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Blonde do filters. Gross. All right. No filter because that's how I am. Um, I know that I wanna talk to you about doctors. Um, I was on a plane once and there was a, uh, an issue a, a man who didn't speak English was in, had a seat in the emergency exit row and the stewardess struggled to get him to vacate that seat. And she asked if anyone spoke Spanish. And so I immediately, I leveraged everything I had learned in my decade of the military in not making any body language to indicate that to, to draw any attention. So, never volunteer for anything. That's what I learned in the military. And I waited to see if someone else would raise their hand and they didn't. And so I was like, so I raised my hand and she said you speak Spanish and I said I can manage. And, uh, I'm a little rusty and, um, anyway, I helped the guy move. There's a funny aspect to that story, but we'll just skip it for time. So, um, although there are some lessons in that. Anyway, I got some nice first class snacks. I didn't get moved to first class. That would have been even nicer. But hey, I'll take the, the nice snacks. Um, growing up poor you never lose appreciation for snacks. That's for sure. I haven't anyway, maybe, maybe someone else in a different boat. Um, so also on doctors, they are on doctors on planes when someone's sick. I was on a plane once and someone died and they said, is there a doctor on the plane? Um, so I was a little traumatic but uh more so for, for him than me, um, a little sick humor there. Um, so I've been on a couple of planes where this has happened. Um, and I never raised my hand even though technically I'm a doctor, I have a phd. Right? And why don't I raise my hand because I'm not a physician, right? So if I was on a plane or anywhere else and someone had their legs suddenly amputated or something like that, um, I know how to apply a tourniquet. And so I would do that to try to save that person's life or if there were some other, more minor first aid, I know how to do that and I would do that to try to help someone, even though I'm not a physician. Why? Because I know how to do it. Right . So we find cases where a title conveys an expectation of someone's ability to perform in the future. And there are also cases where someone possesses a title and it sounds the same, but it does not convey the expectation of performance in the future. There are also titles that are awarded because of performance in the past. So physicians are trained to do certain things in the future. And when they're completed their training, they receive their title. Other people are they receive things that they for, they receive recognition for things that they've done in the past and that may or may not convey any expectation of the future. So if you get a lifetime achievement award, no one's expecting you to achieve now, right? Or, or later, certainly not when you're dead in whatever contribution you made. Um So when it comes to religion, there are an awful lot of titles, right? Some of these titles you get . So they have doctorates in religion and some of those are academic where, you know, you're, you're not any kind of a minister, but you're just seen as an authority on whatever um near Eastern Table Building or something and you get a doctorate of religion and uh anytime there's a passage in the Bible that talks, talks about tables, you're the guy that's on the history channel or um you have, you have doctorates that do connect to some sort of ministerial performance, but they're still based on academic contributions. So for example, I could probably find some religious academic institution that could award me a doctorate in whatever because of one or more of the books that I've written, if I cared about that, I could probably pursue that. Um, now I'd have to take a bunch of bozo courses from bozo teachers and uh pay a bunch of money and, and that would be a lot of time. So there's a whole stack of reasons why I would never do that but that I shouldn't say never, never say never. But I can't imagine any reason for me to do that. But that's something I could do. And then there are, there are organizations, bodies or people that confer titles onto folks in religious senses. Um that, that might be closer to the, the medical profession where you're allegedly trained in what you're doing. And then once you're done your training, so this is like a seminary route, then you get a title and you go to work doing the things that you were taught to do. So, um how does God give titles? This is not uh an exhaustive treatise, by the way, I'm just touching on some ideas because they came to my head. Uh I, I'm gonna write a lot about this but, and I have written a lot about this. It's not published yet. How does God give titles? Well, that's a little different, right? Um But there are titles for things you have done and, and titles to inform expectations on what you will do. That that similarity carries over um the dissociation, the distances between what the world does in the sense the religious people, uh let me phrase this better. What are they most clearly mirroring the religious folks? Are they most clearly mirroring the academic world or God's Kingdom? And the answer is the academic world because I'm not aware of anybody who had to raise the dead or heal sick people miraculously to get their religious title. Are you? I know of a whole lot uh of types of religious titles in the world that require some kind of pronunciation or right from another person who already has that. But that's how the academic world works too, right? When you get a phd, you have a panel of phd s deciding if you're good enough. So, um and they help you, they coach you, they guide you along, but it's mostly independent and then they're just there to set the bar and tell you not good enough yet. Do this, do that. So, um what are examples of titles from God that refer to what an individual has already done? Um The lamb of God, Jesus is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Uh I could say a lot about that, but let's just leave it at that. What else? Um Some refer to what he has already done and what he will do such as the king of kings and the Lord of Lords. But that one's mostly about the future, not the past. Uh There's some really interesting scriptures that we could go into on that, but I won't. Right now, here is one that's, I thought this would video be easier or this, it's a live stream. I thought this is gonna be easier to talk about. But everywhere I look are things that I shouldn't talk about right now yet because to, to lay them out as they should be. I it's, they're actually bigger topics . Um Alpha and Omega is the one I was thinking of and to keep it safe, let's just talk about alpha. Uh Alpha is something he already did. Um All right. So maybe this wasn't the best but, but I hope that I've, I've at least. Ok. Well, let's, let's, let's shift off of the Lord and just talk about men that , that'll be safer. Priest. What is a priest according to God, a teacher, profit apostle King? Are these titles describing past performance? Or are they indicating or informing uh future expectations or performance? A priest has the preparatory process and a future performance, a profit. This one's fun . Does the profits. Mission began when he is called as a prophet. We'll leave that for another day. But you can investigate that king in God's kingdom. How does a king become a king? And if you say, well, there's only one king and it's Jesus. No, he is the arch king. He is the king of kings who are the kings that he is king of. Well, they're the kings in God's kingdom. They're princes too. So how does one, what's the preparatory process to become a king? And if anything, what is the future expectation of kings? If someone knows that God has given the title of prophet priest or king to a person, what should they expect of that person in the future or in the present? But I mean, after the title is given, what should, what should be expected from others of that person, from others. So these are important questions. But one thing is for sure, there are needs like getting a leg amputated or um needing a prescription for something which not legally normal people can't do, right. The pharmacy will not fill a prescription from Joe Blow down the street. It has to be Doctor Joe Blow from down the street, right? So, and that's an interesting one because prescriptions can't be filled outside of the state of licensing. So if my brother-in-law is a doctor in another state, he can't write me a prescription for, for my state, which is unfortunate. Um So it's a regional thing. It's geographically limited and there are equivalents of all of this in God's Kingdom. So um when a specific need arises in the world , there is a certain skill set in God's kingdom that's needed to solve that problem. And just like with medical skills versus medical training. Um and, and recognition for that, there is an overlap between these two. It's not clearly just one. So what, what I mean by this is, um, you don't have to be a prophet, quote unquote to know something about the future, even religious, somes about the future. Right. If you go down the list of duties of priests, you don't have to be a priest to do all of those things. Uh, any one of those things, there's a better way of saying that there's a collection of things that priests do that anyone could do if they know how to do it, right. And, and the same goes for kings. And so if you're, if you're looking for a person who has a title in God's Kingdom, make sure what you're actually looking for is someone who can do certain things in God's Kingdom. And if you're looking for someone who can do certain things, the title part of it is the least important part. It's just utility, can they or can't they? And then a funny thing arises. I wrote a chapter once this is in a book called Teaching for Doctrines and Commandments of Men. And it's called prophet title or description . The answers. Both. I'm not gonna paraphrase the chapter here. What I'm about to say is not equivalent to reading it. So don't think you're getting out of it if you haven't. And if you have read it, it's always good to reread. That's a good one. The answer is both though, if God calls you, like literally says, you are a prophet or he tells someone else that you're a prophet, then I guess you're a prophet, right? Thanks Sally. Exactly. Yeah, you said exactly too. Exactly. Square. Um, so if God says prophet and he connects that line to person, guess what? You're a prophet? Congratulations for the Ciudad is right. But, um, what comes with that is what matters, right. It's not the title. I don't care what you're called really, honestly. titles are really important. That's why Jesus has like a million of them. But why are they important? Why are they important? You know, I've talked about this before but I'm not sure it got out there. It may have been deleted along the way and maybe you haven't seen it. I don't know, but I have this theme. Um in my head, the Lord has used a phrase to attach to certain ideas called a thing must be what it is. It's so, so important. But what this is, I saw another person , Sally knows that person, Katie talking about on youtube talking about. Um She said something like it, I'm gonna mess this up but, but just sort of repressing the thought and if it's terrible, don't blame her, blame me. Um As you come to know God, he will show you who you are, but also who you were with him before this world was. And when he does that and as he does that because it's an unfolding thing, you will be amazed at how many things that you thought were just incidental aspects of your life and your personality are actually deeply etched inside of your identity from the eternity they came before. And this extends out to things that you would just, uh, uh, you'll have a different reaction depending on your personality. I think it's hilarious. I usually react to these things by thinking it's hilarious even when it's stuff that's actually quite, um, other people would interpret as a burden . I just, um, I wear it like a, like a soldier wears a, a medal on their chest because it all testifies of Christ. Even if it's in ways that other people would not revere as you do, would not glorify God to know. So as an example of this, Paul said that he carried in his flesh, the marks of what did he say? I don't remember the end of that, but he was, he was making a reference to the crucifixion. But what he was really saying was, um, he had physical burdens in his life that mirrored the suffering of Jesus in their own little weird way in his physical body. And that those things, um, that he was able to draw nearer to God through them and maybe demonstrate a little bit more about God to others. So I'll give you an example and we are way off topic here. I drink a ton of water. I have been super thirsty my entire life. And, uh, it's to the point where like a lot of my physical situations, I never noticed them until I was way older and God used them to teach me something about himself, the gospel myself, all of the above. Um, and when I don't drink water regularly and a lot of it, I immediately start experiencing symptoms of severe dehydration. So, what takes a normal person 24 hours without water to experience? That's like our number one or two for me. And um you know, I didn't know this going through situations where in the religious flavor I was in for a while. Once a month, I would go without food and water for at least 24 hours. And I just assumed that it was the same for everyone else as it was. For me, it turns out it was really, really hard for me. I did it, but it was um there was a lot of suffering in that for me. So, um what does that teach about God? Well, we don't all hunger and thirst the same, do we? Some of us are way more. This is terrible. This is, you know, Satan has a plan that includes co-opting language. And so slang tends to absorb deeply spiritual words like thirsty. And that's really unfortunate, but all of us are not equally thirsty, right? Some of us hunger and thirst way more than others. And it takes a lot more to become satisfied. Jesus said, whoever hungers and thirsts come to me and they'll be satisfied. And I asked him once I said, Lord, anytime we find something, it's a contradiction, we should ask him about it. It's a, it's a gold mine for further light and truth. I said, Lord, what do you mean here? Because I'm gonna pause my story and switch over to the apostles. Maybe it's safer and they went to him and, and Jesus was talking about how important it is to give everything for him. And they said, we've, we've left everything, Lord, what will we have in the resurrection? And that sounds like a greedy kid thing to say like, you know, on a holiday is that all after they open their presents. But it wasn't, it's, it's like when Thomas doubting Thomas said I won't believe unless I see it for myself. People say like, oh, he had such little faith, you know, he was heartbroken, he was heartbroken, you know, just because things look the same, don't, don't succumb to the temptation of interpreting other people's experiences. The for what it would mean to you or your motives, don't impute your motives onto other people because they're not the same as you, they're either better or worse every time, right? Depending on how good you are. That that's what will determine how often they're worse, but don't judge people who are better than you as having your same motives. And Thomas is in that category you weren't chosen to be with Jesus in his mortal ministry. Thomas was, you'd say, well, Judas was too and Judas deserved to be there until he didn't . And he has that over you. So, think about that anyway. Um, so we were talking about a thing must be what it is. I is just recently escaped from something that I don't wanna get into right now and I'm trying to get back in time through to where we were. Um, these live streams are rough thing must be what it is. We're talking about water, talking about how the same thing can look very different. We're talking about remembering. Well, not remembering but how aspects of our eternity imprint upon our modern life. Somebody's playing piano now. Um, hm, I can't remember where we started this whole thing on planes. Were we talking about planes? Three people are on the stream. Can someone help me out? Oh, like religious ministers and qualifications? Maybe that's where we were thing must be what it is anyway. So you have to think about what you are um, in need of the solution, what problem you have and , and you need to look for the solution. Unsolved problems are one of the paths to God. So everything that's good, true, beautiful, et cetera is in and fully expressed in God. It's from him and it is fully expressed in him. And so we follow any of those trails. It brings us closer and uh any limitation in that is just because we're o we're neglecting the other threats because you have to go up all of them at the same time. So um when you find an unsolved problem, that's one of the threads. And so looking for the solution will take you higher. Wi I was, as we talked about co opted, language titles have been co opted too and when you're looking for something, a a solution for sure, think about the titles of people that might have that solution, but their titles don't matter except in helping you find the solution. And if they're just leaving you uh to be on a hamster wheel where you're never finding you're ever learning and never coming to a knowledge of the truth. You're you're ever seeking, you're ever listening to people and you never find what you're looking for. You need to move on and find something else, right? So, so if you're bleeding to death, you don't need a doctor, you need someone to stop the bleeding. It just so happens that it's likely that if you find a doctor, they'll be able to help you stop the bleeding. But some random person who happened to get taught how to do tourniquet at basic training 20 years ago can also help you. And if that's what you've got, then that's what you should use. Now, how would you know that in that case, you'd have to ask you prob like I can't imagine any sit situation where someone would say, excuse me, does anyone know how to tie a tourniquet? Right? But maybe someone just says help and you say like, well, maybe I could have something I could help with and you show up and, uh, or they might say is their doctor? All right. I think you get where this is all going and I could probably drone on more about this, but that, maybe that's good enough for now. Um Let me think anything else. I'm trying to preview the things I wish I had said as soon as I stop this. Um OK, I was just praying and there's one more thing that the Lord would like me to mention here, which is a lot of times. Um Let's see. How can I phrase this? Hm. Trans Yeah. OK. Um When we, ok, when we have, when we have unsolved problems many times in our searching, we find things that are good enough for now or they seem good enough for now. Um But the um truth is that that in time or with greater experience, they're revealed to not be good enough. I've talked about this under the theme of placeholders, super important, super important. It's really important to let go of things as soon as they're shown to not be what you need. And the reason for that the tendency we have is to hold to things even though they don't fit what we need and because it's more comfortable to sort of keep us company or have something in the slot until the real thing comes. But so often the real thing cannot come while there is no space for it. And holding to other things occupies the space, you will find that as you draw closer to God, this becomes more and more true at, at a deeper level and it's more often true, et cetera. Because what is the greatest of all God? And what's the first commandment ? You have to love God with all your might mind and strength your whole heart. You can't have two gods. You can't have two things that are most important if you can only have one and there are many things that will tolerate competition, but God is not one of them and the closer you draw to Him, the more you will find that whatever doesn't fit directly in his system can't fit at all. So that's very important to remember. And how does this apply to finding people to help you with what you need? If you're going to church? Ask yourself why and whatever the reasons are, flip it around and say is this the best way to find what I'm looking for. If it's not, then you shouldn't do it. And if you say well, but I don't know what else to do. I know this doesn't work. But I don't have another thing I've heard so many people say, but what church should I go to stop with the church thing? Why are you doing it ? And is it the best way, go find the best way if you don't know, at least, you know, it's not working, it's not doing what you think it should. So why are you continuing to do it? Now, the funny thing about this is that you, you might say, well, wouldn't it be great if God sent what goes into that while I was still in the other thing? And then I could compare and contrast and move up without a gap. Well, ok, and that does happen. But why does it happen so infrequently it doesn't, actually, the problem is you don't see it when it happens because you're so occupied with the thing that's taking up space . That shouldn't be that you can't notice it when it comes and that might seem fanciful. And I, you know, I, I listed church as one specific example. There are millions of these things, could be relationship of any type, right, friends, romantic, whatever it could be, um, could be a job, it could be , um, hobby, it could be something you're trying to learn. And so when you get serious about what you actually have, one part of that is you have to get serious about what you don't have and let go of all the impostors, let go of all the impostors. If, if you think you have priesthood for example, and yet you can't do any of the things that everyone with actual priesthood always did. Then maybe you don't have priesthood. Maybe you should list out what you're looking for and say like Abraham that I'm looking for XYZ and then go find it. And Abraham was a stranger in a strange land. He wandered in a land that was given him as a promise to what he was looking for, but he was told it was his descendants that would receive it, not him. And so he just kept wandering and he didn't accept some lesser thing to put in as a placeholder. He kept it empty because that's what God requires. Don't embrace things that aren't good enough, right? And like even things that are bridges in a lit in a, in a figurative sense, you would not just stand on a literal bridge. Forever. Bridges do not exist to be ST stood on, they exist to be walked across. So that's different. This is great. Sally just made a comment, she goes to church, but she goes to specific meetings with speci specific groups that the Lord tells her to go to. And that's great. You know exactly why you're doing it right? And of course, always do whatever God tells you to do. Um Then Cindy said, God draws us to him, but it's up to us to disentangle ourselves from everything that pulls us away from Him. Absolutely. So God speaks and then he waits he watches and he waits, he injects his word and we have to sort it out, the light shines and makes a difference between what was previously und differentiated, right? But we have to separate it. It's a sword of truth. Priests cut things and God gives us a sword. He gives us a sword to make a difference. So anyway, so make a difference. And don't, don't just say, well, this person has a title. Therefore, I'm gonna hear him preach. You're not going for a title, are you? I mean, what the heck, if, what they're saying isn't anything more than you could get from reading the scriptures. Why not just sit home and read the scriptures? Because odds are you're gonna get more out of it anyway. But if that's not the case, if you go and your socks are knocked off by the things you're learning, then hey, you have a reason. Great. That's wonderful. So there's that, I've, I've heard people say they go to church for fellow shipping and I said, what do you mean by that? And they're like, you know, just to get together with like minded people. Why don't you just do that in your house? At least then you could have snacks, right? So, or they say like, well, we have kind of a, uh, I don't know, a community congregation here. We take turns on who's, who's um, who's preaching, who's sharing a message? Ok. Well, why can't you do that in your house. You could do that on youtube and share it with the world and reach a whole lot more people. You could do everything you're doing in a much better way. So, why not do it in a better way? Well, beca, and it turns out why are they doing it? Because everyone else does it that way. That's the only reason. That's not a very good reason. That's, that's probably one of the worst reasons you can have because if something is popular, it's very unlikely that it's what's best. Right. Anyway, I'm gonna run. So, thanks for joining me. And if you're watching us at a later date, I hope you got something out of it that's useful to you. Take care.