Transcription
All right. All right. So, Tucker is back on a sick one. Now, uh, he is railing against Trump because of the Iran thing, which, listen, I can understand how some of the stuff Trump's been saying is kind of wild, but now he has on Nathan Appfell to enlighten all of us on the dangers of capitalism. Now, there's some stuff that Nate Appel points out here about Paula White, uh, that I think is is solid in terms of the weirdness within some of those circles. But here, uh, Tucker kind of softly corrects Nathan, and then Nathan rails against how the Bible is socialistic.
Okay, so let's jump right into this. Um, and by the way, I I had Nathan on a couple couple months ago. We went at it for hours and hours. I'd love to have another conversation with him at some point. It'd have to be in a formal setting where there's a moderator and time limits so that uh, he, you know, he can't talk over me, I can't talk over him. And I'm sure we'll do that at some point. But this was uh, this was really bad because I think this gets to the to the crux of a lot of the issues that people are dealing with in society right now with regards to the brain rot led on by the institutional distrust that many people are facing.
Okay, let's just jump right into it. Hey, real quick. Whether you're Protestant, Orthodox, Catholic, or or maybe you're not even sure what you are, here is something that every follower of Jesus can lock arms on. Unborn babies should be protected, and we can be a part of that protection. So, you have to hear about this. Seriously, don't skip over this video. For $26, you can create a life-altering, life-saving moment for a mother and her beautiful baby. I didn't believe that was possible at first, either. $26. That may sound small, but it may be the most important $26 you and I can spend today. That $26 reaches a woman before the abortion industry does. Right when she's scared, isolated, and searching for answers. And in that moment, you can become her lifeline. Not a building, not a billboard. You, instead of being told she has no choice, she hears compassion. Instead of being rushed, she's met by someone who says, "We see you. We will help you. You are not alone." Human Coalition has already helped over 35,000 women choose life. I've actually been privately giving to them for years because of their tech-first approach, which connects women with long-term continuum care, connecting the mother with ongoing support and resources after the baby is born. So, I was ecstatic when they decided to sponsor this video. But here's the part that keeps me up at night. There are still more than a million mothers right now today who haven't been reached yet. And many of them, this is their only hope before the abortion industry gets to them first. Your $26 doesn't fund a program. It creates a life-saving moment. A moment where a mother and her baby are given a second chance. If you've ever wondered whether one small action can actually save a life. This is that moment. Give $26 today. Be her lifeline. You can hit the link in the pin comment or in the description or make that donation today.
All right, let's jump into this video.
>> Yeah. I mean, especially since Jesus is pretty tough on the rich and on money, and it's a challenge to any of us, you know, who have excess money. It's like, what is he saying?
>> Well, money is the root of all evil, right?
>> Well, that's what it's the...
>> Well, money is the root of all evil. Okay, so right out the rip, what's happening here if you're paying attention. So Tucker is right that Jesus is hard on the rich in the scriptures. No, no, no pushback on there. Anyone that that's taken a plain reading of the gospel can agree. And then Nathan says, "Well, money is the root of all evil."
>> And it's a challenge to any of us, you know, who have excess money. It's like, what is he saying?
>> Well, money is the root of all evil, right?
>> Well, that's what it's the... love of money. Yes.
>> The love of money is...
>> ...the love of money. Okay. So, Tuck, I'm going to help you out in terms of what those of us with money are supposed to do. And by the way, those of us with money is relative to where you live. Okay? So if you're in America and you have a roof over your head, uh, your AC in your house, you have clothes, you have food, you're in the 5% of the world's wealthiest people. Okay? Uh, if you're of the 5% of the 5%, man, you're in like the 0.01% of the world's wealthiest people. And everybody could do that by going on a basic app and just checking what your income is globally. Okay? So, some of this is relative to where someone is, but I'm going to, we're going to get into some scripture in a second. I'm going to really walk Tucker through this. But, did you guys catch what just happened here? Money is the root of all evil. Well, the love of money is the root of evil. So, Tucker kind of has to gently correct Nathan here on the misuse of scripture. And I know some of you guys are going like, "Ah, that's nitpicky." Uh, but this happens all the time. Is money the root of all evil, or is the love of money a root to all evil? Uh, if you look at the scriptures, and it's important that we go back to the scriptures, for the love of money is a is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. Okay, so it's the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil. It's not money is the root of all evil. It's the love of money, and that's significant if we're going to have an honest conversation about this topic.
Okay, so now let's jump into uh, the rest of this.
>> Not the money.
>> Right? That's what Paul said. And Jesus says famously, it's harder for a rich man to get to heaven than a camel through the eye of a needle.
>> Um, so yeah, the idea that like you follow God and get rich is like, like a perfect inversion of what...
>> But that's capitalism creeping into the church. And I would actually argue, and this is a bold statement. Uh, the democratic republic is the greatest government experiment in the history of humanity.
>> So he said that's capitalism creeping into the church. Now we got to look at what the word capitalism means. Okay? And then we have to examine that according to scripture because I think what happens is we take our version of the system, bad institutions, and then we read that into the text and we change the definition of things without actually understanding what we're saying. And I don't know if Nathan's doing this intentionally, but I think he's sharp enough to understand what capitalism is and what capitalism isn't, and what ways it is congruent with scripture and what ways it isn't. We're gonna go over a ton of scripture to help Tucker out because he doesn't know what those of us with what money should be doing with the money. I got a, I got a whole chapter for him that we'll go over.
>> I, I, I would say I've enjoyed it.
>> You enjoyed it? Yeah. So, we enjoy it. We love, I love America.
>> You love America.
>> I do.
>> Capitalism should not be anywhere near Christianity.
>> Capitalism should be nowhere near Christianity. Now, just, just put a pin in that, 'cause we got to define our terms here.
>> You think Christianity is more... and I don't like the word socialist with the, with the weight it carries, but Christianity in it is socialism at its core.
>> None of...
>> This Christianity is socialism at its core.
>> Authoritarian.
>> It's, it's, it's...
>> And and Tucker, Tucker says...
>> Christianity in it is socialism at its core.
>> Non-authoritarian.
>> Non-authoritarian. As if all socialists are non-authoritarian and all capitalists are authoritarian.
>> It's, it's, it's a, it's the marker to build social capital. You look at that early church of Acts, and it transformed Rome within a couple hundred years. The greatest superpower of its time to where Constantine was like, "I'm a Christian hanging out with these dudes." They had no money, they had no buildings, but somehow the love of their neighbor transformed the greatest superpower of its time. That's dangerous.
>> And it's because they had no money and because uh, they had no means of doing things and they had no buildings. Almost none of this is true, by the way. Okay, so again, just, just put a pin in that. We're going to go over what, what, what the scriptures say. It needs to be constrained, right? Mhm. Today, it's just, we've let capitalism and uh, Carl Truman, he's a reformation thought expert, brilliant guy from England, he calls it the rugged American individualistic experience.
>> Now, now, that's not the same thing as capitalism. You see the slight of hand here. Okay. So, this, this becomes the issue with these sorts of conversations. Is he talking about the rugged individualistic experience? That's not capitalism. And yes, I would argue that the, I would agree with him that the the rugged individualistic experience is incongruent with scripture, but that's not what capitalism is. And he goes, "That has detrimental effects on Christianity."
>> How about greed?
>> I mean, it just looks like greed to me. Um, but let's go in and let's look up the tenets of capitalism. Remember, we have to define our terms here. If we're going to engage in conversations, we have to learn to think critically. What is happening in a conversation like Tucker Carlson and Nathan Afield is they want to just tell you what to think. Capitalism bad, socialism good. The Bible's socialistic, capitalism is not in the Bible. And so, they're just telling you what to think. They're doing all the critical thinking for you. They're doing all the chewing for you. And then they're just kind of like feeding you like a, like a mom feeds the the baby bird, right? But this is what capitalism actually is. Capitalism is an economic system based on private ownership of the means of production. So there's private ownership, meaning people can own the means of production. What is the means of production? What are you using to produce something that could be owned privately where goods and services are produced for profit through competitive market and voluntary exchanges. Core principles include what? Private property rights. Are there private property rights in the scriptures? Yes or no? Even in the book of Acts, there's private property. I'll prove it to you guys in just a second. Nathan referenced the the Church of Acts. I'll prove it to you guys in just a second. The profit motive. Capitalism understands humans' heart in that they need to be incentivized through profit, supply and demand price mechanisms, and limited government intervention. Now, the issue with capitalism is, of course, twofold. One, unrestrained capitalism, uh, capitalism without virtue leads to stuff like or leads to stuff like drug and big pharma and taking advantage of people, uh, and that's not good. Capitalism without virtue is bad. Okay. And it leads to greed. It leads to people acquiring stuff, and it leads to wealth rising to the top in the billionaire class and so on and so forth. And that's not good either. Those are bad things. Those are incongruent with scripture. But the basic tenets here, private property rights, is that in scripture? Profit motive, is that in scripture? Supply and demand price mechanisms, maybe not in scripture. Uh, limited government intervention. Yeah, I think if every Christian in Acts who was getting persecuted by Rome would have preferred a smaller government that was not in their business and not getting in the way of how they uh, ran their life and what they believed.
Okay. Now, let's go to the scriptures. Okay. So, uh, this is Acts 2:44. This is like every champagne socialist dream of what they think the scripture is pointing to with this the socialistic system. But all you got to do is just take a careful reading of it. "All the believers were together and had everything in common." So, number one, this is for the church. The church had everything in common. This is not uh, those outside of the church. This is folks within the church. Okay? They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. So there's a community. They have everything in common. They're selling property and possessions. They're giving to those who in need. "Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts." Okay. So here you see that they're still gathering in their homes. Now, what is the broader context of this? What's happened here is that you see everyone ascend to uh, Jerusalem for Pentecost, and they're there. The spirit breaks out. There's people from all over the world. Many of them don't have homes. Many of them didn't pack enough, and they just stay in Jerusalem. So what happens? The people who are native to Jerusalem, who have property and possessions, are selling them to take care of others that don't have property and possessions. Okay, so this is something that is happening that is unique to the situation. And it says they still continue to meet in each other's homes. The earliest churches were homes converted to churches. Okay? And you could find archaeological evidence of this. So it says, "Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes." Homes. That means they still owned homes. They just willfully chose to sell the property they had to care for those who didn't have because they were there from all over the world. All we got to do is just scroll up to the top of Acts and see, "Now they were staying in Jerusalem, God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in the wilderness because each of them heard their own language being spoken." So these Jews are there in Jerusalem. They're from all over the world. They're there uh to gather to celebrate the festival of Shabbat. Shavuot, which is one of the three major festivals that they would all gather for. Then uh, Pentecost breaks out. Okay, so this is the context. This is why like context is important. We have to read scripture in context, not just pull out, "Well, they sold, they sold possessions and homes." Why do they sell possessions? Oh, because there were people there from all over the world. They didn't have any stuff with them. So, they have to take care of each other. They had everything in common. They sell their possessions and they sell their homes. And yet, they continue gathering in homes. What does that mean? That means that they still owned homes. They still had private property rights, one of the tenets of capitalism, "praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily." Now, you're still going to say, Rouson, that doesn't mean that they still had uh, uh, prop property rights. That means this this could still be socialism. Okay. Well, let's keep reading. Let's scroll down to chapter 5 and we run into the story of Ananias and Sapphira. Okay. And shout out to Logos Bible Software, giving all you guys a free 60-day trial. Okay? And you see the same thing happening. "All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their proh possessions was their own. But they shared everything they had." With great power. The apostles continue to testify. So they're sharing with those that, that everyone's around. Okay? And this is in the context of the church that there was no needy person among them. "From time to time, those who own land or houses sold them." So, from time to time, those who who had houses, they sold them. Okay? And put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. Again, context. They're all there from all over the world. Okay? Many of them didn't bring enough supplies. They didn't have places to stay. Context. They willfully did this. This was, they were not forced to do this. They willfully did this. Okay? Verse 37. "Sold a field. He..." So, so now it gets into someone who sold a field. Okay. "Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet." Okay? So, he willfully sold a field that he owned. He brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet. Now check this out. "Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife's full knowledge, he kept back part of the property for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet. Then Peter said, 'Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Did it not belong to you? The land belonged to him before it was sold, and after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of being of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings, but to God.'" So here's the big idea here, friends. They are not forcefully being compelled to sell anything. They are not doing it as a requirement to be a follower of Jesus. This is all the ability to sell something that belongs to you, to keep some of the money back at your own disposal. And the issue here with Ananias and Sapphira, as Peter's pointing this out, is that they lied to God, and they wanted to appear like Barnabas, who sold the field and brought it to uh, the money and put it at the apostles' feet. So you see that they have continued prop private property rights. They continue to maintain the things that they owned, and some of them would sell it all. Some of them would sell some. Some of them were able to maintain some of it at their own disposal. Okay? So again, we can go into Greek. We can look up what the word disposal means. Okay? Authority, freedom of choice. Okay, capitalism gives you the freedom of choice on if you want to sell your property and help people or if you don't.
Okay, now let's go back to the scriptures. Now, remember, here are the tenets of capitalism. It doesn't mean billionaires. It doesn't mean uh, wealth inequality. These are the actual definition of of what capitalism is. Private property rights, the profit motive, supply and demand, price mechanisms, limited government. I think the scriptures are congruent with all these. Let me show you some more.
Tucker said, "I don't understand what those of us with money are supposed to do with money." I got you, Tucker. We go to Matthew 25. We run into the parable of the 10 virgins. Okay, this is a very interesting passage. It talks about the wise and the foolish virgins. Uh, Jesus is preaching. Matthew 24, this is about the last days and when he's going to return. And he's basically saying, "Therefore, keep watch because you do not know the day or the hour." So, he's talking about keeping watch when he's going to come back. Now here we go into the parable of the bags of gold, and this is about Jesus being the master. He says, "Again, it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags of gold, and to another one bag of gold. Each according to his ability, then he went on his journey." The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the one who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master's money. So the question is, does the scriptures talk about profit motive and supply and demand price mechanisms? Well, it sure does sound like it when you're considering that this person, the master in the story, is Jesus, is entrusting bags of gold, and these guys are doubling what they've been entrusted with. All right? But the man who had received one bag went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. The true socialist, the true communist. He doesn't want to work for any sort of his enemy. He goes and buries it. Okay. Now, after a long time, the master of those servants returned and settled the accounts with them. The money who had received five, the man who had received five bags of gold, brought the other five. "Master," he said, "you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I've gained five more." His master replied, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share in your master's happiness." So, I think this is also saying that not everyone has the same talent. Not everyone has the same capacity. Not everyone is going to get the same things entrusted to them. Right? Uh, one has five, one has two. Okay. The man with two bags of gold came, said, "Master, you entrusted me with two bags of gold. See, I have gained two more." His master replied, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been entrusted with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share in your master's happiness." So the guys that are doing the capitalistic thing in the story, they're doubling up. They're, they, they have an incentive to to make a profit. They're being good stewards of what they've been given, are being rewarded. The man who had received one bag though, he came with one bag of master, I know that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered." That sounds awfully like capitalism. Wow. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you." He didn't, he didn't take any risk. He didn't lose anything. He gave the master back what belonged to him. His master replied, "You wicked, lazy servant. So you know uh, so you knew I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers so that I, when I returned, I would have received it back with interest. So take the the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has 10 bags." Gosh, that doesn't sound very fair. Interesting. Well, he didn't really put in a lot of effort, did he? "For whoever has more will be given and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have, what they have not will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Gosh, that sounds a lot like, hey, those who are faithful with what they've been given in this context, and specifically bags of gold. But I would say this applies to our overall talent, our treasure, our opportunities, uh, the, uh, things that we're entrusted with, the context in which we are born with being in the West, being in an America where we can double up and triple up and find new ways to earn revenue. Why? So that we get into the next parable. Now, remember, all these verses were added later. These are like 500 years old. It shows when they added the the verses to separate and organize these things. This is the, the, the thought for Tucker. What do those of us who have money do? What are we supposed to do? Great question. Here you go. Those who have five talents, those who have two talents, those who have one talent goes right into the sheep and the goats. Now, these are parables. The first two, parable of the virgins, parable of the bags of gold. Here, this doesn't read like a parable anymore. Verse 31, "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him. He will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left." Okay? So the sheep are those that belong to the, to the King. The, the goats are the ones who don't. Then the King will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me." Okay. What does doing all those things require? Does it, does it, does it, does it require just magic money falling from the sky to feed people, to clothe people, to have the flexibility to, to, to visit people in jail, to care after the sick? It requires the first part of the passage, which is being a good steward, being a good manager of the resources God has given you. You have to be able to manage the things you have so that you have something extra to care for others. "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me." Then the righteous will answer, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? Thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?" King will reply, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." What you do to the least of brothers and sisters, what you do to the least of those is what you do to Jesus. Tucker wants to know, "What do we do with those of us who have revenue, who have talent, who have abundance?" I would argue that's, that's almost everybody in the West who's able-bodied and sound mind. I would argue if you have the capacity to work, uh, yeah, you should work and you should work to have enough to share with others. Here, I, I'll prove it to you again. Ephesians 4:28, "Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need." Interesting, isn't it? Interesting that there's a, there's a, there's a call for folks who have been dishonest, maybe perhaps the wealthy. We see this in the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector, right? Tax collectors, wealthy people in this context were often uh, not the most ethical with how they went about working for Rome, exploiting their own people. And when Zacchaeus has an encounter with Jesus, he says, "Hey, I'm going to give back everything I took and some." Okay? And so here Paul is saying, "Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work doing something useful with their own hands that they may have something to share with those in need." When we look at the fir, the passage earlier about for the love of money is the root of all evil, we often ignore what came right before that in uh, 1 Timothy 5. That's 1 Timothy 6, but 1 Timothy 5. And I walk Nathan through this, which talks about, hey, widows in the church, caring for those who uh, are to be cared for, that can't care for themselves. This is where capitalism as a system doesn't always have these sort of safety nets. But I believe that those safety nets are for the folks who have the means, are for the American Christians that can care for those Christians being persecuted, are for those of us that perhaps have the five talents or have the two talents. We see this within the context of widows who are not uh, able to care for themselves. And 1 Timothy 5 says this, verse four says, "But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so we're paying their own parents and grandparents for this is pleasing to God. The widow who is really in need and left alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help. But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives. Give the people these instructions so that no one may be open to blame. Anyone who does not provide for their relatives and especially for their own household has denied the faith and is worse than a non-believer." Okay? And so Paul is saying, "Hey, there are widows that should be cared for by their own family." Okay? And that's how we repay our parents, believe it or not. So if you have elderly parents, you're not just supposed to ship them off and let the government care for them. You're supposed to care for them. Okay? And then the point he makes, which is a really firm verse, 1 Timothy 5:8, "Anyone who does not provide for their relatives and especially for their own household has denied the faith and is worse than a non-believer." Then he goes into the requirements of what type of widow should be cared for by the church. So you see something really interesting in scripture. Hey, those who have means are sharing willingly with those who don't have means. Those who have property are sharing with those who don't have property. Those who have talent and ability to earn wealth are earning wealth so they can share with those who aren't able to do that. And then there's a hierarchy and there's a priority of principles of who should we be taking care of first. We should first be taking care of our own household, then our extended family, our relatives, then our local church community, and then when we're talking about the nations and everyone outside of our community, there, there's, there's a hierarchy of priorities here. And it's not socialism is the answer. That's nonsense. And it, it's, it's that biblically charity and caring for the least of these is on the person and the individual, not to depend on the government to just, you know, flippantly use our money inefficiently with no checks and balances. Even in the scriptures where it talks about widows, verse 9, "No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over 60, has been faithful to her husband, and is well known for a good deed such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord's people, helping those in trouble, and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds." Imagine, imagine if in our modern welfare system, in our modern system where, hey, whatever it is, social security, whatever you want to call it, and social security is a bit different because we pay into that, right? Imagine welfare or food stamps. If it's a, hey, anyone who gets these services from the government that they didn't pay for, hey, by the way, uh, they, they got to be at least 60 years old. They have to have been faithful to their husband. They have to be well known for their good deeds, bringing up their children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord's people, helping those in need, and devoting yourself to all kinds of good deeds. That would be, that would cause utter chaos if we added checks and balances to how the government spends over a trillion dollars, which is more than our military budget, by the way, annually for these sorts of services, welfare, cash aid, so on and so forth. Now, I think those safety nets are necessary. However, I think when it comes to the biblical framework, it's not socialism as a government system. It is the people who have the means to care for those who don't have the means to care for them. That is the, the, the, the call of the wealthy person. That is the call for those of us who are, in my opinion, in America and living under this, this, this, this capitalistic uh, experiment that's not perfect. It has all sorts of issues. Greed is a consequence. Unrestrained capitalism is a communist. That's a consequence. That's how you get stuff like, only I would argue, uh, this is how you get content that's brain rot like Tucker Carlson, like Candace Owens, that is just chasing whatever the audience wants them to say this week, right? This is what the downside effects of capitalism is. Just there, there's no checks and balances. You get all sorts of stuff that's not good for you, though it's popular. Now, you might still be saying, Rouson, that sounds good, man. But you're a successful YouTuber and you already quote unquote made it. Okay, well, let's, let's, let's do some math. I want to challenge you guys. Okay. The average personal income in the United States was $67,000. For households, the average income was $83,000. Okay, so let's take this number. Let's copy this number. And then let's go to how rich am I. Okay, and we're going to say one person, average household income. And we're going to put that in there. Uh, $67,000. Okay. If you earn $67,000, you're richer than 98% of the people in the world. 98%. You're in the top 2%. That is crazy. Now, let's go here and let's just say you don't earn that. Let's say, let's say you earn $35,000. You're richer than 95% of the world. You're in the top 5% of the world's wealth. This should give you massive pause with any complaining that you may be doing. And yes, I understand that inflation is real. I understand that the cost of living is going up. I understand that America has all sorts of issues with private equity and BlackRock buying up all the real estate. The answer is not socialism, though, friends. In my opinion, this should at the very least give us pause and perspective and to say, hey, it's not just the rich young ruler, and it's not just the Tucker Carlsons, and it's not just the, oh, the, the Rouson YouTuber. It's every single one of us in the context of a global economy are actually wealthy. We're in the top 5%, top 1%, top 2% of the, the, the world's global wealth. When you factor in how many people out there and how much people live on daily, you have so many comforts and so many luxuries that you don't even account for. And so this champagne socialism, this idea that hey, capitalism is bad and socialism is good and the church was socialistic is nonsense. I can keep going and going. This video is already 30 minutes long. I can keep going over and over over scripture. And again, I'm not saying capitalism doesn't have its issues. It does. But what I am saying is there's never been a system that's pulled more people out of poverty and created more opportunity for people to help other people than the system that we currently live in. And, and it's not just, hey, that's, that's good, man. We're in America. We're blessed. No, no, no. It's not. It doesn't just stop there. It says, hey, we're blessed so we can be a blessing to other people. We can be a blessing to those who don't have. We can be, we can, we can give generously and by first taking care of our household, second, taking care of our family, then taking care of our church, and then so on and so forth. And so Tucker Carlson's wondering, what do, what do I do with that? What do I do with the rich young ruler? And you can go read the rich young ruler. By the way, you could, you could, you could read it. You could understand that that pastor. Maybe I'll do a second part on that video because that, that story is often weaponized and completely misrepresented in terms of what it's actually talking about. What it's actually talking about is who can be saved if you read it in context. But the idea is, man, those who've been given a lot are responsible to, to, to, to put God's resources to work so that we can be a blessing to other people. So anyway, let me know what you think about this. A lot of this is explored in my book, Godly Ambition. I actually go over finances and do a whole chapter on this. I haven't been the most clear and concise in my communication of this, and that, that, that it's not a prosperity message either, and saying that everyone who's a follower of Jesus in America is supposed to be rich. I'm not saying that either. But what I am saying is, hey, within the context of finances, within the context of our modern system, every single one of us should be in a position where we can live debt-free. We can follow the principles of Proverbs, live below our means. We can be generous. We should have a budget. We should be giving regularly. And I think when we all do that, we start seeing the fruit and the blessing of that. And so, uh, I'm bummed out that that that Nathan, uh, again, misquoted scripture again, mis, misrepresented what the scripture said again, uh, and, and continues doing this. And so those you guys are like, Bruce, you still haven't watched this docu-series. I'm engaging with what he says. And what he says is just nonsense. It's, it's poison. And again, I would love to debate him again. Maybe Tucker Carlson could, could, uh, moderate it for all I care. Uh, I would love to debate it again. I, I think this is a good conversation. I think we need to keep having these conversations. And all you guys that were like, but, but his documentary is good. I'm sure there's some truth in his documentary. I'm sure I would lock arms with him on a, on a number of things. But when it comes to fumbling basic stuff like, what is capitalism? Which system is more congruent with scripture? It is so bad. It is so bad to, to hear this sort of stuff and the poisoning it does to the, to the minds of young people that are in seasons of life where if they sacrifice and, and they focus and they learn not just to work hard, but to also develop themselves and to be intentional with the opportunities that have been given to us, u can do so much for the next season of their life. Instead, they're being told, "Oh, that, you know, the church was was socialistic." And Tucker Carlson was like, "Yeah, what are we supposed to?" Yeah, Tucker, you can give away more of your wealth if you want to, buddy. I have tons of organizations. There's organizations right in your area where you could be very generous. Uh, everyone from Charity Water to uh, uh, uh, Habitat for Humanity to, to God's Pit Crew to, to Human Coalition. There's a lot of people doing a lot of good stuff. If you need somewhere to put your money, man, there's tons of organizations that will take it and put it to really good use, better use than the government. Anyway, let me know your guys' thoughts about this. And by the way, if this conversation is resonating with you guys, I'm uh, launching a tour this weekend going deeper on these conversations because I think it's just so bad and so poisonous. Uh, and, uh, we're starting in Chicago this uh, Friday at Park West, and then we're going over to Pittsburgh right after that, Sunday at the Oaks Theater in the Pittsburgh area. Then we're in DC April 25th, New York April 26th. May 9th, uh, we're in Los Angeles, and then Tampa, Florida, Atlanta, Georgia. It's going to be super fun, man. If you guys want to come out, come hang with me. KD.com or hit the pin comment. Uh, having conversations about godly ambition, too. Give people clarity so they they don't fall into this brain rot. It's so exhausting hearing this sort of stuff. Man, I'm, I'm so uh, bummed that so many people buy into this uh, because it really leads to a life of disillusionment and despair. And the reality is that at some point in time, every single one of us needs to earn enough to take care of ourselves, take care of our families, and have something to share with those in need. That is the biblical mandate. It's not this, hey, I'm going to find some benefactor to uh, invest in me with with with uh, venture capital money or Qatari money or whatever is going on over there. Hey, no. Every single one of us is responsible to care and be, and take care of our own. That is the mandate. And you need godly ambition for that. You don't need this this whimsical uh, free spirit hippie paradigm of scripture that's not in scripture. So anyway, let me know your guys' thoughts on this, and I'll see you on the next one. face.