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We share stories of how the blood of Jesus has transformed ours and others' lives.
Denalee:
Hey, everybody. I'm Denalee Bell. Welcome to the SoapyBox. Today on our show we have Courtney Chissus and Tyler Bell, both content creators here at the SoapyBox. We're excited today to talk to you about the end of the world, or end of the world culture. We have been experiencing, as I'm sure you have, doom porn, end of the world stories, and it's affecting people, it's affecting us, and we want to talk to you about how it has affected us, our lives, and maybe how it's affecting you.
Tyler:
Preach.
Denalee:
Exactly. The news media would have you believe that these are the end of times and we should be expecting World War III, climate crisis, financial apocalypse, you name it, it should be here within three, two, one.
Courtney:
Like tomorrow, I think.
Denalee:
Yes. It's crazy. The last few years have been super crazy for me, with COVID, I think was the beginning of it. And then we had riots. Now we're in wars. It's continuing. Feels like we're always upping the ante. And if there isn't a current crisis, it seems like the news media is manufacturing one. I don't know if you guys saw CNN during COVID. As COVID was starting to wind down, and their ratings got down, they got caught talking about how they were going to promote the climate crisis, which makes you wonder how much of the climate crisis is real.
Well, I do believe we need to be good stewards of the earth and take care of it. I had a sustainable company. I'm not saying that we shouldn't take care of things. I just don't know how real the climate crisis is since it's been going on since I was a child. We were going to freeze to death and then we were not going to be able to breathe because the ozone layer was gone, and then we were going to roast to death, and then none of those worked. What I did notice, however, was all of the climate crises always evolved and revolved around Congress getting funding.
Courtney:
Weird.
Denalee:
It is interesting. And so there's money, there's a lot of money in climate crisis and-
Tyler:
Makes you think about Maui in Ohio, huh?
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
It does, doesn't it? Doesn't it? Oh, I didn't even think of those when I was thinking of all the issues and calamities. Well, and there are some definite signs that things are not going right. But how are we letting those affect us? How are we living our life? Because we're going to die no matter how we look at it. But how do we want to spend this time we have here? How is society spending time? How are you and I spending time?
Tyler:
What's the reality versus what we want for ourselves?
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
And does the reality even matter?
Tyler:
Oh, I'm talking about reality of how we're spending our time.
Denalee:
Okay, perfect. And this is something we're going to talk about. Like, "What is the best outcome? Do you want to put your head in the sand or do you want to know every last detail? Or is there somewhere in the middle that makes sense?"
Courtney:
I don't want to live in fear. That's what I know.
Denalee:
I don't want to.
Tyler:
I think there's nuance. I think it's nuance.
Denalee:
I think so, too. And so that's what we're going to really talk about is that question of what makes sense for you? I think each of us has a story that we want to share of how our life has been disrupted by this and how we have hurt ourselves, our family, our friends, our relationships in some way these last few years. I was talking to my mom this morning, telling her about the podcast we were going to do, and she did also feel like, "This is crazy. These times are crazy." She's 74. 73. Sorry, Mom.
Courtney:
Keep her young.
Denalee:
But she in fact feels like these are crazy times. And I was telling her about the meme you sent me. You'll have to show it to these guys.
Tyler:
Yeah, I'll put it up right now.
Denalee:
All right. Cute. Right?
Tyler:
Yeah. Interesting.
Denalee:
It is interesting. So-
Tyler:
Nicole sent me that. I lost it when I first saw it. It was a good one, huh?
Denalee:
It was good. And it's clearly defining our times. And some of this is biblical. But there is one thing for sure. This is the direction we're going.
Courtney:
Oh, yeah.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
Absolutely.
Denalee:
So I'm just going to start with my story about what got us interested in doing this podcast. And then maybe you guys want to share yours.
Courtney:
Yeah, of course.
Denalee:
During COVID, I took it really seriously, because we have kids with asthma. My niece was living with me.
Tyler:
I just left home.
Denalee:
Yes. And there's autoimmune issues in my family. So we took it seriously. I was a crazy person. I was bleaching shoes as you came in the door. I was like a nut-
Courtney:
I didn't-
Denalee:
... job.
Courtney:
... realize you were one of those.
Denalee:
I was. I was totally crazy about it. And when they said, "Two weeks," I'm like, "I'm all in. I will give up whatever I need to for two weeks. That's fair." Well, as we all remember, two weeks turned into way more. And it felt like the people in power who got power wanted more, and more, and more. And it seemed like something wasn't right. And then the next thing that I noticed wasn't right, because I was glued to the news, because my business shut down, my life shut down, my church shut down. All of my-
Courtney:
Everything.
Denalee:
Everything did. And my husband didn't go through this, but his life didn't really shut down. His business kept going, his social life, he fishes.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
Nothing really changed for him.
Courtney:
He kept on keeping on.
Denalee:
And so he-
Tyler:
He just had a extra couple of talking points, probably.
Denalee:
Yeah. And he didn't really feel or notice what I was feeling, but he wasn't glued to the TV and to the media like I was. So I saw President Trump, who I didn't really care for at the time, give an address during COVID. And I thought I didn't like him. And at that time, I was just a headline reader to get my news. "Okay, this is what's going on. I know the headlines, that's fine." But I watched the whole press briefing and he wasn't a complete idiot.
Courtney:
Did anyone like him judging by the headlines, though?
Denalee:
No.
Courtney:
Or the tweets?
Denalee:
My husband did.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
Him and me both. All right. We were on an island together.
Denalee:
Yes. But I watched the whole press briefing. I thought, "Oh, he's not that bad." And then the next day I woke up and I was a New York Times subscriber, just so you know who I was at this time.
Courtney:
Again, you were one of those.
Denalee:
And I saw their coverage of his press event. And it was literally lie, after lie, after lie, after lie. And then I started to question, because I had time, because I had a sustainable business where we manufactured clothing, and we sold two boutiques who sold sustainable clothing.
Courtney:
I remember you telling us.
Denalee:
They shut down.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
They were shut down. They were out of business quickly. And so I was shut down. And we didn't really sell directly to consumer.
Courtney:
Delete.
Denalee:
Yeah. And honestly, I was even nervous to sell directly to consumer, because I'm like, "What if something's in my house and I give it to them?"
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
I was a little nutty.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
So I saw all this craziness start to unfold, and then I saw these lies, and then I found more lies, and then I found additional lies, and I got mad, and I got angry, and I felt like I'd been duped.
Courtney:
Well, you had been lied to.
Denalee:
Yes. And I felt-
Courtney:
And it's personal.
Denalee:
And I had lied to other people because I didn't know better. And so I felt duped and I went scorched earth.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
I went scorched earth, trying to-
Courtney:
You're good at that. I've seen it.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
... trying to fix what I had done.
Tyler:
It's like the Hulk, sorry.
Denalee:
Yes.
Tyler:
Propaganda Hulk.
Denalee:
I don't like the- [inaudible 00:07:44]
Courtney:
I've only known you for a year now and I've seen it. Sorry.
Denalee:
So I did go a little scorched earth in finding information, and raw video, and raw statistics, because I had nothing else to do. And-
Courtney:
"In my free time, I enjoy ... "
Denalee:
In my free time, 12 hours a day, I'd be in my housecoat by the time my husband got home from work, and he'd look at me with my hair sticking everywhere and go-
Tyler:
It's that meme.
Denalee:
"What did I do? Wait, who am I married to?"
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
And I drank a lot. I was drinking almost-
Courtney:
Who didn't over- [inaudible 00:08:14]
Denalee:
... every night. I was drinking two or three glasses of wine a night, which is a lot for me, regularly. And I became this really hateful, bitter person because not only was I mad because I was duped, I was angry at the people who did it. And I was angry at the people who was supporting the lies.
Courtney:
It's only natural.
Denalee:
Yes. And then there was this evolution of, "Who knows who's lying?"
Courtney:
We still don't know.
Denalee:
We still don't know.
Courtney:
I mean, we do.
Denalee:
But it really affected my life, my happiness. I turned into a hateful person, and that's not my nature.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
I'm an empathetic, loving person. And I wasn't. And I was hard to be around. And nobody wanted to talk to me, I mean nobody, except for my friends on Twitter.
Courtney:
So either alcohol helped or hurt.
Denalee:
Yes.
Courtney:
We don't know.
Denalee:
It was-
Tyler:
Or you're spouting negativity and hate.
Denalee:
I was, because who wants to be around hate and negativity all the time, especially-
Courtney:
Not your husband.
Denalee:
He didn't. And he wasn't around it all day.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
So to come home to that was probably super fun.
Courtney:
"I don't even want to come home anymore."
Denalee:
Yeah.
Tyler:
"I'm going to sit in the driveway for about 10 minutes before I walk."
Courtney:
"Got some texts to send."
Denalee:
And then I took a month off of everything social media. I rented a place at the lake. And I turned everything off. And my life changed.
Courtney:
A vacation.
Denalee:
My life changed. But it's interesting what I look back and reflect on and how I affected myself, how I affected me, and those around me, with scaring them with things that never happened. And I think that's the problem, here. There's things that just never happened.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
And that happens a lot. I was just watching this video recently. This expert did this entire study over 20 years, and it was gauging how many times the experts got it right. A child picking randomly got it as right as the experts over 20 years.
Tyler:
That's awesome.
Courtney:
I believe it.
Denalee:
It's interesting, isn't it? What have they gotten wrong that you guys have noticed?
Courtney:
What have they gotten right is my bigger question?
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
Yeah. Oh, good point. COVID turned out to be not quite what we thought. I saw Chinese people dying in the street, in defense of my craziness. They were just dropping dead. But was that even real? We don't know, because we didn't do that here. I didn't see anyone just walking down the street and just dying. Did you guys?
Tyler:
So many. No.
Courtney:
I didn't catch that. To answer the question, no, not on my street.
Tyler:
I don't know. I feel like I always see, like, "Crisis coming back, crisis coming back." And I'm like, "How long have we been saying this, man? How long do I have to think about or see all these comments saying, 'Do I have to pay taxes this year? Do I have to pay my rent this month?' Come on, what's happening?"
Courtney:
"Am I exempt?"
Tyler:
"I want to be a mom. I want to be a dad, blah, blah, blah. You know what I mean?"
Denalee:
So you guys are seeing people your age being held back from doing what they want to do in life?
Tyler:
Mm-hmm. Because it's like, "Why even try?" You know?
Denalee:
Exactly.
Courtney:
No, and I think a lot of people are putting their lives on hold saying, "I don't want to have kids yet. I'm not ready financially. I'm not ready emotionally," wherever they are in life, career-wise, relationship wise, it's like, "I guess I'm an example. I don't want to buy a house yet because who knows where the market's going to go next year, next month?"
Tyler:
It's so crazy.
Courtney:
And it's just all questions. And it's not all bad. It's good to have some uncertainty, to keep us on our feet. I think that's healthy. But when it comes to COVID, where a lot of it began, two months ago we had rumors of COVID coming back and it's like, "It's lingering. It's going to be here again."
Tyler:
I got a good one. Everybody's like, "Middle of September is when we're going to have to start wearing masks again." That one didn't come true at all.
Denalee:
No. So, I-
Courtney:
"There's a new strain."
Denalee:
Did you guys get-
Tyler:
Yeah, "There's a strain."
Denalee:
... some anxiety when people started saying that-
Tyler:
Mm-hmm.
Denalee:
... like a memory, like a little PTSD?
Tyler:
I was just like-
Courtney:
A little bit.
Tyler:
"This is stupid."
Denalee:
Not that you were- [inaudible 00:12:28]
Tyler:
I was like, "This is- "
Courtney:
I rolled my eyes-
Tyler:
" ... so dumb."
Courtney:
... at that point.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
It was was like, "Oh." Because at this point, I know my opinion, it's all fake. But not to say COVID's fake, but just the media and what they portrayed with a picture that they built up. I wasn't scared, but it was like, "Oh, here we go again. What an inconvenience."
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
"Now I can't go to the grocery store without a mask."
Tyler:
Yeah. I didn't feel as gullible.
Courtney:
"Let's do it."
Tyler:
I didn't feel as gullible. And I was like, "All right, this is stupid. This is- "
Denalee:
Have
Tyler:
" ... not worth it."
Denalee:
... you guys ever been taken in like I was by the media?
Tyler:
Uh-huh.
Denalee:
Do you want to share your story?
Tyler:
Yeah. Just recently, with the whole Palestine-Israel stuff, and the Day of Jihad thing that they talked about really got me, because I was seeing a lot of the single, military age men cross the borders, and a whole bunch of that propaganda probably came up around that specific time, to scare people. So I remember calling you guys, you and Dad, when Trevor was home, and I was panicking. I was shaking, because I was like, "It's about to happen tomorrow and I need to be able to protect myself. And I got all this music aspirations I want to do, and it's all screwed. What am I going to do? You know what I mean?" So I bought a gun, bought a shotgun.
Denalee:
Did that make you feel better?
Tyler:
A little bit, yeah.
Denalee:
Did it?
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
So you felt dejected?
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
So-
Courtney:
It was a blessing in disguise. Everyone needs a gun.
Tyler:
Yeah. I know. I've always wanted one. I just prolonged it and this motivated me.
Denalee:
Have you ever been taken in? Is there any-
Courtney:
I would bring it back to COVID, 2020, early 2020. And there was the two-week, maybe month of fear, anxiety, whatever. I think that's standard for most people. My experience was more so watching everyone else getting taken by-
Denalee:
You watched me?
Courtney:
... the fear, and the anxiety, and the yous of the world. And it was like, "I don't want to be that."
Denalee:
No.
Courtney:
I saw what I didn't want. It was like, "Well, I'm not going to live like that whether I have another month, or year, or 50 years on this earth, I'm not willing to sacrifice the quality of my life and the amount of time I have left- "
Denalee:
Wisdom.
Courtney:
" ... living in fear." Yeah.
Denalee:
Wisdom.
Tyler:
I feel it's hard, because I feel like it sneaks up on you, and I feel like sometimes you don't really have as much control as you think over that.
Courtney:
Well, that's why I turn off the news. It's like you just-
Tyler:
Boundaries, yeah.
Courtney:
... take the remote. Yeah.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
And that's what it was. It was that conscious decision of, "I can't watch this anymore. I can't be exposed." You asked me where are my news sources today? It's Instagram. And-
Tyler:
Yeah, really.
Courtney:
Do I take it seriously? Yes. I know what's going on in the world. I'm informed, but do I turn on-
Tyler:
Is it- [inaudible 00:15:18]
Courtney:
... Fox News or CNN anymore? No.
Denalee:
No.
Courtney:
It's not worth it.
Tyler:
That's- [inaudible 00:15:21]
Denalee:
I don't watch network news ever.
Courtney:
My sanity and mental health is so much more important than even my awareness of what's going on.
Denalee:
I think there's a lot of reasons why so much fear is created. I think fear sells.
Courtney:
Oh, sure.
Denalee:
I think fear is the best marketing mechanism. People say sex sells, but I think sex grabs attention and fear sells. Fear motivates people, fear of loss, fear of getting lost in the crowd, fear of not being within the crowd.
Courtney:
Fear of missing out.
Denalee:
Yep. There's all of that fear is what motivates people. And I think that's why we're seeing-
Tyler:
Or paralyzes.
Denalee:
... so much of-
Tyler:
Fight or flight.
Denalee:
... fear. Exactly. So much fear-based clickbait on all of the channels, YouTube, TikTok, CNN. I don't care what you watch. I don't think you can miss it.
Courtney:
Well, it's the theme of the narrative, I would argue. And look how much money has come from that.
Denalee:
Yes. I think they found a great new way to divide us. And the constant division is key for their pocketbooks.
Courtney:
Sure.
Denalee:
And that's my concern is who's profiting from this? it's everyone.
Courtney:
It's everyone.
Denalee:
The whole entire economy. If you think about it, who do you think is profiting from it?
Courtney:
The gun companies, for one.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
Cabela's.
Tyler:
Yeah. Cabela's. Yep.
Denalee:
The survival, disaster preparedness people.
Courtney:
The news channels. The-
Denalee:
Books.
Courtney:
... bloggers, lifestyle influencers, everyone on social media-
Tyler:
Military contractors.
Courtney:
... churches.
Denalee:
Churches.
Tyler:
Churches.
Denalee:
I-
Courtney:
I said it. So we're-
Tyler:
That's a good one. Yeah.
Denalee:
It's like- [inaudible 00:17:00]
Courtney:
A churchgoer said it.
Tyler:
Let's dive in.
Denalee:
Let's dive in. So this is an interesting one to me because a lot of the churches are putting a lot of information out there, end of times. We are seeing some biblical prophecy happening real time.
Courtney:
Sure. Yep.
Denalee:
What I find interesting about it, and you actually said this the other day, so I'm stealing it, is it's not like they're just putting it out there to educate us. It's constant. There's some people, because I see them on my feed, this is constant. It's like a new way of clicks, because they're monetized, too.
Courtney:
Sure. Oh, yeah.
Denalee:
And why would-
Courtney:
That's their sermon every day.
Denalee:
Yes. How can that be? How can that be eschatology is your daily sermon?
Courtney:
And I don't-
Tyler:
Dude.
Courtney:
... want to say they take advantage of the current events going on, but with Israel and everything going on there, look how many pastors or big names have come out since then, saying, "I'm going to use this as an opportunity. We got to talk about what's going on."
Denalee:
And-
Courtney:
"Is this leading to what we all know it's leading to?" And eventually, yes, I think we can agree.
Denalee:
And I think we can say that. And that's good.
Courtney:
We know what the Bible says.
Denalee:
Exactly. There's-
Tyler:
Well, rumors of wars or whatever, it means of things that are soon to come. Not now, soon to come.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Tyler:
Right?
Courtney:
Yeah.
Tyler:
So-
Denalee:
Well, we're in wars, so we're here?
Tyler:
It's rumors of wars here, though. You know what I mean?
Courtney:
If you look at the signs, they're accurate. But look at the timeline of the Bible and look at the time.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
We always talk about the difference of time down here on earth and in heaven. Isn't it 1,000 years difference or a-
Tyler:
Oh, yeah. It's like-
Courtney:
... one day here-
Tyler:
... 1,000, yeah.
Courtney:
... could be 1,000-
Denalee:
... 1,000 years.
Courtney:
... years.
Denalee:
Yes.
Courtney:
I could be getting that wrong or mixed up, but it's like, "So would just because we read something in scripture doesn't mean it's happening tomorrow or this year."
Denalee:
Well-
Courtney:
It's like, "It could be another 10,000 years."
Tyler:
100 or 200 years. Yeah.
Denalee:
Can you imagine if you were alive during Nero persecuting Christian, hanging them, burning them at stake? You would think that was the end of times.
Courtney:
Sure.
Tyler:
Well, it's birth pains, right?
Denalee:
Mm-hmm.
Tyler:
So it's like it's contractions.
Courtney:
Absolutely.
Tyler:
So it's moments that come in, and slow down, and in, and slow down, and it gets faster and faster. Is it really getting faster or is it propaganda that we're seeing?
Denalee:
Exactly.
Courtney:
That's what builds suspense. It's like-
Denalee:
Because you can-
Courtney:
... a beating heartbeat.
Denalee:
You could probably read into any situation, I'm sure during Hitler's time people thought the end of the world was coming. How could you not?
Courtney:
Yeah. I was actually just listening to a podcast yesterday on this exact thing, and they looked at all the different eras over the past century, and it was like the '20s with the Great Depression. They thought it was the end of the world then. With Hitler, they thought it was the end of the world, then. And it's not to say history always repeats itself, but it rhymes. There are patterns.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
There are. Yes.
Courtney:
And a lot of it can be predicted.
Tyler:
100 years ago, it was a great depression. Looks like we're about ahead into that.
Denalee:
Yep. Here we are with our doom horn.
Tyler:
Who knows what the '30s-
Courtney:
Watching the clock, here.
Tyler:
Let's see, the '30s or '40s, huh?
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
I watch a lot of financial information because, for our family investments and trying to figure out where you want to put money, and time, and energy is important because we do want to leave something for our children. We want to leave something for your children.
Tyler:
Yeah. Legacy.
Courtney:
Some of that.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
Yeah.
Tyler:
Because-
Courtney:
No other kids, right?
Denalee:
Yeah. And so these things are important to us, and not squandering, and not investing wisely are not really part of my plan.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
But it's been really hard, given the financial news, to invest wisely. It's really hard to find a hedge against an inflation.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
Inflation's insane. But so where do you go to find information? Well, the same places. And so we're-
Courtney:
Not Google.
Tyler:
Yeah, right?
Denalee:
It's paralyzing.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
It's paralyzing to move forward with anything. It's paralyzing to even do this sometimes. You're like, "Should we be doing this?" This is-
Courtney:
Well, let me ask you this, too. And it's not just the how to save or what you're doing, but is your attitude changing with the, you don't know how long you have left in this life, this world, so are you more, I don't know, short-lived or-
Denalee:
I'm-
Courtney:
... short term minded?
Denalee:
I'm probably a high risk person at heart. But-
Tyler:
Me too.
Denalee:
... the-
Tyler:
It's where I get it from.
Courtney:
Like mother, like son.
Tyler:
My money's in assets.
Denalee:
Yes. I actually feel like more of my money should be in assets than cash.
Courtney:
Sure.
Denalee:
But I don't feel safe putting it in any asset right now because who knows?
Courtney:
I don't feel safe putting my money in the bank right now.
Denalee:
Yes, exactly. So-
Courtney:
I have a nightstand drawer.
Denalee:
And is this a reality? Or is this based on the information we're receiving? But the information I'm receiving is actually, I feel pretty accurate. It's good data on jobs. It's good data on what the current inflation is.
Courtney:
Sure.
Denalee:
It's good information on the upcoming foreclosures. So I've been through this 2000, 2008, 2009, where we lost everything. And so we've had to rebuild. It's like we were 19 again.
Courtney:
This isn't your first rodeo.
Denalee:
Yes. And I don't want to do that again.
Courtney:
But you have the experience.
Denalee:
Yeah.
Courtney:
And you know how to react if that-
Denalee:
Well-
Courtney:
... comes to it.
Denalee:
I do. I don't know that we could be possibly even prepared for what could possibly be coming.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
Because that was just one sector. I think the current landscape is affecting many sectors.
Courtney:
Sure.
Denalee:
And so while I would like to sometimes bury my head in the sand and pretend it's not happening, I still have to be responsible to my family, which makes it difficult in making these decisions, and also difficult to not have this information constantly in my head.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Tyler:
Depends on the focus, though, right? You're speaking-
Denalee:
Mm-hmm.
Tyler:
... financially, you know what I mean?
Denalee:
Well, the financial apoplectic, what's that word, apoplectic?
Courtney:
Oh.
Tyler:
Apoplectic?
Courtney:
Yep. That's the one.
Tyler:
Is it apoplectic?
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
Yeah. That-
Courtney:
I think so.
Tyler:
Oh, I just guessed.
Courtney:
I don't even know how to pronounce spaghetti.
Tyler:
Yeah. Me, too. I've been been saying pisghetti lately.
Courtney:
With a kid.
Tyler:
I've never done that in my whole life, but developed dyslexia, apparently.
Denalee:
So these- [inaudible 00:23:21]
Courtney:
I didn't you were so weird. That's awesome.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
You might want to take out the dyslexia thing.
Tyler:
Yeah, whatever.
Denalee:
Anyway, just because we don't want to hurt people's feelings.
Courtney:
I literally said, "Liberals," in the last podcast.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
That's all right. You're good people before-
Tyler:
You're going to get more death threats for that one than-
Denalee:
Than anything.
Tyler:
... dyslexia. Actually, I don't know.
Denalee:
I don't know.
Tyler:
I'm apparently going to be an ableist now.
Denalee:
So-
Courtney:
The world's ending.
Denalee:
Exactly. So the financial apocalypse is also happening. So it just depends on what your feed is. You could have, between me and your dad, there's three different feeds we get because we share feeds. Plus I see my feed in his feed. He has the financial apocalypse coming. I've got the biblical apocalypse coming, and probably my Twitter feed is the current war that's happening-
Courtney:
What do you get-
Denalee:
... Palestine.
Courtney:
... when you merge them? All the above?
Denalee:
We get me standing with my hair like this, going-
Tyler:
You get four cups of coffee in the morning, yelling at-
Courtney:
Yeah, rerun.
Tyler:
... each other.
Denalee:
Yeah. So we do try limit it because it's been an issue.
Tyler:
It can be a lot. Yeah.
Denalee:
And I can feel in my body when I've taken in too much. And I can feel it in my mind.
Courtney:
Well, it's-
Tyler:
Your son can-
Courtney:
... physical stress.
Tyler:
... tell, too.
Denalee:
Everyone can see it. I'm like, "Oh, Mom's been on Twitter."
Courtney:
Dark under eye circles.
Denalee:
Yes.
Tyler:
Yep.
Denalee:
Oh, I got those. Anyway.
Tyler:
The meme.
Courtney:
I won't be calling you out.
Denalee:
That's funny. So many people are profiting from it. But why do you think people engage in it? Why do you think you engaged in it in the past?
Courtney:
Because you buy into it.
Tyler:
Dump them.
Courtney:
Yeah. It's what you get from it. It's adrenaline. It's a momentum. Not everyone is after being fearful and living in that anxiety. But I think a lot of people don't have a choice, they're-
Denalee:
When you're in it.
Courtney:
They're glued to the news. They're taking in what they're watching, and what they're hearing, and what they're seeing. And it's like they can't turn it off. You get sucked in.
Denalee:
Well, with the Israel-Hamas thing, I did get sucked in again, because I saw on October 7th, the Hamas videos that were released.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
You can't un-see that. You can't un-see some of it.
Tyler:
When you start applying it to your life, it becomes like a victimhood dopamine complex, which is weird, I feel like.
Courtney:
Yeah. That's a good way to put it.
Tyler:
Yeah?
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
Because you do. You think, "How can this happen in the world we live in?"
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
"In a civilized society. How does this happen?" And then the next step that I couldn't believe, and that I'm still obsessed with, to be honest, is the anti-Semitic things happening in the US that I am-
Tyler:
Y'all don't-
Denalee:
... Kanye West.
Tyler:
... remember you canceled Kanye-
Denalee:
Yeah, Kanye-
Tyler:
... three years ago for this?
Denalee:
Kanye just got canceled.
Tyler:
What?
Courtney:
Yesterday.
Tyler:
Yeah, literally.
Denalee:
And suddenly now it's all acceptable for the left to be anti Semites.
Courtney:
But that's what I mean.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
It's a narrative. It's whatever they write.
Denalee:
It's fascinating-
Courtney:
It's tomorrow-
Denalee:
... to me.
Courtney:
... it can be a completely different story. But today it's this.
Denalee:
And there seems to be a certain group following whatever the narrative is and promoting it, which is fascinating to me.
Courtney:
It's like a fan club. They have their groupies.
Denalee:
And this is who I think it is.
Courtney:
It's ideology.
Denalee:
What I'm seeing-
Courtney:
It's worse than ideology.
Denalee:
... on Twitter is it's these far right and these far left extremists, I would say on both sides.
Courtney:
Going-
Denalee:
Yep.
Courtney:
... head-to-head.
Denalee:
And what I do love, and I hate that this is happening to Jewish people, I mean seriously, they're getting abused, here. One just got hit over the head with a chair at an event. They chased him down.
Courtney:
You've seen more than I.
Denalee:
It is-
Courtney:
... will-
Tyler:
It's relative. Yeah.
Courtney:
... myself.
Denalee:
It's unbelievable, what's happening, even here in the US.
Tyler:
I hop on Twitter for five seconds and I'm seeing a baby bludgeoned. It's horrible.
Courtney:
That's why I-
Denalee:
It's horrible.
Courtney:
... undownloaded, took off my Twitter.
Tyler:
Uninstalled?
Denalee:
I'm really upset by it, because I can't believe it's happening here in the US, I really can't, because of the culture. But what I was happy to see on my social media feed, because I have a lot of people on both sides on my social media, because I did have a sustainable company. And I am, I wouldn't say newly conservative. I've probably always had conservative traditional values, but I don't know. I would've thought that I was probably a middle of the road person before all this.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
And I am starting to see that that's becoming normal again. The right and the left are coming, the middle of the road people are coming together and going, "This is wrong." And you have your right extremists and your left extremists fighting for, I don't know, the right to be horrible to Jewish people.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
Which is-
Tyler:
Well, why do you think people-
Denalee:
... disgusting.
Tyler:
... get involved in cults, right? People need to worship something.
Denalee:
Yes.
Tyler:
And people worship ideology, I think.
Courtney:
Well, and they don't have God, they latch onto anything else they see.
Tyler:
Yep, exactly.
Denalee:
So they want to fit in and they want to belong somewhere. And this is what they've chosen.
Courtney:
People need a label. People need a category. People need-
Tyler:
Identity.
Courtney:
Yes. They need a tribe. And I think that's half of it. It's like, "Oh, I belong to the conservatives. I belong to the left."
Denalee:
Yes. And I don't know that I'd want to.
Tyler:
Instead of the body of Christ.
Denalee:
Yes. I'm in that tribe.
Courtney:
We're all one.
Denalee:
I'm in that tribe. So have either of you experienced any psychological effects like I was talking about? I had this weird anger, this hatred. I was depressed, I was irritable. I'm trying to think of all the other things. I was feeling anxiety. I really had anxiety. I got to the point where I didn't want to leave my house. I had anxiety about leaving my house, because I had been in the house for so long, like a year.
Courtney:
Do you think at that point it was almost social anxiety?
Denalee:
Well, it created-
Courtney:
Like, "How do I interact with people?"
Denalee:
Yes. And this starts my conspiracy thing, theory is that, "Oh, they want us like this, because this is debilitating."
Courtney:
That's the goal.
Denalee:
Yes.
Tyler:
Isolated.
Courtney:
They're putting us where they want us.
Denalee:
And-
Tyler:
Isolation, not in communication with each other, not in relationship, community.
Denalee:
And why?
Tyler:
Destruction of community and family.
Courtney:
Because they know it's effective?
Tyler:
Mm-hmm.
Courtney:
But look at what's happened just the past three, four years.
Denalee:
And how do we combat that?
Courtney:
It's control. I guess it's simple math to me, outside looking in, but they're power hungry.
Denalee:
Who's they?
Courtney:
Media.
Tyler:
Illuminati.
Courtney:
Yes. Big names.
Tyler:
Satan worshiping, turned into Alex Jones.
Denalee:
I-
Courtney:
I think that's a question.
Denalee:
... I do think that-
Courtney:
Who is they?
Denalee:
I do think there are some organized efforts that-
Tyler:
You say, "Worshiping elites."
Denalee:
... you can't ignore. So if I look at the BLM, which was interesting.
Courtney:
Don't get me started.
Denalee:
Well, the BLM was interesting, right?
Tyler:
Oh, we're going there.
Denalee:
Well, we are.
Courtney:
Interesting's a loose term.
Denalee:
It was an interesting organization and- [inaudible 00:30:11]
Courtney:
Started by white men?
Denalee:
Oh, was it?
Tyler:
Really?
Denalee:
Oh, I didn't know.
Tyler:
Okay.
Denalee:
That makes sense, though. And they turned out the people running that turned out to be fraudsters who were siphoning money and doing horrible things.
Tyler:
Sure.
Denalee:
And it wasn't really about Black people for the organization. I understand the sentiment is different than the organization. Let's just get that clear. I get that there are Black people who've been victimized from racism, there's a lot of unfairness there.
Tyler:
That's fair.
Denalee:
I'm not saying that. But I am saying that the organization was corrupt and found to be corrupt.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
And it seems like the Antifa BLM people have now suddenly just turned into pro-Palestine people. They are the same people.
Tyler:
They're looking for the protests, the rage.
Courtney:
Switch?
Denalee:
Yes.
Tyler:
They're looking for whatever avenue they can-
Denalee:
And-
Tyler:
... express them.
Denalee:
... in the-
Courtney:
They're passionate about their opinions.
Tyler:
Yep.
Denalee:
It's interesting.
Tyler:
"Hear me roar."
Denalee:
Are they passionate about their opinions? Because the city of New York was paying them to protest.
Courtney:
Or do they need to be heard-
Tyler:
Oh, wow.
Courtney:
... and make money.
Tyler:
Didn't know that.
Denalee:
Yes. And who was paying them before? Because there was some money being tracked last time, that I don't know if everyone was being paid, but I think if you get a few loud people to get paid can garner some attention and people might be part of it.
Tyler:
Imagine the US a whole year without the bull crap. I wonder how-
Denalee:
With-
Tyler:
... awesome it would be- [inaudible 00:31:34]
Denalee:
... wait-
Courtney:
I'd actually want to live here again.
Denalee:
Is that-
Tyler:
Yeah, I know.
Denalee:
... 1985?
Tyler:
It would actually be the greatest America there was.
Denalee:
That would be awesome.
Courtney:
Is this scriptural?
Tyler:
Yeah. Right. Please.
Denalee:
That would be nice to go back to the simpler times. But then that brings me to the next fear driven information that is real. All of this is really happening. Right?
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
We are having riots. We're-
Courtney:
So they say.
Denalee:
Well, there's an election year, right? And they say-
Tyler:
Yep.
Denalee:
"Anything that crazy happens in election year is because of the election year." Here we go again.
Courtney:
Yep.
Denalee:
And now we're getting things amped up. So I do have to wonder what's real and what isn't.
Courtney:
There comes a point where can we be surprised at a lot of what's going on?
Denalee:
I cannot be- [inaudible 00:32:17]
Tyler:
You putting on.
Denalee:
You could not surprise me-
Courtney:
And not even for- [inaudible 00:32:19]
Denalee:
... about the level of-
Courtney:
... here.
Denalee:
... corruption of our government.
Courtney:
But it's just-
Denalee:
No.
Tyler:
It's either numbness or digging your head in the sand, I feel like.
Courtney:
It's like first Biden was elected, that was out of left field to begin with.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
That happened. How crazy or how much crazier can we get?
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
Do you guys think it's possible he get-
Tyler:
And the result is like- [inaudible 00:32:37]
Courtney:
I don't want the answer. I don't.
Denalee:
Don't tell us the answer.
Courtney:
Rhetorical question.
Denalee:
I think that there was a visceral response to Donald Trump. And people didn't understand that he was probably the biggest liberal in the world. I think part of the parts that I liked about him was probably that liberal side of me, of his policies.
Courtney:
Yeah, businessman.
Denalee:
Yes, he is definitely not a conservative. But I don't know why the liberals hate him so much, because if they look at his policies and all the things he did, he's definitely a liberal. So I don't quite understand why they hate him besides his mean tweets.
Courtney:
And that could be something else that they made a decision to come together and stick together. And I'm not sure.
Denalee:
I would say he seems to be anti-establishment.
Courtney:
I know a lot of it was-
Denalee:
He can't be controlled, like it seems the rest of Congress can. Doesn't it seem like as soon as somebody gets uncontrollable in Congress, they're gone?
Courtney:
They're out. Yeah.
Denalee:
Yeah. It's an interesting thing.
Courtney:
Well, and that's why I-
Denalee:
You can't-
Courtney:
It brings me back to the control issue. He can't be our puppet, Trump can't be our puppet.
Denalee:
It feels like they're all-
Courtney:
Or it's all-
Denalee:
... one team.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
Them against us. It doesn't really feel like they represent us anymore.
Courtney:
But again, who's them? Is it-
Denalee:
Our-
Courtney:
... government?
Denalee:
Our government does not represent us, I don't believe.
Tyler:
No, I don't.
Denalee:
Do you guys?
Tyler:
No.
Courtney:
No.
Denalee:
Did you ever think they did?
Tyler:
I never really paid attention to that until recently in my life.
Courtney:
Same.
Denalee:
So interesting, when I was your age, this wouldn't even-
Tyler:
Yeah, didn't matter.
Denalee:
There was no way I would even be having a conversation like this at your age. I wouldn't have even known. Because we had Y2K, where we thought, you know, all the electricity was going to go out.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
It was a big deal for a day. "Oh, no."
Courtney:
And it was until the world-
Denalee:
"Oh, no."
Courtney:
... didn't end.
Denalee:
"Oh, no, we can't use our ATM cards." And that was going to be a big deal.
Courtney:
But it wasn't relevant.
Denalee:
We all got a little extra water and that was it.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
But it was like the day before you went shopping for some extra water just in case something weird happened.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
But it wasn't this-
Courtney:
It was just stocking your pantry.
Denalee:
... constant-
Tyler:
Doom.
Courtney:
It wasn't the doom, the-
Denalee:
Yes. It wasn't this constant, "Okay, AI's coming. There's not going to be any jobs. Okay. The real estate market's going to collapse. You're not going to be able to, you know, buy a home- "
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
"Or maybe wait to buy a home, but then you're not going to have any money because there's going to be a run on banks."
Tyler:
"Jesus Christ is coming. We don't know if it's pre or post tribulation."
Denalee:
Yes. And I have an argument for post, pre, and mid.
Tyler:
Yep, exactly.
Courtney:
Amen.
Tyler:
Amen.
Denalee:
Because I'm on YouTube.
Tyler:
I love YouTube.
Denalee:
Just joking.
Courtney:
Details of theology. Surprise, none of it matters
Tyler:
Yep.
Denalee:
When I notice, for me, it's a shift in priorities all of this doom porn brings to me. And I find I'm having really a lot of trouble with long-term planning. And it's more short-term planning. Like, okay, "Where do I do this? How do I put my money to work here?" And to do anything even for a year freaks me out.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
And that's how investments work. They work over time. And so it's frightening to me. It's frightening to me.
Tyler:
That's why I'm just spending all my money-
Courtney:
Well, as a-
Tyler:
... on new equipment.
Courtney:
31-year-old, I'm like-
Tyler:
I'm like, "Screw it, man."
Courtney:
"I haven't bought house yet."
Tyler:
We're like-
Courtney:
Like, "Should I? Will I ever? I don't know."
Tyler:
All my money-
Courtney:
"We'll see."
Tyler:
... is going to my home recording studio.
Denalee:
So neither of you doing any long range planning?
Courtney:
It's not that I'm not doing any, it's that-
Denalee:
Does it stop you? Does you consider all of the information that we're-
Courtney:
I take-
Denalee:
... consuming?
Courtney:
I take all the things in consideration. And it's not that I don't have a 401k because there are rumors or there's biblical signs of everything's leading to the end of the world. Again, that could be another 100,000, 10,000 years down-
Denalee:
Or it could be-
Courtney:
... the road.
Denalee:
Or it could be next week.
Tyler:
I feel like it's less of a priority for me. I'd rather, just for-
Courtney:
I'm not my-
Tyler:
... I guess where I'm at-
Courtney:
I'm not my father.
Tyler:
... in with my life. Yeah.
Courtney:
My dad was, "You better have six years worth of savings in the bank, or- "
Tyler:
"Put everything in your Roth IRA to- "
Courtney:
"You're in trouble." Yeah. And it's like-
Denalee:
"Save 50% of everything you make."
Tyler:
Yep.
Courtney:
Wouldn't that be nice? I need to make more. But it's-
Denalee:
Okay. I hear you.
Courtney:
It's a generational difference, I think too. And this is going to go on a completely different tangent, but we live in a world that you can have 13 different careers in the same lifetime. And my parents came from, you get your degree, you stick with the same job as long as you can, and you save as much money-
Tyler:
Older America?
Courtney:
... and put it in the bank. Yeah.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
Well, we don't live in that-
Courtney:
It's all for-
Denalee:
... America because companies go out of business.
Courtney:
Right.
Denalee:
They don't even stay in business for 50 to 100 years anymore. There's cycles that are moving faster. And that's part of the problem with, I think our world, is how fast we're moving, and we can't keep up.
Tyler:
This is not financial advice, but I've been hearing a lot of people say, "Invest in assets." So I think find a hobby of something like you like that is asset, so I don't know, like Rolex watches or something like that. You know what I mean? For me it's audio gear because it holds its value well. But I don't know, stuff like that.
Denalee:
Yes. I think, I hear lots of gold and silver. I'm a huge gold and silver fan. You'll see, even, that's one of our sponsors, is gold.
Courtney:
Hey.
Denalee:
I'm a huge fan because it's useful and it will hold its value.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
I wouldn't put everything there.
Tyler:
No.
Courtney:
Well, it's a different approach to-
Tyler:
Diversify.
Courtney:
... cash, though.
Tyler:
Yep.
Denalee:
It is.
Courtney:
And that brings us to-
Tyler:
Banks.
Courtney:
... is cash, when is cash-
Denalee:
Is cash king anymore?
Courtney:
... leaving the equation? Because I think it's inevitable. It will.
Denalee:
And that's-
Courtney:
It'll be-
Denalee:
That worries-
Courtney:
... depleted-
Denalee:
... me.
Courtney:
... too.
Denalee:
That's another story, is when cash leaves us, so is the complete tracking. So mom and pop have a yard sale, they can't do it in cash.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
You can't.
Courtney:
Here, give me your wrist.
Denalee:
Yes.
Courtney:
I'll scan you.
Tyler:
Tax you on everything.
Denalee:
So-
Tyler:
Yep.
Denalee:
Again, we're getting nearer and nearer to biblical prophecy, which-
Tyler:
But see, it hasn't happened yet. It's soon to come. And who knows how long that's going to take for that to happen?
Denalee:
Right.
Tyler:
I think people focus too much on, like, "It's happening right now and here's all these different prophecies." But it's not like, "What hasn't actually come true yet? What's still coming that we haven't really seen?"
Courtney:
Oh, there's a whole checklist. There is-
Tyler:
There's a-
Courtney:
... a long-
Tyler:
... huge amount of prophecy that-
Courtney:
... list.
Denalee:
There's-
Tyler:
... is still-
Denalee:
... a huge amount-
Tyler:
... to go.
Denalee:
... checked.
Tyler:
Yeah, there's a bit checked.
Denalee:
There's a bit checked.
Tyler:
I don't know. How much do you think, a percentage?
Denalee:
Should we do a whole podcast on that?
Tyler:
Yeah, I guess so.
Courtney:
That would be interesting. Yeah.
Tyler:
Leave a comment if you would like a podcast on that. Yeah.
Denalee:
Yeah, please do. And please, let's just take a minute. Could you guys please like and subscribe if you like our content? It helps us bring more content like this to you. Or, even if you don't like it, could you please like us?
Tyler:
We won't talk about the end of the world all the time.
Courtney:
Support us if you don't want to support us.
Denalee:
Just joking. So I think what we've discovered here, just in this conversation, is there's an endless supply of doom and gloom. We didn't even get to talk about the rise of AI.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
But if we put all of this together in a sandwich, it's a shit sandwich.
Courtney:
That sounds delicious, but not the shit part.
Tyler:
But it also could be used for good, like AI, for example. You know what I mean?
Denalee:
Yes.
Tyler:
It could turn into something good. There's things that could turn into good.
Denalee:
Well, and I wonder if, you know, our grandparents maybe thought the internet was Satan.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
We don't know. But I do see that there's a lot of good for it. But I do see the destruction of millions of jobs.
Tyler:
Looks like.
Denalee:
Millions-
Tyler:
Feels like-
Denalee:
... that-
Tyler:
... forbidden technology from the Nephilim. But that's my conspiracy side.
Denalee:
Yeah.
Courtney:
But is a conspiracy really a conspiracy?
Tyler:
Is it? Yeah. I know.
Courtney:
Well, let's just be-
Tyler:
If you dig deep.
Courtney:
... honest, here.
Denalee:
I feel like the conspiracy theorists got more right than the experts in the last few years, which is bothersome.
Courtney:
I'm a truth believer. So people call me a conspiracy theorist and I'm like, "Well."
Denalee:
Well, I think if you believe in Jesus, they call us names. So-
Courtney:
"You're a Christian?"
Tyler:
"You believe in a fairytale."
Denalee:
Yes.
Tyler:
"Shut up."
Denalee:
We get that maybe you don't get it or you don't come from this perspective, but love me anyway. Just be kind, anyway.
Courtney:
I do. Think she's pretty great.
Denalee:
Thank you, thank you, thank you. So I guess what we want to talk about is how we deal with it. So I'm going to talk to you a little bit about what happened to me to change my thinking of staying here, where I could laugh about this with you and not be angry anymore. God really dealt with me. He really dealt with me because he didn't create me to be hateful, angry, depressed-
Courtney:
Or fearful.
Denalee:
... and have anxiety, or live in fear. He did not create that woman or me. And I have never been that. Have you known me to be that person until the last couple of years?
Tyler:
Mm-mm.
Denalee:
No.
Courtney:
He's like, "Only 2020."
Tyler:
Yep.
Denalee:
There's a mark in time, that-
Tyler:
You are a passionate woman, but 2020s is the start of it.
Courtney:
It was your era.
Tyler:
When I moved away, really.
Denalee:
Well, I was also afraid you moved away.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
And you're-
Courtney:
That's why you moved away.
Tyler:
And I got-
Denalee:
Well-
Tyler:
... asthma and COVID. It's a-
Denalee:
Yeah. Well, COVID had started. He had just-
Tyler:
It's a lung thing.
Denalee:
... moved out on his own in the middle, in Arizona, in Scottsdale, and didn't know anyone.
Courtney:
He's a free man.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
And he didn't know anyone and he was alone.
Tyler:
And COVID's a lung thing, and I have severe asthma, and all that.
Denalee:
Yes.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
"Isolate. Stay in."
Denalee:
Yeah, we told him to.
Tyler:
I liked it, though.
Denalee:
He loved it. He did all his music.
Tyler:
I loved it.
Denalee:
Anyway, the idea is that right, we need to figure out how do we deal with this-
Tyler:
Mm-hmm.
Courtney:
Mm-hmm.
Denalee:
... so we don't live here in this fear and we can laugh about it? And God dealt with me, like I just said, and really told me-
Courtney:
What?
Tyler:
No, "God worked on me." And I was like, "He got you under his finger. He's like, working on- "
Courtney:
I was like, "What's on the couch?"
Denalee:
There was a time where I quit thinking that I could control it by yelling at people on Twitter because it had no effect. Because nobody- [inaudible 00:42:33]
Courtney:
I'm missing out. I'm not friends with you on there.
Denalee:
I don't. I'm not there anymore, but okay, that's a lie.
Courtney:
That's what I was going to say. That's it.
Denalee:
That's a lie.
Courtney:
We're all imperfect Christians.
Denalee:
But arguing with people on Twitter and trying to make them see the truth, it didn't matter, because I could post the actual information and they didn't want to see it.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
I could share God with them and they didn't want to hear it.
Tyler:
You can shoot as many intellectual bullets as you want at people, but it doesn't change hearts.
Denalee:
It doesn't.
Courtney:
They don't have to receive it.
Tyler:
Yeah, they don't have to receive it.
Denalee:
And they don't want to know.
Tyler:
Most people are not-
Denalee:
They're not there to receive it.
Tyler:
They don't have the humility to like, "Oh, is this person actually correct?" You know what I mean?
Denalee:
Mm-hmm.
Tyler:
I get this way with people about salvation. Not anymore, because I've just given it up. It doesn't work. You know what I mean? But-
Denalee:
Well, you haven't given up-
Courtney:
[inaudible 00:43:16]-
Denalee:
... guiding people.
Tyler:
Oh, no.
Denalee:
Yeah.
Tyler:
I mean I'll call it out, but I'm not-
Courtney:
He planted a seed.
Tyler:
... going to linger on it.
Denalee:
Yes.
Tyler:
You know what I mean? Yeah. I'm not going to shoot-
Courtney:
You can't force it.
Tyler:
... Bible verses back and forth. You know what I mean? Because it's not doing anything. You know what I mean? You're not going to-
Denalee:
No.
Tyler:
... understand it because you don't, are looking at it like a child, you're looking at it with intellect. You know?
Denalee:
Exactly.
Courtney:
But prayer goes a long way.
Denalee:
It does.
Courtney:
And He can change hearts. We can't change hearts.
Tyler:
Exactly. We can plant seeds.
Denalee:
Well, Twitter's like Fight Club for the devil. I think the devil is running Twitter, and it's Fight Club, and you have-
Courtney:
Well, you'll- [inaudible 00:43:47]
Denalee:
And it's very political. You have the right and your left, and you have to pick a side, and you can't even deviate or they get mad at you. And everyone wants the same thing, which is fascinating. They just disagree on how to get it.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
And both sides think the other's ruining the world.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
And it's just interesting. And I think when He showed me this, and I'm like, "Well." I was praying, like, "How do we heal this?" And God said, "It starts with you. You got to heal you first. You got to heal your heart, your hate, your bitterness, your unforgiveness."
Courtney:
It starts in here.
Denalee:
Yep. It starts with just one person. It starts with just me, and you, and you, and you. I still look like Oprah, "And you, and you- "
Courtney:
Not to point fingers.
Denalee:
" ... and you."
Tyler:
The man in the mirror.
Denalee:
Yes.
Tyler:
Doing Michael Jackson, too.
Denalee:
But it starts with me because we have an effect on the people in our lives. We have an effect on people who come within five feet of us. And He just gave me this vision of this ripple effect, that, "If I'm healed, I get to help other people get healed."
Tyler:
He gets to work through you.
Denalee:
And that means by getting healed, I mean spending time with God and having Him remove that hate and bitterness from my heart, because it's not like this work you do where you have to go to counseling for 24 hours. Though I have done counseling, I'm not saying anything's wrong with that. But it's this transformation that He did in my heart when I would seek Him and spend time with Him rather than in the devil's playground of social media-
Tyler:
Amen.
Denalee:
... where nothing good really happens.
Courtney:
Right.
Denalee:
Because we all seek out the information we want.
Tyler:
Yep.
Denalee:
So we're not helping change anyone's mind.
Courtney:
Well, and it's deeper than mental transformation, too. It's even, what is it? The mind and the soul. It's the spirit. It is not-
Tyler:
It's not-
Courtney:
... surface level. It's-
Tyler:
It's not your heart. It's not-
Courtney:
... so deep.
Tyler:
... your intellect.
Courtney:
It's not even the heart.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
Yeah. Spiritual stuff is, there's a lot of growth to be had, but a lot of people haven't experienced that growth. And God can do that. God can-
Denalee:
Well, and-
Courtney:
... change that.
Denalee:
I'm still growing, right?
Courtney:
Oh, we all are.
Denalee:
He's moving me glory to glory.
Courtney:
We all are.
Denalee:
Because I used to think, "Okay, I got this figured out, God." Because I'm still working through that healing process. And thank God he doesn't do it all at once, it'd probably kill me. And I was getting really frustrated. I'm like, "God, this feels like whack-a-mole. We work, get through one thing, and then there's another." And he said, "No, girl, look."
Courtney:
Drawing things.
Denalee:
"I'm moving you glory to glory." And it was just such a beautiful way to look at it.
Courtney:
It's a season. I mean, in His perfect timing, I always say, "He'll let you know when you need to know, but he'll change you when you need to be changed."
Denalee:
Yes.
Courtney:
"He also ripens you. And it's a process of it's not going to happen overnight- "
Denalee:
It's not.
Courtney:
" ... most of the time."
Denalee:
I have moments where, like during this whole Hamas-Israel thing where I backslid back into it, because I have to tell you, I'm outraged by all of it. I am outraged. I am just outraged that people think it's okay just to hate somebody because of who they are, and as a race.
Tyler:
I think that-
Courtney:
How can that-
Denalee:
It's amazing-
Courtney:
... not make you stick to-
Denalee:
... to me.
Courtney:
... your stomach.
Denalee:
Yes.
Courtney:
It's disgusting.
Denalee:
It is. And I get that, in my head, I thought there's a few nut jobs out there who were like this. I really did.
Courtney:
You?
Denalee:
No, before this.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
And I thought it was a few, because honestly, because maybe how Kanye-
Tyler:
You don't-
Denalee:
... got treated when he said the things he said, which I don't know-
Tyler:
And you don't see the other side of the world like that.
Denalee:
No.
Tyler:
You know what I mean? You're not-
Denalee:
No. I had-
Tyler:
... a view of the ideologies that are being spread for kids at seven years old for Hamas.
Denalee:
... a-
Tyler:
You know what I mean?
Denalee:
It's a culture that is so different from ours.
Tyler:
Absolutely.
Denalee:
And I will say this, I saw videos on both sides where they're teaching a little bit of hate, which did open my eyes to how much propaganda is what I'm getting. I will say I did watch the early Hamas videos, directly, that they were bragging and gloating about what they're doing. So I'm going to believe them, that they were being that evil savagery. I'm not going to pretend like that didn't happen. So I noticed I slipped back into it, but I was really aware in my head, that, "Okay, you're getting depressed. You're anxious and hateful again."
Courtney:
What are the results-
Denalee:
And then-
Courtney:
... of this assumption?
Denalee:
This is like an addiction, right?
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
I likened it to that, because I'm trying to hide it now from my husband.
Courtney:
Dopamine.
Tyler:
It's like regular porn.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
Yeah.
Courtney:
It's-
Denalee:
It is.
Tyler:
It's porn.
Denalee:
It's like regular porn.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
It's like, "Okay."
Courtney:
"I'll shut the laptop."
Denalee:
"I know I'm wrong, and I've moved past this, but here I am again." And then he asked a question, and then he knows I've been watching, because then I vomit on him when he has one question. And I know-
Courtney:
Well, that puts you in a spot, where you-
Denalee:
I know way too much.
Courtney:
You have to lie or you have to be honest. And then you're not proud of what you're being honest about.
Denalee:
Well, I just can't, because I just [inaudible 00:48:22]. "You know what's happening?" Because I was hysterical about it.
Courtney:
And he's probably like me, like he knows, but he doesn't want to hear about it.
Denalee:
No, he didn't know. He does now. But-
Courtney:
The perks of having a wife.
Denalee:
So I have to go through that process again of, "Who am I? Was I created to be? And am I being that person?" Because we all have purpose here on earth, and I promise you it's not to fight with people on Twitter about who's the more evil in a war. There's children getting killed. We need to pray for all of them.
Courtney:
There's bigger things.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
There's a lot of tools. So the things that really helped me were intercessory prayer. I prayed for the leader of Hamas and the Ayatollah.
Tyler:
Yeah, say that again.
Denalee:
Yeah. And you know me, actually, your dad, and your brother, we sat here for 30 minutes and prayed for them.
Tyler:
I've never prayed that long.
Denalee:
It-
Tyler:
I want to pray that long, but-
Denalee:
... it was-
Tyler:
It's hard.
Denalee:
Anyway, so I do deal with it actively because like I said, it somewhat feels like an addiction I'm overcoming.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
So you had that experience with Israel-Hamas deal, and the Hamas people were claiming they were going to do the Holy Jihad on that following Friday, where they were going to go conduct terror around the world, and it didn't happen. My one argument was, this is my conspiracy theory, "Well, maybe it was- "
Courtney:
Conspiracy.
Denalee:
" ... thwarted."
Tyler:
Yeah. It was just thwarted.
Denalee:
"Maybe it was thwarted."
Tyler:
Hey.
Denalee:
And-
Tyler:
Maybe. We don't know.
Denalee:
But it doesn't matter.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
But you seem to be like, "That was the end," for you.
Tyler:
Yeah. I put it down. I think having boundaries with the content I'm consuming, like, "Just put it away. What am I actually spending my time on? How long have I realistically been watching this and being honest with myself? I've spent maybe the first two hours of my morning watching this. That's bad." You know what I mean?
Denalee:
Yes.
Tyler:
Well, the day that I was really struggling was probably seven hours. I was down, bad. And it doesn't-
Courtney:
Whoo.
Tyler:
... get me like that. It really doesn't get me that.
Courtney:
It's marathon.
Denalee:
I did that.
Tyler:
Because I-
Denalee:
I did that for-
Tyler:
... watched her do this-
Denalee:
... a year.
Tyler:
... for three years.
Denalee:
Not three years.
Tyler:
Wow, whatever. Okay. Yeah.
Courtney:
Good thing I'm on the podcast to offset you guys a little bit because-
Tyler:
Yeah. But I watched her do it and it drove me nuts. And then it happened to me. And I was like, "There's no way." I know what you're talking about now, but, "Wow, this is destructive." It really-
Denalee:
It is.
Tyler:
... paralyzed me. I was like, "What's happening? It's going to be done tomorrow." So-
Courtney:
Sounds terrible.
Tyler:
Yeah. And when it didn't happen, I bought a gun. It didn't happen. And then I set boundaries. And I was like, "I'm just not going to look at this stuff. I'm just going to swipe past it." You know what I mean?
Courtney:
Mm-hmm.
Tyler:
And that's like boundaries with real porn. You can't completely avoid women on your screen.
Denalee:
Well, this is like porn.
Tyler:
But you can scroll past it. You can flee from it, right?
Denalee:
Yes.
Tyler:
It's like-
Courtney:
Those ads are going to pop up.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
But-
Tyler:
It's like lust of fear almost, I feel like. And what does the Bible say about lust? It's, "Flee from it." You know what I mean?
Courtney:
Mm-hmm.
Tyler:
"Don't war against it."
Courtney:
And that's taking initiative, being reactive-
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
So-
Courtney:
... proactive.
Tyler:
And then focus on like, "What am I doing today? What is the best call of action for me to do today for God? It's not worry about what's going to happen to me, or my family, or my studio, or what my future, blah, blah, blah. It's important about how can I evangelize and disciple?" You know what I mean?
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
How can you go?
Courtney:
That's awesome.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
How can you-
Tyler:
And-
Denalee:
... fulfill His commission?
Tyler:
Yep.
Denalee:
And I think if we think about how we do that every day in our daily life, we focus on that thing. I have a problem where I feel like, and this is none of my business, but you take the ignorance is bliss track. Right?
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
And I have taken the other side, where we need to know what's happening, but I do think there's somewhere in the middle.
Tyler:
Yeah, there's nuance.
Denalee:
Because I think we need to be aware of what's going on or we let evil take over.
Tyler:
I need to be able to watch a movie with my family that has an attractive woman in it and not freak out.
Denalee:
Right.
Tyler:
But I don't need to dig deeper into who that woman is and blah, blah, blah.
Denalee:
Oh.
Tyler:
Say it's a lust thing, right?
Denalee:
Yeah.
Tyler:
You know what I mean?
Denalee:
Uh-huh.
Tyler:
Comparing it to lust, because I feel like it's very-
Denalee:
Similar?
Tyler:
Similar, yeah.
Courtney:
There's something-
Tyler:
Very- [inaudible 00:52:39]
Courtney:
... to be said about knowing how to deal with temptation if it's in the room, but also-
Tyler:
It's tempting to-
Courtney:
... turning your eye or turning-
Tyler:
... watching it.
Courtney:
... your head.
Tyler:
Yeah, it's tempting to-
Courtney:
So it's-
Tyler:
... dig deeper and keep going. Because it's like I want to be aware. I need to know what's happening so I can make smart decisions.
Courtney:
Right.
Tyler:
But when does awareness turn into a problem?
Courtney:
Well, self-control is a fruit. You know?
Tyler:
Mm-hmm.
Courtney:
It's about exercising that.
Tyler:
I agree.
Courtney:
And I guess going off the same question that you just asked him, how do I deal with it? Because my mental health is always at risk. All of ours is, if we let it be. But with this whole Israel thing and everything going on in the world, it's like I look at my consumption of the news and vulnerability to the media. And the last time I really tuned in, judge it or not, but it was COVID. And I saw what it did to me and I saw what it did to others, my mom, specifically, love you, my significant other at the time, my friends. And it was like, "I want to know what's going on and I will." But it's keeping distance.
It's saying 'Yes, it affects me indirectly most of the time, but I know what happens at the end. Spoiler alert, He wins. I know the outcome. Whether that's again, next year, or in 100 years, or 1,000, I'm waiting. But am I going to not enjoy my life, and not pursue a family, not pursue a husband, and beautiful kids because of that? No. I'm still going to go after what I want here. I'm not going to live in fear. I'm not going to live in anxiety. And I know it creeps up from time to time. It's only natural." But there are ways to offset it. There's ways to bring yourself down. And for me, that's just going straight to the Word, going straight to God and being like, "Hey, I need to spend time with Him." Because-
Tyler:
"I'm not listening."
Courtney:
In worldly terms, He's who centers me. You know? He's-
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
Mm-hmm.
Courtney:
He grounds me. And it's like, "That's my truth. That's all I need to know."
Tyler:
And if I'm using something else to ground me, it's like I'm idolizing and worshiping it, right?
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
Exactly.
Courtney:
Yeah, a drink helps from time to time, but am I worshiping alcohol? No. Am I worshiping-
Denalee:
But if you're living there-
Courtney:
... the news?
Denalee:
... and that's how you go, is that how you go to your comfort? And it's a weird thing to think of the media, or social media, or the news as your comfort, but it-
Tyler:
The fear.
Denalee:
... almost becomes that, it's this need to know.
Courtney:
Well, it's a drug.
Tyler:
It's a source of dopamine.
Courtney:
It's an addiction.
Denalee:
It is. I agree.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
I agree.
Tyler:
It's your- [inaudible 00:55:20]
Denalee:
I didn't realize that until just today. So practically, I think awareness is key. Knowing yourself and how you're responding to things, no matter what it is. It could be the doom porn, it could be real porn, it could be alcohol, whatever your situation is, awareness of what that's doing to you and what it's taking from you is huge. Recognizing when it happens, because I feel like a backslidden alcoholic, is-
Courtney:
It's easy to.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
It's-
Denalee:
Yeah. And really thinking about how it's affecting the goals of my life because I really shut down for a couple of years. I had no purpose. My classes were gone, my business was gone. I didn't even care.
Tyler:
I feel like-
Denalee:
I thought that, "Well, this is it anyway. Who cares?"
Tyler:
It's really easy to justify it to other people about, like, "Well, I'm just being aware of knowing what's going on and blah, blah, blah. Why aren't you doing this?"
Denalee:
Well, I was actually mad at people who weren't-
Courtney:
Well, then-
Denalee:
... aware.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
I was angry.
Courtney:
I was [inaudible 00:56:24] to other people.
Tyler:
Yep.
Denalee:
I was angry because I'm like, "You guys, we're letting this happen."
Courtney:
"Do you not care?"
Tyler:
Yep.
Denalee:
But I think, and here's my argument with that, because I still have that argument. Good people let evil happen. And I think there's things we can do to help the world. We were given dominion of this world. It's our responsibility to take care of it, not just in an environmental capacity, but also, living in America, I think we have a responsibility to keep our freedom. There's a freedom that God gave us to live here, and we are losing our freedoms.
Tyler:
We're not stewarding it.
Denalee:
And we're not stewarding it. We're not standing up for it.
Courtney:
We'll go back to the-
Denalee:
And we're not-
Courtney:
... Constitution. We have rights. It's social, political. And we're authority as a believer. And it can go back to the legal stuff.
Denalee:
And we used to be the freest country in the world. I think we're at number 20 now, in terms of-
Courtney:
Whoo.
Denalee:
... freedom.
Courtney:
Didn't know that.
Denalee:
Yes. And so it's-
Courtney:
I'm officially buying a gun after this podcast.
Denalee:
... but it-
Tyler:
That pours oil-
Denalee:
... well, I-
Tyler:
... on obedience.
Denalee:
... not in fear, but-
Courtney:
But is my country girl out more?
Denalee:
It's my argument with you about-
Tyler:
I believe it's secular.
Denalee:
... not knowing what's happening. So this was my fear. And we're not supposed to live in fear, but I'm just going to tell you my fear is for my children and my future grandchildren, I want them to live in a country where they have the same opportunities that I had. And already you two don't have the same opportunities that I have.
Courtney:
Not at all.
Denalee:
You don't financially, you do not have the same opportunities-
Tyler:
To start, yeah.
Denalee:
... that I have. So we have a huge leg up just because your rent, you guys are making the same amount of money we did.
Courtney:
I don't want to talk about it.
Denalee:
And your rent and your housing payment's four times as much.
Courtney:
Bills are outrageous.
Denalee:
Yes. And so-
Tyler:
You would be-
Denalee:
It limits you.
Tyler:
The amount of people live in check to check is absurd.
Denalee:
Yes. So-
Tyler:
To be able to stack 50 bucks a week is like a privilege.
Courtney:
Well, I think more people are getting to that point by the week. You know?
Denalee:
Mm-hmm.
Tyler:
Mm-hmm.
Courtney:
It's unattainable to even save money. It's like off your paycheck-
Denalee:
If people are living off their credit cards, this is part of the financial apocalypse.
Courtney:
... here we go with interest-
Denalee:
People ... Yes.
Courtney:
... and credit cards. And-
Denalee:
So you guys are not living in a world that I lived in. And for me, I would like to steward that and bring that back, because we didn't pay attention. And now I think it's went too far. The pendulum has swung too far. And I think that is the beauty of what's happening online are people are going, "Okay, this is too far. The government's overspending. They're printing money." People are starting to understand economics 101 on why we're having incredible inflation.
Tyler:
They're starting to be-
Denalee:
That's-
Tyler:
... mad about the same stuff.
Denalee:
... a beautiful thing because then it's no longer-
Tyler:
Divides.
Denalee:
... us divided. It's like, "Okay, we're going to hold our Congress people accountable."
Tyler:
Right.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
So there are some good that has come from this.
Courtney:
And we're all in it together. The left and the right can't afford their bills.
Denalee:
Exactly. And-
Tyler:
Well, it comes down to everybody wants a better world to live in. They're just going about it differently.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
Exactly.
Tyler:
Yep.
Denalee:
Yes. And I think that's just it. I'm just going to just-
Courtney:
It's the same goal, same objective, but we're still fighting, because a narrative was from the get go to divide us.
Tyler:
Fighting over the intellectual bullets.
Denalee:
Well-
Tyler:
And not actually-
Denalee:
And it's where social media makes money.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
They've created the algorithms to divide for a reason, because it works. It works.
Courtney:
You know what it reminds me of? A lot of churches, especially in America or modern day Christianity, they have differences in theology. And there're smaller details of, you know-
Tyler:
Mm-hmm.
Courtney:
We all believe in the same Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Tyler:
Yeah. Denomination, pretty much.
Courtney:
But it's the little stuff and that's where the fights come from. It's like, "You're not a real Christian." Or, "You're not a, you know- "
Denalee:
Yes.
Courtney:
" ... true believer." And this is what this reminds me of. It's like, "Well, even though we are celebrating and worshiping the same God- "
Tyler:
Agreed on the-
Courtney:
" ... does- "
Tyler:
... big picture.
Courtney:
"Do the details really matter?"
Tyler:
Yeah, exactly.
Courtney:
You know? It's-
Denalee:
Mm-hmm.
Courtney:
Everyone has an argument. Everyone has a reason to disagree.
Denalee:
And so this was the beauty of our-
Courtney:
Does it matter?
Denalee:
... world before. You and I could sit here, and disagree, and still have a conversation.
Courtney:
That's key, conversation. And we don't-
Denalee:
And we-
Courtney:
... know how to have-
Denalee:
... would still be friends.
Courtney:
... conversations.
Denalee:
But I think there's so much hate and vitriol if we don't agree now. And-
Tyler:
Well, it's a moral battle because everybody's like, "You're wrong if you don't think about this." And there's a bunch of people vampiring virtue off people. You know what I mean?
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
Agreed.
Tyler:
And leaching it, and saying, "I'm a good person." And then they go flirt with their other little vampire virtues.
Courtney:
That's resentment.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
It causes all this anger and it's like, "F you, I can't have a conversation with you. I don't respect you."
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
And it's like, "What happened to the days where we can sit down, talk about our differences, and not just say, 'I'm right and you're wrong.'"
Denalee:
"And I hate you because don't think like me."
Tyler:
Yeah, it's more about morality wins than-
Denalee:
Yes. And I will say I have been the perpetrator of that, on occasion, where, like, "If you don't agree with me, you're wrong. And I'm taking the moral high ground because I'm right."
Courtney:
It's easy.
Tyler:
Or, yeah.
Courtney:
I've been there. It's easy to do-
Denalee:
But-
Courtney:
... when I'm right and you're wrong.
Denalee:
But we do need to be loving. That's our first call, is to be in love, and to be in love is to not yelling our virtue-
Tyler:
It's really-
Denalee:
... at people.
Tyler:
... hard when you're being antagonized by someone who is yelling their virtue.
Denalee:
It is. But that's when we can show the greatest love.
Tyler:
Yep.
Denalee:
That's when it's the hardest, right? To-
Tyler:
Yep, exactly.
Denalee:
I just had the conversation-
Tyler:
[inaudible 01:02:02] that-
Denalee:
... with this guy, because I made fun of one of Jill Biden's outfits. I said, "Boy, her stylist doesn't like her." And because I say that I'm a Christian in my bio, and he goes, "That's not very Christian." I go, "You're right. It's not."
Courtney:
"Thank you- "
Tyler:
At least you can be-
Courtney:
" ... for calling me out."
Tyler:
... honest.
Denalee:
I go, "You're right."
Tyler:
At least you can be-
Denalee:
Well-
Tyler:
... honest, and still have humility about it, and accept when you're wrong.
Denalee:
I did. I said, "I- "
Courtney:
But would Jesus like that outfit?
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
No. But I did respond to him-
Tyler:
People, hey.
Denalee:
... and I said, "I didn't really think I would offend Jill Biden, so I felt safe in it, because I didn't think she was on my feed. But you're right. It was mean-spirited."
Tyler:
It's a human, at the end of the day, as far we know.
Denalee:
And even if she doesn't, we don't know. I'm just joking. But I did. You know, it was mean.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
But bringing to the core, we are supposed to love people. What would Jesus do?
Denalee:
Yes.
Tyler:
It's not-
Denalee:
We would not-
Courtney:
Our- [inaudible 01:02:54]
Denalee:
... go make fun of her outfit.
Courtney:
... as Christians, we are supposed to love others. We're supposed to serve others. And when you bring all this politics, this-
Denalee:
Mean.
Courtney:
... social environment, you could bring climate change into this if you really want to get crazy. What's our purpose here? Are we supposed to-
Denalee:
Go.
Courtney:
... point fingers, and fight, and argue about the little things?
Denalee:
No. We're supposed to-
Courtney:
In the-
Denalee:
... love each other.
Courtney:
... big picture, they are the little things.
Denalee:
No, we're supposed to love each other. Love ourselves, love each other, love Jesus, love God. Hey. We have a-
Courtney:
We love our pups.
Denalee:
We have a dog here, that-
Tyler:
She got a little itch going on?
Denalee:
Yes, we have a disruptive dog.
Courtney:
It happens to all of us.
Denalee:
Love the disruptive Yorkie.
Tyler:
She's our mascot. She's sick.
Denalee:
So, yes, I think that's what it all felt, even when God was dealing with me through this, that's what it all was about. I've got to learn to love.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
And that was my journey, maybe even over the last seven years, is me learning what actual love looks like. And I'm still on that journey.
Courtney:
I don't think you're ever going to end.
Denalee:
No.
Courtney:
And I hope-
Denalee:
Love is a big-
Courtney:
... you're not.
Denalee:
... word.
Courtney:
I hope you're never done changing and-
Denalee:
No, I'm not changing.
Courtney:
... growing.
Denalee:
But even just this word love. It's a big word.
Courtney:
It is.
Denalee:
It's really a big word. And-
Courtney:
And a lot of people, I don't think, get the opportunity to go on the path that you've been on, whether they haven't prayed about it-
Denalee:
Praise God that-
Courtney:
... or-
Denalee:
... if you haven't.
Tyler:
Praise God if you have, though. Thanks.
Denalee:
Yes. No, I am-
Tyler:
There's another setting.
Denalee:
Yes.
Tyler:
Other flip a coin.
Denalee:
Amen. Amen. Amen. So I guess being aware of what's happening is good. Being aware of yourself within that, and what's happening, and being aware of what your true purpose in life is. And, you know, God puts passions on our hearts to do different things and to bring-
Courtney:
Mm-hmm.
Tyler:
Mm-hmm.
Denalee:
... His love to the world. And I think that's what we need to focus on.
Tyler:
And it's like making decisions with music, and I'm still feeling called and desired to do that. I don't think He would just have me still going that way if it was about an end tomorrow. You know what I mean?
Denalee:
I think he would, even if it was-
Tyler:
I don't know.
Denalee:
... going to end tomorrow. But this is where I think maybe we differ, and this could be age.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
I'm ready to go if God takes me. I'm not going to go be a martyr.
Courtney:
Same.
Denalee:
I will if He asks me to, if He calls me to do it, I'm okay with it. I know that what is awaiting me is more than anything this life could bring.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
But I do as you point out, it's pretty selfish of me to not want to bring more people with. But of course, I want as many people to go to heaven as possible. That is of course-
Tyler:
Bringing God an experience.
Denalee:
Yes. But am I doing that work? Not so much. I don't know that I am out there evangelizing. Definitely, I speak up when I can, but am I doing what I should be? I don't know. I don't know. But I do know that if I do die, I'm not worried about that. I have no fear in that. I have a bigger fear, like I said, you with your children, my grandchildren, and the-
Tyler:
There's-
Denalee:
... world that they grow-
Tyler:
... selfish-
Denalee:
... up in.
Tyler:
... aspirations. I want to succeed in music and do these things.
Denalee:
Yes.
Tyler:
But it also is like there's fear in losing that because I idolize it sometimes. You know what I mean?
Denalee:
Mm-hmm.
Tyler:
So it is like a balance.
Denalee:
It's a worldly thing. Right?
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
I don't think it's wrong to want success. I don't think it's wrong to-
Courtney:
Want a family.
Denalee:
... want a family.
Courtney:
I have a revelation about this last year, and I struggled with the fact, because I bought into, "End of the world is coming. What if it comes before I have my family, and meet my husband, and live out my dreams?" I think everyone has these thoughts. And He dealt with me for a little bit. I'm at a point now where I have so much peace, it could be tomorrow. And it's like, "Heaven's going to be a party. Are you kidding me? Who wouldn't want to go?"
Tyler:
Oh, yeah.
Courtney:
I'm ecstatic, but I think there's a balance where I could make a suicidal joke. It's not like I'm ready to just die because I'm so excited. You know, there is a life here and we have work here to do as Christians.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
And I have to remind myself every day, you know, what our purpose is, what-
Tyler:
Mm-hmm.
Courtney:
... we are called to do in our time here because it's limited.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
And yeah, I have dreams. I want to have that family, and you know, career-wise, I have aspirations, and I have a bucket list, like everyone.
Tyler:
Mm-hmm.
Courtney:
But if he does come tomorrow or next year, I'm at peace with that.
Tyler:
It's obviously going to be greater. But-
Courtney:
Let His will be done.
Tyler:
We have limited minds, so we can only understand how much greater it's going to be, and be like, "Why did I even care?"
Courtney:
Yeah.
Tyler:
You know what I mean?
Denalee:
I think that this is the beauty of having God in your life and understanding if you've experienced God, you know it's better, because you had experiences of Him. When I walk with God, and I'm obedient, and we're in a good place, it's good.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
It's so good. Everything's good. There is no fear, because I'm walking with Him.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
I think the fear comes in when I'm not walking with Him. And I also believe that knowing where I'm going, knowing what the end looks, like you said, and knowing who wins, because this is a war between good and evil. This isn't a war between me and somebody who doesn't agree with me politically.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
This is good and evil. And that doesn't mean they're evil. That means evil is whispering to all of us.
Tyler:
Yeah. It's not the person.
Denalee:
Yes. It's not.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
This is spiritual war.
Courtney:
And-
Denalee:
And I get that.
Tyler:
That's the influence, yeah.
Courtney:
All through the Bible, there is war.
Denalee:
Yes.
Courtney:
God is not against battle.
Denalee:
Yes.
Courtney:
He does win. There is a clear winner and loser.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
And I think knowing that, and I can rest in that, makes the rest not such a big deal.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
Though it is still horrific to see the images that we get to see sometimes of war, or of people getting hurt, or people on a subway getting stabbed. So don't go on Twitter. If you're not on Twitter. Just don't go.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
I promise you it's a-
Tyler:
Get off social media, man.
Denalee:
Yeah. It's horrible.
Courtney:
I guess that-
Denalee:
Unless we're on social media then you could come on social media.
Courtney:
As long as you like and subscribe.
Tyler:
Social media is so crazy. We get to learn stuff at such a crazy rate and be a part of stuff so much. It's insane.
Denalee:
It is.
Courtney:
We're self-taught.
Tyler:
Yeah. Well, I feel like it's, what is it, what's it, substantiated? What is it? Like filled in for, what's the word?
Denalee:
Substantial?
Tyler:
No. Like sub-
Courtney:
Oh my gosh.
Tyler:
I-
Courtney:
I know what you're saying. I know what you're trying to say.
Tyler:
Yeah. People, I feel like, have gotten dumber because we've used-
Courtney:
We rely on social media.
Tyler:
We rely on social media. We rely on-
Courtney:
To fill in the blank. To-
Tyler:
... our phone. We rely on the technology.
Denalee:
So when I was a kid-
Courtney:
We've gotten lazy.
Denalee:
We weren't allowed to use calculators, because that would make us stupid and lazy.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
So I don't know if that's true because you kids are-
Courtney:
Glad we're not in that era.
Denalee:
You kids are far smarter than me.
Courtney:
That's debatable.
Tyler:
Well, have you seen, there's poems and stuff We can't even decipher from the 1800s and 1700s that were just like into English.
Denalee:
Is that a different language, though?
Tyler:
No, I mean old English, the way that they wrote, the words that they use that are words that are in our dictionary.
Denalee:
[inaudible 01:10:18]-
Courtney:
Because look how much we've evolved-
Tyler:
The thing-
Courtney:
... since then.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
Even some translations of the Bible, we don't understand.
Denalee:
I have a-
Tyler:
Now everybody's saying-
Denalee:
... hard time with- [inaudible 01:10:27]
Courtney:
"Thou shall, " what does that mean?
Denalee:
Yeah.
Tyler:
Yeah, right?
Denalee:
"Who's Ye?"
Tyler:
But sit down and read the whole King James-
Courtney:
That's me.
Tyler:
... from the first King James print. It's like, "What?"
Denalee:
Yes.
Tyler:
You know what I mean?
Denalee:
Yeah.
Tyler:
"What are you saying?" You know what I mean? I think it's interesting, personally.
Denalee:
That is interesting. That is interesting, because I think your generation seems really smart and you've had a lot of tools. So it makes me think you're piggybacking off the tools, because the brain is meant to create and learn-
Tyler:
Or just because-
Denalee:
... and connect.
Tyler:
... you see me, it doesn't mean you haven't seen that one person.
Denalee:
Well, she's smart too.
Courtney:
I have my days.
Tyler:
No, it's not that, but-
Courtney:
I'm joking.
Tyler:
It's not that one person that has a lot of access, you know, like-
Denalee:
Right.
Tyler:
... my age that-
Courtney:
Yeah.
Tyler:
... is not using it appropriately. You know what I mean?
Denalee:
Oh, yes. Anything can be used for good or evil, right?
Tyler:
Yeah, exactly.
Denalee:
Any tool.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
Any tool.
Tyler:
But as, I feel like we devolve.
Courtney:
Well, and going off that any tool can be used for good or evil. It's like I think we have a responsibility with social media and all the information we're being fed, including the media, including the news, we need to be responsible in how much we actually consume and what we do with that.
Denalee:
And what we do with it.
Courtney:
There's a lot of-
Denalee:
And this is-
Courtney:
... authority in that.
Denalee:
Yes. Because I feel this is what I've done wrong in the past. I've shared things before they were vetted. I shared things too soon, before I had formed a real opinion on them. We had talked about doing an Israel-Hamas podcast.
Courtney:
Podcast. Yeah.
Denalee:
I just couldn't make myself do it for some reason. And I think it's because I didn't feel like I had the full picture. And I think that we never will.
Courtney:
Well, I don't think-
Denalee:
We can't.
Courtney:
... any one person will.
Denalee:
No.
Courtney:
As many people-
Denalee:
And-
Courtney:
... do podcasts on-
Denalee:
I don't even think-
Courtney:
... specific topics.
Denalee:
... it's fair to have an opinion when I can't.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
You know?
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
We can have podcasts about our lives and how it affects us. It's a little harder to sit back here and go, "Okay, these are the bad guys, these are the good guys."
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
It's too hard. It's not fair.
Courtney:
But I think the same could be said about any topic or any subject. It's like we are never going to have the full or the entire perspective.
Denalee:
No. I just felt I had done the damage enough in this podcast of consuming too much negative dew horn.
Courtney:
They saved you a lot of stress.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
What do you personally do to stop this cycle when you get in it?
Tyler:
I put my phone down and I just-
Denalee:
Turn it off. Yes.
Tyler:
I delete apps, get off it, and participate in real life. Like, "What do I have for work today? Do I go to the gym, go make music? What am I moving forward on in my real life that is actually happening, that- "
Denalee:
Real life.
Tyler:
Yeah. "What is tangible right in front of me?"
Courtney:
Yeah.
Tyler:
"What is today?" You know?
Denalee:
Mm-hmm.
Tyler:
Focus on today. Today's the day of salvation.
Courtney:
Stay in your own lane.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
Yeah. It can be as little as meal prepping, or like, "What can I physically do? What are actions I can do?"
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
And again, as I said earlier, it's like, "Just get back to God. Just spend, just talk to him."
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
"He'll guide your way."
Tyler:
Well, it's like-
Courtney:
And it's a-
Tyler:
... it-
Courtney:
... good distraction from all the craziness that's out there.
Tyler:
It's like putting your head in the sand a little bit.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
Not really.
Courtney:
But-
Denalee:
So this is the-
Courtney:
... but-
Denalee:
... difference. There's a difference to me between-
Courtney:
Not-
Denalee:
... putting your head in the sand and walking with God.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
So you said this the other day and it really bugged me, about putting your head in the sand being the better route.
Courtney:
I guess it's coming out now.
Denalee:
Well, I don't think you were wrong on some level, now, after a couple of days of thinking about it.
Tyler:
God will put it in front of you.
Denalee:
Yes. I went to-
Tyler:
Do I have to white-knuckle the information?
Denalee:
I went to counseling probably when you were five. There was some news going on at the time. A lot of stuff in the world was happening that I thought was a big deal. Today, I can't even tell you what it was, because I was thinking, "What was going on that I was so worried about?" And so I went to counseling.
Courtney:
Wasn't COVID.
Denalee:
It's crazy, because I can't even-
Courtney:
In perspective. Yeah. It's like-
Denalee:
I can't even tell you what it was about, that I was so worried about it. So I went to a counseling session or two with this lady. And she said, "Just turned the TV off. If you need to know something, somebody will let you know."
Tyler:
Yep.
Denalee:
And I lived that way until COVID.
Courtney:
I love that.
Denalee:
I did.
Courtney:
Love that.
Denalee:
"If you need to know something- "
Tyler:
God brings it to you.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
"People will let you know." And I-
Courtney:
Or someone calls you.
Denalee:
... don't-
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
Yes.
Tyler:
God uses somebody to call you.
Courtney:
God can call you.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
It did save me a lot of anxiety, and frustration, and concern.
Tyler:
There's people that do, and they look like they have fulfilling lives because they don't even have to deal with the thought of living in fear. They don't have to deal with like, "Oh, the world's going to end tomorrow."
Courtney:
Yeah.
Tyler:
Because when we see it like, "Oh, it could happen. It's coming up." But-
Denalee:
I thinks the point-
Tyler:
Pay attention.
Denalee:
... is we just don't care that it does happen. We have to live like it isn't.
Tyler:
So the time and the seasons part of the Bible, I think people use that inappropriately. You'll know the time and seasons.
Courtney:
As a misinterpretation?
Denalee:
Mm-hmm.
Tyler:
I don't know.
Courtney:
Or the exaggeration?
Tyler:
Yeah, a little bit. Because we don't know the day or the hour. Right?
Courtney:
Mm-hmm.
Denalee:
We don't know the day or the hour, but we know the season.
Tyler:
Yeah. But I don't think it was meant to be a focus, though. You know what I mean?
Denalee:
I think it was, so we could be prepared, because God loves us that much.
Tyler:
But He-
Denalee:
Not prepared, like go around acting like a bunch of nut jobs. Be prepared, like you amp up your love, you amp up your discipleship, you amp up. We should have been doing it the-
Courtney:
And bring as-
Denalee:
... whole time.
Courtney:
... many people home-
Tyler:
It's like-
Courtney:
... before then.
Denalee:
We should been doing it before.
Tyler:
It's a motivation. But they said, "The day is soon," how long ago? You know what I mean?
Denalee:
Yeah. The apostles thought the they would see the end.
Tyler:
Yeah, exactly. So it's like-
Courtney:
We're humans. We react to urgency, and most of us-
Tyler:
Yeah. But-
Courtney:
... procrastinate.
Tyler:
If you, I don't know, live like that, instead of trying to discern when the time and the seasons are, and spending your time trying to figure out when the end of the world is, I think people get so caught up with that.
Denalee:
I do, too. Because I think my trick to not getting upset about it is not caring.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
"Oh, that is interesting. That did happen." Instead of not ... That doesn't bother me as much as the political stuff.
Tyler:
Do you think you wouldn't care if didn't pay attention to what's going on in the world?
Courtney:
That's where I'm at.
Denalee:
No, actually the stuff going on in the world scares me more because, okay, let's say we've got 100 more years. If the world's not ending, what world do I want to leave my kids and grandkids?
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
That concerns me more.
Tyler:
That concerns me more, too.
Denalee:
Yeah. I don't want to-
Tyler:
But the concern, is it watching it? Am I acting?
Denalee:
So this is-
Tyler:
Am I doing better?
Denalee:
... this is-
Tyler:
Am I actually following the will of God, watching it, and trying to-
Denalee:
Well-
Tyler:
... see the events, or we'll just figure it out?
Denalee:
Well, as you pointed out to me, "What are you doing about it, Mom?"
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
Like, "No, I am not doing anything about it. I fund political people who I think are the good guys and sometimes I'm wrong."
Tyler:
I think we-
Denalee:
That's about as much as I do.
Courtney:
I think we all have a same purpose as Christians. And I think in this waiting game, maybe it doesn't matter when it's going to be. As long as we're ready, it's like doing your homework early.
Denalee:
Yes.
Courtney:
It's like being prepared for the test-
Denalee:
Well, we're all-
Courtney:
... two weeks early.
Denalee:
Well, we're all saved so it's over.
Courtney:
And that's great.
Tyler:
Right.
Courtney:
But I think a lot of people, going on another tangent, take advantage of that saying, "I'm going to wait until the last minute."
Denalee:
Oh, you know what?
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
I think I just-
Courtney:
I heard, "Say- "
Denalee:
... recently heard somebody say that.
Courtney:
" ... that salvation prayer at the very last, you know, on my- "
Tyler:
Yeah.
Courtney:
" ... deathbed." And it's like, "Well."
Tyler:
But that's salvation prayer, not eschatology, right-
Denalee:
Have you-
Tyler:
... as a theology? Yeah.
Courtney:
Correct.
Denalee:
Have you talked to somebody that has said this?
Courtney:
Have I? I haven't met anyone who's actually said it, but I know there are people who live their lives like that.
Denalee:
This actually came up for us yesterday in a conversation we were having with somebody.
Courtney:
I take it back, I've had friends who have had parents or grandparents in the hospital, and they say that prayer, the last breath. And that, glory to God, that's great. But did they intentionally wait until the last minute? You have to-
Denalee:
That's the-
Courtney:
You have to wonder.
Denalee:
Yes.
Tyler:
Made it past the finish line, but-
Courtney:
You didn't live your life.
Tyler:
You know.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Tyler:
You might not be able to have the most-
Courtney:
Congratulations.
Tyler:
... responsibility on the planet.
Courtney:
You might not be in a mansion in heaven, though.
Tyler:
Yeah. He might not have the responsibility.
Denalee:
Well, I think that's the beautiful love of God, though, that he gives us up to the last minute. Just like the guy at Calgary.
Courtney:
That's grace.
Denalee:
He gave that guy that last minute. My father just died and he wasn't saved. But I have to believe, even in his last moments, God gave him another chance.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
I have to believe that.
Courtney:
Like He did with the guy on the cross.
Denalee:
Yes.
Tyler:
Yep.
Denalee:
Exactly. And I think that's just the beauty and the beautiful love of it. But we were talking to a gentleman yesterday, and he was mad about it that people got it. And he was not a Christian. But he didn't like-
Courtney:
Oh.
Denalee:
... that people ... So which leads me to believe-
Courtney:
Free pass to sin- [inaudible 01:19:16]
Denalee:
"You're mad that they get a free pass. But you don't believe." It was confusing.
Courtney:
Sounds like it.
Denalee:
But-
Courtney:
No, it's an opportunity.
Denalee:
It sounds like somebody who just might be frustrated with God, but does believe.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
But it was an interesting thought, to be irritated by God's love and mercy.
Courtney:
It's ironic. It's like, "Grace is so good. I hate that."
Tyler:
It's because we can't understand it.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
Well, because-
Tyler:
So- [inaudible 01:19:45]
Denalee:
We all think we're the only ones that deserve it, and that guy doesn't.
Courtney:
Which is also ironic.
Denalee:
He did have a good point. He was talking about pedophiles. That was a tough subject. Right?
Tyler:
Mm-hmm.
Denalee:
That's a tough person to, you see someone who has completely brutalized and destroyed the natural life of a child, and you have to wonder, "Even he could get saved."
Courtney:
Yeah.
Denalee:
And that was irritating to him. So I guess I should have let the whole context come out to see his irritation.
Courtney:
I don't think he's the only one. I think people don't see that it's fair for a lot of people. It's like, "My circumstance, I only lied this guy murdered."
Denalee:
That's what-
Courtney:
"That's not fair."
Denalee:
Yes.
Courtney:
It's like, "Well."
Tyler:
But a lot of people don't see the courtroom analogy to heaven. You know what I mean?
Denalee:
Mm-hmm.
Courtney:
Yeah. The legal system is a whole different podcast.
Tyler:
Yeah.
Denalee:
A beautiful legal system. It does.
Tyler:
I'd love to talk about, I'm waiting for the Salvation episode.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Tyler:
I love that.
Courtney:
Yeah.
Tyler:
I got verses. I got-
Courtney:
You're getting me excited.
Tyler:
I got intellectual bullets for days.
Courtney:
I'm ready for it.
Denalee:
All right.
Courtney:
And on the next episode.
Denalee:
Just thank you guys so much for sharing your thoughts on doom porn, and how it has affected you, and how you deal with it so it doesn't destroy your life.
Courtney:
Are you a doom porn addict?
Denalee:
Not anymore. I'm recovered.
Courtney:
Recovered.
Denalee:
I'm recovered.
Courtney:
Word to God.
Denalee:
So-
Tyler:
We're in recovery.
Denalee:
Hopefully we helped somebody out there not feel so alone, or maybe you could share your experiences, or things that you do to keep you from traveling down that lane of destruction in your mind and body.
Courtney:
It's not a good place to be.
Denalee:
It isn't.
Courtney:
Get out of there.
Denalee:
So anyway, thanks again for tuning in. Please like and subscribe. It helps us and we appreciate it. We appreciate your support. Thanks.
Courtney:
Thank you.
Tyler:
Thanks. See.