Ryan Swanson: the same. Hello and welcome to the Satisfied podcast. This is Ryan Swanson joining you again here on the Degeneration Network. Last week we had a unique episode. If you didn’t catch that, I went on air with Dr. Jim and Bobby Bosler and had an excellent discussion on the life and testimony of Charlie Kirk, having attended his memorial service last week. That was just an impacting time and it spurred some great conversations. If you haven’t watched that, please do so. But I’m having a hard time just setting aside all that this has meant for myself and my ministry. I want to make sure personally that I’m gleaning everything that I’m supposed to from Charlie’s testimony, not that we’ll ever totally forget it, but in this point of maybe heightened emotion, I do want to make sure that there’s action for me, and so I’ve been seeking the Lord directly on that and establishing some goals and actions myself, and I hope you’re doing the same, not just being stirred, but actually challenged and changed by this and the remarkable man that Charlie Kirk was because of his relationship with Christ. But a couple days ago, I came across, actually somebody sent me a video podcast from Covenant Eyes. Maybe you’ve seen this, and I hope that you will look at it and watch the full podcast if you haven’t already. But it was put out about a year ago by Covenant Eyes podcast, and they interviewed Charlie Kirk. He came on their podcast not just to discuss the issues we have in our day of the societal consequences of a pornified culture, as they call it, but he also went in a bit to his own personal testimony. And so I thought the best thing to do here would just be to play that for you. I’m going to play the first three or four minutes of this podcast so you can hear from his own mouth the beginning of this podcast, and then Charlie will go into his testimony. Then he’ll throw a pretty significant deep question at you that I’ve been wrestling through myself ever since Charlie’s passing, and see if we can wrestle this through together and see what this means for us.

Guest: Yeah, so we were recently at a pastor’s summit. And who do we run into but Charlie Kirk? And we’re very excited because he’s not only doing amazing things and working with the church across the nation, but he’s also very passionate about what we do in fighting against pornography. So, Charlie, thanks so much for being on with us for a few minutes today.

Guest: Oh, yeah. I love the product. I use the product, Covenant Eyes. It’s incredible. I’ve been very open about my previous struggles with pornography, as most young men have in America. you know and trying to have young people talk about that I think is healthy and thankfully have victory over that large in part thanks to Covenant Eyes but most importantly Jesus Christ so yeah I found Covenant Eyes just through some digital advertisements and great product great tech and really good philosophy because you have somebody kind of check in on you and kind of have that check and balance but really enthusiastic about the product guys and want to try to get more young men and young women because pornography is also impacting young women as well but especially young men get victory over what is the most prevalent most widespread and

Guest: least talked about addiction of the modern era oh he’s speaking our language yeah absolutely

Guest: charlie do you mind just going into a little bit of your own struggle for our listeners because we all have our own journey yeah i mean when you’re in high school or college it’s

Guest: pornography is ubiquitous, right? And always knew it was wrong, but it was still so difficult to resist. And, you know, growing up in a technological era, you know, you have these smartphones and, you know, growing up even in a Christian environment and knowing it’s wrong, I totally sympathize with young men that are still, you know, lured into that temptation because I was one of them. And, you know, kind of in my mid twenties, I was like, I want to get victory over this and started to read a lot of different books about how that is. And honestly, it’s less about the to-do list and it’s more about just surrendering it to Jesus Christ because he’s already won that victory for you. And I could tell you that I’m happier, healthier. And really what got it in line was as I started to date my now wife, I was like, this is a toxin. It’s a poison. I want nothing to do with it. I don’t like what it’s doing to my soul. I don’t like what it’s doing to my attitude. And yeah, without going into too many of the details of it, it’s what almost every man in America is dealing with, including the church. And instead of trying to say that dealing with it and normalizing it. I’m just trying to say that, look, it’s okay. It’s not necessarily that it’s okay. You have it. I’m not trying to make you feel bad. You should try to find victory over it though, right? Don’t accept it as a given. Don’t accept it as a given. I have a deeper and better life and better spiritual journey now that I have overcome that. And your technology has helped that. Like the technology is not going to solve the problem a hundred percent for you, right? And I think, and you guys are clear about that because some people that use Technology will still, you know, get another device or they’ll lie about it. It’s best when someone really wants to make the commitment, right? It’s an amplifier for someone who has the intent, right? Because it kind of creates that little nudge on the shoulder, little tap that says, are you sure you want to be doing that? It makes it harder to continue in that destructive behavioral pattern. But look, I mean, it took months and years of rewiring really broken dopamine pathways that started when I was a teenager. And a lot of young Christian men struggle with the same, and my prayer for them is victory.

Ryan Swanson: All right, now let’s stop there, and I want to throw something past you. Before even hearing this testimony, there’s, as I mentioned, something that’s been on my mind, a question that’s been on my mind that I was brought to by Charlie’s passing as I began hearing his testimony. I didn’t know him super well, but I was definitely familiar with his content, respected him. But as many of us did, We went and found a lot of his content afterwards to see what kind of a guy this was. And many of us, that’s been the most impacting thing, is to go back and see what kind of a man this was, a man of God, and how good he was with his family, how disciplined he was as a person, how much he accomplished in 30 years, how unashamed he was about the gospel, where his principles were, and his priorities. But as I was so stirred about everything that Charlie accomplished ultimately for eternity in the cause of Christ, I, as I mentioned on last week’s podcast, just kind of felt like, man, what am I doing? It was like one of my buddies went off to war and got killed, and I’m sitting at home, not even, I feel like a part of the same battle. And it’s not that it was a political battle, as we talked about last week as well. That’s not the point. The point was he had a mission, he had a calling, and he accomplished everything God had for him in 30 years. And the question that came to my mind, as so much of my ministry and focus is in the purity arena and helping men and women in this area, the question is, are we called to purity? I went on just maybe two days after Charlie Kirk’s assassination and did a men’s meeting with about 200 men. And I did have planned exactly what we were going to talk about that day until everything happened with Charlie Kirk. And it just it really changed the direction of that. And I just wanted to challenge them as men. But I told the men partway through that. I said, I’m going to say something that I’m not even sure I believe yet, but I just think it’s somehow right. and a lot of our focus was on purity that day. It wasn’t the only thing we were talking about. Again, it was challenging to biblical manhood, but I said, man, I don’t think we’re actually called to purity, but rather I think purity is a necessary and assumed condition of an effective servant of Christ who’s carrying out God’s calling on his life. And I say that because I think it’s really easy to relegate years of our life to battling and trying to get victory in this area of pornography. And we have the mindset almost of, I can’t do anything for Christ until I get this figured out. And so I’m content with just sitting around, working whatever job, not seeking the Lord for anything else, any other direction in my life. Because as I’ve said before, sometimes pornography seems like our only sin. It’s like, man, if I could just kick this, I’d be good. I’d be so close to the Lord. I wouldn’t have anything else between if I could just get rid of this pornography. And so it becomes our focus. Again, it becomes our focus, that one thing of trying to be pure. And so when pornography is our only sin, thus in our Christian walk, it becomes our only goal. And when it’s our only goal, then in our prayers, it becomes our only request. And Christians are so tied up in this battle of purity. And so if there’s a bunch of us young men sitting around who are not taking God’s call on our life seriously because we want first to get total victory or whatever that looks like in this area of purity, and we just feel like we can’t do anything for Christ until that’s all behind us, and that’s how we feel, if the devil’s looking on a group of men like that, how does he feel? Is he really that scared of a group of men because they’re fighting pornography if they don’t have any other goals in life? Does the devil really care? Or has he already accomplished his purpose in just the fact that we are completely distracted from our mission as a Christian man and what God has called us to? Whether we are fighting the battle and in victory or fighting the battle and not getting victory, Distraction can look the same if we’re not focused on the main thing. Now, we’re going to circle back around and get a balanced position on this, because we’re not canning the Satisfied podcast in ministry. I think actually this supports it more than ever, and I’m actually thrilled about some of the themes we’ve had because of this. But I have talked to more and more young men that just seem like they have absolutely no purpose because they’re defeated in this area of pornography, and I want to make sure my counsel is correct to them, that yes, there will always be steps to take. There will always be aspects to cover in the areas of desire, availability, and isolation. We can deal with all these things, setting up accountability, the court app, all those can be a part of it. Covenant Eyes should be a part of it, as we’re hearing about in this podcast. But let me just ask you this. Can you imagine a Charlie Kirk distracted? With everything that he accomplished in his life, can you imagine if he was distracted at all? Can you imagine how different his story would be or how less his impact would be if he had been distracted in this way? Let me read to you quickly from a friend of mine. This is a portion of a very brief article, more of a personal synopsis that he wrote as he was trying to discover what it was about Charlie Kirk and his passing that impacted him so deeply. So this is from Pastor John Tyler, who pastors out in Illinois, who is just a couple years younger than Charlie Kirk and writes this, Charlie lived a full life because Charlie lived a focused life. I can’t imagine Charlie had much time for anything that was not mission-related. He seemed to eat, sleep, and drink his mission, a mission that, to be clear, was not just a career. No, it was a mission to represent Jesus in everything, which requires being a faithful husband and father just as much as it requires being a faithful witness. He took these roles seriously, and from afar, it seems he seldom indulged his flesh in any way. He spoke clearly about being filled with the Spirit and not subject to his passions and vices of the flesh. He communicated that message not just with his mouth, but with his life. It is this focus, the realization that only what is done for Christ will last, that set Charlie Kirk head and shoulders above the rest of the political fray. Charlie spent his life. He did more in 31 years than many do in a lifetime. He had a mission, and it is not hyperbole to say he accomplished it. And perhaps that is why God took him home. And again, I think those words from Pastor John Tyler, I think those sum up very well. But what many of us were impressed by of Charlie is how much he accomplished. And man, if you’re going to accomplish that much in 30 short years, you have got to be focused. But now to hear from Charlie’s testimony that even through his mid-20s, he had begun what he was doing in Turning Point way back when he was, I think I’ve heard, 18 years old. He was beginning some work there. Not official work, perhaps, but that’s his burden, his vision. He knew God’s call on his life from that point. And what if Charlie had just sat around and said, Oh, man, this culture we live in, it’s just hard. I don’t know what to do. And let me see if I can nail this down and then seek God for what he has for my life someday. I don’t think any of us would know who Charlie Kirk was. And even greater, the audience of well over 100 million that just heard the gospel of Christ preached so clearly this last week at the memorial service would not have heard. If Charlie had not found his calling and focused on that. Now, continuing this interview, I just want to play another minute or two of this. And he’s going to be asked by the host, one of the hosts on the Covenant Eyes podcast, what drives you? What a great question. I don’t know why they asked it, but I thought it was a very, very great question to ask and is also going to help us in answering this question of are we called to purity? So let’s go ahead and play the next couple minutes of this podcast and then wrap up our discussion on it.

Guest: You know, it’s really amazing watching the work that you do at Turning Point. I mean, you are on fire. You’re out there talking to the young people and getting them motivated, engaged in so many ways, spiritually, politically, and in just a lot of different ways. What drives you? What is driving you to stay so active and involved in this way?

Guest: Well, thank you. Look, I am far from perfect. I am fighting fun characters every day. I love Psalm 9710, right? And everyone has their calling in the mission field. Some people are called to help the poor. Some people are called strictly to mission work to the lost. Some people are called to fighting sexual addiction. My call is to fight evil. So in Psalm 9710, if you love God, you must hate evil. That is not the easiest call, but I find my giftings to be in alignment to that. I find great fulfillment in that. And there is widespread evil in this country right now. There’s cultural evil, sexual evil. We are seeing secularism go wild and rampant in this country. The normalization of a pornographic culture, the whole society has really become pornified, if that’s even a word, right? And we are seeing it happen with young kids and the trans agenda, not to mention all the other stuff. And so that’s really what drives me. And what bothers me is when people sit idly by and there’s something wretched and inexplicable happening in the country. And I love America. America is a beautiful country. I love our history. I love our traditions. Far from perfect, but we are excellent. And that’s what drives me every single day. That’s what we do at TPUSA Faith. That’s what we were doing at our pastor summit. And every single Christian is called to a certain different mission field. Some people are called to build a big business, employ a lot of people and give that money back. My calling is to try to speak truth, reveal darkness for what it is, and be salt and light

Ryan Swanson: in a broken culture. Well, Charlie made it pretty clear here that he was so focused on his mission, on what he knew God called him to, that pornography and all the things that came with it just had no place. He said he couldn’t stand what he was doing to his soul and to his mind, his attitude, And it just, it didn’t make sense to continue on in that. And so it set him on a journey to be rid of this distraction. The distraction that could not coincide with the mission that God had called him to. Young people, if you are living a life right now that can comfortably accommodate a pornography habit, then something is wrong. If your day-to-day lifestyle can function together with impurity, something is amiss. Yes, you’ve heard it said so many times, but God has a very clear and specific calling and mission for you that only you can do. But it will remain undone as long as you remain distracted with impurity, whether you are fighting it or not. Now again, this is not to diminish everything we’ve talked about previously in this podcast, and rules of accountability, of being wise on our devices, and using tools like Covenant Eyes, taking actionable steps to be sure our desire is on the Lord, so there’s no room left for a passion for the things of this world. But that’s kind of my point. And that’s the reason we have named our ministry Satisfied Ministries and this, The Satisfied Podcast, is because, as I’ve said many times, we are not an abstinence ministry. When you’re focused on abstinence, you do just that. You focus on abstinence, and life becomes all about what we’re not doing instead of what we are doing. It is true to say that we are not called to purity, except for the fact that purity is a necessary condition to do everything that we are called to do. Purity is not the pointless abstinence of the passions of our heart, soul, and mind. It is reserving your heart, soul, and mind to wholly and passionately love one. You should grow in purity as you grow in your love for Christ because you have more to love him with. And of course, how do we love him? Well, by keeping his commandments and doing what he’s called us to do. So obviously the point is not to forget about purity. It’s to put it in its place. Instead of trying to relegate this as the issue of the decade and sacrifice years of your life to try to put this behind you before ever getting serious about what God’s called you to? Why don’t we simultaneously listen to the Go Mission podcast and get a vision for our life, get on mission with our life that we’re living today. And as we make principled decisions to reserve more of our heart, soul, and mind from the attractions of this world and to Jesus Christ, then we’ll have more opportunity to love and to focus on Him and what He has called us to. Grow in your purity while you grow in your love and service for Christ. What drives us to live a pure life should not just be abstaining from all the evil things that we know will destroy us. What drives us should be the satisfaction of a pure relationship with our Creator. So take some extra time right now and ask the Lord what it is He has for you in the next year, in the next two years, five, ten. What is it that He wants you to accomplish? Get on mission with what He has for you. And then, because you love Him and because you have a purpose, make daily decisions to be less gratified and more satisfied with Jesus Christ.

Ryan Swanson: thanks for joining us for this episode of the thee Generation podcast if you’ve been blessed or helped in any way by this episode or any other episodes please consider sharing what god has done in your life your testimony could be exactly what someone else needs to take their own step out