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In this special episode, Kim and Dr. Donald Sweeting explore the prophetic nature of C.S. Lewis’s work and how he foresaw many of the cultural challenges we face today. Dr. Donald Sweeting offers a thoughtful analysis of Lewis’s literary contributions and their relevance to modern society. As we reminisce about the friendships and intellectual circles that shaped Lewis’s thought, we also ponder what made the Inklings so unique.
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It’s the Kim Monson Show, analyzing the most important stories.
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And when government gets bigger, the individual gets smaller.
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The latest in politics and world affairs.
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For thee, but not for me. And I agree that we’ve got to change that.
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Today’s current opinions and ideas.
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If, in fact, you are working for the man, it’s a new form of slavery.
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Is it freedom or is it force? Let’s have a conversation.
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And welcome to The Kim Monson Show. Thank you so much for joining us. You each are treasured, you’re valued, you have purpose. Today, strive for excellence, take care of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your body. My friends, we were made for this moment in history. And I get to work with amazing people, producer Joe, Luke, Rachel, Zach, Echo, Charlie, Mike, Teresa, Amanda, and all the people here at Crawford Broadcasting. And we have pre-recorded the shows for this week of Christmas with very interesting guests and interesting subjects. And I’m so pleased to have on the line with me Dr. Donald Sweeting. He’s a noted American educator, minister, academic, and author. He served as a pastor, seminary professor, seminary president of the Reformed Theological Seminary, university professor, former chancellor at the Colorado Christian University, and And his writings have appeared in so many of the well-respected publications here in America. It’s just a delight to have Dr. Donald Sweeting with me. Welcome, Dr. Sweeting.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, welcome to you, and Merry Christmas. This is a wonderful time of year, isn’t it?
SPEAKER 11 :
It is. So we’re pre-recording, but we are broadcasting this on Christmas Eve, which I think is just so appropriate, because you, in early December, published a piece on the 62nd death anniversary of C.S. Lewis. Five reasons why people find C.S. Lewis appealing. And I thought this is fascinating. So first of all, for people that are not familiar with C.S. Lewis, what would you say to them?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, C.S. Lewis lived, he was born in 1898, died in 1963, the same day Kennedy was assassinated. He was a, by day, he was a tutor and professor of English literature at Oxford University, English literature and medieval Renaissance literature. And then he went to Cambridge University. So he was Irish, but he lived and served in Britain. And while maintaining a full academic load, he wrote in the early morning and the late evening. And he wrote a lot of books, some on Christian apologetics. Some fiction, some science fiction, some children’s stories. And he wrote prolifically. And we still are, lots of people are still reading him. In fact, I just finished teaching a class at CCU on the life and writings of C.S. Lewis this semester. And I find the students love him.
SPEAKER 11 :
Why would you say that they love him? Because it took me a little while to read him, appreciate him. For example, when I read the screw tape letters, there’s fascinating things in there, and yet there’s things that I don’t understand. And maybe that’s why people find him so intriguing.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, he appealed to a whole range of people. So, you know, he was an academic, and you’d think academics can only speak to academics, but he also could speak to students. And during the war, Second World War, he would often speak to RAF pilots and mechanics. And then he spoke to the whole British nation on the BBC. And then, you know, he could do science fiction. So this guy, he was sort of a jack-of-all-trades in terms of writing, and he learned to communicate to different audiences. But I think what appeals to students is his combination of reason and imagination. He employed both. And so when he wrote about theology, he gave you good reasons and would think things through. In fact, he would think them through from a non-Christian perspective, because he was an atheist. So he had rehearsed all these things in his mind. But then he also employs the imagination. which he says is the organ of meaning. And he appeals to desire and beauty. And so you get truth and goodness, but also desire and beauty. And he writes in pictures. It’s compelling. It’s so compelling for students.
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Do you have a favorite C.S. Lewis book?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, lots of them. But yes, yes, her favorite. I think my favorite is still Mere Christianity because it had such a big part in my life and my own understanding the Christian faith. But in terms of more recently and my understanding of the world, his little book, The Abolition of Man, and he wrote a fictional account of this called That Hideous Strength. And those are also my favorites. So we’ve got two poles there.
SPEAKER 11 :
I love the Chronicles of Narnia. And before we went on air, I was just thinking about the quote where they said that it’s always winter, but never Christmas. And so as we’re in the Christmas season, I’m just so grateful that we have Christmas. But I thought that was such a memorable quote from I don’t remember which book, but the books, the Chronicles of Narnia.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, it’s from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. So, The Chronicles of Narnia, it’s a seven-volume children’s story about a fictional world called Narnia, and the children discover it while playing in a big, empty house with a wardrobe, and they go into the wardrobe and Lucy realizes it has no back to it, and she goes through, and all of a sudden she’s in this winter wonderland. She finds herself in a place called Narnia, and Narnia is under a spell by the White Witch, the Wicked White Witch, and it’s a spell where it’s always winter and never Christmas. That sounds very ominous, doesn’t it? Winter’s great for a little while, but always winter. Oh, my goodness. Never Christmas? Terrible. Really terrible. And it’s the story about the children and a lion named Aslan. And the lion brings the thaw and breaks the spell of the White Witch, who tends to freeze everything and everybody and every creature. So it’s not specifically a Christmas story, but it’s got lots of wonderful Christmas overtones. So it’s sort of become a Christmas story.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, Dr. Sweeney, it is a mythical book or mythical group of books. And going back to Halloween, I’ve always enjoyed Halloween. I like it. I’ve always kind of liked the festive things. the old witch I liked, now I’m drawing the Wizard of Oz, but there are those that I kind of stopped a little bit. I have these fake witch shoes that I would normally put out by the front door, but I’ve had a lot of friends that have pushed back on anything regarding witches, but yet that’s key in the Chronicles of Narnia. How would you address that?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, she’s a symbolic witch, and the whole stories of Narnia point to people away from evil and towards good. So, you know, like, hey, if we take the devil out of the Bible, Satan out, it’s not going to make as much sense. And we don’t like Satan, and one has overcome him, the Lord Jesus Christ, but you can’t extract him from the story. And so this… This Narnia story, it’s what Lewis called a supposal. Supposal was a world where you could talk to animals and where, you know, the world was this way. And it had once been wonderful, but it was frozen over by this evil force, this witch. And so it’s not commending evil or witches. She’s the bad guy. It’s commending goodness and truth and pointing ultimately in a very indirect way to Christ.
SPEAKER 11 :
Huh. Isn’t that so fascinating how he’s able to weave these stories? And he and J.R.R. Tolkien were good friends, and there was a group of them that they would meet. They called themselves the Inklings. Would you not have loved to have been a fly on the wall when those guys got together? Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
No, yes, absolutely. I would love that. In fact, they met in a little pub called the Eagle and the Child. I had the privilege of studying in Oxford University where Lewis was a professor. I was there for three years and my college room was right behind the Eagle and the Child. So, I mean, I’d walk by it every day and It was great. You mentioned Tolkien. Now, of course, Tolkien and Lewis, these guys created stories that were so counter to the narrative of the early 20th century, which was doom and gloom and everything’s falling apart. It was falling apart after World War I. But they created stories and stories. And myths that they referred to as, I’m going to give you a big $10 word, eucatastrophe. They were stories about catastrophe, but literally good coming out of the catastrophe and it being turned. That’s what the ewe means. So good coming out of bad. And he said, you know, we can’t be all doom and gloom after a terrible war. That was terrible because there’s hope. And they pointed to the source of that hope in Christ. And it was C.S. Lewis who actually, I mean, they would read their stories to each other. He would read stories to Tolkien. Tolkien would read stories to Lewis. Tolkien says if it wasn’t for C.S. Lewis, The Lord of the Rings would have never been written.
SPEAKER 11 :
Wow, that is so interesting about the two of them. And so let’s, well, next question. You mentioned that C.S. Lewis was an atheist. What was his journey? How did he get from atheist to one of the great Christian apologists of his century? Wow.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, so he was born in a nominal Christian home in Ireland, and his mother died very early, and that was a big blow. You know, I prayed and she wasn’t healed, and so, you know, why believe in God? He went off to school and had teachers who really sort of built skepticism in him. They taught him how to think, but they were coming – one particular teacher from an atheistic point of view. And he had gone through World War I himself and been put in the trenches and saw all the horror of it. So his journey – At Oxford starts out, he’s an atheist, and it was through reading children’s literature and fantasy like George MacDonald that he said, my imagination was first baptized. And then there were different people that came into his life that would challenge some of his presuppositions. Like there was a man named Owen Barfield who challenged his idea that what is new is always better. I mean, that’s a very… modern assumption. The newer is better, and who cares about the past? It’s old. It’s old books. Forget them. Old periods of history, why study it? It’s a progressivist view of the world. And Barfield showed Lewis that, hey, no, there are actually some things in the past that are better than what we have right now. And Lewis said it broke him of his, what he called his chronological snobbery, his idea that, you know, what is new is the best and we can be snobbish about it. And he said, that is no longer true. And so the past was open to him. And he read a lot of medieval Christian literature that had a big effect on him. And then people like G.K. Chesterton and George MacDonald and others, and then slowly went through this process where You know, he went from atheism to sort of a, oh, I mean, he went through a phase where he was exploring the occult, and he realized that was very dark, and then he became an idealist, influenced by George Friedrich Hegel, and then he became more of a theist, but not a Christian. You know, I believe in God, but I don’t know about Jesus. And then finally he confesses Christ as Lord and Savior.
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Well, it is a remarkable story, and we’re talking about C.S. Lewis. We’re talking with Dr. Donald Sweeting, and he has recently published a fascinating piece, and it is on the 62nd death anniversary, Five Reasons Why People Find C.S. Lewis Appealing. And we get to have all of these great conversations because we have great sponsors. And one of those is the Roger Mangan State Farm Insurance Team. And Roger’s been in business for over 50 years. And the reason is because he strives for excellence, takes good care of his clients and his family and his community. Give them a call. I’m hearing reports of people being able to save some money on their insurance. That’s real money in your pocket. The only way to find out is to give them a call. That number is 303-795-8855. Like a good neighbor, the Roger Mangan team is there.
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There’s so much noise coming at us. Sometimes it is difficult to make sense of it all. How can you sift through the clamor for your attention and get to the truth? The Kim Monson Show is here to help. Kim searches for truth and clarity by examining issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. Tune in to the Kim Monson Show each weekday, 6 to 8 a.m. with encores 1 to 2 p.m. and 10 to 11 p.m. on KLZ 560 AM, KLZ 100.7 FM. The KLZ website, the KLZ app, and Alexa. Play KLZ. Shows can also be found at KimMonson.com, Spotify, and iTunes.
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Welcome back to The Kim Monson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMonson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. And as you all know, I am an independent voice on an independent station. And the reason is because of all of your great support and our sponsors. And I want to say thank you to Laramie Energy for their gold sponsorship of the show because it’s reliable, efficient. Thank you so much for joining us. And if you’re having challenges with your own personal climate, being warm in the winter, be sure and reach out to Ben’s Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling. They are great sponsors of the show as well, and you can find all of that information at my website. And it is Christmas week, and in fact, we’re broadcasting this on Christmas Eve, which is one of my favorite days of the whole year. And I’m talking with Dr. Donald Sweeting, who has just an amazing resume of resources writing and he’s a pastor and an academic and a professor and we’re talking about a piece that he recently published regarding c.s lewis and uh after on the 62nd anniversary of his death five reasons why people find c.s lewis appealing but one of the things that you said in the article is he worked during the day as a professor but he wrote in the morning and he wrote at night c So did he get a lot of sleep? Was he one of those short sleepers or do you know?
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Yeah, he got a lot of sleep. He just slept. I went to bed late and and and got up late. But he lived a very disciplined life. Now, you know, television is just. And so he’s not dealing with television and he’s not dealing with smartphones and he’s not dealing with scrolling and everything. But he was a very disciplined man and maintaining a full academic load. He lived simply. He realized that if he avoided distractions, he could gain a lot of time. He realized that if he got up early in the morning or stayed up late at night, whichever it happened to be, he could get extra hours in where he could be writing. He seemed to have been a combination, Kim, of part lark and part owl. Larks are morning people, not evening people, and owls are evening people, but not morning people. And at different phases in his life, he seems to go back and be one or the other. But he took advantage of those extra times to write. So he was disciplined. The other thing about his writing, though, that you should keep in mind is that he believed that to become a good writer, you needed to be a great reader. And so he read widely and spent a lot of time not on tablets. Of course, they didn’t have tablets then. But he believed really in the importance of the written word. And, you know, he could read short form, long form. He wasn’t easily distracted because…
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he didn’t give himself to those things well and the discipline to not be distracted it’s amazing how much you can accomplish if you can stay disciplined but there’s the discipline of daily writing because there are times when and I write a lot of copy I’ve not written a book but I write a lot of copy sometimes I have writer’s block but if what if you stay disciplined on it you can get past that or what what do you think
SPEAKER 05 :
i i think you can yeah if you you know you make it your goal to to write so many words a day and you you block out distractions so i find that if i am at my home uh at my home desk i there’s so many distractions i just don’t get as much done if i go to a library um or or to starbucks i can block it out and i don’t have everything around me i could just focus and get much more done I find that the early morning hours for me, they’re quiet, nobody’s up, and I can get a head start with a good morning. After 10 o’clock, I’m not worth much.
SPEAKER 11 :
I get it. Years ago, I used to be a night owl, but because I have a 6 a.m. hit on this show, I’ve become very much a morning person. Yeah. But I think the key thing that I’m hearing is avoiding distractions. And Dr. Sweeting, we have so many distractions in this day and age. And I do quotes on the show on a regular basis. And I did a quote from John Ruskin just recently. I think he died in 1900. And they went through all the different things that he did. He was a polymath, as Benjamin Franklin was as well. And I think one of the reasons is they didn’t have all these distractions of modern life. And once you use that chronological snobbery, I think that we don’t realize that we are distracting ourselves away from some amazing productivity and books and creativity. And I don’t think we even realize it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, and it also stunts our imagination, believe it or not, where there have been experiments on children that are spending a lot of time with the screen and those who don’t and which ones have the greater imagination. So Lewis, you know, it’s easy to say, oh, he lived in an age without distractions and it was easier for him. No, it wasn’t. I mean, there were other things. He had other pressures. He had to take care of a woman who lived with him, and she was not in good health. So he had a lot of challenges. He had all kinds of leftover war wounds that he had to live with. But he realized the importance of discipline, daily discipline, saying no to certain things. I mean, just think if you were to just say no to an hour of scrolling. You’ve got an hour of time to put into something else. Or if you just spend an hour or less watching TV, Every TV show that’s on or part of some series, you can reclaim a lot of time to put into other things. So he had a clear set of goals. He wanted to communicate Christ through his writings, and he maintained a discipline, especially after he became a believer.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, and so let’s talk about these different reasons why people still are attracted to him. So what’s the next one that you’d like to talk about?
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, well, you know, I mentioned that he wore a lot of literary hats, so he wrote a lot of different kinds of literature, and some like science fiction, some like children’s stories, and some like poems, and he did it all. I mentioned the fact that he had this unique combination of reason and imagination in his writing where He writes with pictures, and it makes it easier to understand. And I want to also just say Lewis was prophetic in the sense that he saw things way ahead of time that eventually came to England and to France. even America today. He saw them and you read them and you think, wait, he wrote this 80 years ago. How did he know? And he wrote about the way that naturalism and relativism and subjectivism And radical egalitarianism were eroding the moral foundations of Britain and their educational system and the Western world. And he writes about this cultural darkness that comes when you abandon objective values like goodness, beauty, and truth. And you read it and you think he was spot on. I think that’s another reason that he just remains very relevant.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, and being relevant, particularly in this day and age. And as you mentioned, he talked about these things. And for listeners that may not understand the term relativism, explain that to us, Dr. Sweeting.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, there’s no right or wrong. It’s all relative. There’s no truth. It’s your truth and my truth. There’s no true truth. And he was arguing that, no, there is objective value. There is such thing as real truth and real goodness and beauty. It’s not just a matter of your subjective opinion. Because if it all becomes your subjective opinion, then, you know, you could go, you know, it’s maybe good for you, but it’s not for me, you know. And then you can’t condemn things like, you know, the Holocaust and these terrible acts that are done to people, to children. And you have no objective value for saying this is wrong. And Lewis said, because we always, in our hearts, we know that certain things are wrong, even if we don’t want to admit it. That very fact points to that there’s some moral standard and perhaps a moral personality behind that standard over the whole universe. And so he would argue for this and he’d be also arguing, you know, to the case that there’s a God and you have to reckon with the God because he made us moral beings and this is a moral universe.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, and so relativism, you have this play out to, I think, where we are in America today. And it did. It began with, you have your truth, I have my truth. And it makes me go back to Pilate and the inflection of words. When he said, what is truth? I had heard, I think, a sermon on it. It’s like he could say it with disdain, what is truth? Or it could be questioning, what is truth? I don’t know. Do you have any thoughts on what you think Pilate was saying at that time?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, the idea of relativism is a very old idea. We tend to think it’s just a modern idea, but it’s not. And Lewis would have said this in the ancient world. You know, you have all these cultures and they’re saying relativism. You know, it’s my tribe or it’s my God that’s the ultimate God. And the genius of ancient Rome was they would conquer people and they’d say, you can have your gods, that’s fine. You know, and we’ll put them all in one room and we’ll affirm all of them. You know, and they didn’t like the Christians and the Jews because the Christians and the Jews said there’s only one true God. And these are no gods. These other gods are no gods. So the idea of relativism is very old, but it’s very, very new. It’s been taught in our universities as absolute truth, believe it or not. Relativism has been taught as an absolute truth. There’s a contradiction for you, but that’s the way it’s been taught in our universities. And so you have lots of students graduating, and there is no truth, and there’s no beauty, and there’s no, why is this culture any better than that culture? And it really… You know, it destroys education, it destroys communities, it destroys democracies.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, it really does. So we’re going to continue the discussion. Before we do that, though, I always like to mention a couple of nonprofits that I highlight on a regular basis. One is the USMC Memorial Foundation, which the memorial is located right here in Colorado, in Golden, at 6th and Colfax. And it’s a very special place, and it is the official Marine memorial area. And so as we’re coming in on year end, a great thing to do would be to make a tax-deductible year-end contribution to support the memorial. And in doing so, you’re honoring those that have given their lives or been willing to give their lives for our freedom. And the other is the Center for American Values, which is located in Pueblo. And I’d highly recommend during Christmas break, spring break, to take the kids down to look at the portraits of valor, which is over 160 portraits of valor. our Medal of Honor recipients with their quotes. And it really gives us inspiration as we are engaging in this battle of ideas. And there’s two places that you can see these portraits of these Medal of Honor recipients. One is at the Center for American Values, which is in Pueblo. The other is at the Pentagon, which most of us can’t get in there. So take that trip down to the Center for American Values and make a year-end tax-deductible contribution. And that website is AmericanValuesCenter.org, AmericanValuesCenter.org. Both organizations are funded totally, well, without government money, which I think is important to understand as well. And so, again, the USMC Memorial Foundation and the Center for American Values. These discussions happen because of our sponsors and all your support. And so for everything residential real estate, reach out to Karen Levine.
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assemble at my father’s house the kim monson show is our modern day sybil luddington bringing us the latest breaking news in the battle for truth and freedom ben’s plumbing heating and cooling is proud to stand with kim will you stand with us get engaged with the issue that keeps you up at night so that you can influence your school and community with truth and justice And for quality craftsmanship at a fair price, call or text Ben’s Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling at 303-995-1636. That number again is 303-995-1636.
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All Kim’s sponsors are in inclusive partnership with Kim and are not affiliated with or in partnership with KLZ or Crawford Broadcasting. If you would like to support the work of The Kim Monson Show and grow your business, contact Kim at her website, kimmonson.com. That’s Kim Monson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
SPEAKER 11 :
And welcome back to The Kim Monson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is Kim Monson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. And from Parker to Golden, Little Richie’s Pizza and Pasta is your go-to for real New York-style pizza, hearty pastas, and that unbeatable local vibe. Little Richie’s is serving up daily specials, quick and tasty weekday lunch deals, and a happy hour the locals actually build their plans around. So whether you’re bringing the crew, catching up with friends, or flying solo for a hot slice, Little Richie’s is your neighborhood hangout, and they are located in Parker and Golden. We are talking with Dr. Donald Sweeting. He is a professor. He’s an academic. He’s been a university president. He writes extensively for national publications. And he has this very interesting piece regarding C.S. Lewis on the 62nd anniversary of his death. And so we talked a little bit, Dr. Sweeting, about the Chronicles of Narnia, which has become in a way associated with Christmas. But what does C.S. Lewis really think about Christmas?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, interestingly, this fall marks the 75th anniversary of the publication of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which is probably the most famous volume of the seven in the Chronicles of Narnia. And as we started out the show, you talked about how the land of Narnia, this children’s story, this mythical land, is a land where the White Witch is in control and it’s always winter and never Christmas. And Aslan comes and breaks the spell. So it’s not directly a Christmas story, but in the middle of the story, when Lucy and the children are afraid of the witch coming, they hear another sled, and it’s Father Christmas, which is sort of a British version of Santa. an older version of Santa, and Father Christmas shows up, and the witch wouldn’t allow Narnia to start melting, and she kept Father Christmas out, but now that Father Christmas has shown up, that means it’s starting to thaw, and the Aslan is on the move. Okay, Aslan is the lion and the Christ figure. So there’s a sub-theme, Christmas is a sub-theme in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe that’s wonderful, And it’s there because C.S. Lewis really thought a lot about Christmas, and he believed that it was really, really important. He believed that, you know, all the traditions and everything are fine, but they can also obscure the real meaning in the heart of Christmas. And Lewis said, you know, Christmas matters because of the incarnation of Christ. of Christ, where the Son of God became a man. And he did that so that men could become sons of God. So Lewis, you know, believed that the basic thing, and he called it the grand miracle, or the central miracle asserted by Christians. He said it’s the incarnation. Of course, if you have no incarnation, you have no atonement, you have no resurrection. And he said every other miracle prepares people for this or exhibits this or results from this so this doctrine of the incarnation is so foundational to Christmas it’s the heart of Christmas and he said when we focus on all the other things and they become the first thing we get it all backwards and things start to fall apart He said if you focus on second things and you lose first things, you know, your life will go into disarray. But if you focus on the first things, the second things will make sense, and they will be held in proportion. And you just think about how, you know, our Decembers can be smothered over by traditions and all kinds of things. They’re good, but if we lose the central fact… we lose our bearings in a bad way. So Lewis kept coming back to the wonder of God becoming man, taking on flesh, being born in a manger to save us from our sins.
SPEAKER 11 :
On that, Dr. Sweeting, last year, Christmas Eve, which is always a really magical time at church, I was sitting on the very back row because it was pretty much standing room only. And in came this family, and I’ve watched them, and two little kids, and the mom, the last time I’d seen her, she’d been pregnant. And they come in on Christmas Eve with this new baby, and they sat down next to me, and I just kept looking over at them thinking, oh, my gosh, this is close to what it was like on Christmas Eve, this brand new baby. And what a story it is. It just took my breath away, Dr. Sweeting.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, well, I mean, it reminds you, you know, of the manger in Bethlehem. But the more stunning fact in the Christian Christmas story, the nativity, the incarnation, the stunning fact is this is not just any baby. This is God assuming human flesh. God with us, as the New Testament talks about. I mean, it boggles the mind. G.K. Chesterton said what was in the manger is bigger than the whole world. But God limited himself to… invaded our world entered our world to not only show us how to live but to save us because we’re in trouble and our world needs a savior and we need a savior and our lives amply exhibit that fact that they’re a mess and we need heavenly light and that’s what broke into Bethlehem in that time in that stunning evening that that’s at the very heart of it december 25th of course is the nativity of the lord jesus christ that’s its christian name you know we call it christmas uh which reflects a mass uh a church service uh celebrating that but it’s about the birth of jesus
SPEAKER 11 :
So question, going to the cross, because God comes down as a baby and also part man, son of man. So when he’s on the cross and he said, Father… I guess when he was praying in the garden, he said, if this cup can be taken from me, please do so. Because he was well aware of just the human physical challenges he was going to go through. And I’ve always found that interesting how he is God, but yet he prayed to God. What would you say to people on that?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, the Christian teaching is he’s not part man. He’s fully, fully human and fully divine in a way that it’s a mystery. We can’t understand it. And, you know, the Christian story begins in the beginning of the Bible in the book of Genesis, and it talks about a world created good. And yet there was human sin and evil. And there’s a mystery to that, how it all started and where it came from. But this Adam and Eve sin brought a brokenness that shattered everything. relationships, the relationship between man and woman, the relationship between man and animals, the relationship between man and God, the relationship between a person and themselves. And even in Genesis, in chapter 3, it talks about the seed of the woman will crush the serpent’s head. There’s the first prophecy in the first statement of the gospel, the coming of of a redeemer who will save. And this promise of redemption gets brighter and brighter in the books of the Old Testament until the very end. It shouts that he’s coming. And we get more and more detail of who this Messiah, who the Christ will be. And the New Testament shouts he’s arrived. He’s here. He is God with us. It’s not just a man. It’s not just a great man because it’s not enough to save us. And he’s not simply God, because God’s so much higher than us. It’s the infinite, eternal God-man who is with us and who shows us, who fulfills the law perfectly, does what Adam and what we could never do. And he shows us how to live. He lives a perfectly righteous life. But he’s on a mission. He’s on a mission to fulfill what the Old Testament tried to teach us about, that our sin has to be dealt with if we’re going to stand on Judgment Day before a holy God. And we need someone to atone for our sins. We need a sacrifice rich enough to cover the sins. And the blood of goats and lambs and calves is not enough. and that’s why scripture presents the Messiah as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and you realize this is this incredible invasion into our world of God who it’s not that he doesn’t care about the universe he cares deeply about it and he cares about us and he comes to this tiny speck of a planet and shows up and he enters into covenant with the people and then he As one translator put it, moves into our neighborhood. You know, he’s actually here in the flesh. The word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. The glory of the only son begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. So this is, you know, this redeemer is fully qualified to redeem because he’s he’s fully human and he’s fully divine.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, thank you for that explanation on that and clarification. C.S. Lewis had a quote that I remember about Christ, and it was something along the line. There are many people out there that say, yes, Christ was a good teacher. He was a wise man. C.S. Lewis had an answer to that. Do you recall what that is? Yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, yeah, he writes about this in the book Mere Christianity, and it also shows up in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in a funny way. And what he writes in Mere Christianity is, look, Jesus, we tend to, too many people just say he was just a good man. But he said that’s not an option that’s really open to us, because a man who said the kind of things Jesus said, you know, he’s God, he can forgive sin, you know that’s that’s he’s claiming to be more than a man and the other alternative is he’s a lunatic but he doesn’t show any signs of lunacy or he’s a liar but nobody accused him of of lying in fact they all his accusers said we find no nothing nothing wrong with him so he said the only other alternative is is uh you call him lord he is who he said he was And by the way, in the Chronicles of Narnia and the Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe, when Lucy first goes into the wardrobe and she discovers it has no back to it and you can get into Narnia, and she comes back in and she’s accused of being, you know, of lying. And the old professor says, no, you know, you know, does she have the character of a liar? No, she doesn’t. Is she insane? No, she’s not insane. You need to take her seriously. She may be onto something. So he pictures it, you know, in story, just like he argued it in mere Christianity.
SPEAKER 11 :
Oh, that’s brilliant. It’s absolutely brilliant. And we’re talking with Dr. Donald Sweeting. And I did want to mention another great sponsor of the show, and that is Mint Financial Strategies. And we talk about freedom all the time on the show. But financial freedom starts with the right guide, and Mint Financial Strategies is here to help. They’re an independent firm with over 25 years of experience and the credentials of an accredited investment fiduciary. They offer advice that’s focused on you, not a sales quota. And their strategy first approach is all about helping you live life on your terms with clarity, confidence and control. So call Mint Financial Strategies today. That number is 303-285-3080. They are your path to independent financial confidence. And then regarding mortgages, Lorne Levy can help you in 49 of the 50 states, just not New York. But if you’re moving out of New York, he can help you. And again, that is Lorne Levy for Everything Mortgages.
SPEAKER 04 :
Many seniors are feeling squeezed because of inflation, higher property taxes, and increasing costs of living. If you’re 62 or older, a reverse mortgage may be the solution. Reverse mortgages can be complicated, so it’s important that you understand the process and work with a trusted professional. Mortgage expert Lorne Levy will help you craft solutions for your unique circumstances, whether a reverse mortgage, first mortgage, or a second mortgage. If you’d like to explore how a reverse mortgage might help you, call Lauren Levy at 303-880-8881. That’s 303-880-8881. Call now.
SPEAKER 03 :
John Bozen and the attorneys at Bozen Law know how overwhelmingly life can feel after an accident or injury. That’s why Bozen Law can help guide you, support you, and fight for the full compensation you’re owed. Whether you were hurt on the road, at work, or in a hospital, the Bozen Law team is ready to stand by your side and help you move forward. Backed by decades of combined legal experience, Bozen Law can help you pursue justice and compensation after serious accidents. Call Bozen Law at 303-999-9999 for a complimentary consultation. That number is 303-999-9999. Call Bozen Law now.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you so much for having me. To learn more, reach out to Teresa at 520-631-9243. Teresa would love to talk with you. Again, that number is 520-631-9243.
SPEAKER 11 :
And welcome back to The Kim Monson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is Kimmonson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. And we’ve pre-recorded these shows for Christmas week. And we’re broadcasting this on Christmas Eve, which is one of my favorite days of the year. We’re talking with Dr. Donald Sweeting. He’s a noted American educator, minister, academic, and author. And he writes extensively and speaks and preaches. But all of the major… publications on a national level he says has written for those and so dr. Sweeting it’s just so great to have you and this whole conversation regarding CS Lewis is really so interesting but we wanted to talk about how to kind of button this up and we have so many challenges right now and You teach on the college campus. We’ve heard that this is a very anxious generation. And, of course, the opposite of anxious might be joy. So tell me what you see as a professor, and then let’s talk about joy.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, going back to C.S. Lewis, you know, he would say we were made for joy, and we keep looking for it in the wrong places. You know, he said we’re like children playing with mud pies, you know, on the side of the road when we could, you know, what’s offered to us is a holiday at the sea. We’re far too easily pleased. And he said there’s a desire inside of us, and he found this in himself as a child, that for something beyond what we know. a desire for beauty, a desire for satisfaction, a desire for life. And he said, that desire is a clue that we were made for something more. Lewis, among other things, we talked about him as a great author, but he was a Christian apologist, and he made arguments for the existence of God. One of his arguments was the argument for desire, or the argument for joy, that this quest for joy is an indication that we long for something beyond what we have. And Lewis’s whole life, I sometimes describe it as it was a joy quest when you read his biography. In fact, he titled his biography, Surprised by Joy. And he looks for it in this place, comes up short, and he says, no, that’s not it. No, maybe this place. Maybe this philosophy. No, that’s not it. Maybe I’ll try the occult. No, that’s dark. Maybe idealism. No, that’s not it. Maybe sensuality. That’s not it. He’s like Augustine. He went on this joy search, and he finally gets closer, and he realizes… It’s not just the experience of joy that I’m after, but joy exists in a person and it’s found in God alone and in his son, Jesus Christ. And so, you know, that’s the storyline. And he said we were made for joy. Listener, if you’re listening today, you were made for joy. And you know that because of your quest. And Lewis said, joy is the serious business of heaven. There’s something in us. There’s a longing. There’s a desire that can only be satisfied, not in the things that you purchase, not in the presence under the tree. You know this because every time we open the presence, watch your children. You know, after 15, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, they’re bored and they want something else. And that’s a picture of our life. You know, and Lewis said, because we are made for more than that.
SPEAKER 11 :
So what is the difference between joy and happiness, as C.S. Lewis would see it?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, happiness is more like a fleeting emotion, you know, as Lewis defined it. But joy is a deep inner satisfaction, a longing that’s finally fulfilled. Finally satisfied. It’s much deeper. You need to be going through a hard time and still have joy. Whereas if you go through a hard time, you’re not necessarily going to be happy. So happiness to Lewis is more of an emotional state. Joy was a deep soul satisfaction. The longing of the soul, yeah.
SPEAKER 11 :
Okay. So just to button this up, we’ve got a few minutes for the end of the show, but did we hit all of the things that you wanted to hit regarding C.S. Lewis and why people still appreciate him today?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, you know, back to where we started, Narnia and all that, you know, the curse was broken in Narnia. Joy was breaking in, you know. Joy broke the curse. And as the whole Chronicles of Narnia ends, I mean, it ends in a wonderful way. It’s in the book called The Last Battle. That’s the last volume. And he portrays life. It’s a picture of heaven, but in a high country, a higher country, where there’s infinite adventure and an infinitely creative God for all eternity. And this is how it ends. He goes, and for us, this is the end of all the stories. And we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them, it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page. Now at last they were beginning chapter one of the great story which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever, in which every chapter is better than the one before. And in that paragraph, Lewis sort of sums up that you were made for more. You were made for heaven. And you can find it in God’s son who came to earth so that we could, you know, be raised up. So I guess that’s, Kim, that’s how I want to end, focusing on that. And that theme is reflected in our carols, you know, joy to the world. The Lord has come. Let earth receive her king. Let every heart prepare him room and heaven and nature sing.
SPEAKER 11 :
So if people are listening to this and they’re intrigued by this and want to take that step towards joy, towards knowing Christ as their Savior, what would you say is their next step?
SPEAKER 05 :
I would say read the Gospels. And as you read, start with the Gospel of John. And it talks about the coming of Christ from heaven’s perspective. And then read maybe the Gospel of Luke, which talks about the coming of Christ from a human perspective. And as you read it, just say, God, if you’re there, show yourself to me. Reveal yourself to me. Make yourself known to me. But read it with an open heart because the Bible will become then like a, not just a book, but like a divine meeting place where God reveals himself to you. Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, and the next question, as I read the Old Testament, as people start to read their Bibles, there’s some… pretty wild stuff in the Old Testament, but yet we say the Old Testament points to Jesus. What’s your answer to that, Dr. Sweeting? Well, that, my friend, is another broadcast.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, I’ll just sum it up by saying simply, and this is how Martin Luther explained it. He said, it’s all one story. It’s one grand story that hangs together. The Old Testament shouts, he’s coming. And the New Testament shouts, he’s arrived.
SPEAKER 11 :
Okay. Well, I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas, and I would encourage people to get C.S. Lewis out and read The Chronicles of Narnia to your children and to your grandchildren. They are rich, rich stories, and I would highly recommend that. Your final thought on all this, Dr. Donald Sweeney? Yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, we have to have another broadcast where we talk about the Old Testament, and it’s important.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, we will definitely do that. So, Dr. Sweeting, I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas today. This is broadcasting on Christmas Eve, which is one of the holiest of days, and it’s just really special. So thank you for making all this happen.
SPEAKER 05 :
Glad to be with you. Merry Christmas, everybody.
SPEAKER 11 :
And our quote for the end of the show is from C.S. Lewis, and he said this. He said, Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace in difficulties. And so, my friends, today, read great books, think good thoughts, listen to beautiful music, communicate and listen well, live honestly and authentically, strive for high ideals, and like Superman, stand for truth, justice, and the American way. My friends, you are not alone. God bless you, and God bless America.
SPEAKER 07 :
But tell them if I don’t survive
SPEAKER 15 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
SPEAKER 20 :
It’s the Kim Monson Show, analyzing the most important stories.
SPEAKER 11 :
And when government gets bigger, the individual gets smaller.
SPEAKER 20 :
The latest in politics and world affairs.
SPEAKER 10 :
For thee, but not for me. And I agree that we’ve got to change that.
SPEAKER 20 :
Today’s current opinions and ideas.
SPEAKER 11 :
If, in fact, you are working for the man, it’s a new form of slavery. is it freedom or is it force let’s have a conversation and welcome to our number two of the kim monson show thank you so much for joining us you each are treasured you’re valued you have purpose today strive for excellence take care of your heart your soul your mind and your body my friends we were made for this moment in history and thank you to the team that’s producer joe luke rachel zach echo charlie mike theresa amanda and all the people here at Crawford Broadcasting. Be sure and check out our website. That is Kim Monson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. Make sure that you’re signed up for our weekly email newsletter that goes out on Sundays. That way you will get first look at our upcoming guests as well as our most recent essays. I do appreciate all of your support. We are an independent voice on an independent station. We search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something’s a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. The show comes to you 6 to 8 a.m. First hour is rebroadcast 1 to 2 in the afternoon, second hour 10 to 11 at night. and that is on all KLZ 560 platforms, KLZ 560 AM, 100.7 FM, the KLZ website, and the KLZ app. We are pre-recording these shows for Christmas week, and pleased to have on the line with me Trent Luce. You know him. He is a sixth-generation farmer and rancher from Nebraska, and we are broadcasting this on Christmas Eve. And Trent Luce, Christmas Eve is one of my most favorite days of the year, and welcome.
SPEAKER 06 :
Thanks for having me, but I don’t like your newsletter.
SPEAKER 11 :
You don’t like my newsletter? Why?
SPEAKER 06 :
No, because it comes out on Sunday, and by the time I show up on Wednesday, 12 different things have happened, and yet you keep us confined to whatever you put in that newsletter on Sunday, which you probably wrote on Friday. So, yeah, no, it’s old news. I don’t like it. Get rid of it.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, we have plenty of time to talk about other things. But Zach has said, make sure that you have the integrity of talking about what you said. At least touch on it. So, yes, we are constrained to try to make that happen. But I’ve not written the newsletter for this broadcast since we’re pre-recording. So I’ll be able to talk about what we talked about.
SPEAKER 06 :
I know. That’s why I’m feeling the free spirit today, which is what I’m making a point. We’re better off without the confines of that newsletter every Sunday.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, I know that it’s going to be interesting for sure. So first thing, though, I want to say thank you to one of our goal sponsors, and that’s Laramie Energy, because we’re learning. It’s reliable, efficient, affordable, and abundant power. from naturally occurring hydrocarbons, such as oil, natural gas, and coal, that powers our lives, fuels our hopes and dreams, and empowers us to change our own personal climate to be warm in the winter and cool in the summer. And if you are having any challenges on your own personal climate, be warm in the winter, as long as it’s not because Xcel has shut down your power. But if you need any help with anything else on that, reach out to Ben’s Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling. All that information is on my website. So Trent Luce, we are recording this on the Thursday before Christmas Eve. We just had wind that came through. It actually didn’t really blow significantly at my house until in the evening. I heard that up north it had been very windy all day. You’re now experiencing that. Because I guess it’s moved on to Nebraska now, yes?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, but we’re not at 144 miles per hour, which I saw points of Wisconsin, Wyoming had to deal with. That’s the force of a hurricane.
SPEAKER 11 :
It is. And, well, I’ve been very snarky about Xcel shutting down our power. As we know, Xcel… It works with the PUC, the Public Utilities Commission, which is a bureaucracy of three commissioners, just three, that are all three appointed by Jared Polis. So while we like to blame things on the PUC, it’s actually Jared Polis who’s pulling the strings on this. He said he wants to get Colorado to a point where we would not be using reliable, efficient, affordable, and abundant power sources by, I think, 2030. And I think people had a big awakening, and that is there were people in the dark yesterday because Xcel shut their power off because they said of the wind. But I posit this statement that there are other states where the wind blows and they didn’t have to shut down their power because the wind was blowing. Is that accurate or not, Trent Luce?
SPEAKER 06 :
114 miles an hour in Mile City, Montana overnight. They did not shut down their power nor lose it. And it’s funny you say that you’ve been snarky because when I first heard about XL doing this now this morning, I said, oh, that’s clearly retribution for how Elbert County has stood up to them and said, no, you’re not going to come in here and run over us. And so they just did a little retribution and say, hey, we’ll show you. We’ll shut off your power. But I’m not going to let those three people. puc members off if they’re appointed by the governor whoever the governor may be they’re appointed to do a job not to be a talking puppet for the governor’s wishes and their job is to evaluate and consider Does this project, whatever this utilities project may be, fit into the culture, into the land use plans, and does it make sense for the state of Colorado? There is to do only that, not to have an ear to the governor to say, what do you want us to do? So the governor can tell them what he wants them to do, but I do not remove those three individuals from representing a body which is supposed to be a governing body to make sure that everything makes sense and fits into the culture of the landscape.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, and when I made comments at that hearing a few weeks ago out in Kiowa with the PUC commissioners there, which I’m really glad they did that. It was a good step in the right direction for them to come out and hear what people had to say. But I said that your job is really not to be affirming what Excel is doing here, but it is to be a watchdog for the people of Colorado over… Excel is a monopoly. It has monopolistic power over its customers. And the PUC, you are there to be an overseer representing the people of Colorado, not affirming everything that Excel does.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, I already know what part of Jefferson County is going to be turned off the next time the wind blows a little bit, that they have an excuse to turn off the power. It’s going to be right over KLZ’s quarter.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, that’s not funny, Trent. Not funny one bit.
SPEAKER 06 :
No, it’s the world we live in. But how did we get to the point? I know the answer to the question. It’s a rhetorical question. We have gotten to the point. where these watchdog agencies, I’m going to call them because I like the term watchdog, they’re there to protect the citizens of Colorado, not be an enforcing agent for the industry and the corporations that want to come in and just implement their will. Their job is to be a watchdog. That’s a great term.
SPEAKER 11 :
Are you going to like this? They’re to be a watchdog, not a lapdog.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, I think it’s a good thing we’re ready for a break because that could go in a way different direction.
SPEAKER 11 :
So, okay, never mind. We’re going to go to break. I’m talking with Trent Luce. We have these discussions because of our sponsors, and I am blessed to work with a lot of great people. And we are pre-recording these shows for Christmas week. And so I’m talking with our sponsor, Lauren Levy, with Everything Mortgages. And Lauren, this year has gone by faster than any other year. And they’ve been going by pretty darn quickly.
SPEAKER 12 :
It’s because we’re getting old.
SPEAKER 11 :
Oh, thanks a lot. Speak for yourself. No, you’re right.
SPEAKER 12 :
I remember always hearing from people, the older you get, the faster it goes. It’s so true.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, it is true. Since we’re year-end, what’s your thoughts about 2025 and looking into 2026?
SPEAKER 12 :
I think 2025, as far as my standpoint, has been a pretty stable year. Rates have kind of been what they’ve been, even with expectations. I remember going all the way back to the election of last November. There was a lot of, I think, hope. I don’t know if it was misdirected, but that a new president was going to come in and drastically lower interest rates, which… We’ve all learned there’s a process to doing things, and you can’t just stroke a pen and make certain things happen. And so it’s been a pretty stable year, which is nice. It’s allowed for our housing market to be kind of stable and people to take advantage of opportunities. I’m hopeful for 2026 that we do see more Fed rate cuts. I think we will once tariffs either come off or fully work their way through prices. And the Federal Reserve can get their arm around things a little bit better and not have that fear of additional inflation should they cut. And that could actually make rates go down. So that would be nice. And that’s kind of what the Fed is giving evidence to, that they’re open to more cuts next year. So we’ll see.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, and Lauren Levy, in the conversations that I’ve had with guests, Jay Davidson, another great sponsor with First American State Bank, inflation, government-induced inflation, has really occurred because of the supply of money. That in the Obama administration, they pumped additional dollars, printed and pumped additional dollars into the economy, which deflated the amount of money that we had in our pocket. So it’s a little crazy to me when the Fed… talks about inflation because it’s government that primarily does it.
SPEAKER 12 :
That’s very true. Even with COVID, they were putting a lot of money into the market to try to, at that time, save the economy because people weren’t working. That’s why the Fed has a hard job, Kim. They have to do what they see best, but then it can all get unwound or changed based on congressional action. They can vote to increase money they put out there, and the Fed thinks they’re going one direction, and all of a sudden Congress has gone another direction. And it’s not their job to unwind or fix what Congress does, but they have to react to it. And it’s been a real issue going all the way back to COVID and before that, the crash of 08. Yeah.
SPEAKER 11 :
So much of this is government-induced. So that’s why what we do here at the show to shed light on what is happening is really important. And I appreciate your sponsorship and partnership. We’ve been partners for a long time now.
SPEAKER 12 :
We have. It’s so long that I can’t even remember how long. I know. I know. And I really appreciate that. It’s been great. It’s fun to come on and help people. It’s not just about trying to say, hey, call me. I can help. It’s about trying to educate folks and hopefully put them in a better position no matter what they try to do as far as buying a home or paying off debt or just getting in a better financial position. It’s nice to try to help people and feel like you are.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, and how can people reach you if they want to look at a new mortgage or a second mortgage, reverse mortgage? What’s that best number?
SPEAKER 12 :
The easiest way is always just call 303-880-8881. If you leave a message, we’ll call you back. Hopefully, we’re helping someone else at that time. We’re always going to call you back in timely fashion. And, you know, we’re here to help for all those options. Everyone’s in a different position. So don’t feel bad about calling. And the worst thing that will happen is we’ll tell you it’s not the right time or we can’t help. But we’ll tell you why and how to get in a better position or we’ll help.
SPEAKER 11 :
OK, well, Lauren Levy, I wish you and your family just a great holiday season and great prosperity in 2026. Thank you so much. Same to you. OK, we’ll talk next year.
SPEAKER 12 :
You got it.
SPEAKER 09 :
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SPEAKER 18 :
There was a time in America when a man’s handshake cemented his word. At Ben’s Plumbing, Heating and Cooling, we are old school and believe in doing a job well. If there is ever an issue with the service that we have provided, we will make it right. Ben’s Plumbing, Heating and Cooling is proud to partner with The Kim Monson Show to bring truth and clarity to the issues we face in Colorado, America and our world. Call or text Ben’s Plumbing, Heating and Cooling at 303-995-1636 for all of your plumbing, heating and cooling needs. That number is 303-995-1636.
SPEAKER 13 :
There’s so much noise coming at us. Sometimes it is difficult to make sense of it all. How can you sift through the clamor for your attention and get to the truth? The Kim Monson Show is here to help. Kim searches for truth and clarity by examining issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. Tune in to the Kim Monson Show each weekday, 6 to 8 a.m. with encores 1 to 2 p.m. and 10 to 11 p.m. on KLZ 560 AM, KLZ 100.7 FM. The KLZ website, the KLZ app, and Alexa. Play KLZ. Shows can also be found at KimMonson.com, Spotify, and iTunes.
SPEAKER 11 :
And welcome back to The Kim Monson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMonson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. And sign up for our weekly email newsletter that goes out on Sundays to let you know what we’ll be talking about the next week. How’s that, Trent? Did you like that?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, that’s perfect. What did you change, exactly?
SPEAKER 11 :
I said that we will tell you what we’re going to be talking about next week. So that was just a little jab at your displeasure with the newsletter. So let’s continue on.
SPEAKER 06 :
You’re talking about… I’m only displeased with the confines of the newsletter, not the newsletter itself.
SPEAKER 11 :
Okay, thank you for that clarification. And… So we’re talking about the Public Utilities Commission. I was a little shocked to find out that it was only three people. I thought it was probably a whole bunch more because I was also looking up the CDPHE, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. There’s 24 commissioners on that. But, man, these three commissioners on the PUC, they have enormous power. Power over the oil and gas industry. Power over getting rid of gas appliances or gas furnaces. They have an enormous amount of power. But they’re unelected. They’re unaccountable to the people. And they’re appointed by the governor.
SPEAKER 06 :
I know that South Dakota has three commissioners. North Dakota has three. Iowa has, I believe, five. And we have five.
SPEAKER 11 :
And these people have enormous power.
SPEAKER 06 :
Public utilities commissioners. Yeah.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah. And it was probably put in place. I remember as a kid in my little town in western Kansas, we had our own power plant. Wasn’t that it used to be the case that every little town had their did their own power? How did we get to this point where we have this huge monopoly that now they can decide to turn power on and off under different reasons? I’ll just say that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. So actually, I’ve been working with Kevin Kinney on that very project. And in Nebraska, there are still some towns that do have their own power plant. But the Nebraska Public Power has been removing the incentive for communities to maintain their own source of electricity. And this is a major mistake. I mean, it’s just considered backup power. Why would you not be able to Why continue to generate backup power if something would happen? More importantly, not only if something would happen, why do we want to continue to remain dependent upon a corporation, no matter who it’s owned by, to supply us electricity?
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, that’s an excellent question. We will just mention that XL, two of their largest shareholders are Vanguard and BlackRock. So I think that’s important to know. But the fact that they… Well, we’ve had this march toward electrification of Colorado, trying to push people into more and more electric power. And the grid is not in good shape. But this should be a big wake-up call for everybody in Colorado. Even with the threat of shutting down your power, why would we want to have just one power source, electricity, and not have natural gas? Well, I guess natural gas, we can create electricity, but they’re taking away our choices, wanting to electrify everything like our gas ranges and heat pumps on our furnaces. Why would we stand for this? We’ve got to say no to this, Trent Luce.
SPEAKER 06 :
I love the position that you’re taking and use this wake up call to do something about it instead of just saying, oh, well, that was a glitch. No, it wasn’t a glitch. It was somebody telling you that your power needs are in our control. We need to each town, each community, each county should come up with a backup plan to say we’re not going to be dependent upon whoever the supplier is to get us electricity. I love the approach.
SPEAKER 11 :
I love that, too. Yes, these county commissioners could take a lead role in saying, hey, we are going to make sure that we have a backup plan for our communities. We’re not going to just sit here like sitting ducks and let this happen. So, man, we’ve got a lot of work to do in 2026. Trent Luce?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, I mean, there was even when it started, they would be paid to generate electricity to feed into the system. And then we moved away from that. They being local communities. Why did we ever move away from that to centralize control? That’s the only reason.
SPEAKER 11 :
And, of course, centralizing control, that is the whole agenda by the World Economic Forum, of whom Larry Fink, head of BlackRock, is the head of the World Economic Forum as well. We’re in… We are in such an interesting time from a historical standpoint. I believe we’re in the third founding of our country. And a lot of people don’t understand. They’re busy. They’re busy with their families, their businesses. They don’t want to pay attention to politics. Clearly, with this blackout or threat of blackout, politics is into us big time. And so I do think we have a great opportunity because people, I think, are paying attention to Trent Luce.
SPEAKER 06 :
So clarify something for me, because you just said the threat of a blackout. 120,000 people were without electricity for some period of time yesterday.
SPEAKER 11 :
So, but I was not with that. I did not have my power turned off. But the threat was there that my power was going to be turned off.
SPEAKER 06 :
But did people actually experience that? Or was it a threat?
SPEAKER 11 :
In my community, it was a threat. We did not experience a blackout. Huh.
SPEAKER 06 :
That just further verifies our point, does it not? Just to let you know that we can turn you off anytime we want. This kind of goes back to the smart meter conversation.
SPEAKER 11 :
That it does. And that’s my concern when we had the conversation a week or so ago regarding the smart meters, that they could directly turn your power off with a smart meter. I said, I don’t have a smart meter. And one of our listeners said, but they could still individually… turned me off as well and then another listener said in that case they’d have to turn off the whole community but i’m pretty sure with a smart meter they can target who who has power and who doesn’t i you know what i’m saying that from conjecture i don’t know that for sure but well you want to test your theory don’t pay your bill for three months and see what happens
SPEAKER 06 :
i’m betting you don’t have electricity i think that is probably true we’ve got about a minute left uh anything else to button up on this whole excel blackout threat of blackout thing we can’t have a blackout particularly this time of year because we’ve got to have lights on our christmas tree and if you have a blackout during christmas you can’t have a dark christmas tree or can you When did we start putting lights on the Christmas tree? I think we should evolve into the whole Christmas tree discussion. Because it is Christmas.
SPEAKER 11 :
I think that is an excellent plan. And we get to have these discussions because of all of our great sponsors. And one of those is the Second Syndicate. And I so appreciate the work that Alicia Garcia and Teddy Collins are doing to… bring voices together and to be down at the Capitol in 2026 to protect our rights, to keep and bear firearms, to protect ourselves against bad actors.
SPEAKER 14 :
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SPEAKER 16 :
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SPEAKER 01 :
All Kim’s sponsors are an inclusive partnership with Kim and are not affiliated with or in partnership with KLZ or Crawford Broadcasting. If you would like to support the work of The Kim Monson Show and grow your business, contact Kim at her website, kimmonson.com. That’s Kim Monson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
SPEAKER 11 :
And welcome back to The Kim Monson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMonson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. And we talk about freedom all the time on the show. And actually, it’s liberty. Liberty is the responsible exercise of freedom. But we know that you also want liberty or freedom with your finances. And reach out to Mint Financial Strategies because they can help you with that. They have over 25 years of experience in the industry, and they can focus on you. It’ll be an individual plan that will help you have your own financial freedom. It’ll give you clarity and confidence as you live each day. So reach out to them. That number is 303-285-3080, 303-285-3080. And we are pre-recording these shows for Christmas week. So we’re talking with Trent Luce, sixth generation rancher from Nebraska. And you teased Christmas lights and the Christmas tree. So tell me about that, Trent Luce.
SPEAKER 06 :
So when did the Christmas tree first become a symbol of Christmas?
SPEAKER 11 :
Oh, I know. I know the answer to that. I know the answer to that. Was it like in the 1400s?
SPEAKER 06 :
It was like 1490, Estonia claimed to have decorated a tree, and then Laffia in Riga did one in 1510. Both of them decorated it with food like bread and crackers and things and apples. Hmm. And then as part of their celebratory system, they lit them on fire. Hmm. I don’t understand that, but that’s how they celebrated. Of course, these were pagans. They were not Christians, per se. Then it was Germany. in the 18th century that actually officially claims credit, but the first tree was pretty much… You can go to a spot in Riga, and I have J.C. Cole on my rural route radio program every Wednesday, and he was in Riga, Lafayette, for 18 years, and he has a picture of the spot. But Germany is taking credit for starting it as a Christian tradition. And then the most interesting part of this whole Christmas tree history is that Germany is also the home of the first artificial Christmas tree. And the reason that they started using artificial Christmas trees, which were goose feathers, by the way, they would take goose feathers and preserve them. I don’t remember what they used to preserve them. But they would preserve them and make a tree out of that. And ultimately, today we use parts of PVC pipe to make those artificial trees. But Germany decided, after 50 years of people going into the forests of Germany, one day a year, taking a tree and putting it in their house and celebrating Christmas, that it was an environmental disaster and that they might be removing too many trees from the forest. Really? Yes, I’m not kidding you. So they started coercing people into making Christmas trees out of goose feathers. So the moral of the story is that somebody was in the goose feather business and decided they wanted to sell goose feathers instead of have them go find their own tree.
SPEAKER 11 :
That is funny. That’s funny. What about, I’ve always thought it was a problem because they used to put candles to light the Christmas tree, right? That always seemed like that was a problem. I guess unless it was a really fresh tree, if you cut it down that day, maybe that was okay. But what about that?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, that is the interesting part of this whole story. And by the way, it was 1830 when Germany started doing the Christmas tree. It did not become prevalent in the United States. This was also problematic for this whole process. Until there was an illustrator who drew a picture of the royal family of England… setting around a Christmas tree with candles that inspired families in the United States to, too, get a Christmas tree. So even though we went to battle for killing ourselves over the Revolutionary War and getting free from the king, it was the king that inspired us to get a Christmas tree. And the reason they put candles, and it was not the fire hazard that it would be today, is that the Christmas tree was only up for like a week. It’s not like today or the day after Thanksgiving people are putting up their Christmas tree. This was a very short celebration, and it took shape and form as it wished. But throughout the course of history until modern day, it was food that they put on a Christmas tree. I find that interesting. Well, probably dried apples and wafers and things like that.
SPEAKER 11 :
I wonder if it’s a symbol that they were grateful for their food source. I don’t know. That’s a that’s a that’s a question that we’ll have out there.
SPEAKER 06 :
There’s one other tradition that left.
SPEAKER 11 :
OK.
SPEAKER 06 :
And before Christmas, the day before Christmas, they would put up a tree, separate tree, and they called that a paradise tree. What did that represent?
SPEAKER 11 :
Heaven?
SPEAKER 06 :
The Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.
SPEAKER 11 :
Of course.
SPEAKER 06 :
Of course it would. And you have an apple. Somehow an apple makes its way into every bit of this story.
SPEAKER 11 :
That is fascinating. And why did they put a paradise tree up? What was the reasoning on that?
SPEAKER 06 :
To celebrate the… The creation. The creation. Yep. Very interesting. The beginning of life. And the Christmas tree was to present the beginning of Jesus’s life, which was there for our Savior to be our Savior.
SPEAKER 11 :
I love those traditions. My neighbors and I put out luminarias normally on Christmas Eve, which is the paper bags with the sand in it with candles inside. And it’s just beautiful. And we’ve always thought the tradition with that, and that’s from the Southwest, is that lighting the way for the Christ child on Christmas Eve. And so that’s a tradition. Are you familiar at all with luminarias? Do you do anything like that?
SPEAKER 06 :
No, but I thought that was how Santa found your house.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, there’s always there’s that part as well, if you’re going to look at it from a secular standpoint. Let’s talk a little bit about Christmas trees. My grandmother had a silver Christmas tree that she had a light that had different colors that, you know, go through it. And she put that light on the tree so that sometimes it would be blue, green, pink, whatever. But I always thought it was odd, and that was something that was kind of a thing that people did back during that era. But I remember vividly, I can see it right now in her living room, that silver Christmas tree. And I always thought it was, I’ll just say, interesting.
SPEAKER 06 :
Are you in a position where you can look at your phone while we have a conversation?
SPEAKER 11 :
I am.
SPEAKER 06 :
I just sent you a picture of our Christmas tree this year.
SPEAKER 11 :
Okay. Hasn’t come through yet.
SPEAKER 06 :
And I have childhood memories of going into the woods with my father and a chainsaw, cutting a tree and selecting a tree each year.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, first of all, your tree is very beautiful, but it’s white. But then you’ve got, it’s really pretty. How did you end up with a white tree? There’s no question that this is a fake tree, right?
SPEAKER 06 :
We leave a little hole in the roof, and the snow just falls right through that hole, and it just perfectly scatters out on those leaves.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, it is pretty.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, I’m conflicted about that. It’s convenient to go get a tree out of your basement every year and put it up, and it’s beautiful. I wish we had a real tree, and I don’t throw a fit about it because I’d be the one going to get it. And I love cutting wood, by the way. But Kelly did all of that. I take zero responsibility for that. Usually we have a plethora of ornaments that the girls and myself and Kelly have assembled throughout the course of our life. But this year she just hung up a very simple number of red or silver ornaments and on a tree that looks like it’s snow lit. It’s beautiful.
SPEAKER 11 :
It is. It really looks pretty. So far, I’ve talked to many of my friends. They said they put up the tree and it was so easy. They put it up within a few minutes and then pre-lit trees. Oh my gosh, is that not brilliant? But I’ve still been doing a live tree. And I did what you said. I normally go out on the Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent, and get the tree. And so I brought it back and put it in a bucket so that it would be taking on water. They did a cut on it. I’ve never had a tree like this. It takes three mason jars of water every day still. And, of course, we’re pre-recording this on the 18th, a week before Christmas. I’ve never had a tree like this. It is taking water like I can’t believe.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, it’s because we burn coal and generate electricity.
SPEAKER 11 :
What?
SPEAKER 06 :
I’m joking. Okay. Somebody is surely blaming it on coal, is my point. Oh, of course. You totally missed it, so I totally take back what I said.
SPEAKER 11 :
Normally I can follow you, but I missed it. I apologize on that.
SPEAKER 06 :
I don’t know. It’s a thirsty tree.
SPEAKER 11 :
I know. It’s just been remarkable. And therefore, last year the tree was so dry that I was concerned that it might be a fire hazard. This year the tree is just beautiful. But it is a lot of work. Christmas is a lot of work to get the tree up and put lights on it and the ornaments. And granted, you said that you would go chop the tree down. But for women, homemakers, the holiday is a lot of work. It’s blessed work, but it is a lot of work.
SPEAKER 06 :
It is a lot of work. Kelly started baking already this week, a week ahead of time. And I do not lack any appreciation for all the meal prep and candies and pies and everything else that women feel is their obligation to do.
SPEAKER 11 :
And love doing it, but it is a lot of work.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, one other factoid before we leave this.
SPEAKER 11 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 06 :
How many Christmas, natural, real, like you, Kim Monson, how many Christmas trees are sold each year in the United States?
SPEAKER 11 :
50 million.
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s exactly what it is.
SPEAKER 11 :
Oh my gosh. Huh. You win. You know what?
SPEAKER 06 :
Joe, tell her what she wins. Come on down, Kim.
SPEAKER 11 :
I actually deduced that myself. I did not look on the Internet for that whatsoever. And so we’ve got one more segment with Trent Luce, and we’re pre-recording for the week of Christmas. And this is Christmas Eve, which is one of my most favorite days of the whole year because it is the birth of Christ. We’re celebrating. And Christ came as our Savior, and boy, oh boy, do we need a Savior. And so that’s why I love Christmas Eve. We have all these discussions because of our sponsors, but I wanted to mention the two nonprofits that I highlight on a regular basis, and that is the USMC Memorial Foundation. And they’re raising money for the remodel at the Marine Memorial. And you can make a year in contribution by going to usmcmemorialfoundation.org. And then also the Center for American Values located in Pueblo. And it was co-founded by Drew Dix, a Medal of Honor recipient for actions he took. during the vietnam war and brad padula who is an emmy award-winning documentary maker and they said we we want to honor our medal of honor recipients and also to take those principles of honor integrity and patriotism and put together educational programs for our kids so that we can continue on with those great principles neither the usmc memorial foundation nor the center for american values Take any government money. It’s all from us. And so you can make a year-end contribution to both of them that’s tax deductible. The center is nonpolitical, nonpartisan. And you can do that by going to AmericanValueCenter.org. And we are truly blessed with amazing sponsors of the show. If you’ve been injured, you should reach out to John Bozen and Bozen Law.
SPEAKER 03 :
John Bozen and the attorneys at Bozen Law believe that everyone deserves access to justice regardless of their financial situation. That’s why Bozen Law handles personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis. You don’t pay anything upfront. And there are no hourly fees. Bozen Law covers the cost of building your case and they only get paid if they win for you. Every case is different and results vary depending on facts and circumstances. Contact Bozen Law today at 303-999-9999 to see how Bozen Law might help you. That number is 303-999-9999.
SPEAKER 17 :
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SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you so much for having me. To learn more, reach out to Teresa at 520-631-9243. Teresa would love to talk with you. Again, that number is 520-631-9243.
SPEAKER 11 :
And welcome back to The Kim Monson Show. Check out our website. That is KimMonson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. And if you are looking for real New York-style pizza and pasta, then you need to stop by Little Richie’s Pizza and Pasta in Parker and Golden. It is authentic New York flavor, but with Colorado roots. So from daily specials and weekday lunch deals to a happy hour worth planning around, They are your neighborhood favorite, and they’re always serving up something worth stopping for. And again, that’s Little Richie’s in Parker and Golden. And it is Christmas Eve. We have prerecorded this show, and we’re talking with Trent Luce, sixth-generation rancher from Nebraska. And Trent, you mentioned that it might be good to talk about the history of Christmas. So where do you want to start?
SPEAKER 06 :
No, you mentioned that. Not me. Don’t blame that on me.
SPEAKER 11 :
Okay, but you said you could talk about it.
SPEAKER 06 :
But I have something else first. If you’re going to go to Parker anyway, why wouldn’t you go to Parker to have Denver-style pizza or Colorado or Nebraska-style pizza? Why do you go there for New York-style pizza? But if you’re going to go to Parker anyway… And it’s Christmas. You might as well give Joey Friend a call at Running Creek Ranch at Elizabeth and go get a sleigh ride. He’s got these beautiful Belgians, and he would love to give you a sleigh ride.
SPEAKER 11 :
Oh, my gosh. So how can people get more information about that to make a reservation?
SPEAKER 06 :
Just go to Running Creek Ranch. Search it on the web, and you’ll find Joey. What a great thing. And if it’s not snowing. Yeah. Joey, do you know the story behind Running Creek Ranch? No. No. They run limousine cattle, and they feed, they do everything with horses, with team horses. I mean, they will be there all winter feeding cows, forking hay off of their sleighs with a man and fork and horse and draft. It’s incredible.
SPEAKER 11 :
okay well i’m looking it’s uh let’s check it out running did you did you find it i’m i think i found it let me see i got the right spot here it says running creek ranch
SPEAKER 06 :
There you go.
SPEAKER 11 :
Wow, this is pretty impressive. Wait, I may be in the wrong one here. This one, this is Poplarville, Mississippi. Try that one, too.
SPEAKER 06 :
I don’t know them.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, but that looks pretty neat.
SPEAKER 06 :
If it snows in Mississippi, we’ll have more dark days in Colorado, let me tell you.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, so I’ll have to find that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Their address is Elizabeth.
SPEAKER 11 :
Running Creek Ranch, Elizabeth, Colorado. I’ll see if I can find that while you’re telling us about the history of Christmas.
SPEAKER 06 :
What am I going to tell you about the history of Christmas that people don’t already know? The Virgin Mary had an immaculate conception and gave birth in a manger. She didn’t go to a fancy hotel. A manger. A manger. And this is God’s son who came for us. That’s the history of Christmas.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, that is it. I don’t mean to be sacrilegious, but in today’s age, I could just say, Joseph, you didn’t make reservations. You knew everybody was coming here for census, and you knew that I was expecting a baby. But instead, they, I think, offered each other a lot of grace. And so I don’t think that she probably, well, maybe she didn’t. I don’t know. I think Mary was probably pretty darn patient. So anyway, okay, I found this. Runningcreekranch.com, 45, it’s in Elizabeth. The phone number is 303-840-1850. That’s 303-840-1850. And so that is where you could get more information about that.
SPEAKER 06 :
There’s a great photo gallery there, too. Did you see that?
SPEAKER 11 :
I’m clicking on it as we speak.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, look at those Belgians, all hitched up, ready to go.
SPEAKER 11 :
Okay. I haven’t gotten to that yet. All I’m seeing is cows. Oh, here we go.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, aren’t they beautiful Belgians? I’m a perch run guy. But if you don’t have a perch run available, Belgium will do.
SPEAKER 11 :
You are a what?
SPEAKER 06 :
Perch run. Oh, okay. It’s a breed of draft horse.
SPEAKER 11 :
Okay. Boy, draft horses, I remember my grandfather, there’s a real talent to direct draft horses, and I remember that my grandfather had said that it also was a sign of a good farmer if you had a good team of draft horses as well.
SPEAKER 06 :
I love driving a team. There was one summer that I drove a team of horses pulling my – I have a 1908 Newton chuck wagon. And I guess I suppose I shouldn’t – a chuck wagon is an old wagon like they use on the cattle drives, and it’s got a chuck box, which for all practical purposes would be considered kitchen cupboards in the back. where things are stored, and there’s a place for everything. It’s a traveling buffet for cooking meals, and my chuck wagon is absolutely incredible. So one year I decided that I was going to hit all 50 states, driving my team of Pertrans, pulling my 1908 Newton chuck wagon, and in each state feature a local veteran. I made it to 14 the last… Parade, I drove a brush. Colorado was the Colorado parade. I was in on the fourth day of July. Labor Day. No, it was Memorial Day. I was up by Thermopolis, Wyoming and Hyattsville, Wyoming, to be exact. And Chicago Thanksgiving Day Parade was the last parade I was in with that team. And I had Tony Gallagher. who was not only a career army man, he was in the CIA. And the day that Reagan was standing at the wall saying, tear down this wall, he was impersonating a German officer. So I loved doing that. But after the Chicago Thanksgiving Day Parade, which was great fun, I never was a fan of Chicago. But we lined up that day, and I have to tell you that I had a whole new appreciation for Chicago. The Chicago police, they rolled out the red carpet for anybody with horses because they understood how important it was to make sure everything was right and they had your own space. And they just catered to us so well that had horses in that parade. And it was something very exhilarating with 700,000 people standing along the streets in Chicago, along State Street. The parade route was on State Street. And my horses were absolutely the best in terms of being broke and you could do anything with it. In fact, they taught me. I had a team of horses, which I started, and I was kind of getting along. You know, I have a runaway once in a while, and those can be kind of dangerous. And I decided I really wanted to be a teamster. So each year, it still happens, each year there’s a draft horse sale or two at Brighton, Colorado, at the Adams County Fairgrounds. And so I went there with the girls. The girls were young at that time. We’re talking about 2010 probably. And I saw this Amishman from Indiana driving this team of perch runs. They’re 2,000-pound draft horses, two of them, and Kimmy did not have a line on them. So we don’t call them reins in the driving world. We call them lines. He did not have a line on them. He was driving them 100% with voice. And there are certain commands. G, you turn right. Ha, you turn left. Obviously, back, back, back, and then step up. So those are your four directions. And I watched this guy for nearly an hour drive these horses without ever touching them, just simply by voice. And I said, you know what? That team right there is the one the beginner needs. So I bought that team. They ended up being Jim and Josh. And Jim and Josh taught me how to drive a team of horses. And I just love doing it today. I lost Josh, who was my anchor horse of that team, after the Chicago Thanksgiving Day Parade. He got an internal body infection, and we lost him. And I just never have had a team to replace him at the same level.
SPEAKER 11 :
So you transported the horses via trailer, right, when you were doing all this?
SPEAKER 06 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 11 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right. At that time, I had an eight-foot-wide, 27-foot-long horse trailer. Goodness. So I would take my wagon, which weighs a lot, and my team of perch runs, and I usually, like when we were in Chicago, I had Libby’s horse. She was 12 at the time, so I would be able to figure it would have been 15 years ago then because she was 12, and she’s 27 today. and we would haul all of those because when you’re driving a team, you always got to have your outrider, that person that can be there in case there’s a runaway or whatever the case may be, and Libby, my 12-year-old, was my outrider. That was just a great time.
SPEAKER 11 :
Oh, it sounds like a wonderful time. Those are memories. That’s quite an experience that you did that. And again, it is driving a team. And so was your team just the two horses, or how many horses did you have in the team? Two.
SPEAKER 06 :
Two, okay. Jim and Josh, two. Okay. I’ve always fancied driving six, but I would spend a lot less time with you and my computer if I actually had the time to get six horses to go. But that’s going to be the National Westerns coming up in the last week. That draft horse competition is absolutely incredible.
SPEAKER 11 :
It is absolutely incredible. And. They were the workhorses. They were the things that made commerce. And I think one of the things they do with that competition is they back the horses up, and there’s a real talent to that to make all that happen. So Trent Luce, we’ve got about a minute left, and it’s always fun to do these prerecords because, well, it’s even though live, we never know for sure where the conversation is going to go, although we do. Try to stay at least within the confines of mentioning whatever I put in the newsletter. And how I try to do that is I’ll go and see what you, I try to find out what you’ve been talking about on your stuff that week. But anyway, we’ve got a minute left. How would you like to wrap this up?
SPEAKER 06 :
Free the handcuffs. We’re no longer going to talk about force versus freedom. We’re going to talk about take the handcuffs off. Just let the conversation flow. No, I’m trying to be funny, not working so well. Most importantly, you know, we talked about gathering up a Christmas tree with your father. We just talked about the memories that I have with the daughters riding in pasture and parades. Christmas is about Jesus coming to save us for eternity. But it’s also about family getting together and sharing those experiences. And that’s the reason you have a tree is so that you have that focal point so that when you gather with your loved ones, your family members, you have that memory from one spot where you came together. And that’s why we have the Christmas tree representing Christmas.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, I love that. And Merry Christmas to you and yours, Trent Luce. And we will talk next week.
SPEAKER 06 :
Can’t wait. Thanks, Kim.
SPEAKER 11 :
And our quote for the end of the show is C.S. Lewis. He said, Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace in difficulties. So, my friends, today be grateful. Read great books. Think good thoughts. Listen to beautiful music. Communicate and listen well. Live honestly and authentically. Strive for high ideals. And like Superman, stand for truth, justice, and the American way. My friends, you are not alone. God bless you. God bless America. And Merry Christmas.
SPEAKER 07 :
And I don’t want no one to cry But tell them if I don’t survive
SPEAKER 15 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
