Point of View June 10, 2024 – Hour 2 : From Addiction to Recovery, More News Updates

[00:00:00] Across America, live, this is Point of View. Many length of time you know that we often times talk about the issue of drug abuse, drug and alcohol abuse and addiction and things of that nature.

[00:00:30] Holding up our booklet here on drug abuse and I was just looking at the fact that we probably need to even update that because when it was written, I think it was about six years ago, we didn't talk about things like fentanyl

[00:00:41] and a couple of other issues but certainly the whole concern about drugs and alcohol and addiction and how to think about that biblically are something we've covered almost during the entire 50 years of Point of View at one time or another.

[00:00:55] We've had various guests in to talk about that as well and that's exactly what we're going to do now. Zane and Donna King are probably known to you as musicians. As a matter of fact, I have received a number of Dove Awards, Singing News Fan Awards.

[00:01:11] Zane and Donna King are known for a string of top ten hits. They are musicians in their own right. Zane on the steel guitar, of course Donna has solid recordings and we could talk about the incredible music they produce as they have traveled around

[00:01:27] and talked many times and really focused on God's grace. But as they will share with us now, they needed grace in their own lives because of their children. So again, first of all I want to welcome Zane and Donna.

[00:01:41] Thank you for joining us today here on Point of View. Thank you so much for having us. We are honored and blessed to be here. I'm hoping we have a better audio than that. Yeah, it's so good to be with you Kirby.

[00:01:56] I didn't notice a little static there at the beginning. I'm sorry about Donna's connection, but hopefully that will get better. I love the introduction that you made there. That's very much what we love to be able to talk about today with your audience.

[00:02:11] We have been more than ten years through quite the journey with our family and we'd love to share more. We do have the video there. How am I now? Yeah, our story, our family, our recovery. Let me, if I can, see if the audio will work.

[00:02:31] Donna, come to you first because you certainly tell the story about your daughter. Can you kind of fill us in? Yes, absolutely. I hope my audio is working. I relocated. Very good. My sweet girl, my miracle, my walking miracle.

[00:02:49] As a teenager she began down a terrible, painful path of drug addiction and was in danger in every single possible way, being attacked on every side. She slid so deep and I was so desperate. So she was sliding and so was I.

[00:03:12] That's the incredible thing about this kind of a journey is that as a parent you have that instant instinct to try to rescue your child from danger. It's natural. But there are certain things that you just can't rescue your child from,

[00:03:29] but you're reminded in your faith and in your knowing your Savior that God is able and God can do that. So that's where our story began in the heartache and hardship of addiction. Then as we went down that road we both began to learn.

[00:03:48] There's so much to this story that I have to tell you. We are living examples of the amazing miracles of God because my daughter is fully sober and healed and doing incredible. I have learned so much in the process through my own journey,

[00:04:07] so I can tell you more about that. But boy, she's been learning to lean in, lean in completely to God and let go and let Him do what He can do with our kids.

[00:04:19] Zane, let me come to you because a son is also part of the story as well, isn't he? That's exactly right. Donna and I, we are a blended family. We got married in 2012, and we have a wonderful, beautiful story about how God brought us together.

[00:04:38] Donna has four children. I have two children. Honestly, little did we know when we first got married that we would both encounter this very similar journey with both our daughter and our son. It was actually a couple of years later when my son began to exhibit some really

[00:05:07] poor behavior, some bad choices, and then it wasn't long before we realized it was more than that, and he really had a very deep addiction problem that he had entered into. And so both of our children at various times, sometimes at the same time,

[00:05:27] they were really in some really bad places. That leaves you as parents just really so much of the time, just because you love them, you would do anything for them. It's like seeing your child play out in the middle of the street,

[00:05:41] and you know the danger that could be forthcoming. So you run to rescue when your child is in trouble. And so that's what we did. We were trying to do that, and we realized that it seemed like most of the time it wasn't affecting the

[00:05:59] things we were doing, and they certainly even at times felt like we were getting in the way. Then we joined a support group, a family support group of those families that have addicts and alcoholics in their family, and they began to kind of help us,

[00:06:20] but they didn't help us in the way that we thought how it would go initially because we just walked into those rooms thinking, okay, here's our problem. We see many of you went through the same problem, and we want the answers. How to fix our kids.

[00:06:36] And, you know, I go back to the first step of AA and Al-Anon, and it says the first step is we admitted we were powerless over alcohol. You can also enter drug addiction and use that same word,

[00:06:49] that we were powerless over that, and that our lives had become unmanageable. And that was us. I mean, we were just completely unmanageable. It felt like our kids were, you know, out of control and things were just going off the rails,

[00:07:03] and our hearts were just twisted and turned in so many hard places. And it was beginning in those days when we began to finally realize that, wow, there's some systematic things that we need to be doing,

[00:07:19] but one of the first things we need to do is just turn our life and will over to the care of God. And that's exactly what we did, and we began to find some peace, although it didn't come fast, but it did start there.

[00:07:34] You know, again, I'm going to take a break, and when we come back, we'll get into it a little bit more because oftentimes they say that for parents of prodigals, what can I do to bring my prodigal back?

[00:07:43] And the answer is, well, first we need to deal with you, and of course you go to those meetings and recognize that you are powerless. So let's take a break because I want to talk about some of the things they have learned and pass that on.

[00:07:56] But first of all, we have a link to ZaneAndDonnaKing.com. You don't have to remember all that because we have that on our website, and there you can find out more about their music. You can stream it.

[00:08:08] You can find out about their tour, their store, and all those kinds of things. And then underneath that we have this six-minute video, which I think you're going to find very helpful, our story, our family,

[00:08:19] our recovery, which is something I think you might want to share with other couples that are maybe struggling with this, or maybe you just need to watch it so you'll be prepared someday for what might actually unfold in your life.

[00:08:34] So we are privileged to have with us today Zane and Donna King. We're talking about their story of recovery from addiction, and we'll continue that conversation right after this. This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson. More than a decade ago,

[00:09:04] I did an interview with Mark Bauerlein about his book, The Dumbest Generation. Last week we focused our attention on his new book, The Dumbest Generation Grows Up. The ignorance and faulty logic of young people in college has now made its way into young adult culture.

[00:09:18] He reminds us that social commentators predicted that the millennial generation would make a significant impact on society because they were coming of age in the digital age. Back then Professor Bauerlein was warning that smart phones and computers were having a negative impact on his students and young adults.

[00:09:33] So he explains that millennials grew up in a world of their own, and it didn't provide them with the tools to handle the ordinary pains of life once they had to leave that world. For example, most of them had no religion to give shape and direction

[00:09:46] to their mortal careers, no doctrine to explain suffering when it came. On one side you had the nuns who rejected religion. On the other side you had Christians who adopted the Christian Smith description of moralistic therapeutic deism. We also talked about the cancel culture.

[00:10:03] Now they may have protested Charles Murray and Heather MacDonald, but they may never have read a word written by them. They just knew they were supposed to protest these people when they showed up on campus.

[00:10:15] He also said that a majority in one survey said that they were justified in shouting down a speaker if the speaker utters offensive and hurtful statements. And the university faculty and administrators often failed them because many of them could not even explain why certain college courses were necessary.

[00:10:33] So the dumbest generation has grown up, but it doesn't appear that too many of them have grown up emotionally or intellectually. I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my point of view. Go deeper on topics like you just heard by visiting pointofview.net. That's pointofview.net.

[00:10:57] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Privileged to have with us today Zane and Donna King as we talk about from addiction to recovery. And Donna, let me come back to you because you talk about walking into that Al-Anon meeting

[00:11:12] and at the time you have certain expectations. Okay, find me the silver bullet that's going to fix this or give me the five-step program by which we will eventually have an answer. That's not exactly what you encountered, was it? It was not what I encountered at all, Kirby.

[00:11:30] It was incredible. Actually, I learned so much in that moment, not just about how a meeting works, but about how life probably needs to work because I sat down desperate. And, of course, tears are welcome in those rooms, and I had a lot of tears.

[00:11:45] And tears are welcome in those rooms. But what they do is they allow people to share from their experience, strength, and hope without talking across to another person who's sharing their situation. So you're not kind of involved in theirs. You're just sharing yours and they're sharing theirs,

[00:12:03] and everyone kind of gleans what they needed to take away that day, that hour, that they're there together. And when I walked in the room, I was just looking at everyone around the table, and I was just telling them what I was going through with my daughter,

[00:12:16] and I was just expecting them to give me the answers. It was so funny. When we left that night, I had a gentleman walk up and hand me for free one of their hardcover books

[00:12:26] and say, I just wanted to buy this for you because it's totally a good way, but I know you've got some things you need to know. And I was like so grateful, but also like, yeah, I know, I was a mess, wasn't I?

[00:12:37] But in that moment, you know, they were able to just kind of guide me gently and let me know, hey, you know, this is your first meeting. It's totally okay. We do this.

[00:12:50] And the way that that applies to life and the way it applied to our situation with our kids, you know, is that we didn't just always need to be talking at them or trying to get answers, but instead we needed to quietly pray, quietly lean into Jesus

[00:13:09] and quietly learn what our role was in helping walk alongside them through this addiction. So what we did not withhold was love, but what we did withhold was rescuing at every turn, even when they were not ready to be rescued because that wasn't going to help them.

[00:13:28] One big takeaway the first night, Kirby, that I went to the meeting with, that a sweet lady looked across at me and she said, one thing I learned early in the meeting that's really helped me is no is a complete answer. I mean a complete sentence.

[00:13:44] I'm sorry, correction. No is a complete sentence. And I was like, okay, in every way. Let me come to Zane because we're having trouble hearing you again. Zane, I'd love to get your thoughts. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, because, you know, no parent says, well,

[00:14:00] I need to maybe learn a little bit about drug abuse because no parent is going into raising kids thinking that I'm going to have a daughter with an out-of-wed pregnancy, daughter or son who's addicted.

[00:14:14] But yet we find ourselves in a situation oftentimes, and I think here both sides of your family had somebody that was dealing with addiction. And it seems to me that we better learn some lessons vicariously from your experience

[00:14:27] because others listening today will actually be traveling down that same road, won't they? You know, when you concluded the first segment there and you said this could be information that you may need in the future,

[00:14:43] that hit me really hard because, you know, I was 40-something years old when we started dealing with my son and Donna's daughter with addiction problems. And up until that point in my life, that seems like a foreign thing to me.

[00:15:00] I mean, I knew people that were alcoholics and drug addicts, knew families that had dealt with that. But nothing had come close to home, and certainly I didn't feel prepared for that moment at all.

[00:15:14] And, in fact, I think I spent a lot of that first year to two years just in denial. That, well, that's just this kind of behavior and it'll be kind of temporary and we'll get past that.

[00:15:30] And just kept saying make better choices, make better choices, not realizing that addiction is a real disease. And one thing we've learned is when there is an addict in the family, it really is a family disease. Yes, it is.

[00:15:46] But we know after this many years now, and with the love and care of a lot of friends that had walked the journey with us, and then just by the power of God really just coming into our own life and increasing our faith and our journey,

[00:16:06] and then watching little by little. Now, the road got hard. I mean, it was never really easy. And there were certainly some moments where we had victories and felt like things would be okay, but it was often, you know, had a lot of unknowns in it.

[00:16:26] But little by little, Kirby, we have seen in both of our children, God has just done a wonderful work in their life today. They're sober, they're working, they're married and just moving on with their lives in such a beautiful way.

[00:16:45] And we're just, hey, one day at a time, we are just so thankful and grateful to the hand of God and what he can do and what he's gone through.

[00:16:55] And we know no matter even what we face tomorrow, which we don't know exactly what lays ahead for us, but we know right now that God's going to be there. And, yeah, I do feel a little more prepared for what lays ahead.

[00:17:09] But, yes, these are the roads that we have traveled, and that's why we're out here speaking about it now is because we know there are so many hurting people and so many families that are confused by their loved ones being addicted.

[00:17:28] And it's just a hard epidemic in our country. Yes. Well, again, I held up earlier, and I'll hold it up again for those of you watching online, the booklet we had on drug abuse. And just to underscore what Zane said just a minute ago,

[00:17:40] one of the books we talk about in our little booklet is a study where they showed, documented in incredible detail, how most parents were in denial. You know, they asked parents, for example, have their teen ever used inhalants? And they were off by about 400%.

[00:17:56] How many believe that their teens have a friend that uses marijuana? And they were off by twice as much. And when they ask about how many had used alcohol, again, they're off by two or three times. It is just amazing.

[00:18:10] And so if there's a lesson to be learned, especially from Zane's experience, is that if you have a suspicion, act on that suspicion. Then it goes on to talk about the importance of families, because if you talk about spending time, quality time at dinner, for example, with them,

[00:18:27] it decreases alcohol use by 41%, lying by 15%, marijuana use by 41%. These facts and figures illustrate, again, that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. But, again, you certainly need to address some of those issues. So just before we go, either of you, Zane or Donna,

[00:18:49] why don't you talk about the video that you've created, because we have that up there. Along with, of course, you can go immediately to zaneanddonnaking.com. You can learn all about their music. But if you scroll down, you'll see this six-minute video,

[00:19:04] which is entitled Our Story, Our Family, Our Recovery. And I know you have other things you could be doing every day, but you've been willing to come on programs like this and warn other parents that they need to get involved in their teens' lives.

[00:19:20] And also there is an answer to be found from addiction to recovery. What can they do with that video, and how can they use it? I love that. And, yes, we're so grateful. You said that we're here doing this, you know, taking time to do this.

[00:19:35] This is our heart, Kirby. We want to do this because we are so grateful for those who put their hand in ours and helped to guide us through such a painful time. And so we hope that we can be that kind of encouragement.

[00:19:50] And that six-minute video kind of poses a question, and then we give like a one-minute answer for each question. And they're the most commonly sort of searched out and asked questions of us in how we've navigated this journey with our kids.

[00:20:08] And we literally cannot tell you how proud we are of our children, how blessed we are to see their beautiful, productive lives, and how much we believe that God is truly able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ever ask or think.

[00:20:27] And that is what we want folks to know today. You know, we are actually writing currently for an album that will focus on addiction and recovery because we really want to offer more tools.

[00:20:40] One of the songs that will be included in that is the one on our new album, From the Basement to the Altar, because truly that was written from that place of, hey, this is where God can take you, from the basement to the altar,

[00:20:53] from rock bottom to his beautiful arms, you know? Well, we'll be looking for that music as well. And again, we have all the links necessary on our website at pointofview.net. And so Zane and Donna, I appreciate you being with us today,

[00:21:07] and thank you for sharing your story. Thank you so much. God bless you. We're going to take a break, and when we come back after the break, we have a couple of issues still to address. And so I certainly hope that you will stay with us then.

[00:21:20] If you find yourself wanting more information, don't forget, you can always go to the website, pointofview.net. You can see the video and find the resources. We'll be right back. Where does moral truth come from? According to 58% of Americans, individuals determine moral truth.

[00:21:37] A quarter of Generation Z says society determines moral truth, and morality can even change over time. Only 42% of Americans believe that truth comes from God. I don't know about you, but I find these numbers extremely troubling. It really is a crisis of truth, and that crisis has consequences.

[00:21:57] Look at society. Evil is called good, good called evil. People with biblical beliefs are called bigots, or worse, they're canceled. But there is hope. The Bible promises the truth will set us free, and that's why Point of View is relentless in our commitment

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[00:22:33] or call 1-800-347-5151. That's pointofview.net and 800-347-5151. Point of View will continue after this. You are listening to Point of View. The opinions expressed on Point of View do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of this station.

[00:23:09] And now, here again is Kirby Anderson. Back once again, let me just give you kind of an overview of the rest of the week. Tomorrow will be our Millennial Roundtable, and so we'll have Liberty and Holly and Richard and Chelsea, all sorts of people involved in that.

[00:23:23] Then on Wednesday, I'll do a short interview that I think you'll appreciate as we get closer to Father's Day about dads, and then one dealing with Israel. On Thursday, Jeff Jones will be talking about how to sort of navigate through this election season,

[00:23:37] and then Jay Kim will be talking about maybe the influence that some of these cell phones and smartphones are having in our lives. He talks about this idea of an analog Christian. Wednesday will be, of course, our weekend edition. Kelly Shackelford and Jeff Matier will be with us.

[00:23:53] So it's going to be a great week of conversation. I might just mention my commentary today is based upon the writings of Dr. Mark Baehrlein. Baehrlein has actually written a book more than a decade ago called The Dumbest Generation.

[00:24:08] The more recent book is The Dumbest Generation Grows Up. It's been intriguing to me to realize that there are a lot of people looking at this issue from a lot of different angles, saying they are concerned about what the future of this country is based upon this generation.

[00:24:26] First of all, I think you can be very encouraged by the Millennial Roundtable tomorrow, so many articulate and intelligent voices. But unfortunately, a lot of the individuals that they are peers with aren't doing quite as well.

[00:24:42] Whether it's Mark Baehrlein or whether it's, for example, we've done the interview with Jonathan Haidt about the book that he co-authored on The Coddling of the American Mind. More recently, of course, you heard me talk about his new book, The Anxious Generation. I've done some commentaries on that.

[00:25:01] I've got a commentary coming out next week on Abigail Schreier. We had her on before talking about irreversible damage on the whole transgender craze, but her newest book talks about bad therapy, why the kids aren't growing up.

[00:25:16] It just seems like everywhere we go, there are people that we respect, many of whom who we've interviewed on this program. They're all kind of saying there are some real issues that need to be addressed.

[00:25:30] So if you would like, let me encourage you to go to our Viewpoints commentary today. You can learn a little bit more about the previous book, Dumbest Generation and The Dumbest Generation Grows Up.

[00:25:42] And, of course, we still have our Take Action item, which we're probably going to change pretty quickly, as well as if you have not signed up for our Pray for America weekly updates,

[00:25:53] we send out a prayer target each week, give you some things to pray about and some action items. And if you would like to receive that, click on that button that says subscribe.

[00:26:05] Of course, if you'd like to subscribe to the Viewpoints commentary, just click on the read now, and then you'll see Never Miss a Viewpoint. And so there are all sorts of things that are available on our website.

[00:26:15] Of course, you can follow us on the Apple podcast and on the Point of View highlights on Spotify and all the rest. It's all available at the website pointofview.net.

[00:26:26] One of my other articles is, again, just another illustration of a phrase maybe I've used too often, but it is true, common sense breaking out all over the place. And that has to do with the fact that this particular article says that DEI is unraveling at our universities.

[00:26:44] Now, Ingrid Jacques, who actually wrote this, starts by talking about what happened in Stanford. Just as we had protests outside of the White House, as I started the program talking about that, and of course we've had protests all sorts of places, Columbia University, Northwest University, and the rest.

[00:27:04] We've also had them at Stanford University. And again, what happened is that finally the professors and the administration at Stanford said, you know, I guess we've had enough. There is a very beautiful part of that campus called the Quad, which now looks horrible.

[00:27:23] And of course you've got all sorts of graffiti on these beautiful walls there at Stanford. And so they finally last week took the anti-Israeli protesters who seized and defaced the university president's office and they charged them with felonies and held them on $20,000 bail.

[00:27:47] The Stanford leaders, of course, had had these encampments in the Central Plaza and they had actually then taken over Richard Saller's office there at Stanford, covered the security camphorers with tin foil and the rest.

[00:28:02] And so finally the university said, while students have been sent to the Office of Community Standards disciplinary process for these policy violations, until now we've allowed the encampment to remain. However, the situation on campus has now crossed the line from peaceful protest

[00:28:20] to actions that threaten the safety of our community. They're talking about, of course, the desecration of the buildings and the columns of Maiden Quad, obscenities. I cannot read any of those on the air without the FCC coming down on my head, and I wouldn't anyway.

[00:28:35] Stuff that should not be said. And it's just a background to now this piece that we've posted by Ingrid, who actually points out that this mob of pro-Palestinian students at Stanford have barricaded themselves inside the president's office.

[00:28:51] And as a result, there are now some people that are starting to say, maybe we've let this go too far. You think? And that is, of course, the case. She goes on to say that this disturbing behavior has wreaked havoc on campuses,

[00:29:07] really since the October 7th attack by Hamas on Israel. And of course, they are starting to really question now the motivations of some of those individuals who are actually praising the actual terrorists themselves. And a lot of this, she says, goes back to this ideology of DEI.

[00:29:29] What does that stand for? Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Now while that sounds good, more and more people, and even Alan Dershowitz, a former professor at Harvard Law School, is saying a lot of this goes all the way back to this DEI ideology.

[00:29:46] So more and more people are recognizing that as the danger. As I've said before, we already saw what happened at the University of Florida. Ben Sasse, who we've always thought very highly of, who was a U.S. Senator from Nebraska,

[00:30:00] is now the president of the University of Florida. But now it's interesting that this is spreading across the campus. Last week, since I was in Michigan, I thought I would point out that you now have an op-ed

[00:30:13] from a president and three faculty members of a public university in Michigan. No, it's not the University of Michigan or Michigan State, but it is Oakland University. In which they have said that conceptions of DEI that prioritize some identities over others

[00:30:32] end up promoting simplistic and sometimes harmful approaches to complex social problems. That comes from the president and some of the faculty members of Oakland University there in Michigan. They went on to say, such identity-based accounts of diversity attempt to divide people

[00:30:51] into binary categories of racist versus anti-racist, white versus non-white, oppressor versus oppressed, colonizer versus colonized. And so they begin to point out that that is a danger. Timothy Minelli is a senior fellow at the Arizona-based Goldwater Institute.

[00:31:13] And he actually believes that this whole anti-Semitism can be traced back to DEI. He said, quote, especially the recent encampments at several prominent universities to me demonstrate the logical end point of this ideology that divides the world into oppressed and oppressors.

[00:31:32] And I think we see that playing out in these anti-Israel protests where through a very flawed analysis Jews become oppressors because they are allegedly in close proximity to so-called whiteness. And so we're now starting to see some interesting changes starting to take place.

[00:31:52] Of course, I've already mentioned the University of Florida. Of course, now we talk about Oakland University. But here's something. You have 85 different bills that have been introduced into various state legislatures, in each case trying to combat some aspect of DEI. That's according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

[00:32:14] Fourteen of those already have become law. Others are very close to the finish line. And so some of the states sort of leading the way would be Florida. Of course, we already talked about that. Texas.

[00:32:28] But other states include many places where we broadcast, North Carolina, North Dakota, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and Alabama. And it's interesting that Harvard University's faculty of arts and sciences announced that it will no longer require diversity, inclusion, and belonging statements in faculty hiring.

[00:32:49] And the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said it would actually get rid of its policy entirely. And so as I've said before, there does seem to be some common sense breaking out.

[00:33:03] And just as a couple of years ago, we were talking about how there was such a push on ESG, environmental, social, and governance. One of those leading the charge was BlackRock. Now you have Larry Fink and others backing off on that.

[00:33:18] The same thing, this idea of DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion, which has been sort of the darling of the left on campus. A lot of universities are starting to say, you know, this isn't working very well.

[00:33:31] And one of the reasons is these anti-Israel protests that have actually caused them to rethink some of the policies that they used to follow. We'll see where this goes. We'll take a break. Be back with more right after this.

[00:33:45] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. You know, when I'm out speaking, oftentimes I get a question about artificial intelligence. Of course, we have a booklet on artificial intelligence, and we've done a whole Outlook magazine on that.

[00:34:10] But lots of times people are saying, well, aren't you concerned that we'll have so many fakes we won't be able to know what is real?

[00:34:18] And I'm thinking that maybe the way I'm going to answer this in the future is with our last article here, which has the title, The Age of Fakes, How Globalists Are Deceiving the Masses.

[00:34:30] Because the argument of light and gray is we already live in a world of fake news, fake policies, fake freedoms, fake outrage, even this idea of fake progress and fake liberalism.

[00:34:43] This whole idea of globalism is something that we are going to be addressing in about a month from now in a booklet. By the way, I might just say that is one of the benefits of supporting Point of View.

[00:34:54] Because if you support Point of View on a regular basis, we suggest $1 a day, $30 a month, you receive our booklets as well as the Outlook magazine. I'm holding up the one right now on arguments for the existence of God, which has already been mailed out.

[00:35:07] And if you say, well, I'd love to get that booklet on globalism, that won't be coming out for about a month and a half. But you'd be signed up and know that that would arrive as, again, a resource. But we live in this world of fakes.

[00:35:21] And here, light and gray spend some time really talking about the fact that we have governments and international organizations like globalists that really want to keep us distracted. So we really won't understand what is real and what is important.

[00:35:39] And so I think that this last piece, which actually goes into the fact that if we look back in the light of history, will it be possible that our era will be known as the age of fakes in terms of fake news, fake policies, fake freedoms, and all sorts of other fakes?

[00:35:57] And the answer is maybe so.

[00:36:00] So maybe the way I'm going to answer that in the future is saying, well, we already have fakes, so I guess we shouldn't be surprised that we will also have probably during this election all sorts of fake interviews and diagrams and discussions and interviews that really aren't true.

[00:36:14] So I just thought I might leave that with you. The age of fakes, how globalists are deceiving the masses, and that's why it's more important for us to have biblical discernment on every issue.

[00:36:27] But we don't talk about sports very often, but I thought I might just end by talking about Caitlin Clark. Now, as soon as I say that name, I suspect most of you know who that is.

[00:36:39] But if not, of course, she has been an outstanding star in Iowa in college and now went to the NBA. And she's exhausted, I'm sure, because she just went from one to the other. But she's also become a lightning rod in divided America.

[00:36:56] As a matter of fact, you get the sense that a lot of the players in the WNBA right now are saying, hey, rookie, welcome to the WNBA. And we've seen this before in football.

[00:37:05] You know, a rookie wide receiver goes over the middle and gets pummeled, and the free safety looks over him and says, welcome to the NFL. Or a rookie at baseball gets hit by a pitch, and the catcher looks up and says, hey, welcome to the show.

[00:37:19] And, you know, we understand some of that. But this is basketball. In fact, this is women's basketball. And really something isn't right. Because as I've looked at the numbers, it looks like Caitlin Clark has been fouled more than just about any other WNBA player.

[00:37:38] And, of course, physical play should be expected. But cheap shots should not be. And if you've been out on the Internet at all, you've probably seen the Chicago player, Kennedy Carter,

[00:37:51] who called her first a nasty name and then used a hip check to actually throw Caitlin Clark to the ground. The ball wasn't even in play. And you look over, and Angel Reese is cheering. And, of course, sometimes you can get a little bit heated in a game.

[00:38:09] I understand that. But when asked about this at the press conference, Kennedy Carter didn't apologize, but instead says she didn't want any questions about Caitlin Clark. But then, of course, she goes on social media to ask, quote, besides three-point shooting, what does she bring to the table, man?

[00:38:28] Okay, let me answer that question. Caitlin Clark is just the second player in the history of the WNBA with 150 points, 50 assists, and 50 rebounds in the first 10 games. As of Sunday, yesterday, she had 202 points, 76 assists, 64 rebounds.

[00:38:47] And if she isn't hurt from cheap shots or physical play, she might set another WNBA record by the end of the season. Now, Kennedy Carter may not care about this, and maybe some of the other members of the WNBA might care about that.

[00:39:03] But maybe they should because if you've noticed, the WNBA has been flying on charter flights. And I've seen some pictures of sold-out arenas for women's basketball. And I would have to suggest to you that that's due to Caitlin Clark.

[00:39:20] And if she gets hurt, you know that gravy train won't be leaving the station. And, of course, as you might imagine, one of the reasons I'm bringing this up is, of course, race has been injected into this discussion.

[00:39:31] All sorts of critics have said, well, Caitlin Clark is popular. She's drawing people to the WNBA because she's white. But, you know, we've had many other WNBA stars who haven't drawn this audience.

[00:39:47] And if you think about it, you know, there's really only a few marquee athletes that have been able to bring millions and millions of non-traditional fans to their sport. I'm thinking of, I don't know, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Tiger Woods.

[00:40:05] These are individuals that brought millions and millions of additional fans to their sport. And all of them are what? Black. But, of course, she's white and we will hear about that.

[00:40:18] Of course, the biggest one is, as a lot of people said, well, certainly she'll make the Olympic team. Right? You'd be wrong on that one. If you're not familiar, we will, of course, have the Olympic Games in Paris. And we have women's basketball.

[00:40:34] And the women's basketball team has always done incredibly well. But they don't draw very well, partially because they always win. But, you know, again, most people know the name of Caitlin Clark.

[00:40:46] But if I ask you to name another WNBA star that a lot of you draw blank, some of you might say Brittany Griner. Why? Because, well, she spent months in a Russian prison.

[00:41:02] And, of course, Brittany Griner will be one of those individuals that will play for Team USA in the Olympics in Paris. Caitlin Clark, at least as of today, will not. I've got a feeling they might change their mind, but we'll see.

[00:41:16] But, again, you know, there have been all sorts of statements. I saw one talk show said, well, this is a good example of reverse racism. Or maybe just a desire to put a rookie in her place.

[00:41:28] Some people think she might be too much of a distraction, because, after all, can you imagine putting her on the team and then she sits on the bench? I think a lot of them said, well, we want to get some veterans out there that have proven themselves.

[00:41:39] And from what I know, which is not a lot, the rules are a little more – allow for a little more aggression in Olympic basketball. But, nevertheless, let's give her credit.

[00:41:52] When she was asked at the press conference the other day about not being selected to the Olympic team for women's basketball, she said, quote, I'm excited for the girls that are on the team.

[00:42:04] I know it's the most competitive team in the world, and I know it could have gone either way, me being on the team or me not being on the team. I'm excited for them. Going to be rooting for them on to win gold.

[00:42:15] I was a kid that grew up watching the Olympics. It's going to be fun to watch them. We'll see whether or not somehow they figure out a way to put her on the team, but I think from just a sheer marketing point of view,

[00:42:30] this is an individual that has become a marquee athlete. How many more people are watching WNBA basketball? How many young girls want to get her signature?

[00:42:43] Let them make that decision, but I just thought we'd talk about it because once again we see how racism gets injected even into something like whether or not a person is able to make a team for the Olympics.

[00:42:56] First of all, I want to thank Megan for help engineering the program. Steve, thank you for producing the program. Our Millennial Roundtable tomorrow. Hope you'll join us then, and we'll see you back here tomorrow on Point of View.

[00:43:10] It almost seems like we live in a different world from many people in positions of authority. They say men can be women and women men. People are prosecuted differently or not at all depending on their politics. Criminals are more valued and rewarded than law-abiding citizens.

[00:43:29] It's so overwhelming, so demoralizing. You feel like giving up, but we can't. We shouldn't. We must not. As Winston Churchill said to Britain in the darkest days of World War II, never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never. Never yield to force.

[00:43:47] Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. And that's what we say to you today. This is not a time to give in, but to step up and join Point of View in providing clarity in the chaos.

[00:44:02] We can't do it alone, but together with God's help. We will overcome the darkness. Invest in Biblical clarity today at PointofView.net or call 1-800-347-5151. PointofView.net and 800-347-5151. Point of View is produced by Point of View Ministries.