sick for six to seven days like fever, fatigue, coughing, fits, all of it for a solid six days. I've never been that sick in my entire life. Normally when I get sick I'm out for two days, three days max, and then I'm back in it. This one was like an entire week and I was like man, I'm just getting old, I guess I'm getting weaker. But then I hear everybody else, and everyone else is the exact same thing. It's like, yeah, it lingered for a week. I was out. It was a terrible flu, terrible flu.

Speaker 2: 1:17:20

Everyone in the conspiracy circles is blaming that fog for this influenza fit that's going on right now. Back in 1950 to study how vulnerable the city of Los Angeles would be if someone used biological warfare, and in that case 10 people got hospitalized and I think it was one or two people died from that study, but the people didn't have any. There wasn't like sign a waiver here study, but the people didn't have any. There wasn't like sign a waiver here, people didn't have any. Say, the military just did.

Speaker 2: 1:18:06

And here we are now, decades removed, and it's like, yeah, we did that, but you know, it's whatever. Yeah, one person died, it's whatever. But now here we are. There's a bunch of fog over a couple of different countries. That is not natural and everyone's speculating. What is going on? Why is this happening? And then, right after that is a terrible outbreak of influenza where it's knocking people out for weeks at a time. I didn't look up the death toll for flu related deaths for this year, but I'm wondering if it's a similar thing. Is somebody, for the sake of study, releasing case of influenza out into different communities to study how it would spread or the response or how detrimental it would be, or is it just everything's a coincidence?

Speaker 1: 1:18:58

Everything's just a coincidence and you're crazy. Everything's a coincidence. Everything's just a coincidence, and you're crazy.

Speaker 2: 1:19:01

Yeah, I guess so, but I don't know. It happened. And then, literally in the midst of it happening, the Los Angeles fires started exploding and raging and now everybody's getting over the Los Angeles fires and everyone's getting sick with influenza.

Speaker 1: 1:19:21

And so they're saying it's the fire smoke that's getting them.

Speaker 2: 1:19:24

No, that's. My point is that the fog came out and everyone was speculating about it, and then, right after that, Los Angeles goes up in flames and now everybody's sick and everyone's going back to you. Remember that fog? While everyone's talking about this influenza outbreak and everything that's going on in Arizona, insurance companies are pulling their fire policies near the Phoenix area area. Bill Gates and a couple other billionaires have bought up a bunch of property and they plan on building a smart city in the near future in that area, the exact same area where all the fire policies are being pulled.

Speaker 2: 1:20:12

So which is what happened to California? California insurance companies pulled out and they're like we're not going to offer fire coverage or any coverage because of how terrible your fire management is. And then, right after they all pulled out and they're like we're not going to offer fire coverage or any coverage because of how terrible your fire management is. And then, right after they all pulled out, Los Angeles goes up in flames and, conveniently, they were like yeah, we're going to build a smart city here in Los Angeles or in the Los Angeles area in 2028 or 30 or something like that in 2028 or 30 or something like that. And then everything caught on fire and burned down to a crisp. But if you look at aerial photos, the trees are fine. It's just the houses that burned down, which is the exact same thing that happened to Maui. Maui had wildfires and they were going to build a smart city there.

Speaker 2: 1:20:59

And when you look at aerial photos, if a house is blue, totally fine. If a house is blue, totally fine. If a car is blue, totally fine. If a mailbox is blue, totally fine. Trees are fine. Trees aren't burnt to a crisp, but everything else is leveled. So you know, it's like all this crazy, like is it lasers? Wildfires are going on, and in the middle of it, this weird fog pops up out of nowhere and distracts people for a little bit, and then fires take off and everyone's like what's going on with the fires? And then everyone gets influenza, Just enough to divert everybody's attention, so not enough people are paying attention.

Speaker 2: 1:21:39

Yeah, so, but that's my thing. Is what? What is the distraction? Is the fires a distraction from the fact that the government is doing case studies of how to spread influenza effectively, but they're using their own population to do it? Or did the government spread influenza to distract everybody from the fact that they're burning up cities so that they can build smart cities?

Speaker 1: 1:22:03

They're too sick to question what's going on.

Speaker 2: 1:22:06

I don't know, it's all speculation, it's all legit, but there are some weird threads that are interwoven. So weird stuff, weird stuff, but you know what doesn't matter All of this, because Christ is King. So you know, whatever, if you're here on the earth and you're not a believer, repent and believe. Jesus loves you and he will Become a believer. That's right. Jesus wants you, he loves you, he died for you. So just lay your sins at his feet and he will welcome you in as a child of God. All right, that's it. That's all that I've got.

Speaker 1: 1:22:44

Thank you for joining us. Thank you for coming on to the podcast, john. Hey, thanks for having me. You are. I don't know if you heard, but you lost your job, did you know? So you're currently a guest.

Speaker 2: 1:22:59

I did hear that. I did hear that and I just want to Janelle, so you're currently a guest. I did hear that, I did hear that and I just want to say no, this is me coming back on and saying Janelle, you're fired, it's okay, if you listened to last week's episode, I did fire her.

Speaker 2: 1:23:13

Yeah, even though she's probably going to be here next week. Anyways, yeah, make sure you're following us on social media, make sure you are sharing and liking posts and uploads, because that's what helps us grow, that's what gets the word out about you know, if you enjoy the conversation that we have, if you enjoy the content we're putting out, please just, you know share it, let people know. Yeah, be on the lookout for our live stream worship that's coming up at the end of march and tune in next week, because that's going to be an exciting episode it is going to be an exciting episode.

Speaker 2: 1:23:50

We are going to have a good time and we're intentionally keeping it from you so that you'll come and listen.

Speaker 1: 1:23:56

So yeah, I almost just said it, just to be funny, but I'm not going to say it.

Speaker 2: 1:24:00

Yeah, so yeah. That's all we've got. So Christ is Lord and the kingdom is now. We are the saints that serve, Thank you.