CODE RED - Congressman Aaron Bean

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Pastor Zach, we're in danger. The greatest threat we have is our overspending. We are spending so much, we're adding a trillion dollars to our deficit every hundred days. [00:00:13] Speaker B: I've followed social media. I've seen. You've got to have some face time with Musk. What was that like? [00:00:19] Speaker A: He's moving into Mar A Lago. He has a place at Mar A Lago, but you know where he stays in D.C. he stays on a cot in his office. He's taken over. The Doge Group has taken over part of the Department of War building on the Mall. [00:00:40] Speaker B: In this episode of Code Red, we are honored to have our local congressman, Aaron Bean, join us in studio and tell us about his experience up in D.C. and we're tackling all of the hot button items. We're talking about the Epstein files. We're talking about UFOs, cryptocurrency, government transparency, Elon Musk, Doge, all of these things and many more. In this episode of Code Red. Congressman Beam, welcome to Code Red City. [00:01:28] Speaker A: Pastor Zach, what an honor. I have heard the legend of Code Red, but to finally be here in the. In the studio is a big deal. It's much bigger than I thought. How about that? [00:01:38] Speaker B: You know, we make a. Make a little bit, go a long way, we hope. We found this place, what, three months ago maybe, and threw it together, and it's been. It's been a lot of fun. People say, you know, why do you do this? And it's really for the same reason dogs bark. It's just what we do. It's in our nature to do it. We want to have these conversations. We want to have them where other people can engage as well. And so it honors us that you're here and you're a friend, and we've known each other since before you were U.S. congressman. About that, but several years here, we've been kind of collaborating on some things and watching your progress. [00:02:18] Speaker A: Most importantly, Cole, your son Cole worked for us and spent, what, half a year up in D.C. he's finishing up. [00:02:25] Speaker B: With a political science degree and making plans. He's. His EP released this week with Sony Records, and so it's out on Spotify and hitting the charts. So we're hoping he can find a real job up in Nashville while he's still trying to make it. [00:02:42] Speaker A: Fantastic. I had to. This is. This is a wild story. He did such a great job in hospitality. He ran our front office. Obviously, Julie taught him well. I joke. That's a joke. But my team offered him a job My team said, that's your guy. You know, boss, that's your job. I have to tell him. Don't take it. You know, I have to tell Cole. We're so proud of him and don't take it. Follow your dream. You got that? It's a limited window to launch. I have to tell you, I don't mean to talk too much. And it's your show. It's the Pastor Zach code red show. But literally, your listeners need to know. It's the long story of how a guitar came to life in my office two years ago, I had then Speaker McCarthy. Then Speaker McCarthy asked me to host his intern summertime intern party. [00:03:39] Speaker B: Oh, so you were emceeing? [00:03:41] Speaker A: I emceed it. And as you know, I'm a game show host. [00:03:43] Speaker B: That's what you do? Yeah, on the side. [00:03:45] Speaker A: From auctions to all kinds of things. And it's really just having fun and being fun. And we played games. But there was close to 500 interns that were all finishing up. Speaker McCarthy had a tradition of having a wrap up party. And so we did. We had a wrap up party, played games. It was fun, it was hot, but it was a great time. But as a thank you gift, McCarthy signed a guitar and gave it to me. And I don't play guitar. I don't even know what to do with it. I didn't even know what it was. Took it out of the box. [00:04:16] Speaker B: Nice prop. [00:04:16] Speaker A: And I just put it on the shelf. And it stayed there for what, a year and a half, A year until First Baptist came up. We kind of had to celebrate. You were the pastor of the day. You opened Congress in prayer. And then we did a little reception and tour and we had what, close to 49 people in the office. That's a record. But your son said, does that guitar work? And I'm like, I don't know. And he goes, would you mind? And he grabbed it and within minutes had all of us singing. It was the day Toby Keith or the day after Toby Keith passed. And somebody said toby Keith. And we did a tribute to Toby Keith in the office. That is a story I still tell. [00:05:00] Speaker B: Well, and we still share that. And I'll put a clip of the video in here so people can check it out. But that is a good segue into the nature, I think, of our this district and our people here in northeast Florida. Toby Keith wrote that song in honor of 911 and as a response to 9 11. And it just captured that patriotic flair that our people here possess. And so in that moment, there wasn't a better song that kind of captured what we were all feeling. And. And Cole captured that in the office. And. And I think that really is something about the ethos of our community that we inherited. I didn't grow up here in North Flor. Julie and I moved down from Alabama, and suddenly when we got here, we felt at home. But it was because Northeast Florida now, Nassau county now, is so much like the Alabama that we grew up in, which was we were raised with red, white and blue blood. I mean, we were patriotic to the core. And something in our culture shifted to where that wasn't the norm anymore. But when we got here, we found the people that were hungry for that, that believed in that. So whether it's from the way we shepherd our church and we stoke those. Those values in our people and the people that we align with, like yourself or the music we listen to, just. It all comes together in the things that we believe in very deeply. [00:06:42] Speaker A: Amen. And how fast society sh. You mentioned 9 11. I don't know if you remember. That was when our country. That's probably the last time our country truly came together. I know we're going to talk about the State of the Union or the joint address where you saw the great divide that rests with our country, but you go back to 9 11, where you couldn't fly the flag enough. Major League Baseball, remember George Bush threw out the first pitch and just. It was electric. And. And then you go 20 years later with those BLM riots, where this whole phase of kneeling during the anthem or flying the flag upside down. It's just a shame. That's why we have to teach our kids, teach our kids what it truly means to be this country. And the price that's paid almost every day for our freedom. [00:07:32] Speaker B: Absolutely. And you look at what 911 gave us was a common enemy. So historically, nations that survive and thrive have a common enemy. They have a common God, typically. And so we're in a season where we're very pluralistic, and when we say God, we don't always mean the same thing. And so in the early days of our country, it wasn't that they all agreed on every jot and tittle of doctrine, but when they said in God We Trust, everybody knew what they meant. Everybody knew, one nation under God, what that meant. And today that means something different to each man does that which is right in his own eyes so often. [00:08:18] Speaker A: You know, you mentioned our founding Fathers. That's the foundation of which this country was built. That's why it survived. You know the old joke of, I don't know if you know this, our constitution is the longest lasting constitution in the history of the planet. And there's an old joke of an Englishman walking into a, or Englishman walking into a library and asking to see the French constitution. And the Englishman says, I'm sorry we don't have periodicals here. So some countries want to change, but ours, knowing that it's built on that foundation of which you described, is why we're successful. [00:09:05] Speaker B: You know, and as sad as it is, and how we wouldn't hope it would happen again, there is something about when we fall under attack that it does bring us together. You know, I think about it like Julie and I may be in an argument, we may be be at each other's, you know, throats over something. Pastor Zach, but please, she has her times. But, but when that happens, you know, if someone else attacks her, oh, amen. Game over. [00:09:32] Speaker A: Oh, you know, our family or anything. Right, right. Anything. [00:09:36] Speaker B: So, so that outside force, that pressure kind of tests the limits and causes us to come together. And so sadly, it does require that sometimes. Thankfully, we're in a season where there's President Trump in the White House who doesn't seem to be a warmongering type leader. He's wanting peace. [00:09:57] Speaker A: Quite the opposite. He is full throttle peace. And it's amazing. People that you would think would want peace are automatically opposed. [00:10:07] Speaker B: It's so strange. [00:10:08] Speaker A: I just, I just left a. We dedicated a homeless day camp at a church here on the island and it was publicized. I would be there and we had protesters, believe it or not. I think a lot of them are more upset at Trump and Elon Musk of what he's doing. And we can talk about that. There were a couple Aaron Beans or cutting this or that. But you know what, what gets me more than anything is they were flying more Ukrainian flags than they are American flags. There needs to be peace there. And that's something that Trump is working on. I support, I've stopped, you know, have voted against consistently sending any more money to Ukraine. Let's get some peace, right, and bring people together. And that's what President Trump's trying to do. [00:10:55] Speaker B: Well, we have, you know, an opportunity where both Congress and Senate are in a Republican majority, have a Republican president. Those are typically short lived from, from history. You know, usually when that's the case, the incumbent loses the majority in the midterm. [00:11:12] Speaker A: The word is shellacked. The president's party gets shellacked or just, you know, complete. We have to defy history. We already have a right now I think it's a two seat major out of 433 seats. It's 2217 to 2 214. We actually had a member pass away the just the other day. So it's a three seat. But still people have to remember we have different flavors of Republicans. I'm sure there's different flavors of Democrats. And to get everybody lined up on the same page is been as we've done it. It's a miracle every time it happens though. Pastor Zach every time it happens really. [00:11:52] Speaker B: Seems pleasantly surprised, you know, watching the progress because with the House leaders leadership it you guys seem to be choosing the big issues and coming together on things that you can win on. It appears that everybody's aligning behind a president that won the popular vote and came in with a mandate. And that's exciting to see because, you know, I appreciate a lot that McConnell did, but that really kind of concerned me that we wouldn't have unity there and that Trump would be sabotaged in some of the things that that the country wants him to do. And I think that's the mandate. It's not so much about his concepts and his ideas. It's what the country hired him to do. And so it's been very exciting to see. I hope it can continue through the midterm. [00:12:42] Speaker A: Hope it can. You know, President Trump, I've said repeatedly he runs. President Trump runs a no huddle offense. It's on the ball every morning without a huddle, without catching your breath and we're running plays every day. And you know that joint address that I was there, Tell me about that. It was spectacular. Where were you? It was spectacular. I've got some pictures I can share with you. [00:13:06] Speaker B: Yeah, do that. [00:13:06] Speaker A: And I don't know if we can share with your listeners, but he said, you know, in 43 days I've accomplished more than most presidents do in two, three, four years. [00:13:17] Speaker B: So true. [00:13:17] Speaker A: I can attest that is very true. It is such grandeur. You know, if the super bowl is an inaugural and we had a Super bowl inaugural which totally got turned upside down because of the weather and many people. I had over 200 guests that had tickets which turned out to be nothing more than scrapbook souvenirs because they changed everything, brought it indoors, which to me I'm happy at just for security reasons. I'm scared to death for the man that everybody wants to do him harm and already surviving too. Assassination of attempts, but moving it indoors. And even my wife wasn't able to attend. It was just really for members of Congress. We moved it into the rotunda. You're familiar with the rotunda. [00:14:03] Speaker B: When was the last. Was that Reagan's second. Was that the last time he was inside? [00:14:07] Speaker A: Yes, it was. And that was. I know, I know President Trump admires Ronaldus Magnus or Ronald Reagan, but he also did his own thing. It was packed. He brought his family and his cabinet in, but it was just a grand moment. So to come in there. And from then, you know, I listened to another podcast of how Doge Elon Musk operates. While he was getting sworn in, Elon's team was at the treasury with badges ready to get on the computer. And that's another story and another thing, but very exciting. And that's work that has to be done. But so if that's our super bowl, the only thing I can say is a joint address or a State of the Union is our World Series. It is, it really brings so many people together. It is the center of attention, I think over, you know, one of the largest watched programs of how it's going to unfold. Everybody gets to bring one guest. You get to bring one guest as a member of Congress and for. And then it's not huge. [00:15:17] Speaker B: I know it's deceptive on television it looks so much bigger than it is, but it's not a big room for every, every member to have a guest. That's. [00:15:26] Speaker A: It is very tight. It is very tight. They take out any removable furniture and podiums and they bring in not only, you know, we have just enough seating for the 435 members of Congress, but then to bring in 100 senators, then to bring in 25 cabinet members is. And then to bring in nine members of the Supreme Court, I think they leave one member, one, one member of the Cabinet behind the Designated Survivor. But it is jam packed. And then with all the security. So it does get very tight in there. Although it's. During Midway, so many Democrats got up and walked out. It became a little bit more, more open. [00:16:08] Speaker B: Who was it? Al Green. Al Green stood up and, and waved his cane at the President or at the President and was, was taken out. That was, that was discouraging. It was, it was sad to see and I think but really what was the saddest thing to see is when those moments when we should all. [00:16:30] Speaker A: So, you know, leading up, leading up to the, to the speech, what's exciting is the speaker has, there's several receptions, the Library of Congress has a reception and the speaker has receptions and there's a handful of others, but those are the two big ones you want to go because it's a who's who of theirs. So to be at a little reception and to go up and talk to Robert Kennedy Jr. Which I did, to go talk to a Democrat for life Democrat who is fired up and is ready to make America healthy and truly. And I think we're going to have a conversation of what's in our food. We are sick. We are a sick nation. And the data will show to talk to Ben Stein, to talk to Brian Kilmeade, Rachel Campos Duffy, four different secretaries. Four different secretaries, including the Treasury Secretary, who I want to tell you a fun story because we, Pastor Zach, you and I have one thing in common for sure. We married awesome women. Absolutely awesome women that just do amazing things. Sometimes we don't deserve them. So my guess for that speech was Abby. She was coming. We were excited and whatnot. And at 11 o'clock that morning, we, our office got a call from the Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Besant, who is one of the most powerful men in government, and he needed a ticket for his spouse. And I said, let me see what I can do. And I talked to Abby and she said, go for it, go for it. I've already been invited with a handful of other spouses, with, you know, member spouses. We're going to go eat Chinese food and watch the speech together. So called the Treasury Secretary and said, we're. You've got a date. We're all good. He said, well, I'd love to thank you at that speaker's reception. And we gave him the ticket and all. So to go there, it was great. Now, I'm still a junior Congressman, but to go there, he was surrounded by the Treasury Secretary because he actually said, holler at me, so I know who you are. And when he was there, he was surrounded by some senior members and it was so crowded I couldn't get to him. But I yelled out, Mr. Secretary, it's Aaron Bean. And he goes, what? Aaron Bean, you're a superstar. Came over and, you know, gave me a fist bump in front of all the senior members. No one knew why he was doing that, but it gave me great street cred among some of the senior members. [00:19:06] Speaker B: So as a, as a junior member, to be placed on the Ways and Means Committee so quickly, that seems like it's quite an honor. [00:19:16] Speaker A: It was one of the most difficult things that we have done. It was harder. And the Ways and Means Committee, for those that don't know is one of the most powerful committees. In fact, it is the most powerful committee in Congress. [00:19:31] Speaker B: Help me understand, is it the Ways and Means that really holds the purse or what is exactly the mandate of the Ways and Means Committee? [00:19:40] Speaker A: Well, it's listed in the Constitution. It's the oldest committee is it has the power to raise money. It is designated to raise money. And so it controls through the irs. It oversees the irs. And because it controls all tax policy, it touches almost every business and every part of jurisdiction out there. It also oversees Social Security, which that's a podcast in itself. I think I just got a briefing yesterday on how much in shambles Social Security is. We talk about that. It also oversees Medicare, which is the federal health plans for our seniors that we've made a promise to. So all that together makes it. And it's also a smaller committee as compared to some of the other large committees. One vote matters more there, 100%. We have to stick together, though. We have, and I'm sure the other side does it. We meet before and go over things and really try to get on the same page, argue amongst ourselves, so to speak. But so when we go on the main show that we're. We're in line, because if we're not lined up all together, we lose. So we have to have to stick together. [00:20:54] Speaker B: So I've followed social media. I've seen you've. You've got to have some facetime with Musk. What was that like? He's a. He's a Floridian. No, he's in Austin, actually. But he spends a lot of time here. [00:21:05] Speaker A: Well, he does. President Trump always jokes that he is moving into the. He's, you know, Mar a Lago. He has a place in Mar a Lago, but you know where he stays in D.C. he stays on a cot in his office. He's taken over the Doge, the group has taken over part of the old Department of War building on the Mall. And he has a cot he sleeps in. So he's just totally focused. [00:21:30] Speaker B: He reminds me, you know, we went through, in the founding of our country, just a season of genius politically with people like Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson and so much just insight how the world operates and how nations should operate that it seems like there was a time in France where that happened with art, you know, and it seems like we're kind of in one of those periods again with people like Musk. And I'm thankful that there are people in government that recognizes the value that a citizen who's not a career politician that they can contribute to the process. And, you know, that's the beauty of Congress to me, is that you guys are America. You know, you're there doctors, lawyers, businessmen, people who graduated college, people who didn't go to college, that are making up our representatives. And that's how it should be, that it's a government of the people. It should be a beautiful thing, and it works. [00:22:35] Speaker A: And if we're in danger right now, Pastor Zach, we're in danger. The greatest threat we have is our overspending. We are spending so much, we're adding a trillion dollars to our deficit every hundred days. We are at a unsuspecting. However you measure our debt, we're at historic levels. The bond market, which is who buys our debt to finance it, is now starting to push back. To say, you're reaching. It's not an endless supply. You're reaching a critical point where you're approaching the red line of just not being able to come back. Elon Musk, who I was with, and I'm going to. I'll share some pictures that you can share, too, with him two nights ago, and he actually said, why am I doing this? I'll tell you know, here's the richest man. Is he what, 275 billion or maybe 300? It goes up and he goes, I could do so many other things. I could go buy a boat and sail the world and not have to do another thing. But all that wealth without a free United States means nothing, right? So that tells you he's one of the brightest men around to realize there's no other place to go. There's no other shining city on the hill like the United States? Absolutely. And without us, the planet would. It's just. It's scary. And that's why I'm focused on reducing spending. And it's never easy. It's never easy. And part of those protesters that are following me around are worried that we're cutting too much. But I can tell you, Pastor Zach, there are no plans to cut Social Security. There are no plans. In fact, the whole purpose of making reductions to government is to honor and strengthen Social Security. We made a promise. Same with the va. We made a promise. Veterans, you take care of us, we will take care of you. So there are no plans to cut the va, no plans to cut Medicare? [00:24:33] Speaker B: I'm thinking on something that he posted that Musk posted a few days ago. And if we don't change other things. Did I see correctly that. That Social Security would be at risk around like 2035, that's it. [00:24:48] Speaker A: No, 2034. And right now Social Security pays out the money that it has in it because it will just the way we've. I say we Congress, even before I got there, has just consistently increased benefits and given more and allowed more people to come in. We are living longer than it was originally designed for. It was built on an actuary, what do you call it, an actuary table that has changed. We live. We're although we're still sick. [00:25:16] Speaker B: And populations, there's a predicted drop in population that's coming. [00:25:21] Speaker A: So many changes and everything's hitting at once. But in 2034, 2034, it will begin to make adjustments because right now we have a surplus in it. Once that surplus is depleted, it will adjust everybody's unless we make changes, everybody's benefit somewhere between 21 and 30%. Somewhere between. So whatever your check should, you know, if you're going to get supposed to get $100 for the month, that'll go to 71 or somewhere right there, 72 or whatever that is. It depends on what other props that. [00:25:55] Speaker B: We can but that's something that possibly we can fix. [00:25:59] Speaker A: We're going to have some make some changes. And the changes may come in the fact that first of all, anybody that's on it, no changes. Anybody that's about to be on it, no changes. But for my son Bradley or Cole that are in their 20s or 30s, there may be a chance to say let's make a deal with your generation. We're going to give you a richer retirement if you'll delay it by a few years. That's one. [00:26:25] Speaker B: It's inevitable. [00:26:26] Speaker A: Something to go along with the original intent. But there'll be that as well as a handful of other changes, a combination of so many things that we can look at it, but that's the last thing anybody Republicans and Democrats, nobody wants harm to come to a program that's done really well. [00:26:45] Speaker B: So let's talk about some fun things with Trump came into office, no secrets, all the transparency, you know, that he's promised. Are we going to know all of the Epstein files? Is that all going to become public? Are we going to know everything about jfk? Are we going to get a tour of Fort Knox? Is that going to happen? [00:27:09] Speaker A: I think we're headed in that direction. We've got the JFK files, we've got the MLK files. And government was worried that they don't want it. Everything surrounding the events has passed, but they're all worried about how we gather collection but you know what? Government is better in the sunshine. Government is better with transparency. Now, just yesterday, I'm ready for the Epstein files to be released. Let's just release them. Just yesterday, our government said there's some national security at risk and that some of these files will have to be redacted. [00:27:43] Speaker B: And who makes that decision? Is that FBI? Is that. [00:27:46] Speaker A: It's a combination of FBI and the Department of Justice and consultation with the President. The President will have the ultimate call. [00:27:53] Speaker B: That's unrefendable. Redactions for guarding assets, whatever. [00:27:57] Speaker A: But they didn't really explain it. I don't know. What's the implication? How would that affect. Is there other heads of state that have been compromised by engaging in blackmailable activity or something? [00:28:12] Speaker B: Well, in Pam Bondi, another, another home state gal that seems like she's really going to be going after the transparency. [00:28:21] Speaker A: Let's hope so. She's made a commitment. She's made. I've heard her. You've heard her make a commitment. So the files, though, are. It's, you know, it is. I'm making a big thick book hand gesture if you're listening or if you can see. It's, it's, it's, it's comprehensive. There's a lot to read and it's not something you can just read overnight, but hopefully they will. We're a better government for it. And there has to be consequences. People that did some of the unspeakable things on that island or through Epstein, there needs to be justice. There needs to be people called out. And that's really the Trump era. For the last four years, we've never had any accountability. No one's ever paid a price for their transgressions or whatnot. From the BLM riots to Hunter's laptop and all the other things that they've engaged in. [00:29:11] Speaker B: Well, you know, it seems like if you go back to really before our time, before we were engaged and watching things in the 60s, the Democrats kind of carried that mantle of not trusting the institutions and challenging the institutions and asking for transparency and wanting all the facts with Nixon or whatever it might be. And in this generation, it seems like the Republicans have taken that up of just a native distrust of when we see Catholic priests being spied on. [00:29:46] Speaker A: Targeted. [00:29:47] Speaker B: Right. [00:29:47] Speaker A: Our own people targeted people at abortion clinics that were targeted. And even January 6th, January Sixers, they were treated unfairly. They were treated unfairly. And for the FBI to devote such resources to go after people that had nothing to do with. There were some bad apples. And for anybody that you and I were raised, you respect law enforcement. There were some bad apples that engaged in bad behavior. Those people should have been punished and that's where they should have left it. But they let people, anybody that just walked in the room without doing anything and they, that had never been in trouble with the law at all. There was a vendetta to get anybody associated. I think the truth needs to come out about January 6th. I don't think we know everything that happened. The FBI has not come clean about having plants in the, in the mob or the so called mob that they came. Were they the instigators? They haven't come clean. So I'm hoping Cash Patel, who's still what, two days, three days into the office, can come out and make that transparent as well. [00:30:54] Speaker B: I followed today on X some of the conversations where he's, he's beginning to dial back some of the security benefits of some of the officers that were working on January 6th. So it seems like he's on the case. [00:31:11] Speaker A: At least let's hope so. Just again, we're better off, we're better. [00:31:15] Speaker B: Off for full transparency with inflation, you know, that we've experienced in recent years with the question I mentioned earlier about Fort Knox not knowing if the gold's there. You know, I don't think it's been audited since the 50s, if I remember correctly, there's been the rise of cryptocurrency. That's Trump says he wants us to kind of, kind of be the gold standard of cryptocurrency in the world. In Florida there's chatter that's beginning to emerge about the goldbacks. Are you familiar with this? [00:31:53] Speaker A: Do explain, Pastor Zach. [00:31:55] Speaker B: So it's a privately held currency and it's only, I think the last I checked it was in seven states. But it's a currency and I can show you an example of one. Can you hand me my wallet, please? I think it's right over here. It's a currency that's made out of 24 karat gold and it has a polymer around it. Beautiful, beautiful currency. But it's only in certain states and Florida has, has become one of the states. And so there's a number of, there's a number of businesses locally that will trade in gold backs. And so, and I think probably the, some of the, some of the, the motive around it is being early. Now you have to turn that back into me or you'll have to report it. So. [00:32:48] Speaker A: Okay. I don't, I've never. Huh. [00:32:50] Speaker B: I'm gonna do an episode on it. [00:32:53] Speaker A: So what's, what's it backed by? [00:32:54] Speaker B: I mean that's just backed by what's in it. That's gold. [00:32:57] Speaker A: Is this gold? Okay. [00:32:59] Speaker B: So the value of that is based upon the price of gold. [00:33:02] Speaker A: Okay. [00:33:03] Speaker B: So it's going to fluctuate, but so does the dollar. It's just going in the wrong direction. [00:33:07] Speaker A: Right. [00:33:08] Speaker B: So. [00:33:11] Speaker A: And I know that's never seen one, never seen one before. [00:33:14] Speaker B: Well, we can talk more about it later. But it's interesting. It's just now kind of hitting the radar for people. But what is your sense from the inside on the value of the dollar, the place of cryptocurrency? Should people like the average citizen like myself, should we be concerned about putting all of our investments in, in the dollar? [00:33:40] Speaker A: Well, again, you should get professional advice on managing your own finances. But I used to run a bank a long time ago. And diversity in your holdings is certainly there's advantage, there's advantages to being diversified. So if anything, you know, hits the, hits the fan, you're still covered. So that's still, I think any professional tell you that something along those. I'm still warming to crypto. I was a finance major, I ran a bank. There is nothing backing it. If you own stock that earnings potential of the company, there is assets held by the company that you own a piece of. And with crypto it is just what people are willing to pay, pay for it. Now if you, if you own crypto, if you own bitcoin, you've done really well. Or you know, I think it's hovering or around 100 grand or whatever it. [00:34:42] Speaker B: Is like that right now. But it's it, it was low, it was in the 90s, low 90s. [00:34:46] Speaker A: So still an amazing, just totally amazing blows my mind of how many people. But if one day people said hey, it's not worth anything, it's just what everybody's willing to do that. So that, that's a strange bill that you just gave me that I guess. [00:35:02] Speaker B: What I would ask and not to debate it at all because I don't understand it but what backs the dollar? Is it anything beyond faith in the system? [00:35:13] Speaker A: It is the full faith and credit of the United States. And if we want to see the dollar soar, if we want to get inflation under control, we have to get our government finances under control. That's. There's only one. Once we turn the corner and begin stopping the digging of debt, you will see inflation turn around. You'll see our dollar strengthen. You'll see everybody around the world come here to put their money, because this is where it's safe and will truly go. So that's why this whole Doge movement is going on right now. We are again at the edge, at the brink. And it's shocking to me that people are attacking the auditor. The auditor, Elon Musk has come in and has already discovered billions of dollars we're spending money on that could never survive the light of day, including lgbt, whatever it is, the parades, the operas in South America, the coloring books in Peru, all horrible stuff. So anybody that's doing whatever it is you're doing, if you're doing right, you welcome sunshine. You welcome an auditor. In fact, you want the auditor to come look, excuse me, look at how good you're doing. We welcome it. And so it's just unfathomable that people that are attacking the auditor, they don't look at the horrible spending waste that he's found. They go, oh, you shouldn't have access. Elon Musk is a government employee. He's hired, he's not taking a salary, he's sleeping on a cotton. But yet he is determined to turn this country around, to work with the President to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse. It's what he does. He is an expert. Just yesterday, the mothership rocket came down and was gently hugged as it's going to be reused, which is still just a miracle. Every time you watch it. [00:37:12] Speaker B: That's it. [00:37:12] Speaker A: Yeah. Yes. [00:37:13] Speaker B: Is that where they caught it? [00:37:14] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. [00:37:15] Speaker B: That's awesome. [00:37:15] Speaker A: It's still mind blowing when you, when you've seen it. So we've got a limited window to save this country when we do that dollar is now what I support. Going back to the certificate notes that are. Each has a little lump of gold somewhere tucked away attached to that dollar. That would be maybe one day we could. And that's why we have to audit Fort Knox. Fort Knox, just to see if it's there. What's up? It hadn't been audited in 1950. So let's go in and take a peek under the hood. [00:37:43] Speaker B: Well, it's going to be interesting to see, you know, the early him going in and making some sweeping cuts. I think it was Jim Jordan that told Trump before he took office, before the election, he said, if you win, fire everybody that you can fire. Fire some people that you don't know if you can fire and just start over. He said, that's the only way you're going to even know what's going on is to get your people in. [00:38:12] Speaker A: Trump 1.0 found out, he thought, I'm the president, everybody will be loyal to me. And he found there were so many people that were not loyal, that were saboteurs. [00:38:22] Speaker B: Right. [00:38:22] Speaker A: And that whole Russia collusion, which turned out to be a pure fabrication. Hopefully somebody's going to be held accountable. Those 51. We had 51 security agents or past operatives with national security clearance that signed on a letter that the Hunter laptop was Russian disinformation and whatnot. Turns out they knew it. It was untrue. Trump has already revoked their clearance, their national clearance, but I think they still ought to be held accountable even more than just that happening. [00:38:54] Speaker B: So they got the weaponization of our government against our own people. That's got to end. If we're going to say that has. [00:39:00] Speaker A: To end, has to end. There needs to be accountability for those that have, that have crossed that. Of course, Trump gave the greatest speech of his life with that joint address to say, you persecuted me, you weaponized government against me. How'd that work out for you? [00:39:15] Speaker B: Right? [00:39:16] Speaker A: Which is wild stuff. [00:39:18] Speaker B: So looking toward, you know, he's got one term and looking toward the next presidential election, which it seems like especially for you guys in Congress, you're always, you're always having to run. You have to keep your message in front of people. You're two years away from the midterms. [00:39:37] Speaker A: Is that right? What, 16 months? It's a lot less. It's close. It'll be November of next year, whenever that is. [00:39:45] Speaker B: So we're constantly thinking about, we've got a good team, let's keep a good team. What are your thoughts? And I know it's too early to say from what you're seeing from J.D. vance, are you seeing a potential next president in Vance in the early days, Are there other people that are on the radar? What's, what's the chatter? [00:40:08] Speaker A: He is in the driver's seat. J.D. vance is in the driver's seat with Maga behind you. That's why getting a Trump endorsement, particularly in Florida, but really all over America in the Republican primary, I tell everybody it's putting the ball on the 10 yard line. You're starting on the 10. You're already in the red zone. So it really puts you in in the driver's seat. He doesn't have a hundred percent record, but it's really close. It's in the 90s of percent of who he's endorsed. So that's certainly, I know Governor DeSantis, Marco Rubio, certainly there's a handful of others that have, that have stepped or want to take that, take that shot. But so he's the favorite. J.D. vance is the favorite but you know. [00:40:55] Speaker B: See us to lose it. [00:40:57] Speaker A: But it's still a long way away. There's so many things that could happen between now and then. [00:41:02] Speaker B: Well, Trump has not said absolutely that, you know he's his but I did. [00:41:07] Speaker A: See a poll, there was a poll where over 50% supported a Republican, supported JD Vance. DeSantis was 10%. DeSantis has been one of the greatest governors we've ever seen. Would be great. Would be he's a great leader, he's a friend. But it's still a long way away of how that, how that goes down and we'll see. It's fun to talk about it and speculate. We also got a governor. You know, DeSantis is going to leave. He's termed out and that's going to be an open horse race. My friend Byron Donalds, do you remember. [00:41:39] Speaker B: He was leaving the you may not have been out there when we were getting in that night to do the after hours tour with our group that he was leaving that night and all of our people got to meet him. I don't know if you remember that or not. Gentlemen. Wonderful guy. [00:41:55] Speaker A: Yeah, no, he's very well spoken. He is extremely popular on national TV and will go do any interview anywhere to call people out, hypocrisy out, which is good. [00:42:07] Speaker B: So Trump is already endorsed. [00:42:10] Speaker A: However, the race is far from over because now Casey DeSantis, the wife of our governor is, you know, is a Jacksonville news anchor before she became first lady of Florida, is a gifted speaker, is a very gifted communicator and speaker. Many people think that's who why you know, that Ron DeSantis does so well is he's got a great lady behind him advising and pushing. So and she's seen it for the last eight years. So she is extremely well liked, very popular and she hasn't made it formal but we'll see. That would be an interesting horse race. [00:42:53] Speaker B: And it'll be a toss up and she's tough. She's tough. She can go after it on stage. [00:42:58] Speaker A: She's not a passive lady in that sense. [00:43:01] Speaker B: We're in Tallahassee next week with the Florida Family Council and going to welcome all the freshmen in give them Bibles and have a, have a little conference there forum. So it's going to be interesting. [00:43:11] Speaker A: Perfect. Perfect. [00:43:12] Speaker B: I'm looking forward to seeing how that develops because I didn't really see Donald's coming out as quickly as he did but the chatter had been. Casey was going to run. [00:43:25] Speaker A: And that may be why he came in early. You come out, you look at lay of the land, you want to. You want to tie things up. Speaking of which, it's now a Friday. How is our Sunday sermon looking? Is it already done? Is it already done? [00:43:38] Speaker B: This would so cost a lot of people to lose sleep. I write that on Saturday. Do you study all week? Read? You know, I've been doing it 30 years so I don't have to work through the doctrine. I know where I'm at on issues. So, you know, I've got this. In one sense, all of the sermons are written. But I start over on Saturday, open up the laptop, write it fresh. [00:44:08] Speaker A: Okay, wait a minute. Okay, so Saturday is a work day for you? Saturday is a work day. Well, yeah, Saturday, that's a heavy duty day. And so I know Sunday is too. So tell me what time you usually get up on Saturday. What do you do? [00:44:20] Speaker B: I get up early. [00:44:21] Speaker A: What does the day look like? [00:44:23] Speaker B: So probably, if I can, I'll sleep to 7 on Saturday. [00:44:27] Speaker A: Okay. Is coffee already made? I know Julie probably gets up. [00:44:29] Speaker B: Coffee is espresso. We pop it in the Nespresso, drink a coffee. [00:44:33] Speaker A: And then do you turn on the tv? Do you look at the news and get the news of the day? [00:44:39] Speaker B: I tell people I'm not really a Christian until I've had my first cup of coffee. [00:44:42] Speaker A: Okay. [00:44:43] Speaker B: Amen. [00:44:43] Speaker A: Amen, brother. [00:44:44] Speaker B: So I get up, have my coffee, have some breakfast, catch up on the news. Generally, I'll take like on a Monday, I'll go out and just have my prayer time on the back lanai. You know, on Saturday, though, I'll go out with a laptop open and just start writing. [00:45:06] Speaker A: So that's right with the coffee, you're out there. And so you're starting kind of early. You already know that it's gonna be from the book of Luke. [00:45:16] Speaker B: We just finished Luke. Okay, so we've just started a marriage series. So the only thing that's unknown is I've got the seven sermons selected, but the order is unknown. So I did one on Conflict last week. The next one Sunday's gonna be on forgiveness because it seems like a natural next step. [00:45:41] Speaker A: I need to make sure Abbey goes to that one. I'll get to the notes the forgiven. So you already know you have a wonderful gift. And for anybody who hasn't been to First Baptist, your use of stories, just the right amount of humor. And then before you know it, the lesson's over. And, hey, I can Remember everything. So how do you keep your stories? Are you constantly looking for? Do you have a file? What do you do? Do you write it down? How does that. [00:46:06] Speaker B: I file a lot. That was one of the best pieces of advice I was ever given, is have a really good filing system. [00:46:12] Speaker A: Is it on your computer? Is it a hard. It's on your computer. [00:46:15] Speaker B: You go to sermons. We have exposition, topic, holiday in each one of those folders is filled with documents and folders. [00:46:24] Speaker A: So if you ever are dry, you can go to the well, everything's there. It's something people say. [00:46:30] Speaker B: How long did it take you to write the sermon? Well, on. On that day, like on Saturday, hour and a half, two hours. But realistically, I say it's 30 years because I've been building that information base since I started. But at this point, once a pastor gets to the point, like you are with policy and positions, you don't have to hammer out where you're at on any given issue. You've settled that. So you can read broadly, you can listen broadly. And I know where I'm at on all the key doctrines. [00:47:08] Speaker A: Oh, I can attest that you don't change. [00:47:11] Speaker B: I'm not. [00:47:12] Speaker A: It is. If you want to hear the truth, you go to First Baptist because you don't say, have you. I went to this event. We dedicated a homeless shelter. I prayed with the pastor ahead of time and these protesters which came in the lobby, he grabbed me, said, come to my office. We, you know, we're in the office. And he said, all we have to worry about. We have an audience of one. There's only one person that we have to please or. And it inspired me so much. I totally changed my speech. I have a speech in my pocket I never took out for the homeless shelter and just talked about what the power of one and how that is. Have you called audibles before? I'm sure you have. Is it. [00:47:54] Speaker B: Yeah, it's usually premeditated. My notes are almost a transcript of everything I intend to say. But the reason I write it so late is because the way my mind works on Saturday morning is very close to how it's going to work on Sunday morning. And I need it to flow naturally. And I kind of go into it like thinking of a baseball diamond. You know, I've got three bases to cover and bring it home. And I've got to know real clearly what that is, what's coming next. There's probably 10% maybe of the. Of what's said on Sunday that was not premeditated and it's different from first service to second service. [00:48:33] Speaker A: Yeah, I was going to ask you about that. I think that 10% is the spice that makes it. To be able to. To read the room of what's happening or whatnot. I should ask this to Julie, but to you, it changes between the first and it just. You can't give exactly the same thing. [00:48:51] Speaker B: You trim out stuff usually. So if anybody's making their mind up, you might want to go to the second service. It's a little bit shorter, but. Yeah, if something bombed in the first service, for sure I'm not going to say it in the second service. [00:49:01] Speaker A: Yeah, that's me. But it's typically. [00:49:04] Speaker B: Yeah, you're a first service guy. Yeah, it's typically the first service. Gosh, early on it was home folks, people who had been there for years. Now it's changed. So the two service and then we have two out in central Nassau. So it's changed to where it's almost a 50, 50 split between the two services. There's right at like 1250. So between 12 and 1300 that are coming right now. And we've purchased property down 17. We'll be hopefully in that property. The building will be up. We'll be in it hopefully by the end of the year. The goal is September. [00:49:45] Speaker A: Do you still envision. That'll be, of course, a satellite and then it'll be. It'll be the mother. The main. Your sermon will be broadcast there. I don't know how to say that. [00:49:57] Speaker B: But as of right now, we satellite it out to them. They have live worship and we're getting like a really cool LED screen. So it'll be like a real life experience. As close as we can get to it. [00:50:10] Speaker A: Now there's a couple minute delay. Is that right? You remember, was there a delay? [00:50:14] Speaker B: It's a little longer than that now. [00:50:15] Speaker A: Okay. [00:50:16] Speaker B: So that. That if their worship has not landed, they can. They can basically just kind of hit record and hit play when it's time. Because it needs to flow like it does for us. [00:50:27] Speaker A: Yeah, no, and y'all make it seamless. I know you got a huge welcome team as well as product team. It's a big deal. [00:50:35] Speaker B: It is, it is. And it's. You know, the cameras that they're using are Hollywood level. You know, it's the best of the best. And so we believe the work that goes into the sermon, the study, the delivery, we believe that there's a stewardship there that we need to make that go as far as we possibly can. And so that's why we invest in capturing it, producing it, the way that this fits into it. So there are things I'll say philosophically from the pulpit that in the podcast, when that's monologue, this is dialogue. And when people hear us talking through it and working it out, they say, okay, number one, he really believes what he's saying. You know, it's not just a doctrinal thing. This affects how he votes. This affects how he engages in government. But secondly, it allows them to push back and ask comments. You know, we love when people ask questions. Skeptics, you know, they're welcome. One of the things I've appreciated about your response to the protesters is, you know, your kind of answer when people say, how do you feel about that? Is generally, this is America. You can do that. We can disagree. And I serve that community just like I serve those who are in my corner, you know, and I appreciate that. I respect that. And we want to model that for the church as well. [00:52:04] Speaker A: The church has done amazing go. If you haven't been. I challenge anybody. And this is. We'll have to play this game one day. I challenge anybody to go through the front door. Go through the front door. Park, Go through the front door. And I challenge anybody to not get welcomed or greeted or good morninged at least twice. You're going to get at least twice of welcome. You're going to get offered. We'll bring you in by golf cart. [00:52:32] Speaker B: Masters. [00:52:33] Speaker A: It's so good. [00:52:34] Speaker B: How did you do that? And it's like, they just. That's just our people. [00:52:37] Speaker A: So good. [00:52:37] Speaker B: That's not a training curriculum. They're just. They're happy to see you. They're happy to be there. [00:52:43] Speaker A: So good. Now, growing up Catholic, you did not dare eat or drink in church. It was. [00:52:50] Speaker B: It was. [00:52:51] Speaker A: And so I feel almost guilty at the First Baptist Coffee Bar to get a coffee. I just feel guilty. It's like. It's a fun pleasure. No, it is. But is. But that's the mission to reach everybody, to make everybody feel comfortable and to come in and just for you to welcome them. I tell people where I get recharged on the back row. I tried, but you got to, hey, you got to go early. If you're going to sit on the back row because it fills up. [00:53:19] Speaker B: It's. That's preferred seating at First Baptist, any Baptist church, they like the back row. But the thing about that, you'll remember that happened in our community, and it's fascinating. Somebody should do a study on it in 2020 from you rewind before 2020, our church was doing well. You know, we were probably 500. In 2019, it had grown from like 340 up to 500. And that was in probably two and a half, three years. So it was doing well. Covid happened. Everybody had to re scramble to figure out how they're going to get through this. At the same time, Mandates, you had the election, you had Ahmaud Arbery, that was just up the street from us. George Floyd, all of these things were going on. And what I perceived locally was that you had a very conservative county for the most part, politically, socially. And those that were, that were theological, they were theologically conservative have. But the leaders in several of our churches leaned more moderate to liberal, but they never had to address those issues. So they would talk about prayer. And we all agree on prayer, we all agree on the Ten Commandments or whatever it may be. But 2020 forced us to have conversations that were out of the box, that were real life. And every pastor had to say, here's where I'm at. So what happened here is so many people looked around and said, I don't see the world the way he or she sees the world. And that caused us as a conservative church to just be a place where like minded people came together and it flourished and it grew. But you came, you know, Catholic background as from your childhood. [00:55:26] Speaker A: Well, you've just described the beans. We were at a place where we had to look and is that the right place for us? And we realized we weren't. We were invited to come to First Baptist and immediately felt at home. I want to tell you what you did though, that makes me so proud. It's hard because you don't want to get political. You don't want to scare anybody off. I remember, you know, Michael Jordan says, I don't criticize or get involved because Republicans buy shoes too. But let me tell you, we had a satanic amendment on last year's ballot which would have allowed abortion on demand funded abortion, would have allowed kids to get abortions without parental, without parental involvement. You know, you can't buy a beer, but you could go get an abortion. You couldn't get a tattoo or a piercing, but you could get an abortion. It would have destroyed our, I think, our state as we know it. And you took a stand, our church took a stand. We put, you know, we planted the flag and we planted the signs, literally, and heard you tell about it. This is something we all have to get involved in. And without, I think without churches getting involved, that would have. [00:56:43] Speaker B: That would have passed. It was so much closer. It was the worst margin at all. And people, I want to let you. [00:56:49] Speaker A: Know, other churches criticized you for getting political, but you didn't care. And it was awesome. I just, I'm really proud of you and the congregation for doing that. [00:56:59] Speaker B: Well, thank you. Thank you. And it is, you know, you've got to know your people are behind you to take those kind of stands. And it's a church, a like minded church that shares a worldview that we don't agree on everything and we have freedom of disagreement, but we do disagree together. Like we come together and talk it through. So with that, there were some in our congregation who felt like you're not being vocal enough. There were some who did not want me to say a word about it. And good people, people that I love and I appreciate, but that's the kind of thing, at the end of the day, there are issues like that that you just have to go, okay, the guy that I look at in the mirror, I got to live with him and be okay with it. And if it cost me my job, it cost me my job. And those have come up over and over and over. I've just never had a congregation that appreciated that the way that this one does. It's a special place. You know, we're fortunate to have this church and I take no credit. The Lord has done something amazing and our family's just fortunate to be a part of it and get to serve it in that capacity. But, yeah, if I went south theologically, yeah, I would have to look for a new congregation because they take a stand and good people, and you know them, they're some of the best people on the planet. [00:58:28] Speaker A: Amen. I know you were trapped with them in Israel a year and a half ago and we wanted to make sure everybody got home. We need to talk about that. Everybody. You were so calm, cool and collected. We talked nearly every day. Because I remember, even when it happened October 7th, I remember we talked and you said, is this a big deal? What do you think? It's a big deal. I would get out. [00:58:56] Speaker B: You've been through things like that. When it happens, it's so surreal that you don't have time to get worried. But no, I was standing out on the patio of one of the hotels in Jerusalem and we could hear automatic weapons and see people running down streets and hear automatic weapon fire. And it was like watching a movie and I'm like, was that a machine gun? [00:59:17] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:59:17] Speaker B: Maybe I should go inside. [00:59:19] Speaker A: Yeah, right. [00:59:19] Speaker B: Going inside, turning the lights off. I mean, I'd never contemplated that before, you know, but it was so surreal. And then we got out through Jordan and. [00:59:32] Speaker A: I know, and it's. Listen, you make it sound so easy. We just got out through Jordan. No, I think you took a. I was, I actually said, I don't know, I don't, I don't trust these people. And you said, we're going to do a bus caravan. Yeah, I think it was what, an eight or nine hour bus trip? [00:59:47] Speaker B: It was a very long trip. [00:59:48] Speaker A: And then just across 500 yards of the border. That had to be, I know that took, that was hours. [00:59:55] Speaker B: Well, what we didn't say publicly at the time, that I can say now, that I didn't know we had Georgia state senator on the trip. [01:00:05] Speaker A: We knew that we had a two. [01:00:08] Speaker B: Star general on the trip and we had a nuclear physicist on the trip. So the State Department calls and this was someone that Kemp got us connected with. He was very helpful, Governor Kemp. And so this, this lady that was a friend of his calls me and says, pastor Zach, are you aware that you have a two star general and a nuclear physicist on the trip? And I said, absolutely not. The senator let me know. But other than that, I wasn't aware. So. And I, and I went to those guys, I'm like, so you're a two star general? He's like, yeah, I don't wave that flag a lot, you know, so cool about it. But so she said, yeah, if I tell you stay out of an area, please trust me. Yes, ma'am, you got it. You know, I said, by the way, right now we're at the corner of. She said, pastor Terry, we know exactly where you're at. [01:01:00] Speaker A: Exactly. We're dinging your phone. [01:01:01] Speaker B: We know where you're at. [01:01:03] Speaker A: They know. Well, to get out, just to let everybody know. I mean, airports were shut down, but there were certain roads shut down. I mean, you had limited access of where you could go, what you could do. [01:01:14] Speaker B: Well, and the thing, you know, we've done that so many times. We've been to Israel, in the Middle east. It's like a second home to us. Palestinians and Israelis on an everyday basis are not like even Democrats and Republicans over here. They work together, they coexist, their kids go to school together. Generally speaking, if you go into Bethlehem, which is Palestinian, you're very safe. Never worry about it. In that season, it stirred up so much animosity that if we were saying the blessing over our meal, we would be approached wanting to know who were you just Talking to basically. Who were you praying to? I saw a cross on your neck. How do you feel about what just happened? We're just figuring it out, you know. But it showed us that this issue is a fire keg that can explode very quickly. [01:02:11] Speaker A: 100%. They big, big changes. We went seven months after April, whatever that was. So that was April of last year. And we were limited. We did not go into the. We went to the border and looked at Gaza, looked at certain Palestinian areas, the West Bank. We did not go to the West Bank. We did meet with hostage families, which was gut wrenching. We went to the site of all the kibbutz's, which still has blood on the floor where bodies were. We went, you know, they put the pictures of who, what residents were there at this kibbutz where, you know, they stormed this kibbutz which is just a couple of miles from Gaza and they approach the town and they go to the mayor's house and kill the mayor. The mayor's a 30 year old young female with three small kids. They just, it's atrocious. They burnt, they killed everybody. Everybody in the family was killed. And it's just every house has a story of where they went to house to house. [01:03:15] Speaker B: We feel like we've so advanced in culture and then there are moments like that that you're in the Middle Ages again. [01:03:21] Speaker A: Exactly. Where life is not valued. [01:03:24] Speaker B: Right. And at our core as a nation, I would even say Congress's job and any elected officials primary job is to keep us safe, to make sure that we can, we can rise or fall as a nation, but we can't do that if we're not safe. So you know, you guys, I think that's a challenge fiscally is to keep a strong military while trimming the fat. [01:03:50] Speaker A: I've got good news and I've got a kid in the military now. And so the bar is high before we commit anything for me, for my vote. But this was whatever four days ago, three days ago, having breakfast with a handful of other congressmen, our new secretary, Pete Hegseth of Defense, who said there's one mission now our mission is back to lethality, to be a lethal fighting force that becomes so strong and disciplined that other nations recognize that. Don't mess with the United States again. I think that's where we want to go and hopefully we're going to get there. [01:04:26] Speaker B: And I understand why they did it, but that we, we never lost a battle or never lost a war until we changed the name from the War Department to the Defense Department, you know, when we kind of were on that aggressive footing and we were lethal, you know, that was pre Vietnam. After that, you know, every war has been complicated for us since then. So hopefully, you know, you know, as a Christian and as a pastor, we are pro peace. We want peace, you know, but if we have to draw the sword, we pray that it's lethal and that it's effective and quick and to such a degree that it doesn't have to be drawn often. [01:05:09] Speaker A: Amen. And that takes us back to the first topic we talked about with Trump. Trying to get peace, trying to bring multiple parties together in the Ukrainian and Russian deal. And if you've seen any videos, it's just a horrendous conflict that's taken out a generation of males on both sides with no end. And so let's end that thing. Let's end it and bring peace. And if we have to make a DMZ to keep them apart, which is bad, but better than for them to have an outright fight. So hopefully that will be an end soon. [01:05:42] Speaker B: Two questions. [01:05:43] Speaker A: Yeah, what you got? [01:05:44] Speaker B: And I'm going to ask you in closing how we can pray for you. [01:05:47] Speaker A: Okay. [01:05:48] Speaker B: But I want to ask one more before that. All of these unidentified aerial phenomenon that we're hearing about, you're seeing people from fighter pilots who are seeing things that. That they don't know how to explain. You're seeing drones over New Jersey. I know that's not your particular committee. [01:06:09] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:06:10] Speaker B: But long before you got there, was it. Was it Harry Reid who had kind of a bipartisan effort to figure out some of these things and get some transparency with it? They squirreled away some money, studied it. I know more and more this is another one of those things, full transparency that we're hoping for. What do you know? What is your gut? What's going on with all that? [01:06:32] Speaker A: So the New Jersey drones were all explained as some of our drones, some of. [01:06:41] Speaker B: Are you saying civilian or military? [01:06:43] Speaker A: We knew what they were. They were a combination of civilian and military and government drones. We knew that. And I think the Biden administration botched the messaging. They could have come out and just said, we know who they are. But the way they left it, it was so ambiguous, and it left room where, what the heck are we doing? And if they're bad, why are we blowing them out of the. You know, why aren't we taking them out? There are some things, you know, every time you see a magician every now and then that does a trick or an illusion, how the heck I can't explain it. I can't explain it. There are some video of particularly of our pilots that see a light or an object move and move in such a way that it can't be explained. I would support just as the Epstein and JFK files to more transparency, let's open it up. We've had a couple of hearings on Capitol Hill where experts have testified that there are indeed files that we have kept. And so that is, that's something that we need to open up and share. And why do they always come to the United States? Why? Why? You know, they always pick the United States. They pick farmland, they pick crazy things. It seems like they would come. [01:07:51] Speaker B: It's probably a guilty pleasure of mine. I kind of nerd out on it a little bit. Enjoy, enjoy keeping track of it. But it's, you know, I've had in this area because we have FBI training just up over the, the state line and we've got a lot of people with the FBI, a lot of people with the Navy. And so I've talked with several of those guys and said, hey man, have you ever seen anything that they're like, yeah, we've seen plenty and we don't really know what they are, you know. And from a biblical standpoint, nobody has all the answers to these mysterious things that have always been around. But, but we do. From a, from a theological, biblical standpoint, we believe you have God, you have people, you've got these other beings, angels and demons, and there's other races that people have interacted with throughout time. And so, you know, it's going to be interesting. As we talked about earlier, Scripture predicts that one day there will be a one world government led by Antichrist. As we said earlier, to get that there has to be a common element of fear. We have to have a common enemy and a common point of worship. And so we see history moving toward that. So just as a pastor, when I see these things that from COVID that the whole world looks at and says, we've got to solve this problem, climate change. Everybody, you know, every nation is saying we've got to. We see this as a common enemy. The more of those we have, the more interesting it's going to get as far as eschatology goes. And so again, guilty pleasure. But if you get any insight into that and you tell me, give me a good picture of them, in fact. [01:09:38] Speaker A: You'Ll be the first one to tell if I learn of anything right now, tax policy, if I have any insight on tax policy, it is fun again to watch A magician. How'd they do that? What's the deal? And to understand some of the. I think a lot of drones are coming in, drones that we haven't, you know, have advanced drones, have a capability. But even that. Some of the videos that I've seen don't explain it. It's technology or the way they move. [01:10:07] Speaker B: And historically, you know, there's always been something that people would look at and say, we don't know how to explain that. And before modern times, there was always. They had names for, you know, whether it's the Middle Ages or whatever, they had names for these other beings. And that is in our. In our scientific world, it's very difficult for us to wrap our mind around there. You know, we. We entertain angels unaware. Scripture says. [01:10:39] Speaker A: And now we have technology to capture these fighter jets that are at different levels more than ever, and they're. They're capturing video. I'll keep you posted. [01:10:47] Speaker B: So I'm going to ask how I can pray for you. Let me say that you mentioned Abby earlier, Cole's feedback when he came back from D.C. serving with you up there. He said, dad, there's some. There's not in your office, he said, but up there, there's some creepy stuff. [01:11:05] Speaker A: Oh, 100. [01:11:06] Speaker B: And he said, there's. You hear the rumors. You hear all of this. He said that. That he was talking with another aide, not in your office, for another member of the House. And he said was telling what his congressman was up to behind the scenes and, you know, morally. And it was bad. It was really bad. And Cole said, you know, my. My congressman, his wife's with him 90% of the time. They. They travel together. They're a team. She's in the office. I've never seen anything like that, you know, so just, you know, people don't know that. And it means a lot to me to hear that kind of report from my son. [01:11:47] Speaker A: That's. I'm glad. I am really happy to hear that, and I'm blessed to have Abby. She's the biggest. We're a team, yeah. Oh, absolutely. We're a team. And I think you got Julie. I would say Julie is the caliber that gives you a little nudge. And. But it is a. It's a dangerous place because there is an open bar, there is a plethora of temptations. And I'm. I live a very, you know, if I'm not working, I either will go work out at night or very rarely will I get to go to bed. I just as soon go to bed. I Just, you know, oh, I get to go to bed at nine and that's a very boring lifestyle I've got. You can't close without me firing a couple questions. At least one. If you weren't a pastor, what would you be doing if you weren't a pastor? [01:12:37] Speaker B: Gosh, man. Probably a writer. [01:12:40] Speaker A: Okay. Like a songwriter or just write books. [01:12:43] Speaker B: I'd probably write books. [01:12:44] Speaker A: Okay. [01:12:45] Speaker B: I love that aspect of it. The writing of the sermon is what I get the most joy out of. But yeah, I would probably lean into that. I've always kind of wanted to be a historian to some degree. Enjoy that. And so working through those concepts, looking for history repeats itself so often and seeing those trends, I would probably lean into something. What about you? What would you do? [01:13:11] Speaker A: Oh, okay. I think I would be a motivational speaker. I would just go out and give talks and have fun. I'm a self help junkie and as. [01:13:24] Speaker B: Am I. I'll read and try to. [01:13:26] Speaker A: Read at least one a month of some aspect of how to, how to improve or go. But writing the speech to me is one of the hardest things I love. I love going to a place where I already know what I'm going to say or whatnot. You have a little bit more of a confidence where I'm going to crush it. [01:13:45] Speaker B: I'm going to crush this. Well, you know, the secret to that is, you know, having your core ideas that are going to come up in every talk. Somebody told me, they said no one will remember a particular sermon. They will remember what came up in every sermon. And I think it's the same way for a congressman or a leader of any sort. It's those things that we harp on that are clearly our principles that we're speaking to that come up in every talk you give. And those are, I could write them down. They're predictable. You know, you're going to talk about being a public servant. You're going to talk about, you know, this being something that belongs to us as the citizens and that you're there as our representative. You're going to be fiscally conservative. You're going to champion that everywhere you go. So having those things ironed out and being very consistent is super important and it gives you confidence as a speaker, you know, so, hey, man, we may both be. You never know. I may be writing your book for being a motivational speaker. [01:14:48] Speaker A: No, I hear you. I always think the Congress thing doesn't work out or the pastor thing. You've got gifts, but you just never know. To me, it's Fun to. It's also fun to coach other people. You know, we can look at other people with objectivity that you don't have yourself when you step back and to say, oh, this is what you ought to do, or that. But listen, I am blessed beyond belief to serve in the capacity of which I've been given. It is something I take extremely seriously. It's. You mentioned you're always working. We are, too. It seems like we're always working the phone or whatever it is, or we're always advancing everything. But I give thanks and prayers are welcome. And how can we pray for you? You know, pray for our leaders, Donald Trump, pray for our country, that we can come together and overcome the obstacles that we're given. If there was a way to bring our country together. We talked about the flag and how divisive it's become, it seems, and all the things together. Can we pray for unity? [01:15:54] Speaker B: If somebody wants to learn more about what you're up to on a regular basis, where can they follow you? [01:16:00] Speaker A: You know what we give. It's funny, we give a newsletter. Sometimes I think it's too much, but once a week, we send you a newsletter of everything I did this week, and then we give you a look ahead. What's up next? What do we got? [01:16:14] Speaker B: Thinking about what Musk asked. [01:16:16] Speaker A: Five things. Yeah. So we're constantly. I always think. And if you sign up for our newsletter, you can cancel anytime. We don't sell it. We don't do anything. We've got, I think, almost 24, 3,000 people that have done it. Bean.house.gov and that's not even a campaign. That's, you know, that's not my. My campaign's aaronbean.com. they're totally separate. They are. Aaronbean.com is separate from. From our official side. So sign up. We also do monthly town hall meetings on telephone. On the telephone, which truly is amazing. It's almost like this. It's like my podcast, I guess, and. [01:16:56] Speaker B: It'S great to listen in and kind of just hear what's going on. [01:16:59] Speaker A: That's it. [01:17:00] Speaker B: Trump did that in his first election, and we had never, as pastors, felt like we had a seat at the table at all. And so, you know, speaking as a local pastor, when Trump began to invite us into those calls to let us hear how to pray for him, what's going on, that was. That was powerful. And even, you know, how much it means to me that we feel like if I pick up the phone, I can get through to my congressman. We've been invited, literally, to the table in D.C. that's very meaningful to our congregation. It's very meaningful to me personally, and it's the way it ought to be. This is a government of the people, and so we want to thank you for that. We want to commit to pray for you. Love it. Can I do that now? [01:17:53] Speaker A: Amen. Do it, Father. [01:17:54] Speaker B: We thank you, Lord, for the fact that you've given us this nation as a stewardship. And, God, you've raised up in this generation, in particular, people with principle, people with conviction. And, Lord, we know that there are many, many adversaries. So, Father, we pray for Congressman Bean. We pray for Ms. Abbey. We pray that you would put a hedge of protection around them, that you would provide, Lord, the wisdom that they're going to need to do this job well. And that, Lord, you would give them that good rest each night so that they can start the day with a full tank. May your blessings be upon him. And, Lord, may your blessings be upon our nation. In Jesus name. [01:18:37] Speaker A: In Jesus name. And I want to add a blessing. Lord, please bless Zach and Julie and their ministry and their work they do at First Baptist. They have been a blessing not only to First Baptist, but really all of North Florida. Their outreach and the programs that you're listening to right now have been a tremendous blessing. Bless him tomorrow as he writes a fresh sermon and let it touch the people it needs to touch tomorrow, that Saturday and every Saturday as he takes his mission seriously of saving people. So all this we ask in your son's name, Jesus Christ. Amen. [01:19:13] Speaker B: Amen. It.