 Target is removing some items from its stores and making other changes to its LGBTQ plus merchandise nationwide. This comes days ahead of Pride Month and after an intense backlash from some customers, including violent confrontations with workers. Transgender issues like gender-affirming health care and participation in sports have been divisive topics here in Texas and across the country in recent months. AP is telling everybody that Target is only selling tuck-friendly swimsuits for adults. Apparently, trans people will always exist. Oh, here we go. Design for comfort and confidence, tuck-friendly construction with extra crotch coverage. Does this look like an adult swimsuit? No, it doesn't. It's interesting. Scotty, beat me up. Well, welcome to the BCV channel. I am your host, Pastor Seiko Woods. Please do the following. Please like, subscribe, share, hit the notification bell at the bottom of this video. That way, whenever I go live and post any content, you'll be one of the first to view it. Also, if you'd like to support this ministry financially, you can do so by clicking the donation links below at the bottom of the video as well. We do thank you so much. Those of you who have been consistent and faithful and supportive of this ministry also love life and marriage with the woods. If you have not done so, please do so by going over to Love Life and Marriage with the Woods on YouTube and hit the subscribe button. That way, we'll be able to continue to keep our content, our videos going. We are going to be releasing more content on that channel as well, too. We do appreciate it. And thank you so much. Those of you who have been just faithful followers and supporters and subscribers to this channel and also the Love Life and Marriage with the Woods channel. But if you'd like to be a body life, a body lifers are those who like to support the ministry. They have made this ministry and Love Life and Marriage with the Woods a part of their regular support and online giving. Outside of the support of the local church, we are huge on supporting your local fellowships. If you are a member of a local church, we hopefully, prayerfully, that you always support those who feed you the Word of God consistently on a weekly or daily basis. And so definitely do that first and foremost. If the Lord has blessed you with any other residual resources and you like to support ministries such as this, we definitely appreciate it. We just thank you. There's no obligation at all. You can start. You can stop at any time. And so we do thank you for that as well, too. BCV, the BCV store is open. You can also support this ministry by going to the BCV link below the bottom of this video. And also it'll be ticked across the screen later on near the end of the broadcast. And so you can support ministries financially. You can also support it by purchasing merchandise. Either way, we thank you all so much for that. Moderators, thank you for holding it down. Great to see all of you in the in the house, in the YouTube family, Facebook family, thank you for joining as well. Got a couple of people already in the Facebook chat. Go ahead and share the video if you have not done so already. We do appreciate that. Thank you so much, Brother James, Brother Raymond. Thank you. Appreciate that little roll call for those who are just joining on the YouTube side, RJC, do appreciate that. Thank you for joining. Happy feet. Good to see you as well. Gracious me. Good to see you, sister. Brother Cliff, you're going to have to go over to or either maybe one of the mods can link or post a link to brother. What is his name? Just that quick. Old age is getting to me, y'all. What is his name? Whose channel I was on earlier this week? Yeah, I know who he is. When you get old, you get forgetful. But anyway, JP, Brother JP, go hit this channel or either JP uncut, maybe moderate, you can go over there and clip the link and drop it over here for Brother Cliff. So, but I do appreciate that. Elite Energy, good to see you as well. Daniel, good to see you. That's funny. David Ruck, good to see you. Susan Christina, good to see you as well. Miss Bobby, good to see you. Who else do we have so far? I already got the thumbs down. I haven't said anything yet. Just saying hello. Fix your face, good to see you. I rebuke you, good to see you. Steve, good to see you as well. Thank you for joining. Appreciate everybody for joining. And those who are coming in later on, stragglers, welcome to the BCV channel. And of course, as always, you need to make sure that we lay out the rules for those who are joining and are in the chat and may want to try to get their shots in on people. Here are the rules. Any and all guests who make disrespectful and dishonest comments in the chat and refuse to cam up upon invitation or request will be banned immediately. And trust me, we make good on our promise. We make good on our promises here on the BCV channel. So all we ask you for you to do is try us. And we will oblige. No questions asked. Regina Siobhan, good to see you, sister. Haven't seen you in a while. And I appreciate that. Thank you. She said, first time watching a live. But I always watch the videos. Thank you. I appreciate that, sister. Thank you and welcome. Welcome to the channel. Welcome to the live. Hope you're being blessed by what we are going to be talking about today. Brother Jordan, good to see you as well. Good to see you. Good to see you. But yeah, so of course, I always got to give the wife her proper. She's in the house. And of course, always good to see her, my rib. But yeah, so welcome, everyone. God's ministry, good to see you, brother. Good to see you. Baptist 702. OK, that's fine. If you make any disrespectful comments, then definitely I'll consider bringing you on. But in the meantime, just watch the stream and enjoy the broadcast. And if you can, if you would like, you can email me. Let me know what you want to come up about. How about that? How about that? Email me. Moderators, put the email in the link, if you don't mind. And if Baptist 702 has an issue or umbridge or wants to have a discussion or dialogue, that's fine. And depending on the time and depending on what the discussion or the topic is, then maybe we'll see about maybe scheduling a discussion. I have no problem with that as well. But that's the link right there, Baptist 702. Email me. Let me know. And then we can probably see what we can make happen. Thank you. Oh, by the way, so shout out to my sister Shireen. I am wearing a new BCV shirt, another design that will be on the channel. And just to let you see it right now, this is the It's a Detroit thing, what up, though? You see that? It's a Detroit thing, what up, though? Y'all see that right there? Pretty cool, isn't it? Pretty cool. So shout out to sister Shireen. I did personally thank her so much for supporting and bringing ideas and making my statements and things like that to put it on shirts and designs. And so I definitely appreciate it. And so yeah, so publicly shout out to my sister Shireen. And for that, let me give her and show some love as well, too, with that. It's for Shireen. Thank you so much, my sister. Thank you, thank you, thank you. All right, yeah, it does, don't it? I'm telling you, it is slaps. Go hard. She's redeem, good to see you as well, ma'am. Yeah, it is. I'm telling you, I like it. Nice quality shirt. I mean, it's not a flimsy material. I mean, it's real good quality. So I definitely, I'm feeling this. I'm feeling her work. And so I had to get people to their propers. Yes, Shireen from New York, exactly. Yes, yes. Yes, so anyway, let's get into the, yeah, I got to, bro. I got to, I got to. I mean, I've been, I've been here almost, I guess it's almost 30 years. I came here in 94. I got out of the Navy in 92, yeah. Got out of the Navy in 92, went back home and tried to stay in Detroit. I was going to try to work full-four with my dad, worked at, but the business was dry and stuff like that. They weren't doing any hiring. So I have family and everything here and here in Texas. And so, went ahead and moved here in 90, in 94, in 94, sub-minus since 1994. So, but yeah, born and raised, I can't, I can't get that out of my system. So, I mean, I love the Faygolds. I love the Vernors. Let me ask you all this question before we get into the, this is off topic, but let me ask you all the question. How many of you have heard of this soda or this drink? We call it POP in Michigan. I haven't called it POP in years, but nonetheless. Have you ever had a drink called Vernors, V-E-R-N-O-R-S? Look it up online and you can see what I'm talking about. That drink is so strong. It's a soda, by the way. It's a soda, but that drink is so strong that once you open up the bottle or pop the top and you sniff it, inhale it, the carbon, I mean, it makes you cough. It's like liquid chronic, but listen, it's good though. Yeah, yeah, look it up, look it up. They just said, listen, when I came here, when I came in from Detroit to Texas, I went to Fiesta's store called Fiesta, if you're not from Houston, man, I know what it is. But I went to a store called Fiesta and I saw that they had some Faygo, some Faygo pops there. Man, they had the red, they had the orange, they had a strawberry, I think it was, but I know it was red pop. But anyway, man, I was grabbing them things, look, man, and trying to stock pot on joints back in the day. But yeah, so anyway, that's the drink that I used to have, yeah, Vernors. Yep, yep, exactly, probably Vernors. Yes, thank you, Virginia. Yes, so you have heard of it. It's like ginger ale. My parents used to keep that in their secrets. Yeah, yeah, I'm telling you. Put them up on games, sis, I'm telling you. But yes, so anyway, this is, he said, yeah, probably it's a guy moved to Texas. Yes, I did, met that fine thing at Bank of America, had her sign my receipt book and I used to look at her name and how she signed it. Her last name was York, but she signed it, Sharon York. And other people could have signed my receipt book, so I wanted to make sure she signed it. I didn't care about nobody else signing it. I mean, love you, sister Becky. Becky was one of her best friends back in the day, but Becky used to work there and I used to want her, I used to want my wife to at the time, wanted Sharon to sign it. She remembered them days, she remembered, and I tried to make sure that I got there before she left too. I listen, I don't care if I had missed other deliveries and pickups. I was going to Bank of America on I-10 in Dunham, wherever it was, Dunham North Shepherd, I sure did. But anyway, that's my memory lane. But yeah, so thank you all for joining. Let's get into the topic at hand. This is going to be, I hope, I hope. This is going to be one of those streams, one of those lives that I want to make you think. Well, I hope, I hope every broadcast I'm forcing us to think biblically. My goal, brothers and sisters, is to make the word of God to come alive, to make it really come alive so that you can see that the word of God rightly applied, rightly interpreted, has the answers for everything that you and I need as followers of Christ. Whether it is by preceptor of law, whether it is by principle, whether it is by pattern of practice, if we do what the word of God says and stay faithful to it, we'll see results. It may not be what we always want, but faithfulness is what we are desiring to be to our Lord, to our Master, right? And so I just believe that when we see news stories, like the one I had mentioned earlier in this stream about Target, what does the word of God say? I mean, is it clear cut? Is it iron clad? Is it in black and white? Or is it some things that we as Christians can we apply? Can we just deduce from it? Can we pull applications and principles that we can all glean from? So I just, I believe that we can. Now, there are some things that the word of God teaches that we are not to do, then this bottom line, we don't do it. There's nothing to debate, there's nothing to debate, discuss or dialogue about. Nothing, nothing, nothing to deliberate about, nothing. If God's word says it, it's a command, we are commanded, we are obligated to obey it. But if there's freedom, if there's liberty, if there's room for us to be able to operate by the dictates of our conscience, not someone else's conscience, but by the dictates of our own conscience, as informed as we are by the word of God, then I believe that we should do that. But I'm noticing, I'm noticing that there's sometimes a lopsidedness when it comes to issues regarding the LGBT, regarding the woke agenda, regarding the liberal agenda in the body of Christ. Now, I just wanna present hopefully a balanced view of this because I think there's two extremes and we need to be people of balance and reason. So I wanna share some scriptures because I want us to basically have a foundation. I'm gonna build on it with more texts and more scriptures as well too. But I want us to be reminded of some things. I want us to be reminded that as Christians, we need to be people of balance and fairness. We don't have the liberty, nor do we have the license to be double-minded. I know that there are a lot of people who think that we shouldn't have convictions, we shouldn't be able to make decisions that are clear-cut, but yeah, we can. But we need to be consistent. I strive to be consistent, I strive to be balanced by God's grace and everything that I do. So, but one of the warnings that we need to be mindful of is that we don't operate in imbalance or go to extremes or are inconsistent and or as I say, consistently inconsistent. So in Proverbs chapter 11 verse one, we've all seen it before but for the sake of repeating it because repeating things are good. Help us just to remember. The Bible says a false balance is an abomination to the Lord but a just weight is his delight. A false balance, unjust scales, being in balance, being wishy-washy or if you're going to one side, you're not consistent in what you're holding to. A false balance is an abomination to the Lord but a just weight is his delight. Matthew 5, 13 through 16, the Bible says, you are the salt of the earth but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill can not be hidden. Notice anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket but on the lamp stand and it gives light to all who are in the house. Verse 16, let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, notice and glorify your father who is in heaven. Romans chapter 12 and verse two, we start at verse one for context it says, therefore I urge you brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice. A living and holy sacrifice, notice the body, the whole of us that includes, we subject the flesh to the will of God. There lies the war with the soul and the spirit realm and the fleshly realm, right? But anyway, that was the other debate and yesterday's discussion, look it up on my channel. But it says, I urge you brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship, which is logical. That's the least we should do in light of what Christ has done for us. If you read the first 11 chapters of Romans, you see what we were, what God did, who we are and what he says we are to do now as being followers and being ambassadors and recipients of the grace of God. He says verse two, now onward to present our bodies a living sacrifice, living and holy sacrifice, but we're not to be conformed, fashioned, shaped, contoured according to the world, according to the culture, but to be transformed by what? The renewing of your mind. That's what we're called to be. And notice it's our responsibility, we're to do this. We're to be transformed by renewing of our mind. The transformation gets passed. We allow ourselves to come under the spirit's domain, the spirit's rule, and that causes our minds to be renewed, because we no longer are to be conformed to the world, but by the feeling of the spirit, since we're already new creations in Christ, right? Then we're to be transformed, we're to be changed, excuse me, by the renewing of our mind, notice. And here's the purpose, here's the purpose clause. So that you may prove, yes. So that you may prove that you may show what the will of God is, and what is that? That which is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 14-22, the faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Notice, the faith that you have, the conviction, the belief that you have, he says, have as your own conviction before God. If what you believe about target is what you believe, let it be your conviction. And it's okay, notice, literally, according to yourself, let it be your conviction, according to yourself and God. That's it. Happy is he or she who does not condemn himself in what he approves. If you wanna go to target, and we used to go to target for the popcorn, I don't know about anybody else, their popcorn was man, it was straight blazing. Now, I didn't get mad because they didn't get rid of the thing on popcorn machine. Like what? You didn't get rid of the dog on popcorn? So now what am I gonna do? Nonetheless, if you wanna go to target and buy a pack of gum and your conscience is not convicting you, then praise God. But remember, the conscience is to be informed by the canon, not the other way around. Not the other way around. But the text says, happy is he or she, rather, who does not condemn himself in what he approves. And I'm sharing all these texts with you because I want you to remember who we are and what we are and what Jesus himself in John 17 prayed for. Notice John chapter 17, verse 11, he says, I am no longer in the world. And yet they themselves are in the world. He's talking about his disciples, but it's also applied to us because we are in the world too and we are disciples of Christ now. But notice, they themselves are in the world. Jesus says, I'm no longer in the world. I'm about to leave. I'm about to be out of here. But neither am I tied to this world. But notice, he says, they themselves are in the world and I come to you, holy Father, keep them in your name. Listen, if God doesn't keep us, it doesn't matter what we say. If Christ isn't praying for us, it doesn't matter what we do. He says, keep them in your name. Keep them in your power. Keep them in your love. Keep them in your divine protection. He says, keep them in your name, the name which you have given me that they may be one even as we are. Notice, verse 14, verse 14, he says, I have given them your word. Notice, so as Christians, we have the word of God, ladies and gentlemen. We have the word of God. Are y'all hearing me? If you're hearing me what I'm saying, give me a one. Christ said, I have given them your word. Christians, you and I have the word of God. We have his manual. We have the SOP. We have the spiritual standard operating procedures. We know what to do, brothers and sisters. Are y'all hearing me? We know what to do. He have not left us clueless in this world. He says, I have given them your word. And listen, if he's given us the word and we're applying the word, guess what's gonna happen? Look at the portion of the text. And the world has hated them. And the world has hated them. Not because they went by a pair of boxes or a pair of panties or a box of coffee pods for their curator. I think I called it right, hope I did. But nonetheless, the world didn't hate us because we went to the store and bought a pack of gum. No, they hate us because we're keeping his word. I have given them your word and the world has hated them. Why? Because they are not of the world. Even as I am not of the world. Listen to me. Look at my eyeballs for a second. Why didn't God just save us and snatch us a body here? You know, like he did Enoch, like he did Elijah. Why didn't God just save us and rapture us up out of here? Like Anita Baker? Why we didn't get caught up in the rapture? Surely it would have been easier. We would have to go through all the trouble. We'd have to go through all the mess. We wouldn't have to worry about any of this stuff. Just save us and snatch us out. And we come back when you're ready to establish your ruling reign on the earth. But no, he didn't. Why? Why didn't God leave us here? Why did God leave us here? He left us here on purpose and for a purpose because we gotta do some things. We have some work to do. That's why there are other people that he wants to save through us because remember what I showed you in Matthew 5, verse 13 through 16, we're salt and light. We're different. Not only are we different but we're distinctly different in lighter tracks and not only does light attract but salt changes whatever it touches. Therefore, he left us here to be a change to the culture, not to be like the culture but be a change within the culture. And this is why the world hates Christians. Verse 15, he says, I do not ask you to take them out of the world but notice, but to keep them from the evil one. But to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world. Christians don't belong to this world. Therefore, the world hates us. We would never agree with their worldview, with their system, with their beliefs. Why? Because they are antithetical to the authority of God's word. That's why. That's why. I hope and pray we remember this. You going to Target or you going to Starbucks to get a cup of coffee or whatever shouldn't be the issue here. Now, if you're subscribing to ungodly things then that's a different issue. That's another life. But I put up a poll question in the chat and over 80% of people agree that Christians should boycott Target. My goal is to help us to think this thing through and be consistent. And you'll see what I'm talking about in just a moment. First Peter chapter two, verse 12, the Bible says, keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles. Why? So that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers they may because of your good deeds, notice because of your good deeds, as they observe, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. That sounds so familiar. That sounds so Matthew 516. Doesn't it? Of course it does. Matthew 516, Matthew 9, 8, John 13, 31, Peter 411, excuse me, and 16. That's why. See, we don't give the world reason to slander, reason to blaspheme our God if we're living and being salt and light. They're gonna have to concede that we're different than the culture by how we live, by what we do. Not because you go to Target or you don't go to Target or you go to Starbucks or you don't go to Starbucks. If that's what makes you different and makes you a Christian then we're in big trouble. And you see what I mean in just a moment. But I just wanted to, I wanted to just lay that out for just for a moment because I want us to remember something here because we have to ask ourselves some questions, okay? We're gonna have to ask ourselves some serious questions. If we are, if we're going to go at Target then I want to just share some things with you. And I'm gonna share my screen right now and I want you to look at, we're gonna go through some of these articles, just a few of them, okay? This is February 28, 2023. Retail Dive, it says, Target profits continue to slide as discretionary purchases slow. And this is the store actually, this is the store that's in our neighborhood, in our area where we live, Katie Cipher's area. Yep, this is the store, new store. It says, same day services, which include in-store pickup, drive-up and ship increased 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Quarter four making it more than 10% of Target sales. We'll be teleported on a Tuesday earnings call. Increased customer traffic drove comparable sales up to 0.7%. Revenue for the quarter was nearly 31.4 billion. Target said its full year sales increased 2.8% to 107.6 billion from 104.6 billion last year. So you see the different figures, right? The third bullet point says, Target's 2022 operating income of 3.8 billion was down 57% from 8.9 billion year over year. The retailer said higher freight and supply chain costs, along with increased compensation and headcount and distribution centers drove its full year gross margin rate down to 22.7 from 25.7% year over year. It says, Target achieved comparable sales growth in quarter four despite a challenging economic environment. C.O. Brian Cornell said, strengthen food and beverage, beauty and household essentials offset softness and discretionary purchases. However, however, the Minneapolis based retailers profits continue to slide with operating income down more than 50%. 50%. In the third quarter, while Target posted comp sales growth of 2.7% operating profit dropped by about half from the same last year. During the earnings call, Target executive referenced how unexpectedly difficult the economic environment was in 2022, even compared to the height of the pandemic and how inflation and supply chain challenges affected retail. So he just talks about the different struggles that they have. He said, if you had told me in 2020 and late 2020 and during the height of the pandemic that 2022 would be the most challenging operating environment in my career. Well, I would have assumed you were joking. John Mulligan said, our environment remains volatile and we expect 2023 will have its own unique set of challenges, end quote. So it gives you some perspective regarding some of the issues that they've had in the last year. This other article here from Alex Phillips. This was May 12th of this year, quote, Target's LGBTQ plus pride range sparks boycott calls after Bud Light controversy. So you see this, a recently released range of clothing by Target for LGBTQ plus pride month, which takes place every June, has provoked outrage on social media with calls for the retail to receive the Bud Light treatment. The beer brand has been in broad and controversial since the beginning of April, after it sent a commemorative can to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney to celebrate her first year of transitioning to a woman. The promotional move sparked calls for a boycott and industry data shows sales of Bud Light decline more than 17% across the month. Several brands have been the target of condemnation from conservatives over marketing advocating for the LGBTQ plus community. While experts have said such campaigns provide an opportunity for brands to appeal to customers and new markets. Critics have accused companies of alienating their traditional customer base. The controversy sit at the heart of the culture wars and speak to a broader debate around the acceptance of LGBTQ plus individuals in private life and so on and so on, it goes. Referring to the children's clothes on display, Gaze Against Groomers, which describes itself as a quote, organization of Gaze against the sexualization, indoctrination and medicalization of children quote, says quote, they're indoctrinating and grooming them with LGBTQ ideology. It is highly inappropriate and disturbing. And we can agree with that, right? This is not cool, quote unquote, clown world. A California based company, based clothing company with a large Twitter following said screw target, they're targeting children. Well, when have they not? When have they not? According to the Daily Mail, Target has produced a range of items for Pride Month for a decade. Pride Month is celebrated every June as well as sponsoring a number of Pride events. But Light is among the five of America's 10 most popular beers to have LGBTQ plus partnerships. Partner ships. The two are not the only brands to have recently faced boycott calls over pro LGBTQ plus marketing in April. Whiskey maker, Jack Daniels calls our rage after teaming up with three drag queens for a Pride Month promotion despite the campaign being nearly two years old. Prior to that, chocolate makers Hershey's faced a similar response to an advertising campaign in February after including a transgender rights activist face on special chocolate bar rappers in Canada for International Women's Day. Now, the question we need to ask ourselves is this, how far are we as Christians? How far are we as Christians are willing to go with our boycotts? If we're starting with Target, if we're starting with Target, three years ago we were talking about boycotting Starbucks for their symbols and things of that nature, right? My question is, how far are Christians willing to go with their boycotting? Now, my thing is do what you want to each his own. Do what you want. If you feel that Target should be boycotted and only Target should be boycotted because of their position and because of their support and because of their stance, then I have some questions to ask you. Why only Target? Why not every company? And I do mean every company that supports the rainbow agenda. Whether it be this with Target, whether it be side of my marriages, how far are Christians willing to go with that? And how can you thrive and survive if you are going to ban every company, every manufacturer, everything that supports what we as Christians know God abhors? That's the thing, but I'm not done. I have some other questions to ask after I read some of the information to you. This is from the Human Rights Campaign. 200 plus major US companies oppose anti-LGBTQ plus state legislation. You see that? 200 plus, this was last year in March of 2022. The number has grown to 379 last, I checked in the last other report I have here. But nonetheless, over 200 plus major US companies oppose. They're against people being against the LGBTQ and their ideologies and their philosophies. Quote, today the Human Rights Campaign and Freedom for All Americans announced that more than 200 major companies have joined together to sign on to the Human Rights Campaign and Freedom for All Americans business statement on anti-LGBTQ plus legislation. Together, these companies are united in opposing the wave of anti-LGBTQ plus legislation, much of which specifically harms, according to them, much of which specifically harms transgender youth and states across the country. Now, take that for what it is, I mean, how do you say harm, what are they being physically assaulted? If they're being physically assaulted, then that's different, that's wrong, that's sin. There's still image barriers, whether they're confused or not, but words matter. And you can hear gaslighting when you see it. It says the list of signatories have more has more than quadrupled. You see this in the past year. Quote, every day more and more major businesses are refusing to sit idly by as state legislators across the country push anti-transgender legislation and other bills affecting their LGBTQ plus workers, customers and clients, said Johnny Madison or Johnny Madison Interim President, Johnny Madison Human Rights Campaign. Quote, cruel legislative attacks, especially against transgender youth, force employees to choose between states where they can provide for their families and where the LGBTQ plus children can live without fear. Businesses know it's hard to attract employees under ideal circumstances and that it is almost impossible to convince top recruits to relocate to places where legislators are working overtime to deny the LGBTQ plus youth opportunities to fully participate in daily life. In an already competitive job market, these attacks make recruitment and retention even harder. We thank the over 200 companies who are calling on lawmakers who want to maintain a strong business climate in their state to stop pushing this discriminatory legislation, end quote and it goes on and on but I wanna scroll down to the names and to the lists of companies that have joined in and have signed this statement. The companies joining this statement do business, create jobs and serve customers throughout the United States. We're deeply concerned by the bills being introduced in state houses across the country that single out LGBTQ plus individuals, many specifically targeting transgender youth for exclusion or differential treatment, this says. And notice the names as business leaders dedicated to equal treatment, respect and opportunity for all as well as to improve the financial and investment climate across the country. We call for public leaders to abandon or oppose efforts to enact this type of discriminatory legislation and ensure fairness for all Americans. Signed and here are the following names of these companies. Tell me if you see any of these companies that you that you support, that you buy goods and services from. Pretty sure some of you can see. And they are in alphabetical order. Look, there's Amazon, there's American Express, American Airlines, Honda, Apple. I got a Mac. Do y'all see that? AT&T. I'm just saying if we're gonna go hard in the paint and Boycott and Boycott Target, Target is this T in the alphabet. We just in the age right now and some of us got their products in our house. Are we gonna Boycott Apple? You're not gonna buy Apple? You're not gonna buy AT&T? You're not gonna, I mean, I'm just asking. If you do, that's fine. I'm just saying how far we wanna go with this? Let's continue. Let's continue. Look at all these companies. If any of these companies that you have products or that you have purchased stuff from, put the names in the chat. Put the names in the chat. And this is not the clown or it's a shame. I'm just saying, if, you know, I mean, my wife can put our products in there that we bought from too as well. But look at these names. We're just in G's right now. GM, General Motors, General Mills, Serial. Asia Nile Block. Some of us don't do our taxes. I guess somebody has to do it. Notice, Google, HP, Hewlett Packard, Hilton, Hyatt, Ikea. You see that? Look at all these names. We're in the AMs now. Microsoft, I have one of the, I have a PC from them, too. I'm not done yet, ladies and gentlemen. This thing goes deeper than, you know, what we're talking about. This is bigger than Target, y'all. Look at the names, y'all. Look at it, of course, Target is in there. You see Target, right? T-Mobile, Twitter, Uber, Union Pacific, United Airlines, Verizon, you know, Disney is down. Wells Fargo, Zoom, just, that's just one. Here are the 379 companies urging the Supreme Court to support same-sex marriages. 379 corporations and employer organizations, what date was this? This was in 2017, yes, December 6th, 2017. 379 companies support same-sex marriages. 379 corporations and employer organizations urge the Supreme Court to strike down state bans on gay marriage. Employers, quote, are better served by a uniform marriage rule that gives equal dignity to employee relationships, end quote, reads a brief, fired by the global law firm Morgan Lewis, quote, quote. Allowing same-sex couples to marry improves employee morale and productivity and reduces uncertainty and removes the wasteful administrative burdens imposed by the current disparity of state law treatment. The list provided in full below includes corporate behemoths, behemoths rather such as Coca-Cola, Goldman Sachs, Google, Morgan Stanley. It also includes brands like Ben & Jerry's, a division of Unilever, and supports teams such as the New England Patriots, San Francisco Giants, and Tampa Bay Rays. And here's some of the lists right here. See that? Edna, Amazon, yep, I mean, what we gonna do, y'all? Amazon, Apple, AT&T, Bank of America, Barnes & Nobles, Barnes & Noble, rather. Just look at these names. It's a lot of companies, isn't it? Almost done, but I'm not done. Just saying, Delta Airlines, how you gonna get around? eBay, Facebook, of course, right? General Electric, GE, what are we gonna do, Saints? How now shall we live, huh? Chase Bank, look at these names, y'all. Microsoft, New England Patriots, Nike, see that? Office Depot, what you say? Yeah, Pepsi, look at all these names. We're in the P's now, QR, now we're in R's. Look at this, San Francisco Giants, the Seattle Lesbian, LLC, Staples, Starbucks, Target, of course, right? United Airlines, Viacom, of course, Disney, see that? Wells Fargo, mentioned them earlier, Xerox, and so forth. Big oil companies, what is this? Why you bring up the oil companies? You'll see, you'll see, you'll see. Why are we talking about oil companies, Seco? Big oil companies say they support gay rights, but operated more than 40 countries that criminalize same-sex behavior. It leaves some LGBTQ workers caught between two worlds, September 3rd, 2020. Multinational oil companies have made huge strides in their support for LGBTQ rights in the Western world. But some of the largest oil reserves are in countries where it is illegal to be gay. You think Africa? Anyway, let me go up, let me continue. That puts these companies which have global operations and tens of thousands of employees in a challenging position. They face tension between upholding their own anti-discrimination policies and abiding by local laws with LGBTQ employees caught in the middle. And you do understand that these people, these rainbow people, what is it, less than 4% of that? Probably even three to 2%. They're not a big deal. They're not, but they're making it a big deal. If they're that, and I'm probably being generous with that percentage. Now, again, these oil companies, right? Chevron, in 2011, over the past decade, and stepped with national laws, the American oil and gas industry. Thank you, David. More like 1%. Thank you. That's out being very, very generous. Over the past decade, and stepped with national laws, the American oil and gas industry has made great strides in its support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer employees. In 2011, Chevron became the first major oil company to extend healthcare benefits to transgender workers. A few years later, LGBTQ employees at Exxon long considered a laggard regarding LGBTQ inclusion, receive protection against discrimination and benefits for spouses. Today, Chevron, Shell, BP, and ConocoPhillips, four of the largest energy companies all receive perfect 100 scores in the Human Rights Campaign's National Corporate Equality Index, indicating that these companies have policies and a culture that support LGBTQ workers. Exxon received a score of 85, up from a negative score in 2014. Support for gay employees, however, becomes more complicated outside the Western world. Many regions have, many regions, excuse me, home to large oil and gas deposits, such as Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, outlaw same-sex relations and certain forms of gender expression, putting big energy companies with global operations and tens of thousands of employees in a challenging position. Yeah, Africa don't get down with that. They're not playing and they don't care. Now, let me go back and let me just ask you this question and let me just look at you all and ask you this question. And some of us know this, but I think we haven't thought this through. Here's the question. Here's my question. How important is petroleum? What are the products that we have that are petroleum-based? Can anybody tell me? How ubiquitous is petroleum? Is petroleum pretty much in everything we have and what we consume and so forth? And I just read to you, four of the biggest oil and gas companies, they rock with the rainbow folk. They're down with the rainbow coalition and I ain't talking about Jesse Jackson. So remember I asked the question, I said, what are we gonna do? If you're gonna ban, if you're gonna follow Candace Owens, you're gonna follow Brandon Tatum, you're gonna follow these people and get on the ban bus. Oh, hey, let's listen. I have no problem with that. If you wanna get on the ban bus and ban target, you're gonna be on that bus for a long time. Matter of fact, you're gonna be on the bus for a long time because you're gonna run out of gas. That's made of petroleum. Well, let's continue then, shall we? Let's see how deep this well goes, no pun intended. This is from the Rankin Energy Corporation. Products made from petroleum. Now there is an error in this statement because it says with over 6,000 products and counting, but we don't have, I don't have 6,000 on this list, but pretty sure there's a lot. Pretty sure there's a lot. Pretty sure there's a lot. You said, we can reverse the question back to me. What can we do as Christians? I'm glad you asked, I'll get to that in a minute. I'll get to that in a minute, but that's a good question, thank you. Thank you. Um, so this is some of the products that come from petroleum. What is crude oil and what are petroleum products? Answer, crude oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons that form from plants and animals, that you know, this whole million of years thing, just take the bones and spit that out and just chew on the meat. Ain't no millions of years ago, 6,000 if that much. Crude oil is a fossil fuel and it exists in liquid form from underground reservoirs in tiny spaces within sedimentary rocks and near the surface in tar and oil sand. All you gotta do is read Genesis. You have the tar pits. You see all that there. Guess where you're patrolling from? Petroleum products are fuels made from crude oil and other hydrocarbons contained in natural gas. Petroleum products can also be made from coal, natural gas and biomass. And this is one of the reasons why I don't understand why some of y'all voted for Biden, but I'm trying not to get political, but you're an idiot. You're a non GMO bonafide idiot. The man told you what he was gonna do with fracking. What do you think fracking is? Right here. He told my phase in it out. He did that when he got in office. Don't get me started on how he got there. But I'll continue. Products made from crude oil. After crude oil is removed from the ground, it is sent to a refinery where different parts of the crude oil are separated into usable petroleum products. These petroleum products include gasoline, gas, distillates such as diesel fuel and heating oil, jet fuel, petrochemical feedstocks, waxes, lubricating oils and asphalt. You know, talking about getting these roads fixed and all that kind of stuff. Well, a US 42 gallon, United States 42 gallon barrel of crude oil yields about 45 gallons of petroleum products in US refineries because of refinery processing gain. This increase in volume is similar to what happens to popcorn when it is popped. You see a chart right there? Gasoline 20% of the product, 6% jet fuel for. And ultra low sulfur distillate 11%. What are petroleum products and what is petroleum used for? Petroleum products include transportation fuels, fuel oils for heating and electricity generation, asphalt and road oil and feedstocks for making the chemicals, plastics and synthetic materials that are in nearly everything we use. But we want to ban target, huh? Okay, I'm just, I'm just, listen, listen. I'm just, I'm just putting information out here. You do what you will with the information. Of the approximately 7.21 billion with a B, billion barrels of total United States or US petroleum consumption in 2016, 47% was motor gasoline, which includes ethanol. 20% was distillate fuel, heating oil and diesel fuel, and 8% was jet fuel. Almost half, ladies and gentlemen, in other words, almost half of this petroleum that these big oil companies are riding with the rainbow folk. Yeah, they're supporting this agenda, but notice, this is where we get our stuff from. I don't know of any Christian refineries. I don't know of any Christian gas stations and stuff that you, but even if it were, again, you got to be consistent, right? Here's a partial list of products that are made from petroleum. Again, you see the little, the note right there says, this list came from a print publication in 1974. So it doesn't have all the products and information that it would take us hours to read all of that anyway, if it was 6,000. But nonetheless, here's some of it here. 142 gallon barrel of oil creates 19.4 gallons of gasoline. The rest over half is used to make things like this, as you see right here. Just look at the list. Let's look at the list. Dishwasher parts, TV cabinets, solvents, diesel fuel, motor oil, bearing grease, football cleats. Some of y'all parents, you know, want your kids to play sports? Okay. Then if you're gonna, if you're gonna ban target, you got to ban the shoe company. You can't let them run like Fred Flintstone. You see how that works for them? Bicycle tires, upholstery, sweaters, boats, insecticides, floor wax, ink, cassettes. You see, you see how old this is, y'all. Cawking, petroleum jelly, transparent tape. I mean, again, this just, all of this. Curtains, vitamin capsules, dashboards, putty, percolators, skis, tool racks, mop, slacks, TV cabinets, life jackets, shag rugs, fertilizer, ice cube trays, electric blankets, luggage, wheels, shampoo, guitar strings, antifreeze, clothes, combs, CDs, TVs, eyeglasses, yes, eyeglasses to help you and I see. Detergents, footballs, tents, telephones, cameras, bandages, hair curlers, drinking cups, ammonia, shaving cream, toothpaste, fan belts, refrigerators, dentures, cold cream, movie film, gas, pillows, crayons, parachutes, and the list goes on and on and on. The list goes on and on and on. Now, I say all that to say this, brothers and sisters. If we're going to focus and target one, that's what I said, wait a minute. I said, wait a minute. Before you target, target, I'm trying to see something. How far are you gonna go with this? Are you making any emotional decisions without examining the facts and making sure that you're not, that you haven't counted the cost yet? I mean, because that's the issue. Have you counted the cost? Have you made sure that you've done your due diligence and your research? If you're gonna do that, that's fine. I'm just saying, if you're going to ban one, why not ban all? Because all of them support the rainbow coalition. And again, I'm not talking about Jesse Jackson. It's support the rainbow movement. And they're telling you that they support it. So, to each his own is all I'm saying. To each his own. Now, I want to, I wanna look at some more texts if you don't mind. Like some scriptures, I wanna give us some balance and some basis to this a little bit more, all right? You all know, like I said before, Christ saved us by the power of the gospel to be ambassadors of his gospel. He left us here to be his ambassadors, to be his mouthpiece. That's why he left us here. We're here to make a difference in our culture, in our world, in our societies. That's what we're here for. So, he left us here and we're supposed to make a difference, supposed to make a change. But he didn't call us to do with some of the stuff that we're seeing Christians do today. And how do I know that? Well, because we don't see Jesus doing it. Jesus said, my kingdom is not this world. If it was, my service would be fighting. Although we live in this world, this world is not our home. Yes, we're to make gains. Yes, we're to occupy until he comes. But how are we occupying? How are we making gains? How are we making a change as lightbearers? How are we making a change as salt shakers? How? Because the world is watching too. And so what I do is I wanna give you some examples. I wanna provide some examples because I wanted us to see that we're not the only ones that have lived have lived in a culture that it was wicked, in your face wicked, sacrificing children to molek. So how are we to respond? First of all, we should be righteously indignant. Yes. When we see wickedness, when we see evil in the world, when we see the world trying to come after our children, yes, it should piss us off. Yes, it should. But I've said this before, the world is going world. The world is going to world. My problem is not the world. My problem is the church acting like the world. Because I find it rather strange and rather comical if it wasn't that some of these same Christians that talk about banning target don't ban these churches that have these gay preachers and these gay twan playing organ players and these politicians like Terry Anderson bringing Al Sharpton into their church, knowing that the Democrat Party supports this very agenda that they're talking about banning at target. Make that make sense to me. I'm just saying, it seems like our focus is off here. And maybe it's just me, maybe I'm the one that's just looking at this thing, you know, one-sided. But my Bible told me that the world is narrow. So yeah, so forgive me, sorry, not sorry for being narrow-minded. Because last I checked, First Peter 417 says that judgment must begin first in the house of God, not in target. Judgment don't begin at the house of Starbucks. Judgment begins first at the house of God. So the very thing that we're talking about boycotting and banning and marching against, we got going on in our own churches. And we ain't doing jack about that. I'm just asking, so this is why I cited, yeah, I set y'all up. This is why I cited Proverbs 11-1. Unjust scales and balances. We're focusing on target, we're targeting target for being what target is, they're the world. The world is gonna be the world. And you know I got BCV to back up what I'm saying. I'm just setting some of y'all up for the haymaker to wake you up and to have you to think this thing through. Some of you are being played by the very people that claim to represent Christ. If you're gonna watch Candice Owens, you're gonna watch Brandon Tatum, you're gonna watch these people, fine. You're gonna watch Anthony Bryan Logan, listen. I watch some of these guys, I watch some of these people. But I filter everything they do through a biblical grid. Everything. And I do mean everything. Because I'm called to think for myself, I'm called to be a Berean. So political commentary is one thing, but when you try to talk about morality, and you try to tell me how I'm to think, and what I should do, I'm like, nah, Candice, pause for a second. That microphone that you're sitting in front of, what do you think they came from? How do you think they got processed? These cameras that you're looking into and all that kind of stuff, who do you think made that? How do you think they got processed? The chair that you're sitting on, the desk that you're resting your hand and your paperwork and your stuff on. Who, where do you think those materials came from and who processed them and who manufactured them? And where were they referring from? When we think this thing through biblically, what I'm saying to you is we better make sure that whatever we're calling or what we're saying that we're gonna be banning must be based on biblical precedent. And last I check, it's just me. Nobody has told any of us to buy rainbow clothes. Any, and if they have, tell me, let me know. Let me know, tell me, who? When you go to Target, does somebody put a Glock to your head or a Gun to your head and tell you you better buy these clothes or die? I'm just asking questions, that's all. When I go to the store and listen, when I see people say ban Target because they got transgender bathrooms, I didn't go to Target to pee. I went to Target to purchase some popcorn that they ain't got something anymore now. Tell me what I'm missing, apostasy files. I welcome any pushback, I welcome any criticism, I do. I really mean that. What I'm trying to present is some balance here. That's what I'm trying to present. I really am. I know that they're targeting children. The world has been targeting children for centuries. Can I tell you what the first Target of children happened in Genesis three? Yeah, he's gonna crush your head but you're gonna bruise his heel. It started back then. Our babies, our children, have always been targets for the devil. I understand that, I get that. The beer board cart was affected but it wasn't final. It's not a death blow. It's not a death blow. And all I'm saying is do, listen, do what you want, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters. Do what the Lord in your conscience. Your conscience is to be informed based on the truth of God's word. That's it. That's all I'm saying. Here's what I'm saying though, sis. I'm not telling you not to. What I'm saying is be consistent. Don't just stop, don't just stop with Target. Don't just stop with the beer. Don't stop there. If the Bible says judgment begins in the house of God, where should we start first? Because last I checked ain't nobody boycotting, ain't nobody calling out a lot of these churches that are supporting this stuff. And if I'm gonna be real about it, I'm talking about black folk. We got people in our own communities and our own family that are going to churches knowing that that church is down with a movement with a political party that is seeking our own demise. And what do we do? We still go. We still go. So do we really care about the babies? Do we really care about the children? Do we really care about where we're claiming that we're marching and banning and boycotting about? I'm just saying. All I'm saying also is this. We're not the only people who live in wicked times. Matter of fact, blatantly wicked. Blatantly wicked. Let me give you some examples. Let me give you some examples. Acts chapter 17 verse 16. Paul, he's in Athens, right? Notice what he says. Now when Paul was waiting for them, waiting for the disciples in Athens, notice he said, his spirit was being provoked. He was agitated. He was upset. He was pissed off. Why? Why? As he was observing the city full of idols. And what did Paul do? Did he go up and ban? Did he go up and start marching against the people of Athens? What did the tech say? So he was reasoning. He was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles. And notice in the marketplace, he didn't just keep us occluded to church folk. Mm-mm, mm-mm, mm-mm. No, he was a real grass roots preacher. Yeah, he engaged the culture and he also engaged Christians in their thinking. He's the tech says he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be present. That's what we're to do. And listen, I'm showing you all a pattern. That's all. If you want a boycott, listen, do you, do you, do you. All I'm saying is people are gonna be looking for consistency though. People are gonna be looking for consistency. If we're gonna start, if you're gonna start with Target, I think it's a misplaced shot. I think your target needs to be reacquired. Yeah, but can you, listen, apostatophiles. Yeah, you can live without a target for a month or two or three, but what about the rest of the stuff I talked about? What about the rest of the stuff? Can you live without lights? Can you live without gas? And I mean, the stuff that I mentioned in these articles, how long can you go without that? How long can you go without this stuff? Just asking. And again, to each his own, what I'm striving to do is make us think biblically and sensibly and reasonably. That's all. But it starts with the church first. We seem to always wanna focus on the world, but is that what the word of God tells us to focus on first? I think not. How do I know that? Well, first Quentin shot the five, verse nine. Paul writes, "'I wrote you in my letter, dealing with discipline, "'dealing with sin in the church. "'I wrote you in my letter not to associate "'with the immoral people.'" I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world. Hmm. Or with the covetous, or with swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. Do y'all see that? Paul says, if I told y'all to do this, you couldn't be here anymore. Scotty, beat me up. Wanna get away? Yeah, so what are we to do? What should we do? He said, I didn't tell y'all, not to associate. I didn't tell y'all not to go around these people, their stores, even if they got idols and all this other kind of paraphernalia and all that kind of stuff up. I mean, do what you want, Paul is saying, but I didn't tell you to not associate with these people. I didn't tell you not to have conversation with these people. I didn't tell you you can buy their merchandise. And so far, the merchandise is not idolatrous. It's not sinful. And your conscience didn't cause you to sin. So I didn't tell you to do that. I told you we're not to associate ourselves with. Those who claim to be Christians, but are not. How do we know this? The text says it right there. But I actually wrote to you, verse 11, not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person or coverages or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or a swindler. Not even to eat with such a one. Verse 12, for what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within? Didn't I tell you? Didn't I tell y'all? Our focus is in the wrong place. And again, I am not saying that we're not to speak out and speak against the things that we see in the world. That's not the point. But we seem to have a preoccupation or an over preoccupation of what the world is doing while the church is actually doing worse than the world. And how do I know that? Do you honestly think that these people, that these people that are in these positions of authority and power for the most part aren't there because of some Christians and some people who profess to be Christians? How do you think Barack Obama got where he was? I'll wait. I'll wait. I'll wait. Because we don't wanna talk about this no more. Y'all don't wanna have this conversation with me. I know you don't. I know you don't. Man, that's okay. That's okay. And these conversations don't go well when we have to be challenged in how we think. And that's fine. That's fine. Because I see the church. I see what the church does and how they parade wickedness and wicked people and their wicked policies. And these people tell you and they tell us what they're going to do. And we still support it. And we still vote for them. And we still back them up. You gonna explain to me how a person like Terry Anderson can have an Al Sharpton come to his church? Listen, listen. Not just once. No. Every year. That's right. Every year. You heard the video conversation. You heard the phone conversation that I had on my channel with me with this man. And he hung up on me when I challenged him about him having this charlatan, this pimp, this FBI informant who was selling out his own people. Why would you have a person like Al Sharpton speak at your church? Follow the money, ladies and gentlemen. Follow the money. That's why. It's all about the clout. It's all about position. It's all about power and platform. That's what it's about. And why did this man, the so-called man of God, Terry Anderson have Al Sharpton there? His answer? You don't tell me what to do in my own church, in my church. It ain't your church, Negro. It's God's church if it belongs to him. And in first place, it ain't your church. My Bible says that the church was purchased by the blood of Christ, Acts 20. And what happened? People get mad at me because I'm dropping receipts on these people, exposing them. You shouldn't be recording conversations. That's your business. It ain't mine. My Bible tells me to expose these people, these charlatans, these clowns, these pimps, these wolves, these predators, expose them. Expose the unfruitful deeds of darkness. And I'm gonna do a study. I'm gonna do a video on receiptology. Oh, I am, just be looking for it. It's coming soon. It's coming soon. You don't think the Bible talks about receiptology? I'm gonna show it to you. I'm gonna show it to you. Yep, the doctrine of receipts, receiptology. But nonetheless, it's the church is the problem. It's the church. If we're caught to be salt and light, what are we caught to be salt and light at? Just in the house? Just in the house? Just in our crib? Paul says, what have I to do with judging outsiders? Should you not judge those who are within? But those who are outside the Bible says who judges them? God judges them. Now again, it's not that we can't speak against this stuff, but he's talking about when you and I have this preoccupation with dealing with the world, thinking the world's gonna change because you're banning this person and banning that person. But wait a minute, but you're not banning, you're not abstaining, you're not staying away from the very people that claim to be Christians and they're the ones that's pimping us every week and pull piss across this country? That's what hypocrisy, that's what a consistent inconsistency comes from, y'all. That's just my opinion. What do I know? You're just me talking. First Corinthians chapter eight, verse four. Therefore concerning the things or concerning the eating of things, sacrifice to idols, sacrifice to idols. We know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world. And there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us, yet for Christians, there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for him. And one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things and we exist through him. However, verse seven, not all men have this knowledge. Not all men think this way. But some, being accustomed to the idol, until now, eat as if it were sacrifice to an idol and their conscience being weak is defiled. But food would not commend us to God. We are neither worse if we do eat, nor better if we, worse if we do not eat, nor better if we do eat. Can I just paraphrase this? Can I just bring the cookies down from the top shelf again? You're not good if you don't go to target and you're not bad if you do go to target. Either way, if you don't go, it's okay. If you don't, if you do go, it's okay. Then the issue, the question we have to ask ourselves is, what are we to do when we see evil? Well, the Bible makes it clear. We don't participate in evil. So how is going to a store that has rainbow coalition clothes participating in evil? That's the million dollar question for all my brothers and sisters, okay? That's the question. That's the question. How is going to target or how is going to Starbucks or how is going to any of these companies participating in their evil deeds? How? Biblically, how? Because verse eight says, but food would not commend us to God. We are neither the worst if we do not eat, nor the better if we do. But verse nine says, but take care of this liberty of yours. Take care of this liberty of yours. Does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. Notice, because his way becomes sinful. Verse 10, for someone sees you who have knowledge, dining in an idol's temple, would not his conscience if he is weak be strengthened to eat things, sacrifice idols? For through your knowledge, he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whom who say Christ died. In other words, you don't have to go, bolstering and bragging about where you go and what you do and all that kind of stuff, especially if you know a person is weak, a weaker brother, a weaker sister. That's why there's some things I don't mention and I don't talk about to certain people let alone on social media. Now, you come on my channel and you ask me a question and I may tell you, but nonetheless, he says, but for through your knowledge, those who are weak, they're ruined because they think they may can do the same thing you do, but if they're not strong in their conscience and strong in their convictions and in their faith, he says, for someone sees you who have knowledge, dining in an idol's temple, would not his conscience if he is weak be strengthened? In other words, being boldened to eat things, sacrifice idols, but he don't believe that is a good thing but he's doing because you do it and now his conscience is ruined. And verse 12 says, and so by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, Paul says that food causes my brother to stumble I will never eat meat again so that I will not cause my brother to stumble. So it's the knowledge of a person you know that this individual may take offense and no, by the way, let me just say this as well too. There's some of you that claim to be weak and you're not weak, you just being manipulators. Let me just go and just call it for what it is. Let me go and just call this gaslighting mess out. Some of you ain't weak, some of you just wanna lower your preferences over other people and make it their precept. No, no, no, no, no, no. That's gonna require discernment on the part of the brother that is, or the sister that is mature or that is stronger. Because some of y'all, mm-mm, no, you ain't about the gaslighting me, you ain't about to use your weakness and like matter of fact, Brother K just said it, you ain't about to weaponize your weakness against me. No, no, sir, no, ma'am. Especially if you are on somebody else's channel or you and somebody's house, that's their house. Now what you do in your house and what you do on your channel, that's you. But if we're together, we're doing something and most of the times we're not even, this is social media. Nobody's telling you to come over here. Let's just keep it a stack. Anybody telling y'all to come over to this channel? Y'all come over here because some of the stuff that's gonna come over here and you're gonna be messy. See, those people ain't weak, those people are messy. Those are the trolls. A person who's weak, they don't understand. They're like, you know, I'm not sure about this. You know, can you understand this? You know, I'm trying to grasp it, but I still don't feel comfortable about this or when I see certain people do this. That's the conversation we can have. And this is what Paul is talking about. The spirit of what Paul is talking about is right here in verse 13. Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I would never eat meat again so that I would not cause my brother to stumble. That's Paul's conviction. He says if it causes a brother or sister to stumble by me doing this with them, I won't eat it, I won't eat it ever again with them. I won't do it because I don't wanna cause them to stumble. Chapter 10, verse 23. All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his own good but that of his neighbor. Eat anything, Paul said, that is sold in the meat market without asking questions for conscience sake. Do you see that? I want you to see the balance of what Paul is doing here. Because in chapter eight, he's talking about the liberty that we have, but making sure that our liberty is not licensed to sin or cause other brothers and sisters to sin. Are y'all seeing this? But then he says, yeah, we have the right to do what we want. It may not always be beneficial. But he says, let none of us be selfish, none of us do what we wanna do because we wanna do it and don't care about other people and consider other people, but neither should we be controlled by other people. Amen, Elite Energy. Amen. At some point, Christians, myself included, should grow up. Absolutely, we're all called to mature. All of us are. But he says, verse 25, eat anything that is sold in the meat market without asking questions for conscience sake. In other words, you don't be worried about, okay, we'll just sacrifice it out, we'll just net, listen. Don't go there, don't go there, Paul is saying. Why? Verse 26, for the earth is the Lord's and all it contains. Verse 27, if one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go, notice and you want to go, eat anything that is said before you without asking questions for conscience sake. That way, you ain't gotta worry about your conscience being bothered. But if anyone says to you, this meat is sacrificed to idols, do not eat it. For the sake of the one who informed you and for conscience sake. And Paul, he clarifies it. He says, I mean, not your conscience, but the others. For why is my freedom? Oh my gosh, come on, Paul, you better preach. Paul says, for why is my freedom judged by another's conscience? Why am I controlled by what you think? Uh-uh. He says, if I partake with thankfulness, why am I slandered concerning that for which I give thanks? In other words, if I go to Target and buy, I figured they got Starbucks and Target in nine most places. If I go to Target and I go and get a cup of coffee because you know what? I need to grab me a cup of coffee before I head on this road, do this and do that. And I go in there. And then yeah, I see their rainbow clothes. Yeah, I see it. Okay. Why am I gonna get slandered? Because I go into Target, they got the rainbow clothes because you don't go in Target because they got rainbow clothes. He says, if I partake with thankfulness, why am I slandered concerning that for which I give thanks? I said, Lord, I thank you. First of all, Lord, thank you for waking me up this morning. Lord, thank you for allowing me to walk to my car and get in it to raise my garage door opener electronically, which is made by petroleum products, but I'll digress. And then I get, and I drive on the roads that you created because all things are yours. The earth is the Lord's and the food is thereof. They and all that dwell in it. That's your word tells me, Lord, so thank you. And then I go to the store that are built by the material that you created and spoken to existence. And then I walk through these sliding doors that you created and made through the ingenuity and knowledge of man made in your image. Lord, I thank you. Then I go to this person and I get my beverage ordered by a fellow image bearer and they may have on rainbow gear, whatever. And they serve me my beverage and I pay for what the means and the resources that you have blessed me with. And I take that beverage and I bless it and give thanks to the glory of the God who made me. Paul says, why am I slandered? Why am I scandalized? Why am I being put on blast on social media because I went to Target or because another brother went to Target or another sister went to Target concerning that for which I give thanks. I didn't pull you in there. I'm not making you go in there. Verse 31, y'all always hear me say this, whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, all three classes. Yeah, the Greeks would be the unbelievers, the Jews would be the actual Jews and the church of God would be the brothers and sisters of Christ, Jew and Gentile. He says, don't be intent, don't go around offending people just for offending them. I'm gonna know, give no offense. Verse 33, just as I also please all men and all things not seeking my own prophet but the prophet of the men so that they may be saved. That's the goal. That is the goal, ladies and gentlemen. Now, I hope y'all, let me just ask you all this because I'm not, first of all, I'm not trying to make anybody do or believe what I believe at all. I'm not. I just want us to think things through and consider other things that we may not have considered, that's all. So, let me ask you this question. Are y'all hearing my heart in this? Do you hear my heart in this? Cause I'm just speaking from the heart. I'm speaking from the heart. I'm speaking from also observation but most importantly, I wanna speak from the objective word of God. That's all. That is all. Let each man do, let each man be convinced in his own mind. Romans chapter 14 verse five, the B clause. Be convinced in your own mind. Don't try to convince other people or quote until your mind. No, be convinced in your own mind. If this is what you do, then this is what you do. Fine. But I don't have the right neither do you to make my preference another brother or sister's precept for them to follow. That is manipulation and that is sin. So, what should we do? What should we do? How can we apply this? Matter of fact, cause somebody asked the question earlier, right? Someone asked the question, they said now, flip it on me, Seiko. How do, how are we to govern ourselves and to deal with this evil, godless world that the Lord just left us here? Well, he didn't leave us as orphans. He said he gave us the Holy Spirit. He told the disciples, I've given you my word. Jesus praises the father in John 17. He said, I've gave them your word. I've given them the word. So, we know what to do. And if we don't, you know what James says in James one? If any of you lack wisdom, and we do, if any of you lack wisdom, you know what we're supposed to do? We're to ask God. Lord, help me to navigate through this. Lord, Lord, I heard what this bald-haired dude said and now he got me scratching my dome right now. He got me scratching my head now. I was watching, I was watching Candice and I was watching Brandon and I was, you know, I was about to, but now, hmm, and if that's you, praise God. And if you still disagree, praise God. That's what makes the body of Christ beautiful, y'all. That's what makes us, that's what makes us so beautifully unique. We don't all have to agree, but what we must agree on is what the word of God commands us to do. We're to love one another. We're to accept one another. This says God through Christ accepted us. We're to let one another operate and function in the lane that God has assigned them and let them run according to the dictates of their conscience that is being informed by the word of God and then leave the results to him. That's what we're commanded to do. Anything else is sin. It's manipulation and it should be called out and it should be exposed for what it is. Now, I will say this. How should we apply this? How should we live and put feet to this thing? Glad you asked. Number one. Number one. Teach your children if you have children or disciple those who need to be discipled. Whether you have children or not, somebody is in your life that God has used you to give them the word, to give them the truth, to give them what thus said the Lord. Not what you think, not what you believe. No, no, no. What does the word of God tell us to do? Since he has given us his word and he has left us here to be his ambassadors, he's placed us in positions, has given us influence, have given some of us platforms, have given us a sphere and a realm that we're called to make disciples, then that's what we're called to do. But you know where it first starts at? Like I said, it don't start a target. The target should be our homes. That's the nucleus of society in the first place. So how do you, how do you do that? It's very simple to be honest with you. But it starts with us. It starts with us. Deuteronomy chapter six, verse four. He says, hero is remote. It says hero is with the Lord is our God. The Lord is one. Verse five, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Can I say this? What you love, you're gonna talk about. If you're around me for any length of time, I mean for any length of time, you're gonna know who I love by what I say and by what I talk about. And if Sharon Renee Woods' name ain't out of my mouth or my children's name ain't out of my mouth, if you're not going on a road trip somewhere and you know nothing about my wife, you know nothing about my children, you know nothing about my home that shows you what I love. It's not them, it's something else. So it starts with love. Can I ask you a question tonight? Who do you love? Who do you love? Who do you love? Yeah, who do you love? Because whoever you love, you are going to make known to the world that you love him or her or it or that, whatever. God says, you shall love me. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might. Everything. Verse six, these words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart. That's where it also starts as well. It's in the heart, ladies and gentlemen. It's in the heart. These words which I am commanding it shall be on your heart. And notice when it's in your heart, it's going to become a habit. Come on, thank you Lord. It starts with the heart which develops a habit. How do we know? Look at verse seven. Look at the text. Look at the text. Verse seven, you shall teach them diligently. Not perfectly, because we're not perfect. Diligently, you should put forth an effort. You shall teach them diligently. Notice to your sons and you shall talk of them, them what? The commands of God, the word of God. You shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up. Verse eight, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they should be as frontals on your forehead. In other words, it is unmistakable. It is noticeable. Who you love by what you talk about. It is also noticeable by what you do as a habit because it's in your heart. He says you should bind them as a sign on your hand and they should be as frontals on your forehead or bands. Right there, you see that? Bands between your eyes. In other words, so you don't miss it. It is before you. Verse nine, you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. And that's what they did. Now, you don't have to do it like that, but I can tell you what? People should notice and people should know who you love by how we live. What's in our heart will become a habit of our life. Do them around me, chapter 18, verse nine. When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, notice you should not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. In other words, God says, I've called you to be salt and light, then be that, be that. So you don't do what the world does. We don't live according to the dictation of this world, according to the culture. No, no, no, no, no. He says when I, and he's talking to Israel, somebody's giving us application because we were asking for how should we do this? Somebody's giving us some application here. Of course, this is to Israel, but we can draw and glean from it. The things was written earlier times was for our learning, Paul says, in Romans 12. He says, there should not be found among you anyone who makes his daughter pass through the fire, abortion, given a trinitum molek, aka Planned Parenthood, right? One who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. You and I are not to affiliate ourselves. We are not to partner with, we are not to participate with demonic spirits or the demonic realm, because all of this, it all encapsulates the demonic realm. We're light, we're salt. We're the kingdom of light. We're the kingdom of God. We're not the kingdom of Satan. So he says, when we're in the world, we don't do what the world does. We don't practice what the world practices. We're different. Are you following me? Joshua 24, verse 14 to 15. Now therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your father served beyond the river and in Egypt and served the Lord. Joshua says, if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve. You can't have both ways. Whether the gods which your father served, which were beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites and whose land you are living. But as for me in my house, we will serve the Lord. And it sounds nice. It sounds spiritual and all that. But how are we applying it is the question. How are we applying it is the million dollar question. And did they do this? Well, Joshua's generation did in Judges chapter two, Judges chapter two, verse seven, the Bible says, the people serve the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who has seen all the great work of the Lord which he had done for Israel. Yeah, that generation did. Then Joshua the son of none, the servant of the Lord died at the age of 110. And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance and Timneth Hares and the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount gosh. All that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation. We know generations about what, 40 years? And there arose another generation within that span. Another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which he had done for Israel. And what is the cause and what is now the effect? Then the sons of Israel, verse 11, did evil in the sight of the Lord and they served the Baals. And they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers who had brought them out of the land of Egypt and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them and bowed themselves down to them. Thus they provoked the Lord to anger. So they forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtara. Brothers and sisters, we're gonna serve someone or something, make no mistake about it. We will. The question is, who are you gonna serve? Who are you teaching your children? What are we teaching our children? What are we teaching the next generation, this generation about? And it shows in what and how our children live. Now, all we are responsible of doing is giving them the truth and living out the truth before them. But let's not be hypocrites while we're doing it. Let's not be hypocrites while we're doing it. Are we gonna be inconsistent at times? Yes we are. And we need to be honest with our children, be honest with those that God has called us to mentor and disciple and to lead. Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. For Paul wasn't perfect. We know that. We have his writings. We read Romans 7. We even read 2 Corinthians 12. He said that throwing the flesh he got is to keep him from being proud and being prideful. So although we're not gonna be sinless, we should be sitting less. But that's the first thing. That's the first thing. We're to disciple those that God has placed in our lives and entrusted us to teach. If we're parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, whatever. If you have people that are especially in this generation that look up to you, that is an opportunity for us to display Christ and it shouldn't be boring or nothing like that. Keep it real. We serve a living God. We serve the true God, a relevant God. And so we should be real and relevant to our people. You ain't gonna act like the world to win the world. Otherwise the power of the gospel irrests on you instead of the word of God, instead of Christ, about the spirit of God. So that's the first thing. Teach your children. And then lastly, number two, learn to discern. Learn to discern. We need to learn to know the difference between this what is good, this is not good, this is right, this is not right, kind of right. Know how to discern. Have wisdom. Ask God for wisdom. He promises to give it to us. No good thing will he withhold from those who rightly fear him. We have to learn to discern. We're to disciple, we're to disciple our children or disciple those that are in our lives that are looking for the truth. Disciple them. And then learn how to discern ourselves. Let's look at the second part here. Another text, excuse me. The sons of Isacar. David is about to take the kingdom that Saul had and the author goes through the list of different tribes. But notice what he says in verse 32. He says, of the sons of Isacar, men who understood the times with knowledge of what Israel should do. Men who understood the times. Not only did they understand it, but they knew what should be done about what they understood. Yeah, they didn't just acquire the information, they applied the information. Let me ask you a question. What are you doing about what you require tonight? Or what are you going to do about what you require tonight? It's just another live that you're just gonna basically look at later on. Are you and I, by the spirit of God, gonna say, Lord, help me to apply what I've been listening to and have been listening to when I watched this channel. That they not only acquired it, they applied it. They applied what they acquired. Faith without works is dead, James says. Matthew 16, the Pharisees and Sadducees came up and testing Jesus. They asked him to show them a sign from heaven. Verse two, but he replied to them, when it is evening, you say it will be fair. It'll be fair weather for the sky is red. And in the morning, there will be a storm today for the sky is red and threatening. Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky but cannot discern the signs of the times? Do you see the indictment? Do you see the rebuke that Jesus gives to these Jewish leaders, these Pharisees and Sadducees, the people who supposed to know the law, know the Torah, that are supposed to know the word of God. And Jesus says, how is that you know about this but you don't know about spiritual things? How is that you and I know so much about sports but we know nothing about scripture. If I ask some of us brothers in here about the stats of certain sports teams, oh, you can just go off the dome like you bust the rhymes. But we're talking about the word of God and about scripture. And we wanna lead our wives, we wanna lead our families but we don't know how to lead them according to the scriptures because we're more focused on the world. Jesus says, you know about meteorology more than you know about the Messiah. And what I've said, learn to discern. And it is a process, it is not a one stop shop. It is a process, it is a process of sanctifying our thinking and how we see life, our worldview should be biblical. And that takes time, it takes diligence, it takes effort, it takes accountability, it takes all of that. Colossians chapter one, verse nine and 10. It says, for this reason, Paul writes to the Colossian church. He says, for this reason, also since the day we've heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all, listen, in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Why, Paul? So that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please him in all respects and not just please him but bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Strengthen with all power, he says. According to his glorious might. For attaining, verse 11, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the sense of light. I might as well just finish that all up. We should pray for wisdom if we're lacking it, pray to discern, learn to discern if we're lacking it but we should pray for others. Lord, make them wise. Give them wisdom, Lord. Give them the knowledge of your will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding and acquiring it and applying it so that they can walk in a manner worthy of you and to please you Lord in all respects and that they only do they do it but they bear fruit in every good work and that they increase in the knowledge of you. Of you. And they don't do this in their own power, Lord, they do it by your power. Strengthen by your power according to your glorious might so that they can attain all the steadfastness and patience and they have the joy and giving thanks to you who you made qualified to share in the inheritance and being adopted into the family of God. Why? Because we are of the light, not the darkness. That's why. So hopefully that answers your question and hopefully that is some application for all of us, for all of us because we need this. I mean, the world ain't getting better, y'all. Let's not get any better. When I go to these stores, when I see this stuff, it's sad. I mean, this stuff wouldn't have been in these stores 50, 60 years ago. I'll be 53 in October. This is unprecedented times we're living in but we still serve an unchanging God. He's the same yesterday, today and forever. And so since he doesn't change, he hadn't changed his word then we shouldn't change anything that he has given us to say in his word. We're gonna be salt and light. We're gonna be his ambassadors. We're gonna be his kingdom of priests because this is what he has called us to represent. Represent him and to represent him well. So please like this video, please share this video. Thank you. Those of you who have stuck this out with me tonight. And I just wanna make us think, y'all. I just want us to think things through biblically and hopefully to provide some balance. That's all. Just provide some balance. October 13th, brother. October 13th, I was born 1970. Yeah, 1970. Yes, October 13th. But yeah, so please like the video, please share it. We do appreciate the support. This is how we get this content and information out to the viewing audience. We do appreciate that. Again, if you'd like to support this ministry of finance, you can do that as well by clicking the donation links below the bottom of this video. It helps us to maintain this channel and also to underwrite the costs that are associated with keeping this channel functioning and operational. So we do appreciate that. You can also purchase the BCV merchandise by going to the BCV store. You can do that as well by clicking the link that you see ticket across the tape. I mean, ticket across the screen. Otherwise, they ticker tape old school. That's ticket across the screen. And you can also click the links below at the bottom of the video as well. So again, the poll question was, should Christians boycott Target for the support of the LGBT agenda? 73% said yes, 27% said no. So there seemed to be a change because it was higher than that on the yes side, but it is what it is. So, but I always like to put those questions out and see what people are thinking. And hopefully what I said tonight will cause all of us to think biblically, biblically. So Lord willing tomorrow, you don't wanna miss tomorrow night's live. I will have Pastor Tavares Robinson. He will be on my platform, on my broadcast tomorrow. You may not know who he is, but you will know who he is tomorrow. He has a book that I have been reading and that brother has been speaking to my heart. So I had to reach out to this brother and have him to come on. And so Lord willing tomorrow at seven o'clock central, eight PM Eastern. I'm not gonna give you the title of the discussion. I'm still mulling it over in my mind, but nonetheless, he will be with me tomorrow night. It's gonna be a real man, a real man conversation. I'm telling y'all that now. So be on the lookout for some other, for some other, some other broadcasts, some other broadcasts as well on this channel. Printed Lord will open doors and he's slowly creaking that thing open for me by his grace. But yes, so tomorrow night, Pastor Tavares Robinson, he will be joining me here on the channel. And I'm looking forward to having Pastor Tavares on. We'll have a great discussion. Have a real, real good discussion. So anyway, that is it ladies and gentlemen. I just wanted to share the information with you all again, do with it as you will. As for the Lord to give you the wisdom to apply it or to, you know, to not. So that is it Friday night. Another one down in the books. Thank you again for those of you moderates. Thank you for holding it down Facebook family. Thank you all for supporting and for sharing this channel. We do appreciate it. Thank you so, so much for that. All of you have joined us there. Tracy Michelle, good to see you. Marsha, good to see you. Where the Greg R.A. Junior. Greg Bishop, good to see you. Where the Derek DeWine, good to see you as well on the Facebook side. And Sister Lisa, thank you as well. So anyway, that is my time you all. And I thank you so much for yours. Y'all know the drill. Whatever you do, do all to learn out of God. God bless. Thank you for sharing this night. God bless you, good night. You're still here? It's over. Go home. Go. 1, 4, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1, 4, 3, 2, 1, 4, 3, 2, 1, 4, 3, 2, 1, 4, 3, 2, 1, 4, 3, 2, 1, 4.