Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 3 (00:23):
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Speaker 1 (00:24):
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Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yeah, yeah. Woo!
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Scrolling headlights feel the pressure in my chest. World full
of noise, but they say it's.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
For the best.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Echo chambers laugh, got you trapped in the feed. But
I'm breaking out the box, yeah, I question what I read.
They say trust the system, don't peek behind the veil.
But the deeper that I look, see the cracks.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
In the tail.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
From the shadows to the light, I'm igniting the flame.
Speaker 5 (01:13):
Independent voices rise, never playing again.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Hear the whispers in.
Speaker 5 (01:17):
The night Voices saying stand and fight Through the chaos,
through the lies We're the ones who open.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Eyes We are the truth.
Speaker 5 (01:30):
In the static, loud and untamed, working the silence. Yeah,
we're calling the names through the fire, through the noise.
We don't faint, eternal voices, never.
Speaker 6 (01:48):
Buried, never tamed.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Mic check, one, two, this is spiritual war.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Armor on my soul, yeah, I'm.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Ready for more.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
They can censor every word, try to bury the sound.
But the underground pulse still shaking the ground. Radio waves
like a beacon in the storm. Independent minds, yeah, we're
far from the norm.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
Faith in the message, got a fire in the chest.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Speak it raw, speak it real, let.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
The truth manifest.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Oh.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
They try to shut it down.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Oh.
Speaker 5 (02:23):
But we're still here now. Truth don't die, it multiplies.
You can't cage what never lies.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Turn it up, hear the voices in the feed.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Question everything they.
Speaker 6 (02:36):
Want you to believe. From the silence to the roar.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
We ignite.
Speaker 6 (02:41):
Stand tall, bring the dark into the light.
Speaker 5 (02:45):
We are the truth in the static, loud and unchained,
breaking the silence. Yeah, we're calling the names through the fire,
through the noise. We don't fade, eternal voices.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Never buried, never changed. Good evening, everybody. I am Joshua Cummins,
(03:40):
and welcome back to Eternal Affairs Interviews. And this interview
is going to be with this great gentleman next to me.
His name is Nick Richardson, if you don't already know.
And we're going to get into that here very, very shortly.
But I want to remind you guys that you are
listening on EA Truth Radio. And this is brought to
(04:01):
you by eternalaffairsmedia.com. The website, again, is eternalaffairsmedia.com. Please visit
the website. All kinds of content outside of this that
you will absolutely enjoy. So much there for you to consume.
And also... If you would do me a favor and
(04:21):
check out my network as well. I have, I have
my own network separate from here. It's revolver broadcasting. And
if you go to revolver broadcasting.com, I would really appreciate it.
We have 11 shows that we do over there and
all out of this, all out of the same studio
that I'm currently working in. So I'm just busy all
the time creating stuff for you guys. So, We want
(04:45):
to make sure that you guys have plenty of stuff
to watch, to listen to, and things that are going
to tell you the truth. Make sure you guys, if
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We need those comments, not just in the live chat,
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(05:05):
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and make sure that you're sharing this content uh because
i'll tell you sharing is in fact caring uh a
macho man from the grave beyond the grave agrees oh
(05:26):
yeah i i was just taking a look at your
shirt nick and i thought he'll appreciate that um But, Nick,
just before we get into all things you and what
you're working on and also the wonderful nonprofit that you
(05:52):
have built from the ground up, I got to tell
people about MyPillow real quick. Because, man, I love MyPillow.
I own two of them, as a matter of fact. People,
you know, I've heard negative reviews and I'm like, how?
These are like the best pillows. I'm, I'm an insomniac
by nature, but my, after I got my, my, my pillows,
(06:14):
I'm out like.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
A light, dude.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
I mean, so if you want to help support a
truthful medium, this truthful media, media ministry, as well as
Michael Lindell and fair elections, use promo code eternal at
my pillow.com. You can get up to 88% off depending
on what sales are running. Uh, they have many products
besides just the, my pillows. I mean, the blankets and
sheets and flippers and, I can't attest to all those,
(06:37):
but I can tell you those pillows are amazing, 100%
for sure. And remember to use promo code eternal at mypillow.com.
All right, the bills have been paid, Nick, and you
have this fantastic nonprofit called Greater Veterans, and I would
like to ask that you would tell us more about
(07:00):
that and how it came about.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
So I served in the Army from 99 to 03,
did a tour in Kosovo, bounced around with some DOD,
Department of Defense jobs overseas a little bit. My wife's
from Germany. And then we came stateside when our contract
was over with one of the companies. They did some
stupid things and ended up costing a bunch of us
(07:25):
our jobs. We knew it was coming down. So I said,
you know what? I got the GI Bill, the college fund.
Let's go back home to Washington State where I'm at now.
And I'll go to school and pursue criminal justice. So
that's what we were doing. And, you know, I got
my degree done in 2012, got my master's done, was
under the I want to say the first Obama administration
(07:48):
was coming to an end at that time.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
And there wasn't a lot of law enforcement jobs out
there for obvious reasons. I don't think. Your listeners have
to have that blank filled in. Yeah, not a very
pro-cop law enforcement administration. Anyway, there wasn't a lot of jobs.
I was out of work for about two years, struggling mentally.
My youngest, my daughter, was born at that time, trying
(08:16):
to find my way. Ended up going to Missouri for
about six months and then taking a probation job, bouncing
back here. and got a government job with Homeland Security
that starts off at part time. And I was like,
my mind was just rattled because, you know, we had
experienced that time a little bit of homelessness and some
(08:37):
of the vet services we used up here and other
places were subpar. There wasn't anything that, you know, it
was just like minor stuff. Nothing really helped with this
or with this. And Once I got on my feet,
you know, and was only part time, my boss said, hey,
you know, why don't you start a nonprofit doing those things?
(08:57):
And they gave me permission to do it because when
you're a federal employee, you got to ask those things, unfortunately. Yeah.
So I got it up and running.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Our original and still our goal, but it's harder to
reach than I initially thought, is to build a vet center.
That's going to be like a VFW on steroids. Not
that I'm encouraging steroid use, but as a descriptive term.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Right.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
And we want to have like a cafe, bistro, lounge
rec area, like a business development office, meeting room, internet cafe.
And then we want to have like a gym as
well as a, I don't know, like a cafeteria size
room for concerts, special events, guest speakers, holiday meals, et cetera.
So that was the original goal. And we're going to
(09:47):
call the center because you need a catchy name. We're
going to call it the evac center, which grabs your
ear as a military person. But instead, evac typically means
getting out of a bad into a good, you know,
so we thought, well, everyone loves acronyms. So let's do
an acronym with EVAC. So it stands for Every Veterans
Assistance Center. So that's the ultimate goal. But we also
(10:09):
didn't understand real estate when we came up with it,
that something in the 20 to 50,000 square foot, even
if you grabbed an old warehouse is You need Donald
Trump to fund it for you, literally. So we're still
working towards that. So in the meantime, we've done a
lot of outreach. Even before the nonprofit, my family and
(10:31):
I breed German Shepherds. So we try to do one
to two donated to a vet out of every litter
free of charge. We don't breed every year. We only
do typically two to three litters. We keep the parents in.
We don't, you know, rehome them. So some of it
has to do with the life cycle of the dog too.
So we don't, we don't breed before we downsize on
(10:53):
dogs and, you know, we let them live out their
life peacefully. So we do that as a give back
on top of the nonprofit mission.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
I'll definitely have to connect you with my good friend,
Eddie Block, who's done a few, because he has to
have a service dog himself, but because of his disability.
But he's helped several veterans get dogs. So I think
that would be a good partnership, you and him, because
he's a filmmaker as well. So that could be something else,
(11:25):
you know, maybe because he's fantastic at documentaries. So definitely.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Yeah, I'd love to connect. So, yeah, that's kind of
the side mission. So then the main mission, we thought, okay,
so how do we do these events, right? Because I
don't come from a music background by trade. I don't.
have a marketing background. I truthfully on Facebook, when I
first got on it, it was only to connect with
my army buddies. So like, you know, cause I was
(11:53):
born in 1980, I picked that number. And every time
I got above 80 friends, I'm like, okay, I got
to delete somebody. Cause I was like kind of recluse.
I had to learn to be the me that not
only I wanted to be and needed to be to
do this, but also what I feel like God wanted
me to be with the purpose.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
And, uh, So I'm like, OK, so I got to
get good at public speaking. And I'm like, OK, so
do I want to be I'm big on organic. So
do I want to be someone that writes speeches and
has these clever quotes and all that? And I'm like,
that's it makes me want to vomit. Right. Like not my.
So I said, OK, we're throwing that out the window.
(12:31):
I'll make bullet points sometimes if I really need to.
But I'm just going to shoot from the hip and
read the crowd reaction. So I made that decision. Then
I'm like, OK.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
It's always better when you go off-prompter. Go off-prompter. It's okay.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
You know what? Call it what you will, right? But
then I thought, okay, so if I get the best,
biggest-named veteran speaker that you can get, you know, I'm
going to have to charge a stupid amount of money
for tickets. I'm going to have a limited draw. People
may get something from the event, but at the end
of the day, it's just going to be like, eh.
So I'm like, okay, where our connection happens is when
(13:10):
people stay and talk and find out, hey, I went
to school with your aunt or your aunt went to
school with my dad or whatever else. So I'm like,
what's something that brings everyone together?
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Music.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Yes. So growing up, I listened to metal and country primarily.
And I'm like, I don't want metal because that's guys
like me and even deeper backgrounds. That's going to trigger aggression. Yeah.
liability security stupidity all are great things not to have
so I was like okay I'll cut that out I
like country so I was like okay so what are
(13:42):
my criteria is going to be for that so every
artist we've ever booked has to be a real patriotic
person I prefer obviously if there's someone that believes in
God but you know the business it is you can't
limit to just that I try to So we work
with patriotic people. We have a couple agents in Nashville
(14:04):
we work directly with. And then it comes down to funding, right?
So like typically an event, whether it's a nonprofit, pro wrestling,
doesn't matter. Typically, you're going to set up sponsors and
what you want to do and do all these boring
business meetings and go around, you know, putting chapstick on
your lips because you have to kiss butt to get checks.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Right deal. And that's not me. So I was like,
how can I do this my way to where I
can do the whole man in the mirror, look at
myself and not want to choke myself kind of deal.
So I designed an event in a rough time frame
in my head first. Then I check the artists, make
sure they're available. Then I put together a cost sheet
(14:47):
and then I talk to sponsors or I'll put out
an open call. Hey, we're looking for sponsors. And then
it usually works out. I mean, I'm not going to
sit here and say we clear a hundred thousand a year.
We don't, I mean, being outspoken and being a conservative
veteran in a very blue state has its challenges in
its own right. But, uh, due to our people in
(15:11):
Nashville loyalty, just building our name slowly, but surely over
the last almost 11 years, we've got to work with
some good names. And, uh, uh, speaking of your macho
man intro. So, I'm more of a Hulk Hogan guy,
if I'm honest, but I like Macho Man. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
I got Hulk Hogan, too.
Speaker 6 (15:30):
Well, let me tell you something, brother.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
That was my favorite. Hulk Hogan was my favorite.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Yeah. And the rest inside of me, you know, obviously
Stone Cold in high school a little bit.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
The attitude error.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Yeah. We did an event with a Navy vet, Sailor Jerry's,
her stage name. It's not a real name. right after
she released veteran hallelujah. And it was a Halloween party. And,
you know, I feel differently about Halloween now more than
I did then.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
But, uh, anyway, I'm like, what's something fun that makes
me feel young again, that I could dress up. And
so I, it was like a white trash, patriotic macho
man costume. And like, I, I couldn't find, and this
is true and it's embarrassing, but it's true. I'll say it. Um,
I couldn't find wrestling trunks, right. To go with the tights.
(16:18):
And I looked online. I'm like, I'll just get some online.
No big deal. And they were stupid expensive. I'm like, well,
I guess I'm not going to do that. So we were, uh,
I don't know if you have a Ross where you're
at that, you know, cheaper clothing store. I don't know
how national they are. So, Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
All over.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
So we're sitting there and I'm like, you know, what
I could do is I could get some big girl
panties that are solid red and glitter them up to
slip over the tights. That will work. Kind of weird,
but okay. I'll go with that. So, I do it.
And then we're checking out. My wife threw a pair
of thong in there. It's kind of like a joke
and played a trick on me and cashiers looking at
(16:58):
me kind of funny, but, uh, yeah, we, we glittered
those up and, uh, for future reference, always dry your
glitter a few days ahead of time because you're finding
glitter and interesting places for weeks afterwards.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
But, uh, same with confetti.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Yeah, I have a picture of Sailor Jerry taking a
picture of my backside with the OUYA across the back.
That was an interesting event. But, yeah, so we just
try and have fun. You know, we understand everyone's budget
is not a million dollars an event. So, like, if
you look up some of these bigger country stars, whether
(17:35):
you're talking Willie Nelson, Eric Church, I don't know, pick
a name that's popular right now, Zach Topps, since he's
a Washington boy, whatever. Their tickets are pricey even for,
you know, nosebleed seats. And I'm a blue collar guy.
I mean, my dad drove for a meat company and
my mom sold Twinkies like literally. And, you know, she
(17:55):
was a manager at the hostess store. So like I
was like, OK, I want to make stuff reasonably priced,
but I want families there. So we always do that.
We always try and keep our tickets right around 50
or less. And then we also do it to where
if you get like a VIP ticket, it's not that
much of an upgrade from general to VIP. So people
(18:15):
do it. But then if you do VIP, you get, uh,
early entrance. So you can meet the speakers, performers, whoever
a little bit before everyone else, maybe ask them some
questions you might not ask when it's busy, whatever you
get early access to our merch. So we don't run
out of your size cause we do limited batches. Um,
(18:36):
our upcoming event, for example, it's the first one we're
not printing new merch because I was just like, we
still have a little bit of backlog from an event
two years ago and I want to clear it out
before I go wasting our funds on new stuff.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Uh, so we, we try and do that. And, you know,
and originally we always booked veteran musicians first and foremost,
but then once we got into it a little bit
deeper and got connected with Nashville, we've I hate to
say it, but we realized some of the locals that
we could book were charging us similar money, but the
people that were out of area had a bigger draw
(19:10):
when we brought them in. So then we were like, okay,
so someone that's playing somewhere two, three times a month locally,
isn't going to draw as much plus they're charging us
similar money. So it became an economic question. And, you know,
like we got our buddy for this one coming up
Clayton Q and, He gave us a deal I couldn't
(19:31):
say no to because normally I like to do ideally
60 plus day, but typically 90 to 120 day promo window.
So I have enough time to budget, blow things up, market, merch, whatever. Right.
And he he called me up literally like at the
tail end of May, early June. And he's like, Hey man,
(19:51):
I got some time off in July. You want to
do a show? And I'm like, and he made me
a deal that's dang near impossible to do. But again,
you know, it's a shoestring budget cause I wasn't playing
on it. So we're piecing that together right now. And then,
got introduced to Barbara Sims, her name. She's a Marine
(20:12):
vet from South Carolina and Wisconsin originally and lives in Montana.
So we're, we're always trying to expand and we always
try not to put someone on two cards back to
back if we can help it cause you know, it
keeps it fresh, but you know, try and have fun. Um,
(20:32):
obviously for the sake of veterans and legislation we have
to be involved in politics to a certain degree which
i can tell you as someone that's been in the
meeting rooms and the private conversations it's a lot of
times uh neither side is that much fun to work
with i'll be open and honest about that yeah you
(20:52):
know it's it's a necessary evil unfortunately you know and
You get why Jesus flipped tables because I will tell
you there's a lot. I'm not Jesus, but there's a
lot of times you feel like flipping tables and more
because you get this idea. You're like, I'm doing this
to help other people, but it brings you to the
highest of highs and lowest of lows too.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Oh, yeah. It's hard to find good help in the
political realm. Trust me, I know. I'm friends with a
few what I would consider– good politicians i mean like
actual like not uh completely corrupt like they actually have
a heart um um i'm actually acquaintances with the lieutenant
(21:37):
governor here in the state of indiana and uh micah
beckwith he's he's fantastic uh i i think uh i
think i might have him take a look at your
stuff as well because i think it'd be that'd be
a cool cool little thing to get him turned on
to that but um.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
It's, it's hard to find those, those good folks that
you can really connect with in the political world, because
a lot of times between their schedule, which is always
so hard because then you're dealing with their people and
not them. And then when you, when you do get
to them, like sometimes they are really nice, but because
they're surrounded by so much team, you can't really interact
all that long. And they give you like 15 minutes
and you're like, okay, we'll got to go. And it's like,
(22:12):
but I needed these things and you said you would.
And Okay.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
And that's it. And so like with me, when Congresswoman
Kathy McMorris Rogers was in office here, I sat on
her veteran advisory board for a while. And once, not
to get into it too much, but they have a
system called Cerner. And it's like Obamacare for vets, an
(22:41):
overpriced IT system that someone got paid way too much
money to design that flopped. So it was it started
off and I think it was like six billion and
got all the way up to 16 billion before they
finally realized it wasn't working right. And the company kept
asking for money. And Eli Crane, the Navy SEAL congressman
out of Arizona, was the only one that kind of
(23:04):
pushed it forward to recoup some of the taxpayer dollars.
Because only in government can you get a contract, screw
up and still keep your money without going to jail.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
And I sat on her board and, you know, it
got to a point where she wasn't listening and then,
you know, said some falsehoods like she knew how military
spouses felt. And I'm like, ma'am, you do realize your
husband was retired before you guys even met. So you don't.
And then, you know, the other thing is when you
talk about policy, they, they don't think you understand the
(23:38):
X's and O's, how a bill is passed and whatever,
but it's similar to an op order in the military.
You got to, do some of the background information, kind
of the who, what, when, why, where's cost. You got
to do all that stuff. And it's just like, there's
so much legislation out there for veterans. It could be good.
But then what happens is left, right, different, bigger veteran nonprofits, whatever.
(24:02):
They'll stick their own little stuff to benefit only them
in there. And we don't have bills. And then everyone's like,
you know, backdoor deals, Hey, you know, you want this
and I want this. So if you agree to this,
I'll agree to this. And then something gets left out
and the divide just does this. And it's like, there's veterans,
(24:22):
civilians doesn't matter. There's no one cure for everybody. I mean,
I believe in them. Obviously you do too, that the
Bible is, I think the Bible and the constitution need
to be read often. Yes. But, Again, you know, that's
not everyone's way. Like, I have a friend that's big
into Stoicism, right? And I think there's some good tenets
(24:42):
in it. But with that being said, I stopped reading
it because Stoicism put too much on self, in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Making yourself almost like godlike in a way or a
demigod in the way some of it's written. And then,
let's be honest, the Romans weren't exactly great people for
a lot of reasons.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Yeah, the empire fell for a reason.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
I mean, all the, you know, rituals.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
We're seeing in this nation now, they had a lot of,
you know, LGBTQ type people. And, you know, there was
a lot of men dressing as women and pretending. And
they leaned into it. It was heavy in the culture.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Well, that's just it. And it's like, you know, I
tell people, you know, I have friends that are on
pretty much every political spectrum there is to I hate
them all types. And, you know, my best man, he's,
he's left leaning and we get along great. We disagree
on some stuff. I mean, you know, I, 20 years ago,
would I have been a Trump fan? Probably not because
(25:49):
I'm not a fan of super wealthy people typically, because
that's not my lifestyle. I don't like golf.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
I like MMA better playing with my dogs or working
out in the gym or playing, doing bushcrafting or playing
in the bonfire type stuff. That's more my deal. But
same here. But, you know, it's just if people don't
have these conversations, you know, you're not going to bridge
that gap. And that's why we set up the nonprofit
(26:15):
the way we did. I call it bed island. Like
when you first get out, whether you do your initial
enlistment or God knows how many years after, you get
out and you're behind the power curve when it comes
to employment because you don't have the college degree. Then
you've missed things and you– associate differently because of experiences.
(26:39):
And so I call it Vet Island when you get
out and you got to build that bridge back to
the community because most people don't get what you went through,
even if you tell them. Like I had an incident
with a family member where they said some pretty public
insultive things about my service because they wanted me to
talk about it more. And I said, if I start
hitting you with all these acronyms and all these things
(27:01):
I did and stuff that you want to know you're
not going to understand anyway, and I'm going to have
to spend an extra four hours just explaining this and
you know, why.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
It doesn't do anybody any good.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
No.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
So that's why you got to learn to just, you know,
meat and potatoes approach to it. But I mean, we've had, we've,
you know, we've had decent success. We've had failures. We've
had local vets. We've had national vets all get mad
at us for various reasons. Um, you know, unfortunately there's
fraud in the vet community. There's people that embellish what
they did. Uh, You know, there's a well-known Green Beret
(27:37):
Army Ranger with the initials of TK. It's a former
UFC fighter. I'm sure you can... I don't want to
get you censored or shadow banned. And everyone I know
says he's a great guy. I've never personally met him.
But there were some errors that got publicly exposed about
his service. And rather than, you know, yeah, guys, I
said it in a book deal, blah, blah, blah. I'm
(27:58):
just trying to hype myself up more and admit it.
He took the other route. And then there's... you know
the bin laden raid and all the who said what
and who did what stuff and it's like i i
don't get it personally i mean i tell people what
i did i was artillery and uh you know my
first sergeant in kosovo ended up becoming sergeant major of
(28:20):
the army pretty good guy and i learned a lot
and after four years and getting married halfway through and
seeing what a toll it played on the family and
wanting to switch jobs and go stateside and having a
German wife that wasn't ready for it. I just, I
made the best decision for my family. I mean, ideally
I would have done 20 plus years, but wasn't in
(28:41):
the cards and God had another plan. So here we are.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Yeah. And then you're, and you're putting together these, this
organization in order to help those, uh, those who were
in the same position that you were in, like getting
out and going, what now? What next? Where do I go? Well,
go to, go to greater veterans.com, but, spelled with a
dot org.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Sorry. Dot org.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Uh, that, that link is in the description below. So
you can, you can correct me with it as just
go to the description. Don't, don't listen to me. Go
to the description links there. Uh, yeah, uh, I was,
I was, I was even looking at like, I don't know.
I have another monitor over here. I was even looking
at it and I still said.com. Um, but I think
it's because like, uh, muscle memory of like, uh, uh,
(29:24):
always telling about people about my website, eternal affairs and everything's.com.
You know, so, So yeah, greater veterans.org spelt with an
eight in, instead of, uh, instead of an a in
a EA and greater. Uh, so, but the link is
in the description below. Don't waste your time.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Well, technically, you're not wrong because when I first started, the.
org wasn't available. So I had the. com originally. And
then everyone's like, you're a nonprofit. Why is it. com?
And I'm like, I didn't know there's rules. I didn't
take a class on this. My lawyer didn't tell me.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
So luckily, Yeah, I didn't know about that either until– well,
I've been doing podcasts for– we're in our fifth year
over at Revolver. And, yeah, once we built everything up
and started to do our website and everything, everybody was like,
(30:18):
you know, if you need to do this and you
want to get donations and all this other stuff, you
need to make this other website and you need to
do that. I'm like– or you guys can just be
quiet and I'm just going to do this this way.
And people are donating anyway. So like, I, you know, um, I,
I did, I didn't re-register, but, but I get it.
You know, like you want to make it as simple
for people to know, like, Hey, it's a.org. That means
(30:39):
that it's a nonprofit. Uh, it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
All the rules. I mean, we had, I won't say
their name, but we had another local nonprofit. It's I'll
say questionable at best. Hmm. And they lied about their service,
things they did, where they've been, yada, yada, yada. I mean,
him and his wife at the time were married, I think,
like eight years, something like that. And they were trying
(31:03):
to be a marriage counselor. And, you know, me and
my wife are going on 25 this October. And I'm
going to tell you straight up, I still wouldn't even
be one. Like, it's grace of God and her patience.
It's nothing to do with me. I exist and try
and make peace where I can in my household. That's it.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
I would say it's the God glue.
Speaker 5 (31:22):
It is.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
Cause it's not me. Cause I'll tell you right now,
if I think about like, I can't tell you how
many times I've gone in my office and thought, yeah,
that probably shouldn't have said that. Or, you know, I
shouldn't have done that. Or thank God I got a
comfortable couch. I'll put myself on it. I'll bench myself,
even though she didn't tell me to. And she's not
like that at all, but you know, it's, I don't know. It's,
(31:44):
I just always tell people, honesty is the best policy.
It is. I mean, the truth will set you free.
I mean, Obviously, in the case of the Clintons, it'll
get you killed. But, you know, generally speaking, it sets
you free in a biblical sense anyway.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Yeah. I think about couples because 22 years, my wife
and I, as of April 9th this year.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Congrats.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
And people that you have, you have three different types
of couples. You have the couples that fight all the time.
That's unhealthy. They're probably not going to last. We know that.
You have the couples that fight. sometimes those are probably
going to be the ones that last. And then the
couples that tell you they never fight, those are psychopaths
and you need to stay far away from them.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
The ones that have a secret only fans account are
doing all that. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Oh, wait.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Oh, Oh, okay. So he just, he just bows down
and she, she rolls the roost. Got it.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Sometimes like, like someone asked me, they're like, you know,
could you, who does the bills? And I said, my
wife and, they go, why? And I go, cause I
don't like doing it. And she does. So I'm not
going to fight her for it. Like if I, if
I want to buy something, I'm like, Hey, I want
to buy X, Y, Z, when or how? And someone's like, okay,
(33:02):
so you're telling me right now, if I said, I'll
give you a million dollars. If you can tell me
what's on your bank account down to the penny, what
would you do? And I'd say, find someone else to ask,
ask her, but don't ask me. I don't know.
Speaker 5 (33:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
You, you divide up the, the, um, the things in
your marriage due to the talents that God gave you,
each of you.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
Right.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
That's, that's, that's just the right way to be. Uh,
you know, uh, you know, my wife and I, you know, we, we,
we talked, we talked through it. That was, I think
it's a big difference between a lot of couples. They don't,
they don't just sit in the chat. And we had,
we had hours of conversation of like, who's going to
do what? And when we buy a house, who's going
to take care of this, that, and the other. And, um,
(33:47):
you know, ultimately, you know, she wants me to be
the leader of the household, not because she, she has
to follow me because she wants to follow me, all the,
all the good things of, but she still works, you know,
we still, we still split how, how, how money gets spent.
We understand that what's, what's everything is ours. There's no
mine or mine, you know, it's, everything is ours. And,
(34:08):
and we, and we, and we discuss it, right. Everything's discussed.
And I think, and, and, you know, Ultimately, it's like, okay,
when there is an escalation, so to speak, or an argument,
the tiebreaker is because we decided a long time ago
(34:30):
that I would be the tiebreaker. That's what we read
in the Bible, and so we stick to it. That's
how we do things. But if I feel like she's
a better consultant on something, I'll just defer to her.
I'll just be like, you know what, whatever, whatever you're
saying about this, I'm going to go to you on it.
(34:51):
And then you just tell me, and then I will
agree with it. You know, it's, it's, it's the best
way to be, I think is, is to be able
to understand like when you don't know everything and maybe
she knows a lot better and they go, okay, well
then you tell me what's going on with that. And
that's just the way things are.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
So you don't tell her she's acting like her mother
and leave the room, huh?
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Not, not since I was 25, man. I learned that
lesson a long time ago. Long time ago.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Uh, yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Uh, you know, I won't say that I never said
it cause I definitely did when I was younger, but, uh, uh,
you know, um, but my mother-in-law is fantastic by the way,
if she ever happens to watch us, uh, mother-in-law is fantastic. Uh,
you know, uh, that, that woman will, will cook me
a steak in a hurry. So I, I have nothing
bad to say about my mother-in-law either overseas.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
So, but I get along with her while she's nice.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
So, um, And so you, uh, I know that you
say you do the music events. Uh, what are some, uh,
and you, you wanted to work towards the, uh, the, the,
the center, uh, you know, um, I believe that there
are ways to make that goal happen for sure. Um, and, uh,
(36:00):
if I can be any part of that to help
you along with that, I will definitely reach out to
every contact that I know. Um, I'm sure Curtis will too,
cause that dude's got a lot of contacts, but, uh, uh, what,
what are some of the other, uh, outreach that you do, uh, through, through, uh,
through greater, greater veterans.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
So I've done, uh, public speaking. I will travel to
events if asked, uh, like I said, because I don't
have a visa platinum or whatever the top tier card is.
If someone wants me at an event or wants me
to speak or something in person, then my only quote
fee is, airfare and a hotel. Unless I know someone
(36:41):
that's there, then I'll crash on a couch. Typically, I
don't like to do that, but I will. I do that.
I help with different vet business stuff. If you're a
vet business and you want me to share something, I'll
do it. Anything patriotic, I like to be involved in.
(37:02):
Test different products. I've done knife testing for companies and
One of them, I won't say their name, but I
stopped working with very early on in their company because
the marketing model to me as an outdoor guy didn't
make sense. And then splitting the name of the company
between a fixed blade knife and a folder when you
(37:23):
have no market share just didn't seem like a good
business plan.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
It's strange.
Speaker 5 (37:29):
Well, it is.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
And then the other thing that the individual that owns
it did, is when they debuted their folding knives made
of peanut butter and jelly sandwich. And I said, dude,
what are you doing? What do you mean? I go,
if you're in the woods and you have a pocket knife,
say that's the only thing you got, right? Why are
you making a sandwich that's going to gum up your blade?
I've been in the woods my whole life. I'm not
(37:51):
an expert at everything. I'm decent. I'm not great. I
could maybe go on one of those shows. Maybe not.
Depends on where and what. But I've never once thought,
you know what, I should probably make my sandwich with
my knife. Not once have I ever done that. I
use a stick or my finger like a normal person. So, like,
I don't know. So it just got to the point
(38:14):
where it was like, you know, why? And then when
Buck Knives, because they're over in Idaho, they're about an
hour from my house, they developed a knife called the
ground combat knife. And I bought one early on to
test for my buddy who's a retired Green Beret that
has a YouTube channel and writes for magazines. His name's
(38:34):
Todd Yederberg. It's called Odin's Wolf Survival. So we bounce
knives and gear off each other all the time. And
I said, hey, I'm going to Buck. I'm going to
grab one of these for you to test and do
a video. And he goes, okay, yeah, I haven't done
one on those. And he goes, that's not the typical
style of knife I would test. So I sent it
to him. He loved it, tested it. They loved it.
(38:55):
They gave me one. And so, you know, I like
to do stuff like that too. Like, you know, typically
when you review stuff, it's either free or you buy
it or sometimes they sponsor you. But yeah, I like
that stuff. There's a boot company I'm wearing right now.
I still don't know how to say it properly. It's
spelled O-B-O-Z. So I don't know if it's Oboz like
(39:17):
the sales lady said or Oboz, but they're out of
Montana and they're similar to a Merrill hiking boot. but
they're a little bit better and a little bit lighter weight.
So I'm trying on a pair I got right now
to see if I like them. them and then might
be reaching out to the company to see if they
can do some kind of deal or sponsorship.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
That's the pronunciation that they have on their official.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
Yep. Okay. So, yeah, so I said it wrong, but
that's not a surprise. It happens.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
It's all good. But I just happened to have like
the Southern monitor over here. I could go. you know,
I'm quick, quick.
Speaker 3 (39:51):
On my phone's charging, but, uh, so I don't know.
I like different stuff like that. And then, you know,
when it comes to knives, I'm working on a few
designs and then I'm probably going to have them rough
cut into steel and handle them and stuff. And then
go to a couple of different companies and say, Hey,
what about doing this and this steel? And here's why.
And so that's just kind of a hobby.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
Um, well then maybe they could, uh, uh, do like a,
a greater veterans branded version of, of one of their items.
And then that, that could help, you know, when they,
when someone buys that, when someone buys that item, you
know you know, certain amount of the proceeds will go
to greater veterans. I think that would be something.
Speaker 3 (40:32):
And I want to do that, but it's tough. Cause
like the one knife company, the individual that owns it
did not know how to make knives. So they sent
it to one of the big three Spanish knife makers,
which I think it was Joker knives that made it,
but he wouldn't say. Whereas if you're not a maker,
then you have to be a designer. And it's like,
I want to learn how to make them. I know
(40:53):
the basics, but that requires me to move, get a shop,
get a forge, do all that. And another thing is
like anything, whether it's guns, shoes, uh bibles doesn't matter
anything it's you got to look at the the cost
benefit side and then what you believe in like i
don't believe a good knife should be three or four
(41:14):
hundred dollars a lot of custom ones are but i
mean there's makers out there that use old sawmill blades
and you pay like 125 bucks and i just want
something that does everything i needed to do i don't
have to worry about it breaking and yet it's aesthetically
pleasing and won't take a stake off a father or
wife's table, you know?
Speaker 2 (41:35):
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I would love to see a lot more,
a lot more partnerships come through, through this broadcast. If
you're out there listening or viewing right now or on recording,
like I said, go to that, go to that website.
It's in the description below. There, there's a contact form
(41:59):
you can fill out, right? So it's right there on
the website. I'm looking at right now, as a matter
of fact, on my other monitor, I can see the
contact form, real simple to fill out. I'm sure those
come probably directly to you and your team, right?
Speaker 3 (42:10):
Yeah, they come to the nonprofit email, which I personally check.
The phone number on there is my personal cell. So
I prefer text. If you need a call, I'm usually,
I'll be honest, within 24 hours, usually quicker, I get
back to people. I answer everything myself. There's no gatekeepers
because I don't believe in that. I believe, you know,
(42:32):
only the man upstairs has a right to a gatekeeper.
I don't believe in doing that. Now, if something doesn't work,
I'll be honest and say, Hey, you know, but you know,
it just depends. But I mean, I, I answer everything myself.
I do my own stunts. You might say, but, uh, yeah, I,
I do all that myself.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
So you're a man, a man to help out the veterans. Uh,
definitely a man who loves his country. Um, In more
ways than one, for sure. I've heard you speak here.
And a man of faith, so you're a man of principle.
And that's very important, I think, for a lot of people.
(43:14):
Even to nonbelievers, I've heard this from plenty of nonbelievers.
They would prefer to go to a company that they know,
a company or donate to something that they know is
ran by someone who is of faith. Uh, as opposed
to not because they know that the business is being ran, right?
(43:34):
Does that make sense? No, it does.
Speaker 3 (43:36):
And I mean, we do, you know, I'll, I'll be honest. Um,
I'm not one of those people that does that guide
star thing, like a lot of nonprofits. Cause I don't
want to, I.
Speaker 4 (43:45):
I.
Speaker 3 (43:48):
I'm kind of lazy. I don't want to crunch numbers,
but I will tell you like operating costs, everything goes
into the events, uh, that Overages go to funding the
next event, helping a vet where we're able. I mean,
we have occasionally paid utility bills. That's not something we
do typically, case-by-case basis. Yeah. Roll letters for employment. Again,
(44:08):
that's not something we typically do. Introduce people to businesses.
We'll do that always. But, I mean, we've had vets
call us, hey, man, I'm between jobs. I want to
go to your show. I can't. And I go, can
you afford the cheapest ticket?
Speaker 4 (44:21):
No.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
And I go, do you have more than five followers
on social media? Yeah. I said, okay, I'm going to
send you a flyer. I said, share that a few,
few days this week and I'll give you a free ticket,
you know?
Speaker 4 (44:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (44:33):
And we always do giveaways when we have sponsors that
give us products, whether it's knives or I don't know, whatever.
If I get any of that little goodies from friends, businesses,
veteran owned companies, et cetera. Um, Or if I have
a promo code for something, which I hate doing that.
Use promo code. I don't like doing that stuff. Everyone
(44:55):
does it. It's just the way it is. I still
don't like it. But I'll do that. If someone's like, hey,
I'm living in this area. Do you know anyone to
help with this? I'm like, yeah, hey, talk to so-and-so.
Here's their number. And then I'll text the person and say, hey,
so-and-so is coming to talk to you. We help with
VA claims. we try and stay, like I said earlier
(45:18):
in politicians years about needed legislation, but, uh, you know,
overall it's, we just do whatever we can. We're like
a Swiss army knife.
Speaker 1 (45:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (45:26):
We have a set core mission of things we do,
but we'll deviate as needed. Um, you know, it's, that's
literally what we're like. We're like a Swiss army knife
in terms of what we do.
Speaker 2 (45:40):
That's fantastic. I love that you're still setting up events, giving,
giving them, uh, Giving the veterans something that they can
get out and escape for an evening. Just be able
to kick back with their families or just their friends
a night out. It's fantastic. For many years, I pursued
being a musician myself. So I have a lot of
(46:02):
friends in the business. Not just musicians, but stand-up comedy
as well. So certainly you might get a flood of
emails in the coming months. I'm just going to let
you know right now. People that are definitely patriotic, that
love the Lord. But whenever they're coming through town, that
(46:23):
you might just hear from them, just letting you know
ahead of time.
Speaker 3 (46:25):
Well, we do one-offs too. I mean, we'll bring someone
up for a one-off show. It's just like we did.
I don't want to say the name, not because I'll
get sued or anything, but just because I don't want
to give them free press. But there's a festival north
of here. It's going in its fourth or fifth year, right?
Something like that. We were a part of it year
two and three and helped them get a lot of
(46:48):
artists and whatnot. And yeah, it was nice to get
the extra exposure with some of their people. But ultimately,
we ended up parting ways because they were mad. We
had off-duty law enforcement at our campsite. And one of
my bigger sponsors was like, hey, I want to tase
somebody and I'll give Greater Veterans $ 2, 000. And I'm like, well,
(47:10):
if you up it to $ 10, 000, you can tase me.
But I'm keeping some of the money if I'm getting tased,
you know, I don't like electricity. It hurts.
Speaker 1 (47:18):
Right.
Speaker 3 (47:18):
Exactly. But anyway, so one of my buddies volunteered and
there were two, you know, off duty Idaho cops that
were doing security. So they donated the cartridge, which I
think was like 50 bucks.
Speaker 2 (47:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (47:30):
T's on site waivers, you know, live video. Hey, you're
not going to sue anyone if you die.
Speaker 1 (47:36):
Right.
Speaker 4 (47:36):
No.
Speaker 3 (47:36):
Cool. So one of my buddies made us $ 2, 000. We
laid him down on a pink unicorn floaty to be,
extra special it was funny everyone had a good time
well they didn't like that we did that at the
campsite on their property and so that was kind of
the last straw i guess and uh you know it's
(47:57):
unfortunate but you know i'll be honest it was worth
it it was funny i mean yeah i don't know
anyone else that had any crazy fundraisers like that that
were spontaneous and whatnot so it was fun so And
his dad, he wasn't a vet, but his dad was.
And his dad was a big supporter, fan, friend of ours.
And they have a monument at the arena here in Spokane.
(48:21):
And the challenge coin I gave him, a medallion I
had made for him and some other stuff are with
his ashes under his brick where his name is. So
it's kind of a cool honor to.
Speaker 5 (48:34):
Have, I think.
Speaker 3 (48:34):
I mean, that's one of the things I'm most proud
of is that someone thought that much of you that
they wanted to be in turn with some of your items.
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
I think. Yeah, that is pretty cool. Certainly an honor
at that point.
Speaker 3 (48:48):
Right.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
An honor.
Speaker 1 (48:49):
Yep. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:52):
Well, um, I tell you, that's going to, we were,
we were discussing a little bit pre-show, uh, uh, faith and,
and I've kind of mentioned it here. Um, but I
kind of want to, I kind of want to bring
it up, uh, just to list for it. Cause then
we've got a few minutes here. Uh, but, um, How
(49:12):
did you come to know Jesus Christ as your Lord
and Savior, if I may ask?
Speaker 3 (49:18):
It's kind of a two-part answer. So part A, one,
whatever you want to assign to that. Growing up, my
grandma took us to a church close to her house
on the South Hill in Spokane. It was called, I
want to say it was called Heritage Congregational or Heritage Baptist,
one of the two. I can't remember. It's still there.
(49:38):
It looks like a prison now, modern building. And our
Reverend was from Ireland. So I loved his accent. And
the kids always sat in the front row and he
always picked on us, but in a biblical way. And
it was fun. And then I don't know why we
just stopped going. My dad was a single dad at
the time. So I don't know if it was getting
us there.
Speaker 2 (49:56):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (49:57):
So years went by and then high school, let's see,
what was it? Senior year, I met a gal that
was a year younger than me. And they went to
a church that was kind of I don't know what
you would call it. Like the women wore doilies on
their head. I don't know what it was called, but
it was like kind of an old school style and
(50:19):
wasn't really my thing. And we broke, broke up when
I got to Germany because, uh, whatever, I don't know
what it was even any more distance, whatever. And so
I like always believed and prayed, but I never really
was like, okay, I'm a Christian. Right.
Speaker 4 (50:33):
And then.
Speaker 3 (50:35):
Right before COVID I started to watch, uh, Julie green ministry.
She's out of Iowa. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (50:41):
She's awesome. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (50:42):
And I have friends that don't like her cause they
say a woman can't be a preacher. And I'm like,
first of all, she's not a preacher. Second of all,
profits are real. And lastly, on that note with her
is she's teaching. It's different. Anyone can be a teacher
as long as they're teaching correctly. So I learned a
lot from her. So I still, Monday through Friday, that's
my study. That's what I do. Um, at whatever point
(51:06):
I can during the day and watch her. I watch
her almost like a religion in itself, not that it's
idol worship or anything.
Speaker 2 (51:14):
It's just to keep yourself in the word. It's nothing
wrong with keeping yourself in the word.
Speaker 3 (51:20):
So then what kind of made me stronger in faith
to get to where I'm at now and where I'm
striving to be, right? So I look at life and
I'll say it in a second, but I look at
life almost like a football game, right? If you're winning
the game and you get down to the final drive
and you fumble the ball in the end zone, end
zone being heaven in this instance, what is the point
(51:42):
of anything else? So I try and live a life
worthy of going to where I want to go forever, right?
Like I try and be as humble and charitable. Yes,
I have a temper. Yes, I make mistakes. Yes, I
say things. Yes, I cuss sometimes, whatever. I'm not perfect.
I'm not expected to be. I didn't get I didn't
get anyone's transgressions.
Speaker 6 (52:03):
Right.
Speaker 3 (52:03):
So where I got to where I'm at now, I
was doing a summer series in the town I live
in right now called Deer Park and in eastern Washington,
just north of Spokane, where I'm from. And a city
employee got mad that I didn't book some local people,
some of which I've never even heard of. They have
no social media, so I can't put them in good
(52:24):
faith on the stage. Right. Right. It's a business thing.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
Right.
Speaker 3 (52:29):
Anyway, so he decided to create a fake Facebook account.
And one of the gals I booked, and I can
say her name, it's no big deal. Her name's Katie. Oh,
she was on the voice on team Reba. Like a
year or two ago, we're still good friends. Her mom
and I are all friends. She's at a Jacksonville area.
We booked her and she was 17 at the time.
And her mom was with her. You know, I, my
(52:52):
background's cleared all the way up through the FBI. So, and, Anyway,
so this city employee out here created a fake Facebook
account and said I was trying to get with her
mom and trying to do. And it's not true, obviously,
but he was that pissed because I didn't book someone
he wanted me to be. And I went to the mayor.
Mayor did nothing. And it deeply depressed me. And I
(53:17):
guess I can briefly get into why in a second.
But it got to the point where my PTSD was
off the rails. I wanted to die. Literally, I had
a 1911 in my mouth. Just talking about it, I
remember the taste. It comes up right now. I went
in my walk-in closet, and I cocked the hammer back,
(53:37):
and I was going to do it. I was like,
screw this. I'm not going to have someone call me
something like that. It's disgusting. I would never even dream
of doing that. It's like someone tapped me on the shoulder,
but no one was there, so I put the gun
down and put a shirt over it. And I started
to walk out of my room about two minutes later
and my daughter was there. And it was like I
felt like it was like either an angelic presence or
(54:00):
something like that saying, hey, dummy, look who would have
found you, you moron. And so then I kind of realized, OK,
that would have been stupid. And I just took a
vow right then and there. I'm like, I don't know
what you're going to do with my life. And honestly,
I don't care, but I'm not doing that crap again.
I sold that gun. I felt like there was some
bad juju on it. I took a loss just to
(54:22):
get rid of it. Like, I'm like, I don't care
if you throw it off a bridge, not get it gone. Yeah.
You know, I still carry a gun every day and
shoot and do all that. But that one in particular
in that time, just, I won't ever buy a gun
like that again from that company. And it just, uh, yeah.
So that kind of brought me back. And, you know,
part of the reason that triggered me and I don't
(54:43):
talk about it publicly as much as maybe I should
with my background, but, uh, My original reason for wanting
to get in criminal justice is my mom and four
of her sisters were assaulted by their own father, which
I refused to call grandpa. And not to say that
I don't believe vengeance is the Lord's, but let's just say,
(55:06):
I hope the evil one is using his skull as
a cup. If you get what I mean. Yeah. And yeah.
So I, I always, I never really liked that. Right.
Like I never liked those types of people that, hurt children. Right.
So it hit me, it cut me deeply because number one,
it wasn't true. And then number two, it triggered that memory.
(55:28):
And yeah, so obviously got past that. I was over
three years ago and focus on this and focusing on
telling my story, not because I want to necessarily, but
because if I tell my story, maybe, maybe that veteran
or even non-veteran that's on the On the verge of
saying things suck is going to maybe think they suck
(55:51):
less if they have someone to talk to. I try
and say real. With me, what you get, what you
see is what you get, and it's always going to
be that way. I don't believe in keeping secrets. I
know things about people I won't divulge publicly because... not
because I really so much even care if their image
(56:12):
gets hurt because the things I know they deserve to
be hurt because they're disgusting human beings. But I also
believe vengeance is the Lord's. And if it doesn't affect
me directly, I kind of try and, you know, shoo
it away to a certain degree. I mean, sometimes you
have to step in it and walk through it, but yeah.
So all that stuff just kind of culminated and made
(56:36):
me realize, okay, God's real. And then right after my
grandpa died, there was another experience where there's this neighbor,
he's Armaic and, uh, I haven't seen him in a
few months, so hopefully he's still alive, but he always
walks the street where we're at. And, uh, I was
missing my grandpa, right. And, uh, I felt this bright
(56:56):
light on me and I was playing with an ax,
just splitting wood. Cause I was off from the gym
that day and just bored. And I look around and
he comes up, but like I saw my grandpa's image
for a second. And then it was this elderly gentleman
that I liked that's very wise. And I was getting
ready to say something and it's something I've never told him.
(57:17):
And he goes, I know. And I'm like, wait a minute,
how could he know this if I've never told him?
And then we both know the answer to that, right?
Like there is only one answer. So some of those
things have happened that I've seen. I had a buddy,
he's on my board. His name is Bob Gum. He
was a claims officer helping vets with claims. And roughly
(57:40):
about two years ago, he had a stroke that almost
killed him. And thank God there was fog because if
they would have airlifted him, the elevation would have caused
a brain bleed and he would have died. And it
was so weird because the first night I thought he
was going to die. And then the next morning I
woke up and I just, it's like, God put me
(58:01):
at ease. And, uh, I knew he was going to
make it, and I went to all of his therapy
appointments I could go to. Not a whole lot of them,
but a lot of them. I drove to town and
would go there and give an old Army guy vet-to-vet harassment. Oh, really?
That's all you got? You sure you were infantry? You're
acting like you were Coast Guard? You know, harassing him
and getting everyone to laugh and just being a good
(58:23):
friend to him, supporting him, you know, even when I
hate hospitals as a general rule.
Speaker 2 (58:29):
Most men do.
Speaker 3 (58:30):
Yeah, and there's been a lot of things God's put
on my heart to say, to do, to help people.
You know, hearing his wife call me the next day
in tears, just bawling her eyes out. I think he's
going to die. I don't think he's going to make it.
And for me to know that he was and to
see his recovery where he is now, walking around, got
(58:50):
use of most of his right side again, not completely back,
but he's getting there little by little. and seeing his
positivity his memory increase it's all God and then you
know I had another buddy that died of a heart
attack that did a lot of black ops type stuff
and uh his wife called me and was crying a
lot the other day. And just like to be strong
(59:14):
enough to withstand that storm and be there for someone
else when you got your own stuff going on. And
when you don't know the right words to say typically,
but you do in that conversation, I mean, there is
no other answer. Other than God. And I tell people
all the time, let's just say you don't believe in
the Bible. Read Proverbs and Psalms. And they're just nuggets
(59:36):
of wisdom, almost like a fortune cookie in themselves. Even
if you don't believe. If I wrote them down verbatim
and you knew they weren't from the Bible and you
were an atheist, you might follow God just because of
that wise advice in there.
Speaker 2 (59:50):
I always direct people to the book of James because
it's such practical knowledge. Even if you're a non-believer, you
can get the moral advice. the moral fortitude out of,
out of the book of James, because there's so much there,
you know, so to slow to speak, slow to anger,
quick to listen, you know, all these things. And it's,
it's like I said, it's a very practical book. I
(01:00:11):
think it's why it's my favorite book as a matter
of fact. And you know, for those of you who
are out there right now and you're wondering is, is
Jesus Christ in fact real? Well, I mean, you just
heard a testimony first of all, but I'm here to
tell you as well.
Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:00:27):
100%.
Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
And not only is he real, but he is the way,
the truth, and the life. There's no one that comes
to the Father but through him. He said it himself.
He's the only person in religious literature in history to
ever make that claim that the only way to heaven
(01:00:50):
is through him individually. Only one. You can read all
the other faiths, religions, and everything else. He's the only
one to go only through me. And I've done the research.
I love it when I hear people say, well, I'll
prove you wrong. Okay, well, then give me one example.
And they can't.
Speaker 3 (01:01:11):
Well, who else sent their son to earth to die
for our sins so that we could come to him
through his son? No one else has. And that's what
I tell people. And I said, the other thing you
got to understand too, nowhere in the Bible does it
say you have to be perfect, right? Nowhere in there
does it say you have to be perfect. It says
(01:01:31):
you have to repent, you have to acknowledge him, you
have to accept him, right? And try and live by
his tenets, right? There's plenty of examples, you know. You take,
not to get political, but you take some circles compare
Trump to King David, right? Or King Simon.
Speaker 2 (01:01:51):
There's a lot of parallels.
Speaker 3 (01:01:52):
Well, there is. And there's too many to ignore, even
if you didn't like him. But they say, okay, but
King David wasn't a good guy. I go, not always,
but he ended up being one. It's not, it's not
where you start. It's where you finish.
Speaker 5 (01:02:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
Well, he was always honest with God too. That was
the thing. Like no matter how far he, he, he
walked away. I mean, this is the same guy who said,
my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And
then he'll, he go into Psalm 23 and then he's like,
the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. these
are the same guy.
Speaker 3 (01:02:27):
Trials and tribulations. Like, so Julie Green's speaking to her,
which one of these days I'm hoping to either do
an event with her meet or something. I, I like
her honesty, whether it's mispronunciation of words to slip up.
She has, she doesn't edit it out. She is who
she is. She doesn't claim to be anyone else. She
(01:02:48):
admits her mistakes. And I think that's admirable personally, but,
One thing she says a lot, and you talk about
test to testimony, is how God's like a silversmith in
a way, because when you melt silver, you have to
attend it the whole time. So he puts us through
these trials, not just to test our faith or to
(01:03:09):
earn our keep, but to mold us where he wants us.
We all have different missions. That's why we're not supposed
to have envy of our neighbor, like your neighbor pulls
up in a brand new car you wish you could afford,
you're not supposed to say, he doesn't deserve that. It's
not up to you because God decides blessings and curses, right?
The power of the tongue, speaking life, et cetera. And
(01:03:30):
it's like I tell my wife all the time, I
say this, anything God gives you, he can take away.
There's no such thing. I used to believe in luck.
I don't believe in luck at all. Zero. Luck is fake.
That is man-made because everything you have is either good
or bad, which means a blessing or a curse. And
any blessing or good thing you have is because of
(01:03:52):
him and because of your faith in him and your
obedience as a servant, right? I've had times where we've
been between paychecks and money was tight. And I'm like, God,
I have like $ 3 in my pocket. What am I
going to buy my family to eat for three bucks? Like,
you want me to go poach a deer? I know
where there's some, what do you want me to do here?
And then he'll like, you know, hey, did you think
(01:04:13):
about this? Or you could sell this item you have
and get this. These ideas will pop in my head
like stuff I'm not even thinking about.
Speaker 2 (01:04:21):
Or somebody will knock on the door. I've had that.
Somebody just goes, hey, you want to come over for
dinner or call?
Speaker 3 (01:04:28):
I don't get those. I usually get the, we'll be
lucky to upgrade your car warranty.
Speaker 4 (01:04:32):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (01:04:34):
But I mean, there's little, and he communicates to us
all differently, right?
Speaker 1 (01:04:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:04:39):
People think they need like a chicken little sky is
falling type communication. But sometimes it's little hints that you
may perceive as a whisper. You may perceive as a
gut feeling. But like I've literally tested this time and
time again. There's been times I was supposed to be
somewhere and something bad happened. Or December of 2022, we
(01:05:01):
got in a car wreck. We should have died, right? Literally,
we got hit twice at over 70 miles an hour
in wintertime. We should have been dead. And we all survived.
And God had my wife steer the wheel the exact
right way because I had my knees injected and I
wasn't supposed to drive that day. And everything worked out. And,
you know, I just tell her, I go, that's what
(01:05:23):
faith is. It's not just, OK, I believe in God.
Speaker 4 (01:05:26):
Cool.
Speaker 3 (01:05:27):
Now I can do what I want and then I'll
go to heaven someday. It's you got to live it.
You got to walk it. You got to breathe it.
You got to repent when you screw up. You got
to understand what it means.
Speaker 2 (01:05:36):
And.
Speaker 3 (01:05:37):
You know, there's people, like I said, in the green
room before the show. You know, and again, it's my
personal opinion, not the opinion of the show or anyone
on the show other than me. But you got guys
like Joel Osteen had a recent interview with one of
the Paul brothers, which I'm not a fan of either
one of them. But they asked him about the rumors
(01:05:59):
of the Bentley and the Jets and blah, blah, blah.
And he's like, why work here without taking a salary?
But he used the church to build his name. And
then the church is a nonprofit, so the nonprofit that
he runs has these things, so he uses them. I mean,
how many preachers have Botox on their wife or other enhancements?
Speaker 2 (01:06:20):
Oh, yeah. But him and there's a series of others,
televangelists are known for this, but here's the biggest issue
I have with it. Regardless of the money and prosperity
gospel he does and all that other baloney, that's what
leads people away from Jesus is the fact that he'll,
at the beginning of any sermon, any given Sunday, if
(01:06:42):
you turn on Joel Osteen, you don't even have to let,
you don't even have to turn the volume on. You'll
just see, he'll hold up at the beginning, he'll hold
up a Bible and he'll say, this is my Bible.
And he'll, and he'll do the little spiel about what
the Bible is. Then he'll sit it back down on
the podium. And you'll notice that Bible never gets open.
Not once throughout the entire of a entirety of a sermon. And, uh, and, uh,
(01:07:02):
And then he, you know, he does all this feel
good stuff and everything, but never once, you know, on, on,
on most like Pat Summerall, you know, he always had the,
he always had that scripture across the screen. You know,
I always remember that as a kid, but not, not,
not Joel. Never once will you see scripture across the
screen unless he's, unless he's nitpicking it out specifically to
(01:07:25):
drive home his false narrative. And, and I, and I
don't like that at all. I don't like when people
lead people away from the Lord. The Bible is what
it is. It's black and white and sometimes in red.
That's it. You're talking about the belief in Jesus Christ.
In our Bible study, we do over on Revolver Broadcasting.
(01:07:47):
It's Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. Eastern. If you ever
want to go over there and check it out. We're
just two dudes doing Bible study. We call it morning word,
by the way. but we were in the book of
Romans because we're going back and forth between Romans and
Psalm writing. But talk about the propitiation. And so propitiation
(01:08:09):
is a way to reconcile our sins. Jesus was the propitiation.
So in Christianity, right? But in all other faiths, religions,
what have you, you are the propitiation. You're the sacrifice.
You have to sacrifice every single thing. But the price
is already paid in Christianity. That's why they can't stand it.
(01:08:32):
The price is already paid. And, and so, uh, then
it further makes it the truth. It's the only one
that is not.
Speaker 3 (01:08:42):
Even in pop culture. There's, uh, there's references with like, uh,
Saddam and Gomorrah, you know, Lot's wife, when she looks
back and gets turned into a pillar of salt, right? Like,
so you have that modern saying, don't look in the
past because you're not going that way but that if
you really think about it derives from that because it
really breaks it down simply and then the miracle signs
(01:09:05):
and wonders you know they're starting to find more and
more through science that Jesus Christ really was real and
a lot of us didn't need the science to do
that right like so I read I Like, as a
general rule, my ESV Bible, I want to buy a
nicer one eventually. But this one, I bought it, I
(01:09:26):
don't know if you can see it, Barnes & Noble.
But if you look, I have pages marked, taped up, highlighted.
And I read, every night before I go to bed
after I pray, I read Psalm 91. Of course, I
like Ephesians 6.10 and on, like everyone else. But, I mean.
Speaker 5 (01:09:42):
God, yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:09:43):
If you really just sit and think, you don't even
have to think with the spiritual mind and just think, okay, look, okay,
I get this now. I get the parallel, right? I
was even talking to my youngest son about it, the
premarital stuff, right? When I was younger, I always thought
of it like shoes. Try on shoes before you buy them, right?
(01:10:06):
That's how I viewed it growing up. And then now
that I'm I won't say necessarily wiser because that's subjective,
but let's just pretend it's true. Now that I look
at it and think about the why side of it, right?
If you don't know anything else, you're not going to
want for anything else. You're going to, you know, like
(01:10:29):
in the car business, when I was going to school,
they said, love the one you're with in terms of sales.
Focus on the customer you're with now instead of the
one you're trying to get. Well, it kind of applies
the same way is if you don't think about other things,
you're content with what you have, right? Like God, it
says how many times in the Bible, a version of
do not be afraid or do not fear. That's what
(01:10:50):
365 times is what most people say. Right. And there's
countless examples of that. God gives us not necessarily what
you want all the time, but what you need.
Speaker 2 (01:11:01):
Yeah. And, and he's, um, I guess what, one, one
last thing for, we just want to get people, uh,
if you're on rumble, I'm going to get you guys
rated out over to a good friend of mine. It
is the Res Truth Pod. They discuss faith in depth.
So you kind of like just pick, you'll be able
to pick up from here and go over there. If
you're on YouTube or Facebook, as far as what has
(01:11:26):
lined up outside of my show deprogrammed on Saturday, I'm
not 100% certain on, but I'll be back here on
Saturday from 3 to 4 p.m. Eastern doing deprogrammed. It's
a politics show and I'll go through some articles and stuff,
but we were talking about gosh, I lost my train
(01:11:48):
of thought here. Last thing you said. Do you remember
the last thing you said?
Speaker 3 (01:11:52):
It's about the parallels and how a lot of the
Bible is essentially common sense stuff. I mean, even if
you think of it without a spiritual mind, a lot
of it's just if you live your life that way,
even just say you didn't believe a lot of it's
just generally good advice to live by. I think how
(01:12:13):
to treat your fellow man, you know, I.
Speaker 1 (01:12:16):
Do anyway.
Speaker 2 (01:12:17):
Yeah, absolutely. I, there was, there was something I was
going to say, but maybe, maybe the Holy spirit neglected,
neglected me of it. Cause I wasn't supposed to say it.
So I'll say what, I'll say what I, what I
always say then as a, as I close out any,
any show that I'm on, And I always say to folks,
just stay in trouble. And I get the question then
(01:12:41):
immediately is, what are you talking about? You're just talking
about Jesus. Well, I'll tell you why. Because if you
have Christ in your hearts, you will in fact be
in trouble with the world. The world doesn't want you
living under his grace. That's your salvation first and foremost.
And I pray that each and every one of you
has that. The world doesn't want you praying to him,
(01:13:03):
having a relationship with him or reading his word. And, man,
it definitely doesn't want you going out and doing something
so dangerous as telling others about him. But I want
to encourage you to do all that anyway and to
stay in trouble. And if you guys haven't already, visit greaterveterans.org.
Click that link in the description below. And thank you
so very, very much for joining me, Nick. Nick Richardson, everybody. And, man,
(01:13:29):
I hope to have you back.
Speaker 3 (01:13:30):
Well, let me know.
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