like to call the meeting to order. This is the 14th regular meeting of the 2019-2020 Common Council. Would the clerk please read this quote for the day. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Happiness is an inside job. Thank you very much. Would the clerk please call the roll? There are 10 present. Very good. Next, would you please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Next, we'll move on to the approval of the minutes from our last council meeting. Alderperson Wolfe. Thank you, Mayor. I make a motion to approve. Second. Thank you for that motion and support. Is there any discussion on those minutes? Seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. Tonight we have a presentation by Joe Rupnick, the Executive Director of the Sheboygan Housing Authority and a little bit of a project update on the Wasserman Building. Mr. Rupnick's been in that role for the last eight years and Joe, please step to the podium. Thank you. Housing Authority of the City of Sheboygan was created by the Sheboygan County Council in 1967 under provisions of Wisconsin law. Under that law, a housing authority may engage in a number of activities to create or improve housing within a community. The Sheboygan Housing Authority has been primarily involved as a developer, owner, and manager of apartments for people of low and moderate incomes. We're called the Housing Authority of the City of Sheboygan because that describes our jurisdiction. So we only really operate inside the city limits. There's a housing authority in the City of Sheboygan Falls. There's also one in Plymouth and then the balance of the county is served under contract through WEDA. The Board of Commissioners is the governing board of the Housing Authority and it has five members. Those members are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by you the Common Council. Commissioners are appointed for five years and those years are staggered. The authority is a semi-autonomous agency. We are not included in the City budget. We receive no tax support from the city. The annual budget of the authority is not reviewed or approved by the city. The staff of the authority is employed by the authority and we are not city employees. The Wisconsin law does provide for the authority to use the legal services of the city attorney, which we have done from time to time, and we can provide purchase services from some services from the city. Various projects of the authority are exempt from city real estate taxes under a cooperative agreement between the city, the authority, and the federal government. We make a payment in lieu of taxes to the city each year based on the amount of rent collected from each of the projects that we have. We have a number of different projects which you may or may not be familiar with. The first was built in 1969 and 70 and there were two buildings that were built right about the same time. One is the Eugene Wasserman building over here on Water Street and the other one is Tamarack House out on Erie Avenue. Both of those buildings have 105 apartments, pretty much currently all are full. Excuse me. The second project was built in 1977 under what was called the Section 8 New Construction Program and that's part Plaza located on the corner of 9th and Ontario. That was a project that was involved WEDA, Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority. That was 81 bedroom apartments for the elderly. In July of 1997, that mortgage was paid off and Park Plaza now is there's no assistance attached to that that project anymore. The only source of operating income is from the the rents that we collect. The most recent project that we built was in 1981 and that consists of six two-bedroom apartments located at 919 Niagara Avenue and two 12-unit buildings on Georgia Avenue near Horace Mann and those are family units. Each of the 12-unit buildings has two three bedrooms and 10 two-bedroom apartments. The Housing Authority also under a separate agreement we manage a housing project called Rochester Springs and Sheboygan Falls that is actually owned and operated by the City of Sheboygan Falls Housing Authority but since it was built we've been the managing um entity for it. That again was a WEDA project that one has 48 one-bedroom apartments and built in 1978. HUD also gives the authority to operate gives us the authority to operate the Section 8 housing choice voucher program more commonly known as the Section 8 program. Under this program the authority contracts with private apartment owners to pay a portion of the rent normally paid by tenants. Again that's tenants pay 30 percent of their gross monthly income towards their housing and then we pick up the remainder of that that monthly cost. Presently the Housing Authority is authorized to contract for 191 apartments with a monthly federal subsidy of about $54,000. So the Housing Authority we own and operate about 230 apartments here in Sheboygan. I'm sorry 330. Our tenants are all low income folks. We take the vast majority of our folks live on a very fixed income. Average monthly income is just about $900 a month which usually is coming in from disability or social security payments. So tenants then pay one-third of their gross because that's what HUD says is affordable and then we manage from there. Since all of the mortgages have been paid off there is no monthly subsidy that comes from HUD except for that Section 8 program. So most recently what we've undertaken is what HUD is calling a repositioning where we've taken the Wasserman building right behind us here 105 units and we've pulled it out of the public housing domain and by doing so HUD basically signed off on the building because they have an interest in it because they paid for the construction initially. And so we took the building and we kind of sold it mostly to ourselves and we set up a separate LLC and that allowed us to then apply for and we were given tax credits. So low income housing tax credits. So we found an investor that was willing to purchase those tax credits and we've started what is right now about a $14 million renovation of that building which is basically everything is going to be new inside the building. So we're doing demolition right now we've moved a number of tenants out and we will continue that through December of 2020 and at that point then the tenants will have a brand new apartment pretty much a brand new building and hopefully that building then will last us for another 30 or 40 years. It's a very very challenging project. And that's about it. Well Joe thank you very much for that report and all the great work that you do we really appreciate it. Next we'll move on to public form I'll turn it over to our city clerk Meredith De Bruyne. There's one person tonight Dulcy Johnson. Dulcy can you state your name and address for us? Dulcy Johnson 1306 North Third Street, Sheboygan. Thank you you'll have five minutes. In the interest of transparency I am presenting my annual State of the City's Ambulance Service report based on data received in an FOIA request for the operation of the service in 2018. Ambulance Service Expenses accounted for in the Ambulance 280 fund totaled $685,000. Salaries and benefits for the four firefighters included in the budget was $100,457 per hire an increase of about $6,500 per hire from 2017. Those four firefighters have always been the last four hires but last year Nancy Busch told me that that is no longer the case and I don't know how those four employees are chosen now. Figuring 18 firefighters salaries and benefits at 75% the total salaries and benefits for the 22 ambulance personnel was $1,758,000. That figure however is actually higher because of the longevity factor for some of the ambulance personnel. Total collections were $1,226,000 or 37% of billings. That means that the personnel costs of the service were more than half a million dollars over what was actually collected. The total cost of operating the service without any administrative costs was $2,041,000. That includes expenses for leasing the ambulances and contracted billing services. Subtracting expenses from revenues results in a loss of $815,393. If you hear that the department made a million dollars you might consider that fake news. It's easy to declare a profit when you don't include all your expenses. One of the four recommendations of the independent fire department study was and I quote, the city should consider adjusting their financials to reflect the 18 FTEs adjusted to 75% as a more representative cost allocation for EMS staffing requirements. Ambulance calls accounted for 77% of calls in 2018. There were only 48 structure fire calls that's less than 1% of calls and fewer than one call per station per month. When the department took over this service there was no reason given for doing so. Orange Cross was doing fine without taxpayer support. I remember however Chief Letusky saying that he realized the need to justify the cost of the fire department budget. Maybe the reason for taking over the ambulance service had more to do with sustaining the number of firefighters being paid by the taxpayers than anything else. Someone at the time called the takeover the firefighters guaranteed employment act. In 2018 your constituents subsidized 63% of the service for city and non-city users. Your constituents never paid a subsidy to Orange Cross and Orange Cross makes thousands of calls every year without a fire truck leading the way. Yes I know there are times when the department is called to assist Orange Cross but that number is very small compared to their total number of calls. Ambulance drivers continue to wander about the city when on what one citizen labeled joy rides. Evidently ambulance drivers feel that they have carte blanche to go wherever they choose if they're not responding to a call. You will note that actual fuel expenses were 17% higher than budgeted in 2018. At the time that the city decided to take over the ambulance service a story in the Sheboygan Press noted and I quote, if the service loses money city fire officials will cut the department's budget to make up for the loss. That has never happened of course because it's easier to avoid that situation when you don't count all your expenses. Last year I was asked to present some options to the increasing costs of the department. All of you know the options. None of them are acceptable to the union or the department but the council needs to balance the risk with the taxpayers capacity to pay. Thank you. Thank you Delcy. Okay next we'll go on with mayor's announcements. Just like to remind everybody that curbside leaf collection has started and it will continue through Friday November 22nd. Citizen residents are allowed to rake leaf files into the street gutter for easier and faster pickup by city crews. Department of Public Works has divided the city into five sections for leaf collection and one zone for each day of the week and DPW crews will concentrate their efforts in the assigned zone each day. They only ask that when you put the leaves in the gutter please leave room for water to pass through at the base of the gutter and move the leaves a little bit away from the curb. Our drug take back day is set for Saturday October 26th. Sheboygan County will be accepting unused medications from 10 o'clock to 1 o'clock and the location in the city is St. Nicholas Hospital on Superior Avenue. And the Mead Library is having their friends book sale that's going to be on October 24th, 25th and 26th. The Friends of Mead Library will hold the book sale from on those days and on Friday rather on Thursday it'll start at 9 a.m. and go to 8 p.m. on Friday at 9 o'clock to 5 o'clock and on Saturday October 26th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. And I want to wish everybody a happy Halloween. Our trick-or-treat hours will be as normal on Halloween Day October 31st from 4 to 7 p.m. in the city of Sheboygan. Next we'll move on to the Consent Agenda that will include items 2.2 rather through 2.14. Alderperson Wolfe. Thank you, Mayor. I make a motion to receive and file all ROs, receive all RCs and adopt all resolutions and ordinances. Second. Thank you for that motion and support. Is there any discussion on any of those motions? Alderperson Donahue. Thank you, Mayor. I would request that 2.14 be pulled for separate discussion. Thank you very much. If there's no objection we'll pull that forward at this time. Please proceed with your comments. Thank you. This particular ordinance was a direct referral to public works and implements the changes that we approved last year to the winter parking ordinance. Many of us will remember and many of us may not remember that this extends the alternate side parking and the no parking during winter hours by a month. This was one of the things that you received comments about and I received a fair number of communications from constituents that were all marked by great anger and I think in part this is because particularly in my district which covers a good share of the older part of the city parking is difficult. Many of the residents particularly in Ward 13 and then some wards of course south of the city have to park on the street and so the alternate side parking is viewed by some as as a trap. I do think that prior to extending the month this this parking arrangement by a full month we had all gotten used to it and if you didn't move your car well that was your that's your own fault. This resolution takes care of all the no parking signs that were not in effect when the ordinance went into effect and therefore wasn't introduced. I'm going to move to approve this ordinance. My concern is that I just want to and I'm sure that the public works department will do an excellent job and the mayor's office of publicizing this again which may refresh people's recollection about how they don't like it. But it was a direct referral and it's on the consent agenda and it seemed to me that I just wanted to pull it out so that there was notice that this is in fact being done. I ultimately I think I voted to approve I can't really remember. I understand the rationale that was put forward by DPW which I think is a good one. It will be of assistance to the Department of Public Works in clearing streets opening up clogged manholes and so forth. So I'm just reflecting that this is a hardship for our constituents. So it's a balancing act. I'm okay with the balance that we received. I just wanted to bring that up and and and put it out there. So with that in mind I would move that we adopt ordinance 23-19-20. Second. Thank you for that motion and support. All other persons sorenson under discussion. Thank you Mr. Mayor. I'd just like to add my comments in favor of this as well too. I know I've gotten some calls as well regarding the changes that we made to the parking during winter regulations as well too and and I think it makes most sense too that we're bumping it back to the end of April. I think if folks can really remember the past two April's mid or later April we've had quite a heavy number of stow too and you know makes things challenging for the folks in the Department of Public Works to adequately clean the streets too. And when I've cleared and cleared up some misconceptions and had some conversations with constituents as well too they seem very much in favor of this as well too when we explain it and educate them about the benefits that the alternate side parking has when it's not snowing then the DPW crew is allowed and it's more accessible for them to clean up the curbs, the gutters, the drain pipes, whatever else it is as well. So I'm in favor of it just for the sake of helping the folks out as well too but I hear all other person down to use concerns as well too and I hear them from my constituents. Thank you for those comments. Seeing no other discussion with clerk please call the roll. Ten ayes. Motion passes. Now we're back to the original motion proving 2.2 through 2.13. Is there any other discussion on those other items? Seeing none then would the clerk please call the roll for passage. Ten ayes. Motion passes. Under communications item 3.1 and 3.2 will be referred to the finance and personnel committee. Under reports of officers items 4.1 through 4.3 will be referred to various committees. Under resolutions items 5.1 through 5.4 will again be referred to various committees. Under reports of committees item 6.1 is RC number 157 of 1920 by the finance and personnel committee. Tomb was referred resolution number 95 of 1920 by Alderperson Donahue and Bourne authorizing the appropriate city officials to enter into an intergovernmental cooperative agreement with Sheboygan county for the sales tax revenue sharing for transportation infrastructure maintenance and recommends adopting the resolution with amendment. Alderperson Donahue. Move to receive the report of the committee and adopt the substitute resolution. Second. Thank you for that motion in support. Is there any discussion on the motion? Alderperson Bourne. Thank you mayor. First of all I'm glad we're getting the revenue from the county and we can use that for street repairs. However I've had a problem since the beginning of this because of the fact that the majority of this revenue is being collected in the city of Sheboygan obviously with the biggest municipality and in my opinion because the majority of this revenue is being collected in the city we should be getting more of it but I am thankful that we are getting something because it is very useful for street repairs. Thank you. Thank you for those comments. Alderperson Donahue. And the county decided to do this on the basis of assessments, property assessments throughout the county and while we may not like it I think in fact we're kind of stuck with it. The county would not have had to give us any money at all. I do understand that intuitively we can say that most of the money does come from the city. Figures that I saw though in terms of when we were debating this and certainly more heated kinds of context while the city clearly most of the revenue is generated here it's not as large a percentage as you might think. I remember you're 38 percent that could be right that could be wrong but in any event it's a better deal than a sharp stick in the eye so. Thank you for those comments. Any other discussion? Seeing none will the clerk please call the roll for passage. Motion passes. Item 6.2 through 6.4 will lay over those are all items on the budget that will come up at our next council meeting. Under general ordinances item 7.1 is general ordinance number 24 of 1920 by Alderperson Phillips granting the Van Horn Development Company LLC and Kingsbury Village LLC and its successors and assigns the privilege of encroaching upon describes portions of New York Avenue right away in the city of Sheboygan for the purpose of constructing a sidewalk. Alderperson Phillips adopt items 7.1 through 7.3. Thank you for that motion in support. Is there any discussion on those three items on our agenda? Will the clerk please call the roll? Ten ayes. Motion passes. Next item is item 7.4 which is general ordinance number 27 of 1920 by Alderperson Feldy annexing territory to the city of Sheboygan 3820 North 13th Street. Alderperson Feldy. Point four. Thank you for that motion in support. Is there any discussion on the motion? Seeing none will the clerk please call the roll for passage. Ten ayes. Motion passes. Items 7.5 through 7.7 will be referred to various committees. Under matters laid over 8.1 is RO number 69 of 1920 by the City Planning Commission. Tumas refer general ordinance number 16 of 1920 by Alderperson Phillips and the RO number 63 of 1920 by the city clerk submitting a communication from David Gass of Rody Dale's LLP filing a petition for direct annexation by unanimous consent for the land currently located in the town of Sheboygan 3820 North 13th Street. Tax parcel number<PHONE_NUMBER>0 and recommends receiving the RO and adopting the general ordinance as amended. Alderperson Bourne. I make a motion to receive the RO and file the substitute ordinance. Thank you for that motion in support. Is there any discussion on the motion? Seeing none all those in favor of the motion please signify by saying aye. Aye opposed. Motion passes. Next under matters authorized by law I'll turn it over to city attorney Charles Adams. There's one other matter it's an RO by the city clerk submitting various license applications for the period ending June 30 2020 and June 30 2021. That'll be referred to the Licensing, Hearings and Public Safety Committee. Alderperson Wolfe. Thank you mayor I make a motion to adjourn. Thank you for that motion in support. All those in favor of the motion to adjourn please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. Thank you for your time tonight. Have a great evening.


Welcome to the BCV channel. I am your host, Pastor Seiko Woods. Please do the following. Please like, subscribe, share, hit that notification bell at the bottom of the video. That way whenever I go live or post any content or information for you, the viewer, you'd be one of the first to view it. I'd also like to support this mention financially first and foremost. Thank you so much for those of you who have been so gracious and consistent and faithful in supporting the BCV channel and also love life and marriage with the woods. If you'd like to continue to do so, you can just click the donation links below at the bottom of this video. And as we ticker it across the screen at the near the end of the broadcast, you can choose to support the ministry by those means. And we do thank you so much for that. Also, if you'd like to become a body life, a body life for those who make the BCV channel and also love life and marriage with the woods, a part of their regular support and online ministry giving outside of the local church. Of course, take care of your local fellowships. If you are a part or a member of a local church, please take care of your churches and those that feed you the word of God on a consistent basis. And so we definitely are about the local church and those who are members of such should take care of their households of faith. So please do that. But if the Lord has blessed you and you want to support ministries like this, we definitely appreciate that. And there's no obligation. There's nothing that you have to do other than just go to the links below the bottom of the video here and you can support the ministry by that means as well. Also, if you'd like to support the ministry by the BCV channel, by the BCV merchandise store, you can go over to our BCV channel, I keep saying channel, BCV website and go to the BCV store and you can purchase merchandise there. Thank you. Those who have been supporting the ministry through those means and options as well. Thank you all so much for that. Moderators, thank you. This is a special broadcast. Reason being is because I will be participating in a debate on Brother Marlin. I think Wilson, I think his last name, I think it was his name. I keep getting all these brother's names, man. Forgive me, but I believe I put it on my channel earlier today. Yes, Marlon Wilson. But anyway, so tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern, 8 p.m. Eastern and 7 p.m. Central Standard Time, those of you who are able, I would normally do my live at 7 o'clock Central Time, but I'm going to be participating in the debate with another brother. In the faith, we're going to be discussing Lawyership Salvation versus Free Grace. And so, if you are interested in viewing and also participating or preserving that discussion, you can go to my Facebook page and or moderate. If you don't mind, Proverbs, I think I have put it up in the group chat. If you can put it on the channel here and I'll go ahead and put it up on the screen. I didn't have time to do it earlier today. I'll try to remember to share it on my YouTube channel before I go live again this evening. And those who are interested, you can go ahead and you can come and check it out as well. So thank you, Facebook family. Good to see you all. Welcome to the channel. Welcome to the broadcast. Thank you so much for being a part of the afternoon version of the BCV channel. Of course, YouTube family, thank you for joining. Good to see everyone here. Let's see us go through the names here real quick. John, good to see you. Brother David, good to see you, my brother. Jesus loves you. What's going on? David Reckler, good to see you, brother. Let me see who else. Who else? Who else? Who else? Who else? Jocelyn, how are you doing, sister? Good to see you. Brother Daniel, good to see you. You don't believe God's word. Good to see you. Sister Christina, of course, good to see you. Brother Proverbs, good to see you. Brother Daryl, good to see you. Of course, the Mrs is in the house. Good to see you, my rear. Who else? XX20, good to see you, brother. Brother Freddie, good to see you, man. I missed your call. I forgot I called you early, Freddie. I guess you were asleep, man. I understand. Let's see. Pocahontas, good to see you. Good to see you. Who else? Who else am I missing? Anyone else am I missing in the roll call? Blazing Torch, good to see you. I believe that's it. Okay. And any stragglers, anybody else who run in or come in? Welcome. Welcome to the channel. Welcome to the chat. Jim Green, good to see you, my brother. Good to see you. Now, bro, that's all good, Freddie. I know, hey, bro, I know the struggle is real, man, when you're trying to get some sleep, man. You mean well, but hey, them Z's be calling you like pookie. So I totally understand it. But listen, so anyway, I want to do this. I'm going to read, I want to read a prayer that was given to me and it blessed me, man. It really blessed my heart for this person to take time out of their schedule to send me a prayer to me and my family. And so I want to read this. I'm not going to share the person's name. I did ask that I share it, but I didn't want to read their name on the stream, but I'll just read the prayer itself. And I believe it's encouraging, hopefully it'd be an encouragement to you all as well. This person says, and it opens up in prayer and it sends me an inbox prayer message. It was on yesterday, matter of fact, an hour before I went live, but I just had a chance to actually read it earlier today. And they said, Father, I come before you now to give you praise and honor and thanksgiving.  Jesus, right now, I come with the request as well. I ask that you continue to bless Seiko and the family.  You alone know each heart touched by your grace through the gospel spoken. You alone know each heart grown cold and the religious and bitter when the truths of your word are spoken. Lord, I ask that you minister to the hearts of Seiko and Sharon and the children as they stand and work together to fight for justice and righteousness. I thank you that you have given Seiko the personality, character, and fortitude, the personality and boldness to stand for truth, your truth, Jesus, and to stand for those who have suffered injustice and the deep wounds and the intellect at the hands and at the ministries that profess to love you and proclaim your word but covertly rob people of their dignity and personhood in your name. I ask Jesus that as Seiko and Sharon stand as watchmen and as watch women on the walls, along with others, that you continue to guard their hearts, that you continue to give them strength, that you continue to solidify friendships as you sift, like wheat, those who do not understand or care for the call and the fight to protect the vulnerable but rather seem to prefer to malign those who do. Jesus, you have given us your word, told us to love justice and to show mercy. So Jesus, I come before you asking for strength and encouragement for Seiko and Sharon and the family for their needs to be met and an abundance of love, Lord, that is more than the vitriol and the disdain and disrespect. I ask that you give Seiko and Sharon much wisdom, Lord, much joy and teaching and proclaiming your word and much humility and courage as they are used of you to help root out the indecencies, the injustice so prevalent among those who claim to belong to your kingdom. In your precious name, Jesus, the name above all names, the great I am, the Alpha and Omega, I give you all thanks and praise, all glory and honor. Man, that just, that had encouraged my heart and definitely blessed me. My wife didn t even know anything about this. She knows it now. I wanted to bless her with it live. This individual just took moments out of her day and shared this prayer and hopefully, I hope it is a blessing and encouragement to all of you. And sometimes, the Lord knows we need it because being out here, it is not easy. It s definitely not for the weak at heart. I always say that you have to be built for this and even though you re built for it, you can get worn down. We re not machines. We re human beings. We have feelings. We have expectations. We get disappointed. We get hurt and all of that. I have no intention. I have no desire nor no purpose to stop what the Lord has called me to do. I just want to be consistent and faithful for what the Lord has commissioned me. And so with that said, I just want to thank those of you who support this ministry, who support this channel, who support Love, Life and Marriage with the Woods, who support me with three of prayers like this sister graciously and lovingly have done. And actually, this sister always goes out of her way to reach out to me. She always asks about me and my wife and my children, making sure that we re good and making sure that we re focusing on what God has called us to do. And so it s a blessing. It really is a blessing. So I am encouraged by that. I am encouraged by that. I really am. And so I just wanted to say that because yeah, these past few days have had its challenges. It s had its challenges, it s have had its wondering like Lord, what else is going on?  Do you wish to go too? I mean, who else? Who else is going to try to set us up? Who else wants to abandon and all that? Now, I say that not because I m having some martyrdom complex and stuff like that. I m just giving you all real, real life stuff. And I know I m not by myself. I m pretty sure some of you all have went through these types of things. And like I said before, the Lord knows when to send encouragement your way and my way. He knows. I wasn t expecting for the Sister to write this long prayer, but when I tell you that prayer was what I needed at that moment to keep me pushing and to keep me going, you know what I m saying? I think that that s where all of us can grow and can lean from. So, Tony Lewis, let s see.   I don t know. Maybe you need to get your subject and verbs to touch and agree. Not really sure what you re talking about. And maybe you re new, probably are new, but welcome nonetheless. Welcome. Yeah. So anyway, I want to read two scriptures out that I had received. And again, someone reminded me earlier this morning. You know what the inside joke is, you know, the 20, right? The 20. The 20.  He s off grid right now. He needed to take a break, you say, from social media. Love whether he ll be back, I guess. But nonetheless, whether the 20, whether Cor, you re talking about me or you re talking about, you know, brother Tim Jones, man, it s funny to me because I remember there was a time when you didn t talk like that. I remember there was a time, bro, when you with Bristle, when people like Pagani would try to, you know, mock and minimize and diss people who had less subscribers than he did. And now here you are. But again, you say I m the mean one. Okay. All right. Brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, there have been some recent developments regarding, regarding Brother Cory.  But I think you ll find it to be rather interesting to say the least. I think you ll find it rather interesting to say the least. If or when I decide to share with you the viewer how serious things have gotten. Because a lot of you don t even have a clue. A lot of you don t have a clue how the enemy has taken this thing and is using people for his own ends. But I ll share that at another time. Because of purpose of this live today, I wanted to discuss in light of what has been going on regarding John MacArthur, why some people are feeling the way that they feel. And why people are responding the way that some of them are responding. Some may say it s too extreme. Others can understand why people are holding to a certain position that they do regarding the scandals and regarding the controversies that have erupted and that have emerged between myself and Cory pertaining to John MacArthur. For me, this is not personal. I ve said that before. It s not personal. You don t have to like my style or personality. But everything I ve said, I can prove it and I can back it up. And I ve already supported those claims and have no problem whenever necessary to produce receipts, to buttress any claim or accusation because I don t want to label a false accuser. Those are very serious charges. I don t want to destroy a person s name or character because I don t like them. That would never be my intent. My goal will always, always be the principles and precepts of God s word by His grace. So people can talk about channels. They can talk about the size of my channel. They can talk about how many subscribers I ve lost as a result of this. I steal by God s grace sleep good at night. And here s an interesting thing as well. When I lose quote unquote numbers, God always supplies. God still has us over here. Do we like it? No. But it s not about what we like. The question is, why do people leave? The question is, is why do people jump ship? The question is, is why have all of a sudden people have distanced themselves from me and based on what? That s the question. If it s sin, then, hey, let me know so I can repent because the last thing I want to do is continue in sin. I mean, wouldn t you want to know if you sent against someone, what did you do so that way you can make it right? That way you can go to that brother or that sister and say, hey, please forgive me. I didn t mean this or this was not my intent. I realize I ve sinned against you, brother. I sinned against you, my sister, and I m asking you for your forgiveness. That s what we re supposed to do, right? And so that s what we re supposed to do. If the opportunity is not given to you or I to do that, then you re left to basically just wonder. But know this, know this, make sure you do your part. Paul says in Romans chapter 12, verse 19, as much as is possible, as much as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Now, we don t sacrifice peace at the expense of truth. Those who love truth will do whatever it takes to maintain peace, insofar as it s not sinful. Some things you can t maintain peace, and so therefore, you peacefully back out. You peacefully lead people to themselves. You pray for them, you keep it pushing. It may be disappointing, you may not like the outcome, but in your heart and in your conscience, as long as you re doing what you re supposed to do, then that s all you can do. And this is why Paul says as much as it s possible, as much as it depends on you, because the implication is all you can do is what you re called to do. And that s it.  That s what you re supposed to do. And that s all we re called to do. So when it comes to whatever numbers I have or whatever, you know, subs I ve lost, I can take comfort and I can take courage in knowing that anyone who comes here, if they come, if they come here for subs or if they come here for drama, then they ll leave for it, for the like thereof. This podcast, this live, this stream, this channel, is not about drama. Never has been. Have there been moments when there have been drama? Yeah, when the truth is at stake. And you can tell, and you know how we can tell? You know how we can tell? We can tell by the numbers. We can tell when I do a Bible study, when I do a Bible study. There s an echo. There s an echo in the chats. But let me talk about something controversial. And I don t talk about controversy or controversial issues for controversy s sake. Again, 1st May, 1119 is my foundation when I deal with issues of controversy. But if I wanted to be one of those salacious and one of those gossipy and one of those messy channels, I know how to bring numbers in. I know how to bring numbers in. But the brother had restarted to me actually in the video that I did yesterday in the comments. And brother, forgive me for not remembering your name, but you ll know who you are when I cite these verses because you reminded me of a very important principle. And so I want to share with you the viewer today. Psalm, chapter 37, verse 16 and 17. It says, better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord sustains the righteous. You see that? Better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many wicked.  That s what the Bible says. Do y ll see that? Not making it up. That s what the word of God says. Proverbs 15, verse 16, the Bible says, better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and turmoil with it. Better is a little with the fear of the Lord. And I believe that s what we lack in our churches today. We lack the fear of God. We lack the fear of the one who has our very breath in his hand, with the one who can put both body and soul in hell, Jesus said. We like that. How do I know we lack the fear of God by how we treat the people of God? That s how. And I m not talking about perfectly. We all sin against each other. That s not what we re talking about. If it was based on perfection, we all be heading to hell. But you can tell when a person has a fear of God by how they treat the people of God. You can tell. Can someone name one video where I have slandered another fellow image bearer? Can anybody? Anyone? Anybody? Anyone whose ministry I ve labeled a cult that was not a cult and you can prove it? Anyone? Anybody? Somebody? I don t recall any video, any stream, any content where I ve labeled somebody a false teacher, an unbeliever, a cult, unless they were one, unless they fit the bill. If you think about that. If somebody can name an individual who I ve done that and they were not a false teacher, they were not a heretic, they were not a cult and I call them that, please bear witness against me so I can repent publicly. But that has not been the case with Corey Miner. It has not been the case with DeWolf Christian. It has not been the case with Montana Viking and the mob. Damn, you wrong for that. The only video I could think of is the ketchup and grits. Yo, listen, see, I didn t bring that one up. That is heresy, though. That is heresy. I m sorry. I got a grew a day on that one. That is kind of heretical. I m finding more and more Christians all putting sugar on their grits. They can t be people who are regenerated. You can t be regenerated. You can t be born of the spirit and you putting sugar on grits. I just don t believe that. I don t believe that. Let s see. Okay. So, Tony, here s something I m going to share with you right now. You re new, so let me go ahead and make this announcement on the screen and give you the opportunity, shall we? Let me go back real quick because you didn t see this announcement and I didn t put it up yet. I was just too busy talking. So, here s the rule, sir. Any and all guests who make disrespectful comments and I meant to also say dishonest comments. I m going to add that in there, too. Uh, dishonest comments. Let me go ahead and put that in here. I m going to do it live right now. Disrespectful and dishonest. Yeah. There we go. How about that?  So, Tony, Tony, Mr. Tony, I m going to ask you, would you like to come up and if you don t, if you refuse because if you can say it with your chest behind the keyboard, you should better say it with your chest face to face in the live chat conversation and that way I ll give you the opportunity to tell me how am I speaking against another man of God. Okay. So, let me know right now, here on this channel, on this stream, would you like to come up so that way you can bear the charges against me that I am speaking against another man of God without evidence of biblical proof? Mr. Lewis, just want a simple yes or no. You say he s in timeout. When he gets out of timeout, I need to know when y'all bring him out of timeout. Okay. And I m going to give him the opportunity. If he says no, then I m going to ban him. I m going to ban him. Simple as that. Because I got to maintain the rules. Right? Got to maintain the rules. But anyway, once he comes back, let me know. Once he comes back, let me know. So, other than that, what made me do this particular live? Well, last night, I was watching, I was watching the replay. Guess what I try to do? I try to look at some of the comments and you know, because sometimes I m able to populate some of the comments. And so, I was watching, I think his name was launching, what was his name? Launching something. I can, as a matter of fact, I'll tell you right now. But this is what caused me to do this live today. Launching Deep. There it is. Launching Deep podcast. He said, excuse my language. He said, I might have to throw my MacArthur study Bible away because he was watching the video and he was watching the statements that John MacArthur had made. And this brother, I guess, was bothered by it.  Then another statement he made, he says, I'm just not hearing this news. And what I did was I found out that he was following my channel during the Marcus Rogers, you know, situation.  And then he came back and then he ended up seeing this, this, this issue, you know, pop off, right? So, and as a result of that, he, he's now contemplating throwing away all his, his John MacArthur material, study Bibles and all of that. And then he said, yeah, I'm going to throw my Bibles away. He said, hey, say Cobra, I'm just, I'm just going to throw my Bible away those study Bibles. He said, because this is a mess, this is messed up about what MacArthur allowed. And then Daniel had tried to appeal and encourage him not to throw him away to give them to someone else or don't buy anymore, which is a good, good, whatever advice. AT said, yeah, don't throw the Bible away because the info is still great info and the, and the Lord's word. Now, Jay Mac is obviously guilty for plagiarism or not giving credit to the other guys. That's a different story, he said. And that's another good point. Launching Deep has responded to Daniel and said, I give a person in my ESV study Bible before I hand them a man that protects predators. Wow. So do y'all see how some people are taking this? And I'm not saying the brother is wrong. Not saying that at all. But I'm saying that this thing hits people differently than others. And so can you, can you really blame this brother for, for responding the way he is? I mean, really, can you? Can we, can we understand? And his last statement, I believe that I had, I was able to capture in the chat. He said, his study Bible means nothing to me now. And you have to, we don't have to agree with them, but I do understand how he feels. I understand how he feels. Now, for the record, if you want to know what I believe and what I feel and how I feel about it, I'm pretty sure you all can pretty much tell my take on it. And if not, you may be able to discern once, once we get to get through the study regarding this subject matter. And really, he inspired me and precipitated this live stream today. And hopefully it will be a blessing and an encouragement and also something for all of us to think about. And maybe, you know, focus refocus or reconsider your positions. But again, it is not my job, nor is it anyone else's job to convince you to do something that the Word of God is silent upon. That's the individual's conscience. But I would just say the, the principles thereof, I think it's something that all of us can glean from. So what I want to do is I want to, I want to share my screen again. We're going to read Romans chapter 14. I believe Romans chapter 14 is very applicable to this situation. I believe it's applicable to the situation. I believe it speaks to the, to the matter of the conscience. It speaks to the issue whether or not one's convictions are that of their own personal experience. And then also in this passage, it also gives us warnings and admonitions on how we are to respond to others who do not share the same convictions or I would say even preferences that we do. And that is where a lot of the issues lie. Many people want their preferences of you to be their precept. And once you violate their preferences, they want to hold you to the law of their precepts.  And when I say man, I mean mankind, male and female.  And you don't want to live like that.  Because now you have to do everything to please man. And once you displease them, you may incur their wrath and displeasure. So be free from the opinions of other people. My motto is this is what I've learned years ago. I can be concerned about your preferences, but I will never be controlled by them. Never. And some people may take offense to that, so be it. I can consider what you say, but I will never be controlled by what another man says. And that's what that man or that woman says comes from the canon of scripture. And only the canon. And so Paul writes this in Romans chapter 14 regarding the principles of conscience. Verse one, he says, now accept the one notice, accept the one who is weak in faith. We can just stop right there. We can just stop right there. He's telling you and I how we are to respond to those whose convictions don't align with ours. Just stop right there. We could listen. We can just wrap everything up and go home and get ready for church tomorrow because he just gives us this clear imperative, this clear command. He says in the text, verse one, now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. In other words, not for the purpose of you trying to bring them into an argument. He said, no, you accept this person. You accept them the same way God through Jesus Christ accepted you and I. He says accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment notice on his opinions. Ladies and gentlemen, we all have opinions and we know the old saying what opinions are like, right? Everyone has them. Everyone has one. And so your opinion, in my opinion, are not the standard by which we are to govern our lives. Your opinion about what you want to do, my opinion about what I want to do, maybe separate things. Here is where the problem comes. The problem comes is where I said when one person wants your opinion to be theirs and then when it is not, it creates conflict. It creates disagreement. It creates confusion. It creates disruption in the body. It creates division and separation unnecessarily. Why? Because you're not doing something the way I want you to do it. And brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, and my wife can attest to this. That has been the bane of my life. I'm not lying to you. I know we're talking about should Christians throw away or should Christians stash or trash the John MacArthur study Bibles or materials or books or sermons, whatever. But I believe this is a broader issue. What happens when a person does not do what you want them to do? Let's go there, y'all. Come on. Let's go there. Let's just say launching deep decides to throw all of his stuff away. And he heard the concerns. He heard the exhortations. He heard the appeals from his fellow brethren, but yet he still threw it away. How would you respond to that, brother or a sister? If they did the opposite of what what we desire, we got to go there. We got to go there. How do you respond when people do opposite of what you prefer? How do I respond when people do opposite of what I prefer, of what I've advised, of what I have suggested? Do we do we write them off? Do we abandon them? Or are we to do what the Bible says here? Accept the one who is weak in faith.  Of course, Paul mentions meat or food. He also talks about that in 1 Corinthians 10. Food sacrificed to idols and we're not to eat at the table of God and at the table of idols. That's a different situation. But he says if you're eating meat and you know there's been sacrifice to idols and somebody else is looking at you, he says don't don't don't don't do that. There's certain things that you and I when it comes to when it comes to our Christianity and our faith and our our liberty, we need to be mindful, right? But this is issues of conscience and conviction. What if my conviction or what of your convictions regarding certain issues are not in tandem with each other? What do we do? How do we respond to each other? How do we treat each other when we find that a person that is a Christian, is a Christian, a fellow believer, a fellow brother, sister in Christ, they don't move the way you think they should move. How do we respond? What do we do? What do we do? God tells us where to accept one another. That's what God says. We're to accept one another, accept the one who's weak in faith. Here it is, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. Verse two, one person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. Verse three, the one who eats is not to regard the one, excuse me, is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat. And the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats. Why? For God has accepted him. Verse four, who are you to judge the servant of another? And here's the problem. Here's the problem. We think we're each other's slave. Yep, yes, we do. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Yes, we do. We think we own each other and there lies the conflict because when we don't do what another person tells us to do or when we don't total line or when we don't do it exactly the way that we have prescribed in our mind for them to do it. Oh, forget you there. Paul says, who are you? Verse four, who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master, he stands or falls. We're not each other's master. We're members of each other, but we're not each other's master. Hope you're getting this. I know I am. I don't rule over you. You don't rule over me, especially not in these social media streets. Who are you? You're not my, you're not my lord. You're not my master and neither am I yours. Paul says, who are you to judge? And it's not talking about righteous judgment. It's talking about superficial, fleshly, immature judgment. Who are you to pass judgment on another man serving the King James says or the servant of another? To his own master, Paul says he stands or falls and he will stand. Why? For the Lord is able to make him stand. Standing what? In his own convictions, not yours, not mine. Verse five, one person regards one day above another. Another regards every day alike. Verse five, here's the big clause. This is what I always cite when I hear people want to go back and forth with me about preference issues and what a person needs to do or what I need to do or what folk want me to tell somebody else to do. Verse five, the big cause. Each person must be fully convinced in his or her own mind. Each person, every person, every Christian, every believer, because if you're not convinced in your own mind, ladies and gentlemen, if you're not convinced in your own mind, you know what you're going to be? You're going to be controlled by the minds of others. If you're not convinced, if you are not sure in your own mind regarding the convictions that you have, trust and believe there's somebody waiting to conform you to the image of what they want you to be. It's called gaslighting and manipulation. And so therefore Paul says you need to make a personal conviction for yourself. And that personal conviction is to be for you, not for someone else. And this is why again, he writes who are you to judge the servant of another verse for? Who are you? You ain't nobody. Who am I? I ain't nobody. Some of us would never meet each other face to face. I mean, those are the facts and that's the Lord Terry. Most of us, we make the desire to see one another personally, but in most cases, realistically, we probably would never meet each other. And so if we're never going to meet each other, and that because you don't want to, just look, look, life happens, right? Life happens, things happen. You may intend to fly or drive or go somewhere and God in the sovereignty doesn't let you do it. But for the most part, for most of us, this is going to probably be the only means that you and I would see each other. It's probably the only means you probably see my face outside of it being in a face to face conversation in dialogue and fellowship. Paul says each person must be y'all. He must be not just convinced, but fully convinced, meaning you need to know what you know and stand 10 toes down in it.  Again, that's manipulation, which is a form of witchcraft to be honest with you. Verse six, he who observes the day observes it for the Lord. And he who eats does so for the Lord. And notice he says, for he gives thanks to God. This is personal preference issues, ladies and gentlemen. That's what this is. He who observes the day observes it for the Lord and he who eats does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God and he who eats not for the Lord, he does not eat and gives thanks to both groups.  This is why when I hear Christians arguing about Christmas or a tree, God says have nothing to do with foolish arguments and debates. Matter of fact, you should shun those. It's one thing when a person says, hey, I have a concern about this. Well, can you help me understand? Okay, that's different. But if you try to make your conviction, somebody else's command, then I read in Romans 14. It's clearly not reading it. It's clear because Paul just said, who are you? Who am I to judge the servant of another to his own master? He stands the falls and stand he or she will for the Lord is able to make them stand. Therefore, you can't tell people what to do and how to think and how to move and how to live over preference issues. Now, if they ask you for your advice and what you think, that's different. But a lot of people are trying to be someone else's God. That position has already been filled in eternity past. And there are no vacancies coming anytime soon. There are no applications for God, Father, Son, or the Holy Spirit. The Trinity is filled. There is no room for a fourth. Now, let's continue. Verse seven, for not one of us lives for himself and not one dies for himself. In other words, it's not about you. He says for if we live, we live for the Lord. Or if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end, Christ died and lived again that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Verse 10, but you, why do you judge your brother? It's kind of like a repeat of verse four. Who are you to judge the servant of another? But you, verse 10, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? Why are you looking at and feeling some kind of way about these people? Paul says, for we all, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. Not the great white throne. The great white throne is for unbelief. The judgment seat of God is the baby seat where we're going to be rewarded or lose rewards for what we've done in this life and in this body. Verse 11, for as I live says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall give praise to God. So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore, verse 13, let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this, not to put a stumbling block or obstacle rather or stumbling block in a brother's way. Notice verse 14, I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. But to him, notice, notice, Paul says, I have the firm conviction, the mature person. They know it's no big deal for me. This is a big issue for me. Nothing in itself is unclean. He says, but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, notice to him, not to you, not to me. No, no, no. The weaker brother, let me let you listen to him. Let me let you in on something weaker brother, weaker sister, the immature or individual, the immature Christian, you have no right to impose your convictions on the stronger brother any more than the stronger brother or sister has the right to impose their convictions upon you and make them commands in your life. For too many of you want to try to push the weaker brother and the weaker sister as being the authority by how we are to live and how we are to govern ourselves. That ain't what Paul said. Paul didn't say that. We're to be a slave to nobody, stronger or weaker. And you're going to see this later in the text. But here, again, in verse 14, Paul says, I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. He's making the personal conviction and clearing his own conscience that what he does, nothing is sinful in and of itself. But to him who thinks anything to be unclean or sinful to him is unclean. Verse 15, though says, for it because of food, your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. That is where you are parading your liberty. You know that this brother or sister, you're in their presence, you know that your brother or sister has issue with this and you do it anyway. That's not walking in love. Let me give you an example. Take food out of the equation for say, let's just talk about, let's talk about music, right? Let's say I'm in a car with, me and Proverbs in the car. And my conviction is, you know, in my car, I don't play, not to say I don't, I wouldn't play hip hop. Not that I don't like hip hop, I just certain hip hop I do. I'm old school head, boom back. But anyway, let's just say I have an aversion to hip hop, right? And the issue comes and Proverbs knows that I don't, I don't like or care for hip hop or rap music. Okay. Now I'm in his car. Okay. I'm in his car. He's picking me up. He's aware that I don't really care to hear rap or hip hop music, right? And he's aware of it. He picks me up, gets in his car.  And he knows that I don't really, you know, care for it. Now, it's his car. It's his car. What should Proverbs do? What should Proverbs do? Should he, wait, man, it's my car. I paid, I paid a car note on this, man. He can't tell me what to do with my car. He knew, he knew I was picking him up. He needed to deal with it. What should, what should he do? My wife just said it. He need to be like, take the pee, turn it off. You need to turn it off. When I get out, he can put it back on. Simple. I gave this story, I gave this story, and I'm going to repeat it because my wife, right now, I'm probably about to say, but this is a true story though. This is a true story that happened when I was, when I was a, when I was a house, house church pastor at my, at our home, right? For, for seven years, we had a brother, every Christmas, hopefully my wife ain't feeling some kind of way about it now. I think she may not, but she was before. Oh my goodness, bro. This was, oh, Lord. She, we had a Christmas tree. I mean, we, we celebrate Christmas, right? The tree and, and, and the lights and we had decorations and all that, right? And it was brought to my attention and it was only, it was, it was just one person in our church that had issue with Christmas trees being in the house and he, and he come in the house. So the brother brought it to my attention.  I told it to my wife, bro, listen, when I tell you, when I tell you the drama and the issue that that thing caused at that moment, thank God for Pastor Albert Martin, whose sermon I had listened to regarding Christmas and, and worship. I would encourage you to go listen to it. Go on sermon audio and just check it out. And the wisdom that was, the wisdom that was, that was presented in that sermon, man, look, timeless, timeless. And so here's what I did to give you the summation of it. Every Christmas season, every Sunday that we had church during the Christmas holidays, I had to pick that tree up and put that tree in the other room until service was over, until the brother left and we did that for seven years straight or at least however long he had, he came there. I think he came there maybe the second year that we were in existence. But I remember that because the principle, that's what I, that's what I remember. Now, it's our house. It's our house. But most importantly, on the Lord's Day, it was the house of God. And having a tree there should not have taken away our worship and devotion, devotion to Christ any more than if we had it up there. So what it showed, what it showed my wife and our family is that, listen, are we willing to sacrifice and to set aside our liberty because that's what it was, our liberty for a weaker brother because he was the only person who had a problem with it in the entire congregation. So what should I have done? Should I have said, well, man, look, I guess I'll see you come New Year's. I would have been sinning. I would not have been a faithful shepherd. I would not have been, I would not have been a pastor who cared for the flock, even if it was one, even if it were one. So I had to set aside our liberty. Absolutely, Dana. Absolutely. And so every Lord's Day, you know, matter of fact, it was even in the songs. We didn't sing any Christmas songs. I don't think we did. Any Christmas songs like that didn't have Jesus in it, put it that way. We did. If it was Christmas, it was like, you know, Hark the Herald Angels sing Glory to the newborn king. We did that. We sung those. But we didn't have any ornaments or anything like that. We had no decorations in the house during that time. We didn't. We didn't. And so we basically just, you know, for that time, we just kept it the way we wanted to remain faithful to the Word and faithful to God's people. And after that, Dana, we put the tree back in the room and put it in the living room, rather. I mean, you know, it was a task, but hey, that's what it means to love your brother. So let's get back to the text. He says, Verse 16, Therefore, do not let what is for you a good thing. Right? A good thing. Be evil, be spoken of as evil or be evil spoken of, King James says. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy and the Holy Spirit. For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. Verse 19, So then we pursue the things, notice, we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. Notice all things indeed are clean. Notice again, Paul said it. He said it before, right? He says he knows in himself, nothing is uncleaning in itself, but to those who think it is, to them it is unclean. He says verse 20, to be close, all things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man or woman who eats and gives offence. It is good not to eat, meet or to drink wine or to do anything by which your brother stumbles. Notice in their presence, it's not, it's not, you can't do this at all. No. If your brother or sister takes offense to it, then for the sake of love for your brother or sister, you don't do it in their presence. You don't do it around them. You don't do it around them. Verse 22. Here it is right here, ladies and gentlemen. Here it is here. He says, the faith which you have, have as your own conviction. Notice I'm not to have your conviction unless we just, unless we disagree. That's different. But if you have a conviction, if I have a conviction, regardless of certain things, then that's your business.  Fine. Cool. Again, these are issues in matters of preference. Paul is saying, he's not saying that if the word of God commands us to do something, then you say, well, that's your opinion. No, no, no, no, no. No, that's an obligation now, brother. You don't love God. You don't love your neighbor as yourself. Those are not opinions. Those are obligations. Those are not indicative. Those are imperatives. We are commanded to love God and we're commanded to love others and loving others as you see in Romans 14 has different meanings and different methods of application. One of the principles we see here in Romans 14 is love does not seek its own. In other words, love is not selfish. Love, which is agape, love seeks the betterment and love seeks the good of the other person. So if I love you, it's not about me at that moment. It's about you. And if you love me, then it ain't about you. It's about me. And wouldn't a lot of conflicts, wouldn't a lot of beef and skirmishes be dead and put to bed? If both parties were walking in the spirit, therefore not giving room for the flesh to move, wouldn't it be better if both parties or both individuals, when we see what love is and what love is not, there wouldn't be a lot of issues in the church if we practiced this principle of love, of not seeking itself, of not being rude, of not being jealous, of not trying to find fault, easily angered and all of that. If I'm focusing on you and you're focusing on me, then where's the beef? I'm not talking about Wendy's either. Where's the beef? Where's the strike? Where's the contention? Paul says, out of the greatest of the three, faith, hope, and love, he says the greatest of these is love. Why? Because love gives evidence that you and I, when we are walking in the spirit, that's one of the first by-products of the spirit. The fruit of the spirit is love. That's the first by-product of the spirit of God, being filled. Love.  If I love you, I'm not going to try to do things that's going to try to tear you down and belittle you.  If I love you, because if I love you, then that would show and give evidence that I've been born from above, been born of God. Proverbs, you said, what if our brother says he believes that taking medicine is a sin? What do we draw the line? That's their conviction. The same principle applies. Let's take it even further. Back in 2020, we knew what happened, right? What people were trying to tell us what we needed to do to our own bodies. Some people have the conviction, you should take it. Others said, no, I'm good. I believe in natural immunity. I'm good. I take this, I take this, but I don't need an outside injectable biologic in my body. That's my conviction and let that be yours.  Don't try to impose that upon me and don't try to have me fired because I don't want that. Don't try to snitch on me. Don't try to rat me out. Don't try to act as though I'm now some type of pariah and that I don't love God. I don't love my neighbor because I'm not doing what you want me to do. Again, Romans 14 could apply to so many scenarios and so many instances and I'm just going about what I know. There were people in the body of Christ, Christians in the body of Christ say that you and I don't love God because we didn't take an outside injectable biologic. Yeah, I know. Trust me. Yeah, I know David. Oh man. So this is why I'm saying, if we apply the principle of Romans 14, even in the, even in the, yes, it was puny. Yep. Good point. Part of that was also due to an abuse of Romans. Yes, it was. Yep. Yep. And see, this is why those of us who are Bible teachers, it is important that we always teach what the authorial intent of the author was and is. We don't give our opinion and try to make our opinion the standard by which people are to live. No, what does God say and what did He mean by what He said? One interpretation, many applications. So the last verse here, again, he says verse 22, the faith which you have, have as your own conviction, right, before God, before God. Because again, Paul mentioned earlier, he is the one that we're going to have to stand and give an account for, not you, not me. We're going to stand before God and have to give an account for our convictions, what we believe, why we believe it. We got to stand before God for that. He says, happy is he who does not condemn himself and what he approves. Whatever your convictions are, whatever your views are regarding MacArthur, and I'm talking about, you know, whether a person should, you know, keep their books or not. Again, that's one thing of a person is asking us and or wanting God advice about something that's fine. He says, the faith that what you have, have as your own conviction before God, happy is he or she who does not condemn himself and what he approves. Verse 23, but he who doubts is condemned if he eats, he who doubts is condemned if he keeps the MacArthur materials. When he and his convictions and conscience won't allow him, if you violate your conscience, you've already sinned. Why? Verse 23, the B clause, but he who doubts is condemned if he eats. Why? Because his eating is not from faith and whatever is not from, from faith is sin. It's sin. If you can't do it in faith, if you can't say, you know, for me, if you can't say, listen, wait one time, Matthew for several years, when y'all had saw and were coming on to my stream and saw my videos and my content, I had my MacArthur study commentaries above my, you know, at the very top, right? I had them all up there. And you can see some of the images of some of the books I still have from John MacArthur. So I should kind of like give you a clue that I haven't thrown away his materials, whether he plagiarized them or not, I haven't thrown them away. I use them for research purposes. That's what I use them for. In fact, let me share with you what MacArthur said in his commentary. He says this, what did I do with it? Yeah, I was scrolling that. Give me a minute, y'all, because I was, I was, I had just some highlightin'. And where is it at? Don't look at it right now, y'all. I want your eyes to get dizzy. Where did it go? I thought I highlighted that joint. I probably did. Give me a minute. Yeah, I did. I think it's in verse five. Yeah. Yeah, verse five. Okay. So he said in his commentary, notice I still have MacArthur stuff, y'all. I still have it. Where is it? Here we go. Thank you. All right. Notice what he says. He says, it matters that are not specifically commanded or forbidden in scripture. It is always wrong to go against conscience because our conscience represents what we actually believe to be right. And although an act or practice in itself may not be sinful, it is treated as sinful for those who are convinced in their own minds that it is wrong and produces guilt. He says it is also sinful, however, to try, here it is, ladies and gentlemen, it is also sinful, however, to try to impose our personal convictions on others. Because in doing so, we are attempting them to go against their own consciences. Paul is therefore giving a twofold command, do not compromise your own conscience in order to conform to the conscience of another, to the conscience of another believer, and do not attempt to lead another believer to compromise his conscience to conform to yours. Y'all get that? I mean, it's pretty clear, isn't it? Near the end, he says, where's that? Okay. No, it's this one, 14, 15. Give me a minute, y'all. I just wanted to read this one, this one little portion here, almost there. All right, verse 23. Here it is here.  He who doubts is condemned to the eats because his eating is not from faith. And from whatever, when whatever is not from faith to the sin, the corresponding stipulation is that just as the strong believer commits sin by causing a weak brother to go against his own conscience, the weak brother sins is condemned when contrary to the convictions of his own faith, he succumbs to that which his conscience condemns. Now, he says in verse 22 previously, he says verse 22 obviously is directed to strong Christians, the one who understands and appreciates his freedom, Paul's counsel to him is simple and direct, the faith which you have have as your own conviction before God, happy as he who does not condemn himself and what he approves when by sincere faith in the correct understanding of scripture. We have a conviction before God that a custom, a practice, or an activity is worthwhile and good. We dare not denounce it as sinful. Nor should we allow our conscience to condemn us for exercising it with Paul's repeated stipulation that we gladly relinquish that freedom for the sake of a brother or sister in Christ. There. That's the whole point. Now, again, if a person wants to, a person who doesn't want to keep their John MacArthur commentaries and books and things like that, that's between them and God. Would I give mine away to someone versus throwing away? I probably would, but I use my stuff for research purposes. We still have our study Bibles. We still have our commentaries. As you can see, I have his commentaries on my Bible software. I have his sermons. I use this stuff now for research. Again, and it's not that the stuff that he said or has written is heretical now, depending on what he says, but for the most part, it's not. The principle, I would say this as well. I would also use this as well. Let me share with you one other principle. And I'm just, I just want to help the body. First, Thessalonians chapter five, verse 21 to 22, but examine everything carefully. Hold fast to that which is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Let's look at one more. Let's go to Philippians four, verse eight. He says, finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good report or good repute, if there be any virtue or anything or any excellence or anything worthy of praise, notice, notice, dwell or let your mind dwell on these things. The criteria, all I'm saying is, ladies and gentlemen, look at me, here are my eyeballs. All I'm saying is this, I'm talking to those who may be on defense, okay? And you're not sure. So, if I can offer some principles, then these are the principles that I would offer you. I would afford you to read the first Thessalonians five, 21, 22 passage, that text, Philippians four, eight, nine, and the criteria is, is it true? Is it true? Ladies and gentlemen, y'all do know that there are unbelievers that make truthful statements, right?  Can I give y'all some examples? Thank you. I'm not asking anybody to tell on themselves, but you're going to tell on yourself if you agree. And we're going to be in good company because it's not to indict, it's just to give an example, an illustration. How many of you, how many of you watch videos on, on, on social media, on YouTube or on Instagram or on TikTok?  They, listen, they ain't, they ain't no more saved than Satan's sister. They're not, they're not a Christian. They don't profess Christ at all. But they say something and it be hidden. It's true. How many of you have shared a video of somebody that you know that ain't saved, that's not a Christian. And what they said is true, but they don't know God. I have, I have, I'll be by myself then. No problem. I'll be by myself. That's fine. I'll be by myself. I know. Sometimes it's okay being alone when you, when you go and tell the truth. That's fine. How many of you have put disclaimers? How many of you have put up disclaimers of a person who you know they language is, is, is, is raunchy or foul, but we'll say, hey, language warning, language alert, and we'll put it up on our page because we're saying, yeah, what the person is saying is true. So just dismiss the language for a second, dismiss the language.   Let's just keep it, let's just keep it a stat. Let's keep it a stat. And so it's refreshing to see somebody who ain't saved, say something that, that you and I, as safe folk would say, but we may not have the platform. And they just hitting them. They just hitting them. They're like, Joe Biden don't care nothing about y'all, y'all, and they just laying them out. And they may be on the breakfast club and they may be throwing some nuggets out there. And you're like, man, let me grab this video before it, before it gets taken down. And let me share it over here and share it over here. And some stuff we got to put on telegram because YouTube and Facebook, they're not going to let you share it. Why, why do we do that? Answer? Because it's true. Because it's true. That's why language aside, personality aside, we'll say, man, but what they said here in this, in this instance, in that video on, on, on, on that, on that interview, we say that that's, that's true. That's true. And it resonates. It resonates. Paul says, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is lovely, whatever is a good report, whatever is pure, whatever is a good report, if there's any excellence, anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. He says, test all things. The first, that's not in five, 21, test all things, whole fast, that was just true. Verse 22, he says, it's abstained from every form of evil. We don't promote evil. We promote what is true, what is right, what is good. In other words, brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, people in Peepettes, there's a tight walk we're going to have to, we got to maintain. We will listen, we're on the tight rope of morality here. And Christians, we must be people of balance. Why? Because we're the only, we're the only ones with the only race of people who have the measuring rod. And that's the word of God. Will we teeter? Of course. Of course we will. Of course we will. But we should never be known of falling on the left and staying there. Never. David, you had asked the question. Let me, let me ask you a question, bro. I'm sorry. Excuse me. You said, I think it was something about Robbie, right? Let me go ahead and address the elephant in the room on that. Because that's a good question. That's a good question, bro. And I think what you had, I think what you had asked me was, here it is here. You said, brother, would you say the same for Robbie Zacharias materials? You know me. No shades. Yeah, I would. I would. Let me go further. Let me go further. How many of you know who Gerard Kittle is? Gerard Kittle, G-E-R-H-A-R-D, I believe. K-I-T-T-E-L. Gerard Kittle. How many of you know who he is? I will say it's a matter of conscience, but if you're asking me, it'll be dependent upon the works. It'll be dependent upon the, you know, the material. But if I knew somebody would be offended by it, I wouldn't recommend that they do it. But it would depend. It'll be depending upon that. So Gerard Kittle, he was a linguist. He wrote some excellent work on the Greek languages, but he was a, you want to say a German sympathizer? And I know people was like, no, no, especially those who were Jewish, you know, World War II and all that kind of stuff. Some people did. And Dave, you asked this question. There it is, y'all. I knew it was coming. Let me go ahead and put the air on. I knew it was coming. What about R.L. Dabney? Answer? I wouldn't. I wouldn't. Now, here's the reason why I wouldn't do as a racist. So a person being a racist for me, that's just, again, you're asking me about my personal preference, right? My personal preference. I wouldn't.  Some people would say, you know what? I appreciate his works on this and this. How did he deal with this? And people would try to, you know, basically try to, you know, see how they can glean from that. But R.L. Dabney? No, I wouldn't. That's just me. That's just me. And Puny said his understanding of the Amago Day was completely off. And I would say yes, but then I will also say to David Collins's defense, so was Robbie Zacharias's view and understanding of the Amago Day when he treated women. Excuse me. So y'all see, y'all see where this can go? Y'all see where this can go? It will be depending on the individual or individuals in regards to their writings. Me personally, I couldn't mess with R.L. Dabney. Couldn't mess with R.L. Dabney at all. And I wouldn't mess with anybody that would praise R.L. Dabney. Now, I think that would be another qualifier to David. What about a person? Okay, if you, let me put it this way. So, and follow me or track with me on this one, 2D. What would you think would be a difference of a person having Robbie's works versus a person praising Robbie Zacharias and not seeing anything wrong and defending Robbie Zacharias? Do you think there'll be two different categories of people or do you think they're just all lumped in the same? So anybody that would have Robbie Zacharias, would you lump them as being a supporter or just basically having their stuff for research purposes? How about that? What if somebody had, what if somebody has Robbie Zacharias's and R. Dabney's work for research purposes only? Me personally, I believe that would be a difference versus me having their works and blindly supporting them and making excuses, I believe. I believe there'll be two issues out. I think we can probably contest. You said, yeah, that's absolutely two separate categories, praise versus maintain the books. Yes. Okay. So I would say if a person is maintaining the books for either Robbie and R. Dabney, they're keeping it for research purposes, I would have no problem with it. But a person like Phil Johnson saying that R. Dabney is one of his favorite theologians, I have a huge problem with that. Huge. Because I would go back to what puny said. His view on the Imago Day is like jack dog, absolutely not. Absolutely not. Should I get rid of my R. L. Dabney Lynch and translation of the yo, oh, yeah, yeah, he is bro. Straightwilding. Yeah, just don't just just take it off the tree. Take it down from the tree, bro. Take it down from the tree, proverbs. But yeah, so if a person has R. L. Dabney's works and they have it for research purposes, that's one thing. But if they have R. L. Dabney's writings and his works and they're praising this man, then that says that shows and says a lot about your heart and how you view black folk. And that's why I look at Phil Johnson with suss side eye or any white person. Because can we can we keep it a stack? It'd be no different. It'd be no different. If I said that I like Lewis Farrakhan or I have Lewis Farrakhan's writings for research purposes and James Cohn's writings for research purposes, that's different. And then versus me saying, Oh, I love me some Farrakhan. I love me some James Cohn. If I was white, I'd be like, huh, huh. Then what does that say about your view of white people? You see my point? That's that's where I'm at with it. You said, what'd you say later, Saturn? Let me see, maybe had another comment up here too. You said I would not have blast anyone who keeps who keeps Dabney's work. But I would be looking at their character with a hawk's eye. Okay. Okay. That's fair. That's fair. Yeah, good. I mean, having their works versus, versus praising them, like, like, I mean, that's why I basically dragged Phil Johnson when he said, number one, that Ariel Dabney was one of his favorite theologians.  Do you remember what it was? I don't need to tell you what he said. Do y'all remember what, do y'all remember what Phil Johnson, right-hand man of John MacArthur, who, by the way, John MacArthur praises Ariel Dabney as well too? Do y'all remember what this man said as an excuse for Dabney's racist views? Thank you. He was a product of his time. Ladies and gentlemen, aren't we all, aren't we all? Yes. Exactly. And that's where I cut it off. That's where I cut it off. But also, I understand others who would have a different take on it. The only, I think the overall principle for everyone is that I don't impose my convictions on you and you don't impose your convictions on me as commandments either. Yeah, it was the dumbest rebuttal I've ever heard. Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was. Yep, yep. The Jason Whitaker's Lord and Savior Phil Johnson. Yeah, that's the one. Yeah, that's the one. The Sambo that had him on. I mean, as a black person, I could not have been more offended. I was more offended of him of him having Phil Johnson on his platform than I ever was of being offended of him calling me a compost. Yeah, Jason Whitaker called me compost. I didn't care about that. I'm like, whatever, dude, but you don't want to come up though.  Yeah, he has to master Phil Johnson. Yeah, I see. Yep. He's a product of his time. Yes.  How would you respond? How would you respond to people like, like, Seiko Woods, sir, who seem to be divisive, sir? Oh, I think, I think, I think Seiko Woods is, you know, he's an angry man.  Just just go ahead and say that. And what do he do? What does sample Jason Whitaker do?  Come on back, master Phil Johnson to the to the park. We show love to have you. Stupid. Yeah. Can you can you listen? Go ahead, private herbs. Put the link up, bro. Put the link up, bro. I'm talking about price tags, sell out clearance rack and all straight Sam Bowen, him and Mike Williams, both of them, B, O, F, U, M, both of them. Just straight coonin, straight coonin. I went from to put out a banjo in a minute.  Just straight up sucking up to him. And they did it in response to me calling out Phil Johnson for being a down low racist. So that's some down low racist stuff. If you can say that Ariel Dabney who was an about racist was a product of his time in excusing his racism and making excuses for it, bruh. You suss. You suss. But we want to talk about MLK. We want to talk about Lecrae. We want to talk about Jamar Tizby. We want to talk about to be the annual relay. We want to talk about, you know, again, the low hanging fruit. We're going to talk about, we want to talk about them. Can't talk about master Phil. Can't talk about master John. Nasa. Nasa. I shows fights with him. He's not going to talk about, he's not going to talk about my master. Nasa. There's a link right there. Go to the link and check it out after this live. We're about to end it right now anyway. But go check it out. Just straight up coonin. If you are a black person, matter of fact, can I discuss that for a second?  Having a black dude and a white dude justify a quote unquote theological racist because I would have given anybody the business if they would have said, and they were black saying that Lewis Farrakhan was one of their favorite theologians or Jeremiah Wright was one of their favorite theologians or Umar Johnson was one of their favorite theologians. I would go off. But again, when it comes to John MacArthur, when it comes to Phil Johnson in them, it seems like everybody would just want to be like, exactly a blazing torch or Elijah Muhammad. Yeah, he sure did. Sure did. Remember, remember. Yeah, yeah, I'm trying. I'm trying, sis. I'm trying. When I saw this live, and I'm gonna let y'all go, I promise you. When I saw this live, this is what this reminded me of. Let me show y'all. Let me show y'all. When I saw this coonin going on with Jason Whitaker and Phil Johnson, it reminded me of Paul checking the Corinthian church on how they were letting false teachers mind screw them and insult their intelligence. Remember what it was Paul has said to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 11, verse 19 and 20. Look what he says. And oh, by the way, ladies and gentlemen, Paul is using sarcasm. He's speaking harsh. Yeah, he's using harsh language. Y'all gonna, y'all gonna, y'all not gonna call apostle Paul harsh, Corey. You're not gonna, you're not gonna say that he's on the back. What about what Paul said about the Corinthians? He called them fools and anyway, okay.   Do y'all see this? Paul says, you tolerate them gladly.  White supremacy.  He says, you put up with this beautifully. But I can't use harsh language. Then he says here, to this present hour, we are both hungry and thirsty in our poorly clothed and roughly treated in our homeless. He's using sarcasm in the fourth chapter as well too. But notice, notice, Paul is chin checking them using harsh sarcastic language. Paul was not always quote unquote loving, nice, Gentile, or Gentile to people. Yes, he did. Yes, he did. He said, yeah, I wish they can chop their their appendages off. Go the whole way. He said, don't don't don't have step with it. Go without go all the way with it. Finish the job. But anyway, again, I said all that to say this, we're living in a day and time where people are wanting to live vicariously through other believers. Be careful. Please be careful. Know what you believe. Have convictions for yourself. Praise God you do. But make sure your convictions are yours. And if they are your convictions, never ever impose them on others to follow. Because that is unnecessary conflict, unnecessary conflict.  Then you have to question your whether or not you're saved. Because he says, that's one of the seven abominations that he hates, one who sows discord among the brethren. If you enjoy sowing and stirring up strife, because it creates views or it causes you to have more subs or it causes people to go to your channel, when you make mockery videos, you may want to check yourself. You might want to apply second Corinthians 13.5. You may want to examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith. Because no genuine follower Christ lives a pattern and habit of sin. He doesn't. So that's all I got, ladies and gentlemen. Please like this video. Share the video, please. If you don't mind, thank you so much for being a part of this weekend afternoon stream. Again, if you can, if you can, guys, in the chat, you can put the link to the debate tonight. I would appreciate it. Again, it's going to be tonight at 7, 7 p.m. Central, 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Brother Marlon Wilson, he has a debate on tonight. I will be participating in it. And so, I appreciate you guys. If you would like to come on over there and be a part of the discussion, observe and watch the discussion on tonight. Again, we do appreciate that and thank you. Hopefully the answer is your question regarding the MacArthur thing. I wanted to help the brother with his thoughts regarding that because, again, I know that it's not always easy. It's not always easy. But let everybody be convinced in their own mind. Amen. That's what we're called to do. That's what we're called to do. So that is my time. Ladies and gentlemen, I do appreciate it. Again, tune in. Join us tonight at 7. And yes, yes, yes. The Demon Slayer debate is next Wednesday from what I know. Nothing has changed. The 24th, I will hopefully we'll have that simulcast. We'll have that simulcast it. Chris LoSala and myself and JP Uncut, he's going to moderate. And we're going to have a conversation about, can Christians be demon-possessed or have a demon? And we're going to see what the Bible says. And hopefully, Mr. LoSala will be able to produce scripture. We'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. So anyway, but that's it. That's my time. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so, so much for yours. Y'all know the drill. Have a blessed weekend. If I don't see you tonight, have a blessed Lord's Day. You know, I'm off on Sundays now. I don't do no lives on Sundays. So hopefully you come in, check me out tonight on the podcast, on the debate. But if not, I'll see you guys on Monday. Have a blessed day. Y'all know the drill. Whatever you do, y'all can learn out of God. God bless.


Tako came on my radar because my family had kind of had a talk and I became aware that my parents might not be able to fund me to live in a different city to go to university. My family are very, very middle-class family. Dad's a truck driver and a back-of-operator. Mum's a secretary for a family business. Neither my parents, neither of them, went to university. So I grew up in a very multicultural and very interesting community. My dad's a tradie and my mum was a housewife. As a kid, I was really interested in my education and I sort of saw my education not as a way out, but as a way of making sure that I could live a good and happy and comfortable life. The Tako scholarship is no ordinary scholarship. It brings bright young Australians from around the country to here in Canberra. It gives them support and encouragement to thrive in their university studies, not just in the classroom, but outside of it in our vibrant campus community. It offers people that opportunity to have an amazing university experience that they otherwise might never have had and might never have thought of. I would not be in Canberra if it wasn't for the scholarship. I wouldn't be at ANU and so much has happened in the last four years. It's changed the trajectory of my life completely. If I had to sum it up in two words, I think the scholarship for me has offered opportunity and community. It's opportunity to study things I care about, to meet amazing people who also study things they care about and share those experiences with me. The most amazing thing is that with my degree, I get to do these supervised one-on-one research projects with academics I really respect and it's that ability to really actually find yourself in an academic sense that has been the defining part of the ANU. Yes, there's financial support to study here and to come here. Yes, there's health and wellbeing support, coaching and mentoring support. But for most scholars, the best part of the Tako scholarship is the community of scholars. I think the best thing about the Tako program is the ability to mix and mingle with a hundred people who are all witty, smart, engaging, diverse. They all have unique experiences and, you know, a different lens on the world. I've had brilliant mentoring and brilliant support and just knowing that you've always got people to fall back on with this program is the really special thing. You do get to form a community. You do get to make really cool connections with people. You do get to be aware of opportunities and different perspectives from the network that forms around Takwell. The people that I've met, the professional connections that have become possible through the scholarship, it's all really, really valuable. This is a scholarship for any young Australian who wants to make a contribution to Australia and the world. As I move on into my career, it's really been kickstarted by Takwell. Takwell has fundamentally changed my life in every facet of my life. I don't really know where it's going to take me. I just know that I'm going to be really well educated and also really well empowered to make a difference. And those two things, wherever I go, I believe will work out pretty well. If I was a 17-year-old looking at this now, I would just want to say absolutely go for it. There's no reason not to. Even if you think you don't have a chance at all, that's exactly what I thought. And look who I have now. You know, I just thought I was a kid from Tamworth who didn't have a chance in a million of getting the scholarship. You know, you don't have to have been school captain. You just have to be genuine and have a passion and, you know, be willing to give back. There is no set of characteristics which entirely defines a Takwell scholar. You're the kind of person that we want here. You're the kind of person that this program offers so much in terms of building you up. And you're the kind of person who's been rewarded with this scholarship time and time again. So you should give it a crack, have a go at the application process because you don't know you could be the person that they're looking for.


U.S. offered Ukraine to give 20% of its territory to Russia. Reports that the U.S. allegedly offered a plan involving territorial concessions from Ukraine in exchange for peace are just plain false. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, that's a canard. The Kremlin spokesman said on Friday when asked to comment on media reports that Central Intelligence Agency director William Burns allegedly passed on such a proposal to Moscow. When responding to a question clarifying whether Burns actually came to Moscow in January to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Peskov stressed, in January, all this news about the U.S. plan is a canard. Earlier, the Swiss newspaper Neuer Saga Zeitung quoted its sources as saying that the U.S. President Joe Biden instructed the CIA chief to find out whether Russia and Ukraine were ready for negotiations. According to the newspaper, Washington offered the Ukrainians to give up 20% of their territory in exchange for peace. But Moscow and Kiev were allegedly not satisfied with such an option. The White House called these allegations groundless. Newsweek magazine quoted Sean Davit, the deputy spokesperson at the White House's National Security Council, as saying that the information published in the Swiss newspaper was not accurate. In turn, an unnamed CIA official said that reports of Burns allegedly visiting Moscow in January at the request of the White House with a proposal for a peace settlement were completely false. Much of Ukraine agrees with Zelensky on not giving up land in exchange for peace. So Ukraine will not give up any of its territories in return for a peace deal with Russia amid the war. But the fate of the Russian seized Ukrainian territory of Crimea may soon become a point of divergence between Ukraine and its Western allies. Ukraine's November recapture of the southern territory of Kyrgyzstan puts Ukraine within range, both in terms of geography and momentum, of the strategic pathway into Crimea, posing a dilemma for Western policymakers. While Ukraine still has battles to fight, the West may soon have to decide whether it would support a coming Ukrainian assault on Crimea or insist Ukraine count its blessings and settle for the return of only the territory Russia has captured since its invasion of February 2022.