Autolight and its 96,000 dealers present suspense. Tonight, Autolight brings you Mr. John Lund in The Man in the Room, a suspense play produced and edited by William Spear. Harlow, what's the best bait to use for bass? I don't know, Hap. Better ask a nyctheologist. A nycahoologist? A nyctheologist, an expert on fish. When I need information, I believe I'm going to an expert. That go for spark plug information too? Sure. And who knows more about the best spark plugs for your car than Autolight ignition engineers. The men who design and build complete ignition systems used as original equipment on many makes of America's finest cars. You mean they know how to build into spark plugs the best and quick starting smooth performance in gas mileage, eh Harlow? Of course, Hap. That's what's made Autolight the world's largest independent manufacturer of automotive electrical equipment. And it was Autolight engineering know-how that made possible the development of the Autolight resistor spark plug, one of the greatest advances in spark plug design for automotive use in the past 20 years. So friends, see your friendly Autolight spark plug dealer tomorrow. Have him replace worn out spark plugs with world famous ignition engineered Autolight spark plugs. Whether you choose the resistor type or the regular type, you'll be right because you're always right with Autolight. And now with the man in the room and the performance of John Lund, Autolight hopes once again to keep you in suspense. When I was 10, I first read Edgar Allan Poe's story of the miraculous room, the room whose terrible walls closed slowly in upon their prisoners. Made a deep impression upon me. My most persistent nightmare was that I was the poor devil in the story. I didn't know then that he had been impressed by a tool and that someday I would actually be the man in the room. Excuse me, can you tell me what floor Miss Markham is on? Miss Markham? What do you want with her? Well, I wanted to do some work for me. She does typing, doesn't she? Mm-hmm. Third floor. Stepping. Thank you.  Yes. How do you write? Stories, mostly. Mm-hmm. Sell them? Occasionally. Mm-hmm. She's down at the end of the hall, where you see the door open. Thank you very much. Thank you. Miss Markham? That's right. What can I do for you? I saw your ad in the paper. I thought perhaps you could do some work for me. Oh, yes, yes, of course. What is it? Typing? Mimeographing? Typing. Manuscript.  Yes.  Oh, yes, yes, of course. You'll find that I do absolutely perfect work and at the most reasonable rates. I've had many years of experience, although not in this city. I just recently moved here. Will you have much for me to do? Well, that depends. Frankly, Miss Markham, the price is a factor with me. You see, I'm a freelance writer, and at best that's a precarious occupation. I see. Well, is 30 cents a page too much? Why? 25? I was about to say that 30 seems extremely reasonable. Well, I've already said 25, so we'll leave it at that. You're very kind. Not at all. Excuse me, please. Was... was that the elevator man running down the hall? Well, no, I didn't see anyone. It's been a lovely day, hasn't it? Yes. Yes, it has. I think the weather is so perfect here. I know I'm going to love this city. It's so difficult coming to a new place and trying to establish oneself, especially so late in life. But I think things are going to work out fine. I hope so. Would you like to leave your manuscript now? Yes, here it is. Oh, thank you. Yes, 40 pages. I'll have that ready for you day after tomorrow. Oh, that'll be fine. I'll come back and pick it up then. I left the office and rang for the elevator. The old man who ran it didn't speak to me on the way down. But I stood in the back of the car and looked him over carefully. He was a funny little old duck. Almost dwarf-sized, with shoulders so rounded, he was nearly humpbacked. I was sure he was the one who had been listening at the door upstairs. But after all, it was none of my affair. Two days later, I returned to the old office building to pick up my manuscript.  Yes. Here it is. She left it for you. Oh, well, uh... I've got to go up anyway. I have some more work for Miss Markham. I'll take it. She don't want to be disturbed. Well, uh... Just give it here. All right. I gave him the manuscript and left. Several days later, when I returned, he had the completed work ready for me, down on the first floor. That's the way it went on on the other occasions when I had typing for Miss Markham to do. The old man took it for me downstairs and had it ready for me when I returned. There was always a reason for me not to go upstairs. Miss Markham was working. She didn't want to be disturbed. Or she just left for lunch. Or she wasn't down that day because of illness. One day, when I came to pick up some material, the elevator was not down on the first floor. And my curiosity got the better of me. Instead of ringing, I took the stairs and walked up to the third floor. It's you. Where's Miss Markham? She ain't here. You can see she ain't. Yes. Are you typing? Sure. I help her out sometime. She's sick today. Oh, I see. I just finished her story. That's... that's fine. It won't sell, though. What? I say it won't sell. It's clumsy. Oh, you think so? Yes. It's all hodgepodge. You write too fast. Well, I'm sorry you don't like it, but if you'll just put it together, I'll send it off anyway. All right. But it won't sell. That night at home, I'd been working for hours on a plot for a mystery story. I was having absolutely no luck. I simply couldn't concentrate. Then I had a thought. How would it be to use Miss Markham and the Elevator Man as a basis for a story? Just take the situation as it stood now and fabricate the rest of the plot from there. Let's see. The old man could have murdered her and hidden the body. Possibly he'd done it immediately after I'd seen her last, and she'd been dead all this time. I even made up a fine name for the Elevator Man. I called him Gracklin. But for the life of me, I couldn't build a story. Why had he killed her? What had he done with the body? The plot wouldn't move. And yet somehow I couldn't discard it and try another. I knew that I was stuck with it until I worked it out. Well, how about the reality? What had happened to Miss Markham? Why hadn't I seen her for over two weeks? The only thing to do I decided was to find out more about the real situation. Perhaps I could evolve something from that. Hello, George? Bert? Oh, how are you, Bertie old boy? Fine. Listen, George, who does your typing? My typing? Why, Harrison Lewis? Oh, yes, at 50 cents a page. I forgot you were rich. Why? Well, I thought perhaps you'd seen the same ad in the paper that I did. Miss Markham. She's been doing some work for me. Markham? No, I didn't see it. Why? Is she any good? Oh, yes, she's very good. What does she charge? 30 cents a page. Hey, that is cheap. Maybe I'll switch. Where's she located? 202 West Olive. Why don't you go up and see her anyway? Let me know what she says. All right, I'll go in the morning. Fine. Goodbye, George. The next morning I called information and got Miss Markham's office number. It was not yet listed in the directory. I called the number. Somehow knowing there would be no answer. Hello? Hello. Miss Markham? Yes? Well, this is Mr. Freeland. I heard you were ill yesterday. Just thought I'd call and see how you were. That's very nice of you. Thank you very much. I'm feeling much better today. Oh, I'm glad. I expect to have some more work for you at the end of the week. All right. Just bring it in. I will. And oh, yes, Miss Markham, I haven't received a bill from you yet. Would you send one soon? Yes, I will. Goodbye, Miss Markham. I hung up thinking, well, there goes my plot into a cocked hat. I realized then that I had begun to believe something had happened to Miss Markham. Talked myself into it, I guess. Confused the fiction with the reality. But just because she was alive and well, that was no reason why I couldn't still build a good story from the same idea. Now, let's see. Greclan had killed Miss Markham and hidden the body. But when I called up, she answered, no, I couldn't use that. But wait a minute, why couldn't I? I certainly, there was the twist. Sure, Greclan gets another woman to impersonate Miss Markham. The only ones you'd have to worry about would be the people who had seen the first Miss Markham. Well, that's the way my story would go anyway. I sat down at my typewriter and made it sing for a couple of hours. The story was coming along fine. The only thing I needed was some background on Greclan. Well, nothing like the source. At about 4.30 that afternoon, I was down on West Olive Street near the 202 building. At about 5, Greclan came out and started up the street. He got on a bus, so I looked around for a cab. Cabby, you taking? Nah, hop in. Good. Listen, follow that bus. But not too close. I'll tell you when to stop. Okay. He stayed on that bus all the way to the end of the line. I got out of the cab about a block before the final bus stop and saw the old man get off. It was almost prairie here. Large vacant lots and only a few scattered houses. He entered one of them. After about 20 minutes, when it was getting dark, I walked slowly up to the place. There was a light around in back. I went quietly along the side of the house to the window. I looked in. There sat Greclan bent over a table, writing with a quill pen. But it was the room that surprised me. The walls were filled from floor to ceiling with books. Heavy, scholarly books. And then I saw it. And a smaller table against the wall stood her picture. She was younger in the photo and prettier, but it was unmistakably she. Miss Markham. This whole light is bringing you Mr. John Lund in The Man in the Room. Tonight's production in Radio's Outstanding Theatre of Thrills. Suspense. Hello, do ichthyologists and zoologists have anything in common? Well, in a way, half. You see, any kind of anologist is an expert in his field. Well, I guess that makes you a spark plugologist. Hey, Wilcox. Well, not exactly. I'm more of a gabologist. The real experts are the auto light ignition engineers. They design and build complete ignition systems for use as original equipment on many makes of America's finest cars. So, naturally, they've built spark plugs that will work as a team with the ignition systems. Spark plugs that are un-excelled for quick starting, smooth performance, and gas mileage. Sounds logical. Of course. And these same auto light engineers developed the famous auto light resistor spark plug, one of the greatest advances in spark plug design for automotive use in the past 20 years. They're experts all right, Harlow. So, friends, see your friendly auto light spark plug dealer tomorrow. Have him replace worn out spark plugs with ignition engineered auto light spark plugs. Whether you choose the resistor type or the regular type, you can't buy a better spark plug for your car because you're always right with auto light. And now auto light brings back to our Hollywood soundstage our star, John Lung, in The Man in the Room, a well-calculated to keep you in suspense. In the next morning's mail was her bill, but there was a mistake. She charged me 40 cents a page. So, I put on my coat and started downtown. As I walked up Olive Street, I wondered if Drachman would let me up to see Miss Markham. If it were in my story, he couldn't because I'd immediately recognize her as another woman. Three, please. I'll just have... Miss Markham is in today? Yep.   Not so? Certainly it's so. You were the one who kept telling me. Oh, well, I can't remember everybody who comes in here. Oh, I shouldn't think it'd be too hard. I'll bet not over 10 people a day come in here. This is the most deserted office building I've ever seen. Well, sometimes it is a little quiet. You know where it is. Yes. Miss Markham. You are Miss Markham. Yes, of course. Why? Oh, no reason. I'm a little confused. I've been writing too much lately, I guess. Oh. Well, the reason I came down is because of your bill. There's a mistake? Don't you remember? You said you were going to charge me 25 cents a page, but your bill says 40. Oh, oh, yes, I do remember now. That's right, 25. The error is mine. I'll change it. I'm terribly sorry. Oh, that's all right. I wasn't worried about it. If you'd like to re-figure it, I can leave you a check right now. Do you possibly have the cash? Well, let's see. Yes? Yes, I think I do. Would you prefer that? If you don't mind. I paid the bill and went home. Back to my story. My story that had turned out to be pure fiction after all. Miss Markham was alive and well and back in her office, looking just as she had the first time I saw her. Well, I had used all of the real situation I could, and from now on I was operating on pure imagination. Let's see. Hey, wait a minute. Just because she looks the same doesn't mean she's the same woman. She was a twin, see? The first Miss Markham's twin sister. And Gracklin was their brother. Why had he killed the first Miss Markham? Well, for money, her life savings. That was always a good motive. And the twin sister was in on it and would split with him. Fine. I rattled off the story and the next morning brought it in to be tight. Good morning, Mr. Freeland. Good morning, Miss Markham. I've got another story for you. Oh, well, I'm not sure that I can start on anything right now. I'm closing up the office, you know. Oh? Oh, yes, this climate doesn't agree with me at all. As a matter of fact, I never did like city life. You've evidently changed your mind about things. I beg your pardon. Remember the first day you came up here? You were telling me how well you liked our city and the weather? Oh, yes. Well, you can always depend on a woman, can't you? Yeah, I guess so. I really wish you could finish this story for me. It's not very long. Oh? Only about 28 pages. I see. Well, perhaps I can rush it out. I sort of feel that I owe you something anyway. Why? For being so nice about that mistake I made on your bill. Oh, that was nothing. Well, leave the manuscript here, and I'll try to have it done by tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow is my last day. Come in about two o'clock. Right, and thanks a lot, Miss Markham. The next day was Saturday. And if the building had seemed deserted on other days, it had really been a beehive compared to two o'clock on Saturday afternoon. Now it was a morgue. When I entered Miss Markham's office, she was standing there holding a sheaf of papers. Mr. Freeland, where did you ever get the idea for that story? Oh, well, I hope it didn't disturb you, but I was desperate for a plot, and I guess I just let my imagination run wild. I see. Well, I'll just put it in an envelope. Thank you, and I'll pay you now because I probably won't see you again. That's right. You probably won't. Well, I guess I'll just say goodbye. Goodbye, Miss Markham, and good luck. Thank you, and the same to you. Graclyn was waiting for me there on the third floor. He had probably just stayed there while I was in the office. I got in the elevator, and he closed the door. Get your story, Mr. Freeland. Huh? Oh, yes. Yes, I did. Not a bad story. Miss Markham let me read it. Oh? But it needs rewriting. Oh, is that so? Yes.  You aren't careful enough with reality. I'm afraid I don't understand. Well, now that part about hiding the body in the elevator shaft, for instance, you almost had a good thing there, but I could tell you've never been in an elevator shaft. Have you? I know. You've passed the first floor. Let's go down a bit. I'd like to show you something. This is the basement. Yes. Yes, I see. You notice how the air gets closer as you go down? It's little touches like that that make a story real. Yeah. Subbasement. Mr. Freeland, would you like to see what an elevator shaft looks like? Well, I... Come on. It's very interesting, especially for a writer. All right. Fine. Follow me. Now, we'll just go down these stairs on your left. There's only a few of them, but they're kind of dark. Be careful. I will. I wouldn't want you to fall.  To you, Mr. Freeland. Thank you. And see, this is what the bottom of an elevator shaft looks like. Yes. Yes, it... It is interesting. You can make all kinds of noise down here and no one would know. Well... Now, about your story. You had me... I'm in Gretlin, buried the woman in the floor of the shaft. Now, that would never do. No? No. If you dug a grave down here, the inspector would find it in a minute. Oh. Oh, yes. The inspector's very sharp. Very sharp. But in the wall. The wall? Yes. See those bricks? Now, if I go to exactly the right place, look, I can pull several of them right out. And after I've got all the loose ones out, there's a regular cavity when dug out behind them. Come here. Look for yourself. Huh? With what? Yes. See how snuggly she fits in there? I spent a long time digging that hole.  I just put these bricks back now. You had some of the things quite right. The woman upstairs is Millie, her twin sister. This one's name is Dorothy. I married Dorothy, but I should have married Millie. You see, Mr. Freeland, I am a writer too.  But I didn't sell anything. And Dorothy lost faith in me. She dived stories for hacks like yourself. While I had to turn to running an elevator, she caused me to lose faith in myself. Finally, Dorothy left me and came here. I followed her and got a job in the same building. At last, I did what I wanted to do for years. I killed her. When I told Millie, she said I'd done quite right, and she came here to help me. You're insane. No, Mr. Freeland, I am a poet. I'm getting out of here. No, I don't think you are, Mr. Freeland. Are you surprised how strong I am? I've done many things in my time, even if it waits in a circus. You, you madman! Don't try to get up, Mr. Freeland. Or I'll just have to knock you down again. You see, I've got something quite interesting in store for you. You remember Edgar Allan Poe's wonderful story about the man in the room that got smaller and smaller until it would crush the life out of him? What are you talking about? Well, Mr. Freeland, I have such a room. You're in it now. The walls won't move, but the ceiling will. Look above you. Most elevators won't go all the way to the bottom of the shaft, but this one will. I fixed it.  I warned you, Mr. Freeland! He had me a crushing blow, and I dropped to the ground stunned. And you were wrong on my name. It's as shown. Then he jumped out of the door and slammed it shut. I staggered to it, but there was no knob or latch of any kind on the inside. It was smooth and flush with a wall. I heard his footsteps running up the stairs, and I heard them above me in the elevator. Then came a sound that drove me to panic. Racklin, stop! You'll never get away with two murders. You go to the electric chair! Racklin! Listen, listen. I won't tell anybody about Ms. Barkham. I'll tell up the story! Racklin! I sank to my knees until it came on, and I fell flat on my face, and still it came closer and closer, only inches away now. Desperately, I flung out my arms to flatten myself close to the ground, and my hand touched the bricks of the wall, found one of the loose ones. Without knowing what I was doing, I clawed at the loose brick and pulled it out a little. Then, miraculously, the elevator hung suspended. The sight of it caught on the brick. I knew it wouldn't be stopped for long.  But then, I heard a new sound. The elevator stopped crushing into the brick now, and hung motionless. He definitely shut off the power. It was time to make up his mind what to do. Suddenly, the elevator lifted. I saw it going up and up, away from me. And then, I don't remember. The next thing I knew, two policemen were holding me up, asking me questions. I told them something of what had happened, and then I asked them about the elevator man. Oh, him? We sent him off in the wagon. It was a funny thing. See, that was this guy from some publisher, I think he was.  Well, this fellow from the publisher waited around upstairs and finally started pressing the buzzer. When the elevator came up, the old man jumped out and knocked the publisher guy down, and then went running out into the street. That's when we got it. After we sent him off, we came back to investigate. And we found you. Really? Really? That's about all there was to it. Except that old Gracklin really was a pretty good writer, I guess. Because I made the changes he suggested. And you know what? I sold the story. Suspense. Presented by Autolite. Tonight's star, Mr. John Lund. Hello. Got another poem for him. OK. Hello, Wilcox, the car owner's delight. Awoke one night from a deep dream of... Autolite. But let's be more specific, Cap. I dreamed that every car in America was equipped with world-famous ignition-engineered Autolite spark plugs. And you know, spark plugs are only one of more than 400 products made by Autolite for cars, trucks, planes, and boats in 28 plants coast to coast. These include complete electrical systems used as original equipment on many makes of America's finest cars. Spark plugs, batteries, generators, coils, distributors, electric windshield wipers, starting motors, bullseye-sealed beam headlights. All engineered to fit together perfectly, work together perfectly because they're a perfect team. So friends, don't accept electrical parts supposed to be as good. Ask for and insist on Autolite original factory parts at your neighborhood service station, car dealer, garage, or repair shop. Remember, you're always right with Autolite. Next Thursday for suspense, our star will be Miss Claire Trevor. The play is called Angel Face. And it is, as we say, a tale well calculated to keep you in... ...us and... Tonight's suspense play was produced and edited by William Spear and directed by Norman McDonnell. Music for suspense is composed by Lucian Morrowek and conducted by Lud Bluskin. The Man in the Room is an original play written for radio by William Idelson and Mary Castle. John Lund is currently being co-starred with Barbara Stanwyck in the fair amount picture No Man of Her Own. In the coming weeks, you will hear such stars as Charles Boyer, Edward G. Robinson, Jack Carson, and Dennis O'Keefe. And don't forget, next Thursday same time, Autolite will present suspense, starring Claire Trevor. You can buy world-famous Autolite resistor or regular spark plugs, Autolite staple batteries, Autolite electrical parts at your neighborhood Autolite dealers. Switch to Autolite. Good night. In spite of better food supplies, millions are still starving in Europe and Japan. The need is particularly acute in free Berlin. Send your contributions to CARE, C-A-R-E, New York. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.


Last week we did the historical, we started the historical books. We covered Joshua, Judges and Ruth and this week we will look at the books of Samuel and Kings. Now like we had discussed in the introductory class in the Hebrew Bible, in the original Hebrew Bible, they had not divided Samuel into first Samuel and second Samuel. So it was all just one single book of Samuel and you had one single book of Kings. So we will try to cover whatever we can of Samuel in the first session after the break. Maybe we can look at Kings. So these are the two books that we will be covering today. So coming to the structure of first Samuel if you're not taking down notes, you can write down these things. So the first seven chapters they focus on Samuel. They talk about his miraculous birth. They talk about the historical events that took place during the early years of Samuel because at that time the Philistines were almost constantly attacking the Israelites. So the event where you have the Ark being taken into the battle and then the Ark is taken off by the Philistines, all of those things are recorded in chapters 1 to 7. When the Ark is taken away by the Philistines and placed in their temple, the Lord brings plagues upon them. So then they choose to return the Ark to the Israelites. So all of those events are recorded in our chapters 1 to 7. The next section, chapters 8 to 15 focuses on Saul. Okay, so while you have the first seven chapters focusing on Samuel, chapters 8 to 15 focus on Saul and we learn how God anoints him, appoints him to be the King, promises that he will make an eternal covenant with him if he chooses to be obedient. So God gives him the same privileges which were later on extended to David. So the Lord does all that for him, but we see that Saul is not faithful to the Lord until and then finally, you know, Samuel tells Saul that the Lord has rejected him as King. So all that would be in your chapters 8 to 15. Chapter 16 to 31 focuses on David. Here is where we get to know how David is anointed to be the future King. We also get to know that Saul begins to attack David. David has to flee for his life to the wilderness where he's hiding.  So David does not harm him in any way. All those details will be found in your chapters 16 to 31. So we have three sections, chapters 1 to 7, focusing on Samuel, chapters 8 to 15 focusing on Saul and we have chapters 16 to 31 focusing on David. So this would be the structure of first Samuel. Coming to second Samuel and the structure of that book, we can basically divide second Samuel into three sections. The middle section, you would say is basically one single chapter, chapter 11 because that's like the midpoint of David's life. In chapters 1 to 10, we look at how David is following the Lord with all his heart. He's blessed. He has many victories. He's you know, he successfully succeeds in many battles. So chapters 1 to 10 are wonderful. They talk about all the blessings that he enjoyed because he was obedient to the Lord, honored the Lord. And then in chapter 11, that is the chapter in which he chooses to sin against the Lord. And then now chapter 12, up to the end of the book, we see the consequences of chapter 11 because he chooses not to honor the Lord because he chooses to sin against God. Everything that happens chapter 12 onwards, we see the decline where a man who rose to the heights of triumph is now slowly coming down, down, down, his own son rebels against him. All kinds of terrible things happen in his household. And so we see him suffering the consequences of all his sins. So chapters 1 to 10 talk about his triumphs, his blessings, his success. Chapter 11 is where he chooses not to honor the Lord and the rest of the chapters are basically a description of how he suffered because of his own foolishness and sinfulness. So that would be the structure of 2 Samuel. So having very briefly looked at the structure of these two books, first and second Samuel, maybe we'll try to look at some of the details involved in these two books. These are historical books. There's a lot of history mentioned. It is impossible for us to cover all of that. So we will just maybe highlight a few events, a few incidents and see what spiritual lessons we can get out of that. So the first thing that maybe we can look at is the desire of the people for a king where they come to Samuel and they say we would like to have a king and the Lord is very angry. The Lord is very displeased. He is not happy when they ask for a king. Why was the Lord not pleased? In Genesis did the Lord not say that he's going to give them kings? The Lord himself says that they will be kings. So when the people ask for a king, why is he so displeased? We will look at the details of that. So we can begin by looking at some scriptures in Genesis and Deuteronomy which talk about God discussing kingship and what he would like them to do regarding their king. So maybe we can begin by looking at Genesis chapter 17 verse 6. So if we can have someone here in the class read out Genesis 17 verse 6. Those of us who are online if you know if we can just follow in our Bibles Genesis 17 6. I will make actually I should accidentally faithful and I will make nations for you and kings shall come from you. A promise that God makes to Abraham is that he will be fruitful and the Lord says kings will come from your lineage. So God already declared that there will be kings in Abraham's lineage. And then let's look at Deuteronomy chapter 17 verses 14 and 15. Deuteronomy 17 14 and 15 please. Deuteronomy 17 14 and 15. When you come to the land which the Lord you God is giving you and process it and dwell in it and say I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me.  From among your brethren you shall set a king over you. You may not set a foreigner over you who is not you brother. All right so here the Lord himself is saying when you go into the land and when you say we would like to have a king the Lord says please make sure that you appoint a king whom the Lord himself has chosen. So again over here in this scripture we see that God has already anticipating that there will be kings and God does not seem to be very angry or upset with the idea of kings being there. In fact he is saying when you choose the king you are please choose a godly king you know one whom God himself has appointed. So that's just the instruction that is given. Let's look at one more scripture which talks about kingship verse Samuel chapter 2 verse 10 verse Samuel chapter 2 verse 10 the advices of the Lord shall be broken in peace from the form heaven he will thunder against them the Lord will judge the end of the earth he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed. In verse Samuel chapter 2 10 it talks about how the Lord will give strength to his king so this is a king which whom God himself has appointed God himself wanted this particular person to be king and it says about him that his horn will be exalted now that's just an Old Testament metaphor whenever it talks about the horn being raised whenever it talks about the horn being exalted that's just terminology which talks about victory a bull when it fights with another bull the one which gains victory it raises up its horns you know as in it's you know it's it's declaring that I am superior so when you have two bulls fighting with each other and they know they try to you know attack each other with their horns the one which comes out victorious it raises up its head so that's just a term which has been picked up from that image so in the Old Testament wherever it says your horn will be raised it's just talking about how you will gain victory so here the God is not only appointing a king but in fact he is so happy with the idea of this king that he says your horn will be exalted so from all of these verses we get the impression that the Lord is in favour of having a king so why is the Lord so displeased when the people request Samuel for a king and by the way this first Samuel chapter 2 verse 10 it's not talking about any ordinary king it's in fact talking about the messiah king the Lord Jesus who will be king so throughout we see that God always had the idea of kings in his mind and through that kingly lineage the messiah king will one day come forth so why is the Lord displeased here in first Samuel chapter 8 when the people request for a king let's look at the verses alright so even as someone reads out for us if we can concentrate on what is being said in these two passages we will catch why God was not happy alright so even as we are looking at those verses try to analyze in your mind and think what is there in this verses which give me an indication and hint about why God was not happy with the idea of the people asking for a king so the first passage that we would look at is first Samuel chapter 8 verses 5 to 8 first Samuel chapter 8 verses 5 to 8 and say to him look you are old and your son do not walk in your ways now make us king to judge us like all nation all the nations what the things the displaced displaced Samuel when they said give us a king to judge us so Samuel played to the Lord prayed to the Lord and the Lord said to Samuel heed the voice of the proff people and in all the day said to you for they have not rejected you but they have rejected me that I should not region over them according to all the work which they have done since since they did that brought them up of Egypt even to his day with which they have forsaken me and saved other gods serve other gods so they are doing to you also okay if we were following in our Bibles here the Lord is so upset that he says these people are asking for a king you know it's not just you that they are rejecting the Lord says to Samuel by asking for this king they are not just rejecting you Samuel in fact they're rejecting me it's my kingship that they are rejecting so the Lord is very angry with them let's also look at first Samuel chapter 8 verses 19 and 20 first Samuel 8 19 and 20 nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel and they said no but we will have a king over us that we also may be like a like all the nations and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles all right if we look at these two passages we observe that the motive with which they are asking for a king is wrong God always wanted Israel to have kings God had already planned that the messiah would come and rule as a king through this godly lineage of kings God always was in favor of kingship but the motive with which these people asked for a king was very wrong let's look at the details if we look at first Samuel chapter 8 verse 5 this is what we see there this is what the people are saying to Samuel they're saying you're old and your sons do not follow your ways now appoint a king to lead us such as all the other nations have when God first chose to choose the Israelite people as his nation and he promised them that he will come and live among them it was you know established that God will be their king and they will be his people so they will be living under his kingship yes they would be spiritual leaders yes they would be administrators who would be looking after various details but the king will always be God himself because they are supposed to be his people that was God's original plan for the nation and so in his time the Lord will appoint a human king but up to that time he himself is supposed to be their king but it looks you know when we when we look at the what these people are saying over here we get the impression that actually the people were never really trusting the Lord or relying upon him they were relying upon the human leader Samuel never called himself a king the people also never gave the gave him the title of king but they were looking to him as if he is their king they were following him their security was in him and so as long as Samuel was their wise you know disciplined godly Samuel they felt so secure under his leadership maybe you could almost say his kingship and then when they looked at the sons of Samuel and they saw that the sons are not very godly are not able to give any kind of leadership then they became very worried they were they started thinking oh my now we don't have any leader so they say to Samuel I think it's time that you appoint a king so you see their eyes were never upon the Lord the Lord was supposed to be their king not the human leader and that is where they failed in fact they explained to Samuel and they say in first Samuel chapter 8 verses 19 and 20 they say you know we really need a king like all the other nations because how do we go into battle when we go into the battle we need a human king leading us over there how will we manage otherwise they are not willing to trust an invisible god to lead them into battle so their eyes are very much focused on human leaders they are not looking to the Lord as their king and that is what displeases God so the Lord says you know they are rejecting me they're not just rejecting you Samuel in fact they are rejecting me and they are not trusting in my kingship they think that I will not be able to give them victory in battle I mean I'm the you know he says in verse 8 first Samuel chapter 8 verse 8 the Lord says from the time of Egypt this is what they this has been their attitude even though I am the one who delivered them even though I am the one who destroyed the you know Pharaoh's army even though I am the one who has successfully provided for them in the wilderness in spite of all of that they still do not trust my kingship and so you know we can sit over here and we can say to ourselves really these people were so foolish you know they did not trust in Almighty God but the same lesson needs to be applied by us in our own lives as well are we looking to humans for our security are we looking to humans for guidance or are we looking to the Lord you know I'm in every week I have people ringing me up and they ring me up because they want me to give them guidance of course I can give advice I mean it's always good you know for us to go to others other believers you know who have more experience and we can take their advice but to ask a human to make your decisions for you that would be very wrong so just like those Israelites in olden times even today a lot of us are setting our eyes on humans human leaders for our security for our guidance which is not good the Lord wants us to set our eyes on him we go into his presence we learn how to hear his voice and we ask him to guide us we don't go to humans for guidance we only go for advice so you see we also make the same mistake even in our lives today the people were setting their hope on Samuel and then they tried to set their hope on Samuel's sons and the sons were not up to the mark and so they got worried they should have been setting their eyes on God Samuel was just a human leader Samuel's sons of course were unfit to be leaders but their eyes the people's eyes should have been on the Lord throughout he should have always been their king their guide the one who is you know you know leading them into the into the battles of their life so when you are facing a time of crisis in your personal life what is your first response do you immediately think okay whom can I ring up and ask for prayer whom can I go to for advice if you are still at that stage then it means that you God has not become your primary source of sustenance okay so in a time of deep crisis what comes to your mind first do immediately start thinking okay whom can I approach whom can I go to for help or does the first thought which come into your mind is it let me go into the Lord's presence he will take care of this and he will tell me whom to go to you know to receive the help he will tell me whom to approach for godly advice I will go to him I will have an appointment with him and discuss this with him if that is your response it shows that you are beginning to mature and your eyes are no longer on human leaders but on the Lord himself this is one very important lesson that comes out from this particular passage so moving on to another thing that we can touch upon David how did he become king of Israel okay so we will look at some of the events which was surrounding this particular you know this kingship so and we see how David conducted himself most honorably throughout all the events which led to his kingship he conducted himself in a most honorable manner the first thing that we notice is after Saul dies the Palestinians you know are attacking have come and to wage war I think it was a Jezebel and Saul and his sons they they died in the battle the very next day David does not say oh yes finally my enemy is dead now I can be king no he continues living wherever he has been staying and then when the Lord's timing has come he asks the Lord for permission in 2 Samuel chapter 2 verse 1 it says you know in the course of time he waits he waits until he feels the Lord leading him to the throne and so in the course of time David inquired of the Lord shall I go up to one of the towns of Judah and the Lord says yes please go and then he's again again he asks where exactly shall I go is what he asks you know and then the Lord says you go to Hebron so then with the Lord's permission only then he goes to Hebron and he becomes the king of only one single tribe tribe of Judah only and he stays as king of of Judah for seven years this is not a man who is greedy for power and position he wants to please the Lord he wants to honor the Lord so he asks the Lord Lord do you want me to go do you want me to be ruler and king over this particular tribe only with the Lord's permission he goes and he takes up the kingship there's no greed at all for the position there's no desperation at all for the power this is again a very very valuable principle that we can apply in our own Christian walk are we desperate for positions in ministry are we hungry for you know approval and fame you know in which of a secular field that we are working in or are we is our main concern honoring the Lord so if we have the heart which David did we would first ask the Lord Lord do you want me to take up leadership in so-and-so organization Lord do you want me to be you know doing this particular ministry in that particular town we first ask him where do you want me to go Lord what do you want me to do Lord that will be the attitude where we want to please the Lord and here we see David not desperate for the kingship but rather more concerned with honoring the Lord and he waits for Lord for the Lord's permission so while David is serving as king over the tribe of Judah for seven years what about the other tribes who is ruling over them so for those seven years it is Ishbo Sheth the one of the surviving sons of Saul he is the one who is ruling and Ishbo Sheth is placed on the throne by Saul's commander okay the commander in chief of the army a man named Abner he appoints Ishbo Sheth as the king over the other tribes so the other 11 tribes are basically under Ishbo Sheth's control now Abner does not appoint Ishbo Sheth because he has deep love and loyalty towards Saul he actually has another scheme a conspiracy up his sleeve his idea is that if he appoints Ishbo Sheth as the king when the time is correct he can do a small you know conspiracy and take over the throne that was his original idea so even though he appoints Ishbo Sheth as the king he is he sometime after that he chooses to sleep with one of Saul's concubines now in their culture in the political scenario of those times if somebody goes to the concubines of the king and takes those concubines for himself it's like a direct declaration saying I am now you know contending for the throne and I'm willing to go into battle so it's almost like a declaration saying I have you know decided to take this throne so concubines had no value in themselves they were probably not even thought about as people they were just used as political pawns it's very sad you know in biblical times women were not given any respect they were like property so a man who wants to sit on the throne he will first try to take over all the concubines because then he can declare and say see now all your wives are actually mine now the throne is also mine so it's like an indirect declaration so what does Abner do he goes to a concubine of king Saul and he takes her so it is his indirect declaration that he is now contending for the throne and Ishbo Sheth is very upset with this and he says how could you do this why were you so disloyal you have placed me on the throne I am supposed to be king but now you're going and taking my father's concubine you are now trying to take the throne from me why this disloyalty and Abner crooked man that he is he says ah no no I didn't do anything wrong now because you're putting false allegations on me I will make David king so now you have somebody a crooked man who is willing to make David king of all the tribes and what is David's response you see very happy that now some crooked guys you know helping him to climb onto the throne and become king over all the tribes David is not interested in such things at all we look at how David you know handles the situation he condemns Abner for what he has done and we see that we see that in in second Samuel chapters three four you know in these chapters we see that David does not in any way you know it's not happy with the actions of Abner and then there's another conspiracy which takes place you know Joab he the commander of David he murders Abner so that problem gets resolved in the sense Abner is now gone he is dead another thing is another conspiracy that takes place is in second Samuel chapter four where some army captains they murder Ishpo Sheth so now suddenly Abner is gone Ishpo the Ishpo Sheth is gone now there is absolutely nobody contending for the throne of the 11 tribes so now the you know the entire field is now free for David to go and sit on the throne but we see that he you know he approaches this whole thing with a godly attitude and he has the assassins the ones who murdered Ishpo Sheth he has them killed he doesn't say good you helped clear the pathway to the throne that is not his attitude rather he says what you have done is dishonorable and so he condemns Abner you know Abner's murder which is done by Joab he also condemns the assassination which has been done to Ishpo Sheth he condemns all the wrong doings that have been done and he is in no way desperate to sit on that throne it's because God has arranged for him to sit on the throne now he goes the other tribes they themselves come to him and they request him and they say please can you come and be our king because they see that here is a man of integrity not interested in position and power he just wants to know what is right what is wrong and he condemns what is wrong he doesn't say oh good the clear pathway got cleared now I can sit on the throne no he's more interested in whether righteousness was done or not and so he publicly condemns the murder of Abner even though it cleared up the path he condemns the assassination of Ishpo Sheth even though that also worked in his favor and so in a very most honorable manner David climbs and sits on that throne and if you look at the stories of Solomon onwards how dishonorable they are in their conduct how greedy they are for power and position the attitude which David had those people you know they lacked that you know we see that later so another thing that we see once now now finally David has become the king of after seven years of you know patiently waiting for the Lord to act now he has finally become king of all the 12 tribes he is now the king of that entire Israelite nation and what do kings do once they come to power they make sure that all the sons of the previous lineage are wiped out killed so that they will not have you know they will not come and compete for the throne and so now only one son is left from entire sauce lineage grandson in fact Mephibosheth Mephibosheth is the son of Jonathan and he's the only competition which is now available for David and so David says bring Mephibosheth into my presence Mephibosheth is terrified he's scared to come into David's presence because he doesn't know what's going to be done to him will he be imprisoned will he be killed he doesn't know what the future holds and Mephibosheth we should understand is just a teenager when David says bring him into my presence the background story we learn is that when he was five years old that is basically when the Philistines come to fight against Saul and his grown-up sons in the battle at Jezreel and when that is going on you know and all the royal families being killed the lady who's looking after this child Mephibosheth was five years old she picks up the child she tries to run from there protect him in the process he falls down he breaks his legs and so now Mephibosheth becomes a cripple so now when David says when David sits on the throne of all the twelve tribes and he says bring Mephibosheth into my presence he's now a teenager maybe around 13 years 14 years he is scared to come into the into the king's presence because he doesn't know what the king will do the new king will do to him and so it says in where is it it says in second Samuel chapter 9 he literally comes over there he prostrates himself in front of the throne like literally lies down flat on the floor in front of the throne because he's you know he's hoping that the king will at least spare his life and not kill him but then David asks him to rise up and David treats him with great kindness with great respect and he says you know whenever you come to visit me you will sit at my table and eat it's an honor that is given to very few so Mephibosheth is given that privilege and moreover all the properties of Saul are returned back to him and he says you can have your property you can have your land you can be owner of your own place and so even in this David conducts himself so honorably what is the lesson that is coming across over here leadership is not about power leadership is not about you know the greed for fame and position leadership is true leadership is a person for whom righteousness is important each time something happened he would ask himself is this righteous or is this unrighteous and if it was unrighteous he condemned it he publicly condemned it he did not support it he did not use it to to lift himself up what an honorable way he conducted himself so indeed God chooses to you know say the Messiah will come from the lineage of David he was it is a good person from whose lineage the Messiah would come so you know the Lord lifts up the name of David because of the heart which he had to to honor the Lord but we also see one important mistake that David makes of course there are many mistakes that he makes but one of the you know earlier ones that we see that would be 2nd Samuel chapter 6 verses 6 to 8 way we see that David wants to bring the ark of God into the into Jerusalem you know where now the tabernacle has been placed the temple has not yet been built so you still have the tabernacle and he wants to bring the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem so that it can be established in the tabernacle and so he does it with great reverence he is very honored that God's presence is literally going to be there in Jerusalem with him and so with those good intentions he chooses to bring the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem but then we see that things don't go well as you know the up to that time the ark of the covenant had been resting in the house of Abin Nadab Abin Nadab was a priest he had two sons who were also priests Uzzah and Ahayyo so on the day when the ark of the covenant needs to be brought into Jerusalem with great reverence the ark is placed in a new in a brand new cart is what it says that would be in your 2nd Samuel chapter 6 verses 3 to 4 so in a in a in a most reverential manner the ark is being now transferred to Jerusalem maybe we can have one person read out 2nd Samuel chapter 6 verses 3 and 4 please 2nd Samuel 6 verses 3 and 4 so they set the ark of the corn on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abin Nadab which was the which was on the hill and Uzzah and Ahayyo the son of Abin Nadab drove the new car and they brought it out of the house of Abin Ab which was on the hill accompanying the ark of God and Ahayyo went before the ark so the people they place the ark of God on a new cart and Ahayyo is leading from the front he's walking in front of the cart Uzzah is walking directly behind the cart the cart and they are moving towards Jerusalem and then we see in verses 6 to 8 is where we see that you know the the cart maybe it went over a few stones or something and so the the cart shakes when the cart shakes it looks like as if the ark of the covenant is going to slip out and fall so Uzzah immediately puts his hand out to support it to stop it from falling and the anger of the Lord is released against Uzzah and Uzzah drops down dead so it's a very shocking anti-climax you know in the sense David was very happy that God's presence is now going to come into Jerusalem and now the man who tried to help the ark of the covenant from falling he's dead and it says in first second Samuel chapter 6 verse 8 it says and David became angry because of the Lord's outbreak against Uzzah David is upset he thinks we were trying to do a good thing we were trying to do an honorable thing we wanted God's presence in um in in Jerusalem so in in a most reverential manner we have placed the ark in a in a new brand new cart and we are trying to bring it and Uzzah was trying to support the ark from falling why why was why is the Lord so angry David does not realize that God is even more angry because what he had instructed that was clearly completely ignored the Lord had made it very very clear how the ark should be carried by the priests nobody is allowed to touch it ever nobody should ever touch the ark simply because that brings out the holiness the purity of God no human you know God is God has given these people the privilege of having the living almighty one living among them and so they need to treat him with honor and respect so Exodus chapter 25 verses 14 to 16 explained to us how the ark should actually be you know carried by the priests over there it explains that on the two sides of the ark you have you know rings large rings have been molded and attached on the two sides of the ark and the priests are supposed to put pole a pole through the rings and lift it up so they would put a pole through the rings on this side they would insert a pole through the rings on the other side and together they would lift it up without touching the ark at all that is the way the Lord said that it arc should be transported because that arc is symbolizing his divine holy presence among them and what do these people do with their hands you know they have lifted up the ark they have put it in a cart why did they put it in a cart because that's what the Philistines used to do how are the Philistines honoring their pagan gods by putting them in a new cart and these people are doing the same thing with the ark of the covenant in a sense they are equating the almighty God with the pagan gods of the Philistines and the Lord is highly displeased with what they have done and so when David sees this when David finally understands what the mistake you know was he realizes how holy God is I mean that holy God lives inside you and me today literally he's the other temple of this holy God if they in the Old Testament were not allowed to even touch the ark how should we be living our lives today I mean we literally are containers of this holy God what deep honor and respect we should be showing in the way we behave you know in the way we talk to each other in the way we treat each other you know in the in the life choices that we make we should be so respectful because we are literally you know containers of a very holy God and you know David and the priests were careless about this you know in this particular event and that is why it says in 2 Samuel chapter 6 verse 9 when David understands you know how holy God is it says over there in 2 Samuel chapter 6 verse 9 David was afraid of the Lord that day and he said how can the ark of the Lord come to me if God is this holy if God is that clear about his instructions and if he break them you know death is the result if God is that unapproachable how can I possibly have this ark in Jerusalem you know what if I make a mistake what if my people make a mistake God would just wipe us out because he's that holy and so David is afraid to bring the ark into Jerusalem and so he decides you know in the earlier all these years the ark was staying in the house of Abinadab so now let's find another house for it so he decides this ark is now going to be there in the house of Obed Edom can you imagine the reaction of Obed Edom's family when they get to know that they are going to have the honor of having the ark of the covenant in their home you know a few hours after a priest died was killed by the Lord they would have been really scared the God who has just finished punishing Uzza now that God's ark is going to come inside their home and stay in their home I think he and his family would have sanctified themselves and led the most God or honoring lives that they could you know during the time that the ark was there because they would have they would have learned the fear of the Lord so after the break we look a little a little more at the details of what the fear of the Lord is and we'll also you know look at the rest of this event so yes you can go for your break


This guy's really kind of doing it for me. Be, be, energy. Man, She-Hulk was so good this week. Really? Wee-wee! That's how I sound to you. That's exactly how you sound. And wow, what a surprise. You're not watching it. Shocker. Focker. Don't do this. What turned you off of it exactly? Was it the powerful women? Was that what bothered you? Yeah. Listen, I like Tatiana. Was it because She-Hulk is a strong female lead? Can you not come me off? It's about time. The show is a corny, ugly, 15-minute waste of time that for some reason has eight full minutes of credits. I just don't care to watch it. Not a big deal. Great. Good. They don't want you to watch. Did it occur to you in your small, feeble mind that perhaps Disney isn't catering this show to a pathetic, middle-aged man-child? Are you sure?


China has taken a side in the Israeli conflict and Chinese battleships are currently fencing off against a US aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean, raising concerns about the possibility of a world war three. The Israeli conflict in Gaza appears to be escalating dramatically by the day and actually the crisis is evolving into a broader confrontation that has attracted the attention of major global powers like Russia, China and of course Turkey. With Russia preoccupied in Ukraine, China has positioned itself as a significant arms supplier in the Middle East collaborating with nations like of course Iran, Syria, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar sometimes and Saudi Arabia. Chinese-made drones and technologies have played pivotal roles in regional conflict fostering not only trade relationship but also military alliances. The deployment of Chinese warships can be interpreted as a message to the United underscoring China's ability to protect its interests in a region. By siding with Palestine, China may seek to prevent Israeli ground incursions into Gaza while also positioning itself as I mean a protector of Iran and its Hezbollah allies. How do you perceive this unfolding situation? Do you believe that a potential confrontation between Chinese and American warships in the eastern Mediterranean could lead to a wider conflict? Share your thoughts in the comments. Please also don't forget to like and share this video to allow others to watch it and consider subscribing to the channel so you stay connected with us in the future. Notably Israel has resisted peace efforts. Israel appears to be resistant to peace initiatives having declined to participate in a peace conference organised by Egypt attended by dignitaries from Arab and African nations. This peace summit was aimed at finding a lasting solution to the crisis. Some leaders present at the conference criticised Western nations for their perceived hypocrisy since the crisis in Gaza started. I am outraged and grieved by those acts of violence waged against innocent civilians in Gaza, in the West Bank and Israel. The relentless bombing campaign underway in Gaza as we speak is cruel and unconscionable on every level. It is collective punishment of a besieged and helpless people. It is a flagrant violations of international humanitarian law. It is a war crime. Our priorities today are clear and urgent. First an immediate end to the war in Gaza. The protection of civilians and the adoption of a unified position that indiscriminately condemns the targeting of all civilians in line with our shared values and international war which loses all value if it is implemented selectively. Second the sustained and uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid fuel food and medicines to the Gaza Strip. Third the unequivocal rejection of the forced displacement or internal displacement of the Palestinians. This is a war crime according to international law and a red line for all of us. It is our duty as the international community to do whatever it takes to restart a meaningful political process that can take us to a just and sustainable peace on the basis of the two-state solution. The only path to a safe and secure future for the people of the Middle East and the entire world for the Jewish people for Christians for Muslims alike starts with the belief that every human life is of equal value and it ends with two states Palestine and Israel sharing land and peace from the river to the sea. I have confirmed Egypt and I am reviving the new on the full rejection of forced displacement for the Palestinians and we are sending them to the Egyptian lands in Seynau. Therefore, this is not only a final decree for the Palestinian cause and the end of the the international dream, the independent Palestinian dream and a visit to the people of Palestine, the Arab people, and the Islamic people. In response to the Lumine threats of war, China has deployed six warships in the region heartening concerns of potential escalation of the crisis. These actions underscore China's alignment with the Palestinian cause. The deployed warships include the Zibo, a guided missile destroyer, the frigate Shenzhua, and the supply ship Quindaho, all stationed in the Middle East as Israel prepares for a ground invasion of Gaza. The deployment of Chinese warships signals their readiness to confront the United States in the event of an escalation in the region. That's actually how it is looking right now because six warships are really not a child's play. The United States has dispatched two aircraft carriers, the USS Jared Airford and the USS Darwin and Zihua, to the Eastern Mediterranean. Along with aircraft capable of conductance, strikes, additional planes have been sent to the US bases that is almost scattered everywhere in the region, including F-16 fighter jets quadrants. The increased military presence reflects Washington's concerns that tensions in Israel could erupt into a full-scale war, with China and other global powers prepared to defend their interests in the region, potentially complicating US's ability to determine the outcome of a full-scale conflict in the region. The presence of Chinese warships and Russian submarine could potentially constrain US military operation against a country like Iran. Many have suggested that the Gaza escalation might draw Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters into the conflict. These fighters could use Iranian-made weaponry against Israel, possibly prompting Israel to launch an all-out massive aerial bombardment on Iranian military-industrial complexes. Iran may respond with its own strikes on critical targets in Israel, potentially triggering a larger conflict in the Middle East between these very tough regional rivals. Honestly, that could be an apocalyptic scenario. These warning gains added significance as Hezbollah and Israeli forces exchanges gone fire artillery and missiles in the northern parts of Israel. Israel has also conducted raids in Lebanon claiming to have destroyed Hezbollah cells, command and control centers and what it called terror enclaves along the border. Hezbollah in turn has targeted IDF forces with anti-tank missiles and disrupted Israel's surveillance by blinding idea of border cameras. In response, Israel has evacuated border areas and declared many regions as military-exclusive zones. Since the Ukrainian crisis and its economic consequences, China has expanded its armed export capabilities in the Middle East. These Middle Eastern countries now use China's made drones, missiles and vehicles. The deployed warships initially engaged in joint patrols with the Omani Navy. China has supplied weapons to regional parties without imposing conditions like the United States does whenever it desires to supply any country with weapons. China is positioning itself as an alternative armed supplier in the Middle East. After sanctions were lifted on Iran, China quickly became a major supplier despite Russia's dominance in the Tehran market. China has signed multiple agreements to provide Iran with arms, drones, technology and components. Iran in turn has armed and trained Hezbollah extensively, especially drawing from experience from Syria. A scenario where Israel invades Gaza and Hezbollah opens a second front in northern Israel would be both intriguing and potentially devastating for the United States and Israel. Please like and share this video to others so they can watch it. Hit the subscribe button if you haven't done so already. Stay connected with us in the future. See you in our next update. Asalaamu Alaikum.


We demystify what goes on behind the therapy room door. Join us on this voyage of discovery and co-creative conversations. This is The Therapy Show, behind closed doors podcast with Bob Cook and Jackie Jones. Welcome back to the next episode and following on from the last one where we just touched on a few things. This is The Therapy Show behind closed doors with Jackie Jones and Bob Cook and we're going to be talking about the rise of online therapy. Yes. The reason why I said it's touching on what we did last time, we were talking about the length of your therapy career being 36 years plus and you must have seen some huge changes as far as technology and being online and things. Of course I mean when I started training in 1984 you know the internet age computers that type of technology wasn't with us. I mean I think it was 1995 was it the first mobile phone. The early computers were going to be in the 90s and you know so I always came around way before that and you know I mean we're in a completely different world now and out of the technology has come the accessibility for online therapy and you know I think there's good and bad about that so I think there's advantages and positivity and I'll hold my hand up and say you know I was training very much in relational psychotherapy so I've always prefer talking to somebody in real time rather than on you know whatever platform people use now like Microsoft Teams or Zoom is the most popular I think and you have telephone telephone counseling and text counseling so the technology that is there so I prefer relational work I was trained in that and I come from a generation where online therapy wasn't around of course so I was trained in that. I wasn't trained in online therapy it's interesting you know if I had to come along and later on 2010 or something and training training now for example we have modules on online therapy I'd have been it would be very different I think and I come from a completely different era and yeah so but I do see great advantages now I don't think I don't think well a better way to look at this is I think modern psychotherapy has been changed dramatically by this technology and I have done before the pandemic for example I was thinking back 2015 when one of my clients moved or maybe before that 2014 moved to Scotland and in terms of the duty of care for example and things like that it would have been to pass on to another therapist but in the transitional time I talked online with her and it was a completely different experience for me and I think if the function of accessibility is a really big plus for online protection helping people you know move to another therapist I can think of many many reasons why online therapy is a really big plus I haven't really done that much of it because it's not a form of or mode I particularly like I have done some I've done some once some groups because with the pandemic everything moved online and therefore even though it stopped working clinically in one to one I did do some I was still doing some therapy intensive for the trainees and if and in fact with the latest COVID changes my next little group might also go back to on the scene and I work quite well I've got I work quite well on them but you know I found myself working much more cognitively because of the lack of a a three-dimensional you know lack of being there in person and so there's pluses and negatives yeah I I work in purely online and have done since the beginning of the pandemic for lots of reasons um self-isolating because I had a teenager that was in school and potentially catching it and passing it on to clients and all those sorts of things more recently I'm having some work done on the house and I just haven't got a space to do the therapy so there's there's lots of different reasons around it so I work via zoom but I can't get my head around telephone therapy and therapy via text so those are the one for me it's bad enough seeing somebody on a screen but at least I can attempt to read changes in body language or anything that I'm seeing as well as hearing whereas if it's via text or if it's a telephone conversation I think there's a lot of information that I'm not picking up as a therapist I don't feel I would be doing my job properly. So on zoom then that's the technology yeah okay what you're saying is um what's positive is as well is you can read people's body languages you have a you can see them visually yeah so you have a different sense however without that sense there like on the telephone or texting then it would be a different type of therapeutic exchange for me it's just taking another level off everything the more you go down in a room with somebody I think I'm quite perceptive of the general feeling that's going on in the room as well as what I can see and hear and everything so that's kind of like all my senses are getting connection yeah yeah I didn't understand that I mean zoom is visual as well as hearing and then a telephone conversation is just hearing it it's just taking away that contact to each level for me yeah I think that's completely I mean I said right at the beginning I'm very much a relational therapist and uh I really in an ideal world would only work face to face if you want to put that language um now zoom is I think better than texts and better than telephone casting but I was thinking while you were talking that from the therapist's point of view I'm hearing it from your point of view and I'm saying it from my point of view it's an interesting isn't it because another another sort of query popped into my head and that is what is therapeutic see when we talk if we go back way before the birth of psychotherapy with Freud uh you know I would say that the major form of therapy was religious healing and we could go back to we could go right the way back to Socrates uh the philosophical Greeks and we could go all the way back we could we could have a wonderful podcast about what is therapy you know inverted commas and what is therapeutic inverted commas so I'm talking about face to face because I was trained that way I think most more effective therapy happens that way because you've got more access to the different senses uh uh tactileness and what happens in the body and various other things so that's would be my ideal but it doesn't mean I don't think the text cancelling telephone cancelling zooms my all these different things doesn't doesn't how doesn't necessarily not have a therapeutic aspect to it no even though it might be limited yes and as I know for me I'm a stickler for confidentiality and ethics and all those sort of things and the further down the ladder you go taking away that contact to me is more open to things going wrong oh absolutely of course I completely agree on a text message I I don't know who it is that's on the end of the phone texting I could be texting yeah the partner of somebody who's abusing somebody or what I don't know no you're absolutely correct absolutely correct and you know if we're on that sort of conversational area then if we talk about protection if I do work therapeutic online which again I'm going to say you don't do much of it but if I did one of the things I would really think about is protection yeah it's a really good one because I'm probably going to do some training on for the some of my students at the Manchester Institute which will be or could be live demonstrations now if it goes on to zoom which I'm at the moment it isn't but it could easily do I'd have to think again a little bit because I have to be aware that when you're talking to somebody on the other end of a zoo they may be by themselves in their top in their attic and the top of their room and there's not the same sort of support there might be if you actually see them face to face because you can check up on things and make sure they don't rush out into the cold weather they can have a cup of coffee they can go to costors across the road they could or many other things yeah where you can check things out but if you're doing a demonstration or even you're doing live therapy with somebody on the zoom you don't really know what support and protection they've got yeah yeah or have access to and those are the things for me that I have a cutoff point if it's not face to face as in live set you know zoom is is as far down the road as I'm prepared to go with therapy yeah and that's just personal I don't have anything against anybody else that does it and I kind of agree with what you touched on earlier on that who says what is therapeutic yeah and again you see if you're if you're if you're trained in the United Kingdom to be a a psychotherapist uh accredited by a regulating body then they demand certain things of you and in the training and that I I now always provide some online psychotherapy training and protectionist thought of and all those sorts of things um I've traveled a lot by the way and I do before the pandemic I used to teach people to be therapists in Slovenia and Australia now in Slovenia where there's not so much geographical geographical accessibility then I think one of the real pluses of online therapies uh provided an accessibility that for therapy uh which might have not been there before yeah 100 yeah that is a really really really big plus in my opinion yeah people you're opening up the accessibility of healing and therapy to many many many many people who never had that accessibility yeah and that is pretty wondrous isn't it it is it is but again I don't know whether it's my mother coming out to me but he's like there's there's always a negative to it and that you know it it can be open to being abused you know if we're looking at we're looking at the rising online therapy but that encompasses an awful lot of of different things you know that somebody can go on a weekend training course and offer online unregulated therapy to people online you know it's it's an open forum when we're looking at online self-help courses where people buy a course and do it online you know that for some can be classed as therapy you are right I don't think the internet can be regulated so easily if you like or in the same way as face-to-face training so for example we're where I work and the institute which I founded is the training and accrediting organisation of the UK CP which is the major regulating body in the United Kingdom and they've recently done an audit of our training and you know really went through our thoroughly through our different practices and all the things you're just talking about and that happens every five years a bit like an off state yeah occasionally now you know in the online therapy world there's perhaps that's there's not that sort of you know like accountability of lots of these courses or there's not a there's not that same regulating function by a lot of these bodies because it's such a new phenomena yeah so you are am I you're talking about the unregulated process of a lot of the internet courses and a lot of the rise of online therapies who perhaps aren't regulated or accounted for as a lot of the conventional therapies and it's a shame because you know I totally agree with what you were saying about people in Slovenia it is a wonderful thing you know and it makes it accessible to much more people who otherwise wouldn't have it so it's like a fine you know it's on a knife edge it is and you know it's like all these things on the internet especially what we're talking about here that needs to be I believe a move to some regulation yeah don't know how that would happen particularly but I think that we aren't going to go backwards I think online therapy is only going to go bigger and therefore and again there's pluses and minuses about that but I think that needs to have moved to regulation just like I think there needs to be a move to governmental relation governmental regulation of psychotherapy and counseling per se in the United Kingdom which there isn't at the moment it's only internally regulated now with you are absolutely a thousand pound you know totally correct with all these courses on the internet and everything else you know a lot of them are a majority of them are not regulated or accounted for any way for for shape well yeah there was one that popped up on mine is it I think it was seven pounds for you know to to become a hypnotherapist or something random like that and it was like what yeah that's the problem though isn't it that is a problem that is a really problem area and what we're talking about here yeah the internet and online courses there is no regulation yeah if there is I don't know any well I think that's one of the things you know for anybody that's listening or whatever what what would be your recommendations for accessing online therapy going through you know the counselling directory going through word of mouth recommendations oh not answering an advert on t internet oh so is the question and what's my recommendation for people to go to online therapy okay yes I would you know it's a bit similar and different if you like to what I would say in face-to-face therapy I think it's really really important for the customer or this client if you want check out the credentials the qualifications of the person they're going to sign up with yeah how do they check that they say to them okay do you belong to a regulated body if so which one do you do now you know in this country that the UK CP is a major regulated body for psychotherapy and in counselling BACP so that's two major regulated bodies so if they say yes we've done we are members of one of those bodies and you know I spent four years trying to be a counsellor or spend five years trying to be a transactional analyst and here's my website and go and look at it and look at the content and if you want this is my supervisor's name or whatever you know I think there needs to be and I think it's the same face-to-face there needs to be some responsibility for the person who's actually going to use the services that they check out the people that they're working with I mean is you know would I go and buy a 30 000 pound carl from a you know a second hand dealer down the road or would I go to the proper Toyota garage I know where I would go to but I do know what to do first is check it all out yeah because the person down the road who's in the second hand it might be a Toyota you know expert or whatever it is but I check it all out and I think it's a response there has to be some responsibility for the customer to check these things out and if they don't check them out then they are open to goodness knows what and it's the same in the real world you check these things out now the other thing recommendation is one of the best best avenues that people have had user services effects they go on their website I was thinking you could go on my website bobcook.org and you can read all about me and all these things and you can check all these things out and then you could even phone the uk cp or the bc you know whoever you wanted up you can do all that lot and recommendation is also really really important I think yeah so if you haven't got recommendation check out with the person where they were trained what their qualifications are and all those things yeah don't just say oh you work with Angadu you're oh let's go ahead you know it's like unfortunately that happens but it's not a good thing but you know as the client you are handing over yourself to this other person yeah vulnerabilities trauma everything so it's really important that you invest some time and effort into researching and find a therapist that is going to meet your needs absolutely and as I say I do all the assessments of the Institute face to face people you know lots of recommendations because we've been around a long time XXX and there's some people still who've gone on the website and check us out and come through Google or whatever it is in the internet you need to check people out even more extensively I believe yeah yeah because there's fake things up there bob it's not all real it's a bit like the wild west because it's so unregulated but I do believe the person who's using the services needs to ask those questions yeah now you are quite right do you then believe them well I don't know you can go to the website and check that out you can you can at least do your part in that extensive research and I think if you're going to do therapy or counseling online you really do need to do that yeah my daughter 23 so she's brought up in social media she said to me dad I'm gonna well what you're talking about here and I pointed to a website I knew would which is highly recommended and I said go and look at all those you know those references come back to me and I can you know say a little bit about it but she did a homework on who they are what the references were what the qualifications were what they meant so she had the right questions to ask these people to begin with yeah now if you don't do all that lot you are I think opening yourself up to problems or could be and I think you know even when you were talking that I was thinking you know the unfortunate thing about this and you know that the potential dangers is that we're talking about some potentially really vulnerable people that might not be in the right frame you know frame of mind or state of mind to take up that work and research to find it out they might just and that's the same in the real world isn't it yeah yes yeah you're right yeah yeah I think the biggest plus I'm going to say again for online therapy with all the guidelines and things we could put in place and everything else is it brings to the masses you know the accessibility of counselling and therapy and that's a fantastic plus I completely agree with you about lack of regulation accountability in all those sorts of things we've just been talking about them but I don't think I think we're only going to go forward now in terms of online therapy and counselling online and I think I think I'm just repeating myself but I think the need for regulation has to come on the internet as well as in face-to-face in the real world yeah and I don't want to come across as a negative Nelly I completely agree you know it does open up therapy to the masses and it's made the world a very accessible place for people like you said earlier on about a client that moved you know I've had similar that clients have moved abroad and wanted to maintain that relationship and you know that was one of the first times that I did a Zoom before the pandemic it didn't it didn't sit comfortably with me at all at the beginning and that was my step into it if that makes sense also I'm an expert in certain areas so I'm an expert in multiple personnel disorder I'm an expert in dissociative identity disorder I'm an expert in certain areas so that means though I don't work clinically anymore but if I did um people from all around all over the country and all over the world yeah and they have access to me in a way they would never have in face-to-face because they can't travel from France, Spain, Australia, wherever it is and come and see me and they but but if I was working more clinically they could do yeah yeah and I think you know like you say I think it's only gonna increase over time I don't think we're gonna go backwards we're just gonna go forward yeah regular I think the big point is regulation as it is I believe in the real world yes yeah it parallels a bit and the other thing which I which hasn't been mentioned but I really like to mention it is there needs to be regulated accounted effective training yes so people are going to become online therapists they need to have I believe competent effective good training just as in the real world well face-to-face world yeah so you have done both both I you know I trained at the Institute for four years and loved it would not change any of it I've also done a hypnotherapy course I've done an LLP course I've done a coaching course I've done lots of other courses since then fantastic just only for my own interest you know TA will always be my foundation that's what I always fall back on but I can honestly hand on heart say I I've never got anywhere near as much as what I did from the Institute and I'm not just saying that because I'm talking to you but the the way it was set up the you know the two years of training to get the competencies to still be training while practicing and having that hand-holding safety bit you know the yeah well you know if you think of attachment theory and you think of experiential work and you think of you know that face-to-face experience that's very hard to replicate online yeah it's impossible well it's impossible yeah so so basically correct you have a different type of training online yeah I believe I believe like I said right at the beginnings of this podcast I believe that it's the best way to do it will be online therapy training will be a different or is a completely different type of training to face-to-face because they can't be replicated face-to-face because you're missing the attachment you're missing the bonding missing the experiential work all that stuff you have a different type of training online yeah I think that what you were saying then that you know the experiential I think that's that's the bit that you can't replicate well all you can do is send people to therapy so it's a completely different type of training and in fact yeah but having said all that what I'm just going to say now this will just sum it up for you I've had a huge call for months for me to do a methods and theories of transaction analysis online five day course five days if to go and you know where the people are going to come from they're going to come from different parts of the world they're going to come from parts of the United Kingdom and they can get access to access to me in a way they could never get and at the same time there will be things missing yeah because we can't meet we can't experiential work we can't so for me I think like I said my TA training at the Institute was my grounding yes good way to look at it I'm okay doing extra online stuff because I've got that there to just do a four-year degree level TA online I know I wouldn't have come out yeah very different animal yeah I know I replicate sort of talking about for customers or clients in the therapeutic world and I know I'm biased and at least I own my stance right at the beginning but I think a relational face-to-face encounter is a completely different animal to a face-to-face zoom encounter yeah that doesn't mean there's not usefulness it's different yeah and I've said what I'm biased on but I do think the real plus side is accessibility yeah and for something I would call educative therapy yes yeah which is more cognitive therapy yeah if you want to go that way um but for the real emotional relational work very difficult to do online it's different all together completely it's a different beast I completely agree but there is a use for it there is there is a need and there is a place for it I think protection is a really big thing I hope we've highlighted enough on this podcast because I I do worry worry or get concerns about therapists who don't think enough about the support isolation or where the client is when they go to these types of areas yeah of trauma for example yeah yeah and I think that's why when I first started doing it I would only do it with clients that I had seen face-to-face like the one that then moved away because we'd already got the relationship I kind of knew where I knew a background so I as a therapist felt safer oh yes then just somebody phoning me up that I've never met before or anything yeah another area I know we have to I could talk for many many moons on this subject but another area of course is motivation yeah so so for example you know for somebody come to Chulb's and say 10 miles away whatever it is and they come five o'clock they have to go to bed they have to go through the wind or whether the wind is or whether it's wet or whether it's done that many a time to the institute boss takes quite a lot of motivation yeah to get out of bed or to just go to the computer it doesn't take that much motivation no now I believe for people you know I believe motivation is a really big factor in cure actually yeah something really motivated so there was a lot in this I think I haven't done the research but I guess people probably if they were on online therapy we would be shorter probably it would be actually much more cognitive yeah it would be very different animal probably isn't for different animal yeah but I don't think I don't think it's going to go away I think this is I think this world's just going to increase more yeah and well done you for doing a five day training course with some people as well it's yeah yeah I you know like you say you're you're reaching people that would potentially not being able to have access to it interesting subject Jackie yes thank you so much so I can't remember what we said we were doing next time okay so I look forward to the anticipation of they were really interesting whatever they were Bob I thought these two were variant I thought this subject's a really interesting one and because I know that online therapy online counselling it's not going to go away it's going to go bigger and I've always been moved by the idea of accessibility to therapy and counselling as a big plus for online therapy so it's good to have the chance to talk about it yeah I always like the opportunity of talking to you about anything Bob oh that's very nice of you I'll see you on the next episode you will see me online on the next exercise very true speak soon yeah take care take care bye you've been listening to the therapy show behind closed doors podcast we hope you enjoyed the show don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review we'll be back next week with another episode


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Hi everybody, I'm Don Sweeting, President of Colorado Christian University, and it's my joy to welcome you to CCU. We're so glad you're here. To those who are new, we welcome you for the very first time. We've been praying for you, we've been dreaming about this day, and we're thrilled to have you as part of this community. For those of you who are coming back, staff and faculty, we've missed you and we're glad you're here. I know many of you have been working really, really hard to get things ready for this day. I'm so grateful for all the work that's gone into it in this unusual season. I've got to tell you though, one of the best sites in the world, the most wonderful sites, the most wonderful thing I've seen in the past few days is to have students back on campus. It just hasn't been the same without you here. And welcome to a new season, a key season in your life. 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