From Nuclear Missiles to Faith | Don Youts

1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:22,560
Hello and welcome to author conversations with me, Chris Dabbs, as usual. Well, my guest

2
00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:28,800
today has taken a rather unusual route to becoming an author. It's amazing, really, because

3
00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:35,120
he's been an academic. He's been an Air Force missile commander, a professor of minority

4
00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:41,520
studies, a museum director, a community organizer, a church planter, and a minister. That's

5
00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:48,800
a lot. And now, in his 80s, Don Youts has turned decades of experience and teaching into a series

6
00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:54,560
of books exploring faith, spiritual transformation, and what he believes Christianity is really

7
00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:59,760
about. We're going to find out all about those things. So, Don, welcome to author conversations.

8
00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:04,160
It's lovely to have you here. You're so much good to me here. Hey, good. That's all right.

9
00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:10,640
Well, listen, before we get to your books, you've packed several different lives into one,

10
00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:15,840
you know, several different careers into one, right? I mean, when you look back at the Air Force,

11
00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:21,360
the academia, community work, and ministry, do you feel like they're kind of like separate

12
00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:27,520
chapters of one's, or, you know, all one story that was gradually taking shape to more to where

13
00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:34,320
you are now? And I have to really say, oh, because they are separate chapters. At the time that I

14
00:01:34,320 --> 00:01:39,840
was living through them, I had no idea what was next. I didn't have a syllabus for my life to

15
00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:45,600
know what was coming up. So, in that sense, yes, and I was always completely dedicated and

16
00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:55,280
enthusiastic to each part of those career things. However, it's like a book. If you pull the chapter

17
00:01:55,280 --> 00:02:01,520
out of the middle of the book, the rest of it would fall apart. It wouldn't make sense. So, all of

18
00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:07,440
these fit together to determine exactly who I am and what I'm doing now and the crazy thing that

19
00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:14,400
God has given me as a hopefully final career of an author. Sure. It's lovely to hear that, isn't it?

20
00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:19,200
So, you're in your 80s. Are you early 80s, late 80s, middle? What are you happy to tell us?

21
00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:32,560
Yeah, middle 80s. I don't really like writing. In fact, I would go for us to say, I hate writing,

22
00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:40,640
because it's so final and I know I always want to revise it, edit it, redo it, and here I am

23
00:02:40,640 --> 00:02:47,120
writing books that are being published for people to read, hopefully. And as soon as I've written it

24
00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:52,400
and it's published, I always, oh man, I wish I had. And of course, then it's too late.

25
00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:59,360
But let's talk about one of those chapters. Because, I mean, for people of my age, I know exactly

26
00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:05,280
what this is about. For younger people, they may not understand this at all. And maybe for the

27
00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:10,080
vast majority of people, they won't understand it. But, you know, I'm sorry, I'm hopefully you will

28
00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:16,400
get to board telling us about it. But one of those chapters involved you sitting underground as a

29
00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:22,240
Titan 2 missile commander. Come on. You're a young man, entrusted with an almost unimaginable

30
00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:27,520
responsibility there. I mean, what did that experience do to the way that you thought about life

31
00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:34,400
responsibility? I'm probably faith as well. It really was an, I never intended to be in the

32
00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:42,640
military. That was not my plan. It was during the Vietnam War and I was coming close to 25. And

33
00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:50,080
about 25, you kind of aged out of the draft. So they got me right before I turned 25 and so I ended

34
00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:59,280
up in the Air Force. I didn't intend to sit in the ground underground in Kansas when I did this.

35
00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:06,080
But that's where I ended up. You know, exactly the chances, which I'm really loved now.

36
00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:11,120
Of all of the places that I have lived or ever thought I might live, Kansas would never

37
00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:17,040
on that list. And here I am in Kansas. That's my God. Whatever I think I'm not going to do,

38
00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:26,000
I never imagined. That's where he's going to take. So it really was an incredible work to learn,

39
00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:33,920
just learn the technology of the missile. A tiny two was the largest warhead missile

40
00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:40,560
that has ever been made. And to learn all of the parts and the pieces of that and as a combat

41
00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:47,600
crew commander, I was in full authority and charge over without missile complex. And it's not just

42
00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:54,240
the missile. There's a whole missile, missile complex. And you have maintenance crews that come out

43
00:04:54,240 --> 00:05:02,960
to do work on it. And I'm responsible for whatever they do or don't do. And it is a very dangerous

44
00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:11,200
environment. I dropped wrench in the silo hood cause horrible havoc. Woodenhouse said off the bomb,

45
00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:19,760
but it would in fact cause all kinds of other havoc. So that control, having control over the movement

46
00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:28,800
of everybody in that silo was pretty awesome. Not only to mention that the control of what if I

47
00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:36,560
received the code that we were to launch. Fortunately that didn't happen. And he's totally honest,

48
00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:44,480
I'm not sure I'll ever result completely. Would I do that? I'm sure I would because that's exactly

49
00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:52,080
what I was saying to do. But man, it always was sort of hanging out there like demically sort of,

50
00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:59,280
what if that happened and follow and go forward. Don't think about it because it really was a response

51
00:05:59,280 --> 00:06:06,720
to the ability. The Air Force pilots are the big dudes and they spread the most from all of

52
00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:12,240
the sort of stuff. And they would send that to the Vietnam or elsewhere and they would have to

53
00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:19,280
get a point. And it's number of hours open Vietnam. I always wanted one that then it's number of

54
00:06:19,280 --> 00:06:25,920
hours under can you seem to be rather appropriate to me to be able to do that. Anyway, wow.

55
00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:30,880
Yeah. A man's language. I was a pretty soft person,

56
00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:38,400
kind and gentle and liked that idea and the military suddenly required a captain and the Air Force

57
00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:47,360
with a responsibility. And my responsibility to every part of the Air Force in fact, you swore

58
00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:54,800
an oath to the nation. So my responsibility was to do what I was praying to do. It was not for me to

59
00:06:54,800 --> 00:07:03,200
make all of this. That's life. Yeah. I suppose that is the only way you can look at it, right? Because you're

60
00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:10,080
not there to make those decisions. And you've been, well, you've been singled out because of your

61
00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:16,400
personality and everything else to climb those ranks, to become the captain, to become, to have that

62
00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:23,200
responsibility. And yeah, you know, I was just thinking about turning the key or pressing the

63
00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:27,440
button or whatever. But yeah, you're right. You've got all of those maintenance careers. You've got,

64
00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:31,920
if you had a fuel leak, that would be a bad news, right? Because that was, that stuff's pretty toxic,

65
00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:38,880
yeah? So all of those things, you're incredible. You should write a book about that. I've got to say, but

66
00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:50,160
I was not used to having that kind of man to already. When I settled, it had to be done. I mean,

67
00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:54,880
there was no discussing this. It was, this is an order. And I didn't have to say that there

68
00:07:54,880 --> 00:08:01,280
been order because I had the rank. I had the position. It was done. That was a whole minute experience

69
00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:06,720
for me. Well, probably not 25, right? So whenever age you were, when you became a captain and got that

70
00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:12,960
responsibility, not my favorite job. No, quite. Quite. Okay. So let's move on. Even though I find

71
00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:18,480
that really fascinating, I find everything else fascinating too. But just the thought of Kansas. Yeah,

72
00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:23,280
anyway, we'll come back to that possibly. But you're questioning your faith, right? Because of

73
00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:27,840
course, you know, you have your amount of faith, right? And you would have been there, I guess. You

74
00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:32,000
know, it began, it began much earlier, didn't it? I mean, you've described being about seven that

75
00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:36,640
one of your grandfather's revival meetings, you know, finding yourself overwhelmed with emotion

76
00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:41,120
at seven years old. Yeah, what do you remember at that moment? And how did it shape? And,

77
00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:45,600
oh, you know, what you became afterwards? Because it's quite incredible. I remember every

78
00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:52,640
day about that moment, except the actual words that he spoke to me because I was still prepared.

79
00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:56,160
My grandfather was a home missionary of the Southern Baptist,

80
00:08:56,160 --> 00:09:03,760
convinced in Arkansas. And in the summertime, me and my two older brothers, which had been

81
00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:08,880
often whole summers with them. And he would go to all of these back confuities,

82
00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:16,400
doing revivals. And he was a very intelligent man and he'd used to picture it

83
00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:20,960
greatly well. But I was meant to take it seven years, y'all. I didn't

84
00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:26,640
particularly get concerned about any of that because what I was concerned about was that they

85
00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:32,320
could buy books, they'll let my grandmother's book, and we got to have cookies and punch and all that

86
00:09:32,320 --> 00:09:39,840
sort of stuff. So, you know, but and it's positive of that. Then after my children's part of it,

87
00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:47,680
we sat in the same shory while he preached his sermons. It is quite interesting that or some of

88
00:09:47,680 --> 00:09:54,800
those sermons that are filled with my bed. I could still hear it. Oh, tasty. This is a hurry about

89
00:09:54,800 --> 00:10:05,360
nothing. It was suddenly overwhelmed with grief about what? Nothing was wrong. But there was a

90
00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:11,840
grieving so deep. And it's about sitting there and I'm a father and my grandmother is beside me.

91
00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:17,600
He doesn't come from me. The only thing she did was hand me her handkerchief,

92
00:10:17,600 --> 00:10:23,760
the little lady old lady handkerchief so that I could sob into that. So, I didn't know what was

93
00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:32,880
happening very honestly. So overwhelmed. He's so deep, except too. But for he be able to, that night,

94
00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:38,640
after which he didn't go. I didn't because I'm a grandfather, but he didn't get me anything and

95
00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:44,880
I don't believe or understanding whatever they just left it up to the whole spirit make.

96
00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:51,680
It was going to work out however God wanted to say. Well, that night, I didn't even for a kid. I

97
00:10:51,680 --> 00:10:56,880
didn't sleep much then. And I determined that the next night, because I knew we were doing this

98
00:10:56,880 --> 00:11:03,440
again the next night. And so I determined I'm going to be the first one when typical Southern

99
00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:12,320
Baptist altar call and the opportunity to come forward and receive eternal life in Christ Jesus.

100
00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:16,800
And I was determined I was going to be the first one. Well, it still happens of course being the

101
00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:23,040
creature you're brand fire. I got this fit on the front row. So, he's after preaching. I do not know

102
00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:29,120
what that Samman was because all I was doing was waiting for him to finish preaching and

103
00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:36,480
finally invite those who wanted to be saved. So, I needed that. I'm going to have tears. I can

104
00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:44,560
tell you because they're so beautiful. Divide me still. He opens his eyes as I walked. And I will tell

105
00:11:44,560 --> 00:11:52,160
you, Chris, I wasn't sure if it was my grandfather's bond or Jesus's bond. It seemed ever

106
00:11:52,160 --> 00:12:03,840
working every word. From that time, I have been in love with Jesus. And if I had never doubted

107
00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:12,480
the act of the work of his work in me for salvation, I am thoroughly convinced and always have been.

108
00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:19,920
It was exactly that month that I received the transmutation in my end most big. And that,

109
00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:27,120
except in years old, I can't imagine how God does that. But he did. And I know it. Because of that,

110
00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:33,280
I didn't stick with it because I didn't have people around me who could answer my questions.

111
00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:38,640
I didn't have people who could give me any kind of rural guidance. They gave me the

112
00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:45,600
bad answers. Just do it because it requires faith. You have faith or just do it. Okay. So, I did

113
00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:51,680
those things. But they made no sense to me because I didn't really believe those things that they

114
00:12:51,680 --> 00:12:58,640
were saying the rituals, the water baptism and such. Okay. I can do that. It never had any means.

115
00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:06,000
Still really does not have meaning to them, which I've said some of the people say no. But those

116
00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:13,120
were critiquals, menstruate. And I've contained that it is only the Holy Spirit baptism, which,

117
00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:21,440
according to Paul, is a work that is done by the Holy Spirit of God. No man can give you a Holy

118
00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:30,320
Spirit baptism. Any man can give you a water baptism, but only God can give you the Spirit baptism.

119
00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:37,040
So, I had a lot of conflict in my life where some of these kinds of issues, but I grew up without

120
00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:43,120
people filling me in, helping me to understand those things. And I had questions. I'm very

121
00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:50,080
inquisitive and I'm very curious. I've always got questions. And I would ask those questions and I

122
00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:55,360
didn't get ahead to be figurative and pat on the head. And when you grow up, well, it did you grow up.

123
00:13:55,360 --> 00:14:03,520
And as soon as you get those answers from them. So, I found a breakout on my own at some point

124
00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:09,760
and said, "Okay, God, me and you." That was a good adventure. That's a good part. And I'd take that

125
00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:15,840
week and long and by Andrew. You haven't taken no, no, no, no, no, no. This is the whole point of

126
00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:23,120
all the conversations is to find in exactly what went into your book and I read that is not really about

127
00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:31,680
me nearly so much as it is about this incredible plan that God had from He had for my life. I didn't

128
00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:37,840
have that plan. I don't know that every plan I ever had just kind of got blown up at some point.

129
00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:45,120
And there were many of those big blow-ups. But he was always God and He always took me to the next

130
00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:52,400
chapter, the next thing. And that's an adventure because sort of like Abraham, God told him,

131
00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:58,640
"Go to a place, leave everything and go to a place that you've never been." And that's, I'm a

132
00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:04,720
story of my life. It was, "And you're meant to be a minister." It was not like even as a kid,

133
00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:10,800
I'm going to be a preacher. I'm my oldest brother, NewDev. He was going to do that. I never had any sense

134
00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:16,960
of that. I didn't have that sense of calling to be a minister. It just wasn't, I was an academic.

135
00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:23,840
There were things that I wanted to do as a backspin. But it was not being a preacher. So

136
00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:32,080
he had to move me step by step, back to step, to that point where it wasn't for much of the

137
00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:39,280
work that an academic thing had happened. I didn't decide to do that. He ended up putting me in that

138
00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:46,560
position. And I was already doing it before I even realized, "Oh, I guess I'm going to be a minister now."

139
00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:52,320
It's, I love that. It's always been the greatest thing that Biber felt like to make sure that's

140
00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:55,920
something. But that's a good thing, isn't it? I mean, because you've obviously took good

141
00:15:55,920 --> 00:16:00,240
thing. There's an understatement there. I mean, that's such a powerful story, because you've

142
00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:06,480
learned, you felt that at seven years old, you were touched by the Holy Spirit, you say, you know,

143
00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:15,360
wow, it's just amazing. Okay. So to move on, you went on to teach cross-cultural communication,

144
00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:19,440
didn't you? And you found that two people could use the same words,

145
00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:24,560
yet mean quite different things, right? I mean, did you come to see the same problem in the way people

146
00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:30,160
talk about Christianity? And I mean, what was cross-cultural communication? Was that your main academic

147
00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:37,520
interest? It actually did end up being my main academic interest. Again, that's not my academic

148
00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:42,480
background. That's not what I've received in training. I was my degrees or in the other thing,

149
00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:47,200
which was like, what? How do you go from that? It's another whole long story.

150
00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:57,600
But what I really came to understand in the increase in makes, we've been used the same vocabulary,

151
00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:04,000
but our words can mean an entirely different thing. And I've known people who have used words

152
00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:10,560
very terribly, I've been to love words. And I happen to believe that words are the meaning.

153
00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:16,880
Otherwise, I'll have a dictionary. So those are really important things, because if you use the words

154
00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:25,120
and they had meaning, then I understand your meaning if you have a whole different dictionary,

155
00:17:25,120 --> 00:17:31,920
then what mine is? And man, that is rapid, that is so normal. I've known people who have said,

156
00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:38,800
it means anything I want it to make. Okay. How do you communicate? What I really discovered

157
00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:46,720
ultimately, where that came into great value, was realizing that's what Jesus was going to do,

158
00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:54,400
was to speak the kingdom language in some way that we who don't know that language

159
00:17:54,400 --> 00:18:00,960
would still get a glimpse at least. And that's why he taught so many things in perils and beautiful

160
00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:09,280
stories that he gave him. That's why he had to, or go reach the, the, the, the, the, the, the,

161
00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:16,080
the ordinaryness of our lives, with his miracles, because otherwise, we would never have even

162
00:18:16,080 --> 00:18:22,480
pleaded me a ten thing to them. Because it, we already knew what we knew. We already have,

163
00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:29,520
Christians are terrible at this without a christian use of language. And it doesn't mean what God

164
00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:34,640
means. It's a totally different thing. A verse that factored me at a very young age, again,

165
00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:43,120
going back to probably as in those seven great, I think six greats. And the person, Matthew,

166
00:18:43,120 --> 00:18:48,800
chapter five, eternal amount, be perfect, even as your father in heaven is perfect.

167
00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:56,080
Well, I cooked, hmm, that's quite a challenge. I'm going to do that. So I honestly,

168
00:18:56,080 --> 00:19:01,200
then quite a few years of my life, they were high school, of unto be,

169
00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:07,280
now on the best break of age, I don't even know what that would be if I couldn't be it.

170
00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:16,080
Well, but I would just be very excited, was he meant to crack with that, be just like God in heaven.

171
00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:22,640
That's who was the coast of being with his children. And each began to his own time. So if God

172
00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:29,840
has to get me as a child, I'm supposed to be just like him. And that just blows everybody's mind when

173
00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:35,360
I say that, the, well, we can't, we're not proud. Exactly, we're not done. But we're his children.

174
00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:43,440
He pays for stuff and for us is loaded, not lost, but adamant. And we've been fighting for it ever since.

175
00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:49,920
Well, Jesus is going to say, I can do this story in real believing. I can give you a bunch of

176
00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:56,640
theologies that they're going to burn that red light. That is, that is so critical, as to of, to me,

177
00:19:56,640 --> 00:20:05,280
communicating the gospel of the kingdom of God is a cross of the communications and deities.

178
00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:12,800
In our language, in our world, in our Bibles today, aren't hurt. And if we can't do that,

179
00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:18,000
then we have not proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom of God.

180
00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:23,440
Let me, thank, I understand what you mean. I think it is, you have to try, and I understand what you

181
00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:29,920
talk about with the parables as well. So you're trying to make sure that as many people actually understand

182
00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:37,440
the call message that's being said, which is difficult because we can take it at face value, or we can just

183
00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:41,120
misconstrue all sorts of different things. I think that's what you're saying, isn't it, John?

184
00:20:41,120 --> 00:20:47,200
And actually, I'm at particular first when I presented it to, at that time, my study of the

185
00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:53,680
school feature, his answer was, well, that's not really what it means. It means just to dig your best.

186
00:20:54,800 --> 00:21:00,400
That is an at-knight, I love the teacher. He was a wonderful man to deal with the study of little

187
00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:07,760
boys that he was trying to teach, but that is the clound of them, that forbades your sanity,

188
00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:15,760
"Fifth dear God," and God knows that. That's not what he said. He meant to be without flaw in every way,

189
00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:24,320
he's been with. Well, I can't end that apart from Jesus Christ. So I was given this kind in loving answer

190
00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:31,920
from a man who loved Jesus. I have no question of that, but he saw from the gospel to the point where

191
00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:37,520
it was meaningless, really, when I tried to do it my life on that. That's not good enough to me.

192
00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:46,160
No, I've interviewed authors actually who agree with you, as far as, you know, on that, that they say that

193
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:50,000
the gospel is the Word of the Lord, and that is it. And this is what you're saying, right?

194
00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:51,200
Yes.

195
00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:52,480
Yes.

196
00:21:52,480 --> 00:22:01,280
I mean, just one more layer on that if I may, what I have also found, the great consternation,

197
00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:06,240
is do you know that in the all four of the gospels within the first four

198
00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:15,920
factors of the piece of those gospels? These are clearly, hey, I had long people claim the gospel

199
00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:24,160
of the kingdom of God. Now, that's not the gospel that we hear. That's not what we think of as the

200
00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:32,880
gospel. He did not say he came to proclaim the gospel of salvation, and especially a Southern Baptist

201
00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:38,320
yet, man, that's where all of the emphasis was. Get people say, uh, tell them about Jesus so they

202
00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:46,080
will be saved. It's not that it is, there's a kingdom. And we forget there is a kingdom that we

203
00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:52,320
must enter and in offering that kingdom. Now there is a whole family that got out of the house or

204
00:22:52,320 --> 00:23:01,200
here's kingdom. And you legitimately can say you got to be a member of my kingdom. Not some

205
00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:06,640
employ from the world. You cannot sit on the pants. You cannot stand with a foot in the foot.

206
00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:13,040
Either you commit to the kingdom of God or you can't get a master or you can't be the servant

207
00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:18,480
of two bastards. And you'll eat it all out of the one or hate together. And we those are for

208
00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:23,760
the playing people that we have to give them and yet we don't understand that. We think just do

209
00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:30,240
your best. God will understand. Yeah. Yeah, that you were saying that isn't what's supposed to happen,

210
00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:36,480
right? We're supposed to actually do far better than our best, just trying our best. I get it.

211
00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:41,120
Well, don't we are literally running out of time. It is really sad because this is fascinating.

212
00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:50,400
But let me ask you because this brings us to the man who was wiser. Okay. The book. So the title

213
00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:56,240
immediately makes me wonder who the man is, who is he and what makes his story, one that he felt

214
00:23:56,240 --> 00:24:01,040
needed to be told. I mean, tell us about this because this is a provocative argument running through

215
00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:08,960
your books, isn't that? It was an incredible effort that God gave me and he gave me the whole concept,

216
00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:18,000
the whole thing. The and cross culture communications, I defined a way to speak to you in a way that you

217
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:27,280
understand. So the man who was wiser is Jesus and everything he felt had the wisdom, the full wisdom

218
00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:33,360
of God's will and the energy came to his death. So everything that he said, like, forgive your enemies,

219
00:24:33,360 --> 00:24:39,120
wife, those who occurred to you, time together to eat. I mean, all of these things, we sort of make

220
00:24:39,120 --> 00:24:50,400
an end to analogies or some spiritual, instead of it being, he means it, a really mean, scary stuff.

221
00:24:50,400 --> 00:25:04,560
So you put that concept using wisdom that is so far and different than the wisdom of this world.

222
00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:11,920
Put it into a story and tell a story about all the people who need us in fact, the man who

223
00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:19,280
wiser, who came to her and felt the bad God's kingdom, while it operated and what was required there.

224
00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:29,120
And people didn't understand him. Need to do, we understand him even now. So there is this

225
00:25:29,120 --> 00:25:38,160
nanspermason that that happened before we even able to understand him. The nanspermason of the Holy

226
00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:44,560
Spirit in us, and this is also quickly, I would comment in chapter two, because apart from the Spirit,

227
00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:50,080
you can't understand anything about it. So there is transformation, perhaps the total place.

228
00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:56,800
It's time to know where another crest, I think that cranspermason for me started back there

229
00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:06,080
when I was seven years old. I had a long way to go. And it's been, now I'm 82, and I at least understand,

230
00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:11,680
there's a cranspermason, there's still much that I want to know in that world for me.

231
00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:16,800
So you haven't finished yet, that's the thing, isn't it? I mean, I love the fact that you even know

232
00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:20,400
you've written all these books. You actually wrote that you hate writing and you said it

233
00:26:20,400 --> 00:26:25,760
a lot to us earlier on as well. So, you know, I mean, it's amazing that you don't like the process,

234
00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:33,120
because of course you want to be accurate. So, yeah, I can see it exactly. You've been a soldier,

235
00:26:33,120 --> 00:26:38,160
you've been an academic, you've been a teacher, a community organizer, a minister, and now an author.

236
00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:43,680
If you could sit down though, with your younger Don, perhaps that young man underground,

237
00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:51,360
commanding the missile complex, what would you tell him that took you a lifetime to understand,

238
00:26:51,360 --> 00:26:57,040
to join bring him up to speed quickly? I'd said, is this God's thinking, prophetic word,

239
00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:02,960
"Dear Amaya, I know the plan I have for you." Now, that's God's speaking, and he says

240
00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:09,120
every single one of us, "I know the plan I have for you, and my plan is to cross for you,

241
00:27:09,120 --> 00:27:17,120
not a hunt, to give you a hope and a future." Why, we need to read right through and believe that,

242
00:27:17,120 --> 00:27:23,440
I mean, fully believe God has a plan, and he's working his plan, it's not depending on me.

243
00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:28,960
Now, it took me my whole life to learn that one, but his plan was, he was always doing his plan,

244
00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:38,880
not my plan. Relax, enjoy what he's doing. I have a ball, living the life that he has put before

245
00:27:38,880 --> 00:27:44,400
and it will all work out very well. You don't have to worry about getting it right,

246
00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:51,200
he will work it in you. He who began a good work is faithful to complete it.

247
00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:56,560
Good luck. Don, I'm going to take that with me. I'm literally going to take that with me. Thank you,

248
00:27:56,560 --> 00:28:02,320
very, very much for that. I'm going to say, Don Youts we are our time now, unfortunately, but thank you

249
00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:06,960
very much for joining me on author conversation. And listen, everybody, thank you for watching,

250
00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:10,960
we're listening, you know, as usual, I've been Chris Dabbs, and I'll see you next time on Author

251
00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:16,240
Conversations. But, Don, where can we buy your books? Are they on Amazon? Do you have a website?

252
00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:22,000
How can people get in touch with you? Yes, the most direct way to tell you is they are on Amazon.

253
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:29,760
There are other platforms as well. You can find them elsewhere, but Amazon is the fastest way

254
00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:35,600
to put me to find them as well. So, there we are. Perfect, perfect. Well, Don, thank you very

255
00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:40,320
much for joining me, as I say once again, and I hope we meet again in the future, and we can have a

256
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:48,000
longer conversation. Anytime. All right, you take care. Have a great rest of the day. It will be, thank you,

257
00:28:48,000 --> 00:29:03,680
sir. If you enjoyed this conversation, you can watch more author conversations here.

258
00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:13,680
[BLANK_AUDIO]