Jim Daly & John Stonestreet: Seth Dillon, Courageous Christians, & The Babylon Bee | Praise

October 21, 2025 | 56:50

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Praise | Jim Daly & John Stonestreet: Seth Dillon, Courageous Christians, & The Babylon Bee | Praise | October 21, 2025
  • The babylon bee is one of the largest english language satire
  • 00:00:02.115 --> 00:00:05.919
  • Sites left on the internet, so twitter immediately banned the
  • 00:00:02.115 --> 00:00:08.755
  • Babylon bee from its site for the crime of making fun of
  • 00:00:08.755 --> 00:00:12.025
  • Rachel levine.
  • 00:00:12.025 --> 00:00:13.193
  • Elon musk, wherever he was at the time, noticed this
  • 00:00:13.193 --> 00:00:16.529
  • Happening, and he was appalled.
  • 00:00:16.529 --> 00:00:19.499
  • That seemed totalitarian to elon musk.
  • 00:00:19.499 --> 00:00:22.469
  • So musk called the head of the babylon bee, seth dillon, and
  • 00:00:22.469 --> 00:00:25.138
  • Told him that he, quote, might need to buy twitter.
  • 00:00:25.138 --> 00:00:28.308
  • And he wasn't kidding.
  • 00:00:28.308 --> 00:00:29.909
  • Yesterday, after months of legal drama,
  • 00:00:29.909 --> 00:00:32.112
  • Musk did that.
  • 00:00:32.112 --> 00:00:33.213
  • The bird is freed, he tweeted.
  • 00:00:33.213 --> 00:00:35.782
  • We've been fact checked to death.
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  • Satire is allowed.
  • 00:00:38.151 --> 00:00:39.219
  • They're going to allow satire.
  • 00:00:39.219 --> 00:00:40.420
  • But there's a catch you can't punch down.
  • 00:00:40.420 --> 00:00:43.323
  • No punching down is allowed.
  • 00:00:43.323 --> 00:00:44.924
  • It's really just aimed at curbing and silencing and
  • 00:00:44.924 --> 00:00:48.862
  • Ostracizing satire, comedy, and thinkers that they don't like.
  • 00:00:48.862 --> 00:00:52.499
  • Let the children come unto me and do not hinder them unless
  • 00:00:52.499 --> 00:00:56.436
  • They might be born into poverty, or they might be an
  • 00:00:56.436 --> 00:00:59.706
  • Inconvenience to your party lifestyle.
  • 00:00:59.706 --> 00:01:01.441
  • In that case, feel free to murder them in the womb.
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  • Would you like to be healed, my son?
  • 00:01:10.717 --> 00:01:12.118
  • Yes of course, jesus.
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  • Thank you. thank you. and fear not,
  • 00:01:15.755 --> 00:01:21.127
  • For i have supported the new healthcare bill that will
  • 00:01:21.127 --> 00:01:22.929
  • Force you to buy insurance.
  • 00:01:22.929 --> 00:01:25.565
  • Because i am a good person.
  • 00:01:25.565 --> 00:01:31.471
  • Eat the rich, eat the rich, eat the rich, eat the rich, eat the
  • 00:01:31.471 --> 00:01:40.113
  • Rich, eat the rich, eat the rich.
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  • And john, that is a hard act to follow when you think that
  • 00:01:45.218 --> 00:01:49.055
  • We're going to have to compete against all of the, uh,
  • 00:01:49.055 --> 00:01:53.760
  • Sarcastic brain trust of seth dillon and the babylon bee.
  • 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:57.764
  • I love it.
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  • Uh, my love language is sarcasm.
  • 00:01:58.498 --> 00:02:00.800
  • Um, five love languages.
  • 00:02:00.800 --> 00:02:02.702
  • The sixth is sarcasm.
  • 00:02:02.702 --> 00:02:04.871
  • So your love language is you being sarcastic.
  • 00:02:04.871 --> 00:02:08.675
  • Yeah. every husband-- -- being sarcastic.
  • 00:02:08.675 --> 00:02:10.543
  • Every husband asks their wives,
  • 00:02:10.543 --> 00:02:12.645
  • Do you appreciate my sarcasm? yeah.
  • 00:02:12.645 --> 00:02:14.614
  • No wife is going to say yes.
  • 00:02:14.614 --> 00:02:16.449
  • No.
  • 00:02:16.449 --> 00:02:17.383
  • But we love it when you're sarcastic.
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  • It's kind of hot.
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  • That's our language. okay.
  • 00:02:21.254 --> 00:02:24.090
  • So, um, why are we kind of featuring the babylon bee.
  • 00:02:24.090 --> 00:02:29.562
  • What's up here?
  • 00:02:29.562 --> 00:02:30.563
  • We're talking about courageous christians.
  • 00:02:30.563 --> 00:02:32.398
  • Why are the very important organizations like focus on the
  • 00:02:32.398 --> 00:02:37.470
  • Family and the colson center,
  • 00:02:37.470 --> 00:02:39.772
  • Why are we why do we have two presidents--
  • 00:02:39.772 --> 00:02:42.675
  • Technically three-- presidents sitting here talking about
  • 00:02:42.675 --> 00:02:45.778
  • Sarcasm and all that?
  • 00:02:45.778 --> 00:02:47.213
  • What are we really talking about?
  • 00:02:47.213 --> 00:02:48.548
  • I think humor is a window into the soul.
  • 00:02:48.548 --> 00:02:50.917
  • I think jesus had humor.
  • 00:02:50.917 --> 00:02:52.685
  • The lord has humor.
  • 00:02:52.685 --> 00:02:53.953
  • I think it comes from the lord, actually.
  • 00:02:53.953 --> 00:02:56.222
  • And i think seth has bottled this so well because so often
  • 00:02:56.222 --> 00:02:59.959
  • Christians have been humorless.
  • 00:02:59.959 --> 00:03:02.228
  • And i think it is fun.
  • 00:03:02.228 --> 00:03:03.529
  • I think the lord wants us to have fun in this life, and i
  • 00:03:03.529 --> 00:03:06.899
  • Think babylon bee does capture it well.
  • 00:03:06.899 --> 00:03:09.002
  • Sometimes they're a little over the edge for me,
  • 00:03:09.002 --> 00:03:12.238
  • But that's the great thing about it.
  • 00:03:12.238 --> 00:03:13.740
  • But it is funny.
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  • Join us tonight as we sit with jim daly, ceo of focus on the
  • 00:03:15.241 --> 00:03:19.545
  • Family, and john stonestreet, ceo of the colson center.
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  • They'll share the story of seth dillon, founder of the babylon
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  • Bee, and his bold fight for truth on the platform formerly
  • 00:03:28.288 --> 00:03:31.824
  • Known as twitter.
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  • We don't believe that speaking the truth is hate speech.
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  • And you know, satire does often speak the truth.
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  • It does it in a humorous or ironic way.
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  • The story of seth dillon and the babylon bee happened at a
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  • Time in our culture where it was becoming normal to cancel
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  • People who said things that
  • 00:03:48.574 --> 00:03:51.010
  • Were against the new cultural orthodoxy.
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  • It's a story of the truth about freedom.
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  • I was basically telling
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  • Twitter, i'm like, you guys, delete it.
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  • If you don't like it, you take it down.
  • 00:03:59.118 --> 00:04:00.586
  • Why make me take it down and
  • 00:04:00.586 --> 00:04:01.721
  • Admit that i did something wrong?
  • 00:04:01.721 --> 00:04:03.022
  • Well, that's the whole point.
  • 00:04:03.022 --> 00:04:03.956
  • It's not censorship. it's subjugation.
  • 00:04:03.956 --> 00:04:05.325
  • Right? yeah, exactly.
  • 00:04:05.325 --> 00:04:06.759
  • I was shocked at how quickly woke broke.
  • 00:04:06.759 --> 00:04:09.896
  • This is the dead end of that ideology.
  • 00:04:09.896 --> 00:04:12.699
  • Now act on those convictions.
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  • We have to remain faithful even if we don't see it come.
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  • Even in our lifetimes, we still have to trust that god has it.
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  • Faithfulness today means standing for truth.
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  • We don't have any intention at
  • 00:04:27.347 --> 00:04:28.381
  • This time of deleting that tweet.
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  • I'm a huge fan of humor.
  • 00:04:29.916 --> 00:04:31.184
  • I say sarcasm is my spiritual gift, not my love language.
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  • Not everyone agrees with that.
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  • But you know, there's something bigger here, which is the story
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  • Of seth dillon and the babylon bee happened at a time in our
  • 00:04:40.193 --> 00:04:43.896
  • Culture where it was becoming normal to cancel people who
  • 00:04:43.896 --> 00:04:48.935
  • Said things that were against the new cultural orthodoxy,
  • 00:04:48.935 --> 00:04:52.939
  • Especially on issues of sexuality and human identity.
  • 00:04:52.939 --> 00:04:57.210
  • And he was one of the more prominent ones to be canceled.
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  • I mean, we saw it happen to academics.
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  • We saw it happen to politicians.
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  • We saw it happen to media figures.
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  • We saw it happen to former
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  • Hollywood stars on all kinds of levels.
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  • You could be, uh, you know, along with the progressive
  • 00:05:13.092 --> 00:05:17.363
  • Agenda on every issue, for example,
  • 00:05:17.363 --> 00:05:20.166
  • But if you did not go along on the trans issue, then you were
  • 00:05:20.166 --> 00:05:23.269
  • Going to be canceled.
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  • And in a cancel culture moment is when that stand took place.
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  • It always makes me think of something
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  • George orwell said, that in a moment of deceit, telling the
  • 00:05:30.943 --> 00:05:34.614
  • Truth is a revolutionary act.
  • 00:05:34.614 --> 00:05:37.183
  • And in a culture that has been overtaken by a lot of lies than
  • 00:05:37.183 --> 00:05:41.754
  • Telling the truth can get you in a lot of trouble,
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  • But it can also be an incredibly consequential thing.
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  • And seth's decision in the babylon bee's decision to tell
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  • The truth, to not go along with the lie and to stick with it,
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  • The tail consequences of that have been incredible to watch.
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  • All right.
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  • When you take the names like chuck colson and james
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  • Dobson and paul crouch and let's just agree that we're--
  • 00:06:06.145 --> 00:06:13.119
  • They didn't have to live to see that day.
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  • Right.
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  • Because it would have gotten rowdy because at some point um,
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  • That generation,
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  • I think, uh, we we would have, we would have seen, um, chaos.
  • 00:06:25.731 --> 00:06:32.371
  • If my dad would have been alive when somebody was
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  • Suggesting that because he was
  • 00:06:36.175 --> 00:06:39.545
  • Stating the truth of the bible-- right.
  • 00:06:39.545 --> 00:06:41.914
  • There would have been arrests all over the place.
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  • And we are focusing on one particular moment in time when
  • 00:06:43.916 --> 00:06:51.924
  • Words were being canceled and seth dillon took a stand.
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  • Uh, your organization, focus on the family, decided to really
  • 00:06:58.097 --> 00:07:04.470
  • Create this entire kind of almost miniature documentary,
  • 00:07:04.470 --> 00:07:09.108
  • Which we're going to be showing in just a few minutes.
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  • Why did you take this story?
  • 00:07:12.144 --> 00:07:14.113
  • What about this story mattered to you?
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  • Focus on the family, the colson center,
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  • Why did you guys take
  • 00:07:19.852 --> 00:07:21.754
  • This story and bring it to life?
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  • I think it was a great picture of the rights that we have in
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  • This country, the first amendment rights of expression,
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  • And not everybody in the world has that right.
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  • Not every christian has that right.
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  • And it's one of the great
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  • Blessings of being in this country.
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  • But defending that right is critical, too.
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  • And i think what i saw were the comedians, not just seth, but
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  • Bill maher speaking about this, started to poke fun at the, you
  • 00:07:43.643 --> 00:07:49.749
  • Know, the stupidity of what some were saying.
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  • It didn't make sense.
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  • And i thought that comedians were being like the canary in
  • 00:07:54.287 --> 00:07:57.990
  • The cave, and they were the ones that began to turn,
  • 00:07:57.990 --> 00:08:01.594
  • I think, that cultural tide when it came to cancel culture
  • 00:08:01.594 --> 00:08:05.932
  • Because they started to make fun of it, and then more people
  • 00:08:05.932 --> 00:08:09.569
  • Started to say, wow, maybe they've got a point.
  • 00:08:09.569 --> 00:08:12.872
  • And i think that was the big benefit.
  • 00:08:12.872 --> 00:08:14.874
  • And i think precisely the reason we wanted to highlight
  • 00:08:14.874 --> 00:08:18.210
  • Seth and the babylon bee, because they were being
  • 00:08:18.210 --> 00:08:21.147
  • Canceled for things that were true.
  • 00:08:21.147 --> 00:08:23.950
  • Rachel levin, who was, you know, born a biological male
  • 00:08:23.950 --> 00:08:28.788
  • And transitioned to be female working at hhs.
  • 00:08:28.788 --> 00:08:32.258
  • I can't remember who gave her or him the award for the woman
  • 00:08:32.258 --> 00:08:38.097
  • Of the year, and that was it.
  • 00:08:38.097 --> 00:08:39.899
  • And seth and the babylon bee said, let's make him the
  • 00:08:39.899 --> 00:08:43.536
  • Man of the year.
  • 00:08:43.536 --> 00:08:45.071
  • And twitter went crazy.
  • 00:08:45.071 --> 00:08:47.073
  • But they were speaking truth.
  • 00:08:47.073 --> 00:08:48.374
  • Sure. and that's what offended.
  • 00:08:48.374 --> 00:08:50.810
  • Well, what's so funny about seth is
  • 00:08:50.810 --> 00:08:52.979
  • When you hear him speak and he'll show
  • 00:08:52.979 --> 00:08:55.615
  • The headlines of the babylon bee just over and over.
  • 00:08:55.615 --> 00:08:59.785
  • There's so many of them, and and they're the most outrageous
  • 00:08:59.785 --> 00:09:03.222
  • Headlines and that have come true.
  • 00:09:03.222 --> 00:09:05.825
  • Yeah. that has come true.
  • 00:09:05.825 --> 00:09:06.826
  • Right. and you just sit there and you just--
  • 00:09:06.826 --> 00:09:08.461
  • And he just said, i never thought that my headlines
  • 00:09:08.461 --> 00:09:11.130
  • Would come true.
  • 00:09:11.130 --> 00:09:12.565
  • You know, and that's hilarious.
  • 00:09:12.565 --> 00:09:14.333
  • But i think the comedians took such a hit in the last few
  • 00:09:14.333 --> 00:09:19.405
  • Years because people-- it wasn't good to laugh anymore.
  • 00:09:19.405 --> 00:09:23.676
  • Correct. it wasn't.
  • 00:09:23.676 --> 00:09:25.244
  • The biggest joke in the history of that period of time was when
  • 00:09:25.244 --> 00:09:29.248
  • They started fact checking their sarcasm.
  • 00:09:29.248 --> 00:09:32.718
  • Sarcasm.
  • 00:09:32.718 --> 00:09:33.552
  • Cnn fact checking the babylon bee.
  • 00:09:33.552 --> 00:09:37.156
  • That's crazy.
  • 00:09:37.156 --> 00:09:38.157
  • And you know, this is the important thing.
  • 00:09:38.157 --> 00:09:40.092
  • The heart of god, the heart of christians,
  • 00:09:40.092 --> 00:09:42.595
  • We know people are in pain. we get that.
  • 00:09:42.595 --> 00:09:44.530
  • But part of the release of that
  • 00:09:44.530 --> 00:09:46.599
  • Pain is knowing what reality is,
  • 00:09:46.599 --> 00:09:49.268
  • Knowing that a man is a man and a woman is a woman.
  • 00:09:49.268 --> 00:09:52.538
  • And you can't change that by some winsomeness or some
  • 00:09:52.538 --> 00:09:57.109
  • Self-declaration that i feel today like a woman.
  • 00:09:57.109 --> 00:10:01.080
  • Thank you all for meeting with me.
  • 00:10:01.080 --> 00:10:02.314
  • You're all doing some wonderful work destroying the world.
  • 00:10:02.314 --> 00:10:04.817
  • Um, but i think it's probably time for us to reevaluate.
  • 00:10:04.817 --> 00:10:08.287
  • Yes. sorry for the interruption,
  • 00:10:08.287 --> 00:10:09.655
  • But i think we're in the wrong meeting.
  • 00:10:09.655 --> 00:10:11.757
  • We're not here to destroy the world.
  • 00:10:11.757 --> 00:10:13.759
  • We're here to save it.
  • 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:15.261
  • You see, we are some of the
  • 00:10:15.261 --> 00:10:16.195
  • Leading leaders of liberal causes.
  • 00:10:16.195 --> 00:10:18.898
  • And i'm with the human rights campaign, who focus on
  • 00:10:18.898 --> 00:10:22.368
  • Lgbtq+ and trans rights.
  • 00:10:22.368 --> 00:10:25.104
  • You see, i have the equal sign
  • 00:10:25.104 --> 00:10:27.106
  • To let you know that i'm a good person.
  • 00:10:27.106 --> 00:10:29.909
  • Oh. excuse me.
  • 00:10:29.909 --> 00:10:31.077
  • Women's reproductive rights,
  • 00:10:31.077 --> 00:10:33.579
  • Climate. aah.
  • 00:10:33.579 --> 00:10:36.148
  • Free palestine. open borders.
  • 00:10:36.148 --> 00:10:38.484
  • I misspoke before.
  • 00:10:38.484 --> 00:10:39.952
  • You guys are not destroying the world.
  • 00:10:39.952 --> 00:10:42.488
  • Okay. you are saving the world.
  • 00:10:42.488 --> 00:10:45.591
  • What's up with those scare quotes?
  • 00:10:45.591 --> 00:10:47.226
  • You might need to tone it down just--
  • 00:10:47.226 --> 00:10:49.061
  • Tone down what?!
  • 00:10:49.061 --> 00:10:50.329
  • Good question.
  • 00:10:50.329 --> 00:10:52.331
  • Um, you're for women's reproductive rights, right?
  • 00:10:52.331 --> 00:10:56.802
  • Okay. excellent branding, by the way.
  • 00:10:56.802 --> 00:10:59.038
  • It's much easier on the ears than baby murder.
  • 00:10:59.038 --> 00:11:01.741
  • So kudos to you on that one.
  • 00:11:01.741 --> 00:11:03.709
  • But opposing any restrictions all the way through to
  • 00:11:03.709 --> 00:11:06.178
  • The ninth month?
  • 00:11:06.178 --> 00:11:07.446
  • I mean, you see how you're kind of tipping your hand, right?
  • 00:11:07.446 --> 00:11:10.750
  • Makes people think, wait, maybe
  • 00:11:10.750 --> 00:11:12.718
  • They actually want to kill babies.
  • 00:11:12.718 --> 00:11:14.120
  • And we do, obviously.
  • 00:11:14.120 --> 00:11:15.354
  • No, we don't. oh, no, we don't.
  • 00:11:15.354 --> 00:11:17.623
  • Right. we don't.
  • 00:11:17.623 --> 00:11:20.192
  • But you see, you see how it can kind of look that way.
  • 00:11:20.192 --> 00:11:22.995
  • Hrc guy, uh, you have been going over the top as well.
  • 00:11:22.995 --> 00:11:27.900
  • Well, it's important for us they/them to be accepted just
  • 00:11:27.900 --> 00:11:31.203
  • Like everyone else.
  • 00:11:31.203 --> 00:11:32.772
  • Yes, of course, of course, of course.
  • 00:11:32.772 --> 00:11:35.407
  • And convincing people that they're intolerant for not
  • 00:11:35.407 --> 00:11:37.910
  • Wanting men to get naked in women's locker rooms.
  • 00:11:37.910 --> 00:11:40.813
  • I guess that's genius.
  • 00:11:40.813 --> 00:11:42.214
  • I mean, come on, it's next level stuff.
  • 00:11:42.214 --> 00:11:44.416
  • All right.
  • 00:11:44.416 --> 00:11:45.451
  • But insisting that your children be mutilated.
  • 00:11:45.451 --> 00:11:48.187
  • I mean, come on, that turns people off, you guys.
  • 00:11:48.187 --> 00:11:51.023
  • I mean, not everyone, obviously, but until--
  • 00:11:51.023 --> 00:11:53.759
  • Until the election,
  • 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:54.960
  • Can we just all pretend for a
  • 00:11:54.960 --> 00:11:57.062
  • Few months not to be crazed, lunatic,
  • 00:11:57.062 --> 00:12:00.866
  • Homicidal extremists?
  • 00:12:00.866 --> 00:12:02.601
  • Extremists? no.
  • 00:12:02.601 --> 00:12:03.736
  • It's my body, my choice.
  • 00:12:03.736 --> 00:12:07.339
  • Donald j. trump--
  • 00:12:07.339 --> 00:12:09.809
  • You will obey me.
  • 00:12:09.809 --> 00:12:13.245
  • Sorry.
  • 00:12:13.245 --> 00:12:14.747
  • Glad we're all on the same page, though.
  • 00:12:14.747 --> 00:12:17.349
  • You know, i thought it was an important story to tell on a
  • 00:12:17.349 --> 00:12:20.753
  • Number of levels.
  • 00:12:20.753 --> 00:12:21.987
  • I mean, it dealt with a really important cultural issue.
  • 00:12:21.987 --> 00:12:24.657
  • Seth didn't know what the outcome was going to be.
  • 00:12:24.657 --> 00:12:27.026
  • And we don't always, when it comes to that moment of
  • 00:12:27.026 --> 00:12:29.128
  • Courage, know what the outcome is going to be.
  • 00:12:29.128 --> 00:12:31.297
  • But we have a job to be faithful.
  • 00:12:31.297 --> 00:12:34.433
  • I'm also a big fan of the babylon bee.
  • 00:12:34.433 --> 00:12:36.168
  • I have the coffee table book with all the headlines.
  • 00:12:36.168 --> 00:12:38.671
  • It was my best father's day gift ever.
  • 00:12:38.671 --> 00:12:40.206
  • It's like far side.
  • 00:12:40.206 --> 00:12:40.840
  • Yeah. it's fantastic.
  • 00:12:40.840 --> 00:12:42.107
  • Yeah, some of them--
  • 00:12:42.107 --> 00:12:43.375
  • And i love that he, you know, they poke fun at the church,
  • 00:12:43.375 --> 00:12:45.845
  • Outside the church.
  • 00:12:45.845 --> 00:12:46.745
  • I mean, every opportunity offenders.
  • 00:12:46.745 --> 00:12:48.914
  • But there's something else here as well.
  • 00:12:48.914 --> 00:12:50.783
  • And that is it's a story of the truth about freedom.
  • 00:12:50.783 --> 00:12:55.387
  • Uh, oz guiness talks about winning freedom not being a
  • 00:12:55.387 --> 00:13:00.159
  • Remarkable thing in history.
  • 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:01.393
  • A lot of nations have won freedom.
  • 00:13:01.393 --> 00:13:03.462
  • Keeping freedom, sustaining freedom,
  • 00:13:03.462 --> 00:13:05.865
  • That's what's unusual, because freedom can be lost.
  • 00:13:05.865 --> 00:13:09.335
  • And ironically, freedom is lost when you stop
  • 00:13:09.335 --> 00:13:13.172
  • Exercising the freedom and that's what we saw,
  • 00:13:13.172 --> 00:13:17.810
  • People not willing to stand up, not willing to take the
  • 00:13:17.810 --> 00:13:21.647
  • Hits, backing out often.
  • 00:13:21.647 --> 00:13:23.549
  • And seth had a real opportunity.
  • 00:13:23.549 --> 00:13:25.784
  • I mean, he lost an enormous part of his audience,
  • 00:13:25.784 --> 00:13:28.020
  • An enormous platform.
  • 00:13:28.020 --> 00:13:29.488
  • And all he had to do was delete the tweet.
  • 00:13:29.488 --> 00:13:31.190
  • And a lot of other people that
  • 00:13:31.190 --> 00:13:32.625
  • Got canceled for retweeting him.
  • 00:13:32.625 --> 00:13:35.261
  • They lost their platform and
  • 00:13:35.261 --> 00:13:37.363
  • They backed off by deleting the tweet.
  • 00:13:37.363 --> 00:13:39.832
  • He would not do it.
  • 00:13:39.832 --> 00:13:41.367
  • And there's something really profound there about freedom.
  • 00:13:41.367 --> 00:13:45.004
  • If you do not exercise your freedom, freedom then becomes
  • 00:13:45.004 --> 00:13:48.574
  • Very vulnerable.
  • 00:13:48.574 --> 00:13:50.209
  • And the freedom of speech is a
  • 00:13:50.209 --> 00:13:52.511
  • Very unusual thing in world history.
  • 00:13:52.511 --> 00:13:55.781
  • And it's not inevitable.
  • 00:13:55.781 --> 00:13:57.149
  • It's not inevitable as we, this era that we just
  • 00:13:57.149 --> 00:14:00.052
  • Lived through is clear,
  • 00:14:00.052 --> 00:14:01.520
  • It's not inevitable that we'll sustain the freedom of speech.
  • 00:14:01.520 --> 00:14:03.989
  • We certainly won't do it if
  • 00:14:03.989 --> 00:14:05.758
  • We're not willing to be courageous.
  • 00:14:05.758 --> 00:14:07.526
  • As you know, jesus is dead.
  • 00:14:07.526 --> 00:14:11.797
  • But stick with me. stick with me, okay?
  • 00:14:11.797 --> 00:14:13.432
  • Stick with me. i have a plan.
  • 00:14:13.432 --> 00:14:15.801
  • We are going to steal his body.
  • 00:14:15.801 --> 00:14:20.172
  • Okay. okay. i'm tracking with you.
  • 00:14:20.172 --> 00:14:22.174
  • What's next?
  • 00:14:22.174 --> 00:14:23.309
  • And then we're going to tell the whole world that he
  • 00:14:23.309 --> 00:14:27.346
  • Rose from the dead.
  • 00:14:27.346 --> 00:14:28.614
  • Oh, you know i'm in.
  • 00:14:28.614 --> 00:14:31.183
  • I love it already. all right.
  • 00:14:31.183 --> 00:14:33.185
  • Classic, classic.
  • 00:14:33.185 --> 00:14:34.553
  • Then what? and then
  • 00:14:34.553 --> 00:14:37.256
  • We're all going to get brutally murdered.
  • 00:14:37.256 --> 00:14:39.391
  • Oh. wait wait wait.
  • 00:14:39.391 --> 00:14:43.662
  • Come again? come again?
  • 00:14:43.662 --> 00:14:44.797
  • Could you go over that last part real, real quick?
  • 00:14:44.797 --> 00:14:47.933
  • Oh, what? we get murdered.
  • 00:14:47.933 --> 00:14:49.201
  • What's the problem?
  • 00:14:49.201 --> 00:14:50.302
  • Uh, i like it, i like it.
  • 00:14:50.302 --> 00:14:52.404
  • I mean, don't don't get me wrong, pete.
  • 00:14:52.404 --> 00:14:54.673
  • I love me a good hoax as much as the next guy.
  • 00:14:54.673 --> 00:14:58.043
  • Right?
  • 00:14:58.043 --> 00:15:00.279
  • What's in it for us?
  • 00:15:00.279 --> 00:15:02.414
  • Do we all get riches, fame and fortune first, right?
  • 00:15:02.414 --> 00:15:07.786
  • No, no. get this.
  • 00:15:07.786 --> 00:15:09.254
  • You're going to be hated, hated, persecuted and reviled
  • 00:15:09.254 --> 00:15:12.591
  • For the rest of your life. oh!
  • 00:15:12.591 --> 00:15:15.728
  • A scripture reference of romans 8:28 fits on top of this story
  • 00:15:19.365 --> 00:15:26.605
  • In a way that is is is one of the most obvious,
  • 00:15:26.605 --> 00:15:31.343
  • That at the time when he lost a platform that used to be called
  • 00:15:31.343 --> 00:15:37.282
  • Twitter and tweets now called x, and when that happened, it
  • 00:15:37.282 --> 00:15:44.256
  • Was really the beginnings of him going to a whole other
  • 00:15:44.256 --> 00:15:47.826
  • Level again, a david and goliath moment.
  • 00:15:47.826 --> 00:15:50.496
  • Every david needs a goliath, and the fact that he got
  • 00:15:50.496 --> 00:15:55.000
  • Squished like a bug, uh, by the former company called twitter
  • 00:15:55.000 --> 00:16:01.974
  • And silenced and stepped on was really his elevation.
  • 00:16:01.974 --> 00:16:09.314
  • And so many times, everything
  • 00:16:09.314 --> 00:16:11.350
  • In the kingdom is counterintuitive.
  • 00:16:11.350 --> 00:16:13.619
  • To become the greatest, you become the least and all that.
  • 00:16:13.619 --> 00:16:16.789
  • And god uses these what look like horrible events in your
  • 00:16:16.789 --> 00:16:20.993
  • Life to elevate you.
  • 00:16:20.993 --> 00:16:22.861
  • And that's just the way god does it sometimes.
  • 00:16:22.861 --> 00:16:25.898
  • And we saw that so beautifully. yeah.
  • 00:16:25.898 --> 00:16:28.500
  • I mean, the funniest part of that story is that phone
  • 00:16:28.500 --> 00:16:31.103
  • Call that eventually happens where elon musk calls.
  • 00:16:31.103 --> 00:16:34.373
  • And in the musing of that conversation, elon says to
  • 00:16:34.373 --> 00:16:37.709
  • Seth, maybe i should buy it. and think of that, going from
  • 00:16:37.709 --> 00:16:43.115
  • The bottom, being crushed like you said, to all of a sudden
  • 00:16:43.115 --> 00:16:46.985
  • Back up and lifted and elon purchasing and helping the rest
  • 00:16:46.985 --> 00:16:51.924
  • Of the country, in my opinion,
  • 00:16:51.924 --> 00:16:54.193
  • Maintain that freedom of expression.
  • 00:16:54.193 --> 00:16:56.728
  • I don't think it's just seth's platform,
  • 00:16:56.728 --> 00:16:59.131
  • And the babylon bee was elevated, although it was.
  • 00:16:59.131 --> 00:17:02.768
  • We'll be looking historically for a long time at all of the
  • 00:17:02.768 --> 00:17:06.338
  • Things that happened because elon musk bought twitter.
  • 00:17:06.338 --> 00:17:09.608
  • I mean, incredible political consequences to that decision.
  • 00:17:09.608 --> 00:17:13.712
  • It really chastened social media, which was one of the
  • 00:17:13.712 --> 00:17:17.249
  • Great violators of free speech.
  • 00:17:17.249 --> 00:17:21.353
  • It really put everyone on notice that you can't just
  • 00:17:21.353 --> 00:17:24.156
  • Cancel people without any sort of ramifications.
  • 00:17:24.156 --> 00:17:26.892
  • And you think about the results or the consequences
  • 00:17:26.892 --> 00:17:30.395
  • What's the downstream of that decision, which came because
  • 00:17:30.395 --> 00:17:33.365
  • They were canceled and because
  • 00:17:33.365 --> 00:17:35.000
  • They were willing to make a stand?
  • 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:37.002
  • Um, this is, to me, just a case in point of the plaque that
  • 00:17:37.002 --> 00:17:40.606
  • Used to be on chuck colson's desk, which was faithfulness,
  • 00:17:40.606 --> 00:17:43.976
  • Not success.
  • 00:17:43.976 --> 00:17:45.177
  • You do the faithful thing.
  • 00:17:45.177 --> 00:17:46.912
  • You don't back off.
  • 00:17:46.912 --> 00:17:48.113
  • You stand courageously when the moment comes.
  • 00:17:48.113 --> 00:17:50.816
  • Leave the rest up to god.
  • 00:17:50.816 --> 00:17:52.384
  • Everything was working against us and that we were probably
  • 00:17:52.384 --> 00:17:56.455
  • Going to be setting ourselves up basically as martyrs, and
  • 00:17:56.455 --> 00:18:00.192
  • That there may not be much that comes from it.
  • 00:18:00.192 --> 00:18:02.094
  • You know, like what i worried about, what entered my mind
  • 00:18:02.094 --> 00:18:04.730
  • Many times was, well, what if this doesn't result in any kind
  • 00:18:04.730 --> 00:18:09.334
  • Of like this snowball effect, where other people pick up from
  • 00:18:09.334 --> 00:18:14.339
  • Where we've left off and and also take a stand, because if
  • 00:18:14.339 --> 00:18:19.411
  • Only one person speaks up and and pushes back, they're easy
  • 00:18:19.411 --> 00:18:23.715
  • To stamp out and only gets difficult if a lot of people
  • 00:18:23.715 --> 00:18:28.353
  • Are willing to do it, you know. that's when it's
  • 00:18:28.353 --> 00:18:30.989
  • Actually difficult for the tyrants who are controlling
  • 00:18:30.989 --> 00:18:33.525
  • These platforms and are suppressing thought and speech.
  • 00:18:33.525 --> 00:18:37.796
  • It's only challenging for them if they have an uprising on
  • 00:18:37.796 --> 00:18:40.866
  • Their hands, and a lot of people are pushing back on them.
  • 00:18:40.866 --> 00:18:43.869
  • One of the key lessons, i think, that we can learn from
  • 00:18:43.869 --> 00:18:47.005
  • Both, i think the bee stand and what elon did was that you
  • 00:18:47.005 --> 00:18:50.609
  • Have to be willing to pay a price for freedom.
  • 00:18:50.609 --> 00:18:53.812
  • You have to be willing to actually sacrifice something or
  • 00:18:53.812 --> 00:18:56.381
  • You risk losing it entirely.
  • 00:18:56.381 --> 00:18:58.383
  • And in this case, he wasn't just willing to spend
  • 00:18:58.383 --> 00:19:00.986
  • $44 billion on the platform.
  • 00:19:00.986 --> 00:19:02.854
  • That's one price, which is an unfathomable amount of money.
  • 00:19:02.854 --> 00:19:06.325
  • I can't even envision what that would look like or how you
  • 00:19:06.325 --> 00:19:08.827
  • Could possibly have that much,
  • 00:19:08.827 --> 00:19:10.862
  • Much less spend that much on anything.
  • 00:19:10.862 --> 00:19:12.664
  • But perhaps even bigger was the price hit that he took on his
  • 00:19:12.664 --> 00:19:16.335
  • Own reputation and the attacks that he started generating.
  • 00:19:16.335 --> 00:19:19.871
  • You talk about attacks and
  • 00:19:19.871 --> 00:19:20.839
  • Having a hard time dealing with opposition,
  • 00:19:20.839 --> 00:19:22.708
  • He made himself public enemy number one because he was
  • 00:19:22.708 --> 00:19:26.478
  • Taking a stand for free speech.
  • 00:19:26.478 --> 00:19:28.714
  • But it just underscores the
  • 00:19:28.714 --> 00:19:30.349
  • Point that you can't go it alone.
  • 00:19:30.349 --> 00:19:32.251
  • You need other people who are willing to stand up too.
  • 00:19:32.251 --> 00:19:34.853
  • And if you are willing to stand up, there will be other people
  • 00:19:34.853 --> 00:19:37.856
  • Who are inspired by that and actually take action to do
  • 00:19:37.856 --> 00:19:40.525
  • Something about it.
  • 00:19:40.525 --> 00:19:41.727
  • In some cases, people with resources. in this case, the
  • 00:19:41.727 --> 00:19:43.795
  • Richest man on the planet saw what was happening, saw it as
  • 00:19:43.795 --> 00:19:47.232
  • An existential threat, and decided he was going to do
  • 00:19:47.232 --> 00:19:49.635
  • Something about it and was willing to actually pay a price
  • 00:19:49.635 --> 00:19:52.271
  • And continues to pay a price.
  • 00:19:52.271 --> 00:19:54.873
  • You know, the advertisers backing out, you know, twitter
  • 00:19:54.873 --> 00:19:56.008
  • Has lost tons of revenue as a result of that.
  • 00:19:56.008 --> 00:19:58.977
  • And the future of the platform
  • 00:19:58.977 --> 00:20:01.013
  • Is uncertain as a result of that.
  • 00:20:01.013 --> 00:20:03.181
  • But he's been willing to take on that burden and deal with
  • 00:20:03.181 --> 00:20:06.084
  • All of that because he sees it as that important.
  • 00:20:06.084 --> 00:20:08.820
  • And that's exactly the situation that we faced where
  • 00:20:08.820 --> 00:20:11.290
  • We had to make a decision.
  • 00:20:11.290 --> 00:20:12.457
  • This is going to cost us something personally, but this
  • 00:20:12.457 --> 00:20:15.527
  • Is bigger than us.
  • 00:20:15.527 --> 00:20:17.029
  • And so somebody has to be willing to take a stand.
  • 00:20:17.029 --> 00:20:20.132
  • What i do now is very missional and for the reasons i've
  • 00:20:20.132 --> 00:20:26.705
  • Explained, you know, it's it's impactful.
  • 00:20:26.705 --> 00:20:29.074
  • It's important.
  • 00:20:29.074 --> 00:20:30.309
  • Um, and it's entertaining and it's fun.
  • 00:20:30.309 --> 00:20:32.544
  • You know, the babylon bee is the most fun business that i've
  • 00:20:32.544 --> 00:20:34.680
  • Ever run, because what we're doing is just finding ways to
  • 00:20:34.680 --> 00:20:37.482
  • Make people laugh and bring levity in what are considered
  • 00:20:37.482 --> 00:20:40.419
  • By many be very dark times.
  • 00:20:40.419 --> 00:20:42.421
  • And so probably the most, the most common thing that i hear
  • 00:20:42.421 --> 00:20:44.756
  • People say when they come up to me, when i'm speaking somewhere
  • 00:20:44.756 --> 00:20:47.292
  • Or i'm somewhere in public and they and they know who i am,
  • 00:20:47.292 --> 00:20:50.195
  • They'll say to me, thank you for keeping me sane.
  • 00:20:50.195 --> 00:20:52.698
  • You know, the world has gone completely mad.
  • 00:20:52.698 --> 00:20:55.534
  • But you guys keep me laughing at the madness.
  • 00:20:55.534 --> 00:20:57.703
  • And it's a good point that they say, i love that they're
  • 00:20:57.703 --> 00:21:00.138
  • Acknowledging that a sane society laughs at absurdity.
  • 00:21:00.138 --> 00:21:04.643
  • Sane people laugh at absurd ideas.
  • 00:21:04.643 --> 00:21:07.279
  • And if we've stopped laughing at the crazy, if we've stopped
  • 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:10.449
  • Mocking the madness, then we've become mad ourselves.
  • 00:21:10.449 --> 00:21:14.252
  • We've joined the lunatics in thinking that these things are
  • 00:21:14.252 --> 00:21:17.389
  • Okay, or that they should be affirmed, or that they
  • 00:21:17.389 --> 00:21:19.391
  • Should be tolerated.
  • 00:21:19.391 --> 00:21:21.293
  • And so the fact that i get to do that professionally now, of
  • 00:21:21.293 --> 00:21:24.463
  • Course, yeah, that is-- being a christian, having
  • 00:21:24.463 --> 00:21:27.299
  • Grown up in the church and understanding not just, you
  • 00:21:27.299 --> 00:21:31.303
  • Know, the importance of truth and, and, and reason in these
  • 00:21:31.303 --> 00:21:36.208
  • Political debates, but at a spiritual level where the
  • 00:21:36.208 --> 00:21:39.478
  • Ultimate truth is coming to know christ, realizing that
  • 00:21:39.478 --> 00:21:42.748
  • We're sinners, and that there's a way to redemption through him
  • 00:21:42.748 --> 00:21:45.550
  • Because of the price that he's paid on our behalf. that truth
  • 00:21:45.550 --> 00:21:49.688
  • Is so profoundly important,
  • 00:21:49.688 --> 00:21:51.656
  • And anything that happens in the culture that separates
  • 00:21:51.656 --> 00:21:54.426
  • People from that truth, that makes that seem absurd or silly
  • 00:21:54.426 --> 00:21:57.229
  • Or ridiculous, and then affirms these things that are in fact
  • 00:21:57.229 --> 00:22:01.099
  • Absurd and obscene and ridiculous in its place,
  • 00:22:01.099 --> 00:22:05.637
  • That is a very sick, spiritual state for society to be in.
  • 00:22:05.637 --> 00:22:09.107
  • And any christian who doesn't relish any opportunity that's
  • 00:22:09.107 --> 00:22:12.978
  • In front of them to deal with that,
  • 00:22:12.978 --> 00:22:15.113
  • Um, i would i would question
  • 00:22:15.113 --> 00:22:17.182
  • Whether they're a christian at all.
  • 00:22:17.182 --> 00:22:18.283
  • I think it's the most, uh, most exciting and
  • 00:22:18.283 --> 00:22:21.286
  • Impactful thing that i will ever do.
  • 00:22:21.286 --> 00:22:23.555
  • And so as long as i'm running the bee, i'll feel that it's,
  • 00:22:23.555 --> 00:22:26.725
  • You know, it's extremely rewarding along those lines.
  • 00:22:26.725 --> 00:22:30.162
  • Well, matt, let me ask you this because-- or make this
  • 00:22:30.162 --> 00:22:32.664
  • Observation, it's awesome to see romans 8:28 come together
  • 00:22:32.664 --> 00:22:36.535
  • In weeks rather than years or decades.
  • 00:22:36.535 --> 00:22:40.038
  • But for us as christians, we have to remain faithful,
  • 00:22:40.038 --> 00:22:42.774
  • Even if we don't see it come
  • 00:22:42.774 --> 00:22:45.210
  • Even in our lifetimes, we still have to trust that god has it.
  • 00:22:45.210 --> 00:22:49.314
  • I think we're touching on something.
  • 00:22:49.314 --> 00:22:51.383
  • Um, we interviewed charles stanley and his famous quote,
  • 00:22:51.383 --> 00:22:55.854
  • He said, um-- my job is just
  • 00:22:55.854 --> 00:22:58.523
  • To be obedient. obedient.
  • 00:22:58.523 --> 00:22:59.958
  • And leave the consequences to him.
  • 00:22:59.958 --> 00:23:00.859
  • Consequences to him.
  • 00:23:00.859 --> 00:23:02.260
  • Leave the consequences to god.
  • 00:23:02.260 --> 00:23:03.795
  • And i think that's kind of
  • 00:23:03.795 --> 00:23:06.865
  • What we're really talking about.
  • 00:23:06.865 --> 00:23:08.133
  • If there is a theme to this praise program using, you know,
  • 00:23:08.133 --> 00:23:12.804
  • The babylon bee as an example,
  • 00:23:12.804 --> 00:23:15.006
  • Uh, you guys highlighted that story.
  • 00:23:15.006 --> 00:23:17.542
  • You brought it to life.
  • 00:23:17.542 --> 00:23:19.110
  • Uh, and we want your, your comments on it.
  • 00:23:19.110 --> 00:23:21.480
  • But isn't that just the beautiful big picture, uh, that
  • 00:23:21.480 --> 00:23:28.286
  • At times when you do the right thing and you get stepped on
  • 00:23:28.286 --> 00:23:31.656
  • Like a bug, uh, for that to then end up coming to national
  • 00:23:31.656 --> 00:23:39.664
  • Attention at at levels we would have never imagined the
  • 00:23:39.664 --> 00:23:44.636
  • Purchase of, you know, of twitter by elon musk and then
  • 00:23:44.636 --> 00:23:50.208
  • Elon inviting seth and his team to the new x headquarters and
  • 00:23:50.208 --> 00:23:55.947
  • Reinviting them back onto the platform along with it feels
  • 00:23:55.947 --> 00:24:01.019
  • Like, uh, trump 45, uh, was caught in that whole thing,
  • 00:24:01.019 --> 00:24:09.160
  • And i mean, there's a whole truth social now because
  • 00:24:09.160 --> 00:24:12.163
  • Of those events.
  • 00:24:12.163 --> 00:24:13.465
  • And it feels like even mark zuckerberg has admitted some of
  • 00:24:13.465 --> 00:24:19.104
  • This crazy pressurization,
  • 00:24:19.104 --> 00:24:22.807
  • Uh, from washington on his organization to just do--
  • 00:24:22.807 --> 00:24:27.712
  • And, man, it feels like that was a that was a weird time
  • 00:24:27.712 --> 00:24:33.618
  • And we needed a big correction.
  • 00:24:33.618 --> 00:24:35.820
  • And boy, we saw a big correction in that world.
  • 00:24:35.820 --> 00:24:39.157
  • We wanted to give you something actually. um,
  • 00:24:39.157 --> 00:24:41.726
  • To restore the liberty of the bee,
  • 00:24:41.726 --> 00:24:43.295
  • It was very expensive, guys.
  • 00:24:43.295 --> 00:24:46.398
  • This is a gift.
  • 00:24:46.398 --> 00:24:47.299
  • It's an iou worth $44 billion, so--
  • 00:24:47.299 --> 00:24:51.036
  • Well, you know, uh,
  • 00:24:51.036 --> 00:24:53.939
  • 44 billion won't be worth that much anyway.
  • 00:24:53.939 --> 00:24:55.774
  • That's a good point.
  • 00:24:55.774 --> 00:24:57.275
  • So i might want to hang on to that one.
  • 00:24:57.275 --> 00:24:58.577
  • Yeah, hang on to that one.
  • 00:24:58.577 --> 00:24:59.477
  • Okay, that's a big one.
  • 00:24:59.477 --> 00:25:01.446
  • I will treasure this gift.
  • 00:25:01.446 --> 00:25:04.583
  • But seriously crazy to us.
  • 00:25:04.583 --> 00:25:05.717
  • We come into twitter headquarters.
  • 00:25:05.717 --> 00:25:07.852
  • We were banned from twitter in march 2022.
  • 00:25:07.852 --> 00:25:10.655
  • You restored us and a bunch of other accounts in november.
  • 00:25:10.655 --> 00:25:13.959
  • Do you feel like it was worth it?
  • 00:25:13.959 --> 00:25:15.260
  • I mean, do you ever regret it and go, why did i do this thing
  • 00:25:15.260 --> 00:25:18.797
  • Just to make a stand for free speech or--?
  • 00:25:18.797 --> 00:25:20.999
  • Um, i think it was necessary, and
  • 00:25:20.999 --> 00:25:22.734
  • I wouldn't say that there's anything that's in retrospect
  • 00:25:22.734 --> 00:25:26.638
  • Has caused me to, um--
  • 00:25:26.638 --> 00:25:30.241
  • Like, i think it was still the right move to acquire twitter,
  • 00:25:30.241 --> 00:25:32.644
  • Even at the outrageously high price.
  • 00:25:32.644 --> 00:25:35.914
  • You know, i think-- and i love, i love what you all have done.
  • 00:25:35.914 --> 00:25:39.184
  • This is just amazing.
  • 00:25:39.184 --> 00:25:40.885
  • I'm honored that you've come to tbn and let us have--
  • 00:25:40.885 --> 00:25:44.723
  • Share your story.
  • 00:25:44.723 --> 00:25:45.924
  • To share it, it's just amazing.
  • 00:25:45.924 --> 00:25:48.026
  • But i always think about situations like this when we
  • 00:25:48.026 --> 00:25:51.196
  • Have the opportunity.
  • 00:25:51.196 --> 00:25:52.464
  • I think everything is an opportunity for us.
  • 00:25:52.464 --> 00:25:55.300
  • I think jesus is always asking us a question, who do you
  • 00:25:55.300 --> 00:25:58.169
  • Say that i am?
  • 00:25:58.169 --> 00:25:59.471
  • So every situation we get the choice whether we're going to
  • 00:25:59.471 --> 00:26:04.576
  • Stand up and say something or give a suggestion or however
  • 00:26:04.576 --> 00:26:09.714
  • God moves you to do it.
  • 00:26:09.714 --> 00:26:12.417
  • Um, but we all have, um, an opportunity.
  • 00:26:12.417 --> 00:26:17.789
  • And in those opportunities, it can be the worst day of your
  • 00:26:17.789 --> 00:26:21.159
  • Life that you maybe have to say something.
  • 00:26:21.159 --> 00:26:26.164
  • Seth. seth was going well, okay.
  • 00:26:26.164 --> 00:26:28.867
  • Today, this is a big bite at me.
  • 00:26:28.867 --> 00:26:32.070
  • I can pull something
  • 00:26:32.070 --> 00:26:33.271
  • Down and win again.
  • 00:26:33.271 --> 00:26:35.807
  • And-- or suffer.
  • 00:26:35.807 --> 00:26:37.542
  • Or i'm going to stand up.
  • 00:26:37.542 --> 00:26:39.077
  • And i always say at those moments of just maybe despair,
  • 00:26:39.077 --> 00:26:43.381
  • Maybe-- i just put it into the future.
  • 00:26:43.381 --> 00:26:46.284
  • And i said, i'll look back on this one day and i'll say, had
  • 00:26:46.284 --> 00:26:49.521
  • It not been for that day,
  • 00:26:49.521 --> 00:26:51.790
  • I wouldn't be here in my life today.
  • 00:26:51.790 --> 00:26:53.992
  • Well, and-- because of the faithfulness of god, right.
  • 00:26:53.992 --> 00:26:56.127
  • And that application for all of us is choosing those
  • 00:26:56.127 --> 00:26:58.997
  • Small, faithful moments. those faithful,
  • 00:26:58.997 --> 00:27:01.099
  • Because we can't differentiate between what's
  • 00:27:01.099 --> 00:27:03.201
  • Going to be that small one and that big one.
  • 00:27:03.201 --> 00:27:05.870
  • And if we're rehearsing being faithful
  • 00:27:05.870 --> 00:27:08.707
  • In the small things,
  • 00:27:08.707 --> 00:27:10.408
  • When the big ones come, we'll do the right thing.
  • 00:27:10.408 --> 00:27:13.211
  • Faithfulness today means, uh, standing for truth.
  • 00:27:13.211 --> 00:27:18.149
  • Yes. you know, and other eras, when there's not this kind of
  • 00:27:18.149 --> 00:27:22.353
  • World of various ideas that are vying for our attention or
  • 00:27:22.353 --> 00:27:25.890
  • There's not a cancel culture, maybe it's not as important,
  • 00:27:25.890 --> 00:27:28.526
  • But this is the cultural moment we're in.
  • 00:27:28.526 --> 00:27:30.628
  • And, uh, i often think of the phrase from alexander
  • 00:27:30.628 --> 00:27:34.899
  • Solzhenitsyn, who's the russian dissident who spoke out against
  • 00:27:34.899 --> 00:27:38.503
  • Communism, was imprisoned for it, and eventually
  • 00:27:38.503 --> 00:27:41.372
  • Expelled from russia.
  • 00:27:41.372 --> 00:27:43.007
  • In his last essay that he wrote, he just gave a wonderful
  • 00:27:43.007 --> 00:27:46.444
  • Piece of advice of what it means to be faithful.
  • 00:27:46.444 --> 00:27:48.613
  • Live not by lies, live not by lies.
  • 00:27:48.613 --> 00:27:52.450
  • He said, don't let the lie live through you.
  • 00:27:52.450 --> 00:27:54.986
  • Tell the truth.
  • 00:27:54.986 --> 00:27:56.287
  • And there's so many different ways in a pressurized society,
  • 00:27:56.287 --> 00:27:59.290
  • Especially when you have, you know, to your point, matt, when
  • 00:27:59.290 --> 00:28:01.659
  • You have these even government forces trying to sneak in and,
  • 00:28:01.659 --> 00:28:05.130
  • And leverage this, where we can be co-opted into things
  • 00:28:05.130 --> 00:28:08.466
  • That aren't true.
  • 00:28:08.466 --> 00:28:10.201
  • Seth made a decision to stick to his guns, to stick to
  • 00:28:10.201 --> 00:28:13.705
  • What is true.
  • 00:28:13.705 --> 00:28:14.973
  • And now we're talking about it.
  • 00:28:14.973 --> 00:28:16.441
  • And just tracing the downstream effect.
  • 00:28:16.441 --> 00:28:18.877
  • And it's really incredible.
  • 00:28:18.877 --> 00:28:20.378
  • God's trustworthy in that.
  • 00:28:20.378 --> 00:28:21.679
  • It was difficult for me running a comedy site because our goal,
  • 00:28:21.679 --> 00:28:25.784
  • As we saw it, was to ridicule
  • 00:28:25.784 --> 00:28:27.485
  • Bad ideas, to make people laugh.
  • 00:28:27.485 --> 00:28:29.654
  • It was to write jokes on the internet.
  • 00:28:29.654 --> 00:28:31.156
  • That's what we wanted to do is write jokes on the internet.
  • 00:28:31.156 --> 00:28:32.891
  • That's what the babylon bee was for.
  • 00:28:32.891 --> 00:28:34.893
  • And next thing you know, you know, the new york times is
  • 00:28:34.893 --> 00:28:38.062
  • Writing about us and saying, we are--
  • 00:28:38.062 --> 00:28:39.998
  • And these are their words-- far right misinformation under
  • 00:28:39.998 --> 00:28:43.535
  • The guise of satire.
  • 00:28:43.535 --> 00:28:45.270
  • We were producing far right misinformation under the
  • 00:28:45.270 --> 00:28:47.872
  • Guise of satire.
  • 00:28:47.872 --> 00:28:49.107
  • They were questioning our motives and suggesting that our
  • 00:28:49.107 --> 00:28:51.276
  • Motives were actually malicious
  • 00:28:51.276 --> 00:28:53.244
  • Where we're pretending to be satirists so we can mislead
  • 00:28:53.244 --> 00:28:55.713
  • People on purpose.
  • 00:28:55.713 --> 00:28:57.482
  • And what they cited as the evidence of that was the fact
  • 00:28:57.482 --> 00:29:00.084
  • That people believed that her jokes were true.
  • 00:29:00.084 --> 00:29:02.387
  • You know, this was happening left and right where we would
  • 00:29:02.387 --> 00:29:04.322
  • Publish a joke and someone
  • 00:29:04.322 --> 00:29:05.490
  • Would think that it actually happened.
  • 00:29:05.490 --> 00:29:07.225
  • And of course, you know, my response to that is, well, of
  • 00:29:07.225 --> 00:29:09.227
  • Course you believe it's true.
  • 00:29:09.227 --> 00:29:10.128
  • The world's insane and it's absurd.
  • 00:29:10.128 --> 00:29:11.596
  • And there's crazy things that are happening and it seems like
  • 00:29:11.596 --> 00:29:14.132
  • Satire, what's actually playing out in the world.
  • 00:29:14.132 --> 00:29:15.867
  • We see real headlines all the time that look like a parody.
  • 00:29:15.867 --> 00:29:18.970
  • So it's hard to parody that
  • 00:29:18.970 --> 00:29:20.138
  • Which is already a parody of itself.
  • 00:29:20.138 --> 00:29:22.073
  • So that media effort to smear us was only escalating
  • 00:29:22.073 --> 00:29:25.844
  • And getting worse
  • 00:29:25.844 --> 00:29:27.145
  • When you have people like the new york times, as far as i'm
  • 00:29:27.145 --> 00:29:30.215
  • Concerned, traffics and misinformation under the
  • 00:29:30.215 --> 00:29:32.050
  • Guise of journalism.
  • 00:29:32.050 --> 00:29:33.618
  • And that's exactly what they were doing with us and
  • 00:29:33.618 --> 00:29:37.622
  • The effort to smear us if it's stuck, if that ended up
  • 00:29:37.622 --> 00:29:40.091
  • Becoming like the truth about the babylon bee was that we're
  • 00:29:40.091 --> 00:29:43.361
  • Masquerading as satirists, then of course, we would be
  • 00:29:43.361 --> 00:29:46.798
  • Deplatformed. if that's on our wikipedia page.
  • 00:29:46.798 --> 00:29:49.000
  • And that's how people know us
  • 00:29:49.000 --> 00:29:50.435
  • In these mainstream, credible sources,
  • 00:29:50.435 --> 00:29:53.471
  • Credible in scare quotes, then what would happen is facebook
  • 00:29:53.471 --> 00:29:56.541
  • Would take us down, youtube would take us down, instagram
  • 00:29:56.541 --> 00:29:59.010
  • Would take us down, twitter would take us down.
  • 00:29:59.010 --> 00:30:00.812
  • They don't want anybody abusing the platform to misinform
  • 00:30:00.812 --> 00:30:03.748
  • People on purpose.
  • 00:30:03.748 --> 00:30:04.916
  • They took that very seriously at that particular time
  • 00:30:04.916 --> 00:30:07.252
  • And still do.
  • 00:30:07.252 --> 00:30:08.653
  • So when you're doing comedy and satire and people are taking it
  • 00:30:08.653 --> 00:30:11.656
  • So seriously, that itself is kind of funny.
  • 00:30:11.656 --> 00:30:14.292
  • And so on the one hand, it was a comical situation where, you
  • 00:30:14.292 --> 00:30:17.362
  • Know, we actually we enjoyed the fact checks, we got
  • 00:30:17.362 --> 00:30:20.131
  • Amusement out of the fact checks.
  • 00:30:20.131 --> 00:30:21.332
  • We thought it was hysterical that they rated an article
  • 00:30:21.332 --> 00:30:24.035
  • About how the ninth circuit court had overturned the death
  • 00:30:24.035 --> 00:30:26.271
  • Of ruth bader ginsburg.
  • 00:30:26.271 --> 00:30:27.472
  • We found it funny that usa today fact checked that and
  • 00:30:27.472 --> 00:30:29.841
  • Cited 15 sources to refute that joke.
  • 00:30:29.841 --> 00:30:32.277
  • It was comical.
  • 00:30:32.277 --> 00:30:33.578
  • Um, but again, like i said, it was such a serious issue and an
  • 00:30:33.578 --> 00:30:36.948
  • Actual threat to the business
  • 00:30:36.948 --> 00:30:38.049
  • That we had to take it seriously.
  • 00:30:38.049 --> 00:30:39.584
  • And so i had to make a decision.
  • 00:30:39.584 --> 00:30:41.219
  • I'm like, do we do we joke about this, or do we take it
  • 00:30:41.219 --> 00:30:45.490
  • Very seriously and actually
  • 00:30:45.490 --> 00:30:47.058
  • Push back on it in a serious way?
  • 00:30:47.058 --> 00:30:48.693
  • And so we had to kind of balance these things where,
  • 00:30:48.693 --> 00:30:50.662
  • Like i said, the creative team free to like, okay, do the
  • 00:30:50.662 --> 00:30:53.564
  • Satire thing and mock them.
  • 00:30:53.564 --> 00:30:55.600
  • But i have to go on tv and talk about this.
  • 00:30:55.600 --> 00:30:58.403
  • You know, i have to actually make people aware of what's
  • 00:30:58.403 --> 00:31:00.705
  • Going on, and we need to take a
  • 00:31:00.705 --> 00:31:02.273
  • Serious stance against this too.
  • 00:31:02.273 --> 00:31:04.008
  • And we also fired off a letter.
  • 00:31:04.008 --> 00:31:05.276
  • We sent a demand for retraction, i think, to the
  • 00:31:05.276 --> 00:31:07.445
  • New york times, and told them we wanted a retraction from that,
  • 00:31:07.445 --> 00:31:10.114
  • That claim, because if that stuck, that would that
  • 00:31:10.114 --> 00:31:12.383
  • Would be damaging to us.
  • 00:31:12.383 --> 00:31:13.518
  • And it was false.
  • 00:31:13.518 --> 00:31:14.786
  • And we believed that it was not just negligence, but malice
  • 00:31:14.786 --> 00:31:18.122
  • That led them to write that which is defamation.
  • 00:31:18.122 --> 00:31:21.092
  • And they did.
  • 00:31:21.092 --> 00:31:22.393
  • They actually retracted it and, and altered that article about
  • 00:31:22.393 --> 00:31:25.296
  • Us to, to remove that line about how we were trafficking
  • 00:31:25.296 --> 00:31:27.832
  • In misinformation.
  • 00:31:27.832 --> 00:31:28.967
  • So i saw it as an important thing for comedians in
  • 00:31:28.967 --> 00:31:32.537
  • Particular, to take a stand against what we saw is
  • 00:31:32.537 --> 00:31:35.306
  • Happening in terms of the censorship apparatus that was
  • 00:31:35.306 --> 00:31:38.376
  • Being deployed to stamp out ideas that people don't like,
  • 00:31:38.376 --> 00:31:42.146
  • And it was targeting comedy specifically.
  • 00:31:42.146 --> 00:31:44.148
  • I saw that as very dangerous and a threat to discourse and
  • 00:31:44.148 --> 00:31:47.552
  • Civilization itself, if that goes too far.
  • 00:31:47.552 --> 00:31:50.054
  • And so very immediately in my mind, i saw it as something
  • 00:31:50.054 --> 00:31:53.691
  • That if we're in a position where we have a profile and
  • 00:31:53.691 --> 00:31:56.060
  • People are paying attention to us and this is happening to us,
  • 00:31:56.060 --> 00:31:59.530
  • Then we need to be vocal proponents on the front lines
  • 00:31:59.530 --> 00:32:02.367
  • For free speech and push back
  • 00:32:02.367 --> 00:32:04.335
  • On it as, as aggressively as we can.
  • 00:32:04.335 --> 00:32:06.637
  • The usa today fact check of ninth circuit court overturns
  • 00:32:06.637 --> 00:32:10.108
  • Death of ruth bader ginsburg,
  • 00:32:10.108 --> 00:32:11.342
  • If you scroll to the bottom of that fact check, what was
  • 00:32:11.342 --> 00:32:13.344
  • Really interesting was there was this font at the bottom,
  • 00:32:13.344 --> 00:32:15.546
  • Italicized small font that said, this fact check was paid
  • 00:32:15.546 --> 00:32:18.383
  • For in part by grants from facebook.
  • 00:32:18.383 --> 00:32:20.651
  • Immediately, you know, alarm bells are going off
  • 00:32:20.651 --> 00:32:22.453
  • In my mind. i'm thinking to myself, so facebook is funding
  • 00:32:22.453 --> 00:32:26.758
  • The fact checkers.
  • 00:32:26.758 --> 00:32:27.992
  • They're giving them this money, and the fact checkers are
  • 00:32:27.992 --> 00:32:30.361
  • Looking for things that they
  • 00:32:30.361 --> 00:32:31.295
  • Can rate false, including jokes.
  • 00:32:31.295 --> 00:32:33.498
  • They rate it false.
  • 00:32:33.498 --> 00:32:34.766
  • And then they report that back to facebook as one of their
  • 00:32:34.766 --> 00:32:36.768
  • Fact checking partners.
  • 00:32:36.768 --> 00:32:37.902
  • And then facebook threatens us
  • 00:32:37.902 --> 00:32:39.203
  • With deplatforming and demonetization.
  • 00:32:39.203 --> 00:32:41.472
  • It's this circular thing where facebook is setting us up to be
  • 00:32:41.472 --> 00:32:45.109
  • Taken down by funding this fact checking system.
  • 00:32:45.109 --> 00:32:49.580
  • So there was a lot of circularity to it.
  • 00:32:49.580 --> 00:32:52.116
  • And it all went back to facebook feeling this pressure
  • 00:32:52.116 --> 00:32:55.586
  • That they had to control what people think and are allowed to
  • 00:32:55.586 --> 00:32:58.556
  • Say, because the powers that be were applying pressure to them
  • 00:32:58.556 --> 00:33:02.093
  • That they needed to do that.
  • 00:33:02.093 --> 00:33:03.494
  • Zuckerberg was feeling a tremendous amount of pressure
  • 00:33:03.494 --> 00:33:06.697
  • Because he was being blamed for trump's election, and so they
  • 00:33:06.697 --> 00:33:09.801
  • Were really taking steps to try to make sure that they didn't
  • 00:33:09.801 --> 00:33:12.503
  • Get caught up in that again.
  • 00:33:12.503 --> 00:33:14.472
  • And the people that they care about, the opinions that they
  • 00:33:14.472 --> 00:33:17.108
  • Care about, they wanted to satisfy and satiate them.
  • 00:33:17.108 --> 00:33:20.078
  • And so they were putting all of these apparatus in place to
  • 00:33:20.078 --> 00:33:22.680
  • Basically censor free speech, including jokes.
  • 00:33:22.680 --> 00:33:26.350
  • So we saw very clearly what was happening and how it was,
  • 00:33:26.350 --> 00:33:29.921
  • It was all kind of tying together in a way that could
  • 00:33:29.921 --> 00:33:32.690
  • Ultimately end up in us being wiped off these major platforms.
  • 00:33:32.690 --> 00:33:35.660
  • And then this is, for all intents and purposes, the
  • 00:33:35.660 --> 00:33:39.097
  • Town square, the public square of the modern age.
  • 00:33:39.097 --> 00:33:41.466
  • It's digital now. this is where the vast majority
  • 00:33:41.466 --> 00:33:43.501
  • Of public discourse takes place.
  • 00:33:43.501 --> 00:33:45.303
  • And if we don't have the ability to speak here and tell
  • 00:33:45.303 --> 00:33:47.772
  • Our jokes here, then we really aren't welcome in the town
  • 00:33:47.772 --> 00:33:50.908
  • Square or public square anymore.
  • 00:33:50.908 --> 00:33:52.143
  • What does that mean for our our first amendment rights?
  • 00:33:52.143 --> 00:33:54.946
  • So it was from that perspective too, that i felt like it was a
  • 00:33:54.946 --> 00:33:58.216
  • Fight worth fighting.
  • 00:33:58.216 --> 00:33:59.250
  • I remember a night, um, turned on, uh, fox news.
  • 00:33:59.250 --> 00:34:05.256
  • A lot of things have changed recently.
  • 00:34:05.256 --> 00:34:06.891
  • Have you noticed?
  • 00:34:06.891 --> 00:34:07.992
  • You know, there's this guy named tucker carlson.
  • 00:34:07.992 --> 00:34:09.994
  • He's still around and doing doing a lot of stuff, but he
  • 00:34:09.994 --> 00:34:12.897
  • Was kind of the prime time fox news guy.
  • 00:34:12.897 --> 00:34:16.234
  • And he comes up from black and starts talking from, uh, starts
  • 00:34:16.234 --> 00:34:20.171
  • Talking about seth and babylon bee and all that.
  • 00:34:20.171 --> 00:34:23.074
  • And i text seth.
  • 00:34:23.074 --> 00:34:23.908
  • I said, are you watching?
  • 00:34:23.908 --> 00:34:25.276
  • Watching fox news?
  • 00:34:25.276 --> 00:34:26.644
  • He goes, no. what's going on?
  • 00:34:26.644 --> 00:34:28.045
  • I go, you might want to turn it on.
  • 00:34:28.045 --> 00:34:30.281
  • They're talking about you.
  • 00:34:30.281 --> 00:34:31.616
  • And so, uh, it feels like, um, you're right.
  • 00:34:31.616 --> 00:34:37.922
  • This one happened very quickly.
  • 00:34:37.922 --> 00:34:41.025
  • Uh, in god's timetable.
  • 00:34:41.025 --> 00:34:43.928
  • Usually we're talking longer periods of time that we see
  • 00:34:43.928 --> 00:34:47.932
  • This all things working together for good.
  • 00:34:47.932 --> 00:34:51.469
  • Uh, this one was a quicker thing.
  • 00:34:51.469 --> 00:34:53.304
  • And it feels like, um,
  • 00:34:53.304 --> 00:34:57.575
  • We needed somebody to stand up for the fact that it's a
  • 00:34:57.575 --> 00:35:02.079
  • Sarcastic comedian called the babylon bee
  • 00:35:02.079 --> 00:35:05.983
  • That was so funny and so completely on the nose with
  • 00:35:05.983 --> 00:35:10.087
  • Their humor that they were being fact checked.
  • 00:35:10.087 --> 00:35:12.690
  • You know, how do you fact check something, you know,
  • 00:35:12.690 --> 00:35:16.227
  • That's made up?
  • 00:35:16.227 --> 00:35:17.528
  • You know, i mean, it's just hilarious.
  • 00:35:17.528 --> 00:35:19.230
  • So they were being right on time with
  • 00:35:19.230 --> 00:35:23.701
  • Their, you know, their kind of messaging.
  • 00:35:23.701 --> 00:35:26.270
  • And they were canceled.
  • 00:35:26.270 --> 00:35:28.105
  • What does it say about the bigger condition?
  • 00:35:28.105 --> 00:35:31.642
  • You know, focus on the family,
  • 00:35:31.642 --> 00:35:33.444
  • You got cameras, lights, action.
  • 00:35:33.444 --> 00:35:36.113
  • You sent crews.
  • 00:35:36.113 --> 00:35:37.548
  • You told this story.
  • 00:35:37.548 --> 00:35:39.483
  • This has to mean something in the bigger cultural sense to
  • 00:35:39.483 --> 00:35:43.988
  • Your organization.
  • 00:35:43.988 --> 00:35:44.889
  • Tell us why you chose this
  • 00:35:44.889 --> 00:35:47.191
  • Story and why this one in particular
  • 00:35:47.191 --> 00:35:50.995
  • Did you want to highlight it?
  • 00:35:50.995 --> 00:35:52.530
  • Yeah, i think it exposed the cultural nonsense so perfectly
  • 00:35:52.530 --> 00:35:58.102
  • That people in this country, we have a right to expression and
  • 00:35:58.102 --> 00:36:01.872
  • No government, no other citizen, no movement against
  • 00:36:01.872 --> 00:36:05.676
  • That expression should be allowed to stand.
  • 00:36:05.676 --> 00:36:08.579
  • I mean, and continue to bully people into a corner where
  • 00:36:08.579 --> 00:36:11.882
  • We don't talk.
  • 00:36:11.882 --> 00:36:13.184
  • And that's the greatest concern we have, is that it's more of a
  • 00:36:13.184 --> 00:36:16.354
  • Social movement.
  • 00:36:16.354 --> 00:36:17.588
  • You know, i've been to china. i was in the soviet union.
  • 00:36:17.588 --> 00:36:20.625
  • And what i noticed there, those restrictions on speech and
  • 00:36:20.625 --> 00:36:23.861
  • Other things were top down.
  • 00:36:23.861 --> 00:36:25.997
  • The top of the government said
  • 00:36:25.997 --> 00:36:27.331
  • You cannot speak about these things.
  • 00:36:27.331 --> 00:36:28.966
  • And then there were consequences.
  • 00:36:28.966 --> 00:36:30.901
  • The insidious nature of what's happened in america is it
  • 00:36:30.901 --> 00:36:34.505
  • Was bottom up.
  • 00:36:34.505 --> 00:36:36.540
  • And that concerned me that just by the herd mentality,
  • 00:36:36.540 --> 00:36:41.178
  • The social norms, we don't talk about that.
  • 00:36:41.178 --> 00:36:44.115
  • I think we as christians begin to quiet some of our pushback
  • 00:36:44.115 --> 00:36:48.185
  • Because it was perceived as impolite.
  • 00:36:48.185 --> 00:36:51.122
  • And that's where we've got to say no.
  • 00:36:51.122 --> 00:36:52.923
  • Truth is truth.
  • 00:36:52.923 --> 00:36:54.725
  • We can speak it with kindness, but we're not going to
  • 00:36:54.725 --> 00:36:56.027
  • Stop speaking truth.
  • 00:36:56.027 --> 00:36:57.395
  • And if you do that in a humorous way, like the
  • 00:36:57.395 --> 00:36:59.930
  • Babylon bee, all the better.
  • 00:36:59.930 --> 00:37:01.832
  • But nobody should stop feeling
  • 00:37:01.832 --> 00:37:04.468
  • Like they can express themselves.
  • 00:37:04.468 --> 00:37:06.404
  • That is fascism. yes.
  • 00:37:06.404 --> 00:37:08.839
  • Can i just ask why,
  • 00:37:08.839 --> 00:37:10.875
  • Why do all of you people want to kill me?
  • 00:37:10.875 --> 00:37:15.146
  • Isn't it obvious?
  • 00:37:15.146 --> 00:37:16.614
  • I'm a progressive, a liberal, a fighter for social justice.
  • 00:37:16.614 --> 00:37:22.520
  • And you are a fascist who implemented a reign of terror.
  • 00:37:22.520 --> 00:37:26.957
  • And while the effects of your policies devastated the world
  • 00:37:26.957 --> 00:37:29.527
  • For decades, soon we will be able to take back the white
  • 00:37:29.527 --> 00:37:33.064
  • House, and we will be able to use the government to force
  • 00:37:33.064 --> 00:37:36.067
  • People to follow our great ideas.
  • 00:37:36.067 --> 00:37:38.102
  • You want to use government power to force your ideas
  • 00:37:38.102 --> 00:37:41.339
  • On the populace? me too.
  • 00:37:41.339 --> 00:37:46.510
  • That's fantastic. what? no, no.
  • 00:37:46.510 --> 00:37:49.914
  • You and i have nothing in common.
  • 00:37:49.914 --> 00:37:52.083
  • What i'm saying is, there are people in our time with
  • 00:37:52.083 --> 00:37:54.652
  • Dangerous ideas, and we need to silence them.
  • 00:37:54.652 --> 00:37:57.355
  • Silencing those who disagree with you,
  • 00:37:57.355 --> 00:38:00.291
  • I do that too.
  • 00:38:00.291 --> 00:38:03.294
  • Ah! wunderbar!
  • 00:38:03.294 --> 00:38:05.696
  • There's an end justifies the means mentality when it comes
  • 00:38:05.696 --> 00:38:09.600
  • To these moments where we think, well, i'm going to stay
  • 00:38:09.600 --> 00:38:12.336
  • Silent right now because, you know, if i do so, i can
  • 00:38:12.336 --> 00:38:16.607
  • Avoid the trouble.
  • 00:38:16.607 --> 00:38:18.876
  • I can actually get around this particular consequence.
  • 00:38:18.876 --> 00:38:21.712
  • I can avoid being canceled.
  • 00:38:21.712 --> 00:38:23.681
  • And seth's story, i think, tells us that is
  • 00:38:23.681 --> 00:38:27.051
  • A devil's bargain. mhm.
  • 00:38:27.051 --> 00:38:29.053
  • Um, if truth matters and especially the truth about the
  • 00:38:29.053 --> 00:38:32.723
  • Human person and human dignity and human value, which is at
  • 00:38:32.723 --> 00:38:36.060
  • The root of that joke that really got him canceled,
  • 00:38:36.060 --> 00:38:40.064
  • Uh, if it really matters, then we cannot choose silence.
  • 00:38:40.064 --> 00:38:44.335
  • A german sociologist talked about silence as being a
  • 00:38:44.335 --> 00:38:47.538
  • Spiral, that when one person stays silent and chooses not to
  • 00:38:47.538 --> 00:38:50.908
  • Speak out, doing that calculation of, well, i can, i
  • 00:38:50.908 --> 00:38:54.078
  • Can at least live to fight another day or whatever, then
  • 00:38:54.078 --> 00:38:55.980
  • That encourages other people to be silent and other people
  • 00:38:55.980 --> 00:38:58.649
  • To be silent.
  • 00:38:58.649 --> 00:38:59.884
  • And suddenly the lie just goes
  • 00:38:59.884 --> 00:39:01.485
  • Forward because everyone is quiet.
  • 00:39:01.485 --> 00:39:05.689
  • But if one person tells the truth and encourages somebody
  • 00:39:05.689 --> 00:39:08.692
  • Else to tell the truth, and that makes it more encouraging
  • 00:39:08.692 --> 00:39:11.829
  • For somebody else to tell the truth, and suddenly
  • 00:39:11.829 --> 00:39:15.599
  • The truth has its day.
  • 00:39:15.599 --> 00:39:18.235
  • And i think that's what this story is about.
  • 00:39:18.235 --> 00:39:20.404
  • The terms of service of these platforms were being rewritten
  • 00:39:20.404 --> 00:39:23.574
  • To include some of this ideology in the terms of
  • 00:39:23.574 --> 00:39:26.310
  • Service, that if you stray from it, you're actually violating
  • 00:39:26.310 --> 00:39:28.946
  • The terms of service.
  • 00:39:28.946 --> 00:39:30.714
  • And so that was a, we saw that as being problematic.
  • 00:39:30.714 --> 00:39:34.351
  • And it started that started to affect the way that our writers
  • 00:39:34.351 --> 00:39:36.887
  • Thought, because then you're not just writing jokes and
  • 00:39:36.887 --> 00:39:39.523
  • Thinking to yourself, you know, will this make people laugh?
  • 00:39:39.523 --> 00:39:42.092
  • When you're writing the joke, you're thinking, is this the
  • 00:39:42.092 --> 00:39:44.595
  • One that's going to get us kicked off because it
  • 00:39:44.595 --> 00:39:46.897
  • Violates some rule
  • 00:39:46.897 --> 00:39:48.098
  • Because, you know, it goes against the hateful conduct
  • 00:39:48.098 --> 00:39:50.367
  • Policy or something because it's deemed to be punching
  • 00:39:50.367 --> 00:39:53.537
  • Down, which is one of the prohibitions now on, on
  • 00:39:53.537 --> 00:39:55.906
  • Facebook is you're not allowed to punch down.
  • 00:39:55.906 --> 00:39:58.175
  • And so that got into our, our writers heads.
  • 00:39:58.175 --> 00:40:01.378
  • They were at one point just thinking about making people
  • 00:40:01.378 --> 00:40:04.482
  • Laugh and telling jokes that ridicule these bad ideas.
  • 00:40:04.482 --> 00:40:06.917
  • Next thing you know, they can't just write the joke.
  • 00:40:06.917 --> 00:40:09.386
  • They have to actually think about whether or not that joke
  • 00:40:09.386 --> 00:40:11.188
  • Is going to get us in trouble.
  • 00:40:11.188 --> 00:40:12.723
  • And so there were conversations that we had over the course of
  • 00:40:12.723 --> 00:40:16.627
  • The years that that were these policies were being developed
  • 00:40:16.627 --> 00:40:20.664
  • About whether we should tell this joke or not.
  • 00:40:20.664 --> 00:40:22.566
  • Is it worth it to tell this joke?
  • 00:40:22.566 --> 00:40:24.201
  • Because if we do, this could actually get us suspended.
  • 00:40:24.201 --> 00:40:26.837
  • There was a lot at stake because i was looking at it
  • 00:40:26.837 --> 00:40:29.206
  • From the perspective of not just the bee, but i was looking
  • 00:40:29.206 --> 00:40:31.842
  • At it from the perspective of our ability to think and say
  • 00:40:31.842 --> 00:40:36.413
  • Things that were not supposed to be allowed to think and say
  • 00:40:36.413 --> 00:40:39.116
  • That happened to be true.
  • 00:40:39.116 --> 00:40:41.318
  • And i saw that for the same reasons, you know, that elon
  • 00:40:41.318 --> 00:40:44.421
  • Musk has articulated,
  • 00:40:44.421 --> 00:40:46.557
  • I saw that as being a very serious problem, a very serious
  • 00:40:46.557 --> 00:40:49.927
  • Problem for for discourse, for
  • 00:40:49.927 --> 00:40:51.662
  • Democracy, for civilization itself.
  • 00:40:51.662 --> 00:40:54.131
  • We have to be able to talk about the issues.
  • 00:40:54.131 --> 00:40:56.433
  • We have to be able to joke about them.
  • 00:40:56.433 --> 00:40:58.235
  • We have to be able to debate what's true, rather than having
  • 00:40:58.235 --> 00:41:01.639
  • That dictated to us by the powers that be.
  • 00:41:01.639 --> 00:41:04.341
  • And so for me, it was i was thinking of it not just from
  • 00:41:04.341 --> 00:41:07.378
  • The selfish perspective of, well, this will be damaging to
  • 00:41:07.378 --> 00:41:09.914
  • Our business because it would would have been. if we lost
  • 00:41:09.914 --> 00:41:12.750
  • Twitter permanently,
  • 00:41:12.750 --> 00:41:14.618
  • That was one of the top three social networks for us in terms
  • 00:41:14.618 --> 00:41:18.289
  • Of our traffic mix.
  • 00:41:18.289 --> 00:41:20.190
  • Beyond that, beyond just the traffic that it generated,
  • 00:41:20.190 --> 00:41:23.360
  • You know, twitter is really where most of the conversations
  • 00:41:23.360 --> 00:41:26.397
  • Are happening with notable people and figures.
  • 00:41:26.397 --> 00:41:29.166
  • You know, twitter is how we got connected to elon musk
  • 00:41:29.166 --> 00:41:30.935
  • In the first place.
  • 00:41:30.935 --> 00:41:32.236
  • Twitter is where joe rogan sees and interacts with our content.
  • 00:41:32.236 --> 00:41:35.205
  • And these politicians, you know, when we get a ted cruz
  • 00:41:35.205 --> 00:41:37.942
  • Retweet or something like that. this is happening on twitter.
  • 00:41:37.942 --> 00:41:40.578
  • We were part of the conversation there, and that
  • 00:41:40.578 --> 00:41:43.647
  • Made us more relevant and it
  • 00:41:43.647 --> 00:41:45.015
  • Expanded our reach dramatically.
  • 00:41:45.015 --> 00:41:46.684
  • So even if twitter wasn't even generating any direct traffic
  • 00:41:46.684 --> 00:41:49.019
  • Or revenue for us, it was still giving us that reach and
  • 00:41:49.019 --> 00:41:52.323
  • Allowing our voice to get out there and allowing our brand to
  • 00:41:52.323 --> 00:41:55.693
  • Become more well known.
  • 00:41:55.693 --> 00:41:57.328
  • And so losing access to that was costly in ways beyond just
  • 00:41:57.328 --> 00:42:01.465
  • The finances of it.
  • 00:42:01.465 --> 00:42:02.733
  • It was costly to us from the perspective of what kind of
  • 00:42:02.733 --> 00:42:05.703
  • Visibility we had, but also whether or not other people
  • 00:42:05.703 --> 00:42:09.740
  • Like us would continue to have a voice into the future.
  • 00:42:09.740 --> 00:42:12.743
  • And so it really seemed, i think in the moment, i
  • 00:42:12.743 --> 00:42:15.813
  • Understood exactly how serious it was that we were being told,
  • 00:42:15.813 --> 00:42:21.118
  • We can't punch down, we can't tell this joke, you know?
  • 00:42:21.118 --> 00:42:24.088
  • In a contrast, we also went to
  • 00:42:24.088 --> 00:42:26.357
  • Twitter jail and focus on the family.
  • 00:42:26.357 --> 00:42:28.759
  • But i didn't get the phone call from elon musk.
  • 00:42:28.759 --> 00:42:32.296
  • We just sat in jail until seth broke us out.
  • 00:42:32.296 --> 00:42:36.100
  • I love that. you know, i, i, i was sitting with a, a
  • 00:42:36.100 --> 00:42:42.506
  • Kind of phd level person that, that i'm going to try to
  • 00:42:42.506 --> 00:42:46.377
  • Paraphrase slightly because, um, but he was kind of
  • 00:42:46.377 --> 00:42:51.048
  • Talking to us about some big concepts, the socrates, plato
  • 00:42:51.048 --> 00:42:56.286
  • Kind of stuff.
  • 00:42:56.286 --> 00:42:57.554
  • And, and you get, you know, where, where you get, you know,
  • 00:42:57.554 --> 00:43:00.958
  • Kind of representation and voting and, you know, kind of
  • 00:43:00.958 --> 00:43:05.896
  • Our system that we, uh, that we enjoy. we want, you know, we
  • 00:43:05.896 --> 00:43:11.335
  • Want to vote and we want our vote to count.
  • 00:43:11.335 --> 00:43:13.537
  • And but if you if you go one more degree past that, it's
  • 00:43:13.537 --> 00:43:18.609
  • Called rule by the mass.
  • 00:43:18.609 --> 00:43:20.711
  • And that's chaos. right.
  • 00:43:20.711 --> 00:43:23.047
  • And i love what you said.
  • 00:43:23.047 --> 00:43:24.548
  • You said we were experiencing this bottom up cancellation,
  • 00:43:24.548 --> 00:43:30.287
  • That all of a sudden, you know, in in our one generation ago,
  • 00:43:30.287 --> 00:43:36.060
  • Nobody knew what your neighbor thought.
  • 00:43:36.060 --> 00:43:38.262
  • You know, nobody knew.
  • 00:43:38.262 --> 00:43:39.663
  • Maybe you knew your neighbor, but you didn't know what
  • 00:43:39.663 --> 00:43:41.465
  • Somebody across town thought about anything.
  • 00:43:41.465 --> 00:43:43.834
  • You didn't cared.
  • 00:43:43.834 --> 00:43:44.535
  • And remember the day when--
  • 00:43:44.535 --> 00:43:45.769
  • Most people still don't care.
  • 00:43:45.769 --> 00:43:47.538
  • But we all think they do.
  • 00:43:47.538 --> 00:43:49.406
  • Remember the day when a politician had to do a
  • 00:43:49.406 --> 00:43:51.942
  • Whistle stop, right?
  • 00:43:51.942 --> 00:43:53.410
  • So a politician had to get on the back of a train, stop in
  • 00:43:53.410 --> 00:43:56.213
  • All the little train stations and tell everybody, if you vote
  • 00:43:56.213 --> 00:44:00.050
  • For me, i'll go to washington and i'll vote this way.
  • 00:44:00.050 --> 00:44:05.155
  • This is how i'll vote-- what i believe.
  • 00:44:05.155 --> 00:44:07.224
  • On your behalf if you vote for me.
  • 00:44:07.224 --> 00:44:10.327
  • Okay. and now all
  • 00:44:10.327 --> 00:44:13.330
  • Politicians do is poll their constituents.
  • 00:44:13.330 --> 00:44:16.100
  • Right. okay, well, have we not stepped all over now
  • 00:44:16.100 --> 00:44:20.738
  • Ruled by the mass instead of ruled by conviction?
  • 00:44:20.738 --> 00:44:25.375
  • Aren't we basically?
  • 00:44:25.375 --> 00:44:26.677
  • So social media is one of the most important things for the
  • 00:44:26.677 --> 00:44:31.749
  • Propagation of the gospel that's ever used correctly,
  • 00:44:31.749 --> 00:44:35.385
  • It's also one of the weirdest things that all of a sudden,
  • 00:44:35.385 --> 00:44:39.289
  • Everybody's opinion is known by everyone, and you have instant
  • 00:44:39.289 --> 00:44:44.194
  • Polling and we are living in a day, if we're not careful,
  • 00:44:44.194 --> 00:44:47.564
  • Ruled by the mass.
  • 00:44:47.564 --> 00:44:49.032
  • That mass said, i don't want anything contrary to the way
  • 00:44:49.032 --> 00:44:55.572
  • That we believe, and we're going to cancel you.
  • 00:44:55.572 --> 00:44:58.575
  • To have a voice. correct.
  • 00:44:58.575 --> 00:45:00.677
  • And our voice matters and yours doesn't.
  • 00:45:00.677 --> 00:45:03.447
  • And all of a sudden, now what?
  • 00:45:03.447 --> 00:45:05.249
  • What do we even do with that?
  • 00:45:05.249 --> 00:45:06.717
  • Now, babylon bee gets caught in the middle of that firestorm
  • 00:45:06.717 --> 00:45:12.022
  • And many others,
  • 00:45:12.022 --> 00:45:13.157
  • But this one was weird because they were trying to
  • 00:45:13.157 --> 00:45:16.460
  • Be funny and bring humor to everything.
  • 00:45:16.460 --> 00:45:19.363
  • And man, uh, one headline called woman of the year or the
  • 00:45:19.363 --> 00:45:24.268
  • Man of the year, you know.
  • 00:45:24.268 --> 00:45:25.335
  • Or both. or both.
  • 00:45:25.335 --> 00:45:26.637
  • And man, it was chaos there for a while.
  • 00:45:26.637 --> 00:45:31.441
  • Um, i forgot about that.
  • 00:45:31.441 --> 00:45:32.810
  • What's the bigger moment here for our viewers,
  • 00:45:32.810 --> 00:45:37.648
  • Uh, and how it relates to them?
  • 00:45:37.648 --> 00:45:39.817
  • Let's bring this to, uh, a meaningful kind of conclusion
  • 00:45:39.817 --> 00:45:46.390
  • That we're wanting our, our audience to
  • 00:45:46.390 --> 00:45:49.560
  • Really take away from our conversation?
  • 00:45:49.560 --> 00:45:51.762
  • I think much to john's earlier point, i think this idea of
  • 00:45:51.762 --> 00:45:55.199
  • Speak your mind. do it with
  • 00:45:55.199 --> 00:45:57.401
  • Courteousness, do it with politeness.
  • 00:45:57.401 --> 00:46:00.370
  • But we should be able to express what we believe.
  • 00:46:00.370 --> 00:46:03.740
  • It's such a godly principle to be able to do that.
  • 00:46:03.740 --> 00:46:06.510
  • And hopefully for us as
  • 00:46:06.510 --> 00:46:07.411
  • Christians, we can do that well.
  • 00:46:07.411 --> 00:46:10.714
  • And i think that's the bigger point here.
  • 00:46:10.714 --> 00:46:13.150
  • Uh, no government and no group of people should silence any
  • 00:46:13.150 --> 00:46:17.955
  • Other group of people.
  • 00:46:17.955 --> 00:46:19.189
  • And i think that's one of the challenges i often give to
  • 00:46:19.189 --> 00:46:21.592
  • People who oppose christians.
  • 00:46:21.592 --> 00:46:22.860
  • I'll say now, christians in many ways, being a
  • 00:46:22.860 --> 00:46:27.164
  • Judeo-christian country, you're now at the table because
  • 00:46:27.164 --> 00:46:30.801
  • Christianity hannity allowed that.
  • 00:46:30.801 --> 00:46:32.736
  • Really? yeah.
  • 00:46:32.736 --> 00:46:34.004
  • And now you're at the table and you're elbowing others out.
  • 00:46:34.004 --> 00:46:37.808
  • It's not going to work well for you.
  • 00:46:37.808 --> 00:46:39.376
  • I remember being in washington, d.c.
  • 00:46:39.376 --> 00:46:41.378
  • With five lgbt leaders and five christian leaders.
  • 00:46:41.378 --> 00:46:46.183
  • Tim keller was one of them.
  • 00:46:46.183 --> 00:46:47.918
  • And at the end, the question was asked, what advice--
  • 00:46:47.918 --> 00:46:50.654
  • If we can give each other permission, what advice would
  • 00:46:50.654 --> 00:46:53.657
  • You give the other side?
  • 00:46:53.657 --> 00:46:54.658
  • And tim keller was brilliant.
  • 00:46:54.658 --> 00:46:56.026
  • He said, you know, new york is probably the most multicultural
  • 00:46:56.026 --> 00:47:00.397
  • City in the world.
  • 00:47:00.397 --> 00:47:01.832
  • It works because jewish people don't go out of their way to
  • 00:47:01.832 --> 00:47:05.769
  • Hurt muslims, muslims, christians, etc., he said.
  • 00:47:05.769 --> 00:47:09.706
  • We respect each other.
  • 00:47:09.706 --> 00:47:11.141
  • So i don't go to you to get a get a cake baked or to have
  • 00:47:11.141 --> 00:47:15.445
  • Some expression that would be
  • 00:47:15.445 --> 00:47:16.780
  • Difficult for you in your faith.
  • 00:47:16.780 --> 00:47:18.849
  • And he said, don't go out of your way to poke the eye
  • 00:47:18.849 --> 00:47:22.619
  • Of the other guy. isn't that profound?
  • 00:47:22.619 --> 00:47:25.889
  • And i think that's what we're experiencing now.
  • 00:47:25.889 --> 00:47:28.158
  • Groups are going out of their way to poke christians in the
  • 00:47:28.158 --> 00:47:31.595
  • Eye, to say, you can't believe the way you believe.
  • 00:47:31.595 --> 00:47:34.998
  • And it works against the very human nature, the godly
  • 00:47:34.998 --> 00:47:39.536
  • Nature that god has given us.
  • 00:47:39.536 --> 00:47:41.338
  • It feels unfair.
  • 00:47:41.338 --> 00:47:43.540
  • Yeah. and i think the moral of the story of seth's story for
  • 00:47:43.540 --> 00:47:46.610
  • Us, in light of that reality, is that that strategy has
  • 00:47:46.610 --> 00:47:50.480
  • Worked against christians.
  • 00:47:50.480 --> 00:47:53.417
  • Uh, i call it the inevitability narrative that you're on the
  • 00:47:53.417 --> 00:47:57.354
  • Wrong side of history, and your stand for truth is going to be
  • 00:47:57.354 --> 00:48:00.624
  • Buried, and you're eventually going to change your mind, and
  • 00:48:00.624 --> 00:48:03.427
  • So on and so on.
  • 00:48:03.427 --> 00:48:04.328
  • And a lot of christians believe that.
  • 00:48:04.328 --> 00:48:06.330
  • I mean, remember at the time when this cancellation
  • 00:48:06.330 --> 00:48:10.133
  • Happened, it felt like corporate america, through the
  • 00:48:10.133 --> 00:48:13.503
  • Power of social media, was going to drive into the ground
  • 00:48:13.503 --> 00:48:17.341
  • Any and all dissent on a handful of issues, including
  • 00:48:17.341 --> 00:48:20.877
  • The lgbtq issues.
  • 00:48:20.877 --> 00:48:22.779
  • Let's think about it today.
  • 00:48:22.779 --> 00:48:24.982
  • Today, corporate america, one after another, after another
  • 00:48:24.982 --> 00:48:28.585
  • Company has backed off of trying to drive this agenda,
  • 00:48:28.585 --> 00:48:32.522
  • And the social media landscape has dramatically changed.
  • 00:48:32.522 --> 00:48:37.127
  • And i think that's really one of the things that keeps
  • 00:48:37.127 --> 00:48:40.530
  • Christians from being courageous and speaking out.
  • 00:48:40.530 --> 00:48:43.033
  • They believe this inevitability thesis,
  • 00:48:43.033 --> 00:48:46.269
  • I'm just on the wrong side of history.
  • 00:48:46.269 --> 00:48:48.171
  • You know, when people tell us that we believe it, you're not.
  • 00:48:48.171 --> 00:48:51.274
  • There's no such thing as the wrong side of history.
  • 00:48:51.274 --> 00:48:53.744
  • The last five years should tell us
  • 00:48:53.744 --> 00:48:55.012
  • We don't know which way's history is going, right.
  • 00:48:55.012 --> 00:48:57.647
  • I mean, it's completely changed.
  • 00:48:57.647 --> 00:48:59.649
  • But the gospel tells us that the important thing is to be on
  • 00:48:59.649 --> 00:49:02.319
  • The right side of truth.
  • 00:49:02.319 --> 00:49:04.121
  • And that's the thing that needs to concern us.
  • 00:49:04.121 --> 00:49:06.656
  • Think about this with the grace of god.
  • 00:49:06.656 --> 00:49:08.492
  • What if this last five years is an inoculation for us to get
  • 00:49:08.492 --> 00:49:12.963
  • Back to truth?
  • 00:49:12.963 --> 00:49:14.331
  • We had a taste of what it looks like to hear tyranny.
  • 00:49:14.331 --> 00:49:18.502
  • Wow.
  • 00:49:18.502 --> 00:49:19.703
  • And what if the lord's grace toward us said, taste it,
  • 00:49:19.703 --> 00:49:23.507
  • And now get a spine and speak your mind.
  • 00:49:23.507 --> 00:49:27.110
  • I think that's part of what's happened here.
  • 00:49:27.110 --> 00:49:29.413
  • We didn't go too far down that road.
  • 00:49:29.413 --> 00:49:31.348
  • I was shocked at how quickly woke broke.
  • 00:49:31.348 --> 00:49:35.152
  • And i think it was the grace of god to say, this is the
  • 00:49:35.152 --> 00:49:38.855
  • Dead end of that ideology.
  • 00:49:38.855 --> 00:49:41.425
  • Now, act on those convictions. yeah.
  • 00:49:41.425 --> 00:49:44.327
  • Let me tell you the one thing
  • 00:49:44.327 --> 00:49:45.462
  • That we are never going to back down,
  • 00:49:45.462 --> 00:49:48.165
  • Whoever needs to hear this in culture is christians are never
  • 00:49:48.165 --> 00:49:52.969
  • Going to stop doing one thing.
  • 00:49:52.969 --> 00:49:55.739
  • And it's very simple.
  • 00:49:55.739 --> 00:49:57.441
  • And it's been on the letterhead here at tbn for 53 years.
  • 00:49:57.441 --> 00:50:01.011
  • And if i be lifted up, i will draw all men unto myself.
  • 00:50:01.011 --> 00:50:07.350
  • And don't ever expect us to stop saying the name of jesus,
  • 00:50:07.350 --> 00:50:11.922
  • Talking about jesus, talking about how he--
  • 00:50:11.922 --> 00:50:15.025
  • Loves you.
  • 00:50:15.025 --> 00:50:15.892
  • Is the way, the truth and the life.
  • 00:50:15.892 --> 00:50:18.295
  • Uh, our friend max lucado calls john 3:16 the hope diamond
  • 00:50:18.295 --> 00:50:22.532
  • Of the bible,
  • 00:50:22.532 --> 00:50:23.834
  • For god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,
  • 00:50:23.834 --> 00:50:27.838
  • That whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
  • 00:50:27.838 --> 00:50:30.307
  • But have everlasting life.
  • 00:50:30.307 --> 00:50:32.309
  • That's lifting the name of jesus up.
  • 00:50:32.309 --> 00:50:34.578
  • And when we do that, he takes on the responsibility of
  • 00:50:34.578 --> 00:50:39.683
  • Drawing men unto himself.
  • 00:50:39.683 --> 00:50:42.919
  • And that's what we do.
  • 00:50:42.919 --> 00:50:44.054
  • We're going to never not do that.
  • 00:50:44.054 --> 00:50:46.056
  • Okay. and if you want to poke somebody in the eye
  • 00:50:46.056 --> 00:50:49.392
  • But if you want to start a war, try to stop that.
  • 00:50:49.392 --> 00:50:52.429
  • Okay. and so we saw a little taste of it.
  • 00:50:52.429 --> 00:50:56.466
  • And we're not going to tolerate it.
  • 00:50:56.466 --> 00:50:58.101
  • We're not going anywhere.
  • 00:50:58.101 --> 00:50:59.503
  • And we're going to do this.
  • 00:50:59.503 --> 00:51:00.871
  • And i think that moment in time that we're looking at in the
  • 00:51:00.871 --> 00:51:04.541
  • Rear view mirror was a wake up call.
  • 00:51:04.541 --> 00:51:07.377
  • And i love that you chose this story. you can get a little
  • 00:51:07.377 --> 00:51:13.383
  • Riled up about it.
  • 00:51:13.383 --> 00:51:14.618
  • And, uh, so now that we're riled up, why don't you close
  • 00:51:14.618 --> 00:51:18.021
  • In prayer and settle this thing and land the plane for us
  • 00:51:18.021 --> 00:51:20.891
  • And pray for-- got a little angst.
  • 00:51:20.891 --> 00:51:22.292
  • Privilege. thank you.
  • 00:51:22.292 --> 00:51:23.894
  • That's for sure. let's pray.
  • 00:51:23.894 --> 00:51:25.629
  • Father, thank you for this moment.
  • 00:51:25.629 --> 00:51:27.264
  • We're not here by accident.
  • 00:51:27.264 --> 00:51:28.732
  • You put us here for this generational moment.
  • 00:51:28.732 --> 00:51:31.835
  • And i pray, lord, that you would give us the courage of
  • 00:51:31.835 --> 00:51:34.905
  • Conviction to pursue you, to follow you, to trust you, and
  • 00:51:34.905 --> 00:51:40.844
  • To do it, lord, with the grace that you provide us and that
  • 00:51:40.844 --> 00:51:44.848
  • You ask us to provide others.
  • 00:51:44.848 --> 00:51:47.484
  • We pray this in christ's name. amen.
  • 00:51:47.484 --> 00:51:50.420
  • Why don't we step out of the way and give the final word
  • 00:51:50.420 --> 00:51:53.590
  • To the babylon bee? let's do it.
  • 00:51:53.590 --> 00:51:55.492
  • Let's do it.
  • 00:51:55.492 --> 00:51:56.459
  • Yeah. yeah, yeah.
  • 00:51:59.329 --> 00:52:01.498
  • Man, oh, man.
  • 00:52:04.267 --> 00:52:07.170
  • We sure lucked out
  • 00:52:07.170 --> 00:52:08.004
  • With this laid back, super chill
  • 00:52:08.004 --> 00:52:11.074
  • Assignment, bro.
  • 00:52:11.074 --> 00:52:12.642
  • You're telling me. we've just been so busy fighting all the
  • 00:52:12.642 --> 00:52:15.812
  • Barbarian tribes and putting down rebellions and whatnot.
  • 00:52:15.812 --> 00:52:19.716
  • It's nice to finally get a nice, laid back, guard duty job.
  • 00:52:19.716 --> 00:52:26.289
  • Best part? who are we guarding?
  • 00:52:26.289 --> 00:52:28.124
  • Whom? what?
  • 00:52:28.124 --> 00:52:29.659
  • Well, it's whom are we guarding
  • 00:52:29.659 --> 00:52:31.761
  • Because it's the objective case of the pronoun,
  • 00:52:31.761 --> 00:52:33.296
  • Not the subjective case.
  • 00:52:33.296 --> 00:52:34.831
  • It's not important.
  • 00:52:34.831 --> 00:52:35.565
  • We're not even speaking english.
  • 00:52:35.565 --> 00:52:36.499
  • Technically, we're speaking latin.
  • 00:52:36.499 --> 00:52:38.468
  • What is important is that we are guarding a dead guy.
  • 00:52:38.468 --> 00:52:44.407
  • Piece of cake.
  • 00:52:44.407 --> 00:52:47.143
  • Hey, you two, go guard the tomb of that dead guy that's been
  • 00:52:47.143 --> 00:52:50.680
  • Dead for, like, three days.
  • 00:52:50.680 --> 00:52:53.049
  • Make sure he doesn't escape.
  • 00:52:53.049 --> 00:52:54.517
  • Oh, oh, oh no, he's coming!
  • 00:52:54.517 --> 00:52:57.654
  • Ooh ooh.
  • 00:52:57.654 --> 00:53:01.224
  • Ooh ooh ooh.
  • 00:53:01.224 --> 00:53:04.261
  • Ah! [laughter]
  • 00:53:04.261 --> 00:53:05.962
  • Man. man.
  • 00:53:05.962 --> 00:53:08.064
  • Ah! yeah.
  • 00:53:08.064 --> 00:53:12.068
  • You know, i'm up for a promotion.
  • 00:53:12.068 --> 00:53:16.906
  • What? you didn't tell me that.
  • 00:53:16.906 --> 00:53:20.277
  • Come on. i didn't want to brag about it.
  • 00:53:20.277 --> 00:53:22.178
  • I'm just saying,
  • 00:53:22.178 --> 00:53:23.246
  • If everything goes well
  • 00:53:23.246 --> 00:53:24.514
  • And we can keep this dead guy from
  • 00:53:24.514 --> 00:53:26.383
  • Getting up and running away,
  • 00:53:26.383 --> 00:53:29.185
  • Then, uh, you know, i'm getting a desk job up at headquarters.
  • 00:53:29.185 --> 00:53:31.788
  • It's all but done.
  • 00:53:31.788 --> 00:53:33.089
  • I'm, uh, i'm so proud of you, man.
  • 00:53:33.089 --> 00:53:36.626
  • Yeah. thanks.
  • 00:53:36.626 --> 00:53:39.296
  • Bring it in.
  • 00:53:39.296 --> 00:53:40.563
  • Uh, yeah.
  • 00:53:40.563 --> 00:53:42.299
  • Okay.
  • 00:53:42.299 --> 00:53:44.200
  • Man, we enlisted, what, xiv, xv years ago?
  • 00:53:47.504 --> 00:53:51.207
  • Seems like just yesterday we were bullseye-ing rats
  • 00:53:51.207 --> 00:53:53.510
  • Back home, you know?
  • 00:53:53.510 --> 00:53:54.844
  • And as long as this guy doesn't get up and walk away--
  • 00:53:54.844 --> 00:53:58.048
  • Whew. miraculously resurrecting himself from the dead or
  • 00:53:58.048 --> 00:54:01.851
  • Something like that,
  • 00:54:01.851 --> 00:54:04.154
  • You're gonna be a big shot.
  • 00:54:04.154 --> 00:54:05.622
  • Yeah. well, you almost got that one.
  • 00:54:05.622 --> 00:54:16.800
  • Well, i'm not wearing my throwing sandals, so, you know.
  • 00:54:16.800 --> 00:54:19.636
  • I forgot mine, too.
  • 00:54:19.636 --> 00:54:21.504
  • The important thing is
  • 00:54:21.504 --> 00:54:24.240
  • Our guard duty is almost done,
  • 00:54:24.240 --> 00:54:26.376
  • And barring some act of god or some
  • 00:54:26.376 --> 00:54:29.813
  • Big miracle or something, it's another successful
  • 00:54:29.813 --> 00:54:33.016
  • Mission for the two of us.
  • 00:54:33.016 --> 00:54:34.818
  • Ah, i love you, man.
  • 00:54:37.721 --> 00:54:39.656
  • What? what?
  • 00:54:39.656 --> 00:54:40.190
  • What?
  • 00:54:40.190 --> 00:54:41.191
  • Do you hear that? [rumbling]
  • 00:54:41.191 --> 00:54:44.194
  • Oh, no!
  • 00:54:44.194 --> 00:55:03.580
  • I--
  • 00:55:06.216 --> 00:55:07.851
  • I don't think you're going to get that promotion, man.
  • 00:55:07.851 --> 00:55:07.851