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May 21, 2024 · 49 minutes

Louisiana Family Forum President Gene Mills returns to “The Corner.” LA has a marijuana problem.

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Show notes

0:00 - 15:00. Acts 13:35-39. The target: serve the purpose of God in your own generation. 15:00 - 31:00. Louisiana Family Forum President Gene Mills returns to “The Corner.” LA has a marijuana problem. 31:00 - 48:00. State and local engagement is critical. It isn’t optional.

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Transcript

7,872 words, in two-minute parts. Made by machine, so a few words may be off.

0:0049:28

  1. 0:00

    Darkness is not an affirmative force. It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light. This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio. It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite. Delivery people out of the bondage of mainstream media. And the philosophies of this world. God has called you and me to be his ambassador. Even in this dark moment. Let's not miss our moment. And now, the Hamilton Corner. Good evening, everybody. Welcome to the Hamilton Corner here on American Family Radio. I am your host, Abraham Hamilton, III. Joined by the corner contingent right across from me, my man, 100 grand, Mr. Bobby, Rosa. And in the screening room, producing extraordinaire often imitated but never duplicated the real. Jay Mac, ladies and gentlemen, we are ready to rock and roll with today's edition of the program At this very moment, many of you, if not most of you, are making your transitions from your part-time jobs, where you generate an income to your full-time jobs, your full-time jobs are where we cultivate an outcome. As you make your transition, I want to remind you to do so with intentionality, understanding the primacy that God places on the family and welcoming his view to inform our engagement with his world. And in so doing, recognize that our home provides us the most immediate opportunity, most immediate opportunity to execute his commission. Before the first human institution that God created was the family with marriage at the center. The first command that God gave to mankind was delivered within the familial context. God did this intentionally to communicate to us that while it is his express intention for his gospel to go into the entire world.

  2. 2:03

    He does not want us to sacrifice our homes in an effort to win the world. It is instructive that when the Lord establishes New Testament Church, there was a home based initially provided and he instructed his apostles that you would be my witnesses. First in Judea, Jerusalem in Judea, the Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the world, simply communicating that there was a home based that's responded to first. then we work outwardly from there. That is the principle that was articulated. Then you have that as overarching principle, then you get to specific texts like Ephesians 6-4, Psalm 127, Psalm 128, Deuteronomy 6, Malachi 2. You begin to see that, wait a minute, if God has blessed me to be the parent of his heritage, then I have a duty. As we've discussed numerous times, we will reiterate right here and right now that fatherhood and motherhood are stations of mission. They have social benefit, they have companion benefits, but they are stations of mission through which God desires for His purposes to be fulfilled. So as you are making your transition to your full-time jobs, I say it with that description and with that intensity intentionally, full-time jobs, I welcome you to embrace God's view of this station of mission. Let's be about our Father's business. To the Word of God, we go, Acts chapter 13 is where we're going to go today. Acts chapter 13, this is, man, I love this portion of scripture because I wanna describe a bit of the context before I get into the text itself, but the verses are Acts chapter 13, verses 35 through 39. to put that properly.

  3. 4:03

    35 through 39, Acts chapter 13, verses 35 through 39. What is happening in this portion of scripture, this follows the apostle Paul and Barnabas being an Antioch with Simeon and Lucius, or Simeon who's called Niger, when they were praying and fasting and the Spirit of God said, separate unto me, Paul and Barnabas, for the work that I have called them to. Well, they traveled from there, an Antioch that is referred to there, is in modern day Syria, okay? You have two primary biblical references to Antioch. You have Antioch, which is in Syria, which was in the first century, the earliest and the largest Gentile church. You had all kinds of people from different paradigms. This is where the term Christian was first employed. Acts, chapters 11 and 12 record that. They were first called Christians at Antioch here because you had people who were not of Jewish ethnicity, but yet they were followers of the way of Christ, and that though you had different social strategy, you had people who might have been bond servants in the world that they could be elders in the Lord's church, so much so historically they called them levelers. And it upset the social environment of the time because the first century of Roman culture thrived on, Are you high born? Are you low born? Remember when the Apostle Paul said that he was a Roman citizen, the jailer asked him, did you purchase your citizenship? In Paul responding, no, I ain't purchased my, I was born a citizen of the Roman of the Roman Empire. You know, that gives you an idea of how they viewed, you know, social placement, you know, but in the body of Christ, that thing was dopsy-turvy. And this is ironically, not ironically, where the term Christian was first employed, not as a positive description, not as a side to celebration, as a pejorative, as an insult.

  4. 6:13

    And these people are acting like they're, they're Christ that they'll worship these old Christians. It was an insult. That is where this happened in Antioch, that is in Syria. Well, later on in this chapter in Acts 13, The Apostle Paul, Barnabas, and their ministerial team travel to Pecidian Antioch. All right? Pecidian Antioch is in the Galatian Province. So you see Paul's epistle to the Galatians, Pecidian Antioch was a city within the Galatian Province. The province is like Asia Minor, Galatia, Gepidosia. These were like the modern, like the equivalent of American states, all right? of South African townships, all right? You had the province, the Galatian province, which included the city, Pecidian Antioch. It was located in the central portion of modern day Turkey, all right? So we want, you want to keep those clear in your mind, Pecidian Antioch is not the same location as Antioch. And you can see that in this chapter, the beginning, they're in Antioch, which is in Syria. And then by the time we get down to this portion of the chapter, right? in verse 14, they said, but going on from perga, they arrived at percid, percid, and Antioch. Their travels began in Antioch that's in Syria, then they traveled to percid, and Antioch. Now going further, then the Bible tells us right about verses 13, 14, and 15 of the same chapter. And I'd have to set this up for context. The Apostle Paul and his minister, your teams, I could join him. They attended the synagogue that was in percid, and Antioch. In verse 15 tells us that after the reading of the law and the prophets, which was customary in Jewish synagogue services, the law and the prophets, the synagogue officials invited Paul and his minister, your team saying, brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.

  5. 8:20

    You want to talk about an invitation to proclaim the gospel. They're just attending synagogue. Paul is attending synagogue because remember he was a Pharisee. He never renounced being a Pharisee. He just saw the light. And so he was attending synagogue as was his custom. This portion of his life. But the synagogue official said, brethren, if you have any word of exhortation, please share it with the people. Paul said, well, I don't mind if I do. And this is, and I would recommend this for your, your study. This is starting in verse 16, where says Paul stood up and Emotioning with his hand said men of Israel and you who feared God listen So he's addressing the it the Jews who are in the synagogue and proceeding Antioch as well as Gentiles who had been converts to Judaism because that's all the folks who would be at the synagogue service, okay? Paul begins to provide an apologetic presentation coupled with a gospel presentation, specifically for the Jews in that synagogue. And I'd encourage you to read that starting at verse 16 on through the remainder of the chapter. Now, I'm going to focus in on a portion of this apologetic presentation because Paul begins with reciting Israelite history. He goes all the way back and then walks him in in summary fashion up to current time, including the substitution area of torment provided by Jesus Christ. Yeshua, the Messiah, but included in this apologetic presentation as he begins to turn and proclaim the gospel, Paul says this, and this is where verse 35 picks up. Therefore, he also says, in another Psalm, you will not allow your Holy One to undergo decay. For David, after he He had served the purpose of God.

  6. 10:22

    In his own generation fell asleep and was laid among his fathers and under went decay. But he whom God raised did not undergo decay. Therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through him, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. And through him, everyone who believes is freed from all things from which you could not be freed through the law of Moses. Now, I want to explain something. In this apologetic discourse, the Apostle Paul quotes from the Psalms, he quotes from the prophet Isaiah, but then when we pick up in verse 35, what he says, therefore he also says, saying that God says, in another Psalm, you would not allow your holy one to undergo decay. You would not allow your holy one to see decay. What Paul would have known, what the Jewish synagogue participants would have known is that Paul is quoting from Psalm 16 verse 10. Psalm 16 is a victim of David. A victim is a particular type of song that was employed in Israel. I've explained before you have, you have, you know, a victims, you have different types like sonnets, you have poetry, but then you have a sonnet that's a particular type of poem. A victim is a particular type of musical score, if you will. Psalm 16 10, where it says, you will not allow your holy one to see the K is written by David. So David is writing and he says, you will not allow your Holy One Sea Decay, which is why Paul picks up in verse 36. And he says, for David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid among his fathers in underwind decay. What Paul is explaining is that there's no way David is talking about himself because David saw decay, but the one in whom you should place your faith in, he has not seen decay. It's an amazing thing that the Apostle Paul equipped to proclaim the gospel.

  7. 12:24

    Started with a historical lesson, provided an apologetic presentation, culminates it in the gospel presentation. But this is what I want to present to you and encourage you with, and even a challenge as it is a challenge to myself as well. The Lord by His Spirit allowed the Apostle Paul to say these words that Dr. Luke has recorded benefit for David after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation. You want to talk about a life goal. You want to talk about a target to aim your heart, your life, your resources toward what greater target is there? Then for it to be rightly said of you and for it to be rightly said of me that you fill in the blank have served the purpose of God in your own generation. I get chills when I think about that idea. It is sobering and convicting because I would remind you David didn't know how David would be described in history. He didn't know that he would be the fulfillment of Samuel's prophecy from 1 Samuel 13 verse 14, a man after God's own heart with all of his problems and all of his sinful inclinations. All he knew is that he endeavored to live unto the Lord. Brothers and sisters, if you have not had a life goal presented before you, I would challenge you to consider these words in Acts 13, verse 36. Will it be able to be rightly said of you that you have served the purposes of God, the purpose of God in your own generation? Will it be able to be rightly said of me?

  8. 14:25

    That I have served the purpose of God in my own generation. The reality of my own generation includes all of the insanity that we talk about on the regular basis on this program. Things that we know that are percolating all around us, but we must never forget that we didn't place ourselves in this generation. God did so for His glory. And may it be rightly said of us, that we serve the purpose of God, in our generation, Lord, may it be so. I'd like to take a minute and have a heart to heart with you. If you're able, place your hand over your heart. Can you feel it? My strong heartbeat reminds me that I'm alive. See, it's the same for an unborn baby. The heart begins to form at conception, and at just three weeks is already beating. At five weeks, a baby's heart can be heard on an ultrasound. That's where preborn steps in, rescuing 200 babies every day from abortion by simply providing a mother with a free ultrasound and allowing her to hear her child's heartbeat and see their perfectly formed body in the womb. By six weeks eyes are forming. By 10 weeks, a baby is able to suck his or her thumb. Preborn needs our help to save these precious babies. For just $28, you could be the difference between the life or death of a baby. All gifts are tax deductible. To donate, just dial pound 250 and say the key word baby. That's pound 250 baby. Or donate securely at preborn.com. That's preborn.com. Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner Abraham Hamilton the third just a reminder We will be on the road this summer June 6th through the 8th and Richmond Virginia at the greater Richmond Convention Center at the Home Educators Association of Virginia's 41st annual convention. We're gonna have an amazing time there We will broadcast live from the event if you're in the area or able to come to the area Please make it your business to do so you know, simply go to HEAV.org to register.

  9. 16:47

    Well, you will have to register to attend. Then the very next week we will be in Denver, Colorado at the Rocky Mountain Homeschool Conference in Denver, Colorado. If you have not yet taken advantage of the Hamilton 25 discount code, I hate to say it's too late. It ended May 17th, but you can still register if you would like to attend. Then I was just notified that I have an additional role at the conference there, so I'll be looking forward to that as well. July 18th through the 20th in Bartlett, Tennessee, at the Culture Proof Conference, I will be joining a host of powerful warriors in the faith to help equip the body of Christ's sustain in the day that God has planted us in the theme for the conference is resist and we endeavor to do so. But it is my distinct honor and pleasure to have on the program with me now a brother in the faith who has been a mentor to me, who has been a friend and an encourager in righteousness and an example in righteousness. If anybody wanted to know why, how God let my family know home school, you can turn your attention to this brother and his family because they were examples for me long before I ever had a wife on the scene. They were examples for me. I am talking about my friend and my brother Jean Mills, the president of the Louisiana family forum, which is a nonpartisan nonprofit research and education organization dedicated to advancing life, liberty and limited government. Ben Mills, welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. It's good to be with you, Abe, and thank you for that very generous introduction. Oh, you know it's all true, and it's more than appropriate to give honor to where honors do. Well, I invited you on the program to have a conversation about several issues that really exemplify what I've been encouraging people to do here on the program, which is to live locally. We see the chaos happening at the national level, and by God's grace, we have been given this constitutional Republican form of government guaranteed by Article 4 of the US Constitution, where at the local, at the state and local levels, we can fortify ourselves against as much as possible the insanity happening nationally.

  10. 18:49

    And there are two primary measures that are happening right now in the state of Louisiana that I want to encourage every Louisiana who is Louisiana, who is listening to me, in my home state right now to perk up your ears because we need you on the front line. I want to begin with this conversation about Senate Bill, I have it right here, Senate Bill 237, sponsored by Senator Thomas Presley. What is happening? What is Senate Bill 237 and what is happening concerning it in the state of Louisiana? Well, for your listeners, and thank you so much for the opportunity to be with your audience today and to explain what's going on at the legislature, but Senate Bill 237 seeks to correct mistake that was made three or four years ago when then speaker Clay Shakesnider assured his colleagues that a new agricultural bill that allowed the growing of hemp for industrial purposes wouldn't have any intoxicating effects. In fact, he said from the microphone when questioned by a member on the floor, can this cause people to get high? Because trace elements of THC, the psychoactive element inside of medical marijuana or marijuana can be found in hemp as well. But in such small amounts that it cannot cause a high or an altered state's of consciousness. And he emphatically said, no, it would take truckloads of this stuff to get a high. Well, we found out three years later, 300 smoke shops, grocery stores, and cash registers all over the state, that they can can actually extract the THC and either infuse it or volumize it to where it does produce a high. In kids and adults alike are buying this product. In fact, we've seen a 1,400% increase over that same time period by the Louisiana Poison Control Center over people who have adverse effects, including seizures and comas. That's what we're trying to stop. We're trying to zero out THC over the counter as a recreational drug, solar gas stations.

  11. 21:03

    And that's what these built attempts to do. Now many people as you're listening all over the country, you've seen really an emphatic press to normalize and it's being described as medicinal marijuana all over the country. But what's happening is that medicinal marijuana really is being used to give cover for the basically retailing recreational usage of marijuana and the THC that is available to now available these days. We're not talking about what was going on in the past. We have all types of egregious health consequences really for the consumption of these things, especially some of the synthetic versions of it. Are these the conversations about this arise during a debate in the state legislature over this bill? Well, it basically arose when we realized that police officers, the chefs association, supports this bill. Insurance companies, all the grown-ups in the room are very clear. This is a bad idea. It's a bad idea. We do have medical marijuana in the state of Louisiana. It's tightly restricted. It has only grown the facilities that are allowed to do it or the universities because they thought the regulations could be there. And the maladies that that it's able to treat while limited has to be done under physician's approval. This only other hand is not administered by a doctor. And by the way, I'm not defending medical marijuana. I'll just tell you that it was legitimately approved, statutorily created and regulated to the hilt. It cost a great deal in order for them to produce their medicinal components of marijuana. This on the other hand, This hemp and this THC, it's coming from who knows where. There's nothing on the label that tells you that it's been tested or understood or validated or that it's actually a clean product or that it's what it says it is. Abe, you might remember Cratum, it swept the country about two years ago.

  12. 23:06

    People were eating other people's faces off in a naked condition or state. They were so out of their mind. Part of that, it was bath salts. Well, today the new drug of choice is hemp derived THC. A lot of it courtesy of China. And they basically create and chewables, edibles, vapes and other things that gas stations are peddling. So it's not a doctor administering this. It's a gas station attendant. Do you think they care about their clients? Or they care about the bottom line? And that's what brought this to the forefront. Ironically, the members of the Louisiana legislature being swayed by a handful of people who have a financial interest in this loophole remaining a loophole. We're saying this was brought to us under nefarious purposes. It didn't do what we were promised it would do. And now we need to reset it and take you back to zero. So you've alluded to what my next question is going to be considering what I know about my home state on a surface. I wouldn't think people would be open to allowing over the corner, over the counter highs from the gas station attendant. But is there a big money interest pushing this in the state of Louisiana? Because that's what we've seen in other states around the country on this front. Currently, they're driving about a $35 million industry in terms of what they report. Not only 20% of them provide taxes on it. So they're not operating with a legitimate product or legitimately as a business interest. And they're not because they know what they're peddling is illegal, illicit, and not what they label it as to be. Now you might have some actors in there that are trying to follow the rules. The rules were so loosely written though that even those actors will admit and did in committee last week. Our number one purpose he said was to get people high. I don't think that's a legitimate public policy objective for the state of Louisiana.

  13. 25:09

    Or do I believe any other former suitable has that as it's stated gold or alcohol or tobacco? So anybody who compares it to what's currently there is comparing apples to oranges in a gross and in and consequential manner. I think it's important to have this conversation so people can understand what's coming on. And I don't want to go down this whole this trajectory with this conversation, but it reminds me of the debate concerning IVF. You know, you have lots of people who didn't really understand a lot of the details and didn't really recognize how a traditional IVF endorsement position is really contradictory to a pro-life posture because the pro-life position is the head we don't intentionally terminate human life, period, you know. But within this conversation, there are lots of people that I would expect that will be confused about it. They don't know much of the distinctions between what may already be established in law and of state of Louisiana and these people who are advocating for over-the-counter highs. What have you seen in terms of the comprehension of the issue by the citizens in the state of Louisiana as the legislators are debating it? I think Mom and Pop are totally unaware. But they're going to become aware when they realize this is legitimized. If the status quo remains, here's my prediction, Abe, the medical marijuana components, the 10 dispensaries, they put up millions each up to 8 to 10 million to operate me guidelines, facilitate their business model is predicated upon the laws and the restrictions that we put in place under a physician's guidance. If this is allowed to die and the status quo remains, that business model will collapse. And you'll have major industry of these guys who are chasing this illicit market. I'm told the black market for marijuana is about $750 million. So the underground black market is there. The interest amongst some in the population is strong and it's undeniable. In the medicinal market, we understand that you can regulate it, you can stipulate it, you can label it what it's contained and you can oversee it by a physician.

  14. 27:23

    putting his license at jeopardy, just like you as an attorney, might put your license at jeopardy if you don't follow the guidelines and the proper rules of order and conduct. If we allow this to go forward without rolling back the 028 THC, we're going to see more of what happened yesterday. Yesterday, a local central Louisiana television station admitted that a number of 13-year-olds in rapids, parish schools, one particular magnet school, better school, have been given a chain rock candy that was filled with THC. And this parent reported that their 13 year old had seizure like conditions, it's demonstrating nausea and incoherence, rush to the emergency room, only to find out that a half a dozen or so other individuals who were given that candy were also at the emergency room because they had overdosed on it. And by the way, some of of the packaging on this stuff, you might have 30 doses in one shot bottle. What they've done is they fooled the general user to believe that it's safe. It's like an energy shot. It's like a five-hour energy shot bottle. But you might have a dosage level that would be three droplets full if you had a low-eye dropper. But they don't provide that. Neither did it give you the instructions. that we know what's actually in the bottle who created it or how where the THC came from. This is a no brain or a but our Louisiana legislature is wrestling with it. So mom and one doubt. So how can the Louisiana citizens who listen to this program help the legislators understand what needs to be understood and where is the status of Senator Pressy's bill currently? Man, I hope the moms and pops in your listening audience who get is upset with this is on you. This is really, I'm P.O. would, I'll be honest with you, forgive me Abe, I confess my heightened sense of anxiousness over this because I realized what's at stake. I realized the implications when this falls into the hands of a child, even if they regulate it. And that's what they wanted to do. They said, well, if there was a smaller dose, perhaps that child wouldn't have gotten so sick. That's idiocy. Perhaps if it were only a few in a package instead of 15 or 20 or 30 servants, we're telling them we were sold this on the idea that hemp would make furniture, not drugs. If you want to peddle drugs, do it like the pharmaceuticals do, follow the guidelines.

  15. 29:56

    And if this is going to be a medicinal vehicle that people use to gain better sleep or to calm anxiousness, go to the practitioner who can make certain that you don't have an adverse reaction are actually overdose over it. So what we encourage people to do is to go to our website weseanoffamilyform.org type on action and you'll see two big items that pop up under what we call the 60-second brigade. We call it the 60-second brigade because that's how long it takes to actually click on and personalize a note that goes directly to your lawmaker. And let me tell you, they listen to your voice. If you speak, I have a feeling they're going to listen. When they listen, They're gonna hear the calm and the assuring voice of mom and pop who say we don't want this for our family We don't want this on our streets and we don't want our children accessing this. Mm-hmm. So well said I want to give that website again la family forum.org is a Louisiana family forms website la family forum org is where you need to go and I want to want to ask you because people may not be aware and I have some people who I know who live in Louisiana right now ask me, where do I need to go? What is the impact that citizens have when they contact their legislators directly? What can they expect the legislators' responses to include? Well, Abe, there's a good old friend of ours who we buried about two years ago, Dan Richie, a political consultant, former state senator, and the guide for all my tours in the leadership academy that we did probably a dozen times to DC and across the country. biggest quip used to be, man, the greatest fear of a legislator is that the people back home are going to find out how he's actually voting. So when you act like you're paying attention, guess what? It gets their attention. And it really does make a difference. Five individuals from within their sphere of influence, and literally you've changed the heart and mind because they're awakened. When we come with pastors, and I'll be with the governor tomorrow morning about 15 or 16 pastors. We're going to put this in front of him.

  16. 32:03

    We're going to tell him, look, they're sitting about your farmers. There's only 20 acres in production under the hemp production. They're not getting the THC from that. It makes the difference when we speak about it. Guys, gee, millions of telling you the truth. I've seen it with my own eyes. Legislators shake when five of their constituents bake. Make it happen. Go to lafamilyforum.org, contact your state legislature, let them know that they must you insist that they support Cinebill 237. We're not done with you yet though, Gene. When we get back on the other side of the break, I want to talk to you a bit about House Bill 577, guys. This is all about living locally. We need to take our state legislators, our municipal outfit city council school boards, dog catcher. They need to know where the kingdom of God is in their localize and by doing so, we can fortify our local communities against the insanity that percolates from the swamp. More with Gene Mills, president of Louisiana Family Forum, when we come back from this break. Good evening, everyone. Coming up tonight in news, the well known AFR app has been the talk of the town. That's right, Tammy. You can listen to live radio and music all in just one app. Sounds like I need to get this myself. My thoughts exactly. They say it's available for iPhone and Android users, Amazon Alexa, Roku, and the Amazon App Store. Tune in tonight at 9 for more. The AFR app. Downloaded today. The Hamilton Quarter podcast and one-minute commentarits are available at eFR.net. Back to the Hamilton Quarter on American Family Radio. Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. My guest is Gene Mills, President of the Louisiana Family Forum. We're just discussing Senator Thomas Presley Senate bill 237 proposing a zero tolerance policy for THC consumable hemp products and offers a viable solution to guard public health before we went to the break I wanted to make sure that the listeners especially the Louisiana listeners who are tuned in right now that we let them know where the bill is in the legislative process.

  17. 34:23

    Would you update us on that please? Where the bill is in the legislative process on which one is this now? This is Presley's 237, Senate Bill 237. Presley's is scheduled for a house floor vote. It could have been as early as tomorrow, but that's likely to be postponed. Key members may be out because of graduations and Representative Schlegel, who is a good friend and a strong ally in this measure, is planning to return it to the counter and bring it back up on Tuesday. So we have through the Memorial Day weekend, the pump up the volume. I wouldn't encourage anybody to wait. I would encourage them to go ahead and make their email known, consider a phone call, and consider following up with your lawmaker just to make sure they got the message and they heard it loud and clear. Well said, and would you mind sharing the house switchboard number two for past listening? Is there a code 225-342-6945? 34269-45? And that also is an effective measure again, the legislators get nervous when the citizens come a calling. So please, please, please move quickly in responding, as Jean just said, that the floor vote on the house, which lets you know, it's pretty far in the process. So it's a Senate bill that's already made it to the House of Representatives, to the opposite house, and is being considered there. Now I wanna move on to House Bill 577. Would you share with the listeners what House Bill 577 is and where you are, and the Louisiana family forum is concerning HB 577. Yes, sir, we are almost all the way through the process, but on the other chamber in the Senate on a House Bill. So we're approaching the end of the session. This is generally where the bad stuff starts to move. The good stuff gets stalled or dies because when they can deal with it in committee, mom and pop back home don't find out what really happened.

  18. 36:23

    They just find out it died in early death. We think it's too important to allow it to die. So we're advocating a position that says, this is the most dangerous playground in America today. This little device right here. And for a minor, it can be detrimental. It can be light bulb during. We're telling Apple, Google, Meta, all the app providers, before a child can download anything on a new device or an existing device. Parental consent must be provided before that App Store can begin the push marketing strategy, the shadowing of that individual, and the grabbing of that data so that they can market specifically to that child with or without the parents' knowledge. We're saying even at the point of purchase all the way to App Store, you can't download what you two and Bono and Apple did for me When I see an album cover of two men hugging, barely dressed, at one man's waist, that anytime Apple Music pops up, I see an image I really don't want to see. I didn't put it there. They pushed it to me. And they can still push in and on me. Imagine if you were a child in information that's nefarious or on the dark side of the web. This can be a great tool, but it's a two-edged sword. That's true of personal devices all the way across the board. computer, a handheld, a laptop, a palm pilot, whatever it might be. Those devices, and we believe when you're dealing with a miner, you've got to have prone consent. And that's what that bill basically does. So very true. I know the state of Florida is considering measures similar to that specific to social media companies. But as far as AP 577, how would that be enforced? What type of enforcement mechanism is promulgated in the legislation? as criminal provisions in the civil penalties. And so most of these you'll recall that it was that same Laurie Schlegel that I mentioned a moment ago, the House member who did age verification.

  19. 38:25

    You might not know the backstory on that, okay? We fought gambling expansion for decades. We voted out of many parishes and I had gambling interests that would tell me. We can geo-fence. So if somebody is doing fantasy sports bets and they're outside of the parish lines, We know by their digital footprint, where they are and where their limitations are. And we can block them from coming in to gamble in our parish. We said, well, if that's true for gambling, let's find out if it's true for pornography. And this little cow took that idea of age verification and it's sweeping the country right now. 16 or 18 states have either passed it or in the process of passing it. And we're testing how far you can go with age verification across the board. That's what this does. Age verification for a minor on social media apps and platforms, met up by court order already has to do it. Apple and Google are doing this. You got the court order, not us. We're telling them, Jeff Landry is the sheriff in this town. We want this to go through. And the cost is, we already see it. The Centers for Child Sexual Exploitation yesterday or Friday posted a video that are lit in a list of about six major providers including Apple and Google and others who deplatform these apps that allow nude photos to go amongst two individuals privately. They know we are over the target and they're responding. By the way, it's like Pornhub did when they pulled out of all the the states that passed age verification. Guess what they decided? This ain't a fight worth fighting. We ought to, we'll go somewhere where it's safe to operate. Man, and this just reiterates the importance of what we're talking about living locally. Thank you so much, Representative Schagel, Schlegel, and her husband Judge Schlegel for the fight.

  20. 40:29

    You all are putting up in Louisiana. Where can listeners go? Should they go again to LouisianaFamilyForm.org to the action center to take action or House Bill 577? That's the place to go. This time though, the phone number's a little bit differently. The website is lafamilyform.org, action center, type on 60 second brigade, and it'll take you to one of those two options. There are other action items because we're actually monitoring over 200 bills and weighed in on over 50. So we have a litany of these things. These are the two that rise to the top. And these are the two that have aroused the dragon. and the dragon is mad. They are mad because they know we're right over the target. Well, praise God. I'm going to need a fight. That's it. Go ahead and keep anybody wants to go there. There's the website, lafamilyform.org, self-contained, easy. Send it to which board 225-342-2040. 342-2040. They're in session right now. This bill could come up as early as tomorrow. Please call, please email, please take action because we need to see this advanced to protect the people and to protect the state. I want to invite you, Gene, now you've been here, refer to this theme throughout this conversation we've been having just about the significance for people to get actively involved in their state legislature and their local communities, their local municipal authorities. Would you just take a few minutes and just to speak to the significance of people living locally, especially in light of what's happening on the national level, how can people remain engaged and fortify their communities by being engaged at the state and local level? Man, first of all, I think, and that's a great question, Abe, and thank you for beating the drums on that. It needs to be echoed. I think most people don't think of what Bonhoeffer referred to as the this-worldiness of our Christianity. or biblical precedents that are established that if you show up on the road with a thieves break in and steal so that you can mend the wounds of those who've been stolen from and beaten up, one day you're gonna show up before the task is done.

  21. 42:44

    And you gotta decide, do I let the bad guy finish or do I intervene? And I think this was Bonhoeffer got to. And he finally said, hey, if I'm not counterfeiting at the exact place at which Satan's attacking, I'm not in the center of God's will. That counter-offense is those things you can do something about. Now here's what the enemy does. The enemy makes you worry about everything you can't do anything about. While ignoring the things that are right at your hands. Peter said, silver and gold, have I none, but such as I have, give I unto you. The Lord asks for what we have possession of, not what we can't do anything about. And that's why a local is everything, because your voice matters, your influence matters, your presence matters. I tell pastors, your pastor it matters because the light in you militates against the darkness in them, whether you ever say a word or not. And so this is the thesis. I have never seen the darkness overcome the light. Come on. I've seen the light not show up and forfeit the battle, but I've never seen the darkness prevail against the light. It cannot. And I think you say it, darkness is not an affirmative force. Stead, steeped. What we've got to do as faithful ambassadors is demonstrate the right-now manifestation of the living Word of God as faithful ambassadors by carrying His principles in a manner that's consistent with His character, as led by the Holy Spirit, instructed by the Word, filled in covenant relationship and momentarily in line, doing the right thing at the right moment with the right reason in the right spirit. And we can't do that. And they can't stop it. Amen. Amen. Amen. And I mean, our engagement, and I say this often, is that we don't contend for victory. We contend from victory. It is because the eternal battle is one that we have clear eyes and full hearts to enable us to engage in their intervening counter-offensive, to prevent the robbers and the thieves from perpetuating their thievery and their robbery by God's grace.

  22. 44:54

    I mean, some people never put that on. Some people never. When Christ said, all authority in heaven and others been given unto me, that word authority is the Greek and the Hebrew word misra means to rule, all to rule. And he says, and I'm seated at the right hand of the Father. On the basis of that, I anoint you with my to rule. Go and represent me in this generation. They said, wait, can you really make a difference? I mean, can you really move the chairs around on the Titanic? I don't know. to rapture happens tomorrow as I'm ascending. I don't have the angels looking at the lines in my yard saying, man, that's a fine, well kept, stewarded vehicle that yard right there, that glorifies God. Those pieces of equipment over there, that bank account, these kids, that clothing, his speech, his alignment, his focus on that glorified God because he elevated him. He died to this world and this world to him because of the one at hung on the cross. I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready. And one of the last few minutes, man, I'm telling you, I don't want to pass the plate. I'm ready to strap on everything that's necessary to get it going, man. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Now, in the last few moments I have, you've been on the front lines for far longer than this, but Louisiana Fami Forum was organized formally in 1998. because of God's grace and him ministering through you to have a legacy of faithfulness that Lord has expanded your influence to really over the nation, all over the world in a lot of ways. I wanna ask you this. Over the weekend, we saw the Iranian president, his helicopter crashed with the foreign minister and the president to their demise as confirmed by the Iranian government yesterday. Yet our state department, I found this interesting, the US State Department and our official ambassadors issued a public condolence to the nation of Iran for who the man who's been described as the butcher of Tehran responsible for killing thousands of Iranian.

  23. 47:10

    I don't recall the US sending condolences for Adolf Hitler. What is your reaction to the US government, the Biden administration sending condolences to the butcher of Tehran in light of his passing. And I'm shocked by that. I'm disappointed. As a minister of the gospel, I might say privately to a person who's involved at the death of an individual that probably busted hell wide open, unless they made a personal commitment to the Lord because of a private last minute change of heart or mind. And I have no evidence that that occurred, but I have no idea it didn't. We have Muslims waking up in dreams, having dreams of, and coming to the Lord, because He's literally reaching them throughout Muslim generations and Muslim nations. But as an official act of the state, I was at the Capitol four days ago with speaker, Mike Johnson and about 300 religious leaders, world leaders, and other dignitaries to honor Billy Graham, who is one of only four people to lie in state at the rotunda to receive the congressional medal of honor and to be given a statute in statutory hall. The State Department didn't issue and neither did it in my administration. There was no representatives there saying we honor Bill Graham. That's shocking. That's all. Wow. Gene Mills, you are a gentleman and a scholar. Keep fighting a good fight, my brother. I appreciate you, your continued work. Louisiana citizens who are listening to the program, let's shake up the state capital and plant a flag for the glory of God. And for those of you in other states around the country, I pray that you will equally inspire to live locally and make your community, your areas, your cities, and your states beach heads for the King of Glory. And so that as far as we have breath in our lungs, inhaling and exhaling our King's oxygen, let us be found doing our Father's will. You all have a great evening. By God's grace, we will be back tomorrow.

  24. 49:12

    Good night everybody.

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