Hosts defend nicotine as a net positive, citing a 2016 meta-analysis of 13,317 men showing smokers possess higher testosterone levels and referencing a 2024 study linking smoking to reduced SARS-CoV-2 risk via ACE2 receptors. They refute claims that nicotine pouches like Zyn are idols, arguing biblical defilement stems from what exits the mouth rather than what enters, while promoting American-made ALP pouches over progressive brands. Ultimately, they frame usage as a matter of conscience under Romans 14, advising low doses to avoid enslavement while asserting that demonizing nicotine serves agendas to lower male ambition. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: CohereLabs/cohere-transcribe-03-2026, WAV2VEC2_ASR_BASE_960H, sat-12l-sm, script v26.04.01, and large-v3-turbo
Time
Text
Christian Theology on Nicotine00:15:03
Leave us a five star review on your favorite podcast platform.
I get it.
It's annoying.
Everybody asks, but I'm going to tell you why.
When you give us a positive review, what that does is it triggers the algorithm so that our podcast shows up on more people's news feeds.
You and I both know that this ministry is willing to talk about things that most ministries aren't.
We need this content for the glory of God to reach more people's ears.
Tobacco and nicotine both have a rich heritage.
Both in the church and in the country.
You've probably had some progressive liberal tell you that slaves built this country of America.
That's not true.
Tobacco built this country.
Slaves were used in the process, but tobacco has had a powerful effect on the American ethos, but also as it pertains to the church.
There are theologians throughout church history who have used tobacco and even ministers.
I think of Charles Spurgeon.
Charles Spurgeon was known for keeping a very rigid schedule.
A weekly planner, and even in his weekly written schedule, he would write down on the Lord's Day on Sunday, smoke a cigar in the afternoon after the morning service to the glory of God.
In fact, he was so notorious for smoking cigars on the Lord's Day immediately after the Sunday morning service that there was one instance, legend has it, where an elderly woman of his congregation came outside the church building as the service was ending and met the minister, Charles Spurgeon.
Saw him smoking his usual cigar.
He would finish preaching, he would give the benediction, then he would quickly exit the church building so that he could say goodbye and greet and say goodbye to each individual parishioner as they were leaving the service.
And so he'd be standing outside smoking a cigar every single Sunday afternoon.
This elderly woman passes by and sees him smoking his usual cigar and says, Don't you think that this is a bit excessive?
And what she means, of course, is implying you smoke a cigar.
Every single Sunday, immediately after church.
And Charles Spurgeon responded by simply saying, No.
And then she said, Well, then what would be excessive?
I mean, how much more would you have to smoke?
Every time I see you, as soon as the service is over, you're smoking a cigar.
What would it take in your mind to be excessive?
And he simply responded by saying, If I was smoking two cigars.
So if he was double fisting a cigar in each hand, then in the mind of Pastor Spurgeon, that would be excessive.
So, the point still remains, even for more modern guys, because I understand that some would push back and say, well, Spurgeon wasn't aware of some of the health concerns.
And there's a truth to that, but R.C. Sproul was.
And it did not stop Pastor Sproul from enjoying his tobacco and nicotine from time to time.
So, there is a rich legacy when it comes to nicotine and tobacco.
And what we want to do in this episode is we want to address an article that should be satire, but in looking into it, I am grieved to report to you that this article is quite serious.
They are not trying to be funny.
It is funny, but they did not intend to be funny.
Christianity Today has just put out recently an article about Zen and how terrible it is.
And in typical Gospel Coalition Christianity Today fashion, of course, their big concern is that nicotine could be an idol, as can everything, right?
Don't get married because you might idolize your wife.
Don't have kids.
You might idolize your children.
You better not be productive in work because you could idolize your job.
You could be a workaholic.
And so now Zen.
Nicotine pouches have been thrown on the chopping block.
So I want to take just a quick moment here.
If we could pan out to the mainframe, I think it's fitting right here from the outset to go ahead and do a little promo for some nicotine.
So you might see on the coffee table here, I've got some ALP.
There's a roll and a couple cans of ALP.
If you're watching the video, we have a little lower third text here.
You can save 10% on ALP.
ALP is a nicotine patch.
And I am obligated, if I advertise this, to read the warning, which states as follows this product contains nicotine.
Nicotine is an addictive chemical.
Right.
Insert meme.
I was already sold.
You don't have to sell me on it.
Yes, nicotine is addictive, and we're going to talk about that in the episode.
But there are actually a ton of health benefits about nicotine.
And I think that the Bible does actually not exactly explicitly deal with nicotine, but there are multiple principles and virtues throughout the scripture that I think can help us form a A Christian theology and how we should think about nicotine.
Is it permissible?
Is it not permissible?
Spoiler alert, I absolutely think it's permissible.
But just because something's permissible doesn't mean that we necessarily do it.
So we're going to make a case today, both from scripture and from some of the health benefits and science for nicotine, that it actually has a net positive good.
There are some warnings that you should be aware of.
One of them I just read on the screen.
But I think it's still important for us to address this topic, as especially young right wing and many of them Christian men are using nicotine.
So we want to address that.
If you want to use the promo code and get 10% off of ALP, all you have to do is go to the show notes, right?
So if you're listening through a podcast or if you're on YouTube, go to the show notes and you will find a link.
If you follow that link, click on it, you'll be able to get 10% off if you would like to try ALP.
That's Tucker Carlson's brand of nicotine pouches.
They're pretty good.
I've used some myself.
Last thing before we jump into the show for today, this episode, per usual, is brought to you by our premier sponsors Armored Republic and Reese Fund, as well as our Patreon members and our generous supporters.
If you would like to join our Patreon for exclusive content, you can go to patreon.com forward slash rightresponse ministries.
And if you'd like to make a donation today, you can do so by going to rightresponseministries.com.
Forward slash donate.
Let's go ahead and dive in.
All right, all right, all right.
Here we are.
Happy Friday.
Happy Friday.
Okay.
So, we're talking about nicotine and tobacco, and the two, we're going to talk about them collectively, but also separately because it is possible to use nicotine without using tobacco.
For the longest time, those two were usually kind of two peas in a pod, right?
So, whether you're chewing tobacco or smoking tobacco, you're getting nicotine from the tobacco leaves.
But now, in modern times, It is quite possible to use nicotine without using tobacco.
So, whatever you might be afraid, you know, whatever concerns you might have with tobacco being cancerous, those can be avoided by using nicotine in isolation, whether it be through pouches or those kinds of things.
And in regards to tobacco, yes, there can be cancerous effects, as there are cancerous effects with many things.
But in modern times, I think it's important to note, and we'll talk about this in the episode, that a lot of the harmful effects when it comes to modern cigarettes.
Is not the tobacco itself, but actually all the additives and chemicals.
Specifically, the pesticides.
So, your crop, if you're growing tobacco leaves, you want to harvest tons and tons and tons of it.
The best way to keep any type of rot from growing on it, the best way to keep bugs off it, is to douse it in pesticides.
Now, it turns out those pesticides that kill other bacteria, that kill other bugs, that's also not really good for human beings to somehow get into their lungs or get into their bloodstream.
So, specifically, that avenue in particular, which is a more modern one, this is the 70s, the 80s, and the 90s.
That route in particular, that risk, that's what's actually going to drive a good bit.
I'm not a doctor and I'm not going to say, oh, for sure that's the only risk whatsoever, but a good bit of that risk is going to just be driven by consuming mass produced tobacco.
Right.
So, second segment of the show today, we're going to try to keep it, we're trying to stay closer to about an hour, hour and 15 minutes.
So, our second segment here in just a few minutes, we'll start to address some of the benefits and some of the potential pitfalls that you should be mindful of when it comes to tobacco and particularly nicotine.
But in this first segment, What has brought us to the topic today is again, we regret to inform you that Christianity, they posted something pretty much anytime they post something, Christianity today, it's always negative.
And this has not broken that trend.
This is another slop article that's pretty pathetic.
And so we're going to read a few quotes and engage.
Wes, you want to read the first quote?
Sure.
I'll start with it.
So We're not going to read the whole article here.
You can go just literally search Zinn on Christianity Today and you'll be able to find it.
We've pulled three kind of longer sections out of this to kind of get a sense of how the author is talking, but also to how he's trying to burden the consciences of the readers.
So he says this.
He originally had started smoking, I think, vaping in high school, and then someone turned him on to Zinn as an alternative.
So this is Zinn for anyone not familiar.
It's literally a pouch that's maybe the size of a fingernail, your thumb, and then you just store it in your lip.
And then the nicotine from the tobacco, or if there is any tobacco in it at all, That simply gets into your bloodstream and then you experience the effects of nicotine.
So, this is what he's talking about now.
He talks about all the benefits.
It's discreet.
It's this.
And then he says this.
And the buzz, of course.
Oh, the buzz.
Not harsh or overwhelming, but steady and smooth.
Zinn didn't hit like a cigarette or haze my lungs like a vape.
It sharpened me just enough to take the edge off.
For a few minutes, I felt more capable.
I could do more and think faster and feel better and stress less and sleep less and work longer and push harder and then suddenly I realize I don't feel anything at all.
This tiny white rectangle was no longer a tool, crotch, shield, or coping mechanism.
It was a murderer.
That, even the way it's written, it just drips of effeminacy.
I can't believe a man wrote this.
Yeah, it's hard to believe.
You would think a woman wrote that.
Yeah.
We'll continue on here.
This is a little bit longer section.
This is where he's kind of applying it to Gen Z men in the church.
So he says, It's not just me.
There are many Gen Z men in churches right now, quietly dependent on nicotine pouches.
Zen keeps them steady, focused, and emotionally level so subtly that their use of it goes unchallenged.
This kind of self medicated serenity is especially tempting for men.
Who are already taught to hide weakness and power through pain.
That's good.
Zinn presents itself as an emotional sponge soaking up just enough stress and sadness to keep us composed, driven, and in control.
For young men chasing achievement and terrified of vulnerability, it makes it easier to, quote, man up, bury our feelings, and push forward without ever confronting what's underneath.
I'm sold.
I'm sold, right?
But you're telling me all of these things just get easier with this substance?
There's something super nefarious and dangerous that's Floating out there in the ether.
There's a bunch of young Gen Z men who have found a substance that the Bible doesn't forbid and that does not alter sober mindedness, and it's causing them not to be emotional feminist.
I'm sorry, what's the problem?
You're telling me this is an issue?
It's causing them to be, but you didn't hear the scary part yet.
They're actually working harder and being productive and being less emotional.
Next, you're going to find out there's this bean that God made, and you take this bean and you grind it.
You can grind it up and Put it in water through it, right?
It tastes good and it wakes you up in the morning.
Yeah, it wakes you up in the morning.
It's enjoyable.
You find yourself being even more productive.
Um, there's a lot, guys, be safe out there.
Yeah, right?
Be safe.
There's a lot of dangerous things out there.
I actually find that like more than the conversation we're having about Zen, it's like that.
That last quote in particular was pretty revealing because that's really what it is about, right?
As you look at it, it's talking about you know men who are taught to hide weakness and power through the pink, like that's really what.
The people who are criticizing this kind of the use of nicotine, for example, but many other things, that's really what they're concerned about.
Yeah.
It's something that allows men, encourages men to be men.
Right.
And I just find it fascinating that it was.
That honestly, like, I mean, we're being facetious, but in all truthfulness, it does seem like that's kind of the subtle undercurrent.
It's like, are we really concerned that all these guys are addicted to something and that they're actually in sin or that they've actually committed idolatry?
Like they're worshiping, you know, a white rectangle more than the triune God.
Or have we noticed a pattern that young men are not going to the Gospel Coalition conferences and they're not subscribing to Christianity today and they're trending more masculine?
And we know that this might be part of what's causing that.
And we're going to get into that in the second segment, but nicotine actually does boost testosterone.
So I could see why.
I could see why.
This is a dumb analogy, but.
I have kids.
All right.
So that I didn't sit and watch this movie by myself, but with a couple of my older kids for fun, we watched Boss Baby.
Have you guys ever seen Boss Baby?
Yeah.
It's pretty funny.
It's pretty funny.
So basically, it's like, you know, all these babies are like corporate, you know, workers.
And so they're, you know, they're looking at spreadsheets and talking about business and all this kind of stuff.
And it's Baby Corp is what they work for.
And it's like, you know, basically the consumption of like how many, you know, how many people worldwide and particularly in America, you know, Love babies?
Is there a demand?
Is there a consumer base for babies?
And so their great arch nemesis is Puppy Co.
And so it's like the more, the cuter the puppies are, then it hurts the bottom line in the baby business because people will opt for puppies instead of babies.
And honestly, I feel like with organizations like the Gospel Coalition or Christianity today, in this case, testosterone going up is not good for their bottom line.
Body Not for Immorality00:14:47
It is not.
Like, I mean, they.
They birth control being flushed down the toilet in the water.
Yeah, I mean, that's good for business if you're uh, Russell Moore, you know, your clothing made with artificial uh, fabrics like polyester.
Yes, like that's selling tickets right there.
Any, yes, anything that's like the like, I'm surprised they haven't wrote you know, written an article yet that's like actually, you need even more seed oil.
You know, I like, I wouldn't be surprised if next week they're like, you know, uh, Shake Shack um is idolizing beef talus because they, I mean, really idolization of health.
Yeah, but because for them, yeah, idolization of health.
Because seriously, like if a lot of it, there are spiritual, root spiritual issues, sin, sin is a real category, but there are actually chemical and food, nutrition, and health issues at play.
That's part of the reason why testosterone, I mean, it could be measured, it has drastically gone down in the last couple of generations.
And if it hadn't, you would not have Christianity today.
You would not have the Gospel Coalition.
Their audience is women of both sexes.
And without having women above, because here's the problem it's like, well, they'd still have, you know, the women who are actually biological women, they'd still be a part of their market share.
And no, they wouldn't, because if testosterone boosted and men were more driven and ambitious, and then one of the things they'd be doing is not just being productive and working, but they'd also be getting married.
And all these married men would be telling their wives, yeah, you cannot go to that gospel coalition conference.
Right.
And you You need to unsubscribe from Christianity today.
So, I see if you are Christianity today, why it would completely make sense to view nicotine as a threat.
This feeds into a point that I think you want to make, Joel, but it's a very insidious kind of pietism that posits that every single good thing, there's always a risk of overusing it.
Like practically, alcohol, as an example, the Bible has a good amount of warnings about alcohol because alcohol, honestly, like it's millions and millions of people have ruined their lives through alcohol addiction.
That is not just.
We found someone somewhere, and can you believe it?
He was addicted to alcohol.
The number of people that have ruined their lives over a caffeine addiction, now truly over literally just caffeine, not maybe like pre workout or other substances, is a tiny amount, if practically anybody.
But just even comparing the two, very popular substances, very commercialized, one has destroyed millions of lives.
The other simply has not.
They are not equivalent.
Same thing it would be like marital relations with your spouse.
Could it theoretically be possible that a couple could idolize that and it turn into idolatry?
Yes, that's possible.
Practically, Joel, in your years of pastoring, have you had dozens, 10, five couples coming in and like, we are straight up idolizing the marriage bed?
No, it's a good thing that God gave to enjoy.
And so when it comes to nicotine, we are talking about an addictive substance.
I have counseled several cases where people have neglected the marriage bed.
Like the problem of a married couple not having enough sex, that problem is prevalent.
But the problem of like, I'm sorry, It's been a month since we've been at church.
We can't, we just can't physically make it, you know, because we can't get out of the bedroom.
I've never had that problem.
That's never come in.
And the point being, there are some things that just don't have, not everything has the risk on the other side of it, the way things like alcohol do.
Now, sex certainly has women outside of marriage, but you come to something like this, and it's just what makes nicotine different than, for example, heroin or caffeine or alcohol?
Well, for one, and you can talk about this, Joel, it sharpens the mind.
It doesn't dull you.
It doesn't, it's not the chemical word or the terminology to be intoxicating.
It doesn't have an effect like alcohol where you're out of it.
Oh, I can't drive a car if I've had too much.
Like weed, where it puts you to sleep.
Right.
The command, exactly.
Weed and alcohol, marijuana and alcohol are both downers.
They, you know, both of them are.
They suppress the central nervous system.
Yes.
And they suppress your inhibition.
So the things, the part of you and your mind that would keep you from making foolish decisions is suppressed and dulled.
I've heard it said like this.
Maybe you guys are familiar with this saying Good times make weed boys, weed boys make hard times.
Hard times create nicotine men and nicotine men create good times.
Have you ever heard that old adage?
I've said that way.
Right.
But it's pretty true.
For the listener, the actual adage is that good times create soft men, soft men make bad times, bad times create hard men, and hard men create good times.
But honestly, I think it's pretty fair to say, even historically, looking at our country, you had a time when tobacco was raining and there was a lot of productivity.
And then you have marijuana coming in, and tobacco is bad, bad, bad.
And now you kind of got bad times.
Yeah.
I think there might be something there.
In the chat, Nathan, can you scroll up just a little bit?
There was someone, Andy, I think.
Yeah, right there.
Go down.
Yeah, there it is.
So Andy said, The Bible clearly says, it's a bold claim because the Bible actually does not say this, but he said, The Bible clearly says to put no unclean thing in the body.
Our bodies are temples which God has chosen to dwell in.
I'm preaching to myself too.
I appreciate the humility right there at the end, preaching to myself.
You definitely need to add the humility piece, especially when you say the Bible clearly says something that it does not say.
So, what the Bible actually says is precisely the opposite.
The Bible says it is not what goes into a man's mouth that defiles him, but what comes out of his mouth, not speaking of his diet, but rather his speech.
So, it's actually not what goes into a man's mouth, and this is Jesus himself saying this.
It's not what goes into his mouth that defiles him, but Rather, what comes out of a man's mouth, his speech that defiles him.
And then the parenthetical statement right there in the text next to it says, And thus he declared all things clean.
This is also similar to what we see in Acts chapter 10, as the Lord is speaking through a vision to Peter right before commissioning him to go to the house of Cornelius, who was a Gentile, to preach to him and his household the gospel.
And what Peter sees in this vision is a sheet from heaven being lowered down by its four corners.
With all kinds of different beasts of the field and animals that were, according to the Jewish custom under the old covenant, unlawful for him to eat.
And he hears a voice, and it's very clear that this voice is the voice of the Lord, corresponding with this visual vision that he's having that says, Take and eat or kill and eat.
And Peter responds and says, Surely not, no, for I have never defiled myself or eaten that which is unclean.
And it happens over and over again.
And then finally, do not call unclean what I, the Lord, hath made clean.
So, I think what Andy is probably thinking of would be 1 Corinthians 6, would be the closest that the Bible gets to, but it does not clearly say what Andy said.
1 Corinthians 6 does, however, it does say that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, whom you have received from God.
You are not your own, therefore, you were bought with a price.
Therefore, honor God by being good stewards of your body.
I'd have to look at it.
I think it's 1 Corinthians 6, verse 10.
12 is where it picks up.
Let me.
I've got a Bible in front of me, might as well grab it.
Trying to look for it too.
Here we go.
We'll find it.
First Corinthians chapter six.
Well, he says this.
I'll follow it up while you find that piece later on in the chapter.
And remember, the context of First Corinthians six is sexual immorality, which is a different category of sin than every other sin.
Yes, we're all talking about diet, not a sin against the body the way sexual morality is.
But first Corinthians six, 12, all things are lawful for me, reading the New King James, but all things are not helpful.
All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
Food for the stomach, and the stomach for food, but God will destroy both it and them.
Now, the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
Right.
Yep.
For you are bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
You are bought with a price, therefore glorify God with your body.
So, yeah, so this is 1 Corinthians chapter 6, starting with verse 12 and going through verse 20.
Wes is right.
But what I did want to point out right there in verse 12 all things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient.
Other translations say beneficial.
So all things are permissible, but not beneficial necessarily.
I'm reading from the King Jimmy.
Then it says, All things are lawful for me, again, permissible, morally permissible, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
Other translations say, I will not be enslaved to any.
Or I believe the ESV might use the term mastered by any.
And so that's the only thing, biblically speaking, because I've thought about this because.
I use nicotine from time to time, and I'm a Christian man, first and foremost, but secondarily, I'm also a local pastor, and I want to be above reproach, and I want to be biblically qualified, and I want to honor the Lord.
And so I don't want to be sinning a breach of any clear commandment in Scripture.
And the only thing, and I've done a fairly deep theological study on the Bible's principles, how it would apply to the modern use of nicotine, the only forbearance that the Bible would even have, and it's a possible.
Forbearance.
It depends on the manner of use and the frequency of use.
But the only possible forbearance that the Bible offers is being mastered by something.
So the addictive nature of nicotine that can, not by necessity, it doesn't necessarily create a problem, but it creates the potential for you to actually be in sin.
If you have gotten to the point, and that goes for anything for that matter, that would go with caffeine.
Like if you're at the point where if you can't get a cup of coffee, You know, you ran out of coffee, you forgot to buy some more at the store, and you find yourself, you know, unable to get out of bed, or you find yourself not just a little, you know, on edge, but you find yourself with such a loss of control that you're viscerally angry and shouting at your children or your wife.
Then, yeah, that's a problem.
But you can be mastered by food in that way, right?
In such cases.
Like hangry.
Anyone ever heard?
I mean, it's kind of a dumb word, you know, but.
But it, you know, I've heard it before, you know, or like the commercial is like, hungry, grab a Snickers, you know, and the whole commercial is like some guy, you know, raging because he hasn't had his, you know, his mid afternoon snack, you know, and he, and without satiating his physical hunger, he cannot control his emotions, right?
So you can be mastered by food, and yet food is a need.
So I understand food is different than caffeine and different than nicotine because if you never use nicotine your entire life, here's the good news you'll be all right.
You won't die.
If you stop eating food from this point on for the rest of your life, you will die.
You'll be okay for about five days and then you stop eating.
Yeah, you'd be okay for a little bit.
But so I do want to make that categorical distinction to be fair.
Food, I'm not saying that it's in the same category as caffeine or nicotine because it's not.
Food actually is a necessity.
But here's the point you have to eat, but you don't have to be mastered by food.
A godly, self controlled man should be able to miss a meal.
Without lashing out at his family, right?
You should be able to miss a meal without, you know, I mean, that's, and there is a biblical principle of intentionally missing meals, first and foremost, to spend time with the Lord.
So fasting and prayer.
But also, part of that is there's a message that's being conveyed.
Part of what we're saying when we fast and pray is we're saying to the Lord, it's not just like, man, the amount of time that it takes me to eat, I've, Got, I've got to miss this meal so that I have 15 extra minutes to pray.
Like, you could probably find that you could go to bed 15 minutes later, right?
You can make up that time if it was just creating room for prayer.
You can make up the time somewhere else.
But there's something significant with giving up food because what you're saying is you're not just creating extra time for the activity of prayer, the discipline of prayer, but you're also conveying something.
You're saying that man does not live by bread alone, that ultimately the Lord is my true nourishment, that he is my portion.
Right?
He's the strength of my heart.
It is the Lord that sustains me.
You know, a man's not sustained by bread alone, but every word that comes proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.
And so, my point is that every Christian man should be able to fast.
It's a spiritual discipline.
You should be able to fast.
And what that implies and includes is that you're not mastered by food.
And we all know that it is entirely possible to be mastered by food.
So, 1 Corinthians 6, verse 12, I think, is one of the only texts.
That would even give a yellow flag, a potential warning towards nicotine.
It's not because nicotine is going to make you fat.
Well, actually, it will, if anything, suppress appetite and you'll lose some weight.
It's not that nicotine, like alcohol, will cause you to lose sobriety.
Well, actually, it sharpens your attention, your focus, and you'll get more done.
It's not that nicotine will cause you to be lazy, like marijuana, you know, and just want to eat a whole pizza.
Nope, it actually causes you to narrow and focus in and be more productive.
So it's like, Oh my gosh, like, are there any negatives?
There are a ton of positives.
Well, but surely it would at least make me a little bit more effeminate.
Actually, it raises your testosterone.
I mean, at every single level, nicotine is an incredible substance.
Self-Control Over Sexual Sin00:05:00
And who made it that way?
Like, God did not wake up and be like, oh my goodness, I did not realize in this plant it affected these different receptors all over the body that stimulated the central nervous system.
Right.
Oh, I designed it that way.
Right, exactly.
So, the many, many, many positive effects of.
Nicotine.
However, the only negative potential pitfall is that you can become addicted to the point where you are dependent on nicotine, where you are unable to go without it, without being enraged, without losing self control, where it's very clear that you have become mastered by it.
So, all that back to Andy's comment when he said, the Bible clearly says, I forget exactly how he wrote it.
Nate, scroll up one more time.
Put no unclean thing into your body.
Put no unclean thing into your mouth.
The Bible clearly says, put no unclean thing in the body.
Our bodies are temples which God has chosen to dwell in.
So the Bible does say that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, yes.
But Jesus actually says the opposite in terms of unclean thing into your mouth.
He actually says it is not what goes into a mouth that defiles him, but rather what comes out of a man's mouth.
His speech is what the Lord is concerned about.
And thus he declared all things clean, all things clean.
So the Bible does not say that part, but the Bible does say that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.
And in that same text where the Bible says that, namely 1 Corinthians 6, and now looking at verse 12, the Bible tells us that all things are lawful or permissible, morally permissible, but we should not be mastered by anything.
And because nicotine does have the potential to be addictive, it therefore does have the potential to chemically bind a man, enslave a man to where he is mastered.
And so does caffeine, for that matter.
Nicotine is more addictive than caffeine.
I don't want to say that they're equal, but there are many things that you can be mastered by.
And nicotine is one that has the potential to master you.
And so you need to be aware of that.
Other than that, I'm unaware of any biblical argument against it other than school moms just, you know, repeating propaganda from a bunch of different corporations and a government that for the last 50 years has tried to emasculate men.
Yeah.
That's, I like how someone said it in the comments because it's a good example.
Joseph said, if you could scroll up a little bit, Nate, he said, I used to be addicted to nicotine.
It was a bad addiction.
I needed it to function.
Would sometimes wake up in the middle of the night for it, would sneak dip in class, having to swallow it when the teacher called them in.
Yeah, that's too much.
Too much, got addicted, need to cut down a bit.
Yeah.
Like that category does exist.
Yes, it does.
But practically, that's not 95% of people.
Right.
Antonio, any thoughts?
No, no.
I like the way you framed it because, going back to the article, that gets to the heart of the matter, which is the Christian is expected to exercise discretion and discernment with respect to these things.
Like I was just thinking, a thought popped in my head as you were framing it.
Courage is demonstrated in the presence of fear.
Self control is demonstrated in the presence of deprivation.
And so it's actually not the thing itself.
It's not nicotine itself or the absence of nicotine that is the problem.
It's your lack of self control.
Nicotine has revealed that.
And so a discerning thing to do would be to say, I ought not use this thing when I can't exercise that control.
Right.
Well, I mean, and I'll just say that in the.
Sort of in contrast with what the article is saying, which is, I couldn't exercise that self control.
And so no one should use this thing.
Right, right.
Yeah, that's a great, great point.
We can end this first segment with this quote from this article.
Listen to how he pretty much ends it.
If the church wants to disciple my generation, this is a young man, Gen Z, it can't ignore this, this being nicotine pouches.
For many Gen Z men like me, the biggest obstacle, listen to this.
The biggest obstacle.
Can I keep a straight face?
I don't think I can.
That's funny.
The biggest obstacle.
The wholehearted devotion to Jesus isn't on their phones or at their schools, it's in their gums.
Right, yeah.
Yeah, it's not OnlyFans.
It's not pornography on their phones.
This is, which is written in the Bible about many times.
Yeah, so yeah, the things that actually are clear in scripture, like avoiding sexual immorality, that's not actually the biggest enemy of young men today, guys.
If you thought that pornography was a problem, you'd be wrong.
That's a minor problem.
The real problem is knickknacks, the real problem is Zen.
And that's the biggest obstacle to wholehearted devotion to Jesus.
The biggest obstacle for Gen Z is nicotine.
No, that is not the biggest obstacle.
Not even close.
Let's go to our first commercial break and we'll be right back.
America is a country that was founded for the purpose of allowing Christians to do their duty before God, not to have their consciences ruled by the doctrines and commandments of men.
Ten Commandments in Business00:02:51
Reese Fund exists in order to see the Ten Commandments properly applied, not just as a plaque on the wall, but to actually be used in business as though they're commandments from God that we're supposed to obey.
Our goal is to find businesses and to buy them and to build them up.
We want to find manufacturing businesses and use them to make sure that we can maintain our capacity to do things here.
Reef Fund, Christian Capital, boldly deployed.
Running your business with purpose means looking beyond last month's numbers to next year's vision.
Kaylee Smith offers CFO level strategies scaled just for small businesses.
At Midstate Accounting, she takes care of your compliance, bookkeeping, and tax returns while providing holistic advisory and fractional CFO services to help you steward your resources with a distinctly Christian perspective.
Ready to align your finances with your future?
Then call Kaylee Smith at 573 889 7278 for a free, no obligation consultation.
Mention the Right Response podcast to get 10% off your first three months.
Prefer to explore online?
Then you can visit midstateaccounting.net to learn more or schedule a call.
Again, that's midstateaccounting.net.
With Mid State Accounting, you'll plan for tomorrow while operating in faith today.
So call Kaylee Smith at 573 889 7278.
Again, that's 573 889 7278.
Heaven's Harvest takes pride in providing you with the best freeze dried emergency survival food kits on the market.
Their kits stand out because they prioritize serving sizes and calories that will sustain you for the long haul.
No gimmicks, no fillers, just a diverse array of nutritious options that will pleasantly surprise you.
But they're more than just emergency food.
They're advocates for sustainable preparedness.
Their heirloom seed kits include heirloom, non GMO, non hybrid, open pollinated seeds, ensuring that your garden produces the same quality and variety year after year.
Packaged in high grade mylar foil, their seeds have a 10 year shelf life.
So, get 10% off your Heaven's Harvest order by using our special discount code RRM at checkout or by clicking the link in the description below.
Made in the USA and free shipping on orders above $99 for the US only.
Additives and Shorter Lifespans00:14:41
Real quick, I got to say this.
Somebody in the comments is, and you know, you got to, he's probably nicotine maxing right now because you got to appreciate the drive, the ambition, the persistence, right?
Just the sheer diligence.
He is in the comments.
His name is Paul Baker, and we appreciate you, Paul.
Thanks for piping in.
Kind of like the persistent, you know, old widow, you know, just 10 times knocking at the unrighteous judges.
Yeah, just finally, like, I do it.
Yeah, so I mean, every few comments, he's right in there.
Now, here's the unfortunate thing, and this is why I'm going to hand it over to Wes in just a moment as soon as I make my joke.
But I can't pronounce the word that he's even using.
So pyrazines?
Pyrazines.
Pyrazines, nailed it, first try.
So he keeps saying pyrazines are the addictive element, but not nicotine itself.
But.
I'm pretty sure that nicotine itself is addictive.
And again, we're not saying, therefore, don't do it.
We're just saying, proceed with caution.
But I'm pretty sure nicotine itself, in and of itself, is addictive.
And the reason why I know is because Wes is absolutely addicted.
All right, go ahead.
Wait a minute.
To you, Wes.
Yep.
So, Pyrocyn tea is completely correct.
These are additives to cigarettes and typically cigars.
It's an organic compound, it has some additives, some flavor that it helps with, especially when you're burning it.
And so he's kind of making the argument that the nicotine in and of itself, people could take it or leave it, but it's really this kind of flavor additive in there that really is getting people hooked on it.
The reason I, at least in a limited what I know of nicotine, that really doesn't hold up, you have a lot of studies with rats where they'll add nicotine to water, for example.
Pure nicotine.
Pure nicotine.
You're not adding pyrazine into that.
Rats will self administer to the point of absurdity.
They will get addicted to it.
Just water with nicotine.
You also, in pouches, those also don't have the pyrazines added either.
So a pure pouch like ALP that isn't a tobacco leaf ground up like dip or something like that.
That's also not going to have pyrazines.
And there are many individuals, like the individual in this article, who have said, I use pouches 24 7 and I am addicted.
And all that's to say is nicotine has a positive effect.
It makes you sharper, it makes you focused, it suppresses appetite.
Like it's.
Boost testosterone.
It's normal.
It's expected that people would continue to use something that makes you feel good.
Real quick, I got an important question.
What can I get this nicotine water from?
I saw the other day.
I saw it for a friend.
Yes.
Nicotine water.
Nicotine water.
What can I get some of that nicotine water?
No.
So I don't.
I don't see any scientific basis that the only addicting thing about nicotine is these pyrazine additives that they've added to it.
They are certainly there in cigarettes and cigars.
He's not completely off base, but they're just not in every form.
And people and rats and animals, they all still get addicted to it.
I want to bring some of the science in because we've talked about the testosterone piece.
And we even talked about this is really interesting about it.
The list keeps growing antiparasitic and antiviral.
A lot of studies would seem to suggest that nicotine and tobacco leaves, and nicotine obviously being most of the active ingredient in tobacco, has a very positive effect as far as warding off.
Ticks is one example.
Birds, very interestingly, in the city, they'll sometimes line their nests.
And then when they've gone and studied those nests, when they've lined them with cigarette butts, they'll go and they'll look at them and they'll say, yeah, there's actually less activity of typical worms, parasites, C. elegans that find their ways into birds' nests.
And so we see in nature, a lot of animals, they kind of recognize, like, hey, whether it's leftover from humans, whether it's tobacco just on its own, this has an antiviral property that helps protect me.
But let's go to the scientific literature.
And this is kind of crazy.
I will say, there have been times I have five children, one in glory, six, but five with us.
And there have been times the entire Webbin household is just down for the count with sickness, all five kids and mom.
And I am, by the grace of God, I'm able to serve everybody.
I'm taking care of mom, I'm taking care of the kids.
And this has happened a few times.
And my wife would be like, How are you not sick?
And I'll look her in the eyes and I'll say, Nicotine.
You have not missed a day of recording.
Never.
In a year and a half?
Never.
I've never missed a Sunday.
Nope.
Never.
And I almost never get sick either.
I know that's case study too, but.
Prosperity gospel preaching.
No, it's nicotine.
Yep, yep, yep.
Check out this study.
So, this was very interesting.
During COVID, which was a respiratory illness of the lungs spread virally, this is a study from 2024, a huge study in South Korea.
I think it was 12,000 individuals.
The relative risks, so this is comparing two groups and their relative risk relative to each other.
The relative risks, 95% confidence intervals for COVID 19 related hospitalization were lower among current smokers 0.51.
That's almost a 50% reduction, half as likely.
So, current smokers, We were half as likely and current users of any tobacco product relative to never users.
So, users of any forms of tobacco were half as likely to be hospitalized for COVID.
And again, just for the listener, for the record, we're not saying, so go and buy a pack of Paul Malls and start smoking.
Start smoking behind the mall.
Paul Malls, now these days, because of all the tobacco tax, which I think is a lot of that is propaganda to stop Americans from doing something that.
Would cause it like, why does the government want states like Colorado to have weed dispensaries everywhere?
Because it makes the populace more docile.
They're easier to govern.
There's actually a reason for that.
It's much easier to pull the wool over a bunch of people who are stoned out of their minds.
And I actually think there is kind of an effort and has been for decades to take away some of the drive and some of the ambition.
Particularly from men and kind of lower testosterone, the masculinity, and those kinds of things by demonizing tobacco.
Now, that said, modern cigarette companies put a lot of chemicals and pesticides and additives into their cigarettes, and those are not good for you.
So, if it's like a viral disease like COVID, then yeah, smoking cigarettes may stop you from getting COVID.
But over the long haul, you'll get something else from the cigarettes.
And so, we're not saying everybody should go out and buy.
You know, a carton of cigarettes and start chain smoking.
Nope.
But we are saying that there are wise and prudent ways of using nicotine that doesn't have the additives and also doesn't involve inhaling smoke into your lungs, even if you're not using tobacco.
If you, for instance, like if you, you know, back in the day, if you were a blacksmith and you were constantly over a fire, right?
Like a lot of times guys like that would eventually, you know, they'd have a shorter lifespan.
They would get certain, you know, diseases related to inhaling smoke.
You know, 12 hours a day, or somebody working in a coal mine, or something like that.
So, inhaling that's a different calculus, right?
And then inhaling not just nicotine or tobacco, but additives and chemicals.
Well, now that's certainly a different calculus.
But if it's not inhaling the smoke, and especially not inhaling regularly, it's different smoking a cigar once in a while with your friends.
But if it's not inhaling smoke, and also it doesn't have all these chemicals and additives and pesticides, then really all you're talking about from a Christian perspective at that point is.
Like everything else, do not be mastered by it.
And we are admitting that nicotine is more addictive than Cheetos.
And on the inhalation piece, it is carcinogenic.
I'll be right up front compared to, for example, like dip or something like that, a nicotine pouch with cigarettes where you specifically inhale the ash and the byproducts of the flame that you're bringing in.
They're not great for your lungs.
The nicotine is good.
The ash is not great.
I'm not going to sit here and BS you.
No, probably not the best thing in the world, all else being equal.
But.
It's also not the worst thing in the world.
Yeah.
Okay.
Back to you.
I'm sorry.
So, this was another study.
This is another one from 2024.
Our study suggests this is a conclusion from the results.
And this is incredible because, I mean, like the public health was, they were basically saying, like, oh man, smokers, you're at huge risk.
The evidence, this is another one, our study suggests a potential association between smoking and a reduced risk of SARS CoV 2 infection and pneumonia.
This indicates that nicotine and ACE2, it's a receptor in the lungs, play important roles in preventing COVID 19 and its progression.
And I'll even highlight one comment we have here because I've seen research on it.
If you scroll up just a little bit, Nate from MB East, I think it's a woman.
And she said, My husband, I hope it's a woman.
It's a woman.
My husband uses it for a protocol against his brain cancer stage four.
I've heard doctors say we think it has some anti carcinogenic cancer properties to it as well.
That is not proven in the literature.
Now, again, the literature is five to 10 years behind what people already knew for the first time, right?
Like, oh, the science says eggs are bad.
And like 20 years later, well, it turns out they weren't.
And people who were smart knew that 20 years ago.
So I will say it's not borne out in the literature.
However, I've heard doctors, real doctors say, I'm wearing a nicotine patch for the rest of my life because I want to be healthy.
And so, nicotine patch, if you can't tolerate the pouches, you don't want to do the smoking, that is another way to potentially get it if you think that's a good choice for you.
They've demonstrated, I think there are some studies coming out about Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and nicotine's ability to abate the risk for those things.
So, there is something, there is more to it, I think, even than what we've been talking about.
Like testosterone, for example, I think general health.
And obviously, you can supplement these things, and you should, and we're not saying you shouldn't, with metabolic health.
Exercising regularly, eating properly, like all of these things are playing into it.
In fact, as we look at some of these studies, I'm sure that that's a large variable people who are smoking tend to have a particular lifestyle that subjects them to less risk.
For example, we've talked about appetite suppression.
So they're less likely to be overweight.
We know that COVID 19 was incredibly deadly for those who were morbidly obese.
So, yep, yep.
And none of these things.
Hey, Paul Baker, real quick, he piped back in and he said, thanks for bringing up the clinical research, guys.
You're welcome, Paul.
Thanks for.
Well, here's the most.
I have the best one yet.
Comedy.
Best clinical research.
Save it for the end.
All right.
So, this is a meta analysis.
A meta analysis is not a single study, but it takes all the studies that have methods that are similar enough and it pulls them together to get an analysis.
So, in 22 studies, this is a meta analysis from 2016 of 13,317 men, mean age, aged 18 to 61 years old.
So, 13,000 men of prime of their life.
Smokers had higher mean testosterone than non smokers by 1.4 moles.
Nanomoles a liter, 95% confidence in full 1.11 to 1.96, which is actually pretty meaningful.
1.11 to 1.96.
So, you actually have to do some like conversion with that to actually convert it to the nanograms.
So, the typical testosterone measurement is nanograms per liter or per decaliter, I think it actually is.
Average ranges in the past, six, seven, eight hundred.
Most men on average today, two, three, four hundred.
And so, you're talking about right there with your conversion.
Potentially up to about 100 to 200 nanograms a decaliter difference in testosterone, which could be 10, 20% higher.
I will caveat and say here is the difficulty with parsing out this data.
Are these the bad boys that already are higher testosterone?
It's a higher testosterone man, just more attracted to the negativity.
Are they more likely to engage in high risk behavior?
That's possible.
But again, we're talking about 22 studies, 13,000 men.
And even if it is that, fake it till you make it.
But practically, the clinical research does bear out.
This is a random effects model, inverse variance weighting.
I've looked at the methods, it all looks good.
Like, we can definitely say, on average, men that smoke have higher average testosterone than those who don't smoke.
Either or.
In both cases, it's pretty significant because what we're essentially saying is this it's either you don't use nicotine and you might actually cause lower testosterone in yourself, or if you don't use nicotine, and as this research becomes more mainstream, people will think that you have less testosterone.
So, in either case, you need to be nicotine maxing.
All right.
Yep.
And all that being said, like I'll just say practically, I don't really use pouches.
I don't feel great.
It's very easy for me to leave it in too long, and then I just get lightheaded.
Every single person is going to have to make a calculus.
There's some risks to this, there's some downside to this, or I do enjoy it.
And so, what we're saying is that when you do that calculus, the biggest thing in your mind does not have to be as Christianity today, try to burden your conscience and tell you, well, what if I get addicted?
What if I'm addicted?
What if I'm dependent on this?
Sure, that maybe happens.
We had someone say, like, I was waking up in the middle of the night to get a dip in, you know, grab a quick smoke outside.
Yeah, that's too much.
To be honest, I don't know if I've met more than five people in my life.
You just have to go to Sleep with the dip already in.
I saw a meme the other day.
It's like me going to sleep knowing I get to wake up and pop another.
It's like a kid giggling in his bed.
Yeah.
So, practically speaking, it's just a different calculus.
Like people have to understand it's very easy in our egalitarian time to say, well, there's caffeine, there's alcohol, there's nicotine.
You know, they're all fun, all enjoyable, but really the Christian shouldn't be mastered by anything, used sparingly.
And just practically, they are different.
Caffeine doesn't have these effects.
Alcohol has way more downsides.
You just can't take that away.
Every single one, we've been reading Proverbs in family worship.
And man, does Solomon over and over stress not individual, hard, rigid, fast rules, but wisdom and understanding.
This works for me.
This doesn't.
He would much rather his son, as he's instructing him, be wise, be instructed, be contemplative.
He'd much rather that than sit there in Proverbs and say, I'm going to lay down a list to you of all the streets in Jerusalem that you shouldn't go on because a wicked woman could be there.
He always prefers to defer to here's the wisdom you can inculcate.
Yep.
Exactly.
Real quick, Nathan, go ahead and pull up the lower third one more time.
I want to promo again, and I also want to give a little future direction for the listeners.
So, right now, we are advertising on this episode ALP.
And basically, this is how it works.
If you use the link that is in the show notes below, that they just copy when they check out.
Well, in the show notes, we added a link.
So you just click on the link and you're good to go.
Oh, it's a code.
Clearing Your Conscience00:13:39
I'm sorry.
Okay, so in the show notes, there is a code.
Then you would go to their website, which is alppouchesnate.com.
Alp pouch.
It's all in the show notes.
Great.
So there's a link to their main website in the show notes, but the website is alpppouch.com.
And then also in the show notes, you'll find a promo code.
If you use that, you'll get 10% off of your purchase.
And also, Right Response Ministries will get 10% as well.
So you're helping us out, you're helping yourself out.
There's no reason not to do it.
You save 10%, we get 10%.
An additional 10%.
That said, I do agree with Christianity Today, at least on one issue.
They made it about Zen.
And I thought of the meme where it's like, you know, you don't do Zen because, you know, you're a part of Christianity Today and, you know, friends with Russell Moore.
I don't do Zen because it's a liberal left leaning company that gives to ActBlue and supports a bunch of terrible things like abortion.
So nobody actually should be using Zen.
I just want to make that abundantly clear.
Tucker Carlson, you know, Alp is his.
His pouch of choice.
It's, uh, it's what, you know, what he promotes on his show.
And he was a Zen aficionado.
I mean, the guy was, you know, Zen maxing.
Delivery trucks pulling in, the other ones pulling out.
All the time.
I mean, you still see him like on this show, like as he's, you know, podcasting, he'll be popping them in.
But he stopped doing Zen when he found out that Zen is just a terrible progressive liberal company that supports all these terrible progressive liberal values.
And so don't do Zen.
Alp is much better.
That said, I will mention, not trying to disparage Tucker Carlson or Alp.
The one thing that I don't like about Alp is that it is made in India.
So it is not an American made product, and we want to be America first.
I'm aware of a few, but there's one major name that is continuing to kind of rise to the cream of the crop.
I've used it, it's a great product.
It's called Knickknacks.
Okay, so Knickknacks are American made.
It seems as though the company, from the little bit of research I've done, I don't know if they're.
Expressly Christian, but they definitely seem like they are politically and culturally right wing.
So it seems like a right wing company, and they make their product here in America.
And instead of pouches, they're dissolvable tablets.
And so you put in like a hard tablet, kind of like almost Pez.
You remember Pez, the little candies?
You know, you're pushing like your little Mickey Mouse or whatever.
And one of Altoid.
It's like it, yeah, or an Altoid.
It's like a mint, exactly, except it's a little bit larger, rectangle, it's flat.
And so it's It's comfortable and it just dissolves in your mouth.
So there's nothing, there's not even a pouch to spit out when you're done.
It lasts probably 20 minutes before it dissolves.
But they, you know, Tucker Carlson is right wing.
Knickknacks also seems right wing, but also made in America.
And what we'll probably do is because I think it's a worthy topic, we're not going to do it once a week, but probably in the next few months or so, we'll probably hit the topic one more time for guys who didn't tune in today.
You know, what is a Christian view towards?
The consumption of nicotine and the wise prudent use of nicotine.
So, we'll probably do this topic again in the future.
And hopefully, by then, one of the things that we'll try to iron out is an affiliate deal with Knickknacks.
So, we'll be able to offer a promo code for Knickknacks.
So, Knickknacks, because here's the only thing so they're American made, they're right wing, but they are a little pricey.
They cost like a little bit more.
Alp is significantly cheaper.
So, like Zen, for instance, is 15 pouches inside of a can.
And it's maybe seven bucks, depending what state you live in and what the taxes are.
If you go to the corner store, Alp is closer to six bucks a can.
So it's like a dollar cheaper.
And then today, again, you can get 10% further off, get it close to five bucks a can, and it's 20 pouches instead of 15.
So when you factor in the amount of pouches, you got a 33% increase in the number of pouches and a dollar off plus 10%.
If you use our promo code today, which is in the show notes, you're looking at like, Two thirds the price and a third more of the pouches.
So, again, Christianity Today and Joel Webbin, boom, we are united.
Don't use in.
We are united for very different reasons, but united nonetheless.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Just practically, if you're listening to this, you're like, I want to start it.
Where do I start?
I want to try and use it.
You can always add more, but once you have nicotine in your system, if you start feeling sick, it's impossible to take it out.
It just has to get out of your system.
So, I would say start low.
If you're a bigger dude, if you're 220 pounds, you're probably going to be able to tolerate more than someone who's starting at 170.
I would recommend everyone, I think Alp starts at three milligrams.
Three milligrams is a great place to start.
Don't start with nine milligrams.
Nope.
Don't lock in three of them and just be like, I'm taking off.
You will take off, sir, to the bathroom to throw it.
So start low.
You can also pop it out, throw it in for 10 minutes.
See if you're feeling a buzz, take it out.
Start small, and that's going to be your best way to not overdo it and actually get the benefit.
So say, like, I'm going to sit down and write at 2 p.m. 1 30.
I'm going to pop one of these in.
I'm going to leave it in for 10 minutes.
I'm going to see how I feel with writing.
And a lot of people, they just, some of them respond differently.
Some of them take it and they're like, I love it.
Some take it.
They didn't feel great.
Some take it to feel nothing.
And in terms of not being mastered by anything, like, you know, here's your sign, right?
Like, if you're starting today, you've never used nicotine once in your life, and you start with three milligrams, one pouch, right?
So you're at three milligrams.
And by the end of the month, you find yourself, you know, buying the nine milligrams and doing an upper and a lower, you know?
So you're like, I graduated from three to 18 in 30 days.
Then, okay, like, you know, it may be time to take a week off, you know?
But even there, some people just have a high genetic tolerance.
You're 250 pounds, high genetic tolerance.
That would be addicting for someone else that has lower tolerance.
But you're going to have to search your conscience and say, Lord, I'm not idolizing this.
I'm using it to be productive.
It's a good thing.
That's the one, I'll turn it to you, but that's the one last.
It just came to me about 10 minutes ago in the conversation.
So I'm glad you mentioned it.
The only other scriptural potential forbearance.
So we said not being mastered by anything and the addictive nature.
And so being on check with that and having some accountability, which, again, you can be mastered by food, you can be mastered by sleep, you can be mastered by a lot of things.
So that's not, that doesn't, you know, take it off the table entirely.
It just means you need prudence and wisdom and self control.
The only other scriptural potential forbearance that I could think of is Romans chapter 14, where it says anything not done in faith, where anything that does not proceed from faith is sin.
So there actually are things that categorically in the objective theological sense are not objectively immoral, not inherently immoral in and of themselves.
But you could do something that biblically speaking is not inherently immoral, but it actually is subjectively immoral.
Immoral personally for yourself because you're doing it with a seared conscience.
You're doing something that God actually does allow for, but in your heart, in your mind, you actually, even though God objectively allows for it, you subjectively think that He doesn't allow for it, and yet you choose to do it anyways.
So, according to your personal conscience, you are breaching the law of God.
Now, it turns out in the final analysis that there actually wasn't a law of God against said thing, and so you actually were not doing something that was inherently immoral.
But it was still immoral for you at a personal, subjective level because you, with a mind that said that it was immoral, were willing to do something that you thought was immoral nonetheless.
And so that's what, you know, what Romans chapter 14 is getting into.
Anything, you know, because it's talking about meat sacrificed to idols, that is actually permissible.
But for some, it's not because if they think that it's wrong, then they shouldn't sin against their conscience.
And then it's also talking about alcohol.
And in the case of alcohol, basically, what Romans 14, anything that does not proceed from faith is sin.
Rule of thumb, the theological principle is this if you think it's sin, then for you it is.
I'll say that again.
That's basically my exegesis on Romans 14.
Anything that does not proceed from faith is sin.
In other words, if you think it's sin, for you it is.
So if there's something that you think is sin, or something that for you you don't have a clear conscience, it's on the fence, it's even questionable, even if it's just questionable, you think it might be sin.
Well, if you think something might be sin and you choose to engage in it anyways, then you've made a calculation privately, subjectively in your heart that says, I'm comfortable with the possibility of transgressing God's law.
And so then what is God going to think of that?
Well, not very positive.
So don't do it.
Anything that you think is sin is sin.
So we're sitting here saying, no, there's a way of using nicotine in certain forms and certain products that avoids being mastered by it.
And there's a way of doing it with a clear conscience because objectively, in that sense, it does not fall into the inherently immoral category.
However, if you're still on the fence after this episode, for some of you, this episode actually might be something that the Lord uses to clear your conscience.
And you go out and you try three milligrams again, not Zen, use ALP.
Promo code is in the description.
The link and promo code in the description.
Get 10% off.
But you might go out and buy your first can of ALP and three milligrams and Try it because this episode actually cleared your conscience.
So, you actually thought it was a sin 15 minutes ago in the live stream, but you've been persuaded over the course of this last quarter of an hour.
And you're like, you know what?
I can do it now with a clear conscience and I'm going to do it responsibly and I'm going to give it a try.
Great.
If you get to the end of this episode and you still think it's wrong, then please hear me at a pastoral level.
If you finish this episode and you still have moral questions in your conscience about whether or not this is actually permissible according to the word of God, Then hear me pastorally when I say, do not do it.
And if you do do it, for you, it's sin because you're not doing it in faith.
Antonio?
Yeah, I was just going to say, you know, quickly for those who maybe they're trying for the first time or they're planning to or they've been doing it for a little while, like practically try to create associations with nicotine that are productive.
So, you know, that means sort of, well, two reasons not to take it at night.
One, it will tarnish your sleep.
And that's demonstrated.
It's not good to take nicotine when you're trying to fall asleep.
It will prevent that.
Even after you've fallen asleep, you won't achieve the same depth.
And then also at night, you're probably not trying to be productive.
You're probably winding down.
So just be smart about the times that you're using it.
When you wake up in the morning, wake up naturally, try to do those things.
And then when you're starting work, then you can use nicotine to sort of lock in or focus up.
But those are just real practical tools.
Yeah, that's helpful.
Yep.
It's funny, even the way God designed caffeine in our brains, your best caffeine is going to be taking it 90 minutes after you wake up because there's adenosine in your brain, which induces sleep, which has to clear.
So, even in God's design of the human body, we're not designed to wake up five minutes in, lock into the screen, lock into the nicotine pouch, lock in the coffee.
The best waking up is going to be to do it naturally.
And then, about 90 minutes in, you started your day, you have a cup of coffee, you pop in a zin, whatever it would be, pop in a nicotine pouch.
That's when it's actually going to be most effective.
So, even in God's design, He's not designed us to hammer substances like alcohol.
Disrupts your sleep.
He did not design us to hammer substances into the late night, then wake up and go back to it.
Use it in moderation, use it wisely, and don't become dependent on it.
Right.
Yep.
So, three clear takeaways from today's episode.
Number one, join us and being diligent to make fun of Christianity today.
All right.
Number two, if you use nicotine, do not purchase Zen because it's a bad product that supports bad things.
And then number three, if you're making fun of Christianity today, if you're not using Zen and you're using a different company and your conscience is clear before the Lord to do so, Then nicotine max for the glory of God.
Let's go to our last commercial break and then we're going to come back.
We're going to deal with questions in the chat.
So, you guys go ahead and queue them up.
We're going to start with super chats first.
We always prioritize those.
For those of you guys who've already sent some in, thank you.
We appreciate it.
It helps support this ministry.
For everybody else, get in a super chat.
Or if you don't have the funds to do so, we understand.
Just make sure that it's clear that it's an actual question.
And if we have time, we don't always have time, but if we have time to get through all the super chats first, then we'll deal with some of the other questions that people send our way.
Here's our last commercial break for the day.
Hello, brothers in Christ.
Let me ask you something real.
Are you truly protecting and providing for your wife and children?
Not just in this life, but the one to come.
Here's a reality check.
Turning Talk into Action00:04:34
Only 45% of adults in America have life insurance, and of those, nearly two thirds are underinsured.
That's not good stewardship.
And as Christian husbands and fathers, we're called to do better.
But what if you could protect your family's future and wisely grow your wealth right now?
That's where private family banking comes in.
It's a proven strategy that allows you to leverage your existing cash flow, build tax free legacy wealth, and give your family lasting security, all while aligning with your biblical call to provide and protect.
This is what it looks like to turn post mill talk into post mill action.
Tap the link in the show notes to book your free discovery call and take your next step toward financial discipleship and multi generational impact.
In the future, it may be hard to persuade people that what happened starting in the spring of 2020 really did happen.
A fake pandemic was the signal that one morning began the foreclosure on everything that had, until the evening before, been central to the idea of democratic constitutional republics.
The most shocking thing was not so much that this started to happen, but that almost no one seemed to object to it happening.
Almost no one sought to defend the rights and liberties being overturned.
Leftists clamored for more and more tyranny, while most conservatives fell silent.
In this book, The Abolition of Reality, Irish dissident leader John Waters describes not merely what happened, but the meaning of what happened in what may well be judged by history as the most heinous crime of all time.
This book, as Winston in 1984 said, is for the future for the unborn.
Get it from Western Front Books at the link below.
That's www.westernfrontbooks.com.
Again, that's www.westernfrontbooks.com.
Sending your son to a competitive school often places a significant additional burden on the family.
While these schools promise high academic rigor, character development, and preparation for top tier universities, much of the workload ultimately falls on the parents.
The combination of early dismissals as early as 2.30 p.m., heavy homework demands, and sports commitments can create an overwhelming and stressful experience for both students and their families.
At St. John's, our philosophy is different.
We prioritize structure, balance, and efficiency to ensure students thrive academically, physically, and spiritually.
Here's how we do it.
Our instructors are the cornerstone of our commitment to excellence.
Bringing a unique blend of expertise, discipline, and leadership to the classroom.
Earning $200,000 annually, our educators are among the most accomplished in their fields.
Nine hour school days.
Classes run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., maximizing learning during school hours.
Our confession brings clarity, fosters unity, and glorifies Christ as we seek to instruct, develop, and mentor young men in loving God and neighbor rightly.
To the glory of God, Ordo Amoris et Soli Deo Gloria.
And finally, our curriculum, Integra, is a challenging blend of STEM with classical Christian humanities.
Campuses opening in the summer of 2026 in Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio.
Visit st. John's.academy to learn more and sign up today.
Again, that's st. John's.academy to learn more today.
All right, we're back.
So let's jump right into some questions here.
We'll start with the super chats and see if we get to any of the questions in the main chat.
First one here from Evan Davies.
Evan says, Zen's great.
Anglo Spirit has just started shipping to the US.
Stimulating Adrenals Wisely00:15:45
He's one of our guys and does great pouches.
Blessing to you, chaps.
I haven't heard of Anglo Spirit.
I'll have to check him out, though.
Yeah, get our promo code.
They've been doing the Watson Watch style of advertising.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, cool.
Okay.
Yeah, well, I'll definitely check him out.
I'll do the next one here and then I'll let one of you guys take the one after.
Luke McLam sends $10.
Thanks, Luke.
He says, What Churchill said of alcohol, I save cigars.
I get more out of cigars than they take out of me.
Nicotine pouches have changed the game.
Thanks for sticking up for the boys, gentlemen.
Well, we'll always stick up for the boys.
Don't like the Churchill reference.
It's a good proxy.
Like, tons of guys in their 30s stop drinking.
And it's not because, well, I think the Bible forbids it.
They just say, Practically, I'll drink a beer and I don't sleep great.
And I wake up and I'm like, Why did I do that?
I didn't even enjoy it.
So that's a good proxy.
That's where I am.
It's permissible.
Yeah.
But like, Yeah, it's permissible.
And on special occasions, I will.
Yeah, and that's something we actually didn't say.
I don't think we said explicitly.
Some people just won't like nicotine.
You know what I mean?
They just get nothing out of it.
It's not even worth any potential risk that you're taking by using an addictive chemical.
Some people find it super, super, you know, increasing their productivity, so on and so forth.
Yeah, we're not trying to make a moral argument that binds the conscience to nicotine.
We're simply trying to unbind the conscience for those who feel as though it's inherently immoral.
Guess it's not.
Yep.
Okay.
Next.
This is a good one for you, Joel.
Okay.
Von Bright, off go hard.
All right.
What a name.
This is a $2 super chat.
We appreciate it.
He said, Zen is for kings and weed is for slaves.
That's true.
Again, don't use Zen, but let's insert the word nicotine pouch.
ALP, promo code in the description, in the show notes.
We got the promo code and the link.
Go ahead and use it.
Get 10% off.
You just got to throw it in there.
Yes, nicotine pouch is for kings and weed is for slaves.
Yeah, that's kind of what I was saying earlier.
There are certain things that make the populace more docile and easier to govern, easier to influence.
And marijuana is one of those things.
Now, marijuana, just like nicotine, you know, earlier in passing, Wes made a comment about, you know, like we don't live in an accidental world, it's a world that God created.
Everything that's baked into the world is something that God put there.
That doesn't mean that it's all good for you.
There's things in the world that are poison.
We live in a world that's created by God.
He said it's good, but it's also a world in the same breath that has been tarnished and fallen by sin.
So that doesn't just mean, oh, because it's natural, therefore it's moral.
That's not the way it works.
But there are certain arguments from nature.
And some guys will use that back to the comment about weed boys making hard times, weed being the substance of slaves, and it is.
Some people would play the devil's advocate while smoking the devil's lettuce.
And they would say, well, God made nicotine, but he made marijuana too.
And I would say a hearty amen.
Yes, he did.
But the question with everything that God made is what is its use?
What is its purpose?
What is its function?
What is its benefit?
And I would say that it's the same kind of argument.
It's not an accidental world.
God did all these things with design and with intention.
So I think marijuana is a part of our world for a reason and that it has good uses.
I just don't believe that recreation is one of those good uses.
I think that there are actually medical uses for marijuana that can be incredible and not made up medical conditions.
Like I get a headache once a month, and so I need my doctor to write me a prescription for marijuana every day of the week.
So, not abusing it and being deceitful and lying.
But there are certain medical conditions where marijuana is a blessing from the Lord that eases pain without some of the side effects of nausea or being nearly as addictive as Vicodin or something like that.
So, praise God for it.
So, the person who would make that kind of counter argument and say, well, you know, you're saying you're dogging on weed, but speaking highly of nicotine.
You know, nicotine is, you know, the substance of kings and weed is for slaves.
Yes, I stand by that argument.
I think that's absolutely true.
And that person, if they were pushing back, playing the devil's advocate, and said, but both were made by God, I would simply say C.A., which is both were made by God.
That's certainly true.
But made by God for what purpose?
To what end?
Marijuana does actually have a purpose.
I believe a God ordained, designed purpose, but I don't think it's Monday afternoon chilling with the boys.
I don't think the purpose is daily use.
I don't think the purpose is recreation.
I think the purpose is more of a medical use and medical properties, especially when it comes to doling pain without some of the severe side effects.
Whereas nicotine does not dole your ambition and increase your appetite to where now you're going to eat a whole pizza by yourself.
Nicotine is literally the opposite.
It ups your testosterone, it suppresses your appetite, causes you to lose weight, causes you to focus more, not less.
Nicotine has positive, more daily use or regular use function than marijuana.
Yep.
And then $5, nobody special.
Jesus drank wine.
Amen.
Yep, he did.
There just wasn't refrigeration to prevent fermentation from happening.
So some will argue well, it just didn't have alcohol, one or 2%.
Like my brother in Christ, did you see fridges there to prevent the byproduct of yeast, which then breaks down to alcohol?
Because I don't see any.
Whatever was in the wine, you know, people have made that argument, typically Baptist, like, well, there was no alcohol, you know, it was just grape juice, or there was alcohol, but it was a very, very low percentage.
Whatever the percentage was, it was high enough to where a man named Lot was able to sleep with both of his daughters without knowing it.
So, I mean, people were getting drunk in the Old Testament.
That was not Miller Light.
Yeah, it was not Miller Light.
Miller Light might actually hydrate you.
You might, you know, if you need to sober up, you can get a Miller Light.
All right, what's the next?
So, there's some scientific questions that I'll hit.
Yamcha's corpse, they left two comments.
For the record, this individual, they said they are a tobacco user, probably relatively infrequently, but they give a decent critique here.
So, they said, I'm assuming it's going to be a he.
He said, I wouldn't make a biblical argument against nicotine.
So, you say the Bible doesn't necessarily forbid it, but you are pretty ignorant of the long term effects.
Stimulant that hammers your adrenal glands every time, spiking adrenaline and cortisol.
And then you can scroll down, Nate.
And then he followed up just a little bit later.
Stimulants like nicotine pouches raise your cortisol, which is your stress hormone long term, that will take out your adrenal glands and your testosterone will, he says, take.
But I think what he means is tank.
This is a big topic in the literature the question of adrenal fatigue.
So, your adrenals, this is what secretes epinephrine, norepinephrine, which it basically gets you amped up.
It gets you for maybe a car accident.
You almost get in a car accident.
You find yourself shaking afterwards.
That's adrenaline that your body releases to go ahead and prepare yourself for fight or.
For flight.
And so the point would be if you stimulate your adrenals through the use of a stimulant like nicotine again and again every single day, long term, they would become fatigued.
You can imagine if you skydived daily, that little ordinary things like a birthday party, you'd be like, well, where's the pleasure?
Where's the excitement?
Where's the joy?
I just simply don't think the scale of the stimulation, unless we're talking like a pack a day, at which point we would say, hey, that's unhealthy because of the carcinogens as well.
Unless you're reaching really high doses, you're not stimulating your adrenals to the point that you're going to destroy them.
And then he says, well, it releases cortisol.
Cortisol is not necessarily a bad thing.
It's like inflammation.
Like, the goal is not zero inflammation.
Inflammation tells you when things go wrong.
Inflammation after muscle soreness is also what tells you, hey, I had a good workout.
I've got muscle protein synthesis.
So, stimulating your adrenals, not bad.
Cortisol, not bad.
It's too much of them, which goes all the way back to the main point.
If you use tobacco at a relatively moderate pace, I don't know if pace would be the right word, but at a relative pace that makes sense for you and you're not experiencing negative effects, you're not going to destroy your T, you're not going to get adrenal fatigue.
I don't think, I haven't seen the clinical literature.
I want to be fair to him, maybe it's out there.
I have not seen any clinical literature suggesting that you're going to destroy and get adrenal fatigue just from nicotine.
Now, if you're a thrill junkie and you're going 150 on your motorcycle on the freeway and you rip a carton of cigarettes every single month and you're like, well, my adrenals are burned out.
Well, my brother in Christ, that was not just the nicotine there.
So I appreciate the pushback and that is something to consider.
There could be long term effects we don't know about.
Take that calculus in.
Yeah.
And on the cortisol, I think, again, be cognizant do you have high blood pressure already?
Right.
Like there are things that can be germane to you and your own health that you should consider when you think about this.
I'll also say, I think, from what I understand, and you correct me if I'm wrong, caffeine does the same things.
Yeah.
So, caffeine, if you drink too much caffeine, you have three cups of coffee in the morning, you typically drink one, you'll get the shakes.
You'll get a similar experience as if you were in a near car accident where you're sort of dumping a ton of adrenaline to your body and it doesn't know where to go.
And so, that's just something to also be aware of that there is always an excess of anything that you do.
And that moderation is important.
Yep.
A few points of order, real quick.
If you are watching on X, do us a favor and retweet the video.
Right now, we are broadcasting live.
When we stop broadcasting, as you probably know, X is a great platform for many different things, but it has its shortcomings.
And video, it's not the most video friendly platform.
I know that Elon allegedly is working on it, but it's not the most friendly towards promoting.
Pieces of video content.
So, the best thing that we can do is right now, before it just disappears into the ether as we're still broadcasting live, is retweet our posts.
So, if you're not on X, maybe you're on YouTube, but you just want to help us out, go over on X. Our handle is at WriteResponseM, the letter M as in Macy's.
At WriteResponseM.
And you'll find this is one of the, I think, if not the most recent posts on the Twitter handle.
Go ahead and retweet it.
And get the message out to as many as possible.
If you're watching on YouTube, make sure to subscribe.
If you're new to the channel, click the bell so that you'll be notified every single time we come out with new content.
And the regular schedule for that new content is that we live stream three times a week.
So we have a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday schedule.
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, three times a week, always at 3 p.m. Central Time.
Three times a week at 3 p.m. Central Time.
All right.
So make sure to do that.
And then one more this is a question from Vlad.
Yakubets.
Yakubets.
Yep.
Y A K U B E T S. Yakubets.
It's a pretty cool name.
I like it.
Vlad, he says this question What are the best flavors of Alps or knickknacks?
Answer Beats, Bears, Battlestar Galactica.
No.
Answer Refreshing Chill.
I don't know if, here, let's see.
There it is.
You can't read it.
All right.
Alp.
Go to Alp and Refreshing Chill.
I think it is the best flavor.
Do you guys have a flavor of choice?
I like the fruit.
I don't know exactly.
Is it tropical fruit?
Tropical fruit?
That's a good one.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Tropical fruit is a good one.
Those knickknacks, those peppermint, I think it is.
Those are pretty good.
Yep.
So if you're doing out tropical fruit, I can vouch for that.
Tropical fruit and refreshing chill would be two of the best.
And in the show notes, you'll find the link and the promo code.
Use it to get 10% off.
Okay.
We've got a couple more to come.
We've got some more for some faithful.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Go ahead, Antonio.
Yeah.
So Danny Bradley sent $2.
Says off topic, but Epstein cover up episode coming soon.
Yeah.
Do us a favor, guys.
Maybe just in the comments if you're watching on YouTube or X, either or.
I noticed a few people.
He's the only guy who put it in a super chat, but a few of you have commented.
And we were debating that actually today.
It was kind of between this episode on Christianity's today's laughable article on Zen or the Epstein saga that continues to go on.
And we kind of felt like with the Epstein thing, we were like, are we a little bit late?
And the answer is yes, undoubtedly.
But most news stories have maybe a 24, 48 hour cycle.
This one's not going away.
And actually, I.
I think it is doing more to damage MAGA's brand than just about any other blunder that we've seen in the last six months of the Trump administration.
So I'll say, I'll put it like this Assuming that the story is still developing and still a big piece of conversation online when we get to Monday, if that's the case, I'm down to do an episode on it.
And you have Steve Bannon, I think, is releasing.
A documentary on Epstein with like 16 hours of unreasonable stuff.
That he's had for a while.
He's had for a while.
So that will be big too.
So that will.
There's so much information.
Sounds like a watch party.
Yeah.
There's so much information still coming out.
I'm sure we'll talk about it many, many more times.
Okay.
Yeah.
So we'll try to do an episode next week, maybe on Monday if the story is still pertinent to the conversation.
All right.
Jesse Hughes.
Wes, you want to read that?
$2 from Jesse.
Jesse says, watching this discussion from a cigar lounge.
Prompts to Jesse.
It's Four, maybe five o'clock on a Friday.
He's in the lounge.
He's locked in.
He's got the stream up on three devices.
No.
Thank you, Jesse, for the super chat and enjoy your Friday night.
Yep.
All right.
Well, that's it.
We got one more here.
I can do it.
All right.
Do it.
So this is Christ Servant Seven.
Christ Servant Seven says, paralyzed vet.
I'm assuming he's referring to himself.
For one, thank you for your service as well as our condolences and sorrow for that state.
He asked, any actually good stuff to know, please let me know.
I'm guessing he's referring to probably nicotine in relation to being paralyzed.
Like, would this have Similar type of cognitive and central nervous system effects.
Nothing that we said, especially about focus and appetite suppression, none of that would go away if you're paralyzed or potentially an amputee.
So I think all of that would probably still be applicable.
Definitely the risk with you're just not able to be as physically active.
So when it comes to cigarettes, like someone asked about American spirits, like, yeah, American spirits, Hestia is even another one.
Those are organic, those are better.
But even then, if you're not able to be active, you're not able to kind of offset some of that.
Stuff that you're breathing into your lungs.
And so I would definitely say, as far as the inhaling, as far as your cigarettes, your cigars, those probably less of, but something like a nicotine pouch, assuming you don't have any other, maybe it would be heart condition, blood pressure condition, something like that, that would interfere with it.
Nicotine Pouches and Health00:02:13
The effects that we're talking about, if you want that, like, hey, I still work, I would appreciate the greater focus, or this would be helpful as far as appetite suppression, they should still hold.
Yeah.
Who are some of these people in the chat, man?
We've got somebody who said, I don't eat ribeye.
Oh, my goodness.
Why?
Why would you not eat ribeye?
And perhaps even more of a relevant question, why would you publicly feel comfortable sharing that you don't eat ribeye on public record?
Yeah, I feel like you would need to be.
That's a closeted kind of behavior.
You know what I mean?
Like, if somebody is sexually perverse, back into the closet.
If somebody is publicly announcing they don't eat ribeye, like, you need to be shamed into the closet.
That is an unforced error, and you got to stop.
Deacon St. John, he said, I'm going to eat a ribeye right now out of spite.
God bless you.
Deacon St. John, in Christian nationalism, you will be forced.
Yeah, under Christian nationalism, you will be forced to eat a ribeye or you will be going back.
With millions, you will be deported.
You're doing the Lord's work, Deacon St. John, eating a ribeye to the glory of God and out of spite for that very strange comment.
That's all we got for today.
Again, we're still technically broadcasting.
We're going to stop it here in about 60 seconds, but do us a favor while we're still live.
If you are watching us on X, retweet the video, just share it, get it out, share it.
It means the world to us, it triggers the algorithm, helps it to not disappear so quickly, and gives it exponential reach.
And then again, for you guys who are watching us, seems like a lot of guys today are watching on YouTube.
That's great.
We appreciate it.
If you're not subscribed, subscribe to the channel and click the bell.
There are guys who subscribe and they'll, you know, six months later, a video will pop up for them for the first time in six months and they'll be in the comments and say, Where have you guys been?
You know, how come I don't ever see, you know, when you guys are live streaming?
It's because you didn't click the bell.
So click the bell.
You'll be notified every single time we broadcast if you are watching us on YouTube.
Subscribe and click the bell.
All right.
That's it for today.
It is Friday.
Make sure to go to church on Sunday.
And Lord willing, we'll see everybody again on Monday.