The Rape Gang Inquiry report was released in England. It's more horrendous than anyone could imagine. They believe over 250,000 white British girls were trafficked in England. These crimes were committed by Muslim men, again, IN England. Every story they told of how this happened followed the same 3-step outline.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. This is where we take the news of the day and bring it to the Bible so we can walk away with peace and perspective. There's new headlines every day. What Ecclesiastes says is not the new under the sun. So thanks for being here to get the true story. And if you're listening to this on podcast, you can watch it on YouTube, youtube . 

com slash at politics by faith. Kids warning for the story of today, of the day to day. No kids allowed during this episode. If you do listen to the show with your kids, that means the world to me. I really want this to be a place that is wholesome and pure and something you can trust kids at least to be around. This episode is not that episode. So this is your official kids warning for today's episode. 

Give me a second to change the podcast away from this one. Story of the day today. Rape or gang rape inquiry report. Here's what happened. It's a British Congressman, essentially they're called member of parliament, Rupert Lowe. He's the lead of this effort. 

And they released a 219 page report outlining the horrors and scale of mostly Pakistani Muslims trafficking white British girls. The rape gang inquiry looked at the systemic targeting of overwhelmingly white British girls across the United Kingdom. The report says that the evidence put to the inquiry The evidence put to the inquiry confirms that this scandal constitutes one of the most horrendous failures in the history of the country. The scale of the crimes committed is staggering. Check this out. It has been previously established that at the very least, how many young girls do you think were trafficked inside of England? 

Like British girls trafficked within England? How many girls? What if I said 10 ,000? That'd be crazy. 250 ,000 young white girls have been subjected to repeated rape, gang rape, trafficking, torture, pregnancy, forced Islamic conversion, and obviously lifelong trauma. The report says the number, the actual number is probably higher. 

87 % of people convicted in these child sex exploitation cases had distinctively Muslim names. And those are just the ones convicted. Of the accused, it's 99 % Muslim. The report is tough to read. What's encouraging about it, if anything, is that this is the first time I've ever heard people not afraid to name the enemy. In this case, it's Muslim men, mostly Pakistani, but other cultural identities as well. 

All Muslim. The report says that the pattern was reinforced by eight theological and legal aspects of Islam. Talk about naming the enemy. These include the doctrine of Muslim superiority, drawn from Qur 'anic verses and the report goes through all the different verses of the Qur 'an. The gang members justification for their crimes can be found in the Islamic principles of loyalty and disavowal, the superiority of men over women, forced marriage combined with the absence of any fixed minimum age of consent, also the perception that a family sexuality is inherently dangerous. 

A system of sex slavery that authorizes sexual relations with non -Muslim captives. Also a religious sanctioned social hierarchy that subjugates conquered non -Muslims. Or in this case, British girls while in England. You take these Islamic aspects and you filter it through a clannish immigrant subculture The report says it provides religious justification that enabled the systemic rape and slaughter of white British girls. My goodness. So what's broken in this report? 

A lot, but I'll tell you what some, some initial thoughts I had after reading it. All of the stories they shared had the same outline as a three -step outline. First, the girls were the victims of abuse, neglect, and trauma at home. White British girls, abuse, neglect, and trauma at home. Second. Muslim gangs were ready to pounce. 

And three, the absolute failure of police, hospitals, all British institutions to do anything because they were scared that they would be called racist. It's the same outline, every story that they talk about. I'll give one example. Again, I encourage you to read the whole report. It's really tough, but it's really important to know what's happening. And it's important to know the full scale of this. 

I'm going to choose to go over just Chloe as the study here. It's not the worst story that they share. It's not the most brutal. It's the first one they share. So I'll just share Chloe just to get the outline out there. Chloe's parents divorced when she was young. 

She and her brother were in the custody of dad, which means her mom had major problems. Turns out she was homeless, but he was an alcoholic. Now she said life was generally secure with her dad, though, all things considered. But then dad died when she was 10. So then she went to go live with her mom and mom's new husband, who was also a pedophile, who, of course, abused her. Mom even caught the husband abusing her multiple times and did nothing, which might be the worst betrayal imaginable. 

One time this step dad or whatever was in the shower with her and mom walked in and then walked right out and she was 10 years old. This stepdad gave her alcohol and drugs to keep her quiet. She, of course, started running away, hanging out late at night with terrible people, unsupervised. So there's step one. And step two, that's where the Muslim men preyed on her and took her in, wooing her, treating her like an adult, whatever, all the grooming stuff. They filled that void that her own degenerate parents and people around her left. 

Her aunt and uncle were the only adults that she could confide in. And one time she went to them for help and her uncle raped her. So she's done. She's done. And she goes and she lives with all these Muslim men. She's 11 and she has passed around Pakistani men all through town and, and traffic through the taxi drivers in the city who were all Pakistani. 

So you see the two opening failures here. You have her parents and the adults around her, just total failure in every imaginable way. Then number two, there were the Pakistani Muslim men waiting to hunt her down. And then she had no help from the police or from the hospitals. And that's the third failure. The report says that around the age of 13, Chloe disclosed 

to social services that she was being sexually abused by gangs of Muslim men. In response, social services did not intervene, but rather talk to Chloe about contraception and sexual health. One social worker started regularly taking Chloe to a sexual health clinic where she was diagnosed with chlamydia in her throat, gonorrhea, genital warts, pelvic inflammatory disease, all the rest. At one point, a Pakistani man put a whiskey bottle up inside of her and then broke the bottle. And she went to the ER and the hospital did nothing to ask her, how did this happen? The hospital did nothing to ask her, how can we help you? 

How can we remove you from this obviously horrible situation you're in? They did nothing. When she was interviewed for this report, she was asked how many men abused her in this period of her life from the ages of 10 to 18. She said hundreds, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. It's just one story. There's many, but again, the same outline every time. 

Broken home, then Pakistani Muslims. wading in the wings, and then the failure of the politically correct system to save any of these girls. I would argue that failure number one comes from a lack of Christianity and a lack of Christian culture. Of course, everyone sins and everyone makes mistakes, but the level of abandonment that these girls faced, then the taking advantage of that brokenness is where the Muslims came in and that's Islam. And again, they talked about eight parts of Islam in this report, naming the enemy. It's great. 

Muslim supremacy. Number two, an us versus them mindset. 3. Superiority and dominance of men over women. 4. The seclusion of women. 5. Forced marriage and no age of consent. 

Number six, female sexuality. Number seven, jihad and sex slavery. And number eight is an Islamic clan culture. And the report goes through each of those and quotes the Quran. We don't need to do it here, but again, I recommend that you read the full report just to know that we need to be reminded that this evil exists in the world. And it's not just in England or Pakistan. 

It's in our backyard in America as well. You just search for rape gang inquiry and it'll pop up. So let's bring the Bible in here. First, we're supposed to take care of widows and orphans. Instead, we become such a degenerate people that we make orphans, not just because parents die in a tragic accident, but because they're totally alcoholic, drugged up, whatever. We're making orphans. 

And then the state abandons them and the Muslims take them in as sex slaves in our own countries. Listen, when Job is talking about all the wicked things that God is allowing in this fallen world, he's venting. One of them, it's in verse, uh, sorry, chapter 24. Uh, and he just goes through this list of all these things like, God, like, how can you allow this? And in verse nine, he said, there are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast and they take a pledge against the poor. What is that? 

This is back then when people who would take babies. So babies without fathers, but maybe the woman was in debt and they would take the baby as debt collateral as a young infant. And then do what with the baby? Who even knows? But the point is that Joe put this right in there, the list of extreme depravity. And Joe's upset that this goes on and goes unpunished. 

And it's going on today in the Western world too, if not worse. I'm recording this day on Pride Month. We're halfway through Pride Month. 1 Thessalonians 4 .3 says, it is God's will that you should be sanctified, that you should abstain from sexual immorality. There is so much sexual immorality. In phase one of this, where the parents fail, and then phase two, where the Muslim gangs take over, my goodness, it is the worst of sexual immorality, sexual depravity. 

Think, it's hard to say, right? But I think the worst would be pedophilia. Which leads me to Matthew 18 .6, if anyone causes one of these little ones, those who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea. So if you think that sounds bad, if you think having a millstone tied around your neck and dropped overboard, if you think that sounds bad, you would prefer that than what you're gonna get. These people who are putting these young kids in a situation that is horrific, causing them to be in these places where sin is everywhere. Everyone involved in this failure, has put these children in these horrific situations, and a millstone should be placed around their necks, or they would prefer it than what's coming next in life or afterlife. 

They may get away with it here, but they won't in the end. A millstone, to be clear, was a giant stone with a rope through it, and the rope would be tied to a donkey, and the donkey would walk in a circle, and it would grind the grain. And these millstones would weigh hundreds of pounds. And apparently in Rome, they did this as a form of execution. They would tie this heavy rock like this and throw you overboard. And the Jews thought this was barbaric and awful. 

And here was Jesus. coming in saying, what's coming for you is even worse than that. In In a just society, we would do everything we could to stop this immediately. We'll see how the British people react. We'll see if political correctness, truly political correctness, we'll see if political correctness wins the day. And then we'll see if we decide to root this out in America as well. 

You want to talk about an 80 -20 issue in America that every political party, every political, everyone could get behind? You would think would be getting rid of this. But with so many oppressed peoples involved, Muslims, migrants, foreigners, I don't know if we will. Stay tuned on this one. YouTube . com slash at politics by faith. 

If you subscribe to our YouTube page, you're great. YouTube . com slash at politics by faith by the word.

The president hosted an incredible event in the White House. If you had the microphone for 30 seconds to talk to over 100 million people, what would you say?

Welcome to Politics by Faith. This is where we take the news of the day, we bring it to the Bible, so we can walk away with peace and perspective. There's new headlines every day and can all be very overwhelming, cause a lot of anxiety, but Ecclesiastes says there's nothing new under the sun. So thanks for being here to get the true story, story of the day, UFC fight night at the White House. Here's what happened. I didn't catch it live, but I've seen tons of clips of the pageantry of it all. 

Unbelievable. I, I, I've heard people use the word surreal to describe it. Just incredible. Let's just look at the production value alone. It wasn't just at the White House, which is what I was expecting. It was in the White House. 

It was totally immersive within the White House in every way. The main fight, the American guy, Gaethje, it started with him in the Oval Office looking at the Declaration of Independence up on the wall. And then he has this flag draped around his back and he walks out through the White House down the stairs into the Octagon. Oh, and then, by the way, beats the foreign undefeated champion for the America 250. The whole thing is ridiculous. And then he was asked at the end, he said, I mean, you were six to one odds. 

And he said, oh, man, the odds that our founding fathers faced were even worse and they still won. And here we are today in the greatest country in the world. What is happening is ridiculous. There was a scene of the opening national anthem sung by Zac Brown. He's in the octagon. Behind him is the Marine Corps marching band. 

Then the White House with the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds flying over the White House all the same time. It looked AI, but it was very, very real. Just incredible optics. And I want to encourage the Freedom 250 people. Don't get me started on this. It's two different groups. 

America 250 was started 10 years ago by Congress. Biden appointed this woman, Rosie Rios, who is Mexican. She says, I'm Mexican more than American, and Mexicans in my blood, and California used to be part of Mexico. She's said all this stuff in Mexico before, so she doesn't love this country. She is sabotaging it. That's my unfounded claim, but look at the fruit. 

She is sabotaging the America 250. So when Trump won a year and a half ago, he came in, looked around and said, you guys got nothing planned, so he started a group called Freedom 250. has decided to lean on like UFC. They're doing the state fair coming up here where there's gonna be a big rodeo. They're doing the motocross. This is great. 

Big red state things that we are good at that the country loves. I haven't confirmed this, but I heard maybe 130 million people watched the UFC fight at the White House. 19 million watched the NBA finals. Like, what are we talking about here? Like lean into this stuff that works. You combine this incredible moment in the sports culture realm with the soccer win and just all the Europeans and people around the world in America loving America while they're here for the World Cup. 

Also a caller called in and a listener called in and told us about this golfer, this American golfer in Canada who's playing on this course. And I guess they have something called a rink hole where it's set up. They have like hockey boards, like the wall and a hockey rink. They have hockey boards all around it. So they call it the rink hole. So this American put on Someone in the audience had a Jack Hughes jersey. 

Jack Hughes was the American who got the game -winning goal in overtime to win the gold medal in the hockey game at the Olympics. So this golfer put on a Jack Hughes jersey in Canada, just want to remind you that, in Canada, and birdied the par 3. to resounding boos. As soon as he hit it, everyone started booing because it was a great shot, because he's in Canada. It's just been fun. Today's show was fun when we talked about all this stuff. 

It feels very golden era -y. A lot of fun, optics, fun moments in our life. There's a lot to say here about patriotism and the political winning that this is as well. Just a very quick point on that. The left, really since like the 60s, but certainly in the last six years, have really set themselves up as the people, the party, that don't like this country. We're defined by our sins. 

We have to apologize for them forever around the world and here at home. We have to teach our kids about how terrible we are. We were founded in 1690 because of slavery. America's evil and bad and awesome. And then Trump, you know, this last year, with so many amazing things that have happened, like going around the moon. We'll throw that in the mix too. 

There's been like really cool moments here. And because of the left's TDS, they've had to kind of be against it. There was an article in Salon about the World Cup. And the headline was something like, are Americans with as terrible as we've been? And are we allowed to be happy during the World Cup? Or are we allowed to root for America? 

It's like, what are you talking about? But they've humiliated, they've leaned so far into hating this country. And now that we are leaning so far into loving it, obscenely loving it, like to an extreme, that the left has humiliated themselves politically. And I think this is a great thing politically. Real quick, some people have said that having UFC is beneath the White House or something like that. Well, first of all, I mean, put it next to what Biden did to the White House with all the pride. 

stuff and the columns in front of the White House all in rainbow colors and topless transgender people. I mean, give me a break. So there's that. But I don't even think this is degrading the White House. Teddy Roosevelt had boxing matches in the White House. He boxed in them. 

He got punched in the face. He went partially blind in his left eye. He was boxing against some military aide of his who punched him right in the face. And then he decided, I don't know if I should be boxing anymore at the White House. It's not a great look for the president to have a black eye. Now, Teddy Roosevelt was kind of a different breed of man. 

That was a while ago, too. But even Lincoln, you know, they had the weigh -in at the Lincoln Memorial. And Lincoln, well, Lincoln's in the Wrestling Hall of Fame, not the WWE. like Greco -Roman wrestling hall of fame. He grew up in the frontier. Legend has it, he fought in 300 wrestling matches. 

And they called this rough and tumble wrestling, no holds barred, you do whatever, you gouge out eyes, hit below the belt, whatever. He was 6 '4", and Lincoln's huge. And the story is, and I'm sticking with it, that his record's 301. He lost one time to all Hank Thompson during the Blackhawk War in Illinois. He also was in a duel. Lincoln was the captain of his militia company and Lincoln was challenged to a duel. 

He was debating someone. I don't know what he said. I don't know if anyone knows what he said, but I don't know what he said. And the guy challenged him to a duel. And dueling, it was illegal in Illinois. So they had to go to this island in the Mississippi River. 

It's like a lawless island where people would go to have duels. So they met. And because Lincoln was challenged, he got to pick his weapon of choice. He chose the sword. So the men on the island, and I think the guy saw Lincoln enormous with a huge sword and he called a truce and he never spoke of it. The famous line is. 

a man asked him about it and asked if it was true that you were in a duel. And Lincoln said, I do not deny it, but if you desire my friendship, you will never mention it again. I share that because fighting at the White House isn't unprecedented and it's not bad to like fighting. in a sported context like this. And Trump, of course, has been a boxing fan with Atlantic City for many, many decades. All right, here's why I wanted to bring UFC up during our Politics by Faith episode here. 

My producer and I were talking, in my experience growing up, this is before I was a Christian, I would see these athletes thank God, like when they won the Super Bowl or something, and I would mock that and say like, oh, how ridiculous, like God cares about who won the Super Bowl. And if he helped you win the Super Bowl, what does that mean? God's not a Buffalo Bills fan or whatever. Like God hates the Bills and made them lose the Super Bowl. What about the players on the Bills who were praying to win at the Super Bowl? I just thought it was really silly to bring up God in scenarios like this. 

I feel differently now. I think you should bring up God all the time, win or lose. Philippians 4, 6 says, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, By prayer and supplication, with Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. But not if it's about a sporting event that you're participating in. No, like all of them. Let them all know. 

Let them all be made known to God. And if you don't get what you want, then no worries. It wasn't God's plan. That's why we played that clip of the Spencer Pratt from the Spencer Pratt campaign. It was one interview. I think it was in Fox. 

And he said, it's all God's plan. And if I win, then that's great. That's God's plan. If not, then that's great too. I get to go home and be with the kids more. I mean, Jesus says it quite explicitly. 

Mark 11, 24 says, therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you received it and it will be yours. John 15, 7 says, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. Matthew 21, 22, whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive if you believe. Now, of course, God's not a genie. Doesn't mean like you wish for it and you get 10 wishes a year, 10 prayers a year that won't guaranteed come true. Like that's not how that works. 

But the Bible is very clear. You should make your requests known to God. Now, more than the outcome, it's about the process and it's about trusting him throughout whatever happens. Check out this fighter after one of the matches here. For everything, Donald White, Hunter, congratulations. It's a spectacular event. 

Thank you so much. I'm so happy. And I have a message. In John 3, verse 16, it says, For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Jesus changed my life. Jesus saved my life. 

Jesus wants to save your life too. Give your life to Jesus. Thank you so much. In case we're not allowed to play that on YouTube, he said, John 3 .16. For God so loved the world, he gave his one and only son, so that you may not perish, but have eternal life. He said, God, or he said, Jesus has changed my life. 

He saved my life. You should make Jesus Lord of your life as well. So here's this man using his platform at this moment with 130 million people watching, whatever, to praise God and to worship God. That's awesome. And it's encouraging for people. I remember when I was just, I was like, 

the Bible. So I wasn't yet, uh, I wasn't yet baptized and I was driving down the street and, uh, this guy who I liked on the radio was on, he was mocking God and mocking religion. And I was still in this process of, of reading the Bible whenever. And I was like, yeah, maybe this is all pretty silly. This guy has a point. This is just kind of dumb. 

What if it is just all imaginary? Right. And send me down. Not a great place. And I think a lot of Chris, so they're vocal. The pagans are vocal. 

A lot of Christians are quiet, silent. Just kind of keep it to themselves. It's like, oh no, you should talk about it. Make it normal. Make it normal to talk about. Make it known. 

Because there's a lot of people who are studying the Bible right now or asking questions and thinking about it. And just you, just a little bit of encouragement here and there, a little bit like, oh, like this isn't weird, can do a lot of good. So get up there wherever, if you've got 130 million people watching you at a moment or one, get up there and worship God. We should be thanking God for the ability to do whatever we're doing. So it's not that you won the Superbowl. It's that you can play football or is that you can run or that you have a heart that beats. 

Anything good that happens is a blessing from God. A Christian at a UFC, and maybe he could give the same message if he lost. And that's a good test. If it's a good message, is what you're saying divorced from earthly outcome? Could you, could he have said the same thing if he won or lost? Yep. 

Let's go to the Bible, Matthew 7, 7, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. And the one who seeks, finds. And to the one who knocks, it will be opened. 

" Pretty amazing. Martin Lloyd -Jones, he said, I cannot imagine a better, more cheering or a more comforting state of mind. which to face all the uncertainties and hazards of our life in this world than the ones contained right here. There's nothing that could be more encouraging as we face life with all of its uncertainties and possibilities. Our future is unknown. In such a situation, this is the essence of the biblical message from beginning to end. 

This is the promise that comes to us. Ask and it will be given. Seek and you'll find. NACA will be open to you. In order that we might be quite certain about it, our Lord repeats it and puts it in an even stronger form. He says, for everyone that asks receives, and he that seeks finds, and to him that knocks, it shall be open. 

There's no doubt about it. It is certain. It is an absolute promise. What is more, it's a promise made by the Son of God Himself, speaking with all the fullness and authority of His Father. Again, God is not a genie. Thank God for that. 

He knows what's best for us. We can look back on life, especially things we wanted, things we prayed for that God didn't give us right away or at all. And we look back and we're like, Oh my goodness. Thank you God for not answering that prayer. Our job is to pray and whatever happens, worship him. Win, lose, high, low, young, old, happy, depressed, always be praising God because he's our father. 

He's our father in heaven. Quick preview. We're going to be doing a father's day TV special coming up in just a couple of days here. But what that means, what is a heavenly father? youtube . com slash at politics by faith. 

Thanks for listening to this wherever you're listening to it. You can watch as well on our YouTube page, youtube . com slash at politics by faith.

We are told Americans don't like soccer. I'm not sure that's true. The first World Cup game had more viewers than any game in the NBA Finals. Either way, it's interesting how much God uses sports to describe how we should live our life on earth. Run your race, receive the prize, and whatever you do, don't beat the air.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. It's where we take the news of the day and bring it to the Bible so we can walk away with some peace and perspective. New headlines every single day. But Ecclesiastes says there's nothing new under the sun. So thanks for being here to get the true story. The story of the day is the World Cup is a lot of fun. 

It's awesome. Let's celebrate the World Cup for a minute. They may crash out here soon. So let's enjoy a good, you know, patriotic national team victory while we can. This was only our 10th World Cup victory ever. It was against Paraguay on Friday. 

Paraguay leading up to the tournament after the World Cup. They beat Brazil. They beat Argentina, one of the best defenses in the world. And we scored four goals on them. We've never scored four goals in a World Cup game ever before. If we keep this up, we could legitimately win this thing. 

I don't know if we can win it. But we can go far and we can have fun. Now, hold on. Listen, I know what you're saying. You're saying, Slater, I don't care about soccer at all. Soccer's stupid, man. 

You don't have to. You don't have to care. My wife hates it with a passion. But after we won on Friday, she decided to be patriotic about it. Now I'll give you one opportunity to care. This is my one convincing of you to care about soccer for a month. 

A month of your life. That's all I ask. And I'm like moderate. low to moderate fan. I love, I like the World Cup because I like international sporting events, but soccer, like I played in high school or whatever. Like I like soccer. 

I get it. Um, but I'm going to, so I'm not like going to convince you to be the biggest fan of the world, but you like to like it for a little bit for a while. Uh, here's why, here's my one argument. We've got to pay. We've got a couple of patriotic things going now, right? The, uh, us hockey team won the gold medal flew around the moon the other day. 

And now we got this, like we had some good things happen in here and it's been fun. you look at the USA hockey team right they were having a blast they were winning but because they dared to love this country and because they also dared to talk to the president on the phone in the locker room the left decided to hate the hockey team now like winning on the international stage is right wing coded and it's flag waving so because of their tds tds the the left has to hate it All the more reason for us to love it. The New York Times, they wrote an article. It's a real life article. They said, uh, it wouldn't be a world cup without a problematic host. Russia in 2018, Qatar in 2022. 

Now the U S is on a slide under humanity's microscope. They're making fun of us overseas. That was, that was the tweet they sent out. New York Times that the tweet about that article, like, what are you talking about? The New York Times is writing about the problematic hosts of the World Cup. That's us. 

We're the hosts of the World Cup. You're putting us in the same category as Russia and Qatar. So that's my argument. The left hates winning. They hate patriotism. They hate the flag. 

They hate America. And we have all these awesome things that have happened recently. And this could be another fun one that the left hates. Therefore, we should love it. That's my argument. Can you get on board for like a couple of weeks? 

I don't know. Maybe they'll get blown out next week and the whole thing's over anyway. So I don't know. It is curious why Americans don't like soccer that much. This is like a fascinating question. Why is this not a more popular sport or why don't more Americans love soccer? 

And some things I've heard are like, our best athletes go into football, baseball, and basketball. and some hockey, right? But we're a big country. You'd think we'd still have some good soccer players, like enough to hang around. It's just not our thing. We just don't, I don't know why. 

There was a funny article I read about people in Boston asking all these Scottish people, right? So these Scottish people are showing up to Boston and the Boston people are like, what are you doing here? What brings you to town? And the Scottish people are very confused because this is the most important sporting event in the history of their country. that happens to be taking place in Boston. And the people of Boston don't even know that it's happening. 

I'm trying to think of any sort of analogy like that. Like, I mean, imagine we have a Super Bowl every year, but like, like the biggest Super Bowl ever for some reason, and it's taking place in Scotland and they don't even know, like Scotland doesn't even know. Like, oh, what do you, why are there so many Americans here all of a sudden? Like, that would be a weird thing. We just don't, we don't really get on board. At least maybe we don't. 

I think we do actually, more than, maybe this whole thing, maybe Americans do love soccer. I got some numbers I'll share in a second about the NBA ratings. The soccer ratings were higher than the NBA ratings, NBA finals. Anyway, here's my question as to why soccer's not more prominent in America. One reason I think is it's a weirder track to go pro in soccer. It's like basketball and football. 

Baseball is kind of weird too, but basketball and football, it's a pretty easy track or it's a clear path. You play in high school, then you play in college and then you go pro. But soccer, my understanding is there's like these developmental leagues from a young age. And then when you get a certain age, if you're really good, you go to Spain. And it's like, what's going to limit a lot of people. So college soccer isn't like the track you take. 

College soccer isn't like a big competitive sport. It's not how you play. it. It's not where the best go. The best don't go to play college soccer. Interesting. 

But then why not watching it? Why don't Americans like watching it? What is it about the American mind or the American psyche where we don't watch it? Is it as simple as we don't win? We're really, we just like things we win at. That's why my wife doesn't, my wife doesn't like it because not because we don't win it, but because sometimes no one wins. 

Tie. She hates the tie. My wife, with a passion despises the concept of tying in a sporting event. Great disgust that you can tie in a soccer game. She hates that. I think Americans don't like soccer because of the flops. 

The flops are so lame. Now, basketball players have started to flop, and I think their ratings show that as well. But I will say this, to that argument, I hate the flop. I was watching the USA game, of course, and a USA defender tripped a guy in Paraguay, and the American got the yellow card. And they took a free kick. Paraguay took the free kick. 

And then right after they took the free kick, the ref blew the whistle. Because I guess in the replay booth, they looked at the tape and the American guy never even touched the guy from Paraguay. Did not touch him. And you know the guy from Paraguay falls over like someone shot his leg, but never even touched him. So they took away the yellow card for the American and gave the yellow card to the Paraguayan guy for lying and cheating. flopping and making it all up. 

So there was some sweet justice there. And I like that a lot. I think that's really, I've been watching years ago and being like, why can't we not take care of this? And they did, they took care of that in FIFA. So that's really nice. And as a soccer fan or not, the fact that all these people from around the world are coming to America and loving it here, that's awesome. 

Scottish fans going to Texas barbecue this German guy Freddy going to Places that many people in America have never been to or heard of Fairhope, Alabama calling in the most beautiful places ever seen in his life Again places Americans have never been to Japanese fans going to Nashville, taking in the beautiful lights of Broadway and country music. It's all very fun to watch the rest of the world love this country. And I want all of us to fall in love with America again, too, just like these foreigners are loving their time here. I want Americans to love their time here, too. So that's been a fun aspect of, you know, of the tournament seeing all the people come here and uh and love it and love the sights love the scenery and love the people so maybe we'll go far in this tournament our next game is uh friday and then we got a game after that next thursday and maybe we'll go pretty far as my dad always said whenever there was an upset my dad always said that's why they play the game here are the numbers uh 25 million people watched the usa game most ever for an American soccer game. 

And it beat all of the NBA finals games. 16 million people watched game one and game two of the NBA finals. Then Trump went to game three. So I watched a little bit of game three. 23 million people watched. They got a nice bump for Trump, the Trump bump. 

And then game four went down to 20 million. And then game five was 17 million people. So even game three, the biggest one, 23 million people watched. That was the most watched NBA finals game since 1998. But more people watch the soccer game and wait until we make a run. would be 50, 60 million people watching these games, maybe 100 million if we get pretty far down the end. 

And that'd be great. So again, a good year for cool, awesome things. America hockey team winning gold flying around the moon. It's almost like we're it's almost like we're on the cusp of a golden age in America. Love that. All right. 

So let's go to the Bible here. I like I'll take opportunities to talk about athleticism and athletic references in the Bible. Think about this. This is very fascinating. You know, we think of the Bible as this Maybe certainly atheists, I shouldn't even say that, certain people, lots of people will think of the Bible as maybe something distant or far away or irrelevant or foreign. 

And this is true, that there's all these references, let's say to like even money, like a Daenerys or whatever. Like, I don't know what that money is. Or there's references to lengths or measurements that we don't use in America. So it can seem kind of foreign and different. A lot of references to farming, which used to be very applicable to Americans, but not so much to us anymore. But there are in the Bible tons of references to sports. 

God talks about running a race, receiving the prize, fighting the good fight, playing by the rules. Second Timothy 2 .5, an athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. Think about that. This is in the section Advice to a Young Pastor. You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will also be able to teach others also. 

" So go on, be, I'm coaching you. You player will become the coach. You go on and coach others, right? Pass it on, pass the truth, spread the word. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. 

Soldiers expect life to be hard. They expect their deployments to be uncomfortable. Athletes as well. Difficult to train. You're going to be uncomfortable. You're going to be sore. 

You're going to push the limits. Similarly, the Christian life. Difficulties will occur. But as Jesus said, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself. take up his cross and follow me. It's Matthew 16, 24. 

Spurgeon says, Paul does not exhort Timothy to be a common or ordinary soldier, but to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. For all soldiers and all true soldiers may not be good soldiers. There are men who are but just soldiers and nothing more. They only need sufficient temptation and they will readily become cowardly, idle, useless, and worthless. But he is the good soldier who is bravest of the brave, courageous at all times, who is zealous, does his duty with heart and earnestness as well. Charles Spurgeon. 

And part of being a good soldier also is not being concerned with the affairs of this life, right? You got to be focused. I just think of, Michael Phelps comes to mind, because I was a swimmer first of all, but he's also like, I mean, there's so many athletes we could do, but Michael Phelps first comes to mind. Just extreme, crazy amounts of focus, like focus, like nothing, it's just swim, eat, breathe, like that's the only thing that matters. Everything with a diet, everything with exercise, everything with sleep, everything is only focused around the day, swimming for the next meet, the ultimate goal, all to culminate in this one week of swimming competition. four years from today, right? 

That is maximum focus. There's no time for girls. There's no time for anything. No fun. You're never doing anything fun ever. You're just swimming. 

Maximum focus for sports. Now in sports, after the whistle blows, none of it matters. Just a game. But when the whistle blows to end our life, that's when eternity starts, right? So in sports, the game's over and then the rest of life goes on. When the whistle of life ends, that's when eternity begins. 

This life. the only thing that the only purpose of it is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and then love your neighbor as yourself. You do that, you win the game, and then you go to heaven for eternity. Pretty good. So I got off on a tangent because I mentioned just playing by the rules, right? You can't make up your own rules in the Christian life. 

Here is the Bible. Follow it. We're always trying to do things our own way. We need to play by the rules and do it God's way. Paul talks about wrestling, running, boxing, and all these sports. You got to follow the rules. 

And stay focused. Don't run aimlessly. Don't beat the air. 1 Timothy 4, 7, just like being ridiculous. You stay focused, train yourself for godliness. And like in sports, you got to have self -control. 

It's one of the biggest vices in America is lack of self -control. Everything's about feelings and whim. People go on emotions, not constantly, just emotions, like emotional, instant gratification all the time. That's not how it works in sports. Of course, there's no instant gratification in sports. It's ridiculous. 

There's a practice a lot all the time. That's why Paul says 1 Corinthians 9 .25, he says, every athlete exercises self -control in all things. Isn't that amazing? And the Greek word here literally is about athletes preparing for a big competition to not eat junk food, don't drink alcohol, just self -control related to your sport. But what Christians are doing is way more important, because the self -control that we're trying to show is not for a perishable wreath. At the Greek Olympic Games, you get this wreath, and then I don't know how long it would last, like a couple of days, and then it withers away, and you've got to throw it away. 

It's a perishable wreath. And I think about everything the athletes do to get one of those. But what we're trying to do is or what Jesus gave us, is an imperishable one, eternity. So enjoy the World Cup, enjoy the patriotism, enjoy the hospitality of the whole thing. And it's great, it's a fun month. 

I think it's a part of America's golden era. I think it's conservative and patriotic and good, and we should embrace it. And even if you don't like soccer, suck it up for a month, hop on board, it's fun. And also use it as a reminder. And also there's a bunch of Christian athletes. And on the soccer team, we have a bunch of Christian men who are leading the way and leading Bible studies and praying before the games and all that. 

And that's good. It should be encouraged as well. And as this is all happening, just think about the race that we're running every day here on earth and the imperishable crown that we will soon receive. YouTube . com. If you could please subscribe to that. 

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