SPEAKER_07: 0:02

Welcome to the Saints That Serve podcast, where each week your hosts dive into the crossroads of faith, culture, and the unknown. Christ is Lord, and the kingdom is now. We are the Saints that serve. Yeah, that's it. Best way to explain it. Is that your elevator pitch for the elevator pitch? For the show? Yeah. Two guys that love Jesus and love love to talk about stuff. 65 episodes in, and we finally got our elevator pitch. Yeah. Two guys who love Jesus and talk about stuff.

SPEAKER_05: 1:01

Yep. Uh, and if you need prayer for anything, we pray on Fridays for our listeners. Every single Friday. So make sure that you uh reach out to us if you need prayer for anything. You can email us at saints that serve at gmail.com. You can also reach out to us through a link at the bottom of the show description. Episode descriptions. Yeah. Episode description. And then through social media, you can message us. We've got Facebook. Then you go. Instagram. YouTube.

SPEAKER_07: 1:34

Threads. Twitter. And that's it. You're missing one, I think. No. Email. I already did the email. Oh. I zoned out, I guess.

SPEAKER_05: 1:47

Anyways, yeah, reach out to us if you need to. Podcasting is hard.

SPEAKER_07: 1:51

Yeah. Um, we hope everyone has a Merry Christmas. That's right. Not happy holidays, not Xmas. Chris Christmas. There you go. Christmas. That massive Christ. That massive Christ.

SPEAKER_05: 2:07

And uh, we're actually going to be talking about mission ministry in the month of January. That's right. That's coming up.

SPEAKER_03: 2:18

Mmm.

SPEAKER_05: 2:18

Mmm. So make sure that you stay tuned for that in January, where we talk about ministry and missions.

SPEAKER_07: 2:25

Have guests on. Yeah. It's our guest month. Our guests. We haven't had one of those in a while.

SPEAKER_05: 2:33

Yeah. You guys let us know. Are we boring? Do we need to shake things up and have a guest soon? Or is it cooler when it's just the two of us?

SPEAKER_04: 2:43

Ooh. We can make it if we tried just.

SPEAKER_05: 2:46

Last Christmas, you gave me your heart. So yeah, on that note, we've been talking, we've been playing Wham. Whammed. Whammed, where you go through the month of December, and if you hear the original song. So me singing it just now. Doesn't count. If you hear the original song by Wham last Christmas, not remixed, not a cover, none of that. It has to be the original song by wham. If you hear it, you're out. So we have a comment from good old Senior Bryce. He says, I was whammed on this date, December 16th, 2025, at 1129 a.m. and the Wawa off I-95 exit 213. GG. Good game, Bryce. GG. Way to go. So on that note, did you get whammed? Yes. You did? I was gonna with with very much tears and sadness. I was whammed on December 13th at 8 a.m. What? No way. I lost. Are you ready to hear how I lost? Uh yes, go ahead. It was well, I guess it was. It was 9:30 in the morning. I had the door to a customer's house cracked open because I was painting the door, repainting the door, and the second that like the guy walks up, he's like, Hey, are you good? Do you need a coffee or anything? I was like, No, I'm good, man. I'm just gonna paint it and then I'm out of here. And he's like, Okay, cool. Walks off, and then the song comes on right away. And I like try to close the door like that. No, pow! Yeah, I was like, No! And then I was like, it doesn't matter, I already heard it, we're done. So yeah, on December 13th at 9 30 a.m. in the morning off of uh Scoggins Road in Dallas, Georgia. I lost. I was whammed.

SPEAKER_07: 4:49

So good game. GG, you lost. All right, for me. So I um I had two. It's like we had an AA meeting. I've been whamless for two years now. So I had two possible whammings, right? And I brought them to you. Potential whams. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 5:23

I was whammed almost twence.

SPEAKER_07: 5:26

No, so like both times I'm like, ooh, did that count? Right? Yep. So one one of them I came to you and I'm you were painting my my house.

SPEAKER_05: 5:36

Ironically wasn't you right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 5:39

And I came to you and I said, I'm gonna play this for you. This does not count towards you, but if you think it counts, then I would get the hit, right? Yeah, yeah. And so I played it for you and you said doesn't count.

SPEAKER_05: 5:54

Yeah, because it was a cover.

SPEAKER_07: 5:55

Because it was a it was it was a um yeah, it was a cover. Well, it was a it was a remix, I should say remix. It was a remix. Yeah, yeah. And then I brought another one to you just before we started recording, and you also agreed that it was a remix. Yeah, it has to be like if anything else is mixed in it or over it, it's a remix. Well, all the ones I've come into are remixes so far, but I wanted to be truthful and fair on it. Yeah. So it's like it's one of those moments, like you said, where it's like you're flipping through and it starts playing, and you're like, no, and you like go to go away, but it's like it's too late. So then you have to go investigate it.

SPEAKER_05: 6:32

But the nature of the game, even if it if it was a like an elimination wham, you solely showing it to me to ask, even though you set your own parameters for it, I still would have lost. Because it doesn't matter about parameters, it's just if you hear it, you're out. So but I was saying, like it no, I know the technicalities you were putting into it, but we didn't agree to that at the beginning of the game. I guess that's true. There's no like, oh, I need you to verify this for me. If I hear it, it doesn't matter the context, anything.

SPEAKER_07: 7:05

I think it'd be okay though. Like we're setting here, like I need a judgment on this. Who else is gonna judge it, right? Then tell somebody else who's not competing. I think you'd been fine.

SPEAKER_06: 7:16

Give their opinion.

SPEAKER_07: 7:18

Uh so uh yeah, all I've got to do, um, so I guess spoiler a little bit, or uh peek behind the curtain, uh, it's currently December 18th. I have seven more days, and if I make it, yeah, you owe me a Lego set.

SPEAKER_05: 7:32

I owe you a Lego set. That's right.

SPEAKER_07: 7:34

And if uh so all you are doing is counting on me not making.

SPEAKER_05: 7:39

I'm looking to try and wham you.

SPEAKER_07: 7:41

I gotta go.

unknown: 7:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 7:44

Do you want to talk about our other comments real quick? Yeah, let's read our other comments. Okay. So Ashley said That's my wife. Hey, for episode 62, when we talk about Christmas traditions, she said, around the 48-minute mark, you all discuss the aluminum Christmas tree going out of style due to the Charlie Brown Christmas special. I found that intriguing because Jarriss and I watched that special this year. I'm not sure if that was before or after this episode.

SPEAKER_07: 8:12

After after the recording. But before it came out, we watched it.

SPEAKER_05: 8:16

But did it like, did it give you that like aha moment for the movie where you were like, oh yeah, I know. Oh, you said you watched it before the recording?

SPEAKER_07: 8:24

No, we watched it after the release. Before the release, but after we recorded it. We talked about it, and then like that night I went home and put it on.

SPEAKER_05: 8:32

Did you did you pull a Lord of the Rings fan fandom bit? Like with the Aragorn and kicking the helmet deal? You know how everyone's always like, Did you know at that moment of the He really broke his toe?

SPEAKER_06: 8:44

Yeah. Did you know that the aluminum trist Christmas tree went out of style because of Charlie Brown?

SPEAKER_07: 8:53

I mean, I could see it for sure, especially if that was as super popular, you know, as we say it is, which I there's no way to say it wasn't.

SPEAKER_05: 9:01

I think that it was only around for a short amount of time, but they like sold millions of them.

SPEAKER_07: 9:05

I'm talking about the like the Charlie Brown special. Uh like if it as big as is people make it out to be, which I'm pretty sure it was, yeah. That people get hit with that emotionally because like it was good. I I really did like it, and just essentially saying it's not about all the consumerism. The message, you know, the message that we've been preaching this whole month. Correct. It's not about the consumerism, it's about Christ. 100%. 100%. And it's so nice to see that in something that's consumed by it wasn't Christian made, it was just a television special. Yeah. So for it to be something that put Christ in it and it not be necessarily made by Christians or the target audience was Christians, it was really nice to see. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 9:55

Yes, sir. All right, I got one more comment. This is from Jennifer, and it says Sprite, and this is for episode 64. Sprite sponsorship? Question mark. Yes, please. My most memorable Xmas gift was my BB gun when I was 10. I wore that thing out. Nice.

SPEAKER_07: 10:16

You still got it, Jennifer? Do you still got it? No, she wore it out. All right, I guess she doesn't have it anymore. She just said that she wore it out. I had it for five minutes, shot it five times, and it broke. But yeah, I still have it in the closet. Yeah. Yeah. Jennifer, do you still have that BB gun or not? Let us know in the comments.

SPEAKER_05: 10:37

All right. Are we ready to get into our main topic tonight?

SPEAKER_07: 10:41

I believe so. Real quick, before we do, I got you another Sprite cranberry. What? I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

SPEAKER_05: 10:48

Like, I didn't even see you bring it in. All right. Well, Tyler, this is your transition. We're transitioning it into the main topic for the night, and that is alternative. Well, no. I wouldn't call it alternative because they're competing. They're not. The competing holidays.

SPEAKER_04: 11:07

Competing holidays with Christmas.

SPEAKER_07: 11:10

That's right. I mean, you did say it. Even though Kwanzaa claims that they're not competing with Christmas, they're still they're all competing with Christmas. They're competing with Christmas. I would say you are right. Alternative, not in the sense that it's another option for Christmas, but more of just other things that are being celebrated around Christmas time alongside Christmas. Correct. So do you want so which one do you want to start with? So I um I think I went more out than what we discussed. Okay. I went with more than we discussed. I've got like all of them that is celebrated. Around Christmas? Around Christmas. How many is it? A lot. Let's see here. I can name them off quickly. Okay. That's what I'll do. I'll name these off quickly, then we can deep dive into the three that we discussed.

SPEAKER_02: 12:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_07: 12:03

Uh so Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule, Yule logging, uh, Pagus Pagan. I don't know how to say this. Saturnalia? Saturnalia. Saturnalia. Winter solstice. Dewali. That sounds like a tool brand. Anyone want to buy a Diwali Ranch? Bodhi Day? Bodhigh Day. Uh Las Posadas. I'm butchering these. Saint Nicholas Day. Ami Soka. Hogmane. Pancha Ganatati. Um. Yeah, that's it. So if you want to in the comments.

SPEAKER_05: 12:48

Most of those are just they're just pagan winter solstice celebrations. Are they? Yeah, so I would just that I would that's why I lumped them all under. That's why I just said winter solstice. That's fine, yeah. Rather than all the other ones.

SPEAKER_07: 13:02

It's just they are their version of winter solstice.

SPEAKER_05: 13:05

Yeah, they have their own little things that they do to celebrate winter winter solstice, but it's just the celebration of winter solstice.

SPEAKER_07: 13:13

But the three that you wanted to do were the like almost the first three that I named off. Yes. Which was Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Winter Solstice. So in the comments, let us know which one you want us to start with. But we're starting with Hanukkah.

SPEAKER_05: 13:30

All right. Let's start with Hanukkah. Do you know why the Jews celebrate Hanukkah? I feel like I should know. I don't know why I'm drawing a blink. So during the for us Christians, during the I think it's I can't remember what it's called. It's the years of silence. It's a 400-year span between the last prophet Malachi and the birth of Jesus Christ. You know, the book of Matthew. Yeah. So there's 400 years in that gap. And during that time is when the Greeks, Alexander the Great, conquers the known world. Alexander dies, and all of his empire is broken up into four bits, and there's infighting in between all that. And and through all of that, Greece becomes like uh we're trying to make everybody Greek. So everyone starts adopting Greek culture and the Greek language. And in in Israel, in Jerusalem specifically, they start trying to bring in pagan idols to the temple, and they start trying to do Greek ideological things in a Jewish community. And so a group of people called the Maccabees rise up to fight uh against the Greek Empire. And uh they have some pretty successful campaigns against the Greeks, fighting them off, and then at one point they successfully gain independence for a time.

SPEAKER_07: 15:02

I love the one thing that the Greeks did that's so great. What's that? Yogurt.

SPEAKER_05: 15:08

Yogurt.

SPEAKER_07: 15:11

That's the only thing the Greeks were remembered by. That and their salads. Salads.

SPEAKER_05: 15:17

Greeks salad and Greek yogurt.

SPEAKER_07: 15:19

Yes it. All the Greeks were remembered by are their food.

SPEAKER_05: 15:24

That's fair. Percy Jackson. Percy Jackson. Everybody knows about Percy Jackson.

SPEAKER_07: 15:29

Yeah. Uh who is he? You'll figure it out. What uh what book of the Bible is he in?

SPEAKER_05: 15:38

Yeah, I was reading it in uh second Percy Jackson's, and uh we gotta always be careful when we make those kind of jokes.

SPEAKER_07: 15:46

Yeah. That was a joke, everybody. That was a joke. Be humored. Be humored and don't take it seriously. I feel like that's how like cults get started. Somebody makes a joke and another person takes it seriously.

SPEAKER_05: 15:58

No, cults get started when a mommy horse and a daddy horse come together. Ooh, yeah. Mm-hmm. And they express their love to one another. Nay. Nay gets out. Nay. Anyway, so yeah, the Maccabees fought against the Greeks and gained some religious freedom and independence and held to their Jewish traditions. And then the Romans came.

SPEAKER_07: 16:23

How dare they?

SPEAKER_05: 16:25

So, yeah, so yeah, so Hanukkah is the celebration and remembrance of the Maccabees reclaiming the temple, taking all the false idols out of it, and relighting the candles or the lamp stand in the temple.

SPEAKER_07: 16:43

So I've got here in my notes, it's Maccabe or Maccabean? Maccabees, the Maccabees. So is the end silent?

SPEAKER_05: 16:54

I mean, some people will say Maccabean, I guess.

SPEAKER_07: 16:56

Bean?

SPEAKER_05: 16:56

I guess that's how you would say, like the Maccabean Revolt. But the the family was Maccabees.

SPEAKER_07: 17:04

Is that that guy's first name, Maccabees? No. Maccabe? No. Maccabean?

SPEAKER_05: 17:10

No, Maccabees was the last name. The first name, there was a bunch of different brothers and their dad, but the primary individual for most of the revolution was Joshua.

SPEAKER_07: 17:22

No, I was just asking because I love those movies. They just never say his first name. What? Beans? Bean? What are you talking about? Mr.

SPEAKER_05: 17:31

Bean. Mr. Bean. Holy cannoli. Oh, I'm a funny guy. But no, I learned this that apparently when they relit the lamp in the temple, there was only enough holy oil for one night, and the lamp's supposed to continually burn. And miraculously. And miraculously it kept burning even after one night. So they called it a miracle from God, and that it was God blessing their endeavors to liberate from Greece or from the Greeks.

SPEAKER_07: 18:05

How many days was that? I don't remember. It's eight whole days. Woo! And that's why they light the eight candles, right? One for every day. Is it eight candles? On the menorah, right?

SPEAKER_05: 18:20

How many candles are is it eight or is it nine candles?

SPEAKER_07: 18:25

Alright, guys, tell us. Or we can look it up and tell you. Uh Hanukkah candles. Near me. Near me. Why does that like sound like a dating app or something like that?

SPEAKER_05: 18:42

It's the it's one of the top things. Search. Hanukkah candles. Near me. All right. Uh nine. Nine. It's nine candles. So there's, I guess, the eight days and then and then God.

unknown: 18:57

And then God.

SPEAKER_07: 18:59

Yeah. Yeah, because they don't believe in Jesus.

SPEAKER_05: 19:02

I just need a a Jew to explain to me the significance. Uh, to commemorate the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days. One candle, the shamash, is lit nightly to light the others, adding one candle each night until all eight are lit. Plus the shamash for a total of 44 candles over the holiday. They come in various colors, often blue, white, or rainbow. Wait, how did we get to 44? Because each night they relight it.

SPEAKER_07: 19:41

They don't reuse the candles. They I'm assuming I guess they get they blow them out.

SPEAKER_05: 19:45

And then the next night they light the candles again.

SPEAKER_07: 19:48

But fresh ones. No. So where are we getting? Oh, 44. The way you made it sound is that they were getting 44 candles and using them throughout the eight days. It's the way it sounds. Sounded. I'm like, wow. I mean, unless they do change them out every single night, I don't know.

SPEAKER_05: 20:07

That's just the I'm sure some people do. Candles aren't expensive. Scented ones are, but I don't know why it's nine.

SPEAKER_07: 20:13

I guess it's they have the one that's lit and light the other ones with it. I guess traditionally you light the one candle and then you light every other one. That makes sense. But uh okay. I want to back it up.

SPEAKER_05: 20:24

It looks like it is 44 candles. It looks like you're supposed to light eight candles each night.

SPEAKER_07: 20:31

That don't make sense then. Maybe I'm not Jewish, so someone explained it to me. Um am I wrong in saying that they don't believe that Jesus is the Messiah? Correct? Correct. Okay, I I did make that statement. I'm like, let me make sure before I uh before I die on that hill.

SPEAKER_05: 20:56

Practicing Jews, or I guess the term would be Orthodox Jews, do not believe that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the Messiah.

SPEAKER_07: 21:08

They believed he was a person, but they believed that he was a prophet.

SPEAKER_05: 21:12

Well, not all of them do. Some, I mean, I'm sure that there are some that do believe he was a prophet or that he existed, but there are Jews that are like, I don't even, I don't know if he's legit. Most people now, because of the academics around Christ, very few people argue that he didn't exist anymore. It used to be a thing people would argue, but there's too much evidence historically.

SPEAKER_07: 21:37

And we talk about all the time that we have Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, and it's like we we take these people as being real, but we only have a couple of documents alluding to their existence. Alluding to their existence, but Jesus has thousands. Correct.

SPEAKER_06: 21:59

This is correct.

SPEAKER_07: 22:02

Wacky? Wacky voice? Wacky voice.

SPEAKER_05: 22:08

Yeah. So I'm I'm trying to skim through this wiki page, but I'm not seeing anything about the importance of the candles. Outside of why they're lit, they're written.

SPEAKER_07: 22:20

They're they're lit to commemorate to memorate the eight days. Yeah, but it has no I guess if they believe that it was a miracle from God, that's the religious background, but no text saying that you need to celebrate it like the way that we celebrate communion. You mean Passover? Well, Passover, communion, you know, the the uh for us Christians like it's not like a thing that they're commanded to do, it's something that happened and then they just kind of took it on and celebrate it. Yeah, they instituted it as a holiday to commemorate it.

SPEAKER_05: 22:56

Yeah, I dude, I can't find anything about this freaking thing.

SPEAKER_07: 23:02

It must not be that important. Yeah. What's the dreidel for? Uh, to dray things. Oh. Is he a doctor? Mm-hmm. Okay, cool. Has to be. He has to be. Yeah. Can't be a regular Dr. Draydle PhD. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 23:18

Dr. Dradel PhD. That sounds like a Jewish, like Dr.

SPEAKER_07: 23:24

Dre impersonator. Like a parody album or something like that somebody like a Weird Owl would put out. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06: 23:33

Weird owls, Dr. Dradle.

SPEAKER_07: 23:36

I feel like that exists now that we're making that joke and it's so obvious.

unknown: 23:40

I don't know. Dr. Dredd.

SPEAKER_07: 23:45

Yeah. The only thing that came up for me was Dr. Jerome Durd Durdell. Hmm, MD. MD. It autocorrected when I typed in Dradle.

SPEAKER_05: 23:59

Alright. Yeah, I'm not seeing anything about the significance, sir. Let's just say it's important. To them.

SPEAKER_07: 24:11

Correct. Alright. Anything else you wanna do? Yeah, the only time I light candles is if the power goes out. You guys don't do um advent? Honestly, no.

SPEAKER_05: 24:24

Yeah, we're doing we're doing advent right now. So tomorrow or when this episode comes out, we will have litten the fourth candle. Because it's Sunday is when we light the fourth candle. And then Christmas Day is on Wednesday, so that's when we'll light the fifth candle. Christmas Day is on a Thursday. Oh yeah, sorry, a Thursday.

SPEAKER_06: 24:46

You're right. I know I'm right. I know I'm right. I'm counting down the days to where I can finally listen to wham.

SPEAKER_07: 24:54

That's right. I'm so excited. I get I really hope I get a wham out of CD for Christmas so I can pop it in and listen to it. C D? I mean, what else is there to listen?

SPEAKER_05: 25:05

I mean, you guys tell me out there, who are you who out there is still popping CDs in and listening to them?

SPEAKER_07: 25:12

Nobody really. I don't think anybody. But if how you except those guys that have a vast CD collection. True. I'm just saying is who's gonna rock who's how are you gonna rap Spotify? Can you just see?

SPEAKER_05: 25:26

Could you just imagine when they announce the iPod and digital downloads of songs, and there's just a guy in his basement, and the all the walls are just covered in CD cases, and he's just like, No.

SPEAKER_07: 25:43

I mean, all my money. I mean, it's the same way, like with digital games and you know Kindles and all that stuff. You still can have a physical library of something that doesn't just because it exists somewhere else, doesn't mean that it negates your physical collection.

SPEAKER_05: 26:01

Yeah, but nobody's really doing it anymore. We went from having blockbusters and Hollywood movie rentals and CD stores and like massive CD collection aisles in every store that was like, you know, all the targets and Walmart and everything, to now they're like next to non-existent.

SPEAKER_07: 26:25

So you know, if if anybody knows anything about me, I am big on physical media for movies.

SPEAKER_05: 26:32

He's big on physical media for movies. That's right.

SPEAKER_07: 26:37

So I am that weirdo, but with movies, not CDs. With Blu-ray, correct? Uh no, 4K. 4K UH. Oh, sorry. 4K UHD. Want a Sprite Cranberry? What does that have to do with 4K UHD? I don't know. But yeah, used to you could go into Best Buy and they'd have like five or six rows of physical media movies. And you go over and there's like one little rack now with a couple on it. Yep. It's getting harder and harder to get like good movies on physical media.

SPEAKER_05: 27:13

Yeah, special. Yeah, it's uh they really are pushing. Well, I guess uh part of it is because nobody's buying them, but I think part of it is they're pushing people to not have physical copies of things.

SPEAKER_07: 27:28

Well, the problem with it is it would be okay, like because the quality from something like Netflix or HBO or Amazon are all good, right? Yeah, for the most for most people, it's indistinguishable from if I put a disc next to streaming, you couldn't tell. Yeah, I personally can, but it's not unwatchable to watch something on Netflix. Yeah. But the problem is, is the moment that it's like, okay, great, I have my movie on Netflix. I'd love to watch my movie. Oh, what's that? Oh, they decided to take it off for no good reason. How am I gonna watch this now? Yeah, you know, like, oh, you could buy it on like Apple permanently, but they you also still don't own that. Yeah, you are buying the license for that, and at any point, they could take that from you. Sure. It's part of the terms. It's the same way with digital gaming. Yeah, it's just unlikely. Yeah. But I just I like having physical movies. I mean, how how I mean let me create this scenario for you. Okay, paint a picture for me. Yeah, man. I have one TV show I love watching, and it's called The Office. Okay, and all I'll have is Netflix, and it's on Netflix. I watch that back to back all the time. Yeah. Oh gosh, where'd it go? Oh, Peacock. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Uh, I'm painting that picture of your actual personal experience. Yeah. My wife. Mm-hmm. Loves The Office.

SPEAKER_05: 28:59

Loved The Office, hasn't watched it in forever. Because they took it off a Netflix. They took it off Netflix and yeah, moved over to Peacock, which I think that we like got Peacock for a while and she kind of watched it a little bit, but our thing now is uh the mummy movies and Lord of the Rings. Those are the our kind of comfort watches. Do you own those physically? Not physically, but we own them digitally.

SPEAKER_07: 29:26

Yeah. Guess what happens if they decide uh you're not allowed to watch those anymore? You're gonna have to come to Jarrus because Jarrus owns all of those physically. Yeah, I guess so. That's true.

SPEAKER_05: 29:36

Yeah. But that's okay. Anyways, Hanukkah. Hanukkah. Yeah. All right, great. Moving on. It's to commemorate the miracle that happened with the Maccabees reclaiming the temple and lighting the lamp and it burning for eight days when it only should have burned for one. Right. So nothing biblical. Nothing ordained by God except that they say it was a miracle. So they commemorate it. So could be, you know, not taken away from that. Could be a miracle because they are being obedient to God. They're they're cleaning the temple out of idols and and trying to be faithful to the commandments that God gave us when it comes to the temple.

SPEAKER_07: 30:19

Right. But it's kind of my point is they're not being commanded by God to do this to honor God. It is something they correct. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 30:30

It's not a com God didn't say through a prophet, do this holiday. Right. You're right.

SPEAKER_07: 30:36

So uh and it is to be fair, we also were not commanded to do Christmas. But it is documentative. Jesus' birth has happened. This is true. Yeah, everybody's gonna really hate me by the end of this episode.

SPEAKER_05: 30:55

Uh Hanukkah is celebrated December 14th through December 22nd. So we're in the middle of Hanukkah right now.

SPEAKER_07: 31:02

It's funny. My notes, it's I guess it's wrong. It says from late November to late December, eight nights. Maybe that you can do it between that time frame, or my notes are just wrong. Late November to late December? Yeah. And how's that eight nights? You could say like uh exactly. That it's saying that it could you could do it from that span was the way I read it, but yours makes way more sense.

SPEAKER_05: 31:27

Yeah, I know. Because I I think that they have a documented time of when it happened, so they stick they stick to the time that it happened.

SPEAKER_07: 31:36

Do you find it funny that somebody that they say do didn't exist or claim he isn't what they fully he fully is, Jesus, they have a separate holiday right there near that his birth? Do you kind of find that funny? Ironic to some degree? Like Hanukkah could have been celebrated at any point, but let's put it right here where it's right there next to the birth of the guy that we decline or deny.

SPEAKER_05: 32:05

I guess maybe. I don't know. Because I mean Hanukkah was set up before Christ came into the world. So it's not like they created it to compete with Christmas. Oh, I see. Yeah, you're right. So I don't I don't find that a big deal. I think that because there is argument about establishing Christmas as like on December 25th. Because I think there was some, you know, still debate on whether or not Christ was born then. I think some people think he was born in as uh like around April. But some people make the argument that the reason that they establish Christmas on December 25th, the solstice, is to compete with pagan holidays to try and encourage people to become Christian. Turn to Christ and get away from your pagan holiday. Mm-hmm. So people use that as like an argument against it, and like we shouldn't celebrate Christmas because Christ wasn't actually born then, and it's just a supplement for pagan holidays.

SPEAKER_07: 33:09

But if you were adopted and you didn't know when your birthday was, does it lessen the celebration of what day you choose just because you don't necessarily celebrate it on the day you were born? Yeah, I guess I would I would make the point is it's celebrating, not the actual day itself.

SPEAKER_05: 33:27

I would, yeah, I would make the argument that it's one thing to do what we do, where some people do today, where they celebrate Christmas, but nothing about it is Jesus. It's all about Santa Claus and Christmas trees, and which all of them have Christian roots, yeah, Christmas trees and even Saint Nicholas and all these other things, but then they they leave Christ out of it, which is the focal point. So as long as you keep Christ at the focal point of your Christmas celebration and you're reminded by the wonder that he came down to earth as an as a baby. You could celebrate Christmas anytime. Yeah, I I don't think it necessarily I'm not concerned about the day. It's more about the commemoration of it. And I I'll have to do some more research into it, but I feel like there is some valid reasons to celebrate it on December 25th. I don't I something I read, it was somewhere around the fourth century or four hundreds that they determined to celebrate Christmas. I think it was the fourth century, is when they decided like Christmas is gonna be on December 25th. Hmm.

SPEAKER_07: 34:42

So get rid of them pagan boys out there. Yeah, bring them in, bring them in, get them right.

SPEAKER_06: 34:50

Bring them in and get them right.

SPEAKER_07: 34:52

That's right. And uh speaking of pagan, you want to talk about yes, yeah. I do want to talk about pagans. Pagans. No, uh the winter solstice.

SPEAKER_04: 35:04

Winter solstice.

SPEAKER_07: 35:06

What do you have on the winter solstice?

SPEAKER_05: 35:09

It is the shortest day of the year in the uh northern hemisphere, and it occurs in 2025 on December 21st.

SPEAKER_07: 35:25

Yeah, that's what I've got on my notes. So Sunday. Yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_05: 35:31

On Sunday from when we're recording this. The Sunday before Christmas Day. There we go. So solstice is I mean, has been celebrated by humanity throughout humanity. But today a lot of people that do solstice celebrations are either solely see what I do there, solely, or are pagan. Uh like uh Wiccan, they'll they'll have a celebration of solstice. It's kind of like they view it as the death and resurrection of the sun. The old sun dies and the new sun's reborn.

SPEAKER_07: 36:10

So they think oh, on the solstice. Yeah. Not every day.

SPEAKER_05: 36:14

The birthing of the new sun.

SPEAKER_07: 36:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 36:16

Don't we have like three or four solstices? We've got the winter and summer solstice. Okay. Yeah, and the summer solstice is the longest day of the year. And so there's just like the shortest day of the year.

SPEAKER_07: 36:28

To them, there's just like millions of dead suns floating out there, and we just get a new one or two new ones every year.

SPEAKER_05: 36:34

I mean, it the spiritual aspect of it, not like the literal astrophysicist aspect of the sun literally implodes and then a new one takes its place. No, it's more of like the sun is a god or the sun is a deity, and they are dying on December, whatever this year it's the 21st.

SPEAKER_07: 36:55

Imagine having faith in a god that you know is going to die twice a year.

SPEAKER_05: 37:00

Well, I don't know if the summer solstice is the sun dying. And I don't know if everyone believes that or agrees with that. I just know that that is one interpretation of it that people commemorate. They just commemorate hey, this is this is the official turning point, the changing of the season, the winter solstice. So, but yeah, everybody celebrated. I mean, Yule, that is the the more Scandinavian pagan celebration of winter solstice. Trying to think of what the names of the other solstices. Alba and Arthan was the druids. Light of winter is what they called it. Oh, okay. Yule is actually a Wiccan. So maybe it was Scandinavian, but right now, today, it's it's a big Wicca holiday Wiccan holiday or Wicca holiday. Wicked. Oh, oh, oh, wicked, wicked. I gotcha, I gotcha. Yeah, I think that Wicca Wiccan I feel like it is just a broad term that and that just anyone who likes to do pagan things and believe in pagan deities is under the umbrella of Wiccan. That's what I'm picking up on. There's no longer like Odin worshippers and Thor worshippers. There's no more druids, there's no more like all these different cults and practices. They all kind of just have, they're all fall under this one group, but then they all have their different ways that they celebrate.

SPEAKER_07: 38:50

But we do that too, you know. We say it's if it's not God, it's it's witchcraft. Yes. So it's evil. If it's not of God, it's something evil.

SPEAKER_05: 39:00

Yeah. But it's kind of I guess what I'm getting at is it's kind of weird. You know, like at some time in history, it was like, this is my God, and we celebrate him or her and what they do, and this is your God, and our gods might fight each other, and so we're gonna fight each other. But today with the weekend things, it's not competing idols. It's I'm gonna take whatever I like and just use that as my celebration or worship, and whatever I don't like is just not my preference. So it's okay if it's your preference, but it's not mine. You see what I mean? Like it's kind of just they've they've taken all these different things and thrown them into a mixing pot. It's the uh Burger King. The Burger King have it your way.

SPEAKER_07: 39:49

Nice. There we go. That was our food insert for this episode. And you know what? The people that practice it, they're but uh uh uh

SPEAKER_05: 40:00

Loving it.

SPEAKER_07: 40:00

I thought you were gonna say buh but burning in hell. Jeez. No. That's bad. That's bad.

SPEAKER_05: 40:09

Uh not yet, anyways. I mean, it's bad for them. Yeah. I I hope. My hope is that uh you will be saved and come to Christ. Please. Please. Please.

SPEAKER_04: 40:23

Please.

SPEAKER_05: 40:24

Anyways, not a whole lot to talk about with uh Wicca, because I feel like we've we've talked about cults and Wicca a lot throughout the year. And it's just that. It's it's wrong. Don't do it. Don't do it. Like it's demon, it's demonic and it's gonna control you.

SPEAKER_07: 40:44

Not even once.

SPEAKER_05: 40:46

Yeah. What he said.

SPEAKER_07: 40:49

No, it's that uh drug campaign they used to have in like the early 2000s, late 90s. What? Dare? It was Dare, but like it was no, it wasn't Dare. It was like it was just like a anti-drug commercial that was like they were trying to scare kids. Like it was they were really creepy commercials, and then just it would be like black background, white text just hard, like not even once. Is it scary if it's true? I mean, they would it would be really scary imagery, like trying to like like I remember one where it was like I guess it would be scary regardless of if it's true or not. Scary is scary. Yeah. No, but it was like there was one commercial where it was like this girl and she was just like had no bones in her body and she was like deflated, and she's just like, yeah, she just wasn't the she's just not the same since she started doing drugs. Okay, that's not real people. No, it's that's what I'm saying, it's unrealistic things. Like there was one where it was like a drug dealer and he slowly turned into a lizard monster. No, like a snake monster. And it's like, you can trust me, right? I'm your pal.

SPEAKER_05: 42:01

That might be real. Drug dealers are snakes? Well, lizard people, yeah, true. Trying to control the world. The secret lizard government, man. Yeah, Elon, right? Yeah, yeah. And and the, you know, entons, the C intons, C L entons. C L? CL intons. They're lizard people.

SPEAKER_07: 42:23

Yeah. I don't know how to when you start talking about lizard people, and maybe we need like a corner on it at one point, but like it just sounds so nonsensical to me. When you start claiming that like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk because they like both of them have like some sort of like like a mental like the spectrum type thing. Like, and they're gonna sit there and say they're lizard people because they're on the spectrum is crazy to me.

SPEAKER_05: 42:53

Oh, well, I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. I just think it's funny and maybe real. Anyways, uh yeah, so winter solstice. Acknowledge it's the shortest day of the year, but we don't need to celebrate idols. No, not at all. There we go. All right, and our final celebration that we're gonna talk about tonight is Kwanzaa. Thank you. Celebrated December 26th through January 1st.

SPEAKER_07: 43:37

This is stupid. What is wrong with me?

SPEAKER_05: 43:42

I ask that same question.

SPEAKER_07: 43:44

Rude.

SPEAKER_05: 43:47

May I pose a question to the room?

SPEAKER_07: 43:50

I'm just gonna like in the background as you give your explanation on Quanta. Just I'm not gonna I'm not gonna say anything until you're done. I guess we're just gonna sit here in Quanta.

unknown: 44:06

Are you finished?

SPEAKER_05: 44:07

Yes, I'm finished. It's the celebration of African American culture. Go ahead, Jaris.

SPEAKER_07: 44:20

No, tell me, tell me about it. So it was founded in 1966 by Dr., I'm gonna butcher this, uh, Maulana Karinga. During the black power movement, Kwanzaa was created to celebrate African heritage and cultural unity rather than replace religious holidays.

SPEAKER_05: 44:41

So what they're saying is they're not saying like you can't celebrate Christmas now. They're saying on top of Christmas, it's just another way to also celebrate Kwanzaa, which is celebrating African American culture.

SPEAKER_07: 44:54

Correct. So there's not really a religious background, it's just a another reason to celebrate heritage.

SPEAKER_05: 45:03

Although it a part of it is faith. Is it? Yeah, part of like they're they're celebrating the faith that black people the black culture has. So it doesn't, it's not a religious holiday, but a portion of it, the different pillars that they commemorate in the black culture on Kwanzaa is faith. Okay. From my understanding, I watched a documentary. I watched one five-minute YouTube video. No, no, it was a documentary, and it was like 30 minutes long. I think. I think it was 30 minutes long.

SPEAKER_07: 45:43

It was either 30 minutes long or I didn't watch all of it.

SPEAKER_05: 45:48

Uh I fell asleep. No, I didn't watch it. I listened to it while I was installing Christmas lights. And is that why you heard wham? No, uh that was painting a door. Oh. Jerk, you didn't even listen to my story.

SPEAKER_07: 46:04

I listened.

SPEAKER_06: 46:06

How dare you? You're supposed to be my friend. Wait, what don't call me. We're friends. Don't send me a message.

SPEAKER_07: 46:16

Did you call me your buddy?

SPEAKER_05: 46:17

Don't beep me.

SPEAKER_07: 46:20

Wow, you want I got a good deal on speakers. You want a good sound sound system? Buddy? Name that movie.

SPEAKER_05: 46:32

Well, sorry, what was the quote again?

SPEAKER_07: 46:34

I said, Did you call me your buddy?

SPEAKER_05: 46:38

Oh, uh, Larry the Cable Guy.

SPEAKER_07: 46:40

Larry the cable guy, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's what it's called. Oh yeah. In the comments, tell us what movie am I quoting? Moving back to Kwanzaa.

SPEAKER_05: 46:51

Uh, apparently it comes from a Swahili phrase, Matunda Yee Kwanza, meaning first fruits. First fruits. And the first fruits festival exists in southern Africa and are celebrated in December slash January with the southern solstice. Uh, this says that uh Korenga was partially inspired by an account he read of the Zulu festival Wakwashawama. It was decided to spell the holiday's name with an additional A so that it would have a symbolic seven letters.

SPEAKER_02: 47:38

Mmm.

SPEAKER_05: 47:39

Because they light seven candles.

SPEAKER_07: 47:41

Oh, really? Yes. Instead of nine. Yes. Do they buy fifty-six candles? No. No, sorry, 46. Wait, math. Math. No, no. I'm trying to think here. I'm doing terrible math in my head. Hold on. So you have how many days is Kwanzaa? Seven days. Seven days.

SPEAKER_05: 47:58

They light one candle a day over the seven days. And they have the Unity Candle, Umoja. They have the self-determination candle, Kuchi Chekula. They have the collective work and responsibility candle, Umjima. They have the cooperative economics candle, umjama. Hold on. Oh yeah, okay. Yeah, Ujima and Ujama. They have the purpose candle, Nia. They have the creativity candle, and they have the faith candle, Imani. Imani. Imani.

SPEAKER_07: 48:41

Ibombe. I was about to say, is that Wakanda Forever? Wakanda forever.

SPEAKER_06: 48:49

Jeez.

SPEAKER_05: 48:50

Anyways. Not Kwanza. They don't in in Wakanda they don't celebrate Kwanzaa. How do you know? Because it's an African American holiday.

SPEAKER_07: 49:00

Isn't Wakanda set in Africa? Like that's like Yeah, but they're not American. Oh, African American. Okay.

SPEAKER_05: 49:08

Correct. Which was the term that people were using for a time for racial equality when talking about people with black skin. Correct. Dark skin.

SPEAKER_07: 49:18

Right. Because so they don't celebrate Kwanzaa at all in Africa at all? What's that? So do they not celebrate Kwanzaa at all in Africa?

SPEAKER_05: 49:27

No. Really? It's it was made in America in the 60s by an American for fellow black Americans to remember their ancestral roots. Okay. But like there's there's a part of that in there, but the but to focus on the black American culture now.

SPEAKER_07: 49:55

So yeah. Nice. I did not realize is I thought Quanta was a lot older than that. I didn't realize it was 1966. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 50:07

I mean, you gotta think about all the like the 60s is when we're coming out of all the Jim Crow laws, and and that's when really equality starts to take starts to solidify for the black community. And so it makes sense to me to be like, hey, as we get freedom, political freedom, we need to come together as a community and celebrate because if we just the reason that uh I think that the idea is like without unity, we will fall apart. And I think that was the big fight is that they're trying to destroy the black community. So we need to come together and remember and celebrate the black community and our heritage and where we came from, and that's why they did they he that's why Karanga did the Kwanzaa was to have a holiday for black Americans to remember their culture and community and stay together as a community. Because without community, we fall apart a hundred percent. We even see that that's a biblical standard because God calls us to come together as Christians to celebrate and partake of communion and pray for one another and uh build one another up in the faith to go back out into the world to share the gospel. But we are supposed to live in community with one another and community with God. So it is important for a community to exist, they have to be together.

SPEAKER_07: 51:38

I agree, you know. So you can't have a community if there's nobody in it. That's right. Put that on a t-shirt.

SPEAKER_05: 51:46

Yeah, that's gonna be our uh our fifth shirt that we promised. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_06: 51:53

Can't have a community if nobody's in it.

SPEAKER_07: 51:55

Yeah, I can't have a channel if no one's watching. Yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_05: 52:03

Yeah, and on that note, you guys let us know if you want to see Jairus do live streams.

SPEAKER_07: 52:09

Yeah, let us know. I made that promise, broke it, but I can make it again.

SPEAKER_06: 52:14

You know what? I can try round two.

SPEAKER_07: 52:17

It just crazy year. That's all I can say to that. Yeah, a lot has happened this year. A crazy, crazy year. But you know what? I got in a car accident this year.

SPEAKER_05: 52:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: 52:28

Gotta burn it.

SPEAKER_05: 52:30

What? Yeah, you got into a car accident. What's the other thing? I was about to go on a side tune about your new truck. Oh, yeah. Wait a minute. They don't need to know this.

SPEAKER_07: 52:39

Man, that was crazy. So much more. Yeah. But I'm blessed. Blessed. God has made me through this rough year. Highly favored.

SPEAKER_05: 52:47

Yes. And brand new paint job on your trim on the second story.

SPEAKER_07: 52:55

I don't know if I'd call that the best thing that I'm not gonna lie.

SPEAKER_04: 52:59

Top five highlights in my year, probably my trim getting painted.

SPEAKER_07: 53:04

Number one was when John came over last week and painted the trim on my house because the HOA sent us a nasty letter.

SPEAKER_05: 53:14

You should have sent the letter back, but put a sticky note next to each thing that you didn't like that they said. That's hurtful. Wow, that would be rude.

SPEAKER_07: 53:23

That was really, really mean.

SPEAKER_06: 53:25

I'm disabled. I can't get on a ladder. I'm also poor and have no money. I can't pay anybody.

SPEAKER_07: 53:30

Are you gonna come out and paint it for me? That's what I need to start doing. Whenever they send me an issue, just send back, are you gonna fix this for me and leave me alone? Yeah. Ask if they take payment plans. Ask them if they can just look the other way and ignore this one.

SPEAKER_05: 53:49

Listen, I'm not gonna be able to get this done. And I'm also not gonna be able to pay the fine up front. So I'm gonna have to just set up some sort of payment plan for the fine.

SPEAKER_07: 53:59

Let me tell you this. Like, it was it was irritating. They sent that letter. Yeah. Like at uh the week of Thanksgiving. Okay. And of course, we they said they gave us a week to get it taken care of, but sent it when the mail wasn't running, but told us we had a week to take care of it.

SPEAKER_05: 54:18

What?

SPEAKER_07: 54:19

Yeah. And had did they enforce it in any way? No. I was gonna say what in the letter it said, if you do not take care of this, you will be expecting another nasty letter, essentially, is what it said. We're gonna write you a second time. But it was just so crazy that this, like, they spend more money on postage. That's right. But it was crazy because they were like, Yeah, we're going to get on to you for this and you better take care of it. But you're not gonna get this letter until like a week after we expect you to get this done.

SPEAKER_05: 54:50

Yeah, and you still got neighbors that still need to get it done.

SPEAKER_07: 54:53

Yeah. So you need to go out there and go knock the knocking on some doors.

SPEAKER_05: 54:57

Yeah. Hey, just painted your neighbor's house. Got his trim up to par. You want me to come over here and get your yeah.

SPEAKER_06: 55:06

Not doing that. I got other things to do.

SPEAKER_05: 55:09

But anyways, okay, so for Kwanza, seven-day festival, but it c it's culminating, it's leading up to the feast that happens on, I think it's the sixth day. The feast called Karamu. Karamu. Karamu. Karamu. If any of our listeners celebrate Kwanzaa, let us know. Let us know. Because I don't really know anything about it, but it sounds like it's pretty cool. Yeah. Obviously, I don't celebrate.

SPEAKER_07: 55:39

I was gonna say, can me and John as white men celebrate Kwanzaa? You know, nobody knew I was white until you just said it just now. I think it I think it showed. I think it showed.

SPEAKER_05: 55:51

I think they were I think they had a feeling something about it. Just let us know. Like the live streams. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_06: 55:59

That's I forgot about that.

SPEAKER_05: 56:03

Yeah. Uh and yeah, I'm not Jewish, so I don't celebrate Hanukkah either. And you're not a pagan. I'm not a Satan worshiper.

SPEAKER_06: 56:11

Whoa.

SPEAKER_07: 56:12

That was loud. I needed to be emphatic. Do it one more time. Satan worshiper. There we go. Uh yeah, don't do that. Hey, three times.

SPEAKER_04: 56:23

Satan worshiper.

SPEAKER_07: 56:26

I'm not one.

SPEAKER_05: 56:28

Um, anyway. And I'm gonna take that out of context. All right. Well, that's what we have. Uh, if you don't celebrate any of those, make sure that when you celebrate Christmas, you're focused on Jesus Christ who came down to earth, was born as an infant child, grew into adulthood, lived a perfect life with no sin, and stepped in our place to pay the penalty for sin so that we could be forgiven of our sins and enter into the kingdom of God. And your salvation is not earned by anything that you do, it is received by God's grace through your faith. That's what I have to say. Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_07: 57:15

You wanna you wanna say anything else? I was gonna say Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas, everybody. This episode comes out on the 22nd. Yes. So it's the like if you're listening to this on the day it came out, Christmas is three days away. Yeah. Merry Christmas, everybody. Merry Christmas, everyone. I hope that you get everything you wanted, but most importantly, I hope you got Christ for Christmas this year. Uh-huh. Wrapped up in a bow. I hope you got Jesus in your heart. What's that in that box? It's Jesus. He's calling to you. That's right. Open it up. He won't accept it.

SPEAKER_05: 57:51

There we go. All right. Accept the gift of Jesus. Yes. And on that note, Christ is Lord. And the kingdom is now. We are the saints that serve.

SPEAKER_04: 59:13

Post credit scene. This is me making sure that you get an extra curriculum laugh out of this episode of Saints of the Turve Podcast.

SPEAKER_06: 59:28

Tune in every Monday to listen to the Saints the Turve podcast. To make sure that you get all of your weekly doses of whatever we decide you need for the week.

SPEAKER_05: 59:43

And if you want to write anything to us, make sure you make it out to the President of the United States as he is our personal secretary.