It's time for another vintage GI Joe toy review and this time I am redoing a review that I've already done. I do that from time to time when I think it's necessary. I'm going to look at version 1 of Destro from 1983. Now my first review of Destro was a long time ago and that review never really took off so I'm going to try again. Destro is too important a character to be ignored, one of the most important characters in all of GI Joe. So hopefully I can do a better job this time. Also a channel announcement. This channel has hit 1000 subscribers. Yeah! Everybody give yourself a hand. Really. You deserve it. Really stand up and you're living room. Right now. As you're watching this. Give yourself a hand. Me. That's you. That's you. Try it. You. You. You. You. You. So much for your support. That's why it keeps this channel going and we've got greater things to come so let's keep going. Onward and Upward. Now a lot of you saw the unboxing video that I did last week. Now that box is going to be the source of a lot of reviews but this week's review was already in the works before I got that box. So this week's review does not come from that box but next week's review should come from that unboxing as long as my plan works out. But enough about this channel. We have a figure to review so let's do it. HCC788 presents Destro. This is you already know who this is. This is Destro GI Joe's enemy weapons supplier. He was first introduced in 1983 the second year of 1980s GI Joe. He was also available in 1984 and 1985. So he was available for three years where most GI Joe action figures are only available for two years. He was discontinued for the year 1986 and was he just not weird enough for 1986 in a series that included Serpentor and Dr. Meinbender. Maybe the guy with the metal head was just too ordinary. There was a second version of Destro in 1988 and version two of Destro was the leader of the Iron Grenadiers. This one is not complete he came with a red cape that attached to this shoulder. But this Destro came with a vehicle the Dispoiler so he was also a vehicle driver. Note the difference in the head colors. And one of Destro has a shiny chrome silver head and version two of Destro has a gold head. Destro has been romantically linked to the Baroness and I think this is an excellent coupling. This is a power couple if there ever was one. That seems obvious that the name Destro is short for destroy. It's just one letter off. But another GI Joe reviewer and I think it was FormBX257 I apologize if I'm misattributing. But it was pointed out that the word Destro is Italian for right. Braccio Destro means right hand in Italian. But there doesn't seem to be anything in Destro's background that is Italian. Scottish yes but Italian no. I think this Italian reference to right and right hand is a reference to fascism. At his inception Destro may have been seen as the Mussolini to Cobra Commander's Hitler.  Let's take a look at Destro's accessories starting with his weapon and this weapon the contents of the card on which he was packaged call this a high density laser gun. But it looks a lot like the Mauser C96 also known as the Mauser broom handle. Although this is not an exact replica of that real world weapon I do think it hearkens back to that design. If you look at early TV commercials for the Destro action figure you can see that he is carrying the weapon that later came with major blood. But I don't think this weapon was ever intended to come with Destro. If you look at early concept sketches for major blood it looks like he was always intended to come with this weapon. So that must have used this accessory just as a stand in for the commercial. Destro's next and final accessory is his backpack which the card contents call an armed attaché case. This accessory is very plain on the outside but it does open and if you just kind of pry it apart it opens up to show a lot of sculpted detail lots of sculpted in weapons in there you can see disassembled m16 over here with a couple magazines you've got a tiny pistol some grenades some knives and looks like a barrel launched grenade there lots of detail inside that backpack and in case you're wondering that pistol does fit inside the backpack and you can close it so you can store the weapon when he's not carrying it the only problem with this backpack is it's not an attaché it's a backpack if they had put a handle on here so you could carry it like a briefcase I think that would have been perfect either in addition to the backpack or instead of that it works okay as a backpack it's not that bad but an actual attaché I think would have been more appropriate for Destro let's take a look at the sculpt design and color of Destro starting with that head that crazy head and he has a vacuum metalized chrome head and that really stands out this is supposed to represent a mask that he wears. Vac metalizing is a process by which metal is evaporated in a vacuum chamber and it's used to apply a uniform coating of metal on an object such as an action figure's head. Although this mask is supposed to be metal in the G.I. Joe cartoon series when Destro spoke his lips would move which of course is impossible with a metal mask. Ron Rudette the designer for Hasbro who designed Destro said he was inspired by the man in the iron mask. Now the man in the iron mask was a real person a prisoner of King Louis XIV his true identity is unknown and the man in the iron mask later became part of a novel by Alexander Dumas. Ron Rudette has mentioned seeing the man in the iron mask on television and this is possibly a reference to the 1977 TV movie by that title starring Richard Chamberlain. The design of Destro may have been based on the man in the iron mask but the character definitely was not. Destro is not a prisoner and he is definitely no one's victim. Moving on to the chest the weirdness continues he's wearing what looks like a black leather jacket that is totally open in the front exposing a bare chest and a ruby medallion. This is very disco this is so disco I'm not sure how this ends up on an action figure. He has a single strap going down his left side that continues around to the back and it looks like he has some kind of communications device sculpted onto that strap and he has raised shoulders. The arms continue the black leather theme and on his wrist he has silver wrist braces and on his right wrist he has two red rockets and when we were playing with Destro as kids of course he was firing these rockets at everyone all the time. He has what appears to be a series of red buttons. Now I know on the card art for Destro these are drawn in as grenades but these do not look like grenades on the action figure they look more like buttons. Destro's gloves also appear to be armored.  His legs are also black and on his right leg he has a red holster presumably for his pistol but it doesn't look like the pistol would fit to me. On his left leg he has this flair so it appears he's wearing jodpers. Jodpers are trousers designed for horse back riding and they were often worn by military officers in World War II. On his feet he has what I would describe as jack boots. Specifically cavalry jack boots which were worn by postilians who were drivers of horse drawn coaches. Jack boots are often associated with the Nazis but the type of jack boots the Nazis wore were a different type. They were the hobnailed jack boot and those are designed for marching. Destro is a very tall action figure he is taller than the average GI Joe action figure and they did not do that very often. Comparing him to an average height action figure like airborne here Destro is half a head taller so as an action figure he is designed to be physically imposing. Let's take a look at Destro's file card. Now this file card was printed on the back of the card on which he was packaged. You can see some of the artwork from the front of the card there. It has his faction as GI Joe which is a wrong. He was not necessarily an officer of Cobra. He was more of an independent operator but he was definitely not a member of GI Joe. Later Destro file cards would change this and it would have his faction as Cobra. We have a portrait of Destro here. We have his specialty as enemy weapon supplier codename Destro. His file name is unknown but I guess in later GI Joe lore he was given a name James McCullen Destro the 24th and I'm not sure I like it. His birthplace is unknown but we later learned that he is Scottish. This section says Destro is the faceless power behind Mars in parentheses military armaments research system largest manufacturer of state of the art weaponry. To Destro war is man's most natural state. The fittest survive and the greatest technological advances are made. He maintains a luxurious lifestyle around the world. Destro provides high tech arms to any side able to meet his price and will incite war where it does not exist. He dons his silver battle mask a family tradition and enters battle himself either with Cobra command in parentheses Destro is their major weapon supplier or against them if it's better for business. Where it says the fittest survive is an allusion to social Darwinism and this mention of Mars creates a new organization another player in the GI Joe universe. This bottom section says Destro respects the GI Joe team for their combat skills and expertise but abhors them for wasting such skills to maintain peace. He's totally dedicated to seeing them undermined subverted or destroyed. Destro is painted as cynical and self-serving but with a code of honor. Notice Destro's inverted morality here. GI Joe would consider their desire to maintain peace as a virtue and their combat skills as a necessary evil to serve the greater good but for Destro it's reversed and their desire to maintain peace is useless and their combat skills are their true virtue. Destro appeared many times in GI Joe media in the GI Joe cartoon series he appeared in the very first episode of the very first miniseries A Real American Hero in 1983. In the cartoon series Destro is often depicted as the brains of the operation and is often frustrated by Cobra Commander's ineptitude. In the GI Joe cartoon Destro collaborated with Dr. Meinbender to create Serpentor the Cobra Emperor that would depose Cobra Commander as the leader of Cobra. This relationship is also reflected on Serpentor's file card where it refers to a secret cabal of Cobra scientists under the direction of the interrogator meeting Dr. Meinbender and Destro. In the GI Joe comic book Destro was not in the first few issues but the comic book started before the cartoon series and Destro was not released until the second year. Destro was introduced in the comic book in issue number 11 but he was only shown in shadow he was not fully revealed and issue number 11 of the comic book is a legendary issue it introduced a lot of new characters for 1983 including snow job, dock, gung-ho and airborne. Destro was fully revealed on the cover of issue number 14. Later of course Destro was the leader of the iron grenadiers which was a private army and another adversary for GI Joe and for Cobra too. The iron grenadiers intervened in the Cobra civil war for the sole purpose of rescuing the Baroness. Destro is also shown to have a personal fortress in Scotland Castle Destro and it is featured in the comic book entitled assault on Castle Destro that's comic book issue number 87. Who is Destro's main rival on GI Joe? Well maybe that would be Hawk but only because they got in a fist fight once. I really think Destro's main rival is not anyone on GI Joe I think Destro's rival is Cobra although it's not explicitly stated I believe Destro was the designer of the early Cobra vehicles such as the his tank and the fang helicopter both of which have futuristic designs and they are black as they should be. Cobra weapons and vehicles always tended to have an experimental look to them and that works better for me than when GI Joe vehicles that have that look but I always consider Destro to be the source of those designs. Later Dr. Meinbender somewhat took over that role as the inventor of the battle android troopers and the Cobra Hydro sled. In the GI Joe comic book Destro and the Baroness have pre-Cobra history and the Baroness had split loyalties between Destro and Cobra Commander. Destro is known for his Machiavellian machinations to empower himself and overthrow Cobra Commander he even tried to lure Cobra Commander into a trap where he would be killed by GI Joe. I think the insertion of Destro into the comic book makes Cobra out to be the kind of sinister underground organization that it should be where everyone is trying to serve their own self-interest. Just look at how the comic book unfolded in the first few years. Cobra Commander built the organization and the Baroness has split loyalties between Cobra Commander and Destro and Destro is trying to undermine Cobra Commander from the very beginning. Meanwhile the Baroness is porking Destro you know that's happening. Destro tries to lure Cobra Commander into a trap and then saves Cobra Commander when he realizes that he had also entrapped the Baroness. Cobra Commander uses Major Blood to try to assassinate Destro he fails but almost kills the Baroness in the process. Major Blood saves the Baroness and then Major Blood and the Baroness try to assassinate Cobra Commander only to have him saved by Destro. I think you can see how characters like Destro add a lot of depth to GI Joe. I mean Cobra could be just some faceless organization that GI Joe defeats every week or every month but instead there's a lot more to it. I think it also shows why it's difficult to run an organization that is founded on greed ambition and ruthlessness and that's why I think GI Joe defeats Cobra not because Cobra Commander is inept but because nobody in the command structure is really a team player they are all looking out for number one. Taking a look at Destro overall this figure is supremely weird. I know I use that word a lot but what other word can I use? He's got a metal head, an open collar, a medallion. He looks like a cross between C-3PO and Disco Godfather and yet somehow he works. It's impossible to explain why. It's ineffable. I prefer realistic military figures for GI Joe but for enemy figures that is a bit more room for fantasy. I think that provides a contrast between the heroes and the villains but that leeway only stretches so far before we get into the realm of absurdity. I think Destro approaches that line but stays just on this side of it. One of the reasons the weirdness is forgivable for Destro is the strength of the character. The character of Destro is rich in depth and motivation. He sees himself as the natural leader of Cobra and he's a man who understands power. Can a figure this strange be a top tier figure? I think so but just barely. That back medallized chrome head is definitely a deluxe feature but other than that the figure is mostly just black with few painted details. But the character of Destro is so important that the figure is almost immune from criticism. If you write a character well much can be forgiven. If you think this version of Destro is too weird you may prefer version two of Destro the gold head Destro which is less disco and more sci-fi military. That was my review of version one of Destro. I hope I did it right this time. If you liked it make sure you thumbs up on YouTube, subscribe on YouTube, like me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter. That's what keeps this channel going and why not share this video and help this channel grow. I'm going to try to make next week's review something special so stay tuned and remember only G.I. Joe is G.I. Joe.


Alright, good morning everyone. Welcome to those who are joining us online. I hope you can hear me okay. Let's just begin with the word of prayer so maybe one of us can lead in prayer. Any one of us? Jesus, we thank You, Lord, for this day. We thank You, Lord, for this time that we have to get to know more of You, to get to know how You have done things on this earth and Lord, I pray that our hearts and minds be open and that You help us, Lord, to understand what we are being taught and that You help Pastor Paul to teach well. Lord Jesus, thank You, Lord, for this time. Amen. Thank You. Alright, so last week we were talking about Isaiah 53, the cross described. We looked at many points there. We looked at the authenticity of the book of Isaiah and of course the entire Bible as well. We talked a little bit about the Dead Sea Scrolls and how these scrolls were found, and they were found word to word perfect to what we are reading right now. Then we looked at a few aspects of how the cross was described from the Old Testament. Isaiah 52 and 53, and a lot of it revealed, Behold my servant, then his massage was marred. He shall sprinkle his blood with many nations, right? So the shedding of blood happened there. The arm of the Lord revealed as a tender plant, a root out of dry ground, meaning his tenderness, his loving kindness was displayed in his earthly life. A man of sorrows and grief, he knew all the while that the cross has some place that he has to go. Isaiah 53 talks about a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief and we hid. So it were our faces from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him. So was Jesus despised? Yes? Or was he glorified as a person? On the cross he was despised. They did not esteem him, right? Then we see he was a man of sorrows and grief. He bore our griefs and our sorrows. Now let's picture this, the revelation of the Holy Spirit to a person hundreds of years before, maybe he did not know what the cross is, right? Now when we look at it and we say, hey, Isaiah spoke about the cross, but Isaiah didn't know. He probably didn't, you know, the whole thing of the crucifixion was not yet, you know, come into place. But he didn't know, but he talks about it. He will bear our griefs. He will bear our sorrows, right? And it is a wonderful prophecy there. And he did it for our peace. So now in the Old Testament there was no peace between man and God, right? When the people of Israel or in the Old Testament, there was no feeling of, okay, I am with God and God is with me. Why? Because the cross was not yet there. The sprinkling of the blood for the atonement of sin was only done once, right? But there was still this feeling of guilt and condemnation, right? For through the cross we find peace and the iniquity of us all was upon him.  And that's where we stopped. Now we'll pick up from Ash Sheep before it sure is. Let's read Isaiah 53 and verse 7. He was oppressed and he was afflicted. Look at the word oppressed there. Driven as an animal, harassed, distressed, or painfully abused. We talk about this, know the spirit of oppression. When we are praying, what do we say? Every spirit of oppression, I bind you in Jesus' name. We pray that. Yes? What is this oppression? Oppression is basically being pressed down, right? If you, I'm sure all of you must have seen, you know, the cattle working in the fields, right? It's a yoke upon them. Have you seen that yoke? Right? They put that yoke on the ox or the cow. What happens? It's an oppression, right? It's oppressed to do the work, right? So here he's bringing out that kind of an allegory and he's saying he was oppressed, meaning he was driven out as an animal, harassed, distressed, painfully abused and he was afflicted. Which means he was looked down, he was forced, he was treated badly. Yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter as a sheep before his shearers is silent. So he opened his mouth not, right? Look at that. He was oppressed for us. He was harassed, he was beaten, he took on that oppression for you and me, right? And he was afflicted. He was treated badly. Now all this talking about the Lord Jesus years back, right? And it says that as a sheep before his shearers. Now why is this sheep come into picture, right? We see the Lord Jesus as a picture of a lamb and a lion, right? That's very interesting. A sheep, right? Especially in the Old Testament, when you look at a sheep, the sheep was used for most of the sacrifice, right? The sheep or the goat. And every time a sheep was taken, they wouldn't defy. They wouldn't say, you know, they wouldn't try to run away from the sacrifice. They were very like, you know, they had this instinct of just being how they are, right? This obedience. It was a picture of obedience, right? So you don't see a sheep trying to run away.  The chicken, by the time you take the chicken, it's already trying to fly away. That's not what's going to happen with a sheep, right? Because by nature, a sheep, yes, they go astray, but they know that if it's time, it's time, right?  It was very interesting. This is this article about the sheep. And then I read it many years back. I forget where I read it, but it said that when a, when a snake, right? Now I don't know if this is medically proven, right? But the writer is writing and of course, he's got this medical background. But this is what he says, when a snake bites a sheep, the sheep has a certain kind of blood, right, where the sheep will not die, but the snake will die, right? I read that, I was like, wow, but I don't know whether it is medically proven. But if it is, there's a powerful, powerful act of God. This is nature. And when you look at nature, there's so much that point towards creation and how God has created things. But maybe we can read about it and find out. It just came to my mind. A sheep is somebody or someone who can very easily be led down to a sacrifice. You don't have to hold the sheep and now, now the sheep, now I don't know how they are now, but you don't have to forcefully push a sheep to the sacrifice. They go. And it's talking here about, as a sheep, Jesus, a gentle lamb, he went to the cross. Nowhere in the New Testament we see, during the Lord Jesus' persecution and when he was going to go to the cross, is there any place he says, no, I don't want to go to the cross. It's okay, let me do something else. You don't see it, right? He knew it all the while, right? Look at this, Matthew 27, 12 and 14, 12 through 14. And while he was being accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. Then Pilate said to him, you not hear how many things they testify against you. But he answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly. Now, I don't know why the governor marveled greatly. You see, in some places, Jesus answered. In some places, Jesus spoke a lot. If you've been in Matthew 24, he's speaking and speaking and speaking, right? But in some places, Jesus did not speak. It was to fulfill prophecies, right? 1 Peter 2, 17 through 23. Maybe one of us can read. 1 Peter 2, 17 to 23. It's on your notes. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commandable. It because of consents toward God on endure's grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credits is it if when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently. But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commandable before God. For to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps. Who committed no sin, nor was deceived found in his mouth. Who when he was revealed, did not reveal in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten but committed himself to him who judges righteously. Thank you. So here Peter is writing to the believers in the church and he's reminding them about the cross. He's reminding them that walking in the imitation of Jesus is important in our everyday life. So what does he say? Verse 21, initially he's verse 17 onwards, he's talking to the brothers in the church. And verse 21 he says, for this, for this you were called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps. Who committed no sin, nor was deceived found in him. He committed no sin, nor was deceived found in him or in his mouth, who was then reviled but he did not revile in return. He suffered, he did not threaten but committed himself to him who judges righteously. So this is a wonderful example for us. Our people, there will be times. Now remember that the church where Peter's writing to is a persecuted church. The same letter he says, you are living stones. You are God's people. You are God's, you're coming into God's kingdom and he's encouraging the believers. Why? Because they were persecuted church. Now the general tendency is if somebody persecutes us, we want to, for example, somebody says something to you. What do we do? General tendency is to retaliate. Right?  What about you? What did you do well? General tendency. So Paul is, Peter is writing to the believers and saying, see, people are going to persecute you.  So he's writing to the believers and he's telling them, hey, look at the Lord Jesus, what he did. There was no sin in him. There was no deceit in his mouth. Yet he willingly took up the cross. He willingly suffered. He did not threaten, he did not commit himself to any sin. He did not commit himself to the people, but he committed himself to God. So basically Peter is saying, follow this example. Follow what what Jesus and that's more than enough. Next one, from prison and from judgment. 53 and verse 8, he was taken from prison and from judgment and who will declare his generation? For he was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgression of my people, he was stricken. Remember Jesus, Matthew 27, Jesus was put into prison. He was held there in the palace overnight and then he was brought to judgment before Pilate. Again, even the intricate, the small details written by Isaiah, that's why this Isaiah 52 and 53, it basically talks about the whole life of Christ. And I always wonder, imagine Jesus going back and reading it and he's saying, hey, this is me. This is me. This is what's going to happen to me. The Bible says that in the book of Matthew, it says, the Lord Jesus grew in wisdom. So as a young boy, probably he went, started reading, this is me. So one day I have to do this. One day I'll be carrying the burden of the cross. I'll be carrying all the sins, the grieves of people are going to ridicule me. People are going to mock me. And imagine reading the portion where they pulled off his beard and they spit on him. Jesus is probably reading that he knew it was him. Right? He knew that he has to go through it. And he was willing to do it. Right? Next one, with the wicked and with the rich, 53.9. And they made his grave with a wicked, but with the rich at his death, because he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Now, he made his grave with a wicked. Where did Jesus die? Between two thieves. Now, if you look at the difference between the two thieves and Jesus, the two thieves probably were not beaten and scourged as much as Jesus was. Why is that? I always, as a young boy, I always think, why did they beat Jesus so much? They could have just crucified him. No.  Okay, so they scourged him properly. Could have left him or they could have directly said, okay, get crucified. And God knows. Okay, crucifixion done. But the point was the blood had to be shed. The blood had to go. The entire suffering of sin, the entire grief and pain and sorrows had to be taken up by him. So, it was not a quick death.  That's easy. God made it in such a way because it is the judgment of God upon his son. And all the judgment was put on this person, the Lord Jesus Christ as a human being. And historians say that the whole fact of Jesus carrying the cross and going up to that mountain is physically so difficult after that scourging. Physically, remember that he was a normal person. He had strength. He had weaknesses in his body. He was tired. He was sleepy. He did everything. It's not like Jesus said, okay, you know, now my stomach is full. I can be all right. No, probably his leg pain from all the walking. And the ship he was happily sleeping. Maybe he was very tired. But we see that, you know, the historians and theologians say that for him to carry the cross and go up that mountain is a big challenge. I don't know how he did it, but he did it. It was because of you and me. That whole, the entire judgment of God had to be on him. What have Jesus said? Oh, no, I cannot. Please take me to the nearest doctor. I'll come back after two days to be clear. No. Once you remember what Jesus said in the garden of Getsemane to Judas? What did he say? Do what you have to do. The time has come now. Do what you have to do. So it was like a, you know, he was resetting his mind and saying the time is now. No more. I'm going to be, you know, a person who's going to do all these wonderful miracles and all. I'm going to be a sheep, a lamb. They will spit at me. They will ridicule me. They will mock me, but I'll keep quiet. Why? Because I have to take the judgment of God on the cross. How long would it have taken for Jesus, you know, when they were ridiculing him on the cross where he's saying, if you heard of Messiah, come down. No, from the cross. How long would it have taken? Few seconds. Probably Jesus said, Father, send two angels or he didn't really need angels. He would have just said, you just got down from the cross. As simple as that. Could he have done it? He could have done it, but he didn't. As a sheep to the slaughter. So was he. And then we see that with the rich at his death, Joseph of Arimatai, a rich man pleaded for the body of Jesus and Jesus was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimatai. And finally, Pilate could find no fault against him.    What's he gonna say? Right? Or forget about Pilate. Imagine these, you know, these people who have, you know, persecuted Christians.  What are they gonna do? They're all gonna stand. And this time, it's not going to be a lamb. Right?  Oh, oh. So he's the lion and the bus he'll be the lamb. Right? But to others, he'll be the lion. Right? And you'll learn more in eschatology in terms. Okay. He shall see his seed and prolong his days, Isaiah 53.10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief when you make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his house. Look at that. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. Now, you know, if you have good friends, right?   Now, no parent is pleased.  You may get hurt.  You will not do that. Why? Because it's your child. No matter what it is, you will say, you will go and try to look after the child. Make sure that he's alright. But here you see that the father was pleased to bruise the son. He was pleased. He was happy. Can you believe that? He was pleased to do it. Why? Because he knew that this was the sacrifice that was needed for the forgiveness of sons. Otherwise, it's going to be the same old story, Old Testament. What is the story? Cows and bulls, blood, sacrifice, same old offerings. It's going to be the same old thing. But this was needed. So, God was pleased. Basically, what happened on the cross? This is a picture, right, that I'm giving you. Father, son, three of them get their one. Jesus said, the fathers in me are the father. Yes. And many places we see the Trinity coming together in the baptism. The father spoke, son and the Holy Spirit came in the form of a dove. Right? So, Jesus walked in the same spirit, the same Holy Spirit that you and I are walking in. Right? Now, what happened in this whole time was, now, the father, the son, the Holy Spirit, three of them are one. But on the cross, there was a separation. So, remember, Jesus said, I and the father are one. Father is in me and I am in the Father. But at the cross, there was a separation. And the father is putting all the sin and grief and shame and all the judgment of God upon his son. There was a separation. So, when Jesus cried out, why have you forsaken me? It was at that moment when he realized his separation from the Father. And it was only on the cross where Jesus says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Anywhere else, does he say, God? Everywhere else, he says, Father. Right? It pleases the Father. I've come to the Father's heart in heaven. And he says, God, he doesn't. Because at the cross, there's a separation. He became like you and me, like sin. So that you and I can call him Father. On the Old Testament, you can't call God Father. Can we? We can't. That's why when Jesus, you know, when Jesus was there and he told the disciples, told him, teach us how to pray, what does he say? Oh, Father, what in heaven? Now, this is still the cross has not yet happened. Imagine the disciples, our Father. We're talking about God, the Father. We're talking about God, the Father. We're talking about Yahweh, Jehovah God, the God who was with Abraham, Isaac and Moses, that God. Yes, he's going to become your Father. So it would have been a big revelation for them. So I can call God Father. I can have a relationship with him. They never understood it. But Jesus knew that when he's going to call Father God, there was this separation. He became like you and me, that now you and I can call him Father. Remember the last sentence, what does Jesus say? Father, into your hands. Come on, my spirit. It was as if that relationship was restored. He said, God, why have you forsaken me? Forget about these nails and forget about these crowns and, you know, the beating and forget about everything that is happening to me physically. This is painful, but you leaving me and that separation from you is that forsakenness, it is too much, I cannot bear that. Because I am in you and you are in me. Now it's like you're saying you're no longer with, you're not with me right now. You're not in me.  You see that substitution? We'll talk about substitution in the next chapter. A literal fulfillment here, we see that He shall see His seed. He shall prolong His days. He arose to see His descendants, so it was not the end when you say, prolong His days was the resurrection. Right? A figurative fulfillment where the plan was that He give Himself as an offering for sin, so that He'd see life come from it, life, life and more life, and God's plan was will deeply prosper through Him and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. Right? Later on it says in the book of Hebrews, he writes that when He died and when He rose again from the dead, right? He went, He took the keys, the authority of Satan, of death and hell. He's basically telling Satan, you see what I did on the cross? I lived a perfect life and now you're on the cross. I've defeated you. You're destroyed. So He takes the keys, the authority from the devil. Right? And when He takes that, the Father says, now at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. Right? All honor, dominion, authority belongs to Him. Was it there before? Yes. He's come back. His place is being restored but there's a difference now. The difference is in 2 Timothy it says, there is one mediator between God and man. Who's that? The man Jesus Christ. Right? There's one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ. So now when we go to the Lord Jesus, last Sunday we were talking about the gift of righteousness. Right? So when we go to the Lord Jesus now and we say, God, I don't want to sit for class today. I'm very tired. Now Jesus understands what is tiredness. Yes or no? Right? God, my Lord Jesus, my legs are paining, my body is paining. I'm so tired, He understands. Now you tell the Father, my leg is paining, body is paining. Of course, there's this nature where He understands but as a mediator, Jesus completely understands. He knows what it is. God the Father may not know what is pain. Of course, He understands with us. All that is there but as a mediator, He's saying, He's telling the Father, Hey Father, I know what it feels like. Right? And then, you know, there's temptations. The devil is coming. He's the accuser of the brethren. He's tempting us and every time this temptation comes, sometimes we fall, sometimes we overcome and then when we fail, we say, Hey, I don't want to go back.  I'll remember Jesus is the one mediator, the man, Jesus Christ. Right? So we can always go back to Jesus and say, Jesus, I know you attempted, you overcame, help me to overcome. And we have a high priest who sympathizes with us. Amen? Right? So we don't have to, we don't have to feel, Hey, guilty. Right? And say, I didn't do this. I didn't do that. Right? But we can just go to him and say, this is what it is. In the Old Testament, we could not do that. Right? Okay. Next one. He shall justify many. Isaiah 53 and verse 11. He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many for he will bear my inequities. Right? Sin had to be punished. And his sacrifice on the cross. Jesus put, sorry, the father put every demand of sin, every judgment, everything on Jesus. And he was satisfied that he did it. Right? How many of you had a good meal and you're satisfied? Never happened here?  What happens? You give that person the, you know, the costliest food or the tastiest food again, he'll say, no, it looks good. I wouldn't mind tomorrow or later in the day, but now satisfied. How many of you, this happens to me. We drink all this, you know, these soft drinks and fruit juice and all of that. But for me personally, I need water. I can drink all these, you know, the coffee and juice and, you know, all these things that are there. But only water crunches thirst. Yeah, because the other things can satisfy you for some time. And actually, if you see, you have these soft drinks after some time, you're even more thirsty. It's just that that moment to just hear what does the Father say? I have satisfied everything. No more will I have to put judgment upon my people because of what Jesus did. Now, as a difference, we were talking about the covenants, right? If we want, we can walk away from the covenant and say, I don't want. Then what is happening? We are opening ourselves to the enemy. So the enemy is going to come and cause trouble. But if we are in covenant, God has already put every judgment upon the cross. So things are not going well in our life. It's not the judgment of God. And sometimes God, you know, we must understand that God has his ways of dealing with things. He has plans. He has ways how to open doors for us. Of course, all of us know we want to be in ministry, we want to do something. If God says, okay, initially, you go, arrange the chairs and church. It's not judgment of God.  You know, yesterday, we were talking to after the prayer here, I was talking to some of them here and they said, Hey, how did you learn playing the kahun? I said, I don't know what happened was when we were in Mangalore, right, we had a lot of worship leaders like two, three worship leaders. So what I did was I started playing drums a little bit. Very little. I don't know much. So just little just to keep the beat, right? I don't know the technical terms and all that. But I did that for three and a half years. So when I came here, I don't know that, you know, it's going to help me later on. For me, okay, there's a worship leader. So it made sense to play another instrument. And so in that way, God has his ways of training us in different ways. So never look at God's way as a judgment. Oh, God, maybe I've not prayed enough. So that's why no opportunity is coming to me. Or maybe I've not read the Bible enough. That's why no opportunity. God does not look that way. He will open the right door at the right time. We just need to be faithful, right? By His wisdom, the Lord put to naught the wisdom of the world. And we talked about this as well. The wisdom of the cross being far greater than the wisdom of the world. Why is it wisdom? All across from the Old Testament, if you see, God is a God of wisdom, right? So from Genesis chapter two, he knew the plan. He knew everything that he was going to do. So it was, it was the wisdom of God. God, why did you choose crucifixion? It's the wisdom of God.  No, it was the wisdom of God. They had to be full suffering, right? Now, when you talk about the cross, it's not wisdom. It's foolishness, right? But for God, it's wisdom. But when God did this to the cross, when he came up with this whole, you know, the cross and sins of the world being on this person, it is, it may look and sound foolish for some of us, but it's the wisdom of God. Even now, you know, yesterday, we were, you know, during the prayer, we heard about how these wonderful revival movements and even now, yes, it's true. Punjab is seeing a huge harvest. How is it?  Whatever in their shops or in apartments, they work the whole day, carpenters and plumbers. During the workplace, they are talking to other believers, other people, bringing them to Christ. Every evening, they have prayer for three hours, right? And every Sunday's, they have four or five services. Who's the pastor? Carpenter or a plumber? They hardly know anything about the Bible, right? Of course, now what people are doing is because of the revival, people are traveling there, providing them resources, providing them teachings, but they are saying, no, we don't want anything. All we need is God, right? All we need is, we don't want your finances. We don't want your money. We don't want anything. How it's going on? Let it go on. So there's this article and this plumber, plumber, you know, the plumbers, the guys who fix water taps and all of it. He, in one of the rural parts of Punjab, started, you know, just like a small church and right now, there are 400 to 500 people coming to the church. Now the best part is, they have open fields, so they pay the owner or if they are the owner, then it's good. But they pay the owner and say, you want to use the field. There is no mic system. There is no LED screen. There's no stage. One person standing and preaching. You know, they were saying that, you know, God supernaturally gave strength to these people where when they spoke 300, 400 people could hear. Right? And eventually, of course, they got speakers and all, but initially they could hear. Is this something which the Holy Spirit cannot do? Because sometimes we think, oh, we need all of this. God is above that. What did Jesus do when he stood on that mountain? He spoke to 5000 people. No mixer, no analog digital mixer, no in-ears, nothing. He spoke. They all heard 5000 people. Can he do it now? He can do it now. Right? And you should read about it. Go to Google and read about this. It is true. What God is doing in India. Only thing is, I think yesterday somebody sent me a video where this news channel, they come to a Christian program in North India, right? They come to this Christian program and say, why have you become Christians? You're making India as a nation.  You're, you know, you're all becoming Christians. And these guys are fearless in the interview. Maybe I'll share the video that was sent to me. Fearless. They're saying, this is, I think last week, they're saying, why should we become, we will do what we want to do. And the reporter is saying, then we'll take you to jail. Take me to jail. And these guys are, you know, they're so strong. And they're saying, no, you're getting money from other countries. Why you all don't get money from other countries? You all don't get, and you know, they're so strong. They're so convicted. And this other person is saying, or we believe in all gods. So this, this guy is saying, we believe, we don't believe in all gods, but among all gods, this is Jesus is the greatest God.  And this is, you know, national news, it's going everywhere. I was so happy when I saw that I said, God, thank you for this authority. And sometimes we only look at the bad or the sad things that are happening. Church is being beaten up, pastors put into prison, but there is a move of God happening. There's this whole boldness. And it's happening in our nation.  And they are on the news. They're saying it's okay. I'll probably share the video, you can see it, but how is all this happening? Is it our own intellect, their own understanding? God's wisdom, the wisdom of the cross, making the world foolish, greater than the wisdom of the world, right? Last point here, a portion with the great Isaiah 5312. Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul unto death and he was numbered with the transgressors. And he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. Because this, therefore, I will divide him a portion with the great Christ triumph at the cross and entered into a place of honor, the right hand of the Father exalted above all powers. So, therefore, I will divide the portion with the great, right? So, when the Lord Jesus, he triumphed on the cross, he finished what he had to do. God, he went, the Bible says he was seated at the right hand of the Father. The Bible, the right hand means the hand of authority. Jeremiah says, stretch out your hand of God, stretch out your right hand upon this nation, right? A hand of authority. Right is always a place of authority. We use it, right? Even now, hey, he's my right hand. Meaning, after me, he has all the authority or she has all the authority, right? So Christ, when he triumphed on the cross, he became the right hand of the Father. He went and he was seated there. Christ shares his triumph with us and we become his powerful one. Now, I always give this example, right? It's not like Jesus won and he's saying, okay, I defeated the cross, I defeated the devil. So, it's not like it was a competition between the devil and Jesus. No, on the cross, the Lord Jesus was looking at each one of us, right? He was not looking at the devil, right?  Now, let's see who's going to be the winner. You or me, I've overcome temptations. I've never, I've never sinned. Now, this cross is here. Once I finish the cross, I have destroyed you. No, that was not in his mind. In his mind, on the cross was you and me. When I die on the cross, my people, my children can call God above Father. It was you and I on the cross. It was not a competition with the devil, right? It was for you and me, right? But when he won, he said, now I'm giving you the authority. You and I, Ephesians 1, are seated with Him in heavenly places. We have the authority, right? We are victorious. We are righteous. We are justified, sanctified, holy because He has given us the strength, right? And He shares His spoil with us. It is for anyone, anybody can come to the cross. Finally, the uniqueness of Christ, Hebrew 725. Therefore, He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him since He always lives to make intercession for us. While on the cross, what did Jesus do? Father, forgive them for they don't know what they are doing. He stood as an intercession for His own accusers. Now, He's doing the same thing. He's standing next to the Father and He's making intercession. What is He doing? He's saying, God, Father, this boy or this girl, this is His weakness. But give Him the strength, give Him an opportunity. He will believe in, He will do the work of the ministry or maybe He's called to do this. Right now, He's turning away. Don't put your judgment upon Him. Remember the cross. Remember the blood that was shed. What is the Father doing? Right? It's like this, okay? This is a person and God is looking at the judgment. When the Father looks at sin, what must He do? What does the Father do when He looks at sin? He has to bring His righteous judgment. Right? When there's sin, the Father brings judgment. But all of a sudden, Jesus comes and stands in between Him and the Father. Jesus is standing. Now, Jesus is saying, He's weak. He's tired. He's not able to overcome temptations. It's okay. Give Him some time. Don't pass your judgment on Him. Right?  So He's standing there with the blood and He's saying, don't bring judgment on Paul. Remember this blood? Remember the cross? Another Father is looking at me through the eyes of Jesus and saying, okay, even though you have sin, even though you are living in sin, when you ask forgiveness, I will look at you as righteous. I will look at you as just as if you have not sinned because the Son is here. If there's no Son, gone. He will pour out His judgment on us. You see what the cross did for us? He is able to save two the uppermost. No matter how far we go away, if we come back to the cross, we can find forgiveness. This should be an encouragement for us, especially when we are ministering to people and when we are ministering, we feel that this person or that person, I don't think they'll accept Christ or the Prime Minister or the President. How will they accept Christ? They have other things to do. He's able to save to the uppermost. Amen? Amen. Alright, let's take a break. We'll come back and we'll do, we'll get into the next chapter.


Hello, welcome to the Premier League show, the summer months, lots of transfer speculation, lots of stuff going on, there's obviously Chelsea just being taken over, their new owners apparently want to spend £200 million in the transfer market this summer, which it sounds like a lot, they can equate to four players of £50 million obviously but it sounds like a lot of money, and people have been discussing whether or not that will take them. Closer to the title of people at the last fan standing, let's have a look what the lads had to say on this week's show. Does it, is this a change for good? Is this a change for the worst? Because they talk about spending £200 million and stuff, and that sounds like a lot of money, but then when you look at the players that have left Chelsea, is that £200 million just to cover those ones that have left? Because if it is, then they're probably not going to improve. Le Cacu deal has to probably go down as one of the worst ever, when you look at, they bought in for 100 million euro and now I think they're giving him on loan for like 10 million. That's one of the worst deals ever, but getting rid of Le Cacu might actually improve the dressing room in the same way Aubameyang leaving Arsenal did. It's two-shows third season is it? So I think Chelsea are probably one that, Chelsea Spurs, possibly could push. There you go, there, the lads on the last fan standing. Head over to Beth Victor's YouTube channel and watch the rest of that show. Make sure you comment, give the video a like, put your thoughts in the comment section over there, and subscribe as well to the Beth Victor last fan standing channel. Adam makes some good points there. It's obviously £200 million just to sound a lot. We'd love it. There's Evertonians, we might have two quits to spend. But when you've got to also replace players and what Chelsea have got to do, obviously looks like they've done that deal with Romelu Le Cacu to go back to Inter all beer on loan to start. Rudige has joined Real Madrid, obviously in the stay. They've got other, you know, they had problems at the end of the season. There's a couple of others who were out of contract and they were possibly leaving as well. And they're in that situation, I think, Thomas Chuckle at the moment. They finished third. How can they bridge the gap to Manchester City and Liverpool? And how can they freshen up that side as well? So the interesting one is, Nick, I do feel like this is the first proper summer for Thomas Chuckle to get his hands on things the way he wants to do them. I think last season Romelu Le Cacu was somewhat forced on him. And I think we've seen that with the amount of games he played and the style Thomas Chuckle wants to play doesn't necessarily shoot Romelu Le Cacu. So, yeah, I think for him, he'll probably be thinking, well, finally I get to put my mark on the team, probably how I want to do things. Obviously he was at Paris Saint-Germain before that and it never quite happened there.  There's a little bit less player power, but of course you have got to deal with the owner and now the owner's left and there's a new owner and I think he'll be happy now that he has got a chance. And if people are leaving, then that's just for him. He probably thinks that creates opportunities to actually get what he wants in. And when you've got that kind of money, then you know, it's easier to do. And there'll be other players when you sell about £200m pot, but that's before the other players go. You know, some of the midfielders, the likes of Ross Barkley, Lofter's Chee. You know, people like that could be expendable. So it's going to be an interesting summer for them, I think, last year. I honestly thought with the sign of Ron Llew Carchwyd, he was going to get a lot closer to Liverpool and Manchester City after winning the Champions League, but it never quite worked out like that. But obviously that also happened because of injuries as well. Both wingbacks got injuries and they couldn't be replaced then. They've got some top players in Chelsea on the day or a top side, but they just haven't got that consistency or didn't have that consistency last season. So it's a big couple of months for them in the transfer market. Wyd, obviously, like you said, I was the same when Llew Carchwyd cwm, and I thought he was going to be the gold difference for them. You know, he's going to be the fella that wins the most tight games. But it didn't work out like that. It didn't work out like that at all. And you're right, he probably was for some on to Thomas Tuckall. So with him going out the door, there's obviously a lot of rumours going around. Lewandowski was one of the rumours, but I think he's still angling to get to Barclay, isn't he? And we'll talk about buying you in a bit more in a minute. But Rytialysen, obviously, everything, all forward. There's a wide player that's been linked with Chelsea. They're apparently coming out of London now. That seems more likely than what Spares does for Rytialysen. Now he's a player who can play through the middle. I personally still think he's better wide, but is he someone who shares a replacement for Llew Carchwyd? No, but I don't think there is a replacement for Llew Carchwyd because Llew Carchwyd is not the kind of player they want. You know, they've been linked with Rytialysen, but they've also been linked with Raheem Stalen, which means to me that they want a fluid front three. They want a front three. Obviously, they play different styles to the other two. I think more the other two top sides, because they do like to play with three at the back, and they do like to play with, you know, Rhys James and Chillwell on the other side, get real with like that. But I think they want that fluidness up front, and I think we saw that last season with Caya Verde playing as more as the central striker and people buzzing off around them. So, the fact that they're linked with Rytialysen and Stalen suggests to me that that's what he's looking for, which is obviously a lot more of a modern way of doing things. Obviously, they're not, they won't be, see, and both of them fit the bill quite, Rytialysen fit the bill because he wouldn't be asked to do anything really outwired when you've got those wing backs playing the way they do. And I think that would really shoot with Rytialysen. It's a role we've never quite seen and played forever because we just haven't had the players, the full backs to play high enough to allow him to play, not quite as a striker, but also not quite as a wide player. And he likes shopping in his number 10. So, I think Rytialysen's face-atality is ideal for a team like Chelsea. You've got who will be playing in the Champions League, who will be playing obviously, would like to play, you know, up to 50 odd games, more than 50 odd games this season, more 60 games or whatever the maximum you can play is. So, he would suit them, I think, as a squad player. I think we've said previously, and I think, you know, about Rytialysen and how I've always thought when he's been linked with teams, and of course I don't want to see him leave ever, but it feels like it's inevitable. But I've always felt like one of the big sides in Europe, he would fit them perfectly because he might play on the Wednesday or the Tuesday in the Champions League game. But come the Saturday or the Sunday before the Champions League game or after the Champions League game, he's perfect. He's perfect. And then, you know, he will play a certain amount of the Champions League games. And I think, I know a lot of people scoff and say, he's not good enough. But I think for a team like Chelsea, someone who's racing the Champions League and wants to go deep into the Champions League, he's absolutely perfect for them. He might start every game, but there's enough games. You generate enough games that you want players like him. And I think that's where Chelsea last season didn't have enough of those players. And I think, look at Man City squad, look at Liverpool squad, how they used their players, how they swapped them round, how they changed them. And they had that squad depth, five subs this season. And I don't want to lose to Chelsea, obviously. But I'd rather see him go to a top cycling in the Champions League than obviously not in this country. But then go somewhere else. Yeah, and obviously play me better players. You get more opportunities and a bit more space, because others are marked and stuff. So, yeah, I mean, he cut him and Staling. And then you've obviously got Wain, I think you've got... Do you think he'd keep Wain at all if he got those two? Yeah, because I think he's still a handful. Still a handful. I don't know. I don't know, but he's still a handful. Because he's patient. Now he misses chances. Again, I just think he's one of those players where I think you could get a decent return for him. I think for him, I think Wain might want to cut drop down to the next tier down and be very, very dangerous for someone if he started every single week. No, no, because he'd start every single week. And he'd get the amount of goals, you know, 15 goals a season. For a club like where we are, we require. I just don't know if he does enough for Chelsea to really not take an offer on him. One of the players very quickly before we move on, they've been linked with this Dilet, who, obviously, seemed everyone was after him a raiach, so he went over to the eventers, didn't he? And it's not quite... The injuries have hindered him, but he's still only young. Change of managers. He looked a fantastic prospect, didn't he? Do you think that's something that he could do? I think he could tempt them. I think it's the changing of the guard at the eventers, isn't it, really, with Keeley, and he's gone over to MLS. And I do think there is a changing of the guard there as some of the older players start to, you know, they're into their final days. And I think that's why he was bought to take over from those players. So eventers might be looking and going, well, now this is the time we need them, but of course, eventers aren't exactly cash flush. And obviously, one of the people who were fully behind the Super League, and Nellie was one of the principal men behind it. So they might be thinking this is exactly what we bought them for, but then Chelsea come rolling in with all that, with a nice part of money and go, actually, you're going to be our main fella this year. We fully believe in what, you know, money talks ultimately, doesn't it? Definitely. That will be interesting to see whether he is tempted out of Italy. We just mentioned the top two there, obviously Manchester City brought Harland in. We spoke about that last week. They're still looking at Cuckirella, still looking at Calvin Phillips, as well, apparently, trying to strengthen them. But Liverpool have lost Sadio Marni, which was expected obviously Darwin Nunes coming last week. So everyone knew Marni was going, but a good sign for Bayern Munich. But do you think he'd be missed by Liverpool? Yeah, massively. I think he'd be missed more than I think people are giving him credit for it. He really was, you know, goals, I think goals and assists. He's up there with anyone in the last few seasons. Obviously he was down to his last year, and the money he's got for him is fantastic. But I do think he'll be missed. I think he's that player who just used to get Liverpool, you know, used to get them that goal in a game where it might be a little bit tight. He turned himself into a really, really good striker. And they will miss him, but of course, listen, they have got the plays to replace him. You know, they'd already brought, you know, as you mentioned, Nunes in, and they've got other players there. I mean, they've already started to fill the gaps. And Jotar and, for me, you know, Diaz. Diaz, of course, you've got an ambassador. And of course, they've still got Salah, probably for one more year anyway. Salah for one more year, yes. So, yeah, it does feel like there is a stand to be a changing of the guard at Liverpool. But that's what has to happen, isn't it? Organically, that has to happen. When players are getting into the 30s, if they're not prepared to sign new contracts, then you've got to get as much as you can for them. It's been an unbelievable sign. For six years, it's been brilliant. They bought them, they got more for them, and he's had six years out of them. So, a good bit of business out. It's exactly how you hope to do business, isn't it? So, yeah, it's going to be really interesting to see what they do. But good sign for Bayern Munich. Obviously, like we said before, Lewandowski wants out. Yeah, but he's been slightly priced out the market, I think. He's only got a year left, there's no honest contract. Barcelona was his dream of Barcelona, they haven't got any money. As we stand right now. I'm sure they'll make something happen, because that's what they've done recently. They might have to rely on someone leaving. But yeah, he's probably man, he's going to become the main man there. It's a different challenge. I've read something today about Bayern Munich saying that they're selling it as still able to attract the best players in the world. Because there was a worry in Germany that Bundesliga was losing too many, it wasn't able to attract top players in. And they're very much home, man. I was opposed to the boy of like, look, we still can. That's nonsense. No, no, I'm just saying that's what they're trying to make themselves feel better. No, no, but the thing about it is though, they don't have to feel bad that if they can't attract. Because ultimately, I prefer the Bundesliga as a league in the structure and the competitiveness. And I know I say that, knowing that Bayern Munich had won the last 10. But every other place is off the gaps. It's off the gaps. And I understand that they are very much a super league team in name. They could do with winning the Champions League a little bit more often maybe. But they are obviously different entities from what the rest of the Bundesliga is. And sometimes you're going to get that on you because of the way things work. But yeah, I mean, there's no shame in saying all the big players come here to the Premier League. Because everyone can pay them, they should money. Pay big money. And it's a different way of doing things. But you know that. It is mad when you look at, like, how good Borussia Dortmund are. Fantastic side. Yeah, they're wage bills dwarfed by, say, Evans. Evans' wage bills massively dwarfed by Dortmund. They're in Champions League finals in the last 10 years. So who's getting it right? So yeah, quite obviously not us. And I don't just mean Evans, there's a lot of clubs in England. Who's wage bills bigger than people like Dortmund? Because we're all trying to push that league. Because we've all stupidly bought into this thing that we can all grab hold of the brass ring and we can't. And there's going to have to be some realisation of that pretty soon. I think the thing as well is, you look at, you know, this has gone slightly off-topic, but it's fine. You look at things like the Europa League final bit, Rangers. Rangers, without being disrespectful to them, they're like a champion to your level player. Because they can't pay huge win. Rangers years ago when they had a lot of money, they had fantastic players. They were brilliant in that. They were unlucky to losing a final. A team they lost to, Frank Fert, they've been put together for not mad money. And they've gone to a final of your second competition. So those clubs are getting it right more than Premier League clubs. Because our clubs are going and getting knocked out. Westland got knocked out. I don't know if they've done brilliantly, but they got knocked out. Lest they got knocked out in the conference league. Haven't been knocked out in the Europa League. And yet these teams, doing it budget-wise, have it better. A lot of German teams have it better. It's again, that's the primary working against those teams. The Riggers are the primary working against those teams. That's the problem. I'm for me paying too much money, because I didn't be able to go. We've all followed. If we pay massive wages, it means we're going to be bossing. It doesn't have to be like that. So by me, Nick, they've also brought Ryan Graven back in as well. From Holland, he's a very good player. So they're doing some other bit of business. They're trying to freshen that side up. And they've still got people like Kingsley Coleman. I'm heart-bleed for them. They're in a bad place. I've won 10 Bundesleaguers on the run. We'll finish now. Do you see anyone? I mean Arsenal. They're very much in the news this week. Spending more money again. I'm still after Rafina. As well as Fabio Vieira in this week. Can they get closer to the top two? Not without a centre forward. They can't. No. It doesn't seem that way. Obviously Eddie Niqueti's recent. The four players, but Spazer four players. Spazer are looking at Chelsea. We can get above Chelsea this season. But you still put Arsenal just outside the back right now. So they're going to strike it. Is that the big difference? Yeah. They want to strike it. But what about Chelsea then? Obviously Le Cacou's gone on. We're talking about them. Are they vulnerable? There's a different question as we finish. A Spazer in a better position to finish in the top three now than Chelsea then. Just right now it could change in the next four weeks. Sign and change everything. But what I mean is Spazer have got Kane and Sonu. They are probably just around the same mark as them. Just because of the forwards. Yeah. And because of who they've bought. But then Chelsea will bring in good players. Yeah. So it doesn't really matter because it's June. That's it. It changes weekly. June, the league table looks bad for us. It does. It's quite good. Let us know what you think in the comments section below. With Chelsea. What will Chelsea do? Can Chelsea be a good replacement for Le Cacou in the means of... It allows Chelsea like Pettiser to have a fluid front three. Not necessarily a back to goal striker. Will Chelsea be able to get any closer to the top two? Will Spazer be able to get above Chelsea? Are Arsenal the real deal this season? Let us know in the comments. Make sure you get over to the Beth Vita website and watch the Last Fan Standing. YouTube channel? Yeah, the YouTube channel. Get over there. Give the video a thumbs up. Give the comments. Get in the comments and put your opinion over to the lads. Thanks for watching and we'll see you later.


Hi, I'm Stu Miniman, senior analyst with Wikibon. Want to talk about the business drivers for hyper-converged infrastructure, leading the way towards enterprise cloud. When we talk to users today, there's often a mandate coming to companies to engage with the cloud. Now, as that trickles down a lot of times, what does that mean? Does that mean I go all in on public cloud? Do I have some transformation of what I'm doing in my environment? And well, what we find users are doing is they're actually doing multiple environments. When we talk about hybrid cloud today, that usually means that they have a combination of public cloud usage, software as a service, such as CRM and others, as well as what they're doing on-premises. When we look at enterprise cloud, we really hope to clear up some of the confusion about what infrastructure I'm managing and where some of my application goes. So first of all, we need to change the overall consumption model of infrastructure. It needs to be much simpler. And this is where hyperconvergence comes into the story. Hyperconvergence helps standardize a lot of what we're doing as well as simplifying it, both from the installation of what's going in, as well as version and control. One of the great things about public cloud is nobody asks, hey, what version of AWS or Azure are you running? They take care of that. When Wikibon wrote the true private cloud definition, we said that you should have the same type of environment, which means I should push more of the labor, the work onto the vendors and the platforms. So things like version and control need to be a lot simpler because that really is one of those activities in the data center that really bogs our people down. That's why we have over 70% of operations on, quote, keeping the lights on. So that public private cloud discussion is not binary. What enterprise cloud should enable is that both you choose the tools that you need today and you have the flexibility to move the workload, move the applications where you need. And that is, once again, not necessarily one way, but some things for certain times of year or for certain reasons are going to be in one location, both or spread between them.  So if IT resources, we know that the IT staff has a limit as to what they can do. And if I can spend less time running around the data center, keeping things up and running, I will have more time to be able to focus on the needs of the business, help grow and transform where I need to go and be more agile to respond to things as they come forward. From a number of standpoint, Wikibon sees a huge opportunity to go past traditional storage. Hyper-convergence really eliminates those migration costs. So both when you bring a new solution in to when you update it and expand it to when you eventually pull it out of an environment, if I have a pool of resources, rather than having standalone arrays, there's over 30% of the total cost of ownership can be eliminated from what we're doing. And also, when I'm buying with smaller building blocks, I can really increase my utilization. So many companies, when they bought traditional storage or even converged infrastructure, they have to do that dark art of forecasting and if you're buying something and that's the infrastructure that I'm gonna have for three years, most likely going to either underutilize it or have to scramble to put more environments in. So a smaller building block that acts from a software standpoint as a pool is going to be a much simpler environment to be able to start with, to grow with and to run my business on, allowing me to focus on the true business drivers rather than keeping things up and running. See Wikibon.com for all the research on true private cloud, server sand, hyper-convergence and more. And thank you for joining us for this segment.


This empty lot is the site for the development of a new rec center in Poole in the town of Aldegrove, a pool that has been met with a surprisingly large amount of controversy. On Saturday, April 2nd, members of the Poole protest committee held their protest against the decision to have an outdoor pool with an overhead canopy. The purpose of the protest was to inform the residents of Aldegrove of this new change and the fact that they are not getting what was originally proposed back in 2012. And I thought that the people really had something to say about that and they just needed a place to at the very least be educated about it, that it was never going to be an option to close it in. Alice and her group are protesting against the decision for the new Aldegrove pool to be an outdoor pool. The protest petition garnered over 200 signatures. I was absolutely blown away and amazed. Aldegrove is a very tight-knit community and very supportive. It is their wish to have the pool be an indoor pool just like the original plan from 2012. This decision was still in motion as of 2014 according to this message from Mayor Jack Froze. One of the visions that I've always had while raising my family in Aldegrove was to get an indoor pool and a community center into Aldegrove. When questioned about the video statement, Mayor Froze defended his want for an indoor pool but admitted that the plans had to change. I wanted an indoor pool, however, I didn't follow it. But then the plan was changed to an outdoor pool with an accompanying water park. And according to some town folk, the change came without warning or input from the community. And I think by the time everybody realized it, it had been passed. There was, before there was always a dialogue between the community and the council with regards to it. And I don't think that this was really flagged for what it was. According to township counselor Charlie Fox, the change came due to budgetary concerns. The original design was estimated at between $33 and $34 million and would have incorporated the decommissioned Aldegrove Elementary building. However, due to growing estimation costs as well as eventual servicing and road service costs, council had to rethink their strategy. So actually a $35 million physical plant is actually going to gain approach $40 million. We just don't have those resources at our disposal without going to a tax increase or into a deficit situation. Which we, council has very clearly told staff we're not willing to do. Council then came up with their alternative, which was an overhead canopy for the outdoor pool. I've always been in favor of the canopy because I think it does provide some weather shields. It's not a perfect solution under any means, but it's doable given the financial wherewithal. This decision along with the changing estimation costs has gained much controversy as members of the pool protest committee in the former township mayor Rick Green state their concerns for the pool being open in the winter months. It almost defies any rationale or any reason. There is no way that pool will be used. I don't care how they heat the deck or anything else between October and April. People that are seniors or small children are going to be freezing. They're not going to use the facility. I think people will be surprised at the end of the day with what possibilities exist. If we don't act now, the delays will further complicate things and potentially put at risk the whole project. Nobody wants to take anything away from anybody, but if it's possible to tweak things so we can have the opportunity to enclose it. The big question now is whether or not the pool will be completed by its intended date of summer 2018. Township is hopeful that they will make this deadline, however this is a pool that has been delayed well over a decade. The pool protest committee will continue to fight for the original indoor pool that was proposed back in 2012. However, the decision of whether it is an indoor or outdoor pool ultimately comes down to council. Whether they are willing to listen or compensate for anything more than the outdoor canopy is up to them. If you want to learn more about the pool, you can check out the township of Langley website. If you want to learn more about the story and the protest, you can check out the Aldegor star. This is Jeremy Hannaford reporting from the intended pool site in Aldegor.


Hello, my name is Jose. I'm Liz. I'm Michael. And I'm Juan. And we also have Rachel, but she couldn't be here today. This semester we worked on a project with the Children's Healing Center. We attempted to answer two open-ended questions, which we'll get to in a second. But first, I'd like to tell you a little bit about the center. So the center is a nonprofit organization that has been open since 2015. They provide a space for immunocompromised children and their families. They currently serve about 360 families. Because of the nature of the center, they put a big emphasis on the well-being of the members. And so to accommodate health-related wellness, they ensure that every visitor, when they come in, goes through a process that encompasses basically a wellness checkup. Make sure they're healthy. They're not sick. They essentially leave as much of their personal belongings behind so that they're not bringing in too much into the center that might be potentially contaminated in some way. And also they emphasize the mental and physical well-being so they have different rooms in the center that are designated towards, for example, active play, learning about technology, exploratory play. And so with that being said, Liz will tell you a little bit more about the details of the project that we've been working on. Okay, so when we were approached by the Children's Healing Center, they were currently serving about half as many families as they potentially could be. So our goal was to help the center grow efficiently. And so that was our overall goal. So we kind of broke it down into two smaller questions that we can use, our data to answer them. The first being, we wanted to identify who the center served, so identify the characteristics of the families that benefit the most from the center. And so our second question was to minimize the cost of acquisition, where acquisition is the time and resources it takes for the center to get the families to come into the center. And so we wanted to identify the members that had the lowest cost of acquisition to minimize the amount of time and resources the center needs to get these families in, but also identify the members who will benefit the most. And so the Children's Healing Center gave us several different data sets, but the main three that we utilized in our analysis were the visit data set, the context data set, and the membership data set. And so the context data set contained general information like their gender, their member type being like if they were a parent, a sibling, or a qualified member. Our visit data set contained several different things. So it had, they tracked their every visit for every family. So it tracked the date that they came in, the time that they went out, and the time that they were there in minutes. And our membership data set contained general information about these members. So they contained like zip codes, family size, and household income, but we couldn't really use household income since there was a lot of missing values. And so this is an example of what are the raw data sets that we got. And so as you can see, basically none of it is, it's all very formatted, but you can also do that household income as several different, several missing values as well. And so to identify the members that were a high benefit, we wanted to quantify this definition of high benefit. So from the data that we were given, we were able to quantify it three different ways. So we had three different definitions for high benefit. The first being the number of times the family has visited the center, and that was calculated using the visit data set which contained information about each time the family visited the center. So we just summed the total times that they were there. The second being the amount of time in minutes that the family has spent at the center. So that was calculated using the visit data set as well, which contained the duration of the program in minutes, so we just summed all those. And the last being the total member days of the family. So that was calculated using the membership data where it had the date when they first came in and their last date that they were there. And so we just calculated the total days between those two dates. And so high benefit, we basically, for each definition, we found descriptive statistics and we divided up the groups based on these statistics. And so each definition, we wanted to use everything above the upper outlier to ensure that everything above that were defined as high benefit. But for this example, this is total member days, and we can see that our outlier doesn't contain any data points. So we actually use the median for this one so we can get more people in our definition for total member days. All right, so these demographics that we chose to look at were the condition of the qualified members, such as cancer or in our hospital diseases. We also looked at age ranging from infant to age 26. And as for location, we have the zip codes of the numbers, and we found the drive time and dates that it took for them to get to the center. And we also looked after the sizes. All right, so now that we've had some characteristics for high members, we wanted to compare what these characteristics look like compared to the total population. So we used one of our three definitions, we used the total days and compared it to what the total population of the center. And this first one, we're looking at condition. We can see that the high benefit is almost identical to the total population. So we do see that condition isn't an indicator of whether they're high benefit or not. We found this relatively early. We were kind of surprised by it because we thought it might be. As we can see, since the data is almost identical, we know that it's not a good indicator. So next, we looked at ages. As we can see, the ages in the total population were more like the four and the five and the six. But when we looked at the high benefit, you can see our range was actually five, seven and nine, which we found interesting. We know that it seems for total days at least that five, seven and nine were definitely a better indicator of what's going to be more high benefit, even though there are more kids aged four going to the center. So next, we looked at location. So location, we took the zip codes and developed approximately a draft time. So we found that those families who live closer within 15 minutes usually, we're going to be going to the center a lot more, which kind of makes sense. Because if you live farther away, you're not as likely to be driving to the center or a day or so. So we found that, like we said, 15 minutes is pretty much the only standout as far as compared to the total population in our data. And then we looked at family size. So as we can see, this graph kind of looks normal, which makes sense. It says we know family sizes of four, five or more common with two kids, two parents. So again, this kind of matches up pretty much dynamically, except for family size four, which we did find was actually more high benefit than what our total population says. So we were able to kind of say that these family size reports are benefiting more from the center than what the normal population says they should. So towards the end, we looked at one-time visits. This is these families who are coming into the visit one time, and that's it and never showing back up. So for here, we looked at family size and draft time. We didn't really look at age and condition because, again, that was pretty identical to what the population said. So we were able to kind of ignore them because it didn't really give us anything as far as one-time visits. So we looked at family size, and we were kind of surprised that families as the five were only showing up once. We figured since they have this family of five, they might want to be coming more often, but after talking to our agents, they made a good point that with this family of five, they might have other responsibilities to their other children and whatnot, and might not be able to come in as much. The other one we looked at was location. So we saw that, again, this makes sense that the farther they are, the less likely they are to come back. So these families that live 35 minutes away, that are way more frequent than the population, makes sense because they're probably not going to want to drive as much. And then as for cost of acquisition, we have draft recruit time, which is a lot of time and days between the referral date of the family and the date they joined us after, and we compare it to membership length and date. And as you can see, the side of it is a really great job at recruiting members. So everyone has a pretty low recruit time. And ideally, we would have all the members in the upper left-hand corner, which would indicate that they have a low recruit time and high benefit as well. But we do find that the members who are in that category have similar demographics to the high benefit at this cruise. And to wrap things up, we were able to define characteristics of high benefit members, which we outline as they generally live within a half-hour distance to drive time. They have a family size of four to six, and their ages range between five and ten as far as the members are concerned. When we looked at minimizing the cost of acquisition, as mentioned, the center does a really great job at recruiting members, people that are eligible, families that are eligible to come in, but their retention rate is low. Another thing that we saw as things to consider is that the timeframe that the center has been open is small, and because of that, we have a small DST. And then for suggested future work, we think it would be good to analyze income once more data is available. It would be good to start a survey of their members to see, to attempt to answer some of the questions that are more soft questions in the sense of like, why are people coming? In that sense. And we would like to see a repeat analysis on a bigger market, they have said, and also to investigate retainability. What can they do to help retain their members? And lastly, I'd like to thank our professor and advisor, Dr. David Austin, our liaison, Amanda of our board, and Big Match for making this possible.


I guess the most interesting part of being in the Philippines and being a part of Erie was meeting the people. The people that were from all over the world from different countries. It made it a very enrich enriching experience. All the different cultures coming together and I think that's what I enjoyed most about being at Erie. Being the wife of a busy director general we women found things to do when the men were busy being there doing what they did. It was fun to get together and have potlucks and the food from all the different countries. It was I've never had a potluck like that any play any other place but at Erie all the different foods from the different countries and cultures and playing bridge with everybody and the book club. I enjoyed the book club that we had very much. I loved to read but I wrote read mostly American authors and some of the ladies from other countries introduced me to other authors from other countries and it really made me learn or I learned more and helped me understand more about other countries and in their way of life and it was a wonderful adventure. One that I wouldn't take for you know it was just an amazing period in my life to be able to experience being in another like in another world and I think it made me appreciate things more things that I had taken for granted. I learned to appreciate them more. Also my family that was the hard part of being in the Philippines and being at Erie was being away from from my family my parents and my children for those those many years. However the first year we were in the Philippines I think I came back to the U.S. six times and for one reason or another and I was saying talking to my daughter on one of my visits later at the end of the year and I said Jennifer I'm really sorry that I live so far away and I don't get to see you so often. She said mom I've seen you more this year than I saw you the whole time you were in Iowa and that was true and I did I came back to visit children more than once a year and and also we our children visited us in the Philippines and that was they enjoyed that very much getting to see where we lived and how we lived and getting to meet some of the people that we had grown very fond of the time that we were there in Erie.