Tariffs, Hulk Hogan, Deion, Forrest Frank & Happy Gilmore 2 thoughts | Ep. 30

This week we’re breaking down the trending headlines and asking what it all means for Christians navigating today’s world. Micah breaks down major shifts in U.S. trade policy with countries like China, Japan, and India. 

Then Conner reflects on the death of wrestling icon Hulk Hogan and the lesser-known story of his faith, before zooming out to look at the spiritual journeys of other public figures like Justin Bieber, George Clooney, Skip Bayless, Deion Sanders, and Forrest Frank. 

Plus updates on Gaza, the NYC shooting, and more top headlines before our thoughts on Happy Gilmore 2, Fantastic Four, the proper protocol for evacuating an airplane and the return of sports events that are actually getting us excited! It’s a fast-moving conversation that cuts through the noise—and invites you to think biblically about the stories shaping our culture.

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Topics

• (00:53): US trade deals and tariffs update
• (16:07): Hulk Hogan’s legacy and faith
• (19:46): Celebrity faith and influence
• (21:25): Skip Bayless and prioritizing faith
• (25:20): Deion Sanders: Balancing family and career
• (26:42): Forrest Frank’s inspirational story
• (30:03): Gaza and global conflicts update
• (32:51): New York City shooting incident
• (33:59): Jay Leno & Coldplay scandal update
• (39:54): Happy Gilmore 2, Fantastic Four & Airplane evacuation etiquette
• (42:06): Upcoming sports events

Resources

• Mailbag: [email protected]
• Culture Brief Instagram
• Sign-up for Denison Forum’s daily newsletter: DenisonForum.org/subscribe

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Hulk Hogan on Instagram: “Total surrender and dedication to Jesus is the greatest day of my life. No worries, no hate, no judgment… only love!”
• Aaron Filippone on X
• Skip Bayless ‘jolted’ by Scottie Scheffler prioritizing family over golf
• Forrest Frank Instagram
• Astronomer on X
• American Airlines fire evacuation video

Other articles on this week’s top headlines:

• Fox Business: July tariff revenues break monthly record
• Tax Foundation
• US customs duties top $100 billion for first time in a fiscal year | Reuters
• Trump’s New Trade Standard Takes Shape With 15% Tariff Deal – WSJ
• Chinese exports to the US could decrease by $488 billion without a trade deal, as the end of the tariff pause looms
• EU Reaches Tariff Deal With US to Avert Painful Trade Blow
• Trump tariffs: EU-US trade deal agreed | MoneyWeek
• EU fails to reduce 50% steel tariff in outline trade deal with US
• Trump strikes ‘biggest deal ever made’ with EU: Europeans will buy $750B in US energy, invest $600B after meeting with prez
• The death of Hulk Hogan and the transforming power of faith
• Are three-parent embryos a good idea?
• Hulk Hogan, Shirt-Shredding Superstar of Pro Wrestling, Dies at 71
• Skip Bayless ‘jolted’ by Scottie Scheffler prioritizing family over golf
• Deion Sanders Says He Kept Bladder Cancer Diagnosis From His Sons
• Deion Sander’s most recent struggle transcends football

About Conner Jones

Conner Jones is the Director of Performance Marketing at Denison Ministries and Co-Hosts Denison Forum’s “Culture Brief” podcast. He graduated from Dallas Baptist University in 2019 with a degree in Business Management. Conner passionately follows politics, sports, pop-culture, entertainment, and current events. He enjoys fishing, movie-going, and traveling the world with his wife and son.

About Micah Tomasella

Micah Tomasella is the Senior Advancement Officer at Denison Ministries and co-hosts Denison Forum’s “Culture Brief” podcast. A graduate of Dallas Baptist University, Micah is married to Emily, and together they are the proud parents of two daughters. With an extensive background in nonprofit work, finance, and real estate, Micah also brings experience from his years in pastoral church ministry.

About Denison Forum

Denison Forum exists to thoughtfully engage the issues of the day from a biblical perspective through The Daily Article email newsletter and podcast, The Denison Forum Podcast, as well as many books and additional resources.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

NOTE: This transcript was AI-generated and has not been fully edited. 

Conner: [00:00:00] Hi, I’m Conner Jones.

Micah: I’m Micah Tomasella.

Conner: And this is Culture Brief, a Denison Forum podcast where we are navigating the constant stream of top stories and news, politics, sports, entertainment, technology. Of course, we’re doing it all from a Christian perspective, and my goodness, this has been a crazy week in the headlines.

There is stuff all over the place, and so we’re gonna try to hit on it all. Let’s just get a quick rundown on what we’re covering today from you. Micah, what do you got for us? 

Micah: Yeah, Conner. Just like every week. Lots of stuff going on. Excited to dive into it. So we’ve got US trade deals and tariffs update.

Gonna dive into that and talk through those things. Hulk Hogan and other celebrity faith breakdowns opinion corner with Conner. Excited about that one. A Gaza update, a New York City shooting update, actual sports to watch coming up and so much more. So let’s jump into the brief. The brief. Alright, so let’s talk US trade deals and tariffs update.

This story always kind of hums through in the [00:01:00] background. If we were still reading physical newspapers, maybe it would be on the second page, but it’s constantly there, right? 

Conner: I mean, Micah this is like tariff talk with Micah part four or five. I mean, if you asked us back in January when we, when we were looking at 2025, how many times do you think we would’ve been talking about tariffs?

This is crazy. 

Micah: I mean, Trump told us that he was gonna do this, just don’t think anybody believed him. But I mean, we have. We’ve dove headfirst into this topic, but we haven’t talked about it in a little while because it seems like it’s been all quiet on the Western front, considering Trump will threaten things and then people will cave, or you know, however you wanna call it, and then it doesn’t really come to a head.

And then it’s never really the biggest story. So we haven’t covered it like in depth in the last few months, but also. The economy hasn’t crashed. Like the majority of economists have said that it’s going to. Now, that doesn’t mean things still can’t change, but even for that reason too, it’s just never been like the top story.

But I wanna dive into it today ’cause there has been a lot that’s been [00:02:00] happening. So what’s happening with US Trade policy right now? So let’s set the stage. In early 25, the average US tariff rate surged from 2.5% to roughly 27%. That’s the average across the board, right? So each country kind of gets assessed its own tariff rate based off of deficits and things like that.

So by June it eased to around 15.8%. So there’s just kind of a baseline tariff, right? But the shift. It’s dramatic, and then it’s kind of ticking back up it looks like, but we’ll see. So I’m not the president. I’m gonna say this from the start. I’m not the president. I don’t wanna sit here an armchair quarterback.

I never wanna do that, but I am responsible and you’re responsible, Conner, and we’re responsible. So I wanna frame this discussion rather than jumping into the spiritual application in the middle or maybe at the end, I wanna frame the discussion from the top. To understand that yes, we’re not the president, but we are responsible for many things in our own personal lives, and I’m responsible for how I steward the seat that God has placed me in.

Whether that’s in a meeting room, I’m speaking with a [00:03:00] donor, I’m in a podcast studio, AKA, my house, or my own home with my wife and with my kids. I believe that call is the same, that we need to be faithful where God has divinely placed us. Okay, so I wanna frame that as we start this conversation. So Conner, what’s your take on these trade deals and this tariff rollercoaster so far?

Conner: Man, I, I think back to, was it April 2nd? That was like Liberation Day 1.0 when everyone, oh man. Including us. I mean, we were just so unsure. We were like, what does this mean? What does this look like? If we’re gonna just drop tariffs on countries around the world, and now we’re about five months down the road, it’s okay, getting a better picture of how this is looking.

And honestly, it’s gone more in the direction of what Trump said it was going to, that I think most people gave credit for. It’s kind of working in a sense. And these, these other places, these other countries or like the EU and stuff, seem to be agreeing to Trump’s demands. Like they’re kind of like saying, yeah, maybe we were overcharging you for a long time and we need a, we need a level out here.

So [00:04:00] it’s been kind of interesting. I know you’re probably about to dive into some of those details. Yeah. And that’s kind of crazy. 

Micah: And. It’s important to be able to take a step back despite anybody’s political affiliation. Mm-hmm. And Conner, I completely agree with your take there that this just hasn’t been as bad as most people said it would be.

A lot of people on the right were saying this isn’t gonna work. There’s still a lot left to play out. But there hasn’t been this doom and gloom like a whole lot of people were saying. So let’s jump into some of these most recent updates, and I’m gonna break it down further. So let’s talk about the United States and the European Union.

This has kind of been the biggest story with tariffs. Recently, the US and the EU reached a new trade deal that places a 15% tariff on most EU goods coming into the American market. That’s lower than the 30% the White House had originally floated and threatened, but still a big increase from near zero tariffs.

That has kind of defined the relationship for decades. It’s been at near zero, and now the EU has agreed, they have agreed to a framework that [00:05:00] most goods, there are some exceptions. Most goods that get shipped to the US from the European Union, they’re gonna have to pay a 15% tariff on, they’re gonna have to pay a 15% tax.

So in exchange, the EU agreed to buy up to $750 billion in American energy and invest $600 billion into US sectors like getting their semiconductors, clean energy, defense, manufacturing and European companies are also expected to build more facilities on US soil to avoid higher tariffs like automakers, for example.

Mm-hmm. Something the administration does see as a strategic win. More American jobs, so on and so forth. But not every sector saw relief from this. Still remains under a 50% tariff right now. Steel itself hitting industrial powerhouses like Germany. So Germany’s a country that doesn’t really like this.

Conner: Yeah, they’re prime minister. Like he really came out and spoke out, didn’t he say, like the EU leader, Al, I have some quotes. Ur of Vander. 

Micah: He, I, yes. I have some quotes I’m get into. Oh, good. I do. I’m curious. Yep. Meanwhile, the [00:06:00] Euro dropped in value. Since this agreement was announced, auto stocks declined, which reflected market ease, but the overall European market has seen an uptick since though, just in the stability okay, 15% is bad compared to 0%, but 15% is better than 30%.

And people like stability, even if you don’t like it. Think about yourself. You like knowing what’s coming next. Even if it’s something you don’t like, you’d almost prefer that over just not knowing what’s gonna happen. It’s human nature too. We see human nature playing out in these things. So from Washington’s point of view, this is a success.

The deal looks in long-term, looks good. It locks in long-term. American exports shifts investment dollars stateside, but it also signals a shift away from. You know, we have this longstanding relationship, eu, you know, world wars and all kinds of things. We have these really good relationships that span a really long time well.

It looks different now and I think that that’s something that people can argue. Is that a good long-term play over [00:07:00] time or not? Mm-hmm. Alright. Let’s talk about US and China real quick. Right now, the US and China are operating under a temporary truce, and we’ve talked about this before. Tariffs on Chinese goods are sitting at 30% and China has kept its retaliatory tariffs on the US products around 10%.

The pause and escalation is set to expire on August 12th, so negotiators to Scott Bessett who. He does a really good job, super. He keeps Trump calm. He’s super star around the world right now. He’s great for the markets, man. Like this guy is the Trump whisperer, the market whisperer, the Fed Whisperer, the China Whisperer, Scott Bessant.

Scott Besson’s a big deal, guys. I just wanna say that he seems to be Secretary 

Conner: of the Treasury to 

Micah: clarify Yes, that that’s his role. But he’s, he’s really expanded his role past. I mean, most people aren’t gonna remember who the Secretary of Treasury is in history. You might remember Scott Besson’s name, like he might get taught in the history books in the future, just with everything that he gets placed in and put in.

So early reports suggest another 90 day pause could be agreed to, but a [00:08:00] comprehensive deal does remain out of reach. The core issues like intellectual property, technology transfer, and market access still are dividing the two sides, and I think always will if the true ends. Okay, so if this true sin. Then analysts project that Chinese exports to the US could fall by as much as $488 billion by 2027.

So here’s what would happen. That would then force companies to shift supply chains to Vietnam, to India and other manufacturing hubs. Raising costs in creating logistical challenges. So what’s interesting about this, just a quick side note. I do think that they want a framework, but I do think the US wants less dependence on China.

Mm-hmm. And so this has kind of been the whole battle with China is like, are we willing to go through a really difficult year to get all these companies to shift their manufacturing away from mainland China and start relying on other companies that aren’t taking advantage of the US as much? And so even if this falls through, it would be like, yeah, that would stink, but then for some [00:09:00] people they would want that to happen, if that makes sense.

I think that makes sense. So this is a standoff between the two biggest economies in the world. We’ll see how it plays out Japan, Canada, and Mexico. Japan recently struck a deal with the us, similar to the European Union Agreement. In exchange for tariff relief, Japan pledged to invest $550 billion in US infrastructure, manufacturing, and energy security.

That includes everything from ai, electric vehicles, chip production, all that jazz. It’s a priority for both countries amid rising tensions with China. Japan and China don’t like each other. Japan and the US are saying we’re gonna partner up to compete with China, Canada, and Mexico. We’re in a different place with Canada and Mexico right now.

Earlier this year, the US imposed a 25% tariff on almost all imports from both countries. Canada responded with its own set of targeted tariffs. We’ve talked a lot about this, but you know. Canada’s kind of standing pat, and so is Mexico. An agreement has not been reached yet, so ongoing talks have been quiet.

Both sides are holding firm while North American [00:10:00] trade remains active. It’s under a strain right now, so we’re seeing a pretty large shift in a framework here in North America where the us, Canada, and Mexico, when it comes to trade, has kind of been inseparable. There’s a change happening there too.

And then finally, just some breaking news on this topic. You know. Trump is always on truth social, saying something new. He’s threatening India with a 25% tariff for its dependence on Russian oil. They will charge penalties for India, purchasing Russian military equipment and energy infrastructure, oil, things like that, clean energy.

So he just threatened that. 

Conner: Yeah. And he’s made clear with India that we buy a lot more Indian supplies than India buys US supplies, if that makes sense. Yes. They would be paying way more in tariffs than anything that they hit the US with in response. So it’s kind of a different scenario than some of these other countries.

’cause we buy a lot of Chinese products. Yep. Not a lot of, we do buy a lot of Indian products, but in China it goes vice versa. They also buy a lot of US products. 

Micah: Very good context, Conner. Yes. And [00:11:00] that’s why I think Trump’s playing that hand. 

Conner: Yeah. 

Micah: Alright, so I’m gonna talk about tariff. Revenue real quick, and then I’ll jump into a more specific spiritual application for us.

So one of the most overlooked outcomes of this strategy is the revenue that it’s generating. So this is causing, I’ll say from the top, just from a middle of the line perspective. This is causing a lot of uncertainty. Some prices happen raised and will be raised, however, it is bringing in a lot of outside money.

To the tune of $150 billion. So as of July, 2025, the US government has collected $150 billion from tariff revenue. That’s a new record and it’s a sharp increase from previous years making up a significant. Portion of the federal budget. But then the problem is, is like now there’s an argument of how that money should be used.

I saw Senator Josh Hawley was like, we should give stimulus payments to $600 per person. Send that out. And then other like fiscal hawks are like, no, we should put that straight towards [00:12:00] the debt. 

Conner: And Lindsey Graham was probably like, we should put that towards defense, 

Micah: right? Everybody’s what do we do with this money now?

So this money can help reduce the deficit. It can fund infrastructure projects, it can support domestic industry. The treasury officials say tariff income is on pace to exceed $250 billion by the end of the year if the current rates hold. Supporters say the revenue justifies the strategy. It gives the US more financial leverage and keeps the pressure on trading partners to bring something to the table.

But here’s what critics say. They’re saying that this money ultimately comes from American consumers and businesses who pay more for the imported goods. So American companies swallowing that, not passing it off to the consumer, then that cuts into their profits. Then they have to lay off employees. All that stuff.

It’s, it’s a big part of it. So both sides have a point, but the number is real and policy makers are paying attention. So whether you support or oppose the use of tariffs, the reality is this, the average American household is expected to pay between 1,320 $400 more this year because of higher cost tied to trade [00:13:00] policies.

That’s an important thing to point out. Mm-hmm. Some industries benefit, others take a hit. It does give more leverage. And revenue to the US government. So no one policy can serve every interest equally. That is the tension leaders are trying to navigate right now, and maybe the tension that we feel as we’re consuming this is man, there’s some good things, but there’s also some bad things associated with this.

A spiritual application, trade policy might not seem like a spiritual issue at first glance, but the way power is used often points to something that’s deeper. The way our nation negotiates, the way we treat our allies, the way we prioritize profit protection and partnership, it all reflects. Something about what we value.

I’m not saying those in leadership positions shouldn’t be prioritizing the best interest of America and its people. I’m not implying that right now. However, I’m simply making the case like I did at the beginning of this. I’m making the case that you have to be faithful with where God has placed you, just like our leaders are in their own way [00:14:00] trying to be faithful with where they’ve been placed.

So Philippians two, six through eight says. Who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God. A thing to be grasp, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death.

He. Even death on a cross. This reminds us that Christ though, equal with God chose the form of a servant. So even if you are powerful, that doesn’t mean that you need to wield your power in a way that’s destructive. Instead be like Jesus and take the form of a servant. This is the model. This is the challenge.

Whether you lead a company, a ministry, a family, or just influencing people around you, the goal is not to dominate. That’s not the goal. You do not want to gain power in order to dominate. If God gives you power, use it to serve. Use it to put others before yourself and watch what God does with it. So here’s the challenge.

[00:15:00] Stay informed. Know what’s happening and how it affects people, not just policies. Steward your influence wisely. Use it to build others up. Not always try to control outcomes. And then let me leave you with this verse, Psalm 24 1, the Earth is the Lord’s. Everything in it, the world and all who live in it.

That is the economy that never crashes. That’s the kingdom that we belong to, and that is the truth that we live from. 

Conner: Hmm. You know what, this actually ties perfectly into what I want to talk about here today, because you’re talking about spheres of influence, and I think you’re right. We all have a sphere of influence.

Yeah. Some people have much bigger in a global stage or national stage. Most of us have a sphere of influence just in our communities, in our office buildings and our schools or whatever it is. So definitely wanna hit on that here. Thank you for taking us through that, Micah. Yeah. Tariffs are complicated, but that’s, it’s a good breakdown and I’m sure we’ll have tariff talk like 6.0 coming down the line too in a couple months.

I think we’re gonna be 

Micah: talking tariffs for a long time and you know, as we say in Texas, we’ll be talking tariffs till the cows come home. [00:16:00] 

Conner: You know, I’ve lived in Texas my whole life. I’ve quite literally never heard that phrase. 

Micah: Yeah, 

Conner: yeah. But you know. East Texas. Okay. Anyway, okay, whatever. I think you just made it up anyways, last Thursday, Terry Lea, AKA Hulk Hogan passed away.

Sadly, he died of cardiac arrest at his Florida home. He was 71 years old. And I, I Micah, I mean, when you hear the name Hulk Hogan, what comes to mind? I mean, 

Micah: transcendent wrestler stayed really famous throughout his life, even when he was done wrestling. Was absolutely jacked till the very end. Mm-hmm. Most likely.

Used some steroids. Lots of controversy. In the past year, though, I know you’re gonna talk about, this, became very. Very outspoken about his faith. Got baptized. That was always a cool story. Got political towards the end of his life, which is people are remembering him differently now because of how political that he got, depending on where you fall on the political aisle.

So there’s a lot of things that I [00:17:00] think of. I’m not a big wrestling fan. Never have. Still not. But oddly enough, man, golly, he was famous. That was a big hit. There’s very, very famous for a very long time. 

Conner: Not a wrestling fam or anything like that, but there are certain people, I think Hulk Hogan and Dwayne the Rock Johnson and John Cena, that have just escaped the wrestling fame.

Yeah. And become just they’re like an American icon. A lot of people have noted how much of an American legend he was because of he somehow, he just felt like America wrapped up into one person and a lot of people have been, you know what I mean? Like it was like bald Eagles and Hulk Hogan were always in the same picture together, man.

Yeah, no doubt of. A lot of that. He always had his bandana. That mustache. Yeah. His big biceps man. And of course yelling at the crowds, being like, brother, you know that whole thing? Mm-hmm. That was him. That’s what he was known for, his trademark stuff. But I think he was also known for two other reasons that I wanna hit on, and I would say two bigger reasons than just a lot of that.

Although he was a kind of an inspirational hero. Especially for people who grew up in the eighties and nineties that saw him all the time. It, that’s just a lot of people this week [00:18:00] reflecting on that, being like, man, I loved watching him on Monday night Raw and wrestling and all that, and being inspired by him.

But two big stories with him. One is he brought down that site. I don’t know if you remember Gawker, you probably don’t, but a lot of people who were big into celebrity gossip, we’ll know what Gawker was. That was, it’s kind of like a TMZ type of website. They were really all about. Exploiting celebrities basically.

And he, yeah, I think I’ve heard of that. He had a private video that they got a hold of and they published it and they claimed it was newsworthy because he was a public figure. He begged to differ. He sued them for $140 million and brought down Gawker. Essentially with that lawsuit they had to file bankruptcy ’cause they couldn’t pay the whole thing and he didn’t get all of that money.

But it was kind of a big thing. There was a lot of free speech. Talk about that, but also how far is too far for these publishers to go, even on public personas like a Hulk Hogan and man, he won. And a lot of people have always said that was great that he pushed back against a powerful media outlet and.

You know, they were perceived as arrogant and unethical, but he won. But the bigger thing I would say that he should [00:19:00] be remembered for is his faith because he accepted Christ. Most people may not know this. He accepted Christ at 14 years old. According to some of the interviews that he’s done in the past.

He said he. He found Jesus when he was a teenager. Wow. But you know, his life went many different directions. I would say a lot of us know. He had some controversies, including the Gawker scandal I just said. That video that they got ahold of was not a good thing in his life. He had some comments throughout his life that were definitely not reflective of Christ, but you know, he came back to the Lord.

He rededicated his life to the Lord. In December of 2023, like the baptism he talked about, he posted on Instagram a video of him and his wife getting baptized, and he said. In this post, total surrender and dedication to Jesus is the greatest day of my life. No worries, no hate, no judgment, only love. Amen.

Man, that’s really cool. And I’m gonna finish up here in a minute with a little bit more on that, but while I was thinking about Hulk Hogan, Micah, I was thinking about some other celebrities that I’ve seen some recent quotes from this week, specifically because you know, celebrities, they [00:20:00] might seem like they have it all together.

Hulk Hogan on the outside might have seemed like he had it all together. Yeah, I think he would tell you. He didn’t, and that that’s part of why he came back to Christ. Anyways, they’re all searching for meaning and purpose just like we are every single day. Yep. Justin Bieber specifically tweeted on Tuesday of this week.

He said, thanking Jesus for his patience with me this morning. I can be extremely selfish and impatient, yet Jesus always has his arms open towards me. Same thing with Justin. He’s had a lot of checkered history and checkered past, and even today he’s, you know, he’s got issues, but he’s hopefully working through that with the Lord.

Yep. George Clooney has stated before, I don’t believe in heaven and hell, I don’t know if I believe in God. All I know is that as an individual, I won’t allow this life. The only thing I know to exist to be wasted. I mean, honestly, that’s, he’s being honest. Yeah, he could definitely say that about that statement.

And there are parts of it that we can relate to. Absolutely. Yeah. Like it’s not wrong to live your life to the fullest, but you also have to [00:21:00] recognize that it’s temporary and that this life is not everything and that what you do in this life with your profession or your passion is not exactly everything either.

Mm-hmm. There’s so much more to it. That’s what we’ve talked about it several times. Scotty Scheffler was pointing to when he had his press conference a few weeks ago. World’s number one golfer was like, golf’s not my end all be all. It’s not my everything. My faith and my family is right, that’s the perspective I think a lot of us should aim for.

In response to that specific statement from Scheffler, though, I was also checking in on Skip Bayless, who some of y’all might know as a prominent sports media analyst, and you know, he was an ESPN, Fox Sports Star, and he’s publicly embraced his faith, both in the Cowboys and in Jesus. He is a big cowboys guy and he’s constantly talking about his faith on the air, but he’s got some interesting perspectives that I, I kinda want your thoughts on here, Micah, because I would venture to say his priorities, I don’t know if they’re off, but they’re definitely different than I think the, you know, we’re trying to say you could go for here and definitely different than Scotty Scheffler.

He has [00:22:00] declared. Previously on air that his wife would also come second to his media career because he’s so dedicated to his media career. When he was responding to Scotty Scheffer’s press conference two weeks ago, he said, no, Scotty, no. God gave you spectacular ability to play the world’s hardest game.

He gave you the strongest competitive drive since Tiger. You cannot just shrug it off at age 29 to focus on being a better father than a better golfer. God wants you to maximize the platform from which you can honor him and encourage fans to open. Their hearts to him, to God. That’s what God has led you or called you to do, Scotty, not to focus on your wife and infant son before you are 30.

What do you think about that, Micah? 

Micah: I actually saw some of this. I’m not the biggest fan of Skip Bayless. I don’t think he has many fans. I mean, he’s just kind of the king of trolling. He always has been. He is. And he’s kind of been a mainstay in Dallas. And you know, it’s as a Cowboys fan myself, I don’t like the fact that he’s a Cowboys fan.

I don’t like the fact that he’s representing us out there, you know? Yeah, true. I’m sure you’re gonna share a little bit more about what he said or summarize it, but Skip is off in the sense [00:23:00] biblically because we understand from scripture we understand, like from Titus two, the qualifications of an overseer.

The 17 things listed, the very first thing, what we’re called to as shepherds is to have our house in order, is to take care of our family before everything. Else. And when you marry your wife, you leave and you Cleve. I mean, I could get into all this, right? But it’s this concept of when you become one flesh with your spouse, there’s no separation from the two of you.

So to place your career over your spouse, I would say is antithetical to the gospel and what scripture teaches. But also I would say is that I just don’t think people have seen someone like Scotty before where he can sit there and he can say that and actually live that out. Mm-hmm. Of this is not the most important thing to me in my life, and I can still dominate.

As Skip talked about, he wants them to be like Tom Brady. He wants them to be like Tiger. He wants them to be like Jordan. People whose personal lives at times crumbled because of the crushing nature of I have to be the best. Maybe Scotty can just be the best and not lose his [00:24:00] family in the process. 

Conner: Yes.

Skip actually was kind of embarrassed because he claimed that Scotty would absolutely. Played terribly at the open after he had that press conference. And then Scotty won the whole weekend. He won the whole tournament, won the whole weekend, and he had to come back the next day and was like maybe I’m wrong here.

Yeah, he can be competitive and focus on all of these things, which is just cool. But Skip has said before, actually, he said in this whole spiel, this monologue, he was given that he was like, I’ve always been obsessed with maximizing the talent God gave me however I could maximize my talent. That God gave me, I’m going to do it.

To do I sacrificed having children because I saw that correctly raising children would be a huge time draining. Distraction from maximizing my talents. You might say, I took on the persona of a cold-blooded media killer, driven to achieve at all costs while honoring God and tithing to my church, supporting other great causes as I have over the years.

Micah: You make the choice audience, Conner, myself, we get to look at the lives of somebody who lives their life. In a [00:25:00] different way than maybe Skip Does and say is Skip gonna look back on his life and be happy with his decisions? I don’t know. You know, that’s up to him and God. 

Conner: Yeah. You know, you have to go the way God calls you.

And I think Scotty has done that and Skip’s done it maybe in a different way, and I think you hit it earlier. It’s maybe not the right priority set anyways. I think if you want somebody to look to. Oddly enough, I would argue Dion Sanders might be a good example because this week he was love Dion on a press conference announcing that he had been diagnosed with bladder cancer and that he had his bladder removed.

And this is why he hasn’t been at training camp for the University of Colorado as head coach the last few weeks. And you know, he’s I’m gonna be there, I’m gonna be on the sidelines. And he’s dedicated to his team. His job and his family and his kids as we. We talked about a few months ago, Shado Sanders and how dedicated he was to trying to get him drafted to a good team.

Anyways, in this press conference, he said, it has been a tremendous journey and I’m thankful that God is so good. God is so good. You have no idea. You have no idea how good God has been for me to be here. You have [00:26:00] no idea. Amen. How cool is that man? Amen. He’s giving the glory to God. He’s like God. Amen was in this that whole time.

Micah: Somebody who has the love of his family. Has a great relationship with his kids. I’m not saying it’s perfect. I’m not saying he’s been perfect. He’s lived a wildlife at certain times. Yep. He has the love and support of his family, but is also an extremely high achiever in his career. One of the best players to ever play in the NFL played multiple sports is a coach for a big program in college football.

Why not both? I think Dion’s a good example of, you can do both. You can be excellent in both. 

Conner: Yeah. I did love in the press conference, he also mentioned that you might see a porter body on the sidelines That was funny at the University of Colorado. Anyways. Fort Frank is another guy I would point out. I just wanna call this out because he last week, broke his back.

He’s a mega popular Christian artist, and even though he broke his back, he’s been laying on bedrest and wrote a song literally called God’s Got My Back. I would suggest going to find his Instagram videos detailing how he put the song together on bedrest. Or [00:27:00] listening to the song. We’ll link to that in the show notes.

The song’s fire. Honestly, I like it. I don’t know Micah if you’ve heard it yet, but it’s really good stuff. All that to say, there are ways you can live your life, no matter your platform still dedicated to Jesus. And I wanna quote here, Aaron Philippon. He is the pastor at Indian Rocks Church, where Hulk Hogan.

Attended in the last year and a half of his life, and he said on X the other day, though, we miss Hulk deeply, we know he is in the presence of the Lord, fully healed, fully free, and worshiping the Savior he loved with all of his heart. Mm, I got. Amen to that, right? Yeah. Anyways, he continues on to the world.

He was Hulk Hogan, a legend, but to us at Indian Rocks Church. He was simply Terry, a humble, joyful, Jesus loving man who lived out his faith every day. He worshiped faithfully with his wife, not behind the scenes, but shoulder to shoulder with the people that he loved. He didn’t want the spotlight or the green room.

He wanted to be where God was moving. Often he showed up with friends. He invited because he wanted them [00:28:00] to experience the same hope and love that he found in Jesus. Terry was not a perfect man and he never claimed to be. He had a past and he made mistakes, but Terry was a Jesus man, and that’s the beauty of the gospel.

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Terry didn’t just talk about his faith, he lived it. I’m going to miss him, but I hold onto this simple truth that Terry believed with all of his heart, quoting Romans 10, nine here, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

And so like I’m just thinking about how Hulk Hogan lived out his faith those last 18 months of his life and lived out that verse and recognized that there is salvation in Jesus. And we’re told so. Blatantly right there. That is how you are saved. That is how you find eternity in Jesus. And so I would encourage you, if you have not ever had that salvation moment with the Lord and made that connection with him, that Hulk Hogan and some of these other people have go read Romans 10.

[00:29:00] That whole chapter in Romans 10, nine specifically tells us, this is what it takes to find Christ is just Amen. Dedication to him. Amen. And salvation in him. 

Micah: It’s simple. It requires surrender, but it’s simple and it’s approachable, and there is exclusivity to the gospel. But entrance is simple. Yeah, but it requires laying down your life for something far greater than your own.

And rIP to Hulk Hogan, and honestly, all the celebrities that we’ve lost, and for anybody who’s lost somebody recently or in the past that they think of. I think when we listen to that eulogy from the pastor about Hulk Hogan, it almost makes us think about people that we’ve lost in our lives. Mm-hmm.

That is the beauty and the promise of heaven is that we will be reunited with our loved ones for. Ever in the presence of Jesus if we are in Christ. And so I’m just really thankful for that gift. I’m thankful that Hulk found it and spent the last part of his life proclaiming Jesus. It’s a beautiful thing.

Okay. Alright, let’s jump into the check-in section. [00:30:00] Just gonna give you a couple updates here and then I’ll pass it off to Conner. Let’s give you a Gaza update. Lots of images of starving people, particularly children in Gaza, have made their way across news and social media, unfortunately. And Netanyahu Bibe.

Netanyahu, the leader of Israel has claimed it was a boldfaced lie to say Israel was causing famine and hunger in Gaza. Trump, really for the first time publicly broke with him in a big way and told Israel to allow every ounce of food. And I quote into Gaza as he acknowledged for the first time that there is real starvation happening in that region.

Right now, because of the hunger crisis and stalemate and peace talks with Hamas, France has announced they will be officially recognizing Palestinian state. As an actual country. In September, the UK Prime Minister, Keir Starr, announced on Tuesday that if Israel does not actually allow in aid, the UK in September will recognize Palestine as well as 

Conner: a country no more than aid.

Theirs is Starr was like, [00:31:00] they need to have a ceasefire and a two state solution. Two state, two state solution. Yeah. Done by September else, we’re gonna, that’s a, that’s a bigger ask than just Aiden. 

Micah: So what’s happening in Gaza? And the innocent people there. And you know, obviously there are some bad people.

Hamas is bad. It’s evil. But there are innocent people made in the image of God who God loves just as much as he loves you and me. Mm-hmm. Who are starving, who can’t find food, children who are dying. I mean, it’s really, really sad. And that’s why we talked about the theology of Israel. Last week because what’s going on isn’t right, and we need to figure out something soon because a lot of people are dying simply because they don’t have access to electricity, water, and food.

And so I think Trump is kind of turning around to that. He’s coming around to that point, but let’s be in prayer that this conflict ends, and for the people who are suffering, it’s just tragic. It’s heartbreaking. Next thing is Ukraine and Russia. So let me give you a quick update on that. Trump said Tuesday that Russia must agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine by August 8th, or risk sanctions [00:32:00] accelerating a deadline that was previously up in the air.

He originally gave them 50 days. This is a much shorter deadline, so it really is cutting that time in half. It’s a little bit like over three weeks. Technically it’s like 25, 26 days from when Trump originally threatened these tariffs. And so Putin needs to do something or Yeah, Trump’s big mad, there’s some stuff coming.

Conner: Yeah. And we need to be praying for an end to both of these conflicts. When we talk about these things, I hope it’s not just like an update for yes, us or our listeners. It’s stop and pray, like there are people dying every 

Micah: day 

Conner: in 

Micah: both, both of these conflicts. It’s sad. Also 

Conner: in Syria, Dr. Jim Dennison wrote about the Syrian conflicts where they’re literally killing.

I think in the last week, over a thousand Drews and Christians in the country of Syria, there’s a massacre going on there. This is just tragic. Same thing in Cambodia and Thailand, like they’ve had their own conflict over the last week. Let’s pray for an end to these conflicts. Yep. And for peace in these regions.

Absolutely. Okay. Another thing that happened this week is in New York City, a lot of us have seen the Midtown shooting that happened in the skyscraper that houses Blackstone Financial as well as the NFL headquarters. [00:33:00] The gunman was apparently targeting the NFL headquarters. And while doing so, first off, he did not make it to the NFL offices.

He took the wrong elevator. The theory is he wanted to target them because he claims he had CTE, which is the concussion traumatic brain injury NFL has long had to fight, you know, just a lot of battles around CTE and now it’s back in the news. Anyways, he killed four innocent people, including New York City Police officer.

I don’t know if I’m gonna say this right, but did roll Islam, who gave his life trying to protect this office building and the people all around. So very just sad and tragic there. The guy was from Las Vegas and drove all the way to New York for this. So it kind of reminds me of the Luigi Mangione.

Mm-hmm. Kind of attack where a guy drove far to do some heinous, awful attack. Anyways, be praying for those families. He’s getting much 

Micah: less support than Luigi did though. 

Conner: This is true because Yeah, that’s a whole 

Micah: nother story. Alluded to me and Jim. Yeah we’ll probably talk about that whenever that trial comes up.

Yes. That’s gonna be a big story whenever that trial comes around. Yep. 

Conner: Something else that’s happened in the last week. We talked about it last week. Stephen [00:34:00] Colbert was canceled and the day after we talked, his show was canceled. His show was canceled. His show, yeah. Sorry. That’s a double meaning term these days.

Anyways, the day after we talked about all the podcast, paramount and Skydance actually merged. The deal went through with the FCC, it’s happening. That was what a lot was happening with the threat of that. Anyways, I wanted to quote Jay Leno here because he was talking about the Colbert cancellation and he was criticizing the modern late night comedy.

Basically for alienating half the audience with partisan politics, and he said, I love political humor, don’t get me wrong, but it’s just what happens when people wind up cosing too much to one side or the other. I would say that’s probably true. Colbert passed himself to the left and it backfired.

Essentially. He lost audience. He’s spot on. 

Micah: He’s, he’s spot on about that. I mean, the Gutfield show on Fox News is like very popular, right? What’s that one called? Yeah, it’s literal called Gutfield. Gutfield. Yeah. So you know, he obviously is cosing up to the right. And then you’ve got Jimmy Kimmel, who is a mouthpiece for the left as well.

I [00:35:00] think Jay Leno makes a really good point. If you want a larger audience, maybe don’t alienate half of it. You know? 

Conner: Yeah. I think Leno was pretty good about attacking both sides. Yeah. And making jokes about both of them when he was on air. Yeah. Anyways, something else, the astronomer, CEO, the whole Coldplay cam scandal, all of that, it’s finally starting to die down, although there’s still a lot of different parodies happening around culture.

Anyways, astronomer, the company that the CEO and the HR VP were employed at and embarrassed essentially. Although I will say maybe it was, you know, all bad press is also good press in a sense that now everybody knows this company astronomer, they hired Gwyneth Paltrow, the actress, well-known Oscar winning actress, to come and do this video at Micah.

I think you’ve seen the video where she’s basically it’s kind of funny the way that they approach this. You think that she’s gonna be addressing the situation, but instead she basically lays out the business model of what astronomer is. So they’re taking this and they’re flipping it. All this attention they’re getting and they’re saying, we’re gonna let you know what we actually do here with AI and tech and [00:36:00] software and stuff.

Funny video, I’ll link it. She was hired as a very temporary spokesperson, as they said, and that is because her ex-husband is. Chris Martin lead singer of Coldplay, so they, I don’t know if they got a PR crisis team to come in and help them do this, but I thought it was really clever. 

Micah: They did a good job.

They really have kind of flipped the script, you know? Yeah, absolutely. Okay let’s talk about the mailbag. Do you have thoughts or opinions on that or anything else that we’ve discussed? Let us know at Culture [email protected]. That is our email culture [email protected]. Send us an email, follow us on Instagram at Culture Brief Podcast, and thank you to those that reach out.

To let us know that we had an audio issue on the Cross promotional podcast that we released on Saturday. It was a bonus episode. It was a crossover episode with the Denison Forum Podcast with Dr. Mark Turman and Dr. Ryan Denison. Shout out to our podcast producer Catherine who got it fixed asap if you haven’t listened to it yet.

Go back and listen to it. [00:37:00] It’s a wonderful discussion on sports and faith. But yes, thank you for those who reached out to let us know that there was an audio issue. We’ll work to make sure it doesn’t happen in the future. 

Conner: Thank you to Gary for reaching out and letting us know that we totally forgot to mention Happy Gilmore two coming out last week.

Gary. It’s already disappoint, man. You were right. Yeah. Anyways, speaking of Happy Gilmore Micah, did you watch it? I did watch it. Did you watch it? I watched both. Happy Gilmore the night before to get a refresher on it, and then Happy Gilmore two on Friday night. Look, 46 million people watched it and I think maybe we’ve got some thoughts here.

I’ve seen a lot. A lot of people were like, this is one of the worst movies ever made. A lot of people were like, this was great. Hit on all the classic cues. I’m a little conflicted. I laughed quite a bit. It was obviously just a poorly made movie, but I wasn’t expecting an Oscar winning presentation. What did you think?

Micah: I enjoyed it. You know, I was just reading something yesterday. It was like something like 60 celebrity cameos and it was just really random celebrities, you know, and Travis Kelsey was a waiter. And then Kelsey Plum, who plays in the WNBA plays [00:38:00] like a golf attendant like course. Ticket taker or something.

Just really random stuff. New golfers, old golfers. I mean, it was so much fun. Guy FII made an appearance. I. I’m a big fan of Guy fii and Flavor Town and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. If I don’t have anything that I’m doing on Friday night, sometimes I’ll just turn on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, and I can watch that for a very long time.

I love that show. Good to know. So it, it was a great movie for what it was, and it was exactly what I thought it would be, and I think it was a unique sequel. In the sense of it wasn’t trying to be that classic cult comedy that it once was, it just kind of built on some of it, and it just took you for a ride and you got to turn off your brain for a couple hours.

Conner: Yeah. There’s one scene that made me laugh out loud, and it was when two golf carts crashed and it literally exploded. Dude, I, I stopped breathing and it was so stupid and I just couldn’t, I couldn’t not laugh at that. I thought that was hilarious. That 

Micah: whole scene that Yes, that, that whole scene was hilarious.

Yeah. 

Conner: Yeah. I also saw a fantastic four over the weekend too. My kid. Yes. Tell me about that. I thought it was a very [00:39:00] mid movie. It was fun. People been saying 

Micah: they really like it. 

Conner: A lot of people really liked it. I get why they’re saying that. I will say, for what it’s worth, it’s a very pro family pro like having kids movie.

I saw that. Which is new. That’s not typical in Hollywood. I’m very down for that. You don’t normally see superheroes actually having children, which that was a good change of pace. But the movie, as far as like the story and some of the CGI and some of the just like. Weird dynamics of being in this, not really going anywhere outside of the city that they’re in.

And I don’t know, it was fine. Maybe some miscasting too. But yeah, I would love for people to make up their own opinions, not just go completely on my own. We’ve got a great article out on Denon forum too, breaking it down, so go find that. But anyways, I didn’t know if you’d seen it yet or not, but. Maybe you will.

Yeah, 

Micah: I have not seen Fantastic Four yet. I do wanna see it based off of what you said, kind of the values that it promotes, and also I’ve just kind of always been a big fan of the Fantastic Four. Just haven’t had a chance to go see it. Okay. We’ve got one more topic on Opinion corner with Conner. What’s that?

Conner: Okay, Micah, there’s a video that’s gone by first off, lemme lay the stage here. American Airlines flight, [00:40:00] leaving Denver the other day on Saturday didn’t get to take off because the wheels caught fire. Okay. They’re on the runway. They start the evacuation. There’s a lot of videos of this happening, and I’m just watching these people evacuate the plane.

They’re coming down the slides. Mm-hmm. And I just get so frustrated during these airplane evacuation videos where people are bringing their stuff. There’s videos of these people sliding down this slide and they can’t get down because they’ve got their suitcases and their backpacks and all their stuff, and they’re trying to carry a child in one arm and carry a suitcase in the other arm, and they’re clogging up the evacuation.

This is my soapbox to say, okay, people, there are evacuation protocols. I know we don’t listen to the actual thing that the flight attendants are doing. Nobody listens to that. You don’t have to. Basic knowledge and basic common sense would tell you leave your bags behind. It will be okay. You might lose your stuff.

It’s not worth other people losing limb or life or anything. That’s just my soapbox. I just wanna point that out because this, this video went viral and a lot of people were, like 

Micah: you’re saying, don’t grab your stuff so that you can have a hand [00:41:00] free to be able to help others and be able to get off the plane yourself.

That’s the other thing. 

Conner: There’s people standing there videoing and they’re not helping people come down the slide, especially older ladies and whatnot that are trying to slide down and need help up. There’s people just videoing. I’m like, can somebody please help? That is one of the most frustrating things that’s not gonna do it.

They’re up in the aircraft trying to get people down the slide. Can somebody please man up? And stand at the end of the slide and help these people with their children and older women get off the ground and all that. It’s just frustrating. 

Micah: Yeah. Yeah, man, I’m with you. That’s, that’s one of the most frustrating things about kind of the smartphone era, social media era.

You know? There was that beating in Cincinnati. Yeah. Where there’s this crowd of people beating on this man and this woman, and there’s all these people filming it, not helping. And then, you know, it’s, it’s the same concept of back of, I’m cheering it 

Conner: on. It was, I know Disturb. I know, I know. 

Micah: It’s, that is just the most frust, like one of the most frustrating things about this new age of technology that we’re living in and these phones that we have in our pockets and the access that we have to the world to be able to film everything, you just stop helping your fellow man and we just cannot lose that.

And that plays right into what you’re talking about [00:42:00] with the airplane evacuation. And here’s a couple things to tune into coming up. Sports are back and that’s exciting. So we have the MLB Speedway Classic, the Major League Baseball Speedway Classic. This is actually kind of exciting. It’s just gonna be interesting to watch on tv.

Just the spectacle. The MLB Speedway Classic is a one-time historic regular season game between the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds. And it’s set for August 2nd at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee. Yes. A NASCAR racetrack in Bristol, Tennessee is hosting an MLB baseball game so far. Over 85,000 tickets are sold.

If that keeps growing, it’s on track to break the all time major league baseball attendance record, the event features, racing themed uniforms, major concerts, and a packed fan experience. And so it’s exciting and I’m just gonna tune in just for at least a little bit to see what that looks like. Also, we have the NFL.

Hall of Fame game preseason kicks off. So this episode’s being [00:43:00] released on Thursday. We always record on Wednesday. So tonight it’s 7:00 PM on NBC Chargers versus Lions. If you wanna get some pre-season action in and you miss football, we’ve got the Hall of Fame game coming up. And then finally hard knocks is coming out on Tuesday.

Hard knocks on HB O’s is the classic. People love it. It’s the training camp with the Buffalo Bills premieres on Tuesday, August 5th on HBO Max. This is the Buffalo Bills first time being featured on the show. And it’s gonna spotlight Josh Allen, who’s debate will be the best quarterback in the NFL Coach Sean McDermott and the team’s preseason storylines and their camp is in Rochester, New York.

So it follows the team as they get ready for the NFL season. That’s like the fun official kick to watch. 

Conner: Yeah. Like that’s, that’s more of a kickoff than preseason football is my 

Micah: opinion. I’m planning on watching it. ’cause I think the bills are just really interesting. Like sometimes I don’t watch it, but I think like an all excess pass to the bills sounds interesting to me.

Definitely. Same here. Yep. Guys, thank you so much for joining us for this week’s episode of Culture Brief, a Denison Forum podcast. All articles and videos [00:44:00] mentioned will be linked in the show notes. And if you enjoyed today’s episode, please please subscribe and rate and review the show. It makes a big difference as we grow the show and share it with a friend, and we’ll see you next Thursday.