00:00 Introduction and Corrections

01:39 Discussing Reproductive Technology

03:26 Ethical Implications of Technology

08:33 Biblical Reflections: Matthew Chapter 2

09:10 The Visit of the Wise Men

14:01 Herod's Decree and the Flight to Egypt

18:03 Concluding Thoughts and Prayer

19:07 Outro and Podcast Information

Find out more about Compass Bible Church.

Learn more about our Bible Reading Plan.

Questions or Comments? Email us podcast@compassntx.org

Hey everybody.

2

Welcome back to another edition

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

3

What's up everybody?

4

It's Friday.

5

Also, let me letter from the editor

really quick here, or podcast participant.

6

Okay.

7

I messed up in our conversation about the.

8

New World Translation the

other day on the podcast.

9

'cause I referenced

the Mormons after that.

10

And it's not the Mormons,

it's the Jehovah's Witnesses.

11

The jw Yeah.

12

That embrace the New World translation.

13

So if you were listening to

that saying, Hey Pastor pj,

14

you seem a little bit confused.

15

I was a little bit foggy

brain the other day.

16

Not just on that.

17

A couple other things in the office too.

18

So just to clarify, it is the jws,

but the book that I recommended,

19

reasoning from the Scriptures with

the Mormons, there's another one.

20

Also by Ron Rhodes reasoning from the

scriptures with the Jehovah's Witnesses.

21

He also has one for reasoning from

the scriptures with the Muslims.

22

Really everybody.

23

Catholics, he's got a broad

range, super and laws.

24

He has one for those guys too.

25

Yep.

26

Yeah.

27

Yeah.

28

I don't think so.

29

Not on that one.

30

Yeah.

31

But even Carm the website that I

referenced, Carm has things on Jehovah's,

32

witness has mu things on Islam, has things

on everything that, that you're gonna

33

run into as far as apologetic arguments.

34

It's not as, it's not the deepest dive

you could have, but it's gonna get

35

you started in any of those topics.

36

So cm.org,

37

great place to go, as well as those books

by Ron Rhodes, dude Carm, Matt Slick.

38

Yeah.

39

That's the OG man.

40

Yep.

41

How that website has

been around for so long.

42

It has.

43

He's been producing that for I don't know

how many years, decades at this point.

44

Yeah.

45

I remember signing up for one of

his training classes I did that.

46

I got this big monster of a

behemoth book that he produced.

47

It's basically a print out

of all of his articles.

48

Yeah, I had that in paper.

49

That's awesome.

50

It was crazy and I appreciated it.

51

It was really helpful

back when I needed it.

52

And the fact that he's still

doing good work pleases me.

53

I'm glad that he's doing that.

54

Yeah.

55

Yeah.

56

Same here.

57

Same here.

58

Let's talk about something

that Mueller brought up on

59

yesterday's edition of the podcast.

60

The Briefing that is

briefing, not our podcast.

61

We didn't have him in here.

62

He, not yet.

63

He's got other things

that, that he's doing.

64

He brought up this development in.

65

Reproductive technology, if we can put

it that way, where people are making

66

the egg out of skin cells crazy.

67

What do we think about that is

he was not favorable about it.

68

Is this something that we would

look at and say, this is good.

69

In a world of a lot of

infertility out there, a lot

70

of couples struggle with that.

71

Something like this.

72

Should we celebrate this as the church

and say, okay, look, these couples

73

might be able to have a baby because

of this, or he made the point that.

74

Infertility is not something

that is infertility.

75

He said it this way, is something

that is, it's understandable to

76

grieve over it, but not every.

77

Pursuit of overcoming infertility is a

good pursuit in overcoming fertility.

78

He said it differently, more

eloquently than I just did,

79

but that was the gist of it.

80

Paro, what are your thoughts on this new

development where we can take a skin cell?

81

Apparently now they haven't

actually had a baby emerge from this

82

process yet, but they've developed.

83

The technology towards that end.

84

What do we think about it?

85

I can tell you what I think and I'm

sure that we'll have our points of

86

disagreement, which I think is helpful.

87

Yeah.

88

Often, not always, but often.

89

I, man, I welcome the

advance of technology.

90

I think it's overall.

91

A positive and net good for humanity

insofar is that it is useful for

92

the purposes of Christians doing

what Christians are supposed to do

93

to honor God, to glorify him, and

to make his name great among the

94

nations by spreading the gospel.

95

I think technology generally allows

us to do more of that and not less,

96

I think about translation apps and

even on the fly live translations that

97

are now possible with Apple products.

98

I can put earphones in my ear and I could

talk to somebody in real time and have

99

it translate for me what they're saying.

100

I think that's phenomenal.

101

So there's lots of advantages and benefits

on the other side, technology is not.

102

All gravy.

103

There's lots of complicated scenarios

that it introduces, such as to what

104

degree should we use technology should

how far should we divorce the normal

105

relations that has to take place to

produce a baby to help other couples along

106

with someone with something like this.

107

And I think we're so far down the

track now I don't know where you stop.

108

And I'm very concerned

about what happens to.

109

I don't know.

110

I think I, if I remember him saying

this, he talked about Taylor Swift

111

having babies that she didn't know about.

112

Other people having babies

they don't know about.

113

That's terrifying.

114

And what that does for the child

or the children that come from this

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kind of a, I don't wanna call it a

union, but this kind of technology.

116

Is mortifying.

117

It's so far removed from God's

intentions for how families are made

118

and developed that it seems to me

to be an almost entirely negative

119

process unless you police it so

well that there's no possibility of

120

accidental babies being produced,

or even more than that nefariously.

121

Producing babies where someone doesn't

have a right to say yay or nay.

122

You just introduce so many different

layers of complexity and ethical

123

issues into this that even though I

think it could be a good thing, I'm

124

far more concerned about the negative

repercussions for something like this.

125

Yeah, I agree with you.

126

Yeah I just I'm there and I think there's.

127

Other realms of reproductive technology

that are out there right now that,

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that are less controversial, that still

create their own issues and problems.

129

Even Christian couples thinking about

pursuing IVF have to deal with the

130

question of what about the embryos that

are produced that aren't implanted?

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Or what about the doctor that says

we're gonna put 12 embryos in and

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maybe two of them are gonna survive?

133

You know that's.

134

There's moral implications here

of intentionally discarding life.

135

Yeah.

136

That that we have to be careful

of and that's gonna happen

137

with this technology as well.

138

And I think Molar made the point of

we're starting with skin cells, but how

139

long until we're using, we're going so

far in using basically the parts of.

140

Human beings and they're, they become

a commodity, and we're producing,

141

we're growing parts of babies to then

try to make other babies out of that.

142

Yep.

143

You're just dealing with a nightmare

of Frankenstein's monster kind

144

of implications here going on.

145

And I'm with you, the nefarious means and

then also just the spiritual component

146

of the conception of a child that is

there, that is part of God's design

147

that I wonder if we're bypassing that.

148

That, not that those that are

born with through reproductive

149

technology don't possess a soul.

150

I'm not arguing that at all, but

I'm saying there is something that

151

God designed to be a spiritual

component of having children.

152

And when we take that into a

laboratory, I can't help but

153

feel like we're evading that.

154

We're bypassing that.

155

Oh yeah.

156

To some extent.

157

Oh yeah.

158

Yeah, there are Christian couples

who have gone about pursuing, for

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example, IVF in a very godly way.

160

They've said We're only gonna produce

as many as we're gonna implant

161

and we're not gonna implant 12.

162

We're gonna implant two.

163

Yeah.

164

And we're gonna pray that

God gives us two babies.

165

Yeah.

166

And they've done and

they've had kids from that.

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And God is blessing that.

168

And those kids can grope and

follow Jesus just like any other

169

child has the opportunity to.

170

We're not saying that this is all bad but.

171

It just opens a door of Pandora's

box that we've gotta be careful

172

about the implications of, for sure.

173

And scientists, it's one of those age

old statements they don't ask, they

174

don't ask if they should do something.

175

They just ask us they can.

176

And asking if you can do something

is not the same thing is asking

177

whether it's right and good.

178

That's where you start to get into

territory, where the theologians

179

should be working alongside scientists

who are advancing fields of study

180

like this and perhaps adding breaks.

181

Where for them it's all gas because

there's often questions that

182

they're asking that have nothing

to do with the ethics behind it.

183

They're asking questions of.

184

Can we do it and will it make us money?

185

There's of course, parties involved

that are supporting this research

186

and supporting the use of it because

they have, I don't want to say it's

187

only money, but there's certainly

a large impetus behind them to

188

say we wanna make a lot of money.

189

Yeah.

190

This is one way for us to do that.

191

And I would agree that's probably true,

but they're not thinking like theologians,

192

they're not thinking like Christians.

193

They're just thinking like businessmen

and women who are trying to make a buck.

194

And I know that's overstating

and oversimplifying it.

195

But it's not altogether untrue.

196

Yeah.

197

And some of the frightening aspects

of that is a lot of them are trying

198

to be first to accomplish this.

199

And anytime we're rushing and

we're dealing with human life that,

200

that's not a good equation either.

201

And the reason why is because we

believe that all people whether

202

they're made in a laboratory or

whether they're made in the normal

203

means that God designed, possess the.

204

Image of God and therefore they are

specifically distinct and noble creatures

205

that God has designed for his purposes.

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And we don't have the privilege

of doing what we want with them.

207

God alone possesses the ability to

say, I wanna do this, I wanna do that.

208

I wanna have them be born in this

particular way, this particular time.

209

The closer we get to doing what God does,

the more uncomfortable I become with that.

210

Now you could say that

about everything really.

211

Yeah.

212

You could talk about any advancement

of technology and say you're playing

213

God if you do this pacemakers.

214

Exactly.

215

Exactly.

216

You keep someone alive on a

machine, you're playing God.

217

And there are of course times that

do that, which again comes back to my

218

concern for the ethical consideration

of the things that we're doing.

219

And often technology is

not asking those questions.

220

We're asking entirely different questions

and therefore getting different answers.

221

Yeah.

222

I'm saying as Christians, we need

to think more carefully about that.

223

I would agree.

224

Let's think carefully about God's word.

225

We only have one chapter today, so we had

a little bit of an extended opportunity

226

for some googly at the front end.

227

Hopefully it was productive for you.

228

But we are in Matthew

chapter two for our DBR.

229

So Matthew chapter two, familiar

passage around Christmas time.

230

We're hear about this passage a lot.

231

We're dealing with the wise men

from the East, the Magi, and they're

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gonna come to visit the child, Jesus.

233

And we say that because it's

been a, it's been some time.

234

It is been a couple years now, and

they're not coming to Bethlehem,

235

they're coming somewhere else.

236

They're not coming to the

major, they're not coming to the

237

place of the site of the birth.

238

But they're coming there,

um, visit the Christ child.

239

And I guess they are coming to Bethlehem.

240

I'm wrong on that.

241

They're coming to Bethlehem, but they're

not coming to the original birth site.

242

And that's what I meant to say.

243

So the wise men show up on the

scene and they come from the east.

244

Some people argue that they could

have even come from Babylon.

245

Or Babylonia in that part of the

legacy of Daniel and the Jews living

246

in that region, even after the exile

are some of the reasons why they

247

had access to these documents to

suggest that this was going to happen.

248

Some people wonder if this star is

the star referred to in numbers 24 17.

249

A star shall come out of Jacob and

a scepter shall rise out of Israel.

250

Maybe the wise men understood that

and were interpreting the star

251

that rose in accordance with that.

252

Either way, they make this long journey.

253

We assume there's three of them

because there's three gifts.

254

I'm okay with that.

255

I'm not gonna sit here and say,

throw away your three wise men or

256

add six more, but we don't know.

257

We don't know.

258

We don't.

259

There could have been more.

260

Yeah, there's at least two.

261

There's at least two.

262

But why do you think Pastor Rod, that

when they come and they ask Herod.

263

Where we've come to, to see him

who's born king of the Jews.

264

I understand why Herod is troubled

by that, but it says, Herod and

265

all Jerusalem was troubled by this.

266

And then I'm also amazed when

they say where was he to be born?

267

And Herod consults the religious

leaders and the religious leaders

268

say in, in Bethlehem, they knew.

269

And here's the Wiseman saying we've

come from afar because his star

270

showed up and we're, we've come

to visit the king of the Jews.

271

Why wouldn't the Jews have

been excited about this news?

272

Yeah, I think there's every reason to see

this in light of the rest of the gospel.

273

They are largely opposed to this Messiah.

274

And for a variety of reasons.

275

John talks about them loving the

darkness rather than the light.

276

To as many as did receive him

to, to them gave he the right

277

to become children of God.

278

There's lots of people that are

biologically connected to Abraham's line,

279

but are not spiritually connected to God.

280

And I think this is just the beginning,

the the introduction to the kind of

281

resistance the Messiah would receive.

282

The fact that all of Jerusalem is

troubled tells me that I think they're

283

more concerned about their political

stability and their position as a

284

nation than they are concerned about

their spiritual position before God.

285

Those are my two, 2 cents on that.

286

What would you say to that?

287

No, that's good.

288

I, yeah, I hadn't thought of that.

289

From the, their love of political

stability over caring about what's

290

right and men, we've gotta be

careful about that as Christians too.

291

We can't.

292

Sit back and think, you know what we

don't, we just want everything to consider

293

to continue Republican and conservative

and all the things and make it easy for

294

us to be Christians here when really some

of the times of the greatest explosion

295

of growth in the church have been when

the persecution has been turned up.

296

And that's when God refines this church

and true believers show up and the gospel

297

does a lot of really powerful work.

298

Yeah I think that's a good take on that.

299

Yeah.

300

Someone said recently and reminded me that

it's been said throughout church history.

301

The blood of the martyrs

is the seed of the church.

302

Often we grow through persecution and

not very much during times of abundance.

303

And acceptance because

we get spiritually lazy.

304

And we start to let our foot off the gas.

305

Whereas in under times of persecution,

we are far sharper and we're

306

more ready than we are otherwise.

307

It just makes us men and women of prayer

makes us men and women of the book.

308

It really sharpens our senses.

309

Yeah.

310

And those of the world around us.

311

I think af after nine 11 people felt

so insecure and Churchill were packed.

312

Yeah.

313

Because the world was like, wait a

minute, I don't feel safe anymore.

314

Yep.

315

The United States was like, wait

a minute, we can be attacked.

316

So yeah, contrast the response of the

Jews and her to the response to the wise

317

men when they saw the star, it says they

rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

318

Which reminds me of when the angels

showed up to the shepherds and they

319

said, I bring you good news of great joy.

320

And so here again the good news of

the gospel is met by the shepherds

321

and by the wise men not by the

religious elite, not by the people

322

you would expect it to be met with

exceeding joy, but by these outsiders.

323

In fact, these are gentiles and

they're re responding to this

324

with exceeding and great joy.

325

It's just.

326

Emphasizing doubling up on the

emphasis of how joyful they were

327

over the appearance of this star.

328

And they couldn't have even had the

foggiest idea of the significance

329

of the birth of this one other

than the information they had

330

through the prophecies that

may have been left behind and.

331

Here's the star and here's this baby.

332

But it's interesting.

333

The faith of the Wiseman is unique.

334

It's gonna be fascinating to get to

heaven and find out if these guys

335

are there, I know church history

holds that they went on and did

336

more than this, and even records,

I think some of their names for us.

337

But it'll be fascinating

to get there and see.

338

What, did you know what was your

takeaway from all this wise?

339

Man?

340

Did you know there it's

verse five of that song?

341

Yeah.

342

I think it's really cool the

gifts that they give 'em.

343

I know sometimes there's been

disagreements about the nature of

344

the gifts and what they signify.

345

Yeah.

346

But I think there's something, at

least to the gifts in that you could

347

say, man, they're expensive gifts.

348

They're meaningful gifts, and they show

maybe a little more knowledge than what.

349

We initially might think about them.

350

At least they have some sense of, this

guy is special, he's worth special gifts.

351

And at least we can say that much,

whether there's a sense of gold for kings.

352

And what's the other one?

353

Frankincense a burial, a burial fragrance.

354

And what's the other one?

355

Mer.

356

I forget what the ME stands for,

but there's different meanings

357

ascribed to these different things,

and they may or may not be right.

358

We don't know ultimately but what

we can say is that they recognize

359

this guy as someone special.

360

And that's pretty cool.

361

Yeah.

362

Yeah.

363

Chapter two takes a turn after

this because Herod doesn't want

364

his throne challenge, and so he

is seeking the death of this child

365

king, that the Wiseman referred to

the Wiseman leave because they're

366

warned not to go back the same way.

367

Here.

368

Sends out an edict that all children

two years and younger should be killed.

369

And he ascertained that by when the

Wiseman said the star first appeared.

370

And that's what happens.

371

And so meanwhile, Joseph is warned

in a dream, Hey you gotta get

372

Jesus and Mary and get outta here.

373

And so they go down to Egypt

and in so doing, they're gonna

374

fulfill a prophecy from Hosea.

375

Which said, out of Egypt, I

called my son That was about

376

Israel in the Old Testament.

377

It's about Jesus here in the New

Testament as it's applied to him.

378

But.

379

In the remainder of the chapter, there's

a great slaughter of these children that

380

takes place under Herod, and it's awful,

and it's just a reminder of the depravity

381

of the world into which Jesus was born.

382

It's a reminder of the

reason why Christ was needed.

383

It's a reminder of the difference between

the kingdom of God and the kingdom of man.

384

Herod is the representative of the

kingdom of man, and you've got Jesus the

385

king of kings who's being born here, and

the world is trying to do everything it

386

possibly can to stop him from what he is.

387

Has been sent to do, and that will

be for the rest of his ministry, and

388

they'll finally think they've stopped

him when they put him into death only

389

to realize they were playing right

into the plan of God the whole time.

390

That's right.

391

People before have asked

why if this has happened in.

392

In biblical times why this

wasn't recorded elsewhere.

393

Some have suggested that this

is an event that was made up in

394

order to reinforce this kind of

narrative about this special sun.

395

And on it goes.

396

And I think what's important to know

here, and I have, we have no doubt

397

about what the scripture's saying here,

but what one thing that you should

398

know is that Bethlehem was a small.

399

Town.

400

It was not large.

401

It was not a metroplex of millions

of people or even thousands.

402

What we're likely dealing with

here in terms of the number

403

is probably dozens of people.

404

And that's still a tragedy and it's

still a massive slaughter and it's awful.

405

But we're not talking about

hundreds or thousands of young

406

men and women we're talking about.

407

We're talking about probably dozens.

408

Again, given the predicted

or the estimated size

409

better said about Bethlehem.

410

So that's one reason you probably

haven't read about it Outside

411

of other historical sources.

412

Another observation about this

is that the devil hates babies.

413

Have you noticed that the devil.

414

Loves to destroy the young.

415

Yeah, I hate that.

416

Yeah.

417

And it that, that burns me up inside.

418

But let's just make note here.

419

This is one of the devil's

strategies and tactics.

420

He loves to destroy the image of

God, especially in infant form.

421

And we ought to hate it.

422

We ought to be so opposed to this as

to be working all that we can, as makes

423

sense, as your conscience will suggest

to you to find ways to protect the

424

innocent and most vulnerable among us.

425

And of course, there's a

lot of parallels to today.

426

How you see the devil who loves darkness

and loves death doing the same stuff,

427

his strategy hasn't changed a whole lot.

428

Part of his strategy is to destroy

the image bearers of God, and

429

especially those in infant form.

430

Yeah.

431

That's a good observation.

432

Yeah.

433

The chapter concludes with.

434

The death of Herod and the angel

shows back up to Joseph and

435

says, Hey, you can take Jesus.

436

You can take Mary and go back.

437

But they know that one of Herod's kin is

ruling in Judea in place of his father.

438

One of Herod's sons is ruling there,

and so they go up to Galilee and again,

439

this is just all seeing God's sovereign

plan unfold because he's going to

440

begin his earthly ministry up there.

441

This you'll note, he went and lived in

a city called Nazareth, and so that.

442

Call back to John chapter one

when Philip said, can any, or

443

when Nathaniel rather said, can

anything good come out of Nazareth?

444

This is why they're in Nazareth, is

because of this whole situation here.

445

And so God is setting up the stage

for a lot of Jesus' earthly ministry,

446

which is gonna be done there in

the region of Galilee in the north.

447

And that all comes about because of

the situation with her, the flight to

448

Egypt, and then the ultimate return.

449

There you go.

450

One chapter today that's I think

there's another one coming up in a

451

week where we're only reading John

Chapter five or something like that.

452

I like that.

453

Yeah.

454

Yeah.

455

Full breaks.

456

But yeah, we've got a few

more coming up and it's fun.

457

It's fun to see in the gospels

how the chapters all fit together.

458

And again, remember this is an

editor that's putting this together.

459

This is not thus says the Lord.

460

This is how the scriptures

are to be read together.

461

There's gonna be some things that

we're gonna read and say, this

462

could be a parallel account or

could be a different account.

463

But for the most part it's fun to read

all these things in concert with one

464

another and see how the different takes

from the different authors are presented.

465

Let's pray and we'll be

done with this episode.

466

God, we pray that you would preserve life

and the love of life and the honor of

467

life and the protection of the unborn God.

468

Our nation has recently

overturned Roe versus Wade.

469

And we don't wanna be

satisfied just with that.

470

We want it to be abolished.

471

We want abortion not just to be limited,

but to be completely gone and not to

472

settle for anything less than that God.

473

And we pray that you'd be gracious

to our country towards that end.

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We don't know.

475

This is the beginning of a revival

as a lot of people have been leaning

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in more towards the gospel and more

towards Christ, and we've seen a

477

lot happen right now in our nation.

478

Lord we would love nothing less

or nothing more than to see

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revival come to our nation.

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But Lord, we want your will to be done.

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We certainly know that it would take

an act of a revival to see something

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like abortion abolished in our

nation, but we do love the unborn

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and we know the enemy, as Pastor

Rod was saying, hates the unborn.

484

And so help us to fight for what is good,

according to what you've declared to

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be good, and certainly life is good as

you create more and more in your image.

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We pray that more and more would

come to follow Jesus as a result.

487

We pray this all in his name.

488

Amen.

489

Amen.

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Keep in your Bibles tune again

tomorrow for another edition

491

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

492

Bye bye.

493

Bernard: Well, thank you for

listening to another episode of

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the Daily Bible Podcast, folks!

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We're honored to have you join us.

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This is a ministry of Compass

Bible Church in north Texas.

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You can find out more information

about our Church at compassntx.org.

498

We would love for you to leave a

review, to rate, or to share this

499

podcast on whatever platform you're

listening on, and we hope to see

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you again tomorrow for another

episode of the Daily Bible Podcast.

501

Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

502

PJ: Yeah.

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I would agree with

everything that you said