52: DEPRESSED ABOUT THE ICE AGENT SHOOTING? A NEW PERSPECTIVE

If you feel depressed or angry about current events, you aren't alone! Events like the recent ICE agent shooting often cause depression and other emotional repercussions to society. In this spiritually-grounding episode of the Overcome Depression Podcast, hostJennifer Stirling-Campbell sits down with Joey and John to unpack how faith, media narratives, and emotionally-charged events—such as the ICE agent shooting—can intensify anxiety and depression. Through candid conversation, lived experience, and spiritual insight, this episode helps listeners slow down, step out of fear-based thinking, and reconnect with God through hope, truth, and personal agency. If you’re overwhelmed by current events, struggling with depression, or searching for clarity and peace in a divided world, this episode offers grounding wisdom and encouragement.

This episode of the Overcome Depression Podcast is for you if you want to learn:

• How depression and anxiety are amplified by media bias and emotionally triggering news
• How faith can restore hope and emotional stability during fear-filled cultural moments
• How to think critically and compassionately about complex issues like an ICE agent incident
• How fight-or-flight reactions distort perception and worsen mental health
• How respectful conversations reduce division and support emotional healing
• How reconnecting with God, truth, and personal agency can help overcome depression

View all LINKS and supporting content mentioned in this episode HERE: https://imaquarius.com/depressed-about-ice-agent-shooting-a-new-perspective-chapter3-52/

Chapters

• 0:00 Joey’s Mental Health Journey: Overcoming Depression Through Faith
• 3:50 Faith, Resilience, and Finding Strength During Difficult Times
• 5:47 Media Bias, Mental Health, and How Current Events Affect Depression
• 9:22 Emotional Triggers: How Feelings Shape Perception and Beliefs
• 11:08 Navigating Difficult Conversations Without Fear or Anger
• 12:22 How to Use Faith to Understand Life and Society
• 15:03 Cultural Differences, Respect, and Emotional Well-Being
• 17:01 Overcoming Fear, Division, and Anxiety in a Broken World
• 19:54 Reflections on Healing, Unity, and Mental Resilience
• 23:32 Immigration, Crime, and the Psychological Impact of Fear Narratives
• 27:52 Understanding Human Behavior: Gray Areas, Compassion, and Healing
• 28:22 Media Influence on Mental Health and Public Perception
• 30:38 Power, Control, and Their Effects on Emotional Well-Being
• 33:40 Understanding Societal Evil and Moral Decay
• 37:41 Hope Amidst the Unknown: Faith, Healing, and Overcoming Depression
• 46:25 President Russell M. Nelson and The Coddling of the American Mind

Transcript

0:15

You may have had days when you wished you could don your pajamas, curl up in a ball, and that's something to awaken you in that turmoil. But my dear brothers and sisters, so many wonderful things are ahead. In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior's power that the world has ever seen. between now and the time he returns. He will bestow countless privileges, blessings, and miracles upon the faithful. m Nonetheless, we are presently living in what surely is a most complicated time in the history of the world. The complexities and challenges leave many people feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. I weep over your heartaches, disappointments, and worries. um I assure you that our Heavenly Father and his beloved Son Jesus Christ love They are intimately aware of your circumstances, your goodness, your needs, and your prayers for help. Again and again, I pray for you. Welcome to the Overcome Depression podcast where we offer hope and healing for those who struggle with depression. I am your host, Jennifer Stirling Campbell. And today I'm so excited about this episode because I have one of my favorite people. Joey with me here today. we've known each other for over 14 years now, and he has become one of my closest correspondents, especially when it comes to security issues. Joey is a cybersecurity analyst, He has a black belt. He's done security related work for the past 14 years, most of which have been with the United States contractors, which has given him a unique perspective behind the scenes into what is going on in the world because he's been privy to information that most of us do not get to see. Joey's favorite things in the world are protecting, the good guys from the bad guys, whether that's in real life or through his favorite video games. And in the time I've known you, Joey, I've seen you go through what some would consider rather horrific life experiences, let's just say, that would leave a lot of people very damaged, mentally ill, bitter. And yet, for as long as I've known you, you've always been such a solution focused person. You're able to find humor in the darndest of circumstances. And you have this can-do attitude and optimism that I'm going to say is enviable because I want to grow up to be just like you someday. You are quite literally, one of the least jaded people I know. So how do you do it? How do you stay so positive and optimistic? Because looking at your life, most people say, you should be really depressed, but you're not. Thank you. So Well, first and most importantly is my faith. When I was a little kid, I decided to follow what the Bible teaches and see what happens. Over the years, I saw prayers answered, received guidance that didn't make sense at the time, but led to a better future than I could have planned myself. And my faith grew over the years. I learned that God often lays a path that is full of storms, which you talked about things I've been through. won't get into more serious ones, but just as an example, I was laid off in 2020, just two years after I started that job, but it quickly led to a more meaningful, more challenging job with 50 % more pay. It was awesome at the end. It didn't feel awesome when I got laid off, but I had faith it would work out. It never does. my life had been easy, I would not have the wisdom, strength, or mental fortitude I need to do what I do today and make a real difference in people's lives. for sure. So the second most influential thing growing up was a character from an anime I like, Yu-Gi-Oh series specifically, Seto Kaiba. Most people saw... A rich snob, technically isn't wrong, but it's not the whole picture. I saw some positive qualities in the character. I saw determination. He loved his family more than anything else. He was generous and very well off financially despite growing up in an orphanage. A lot of admirable qualities mixed into this character and most notably a never give up attitude. He was always focused. oh He was always focused what's the problem? How do I solve this and pushed forward no matter what? That's awesome. So again, I just feel like We could just absorb your ability to forgive and move on. I think we would all be a lot happier. And mentioned the whole picture aspect of things, which is kind of what we're going to be getting into today is this ICE incident that just occurred that's similar to George Floyd, that's similar to Honestly, a lot of the things that we see on news and social media that frame the way we see the world because that's what we are seeing. You've worked for government contractors and you see things that we're just not allowed to see And based on what you've seen and experienced behind the scenes, what would you tell people who are feeling depressed and scared and upset about ICE, and our president and the recent shooting that just occurred and just events in general that we see on the news that looks so terrible. Well, the first thing I'll say is one of my favorite memes, is a quote, "Everything on the internet is true." -Abraham Lincoln. Social media algorithms tend to show more of what you watch. They don't really give you a diverse, true picture of the world. And most news outlets are biased one way or the other. so you're not getting a real picture there. One trick you can do is you can watch both liberal and conservative and see what points they agree on and then look for actual footage of the event to fill in the gaps. Yeah. I think you mentioned to me that if people could see what you see, most of the public would have a very, very different opinion and come to different conclusion than the ones that they're coming up with right now. that that's pretty Yep, a lot of policy decisions make more sense when you have the inside view and the non-public information. I will say there is legitimate national security reasons for keeping a lot of this information from the public. Mm-hmm. I personally would draw the line at a different place and make a little bit more of it public than they do, but that's not my call and I respect the decisions of those in that position of authority, whether I agree with it or not. Yeah. I wish that we had more transparency as well. think a lot of people do. And I think that's where some of the frustration is and where we have to decide what is it that we can control, what is it that we cannot control, and what can we do in our own sphere that will make a difference? with this recent incident with the shooting, you did some of your own research. The guy who shot the woman, you tell me what happened to him prior to this that you found out? yeah, Previously he'd been rammed by another vehicle and was in the hospital by someone who was actually trying to run over ICE officers deliberately. In another case, he was dragged and seriously injured while trying to make an arrest. They encounter a lot of violence and when a car comes at you and hits you, most people who don't have tactical or martial arts training don't really understand. You don't have time to think, how injured am What are they doing after this? You have a fraction of a second to make a decision and commit to it because if they are a threat and you hesitate, you're dead. Yeah, and she did kind of clip him, didn't she? he was injured badly enough that he had to go to the hospital. uh they recently released his body cam and from his body cam footage you have a better angle to see how hard he was hit. Yeah. The problem with... most of this is that it's very emotionally targeted, And which targets especially people who struggle with mental health, creates a heightened response, which can take you into anger very quickly and this fight and flight where you can't think clearly and properly. And then comes the assumptions that are built upon partial truths and fear and rage that accompanies it and because when someone says something that's triggering to me and I feel that from my core it's I've just gone into fight and flight. Whatever is coming out of my mouth next is going to be really stupid. We are not smart when we're mad. We're not smart. We may think we are in the moment because we're delusional, but when start speaking when you're angry, you'll give the greatest speech you'll ever regret. And it's, examples of things that people will do is make black and white connections that are making it hard to fully understand a situation or be open to understanding fully a situation. such as this person, political leader or situation is evil and you support it. Therefore you are either stupid or part of the problem. And if that's the case, maybe you are evil too. Like that's the A equals B, right? You have a different opinion than me. You must be stupid and maybe you're even evil because if you're not stupid, you must be evil because this is bad. may I offer the suggestion but encouragement to stop. Just stop for a minute or just a few seconds and take that deep breath don't say what I want to say. take that breath, maybe two or three big deep ones and bring oxygen back to my brain because just gone How depression plays into this behavior is want to make the world a better place. think all of us do. And it angers us when we see people hurting each other. we all want the same thing. We want it to stop. And we all have our own ideas of what that looks like to stop it, but going to be different. get somewhere. when people are heightened, it's almost like a toddler having a tantrum. There's nothing you can do or say to that toddler to get them to calm down. Have you ever experienced this? They're crazy. they're screaming and crying, And you can't get anywhere with them until You validate their feelings, which is what we need to do with each other. Same thing, like we're just grown up kids. Validate the feeling, I see you're really upset about this my goodness, I'm so sorry. And then once they're like, oh yeah, I'm a couch to my banana, then they realize you see them where they're at, then they're willing to talk reason to you. If you're like, stop crying, this isn't a big deal. what's wrong with you? They'll continue to wail and scream and holler and They're not hearing anything you say. It's the same thing. There's so much bias out there and so many different opinions and limited information, especially when it comes to these kinds of things that things we're not seeing. So what can you speak to that, Joey, of your experience in intuition and navigating issues like this? Well, one thing what you were talking about makes me think of is video I saw recently. There was a young woman who was looking at the news and seeing that each news source was different. So she decided she was going to go out and see what was actually happening. Completely neutral viewpoint. When she talked to the protesters and explained that they harassed her, they mocked her, one of them even threatened her with a knife. When she talked to the ICE agents, they calmly explained their viewpoint and what they were doing. If only one side's talking, no one's gonna learn anything from the other side. And as far as your relationship with God, how has He helped you understand current events in a way that maybe you wouldn't if you didn't have faith in God or a willingness go to Him for your answers? There's a lot of wisdom in scripture and you can find many parallels to what's going on today in there if you do reading and think through how does this apply today, what's similar today, and that's helped make a lot of things make sense and exposed why some things are problems. would you give us some scriptural examples that you have come across lately that inspired and helped you? I can never remember the names of the verses, but I seen a lot of references to the importance of order and law. You just have chaos, death, and destruction if you don't have law enforcement, and if you keep letting it slide and get more chaotic, it eventually just falls apart. There's many examples in history of that as well. in scripture it also gives examples of immigration and how that's supposed to look. and based on your study, what would you say that God has to say about immigration? I would say based on it, you need to respect the country you're going to, respect its laws, go there legally. People who are here illegally do have the opportunity to leave and apply to come back the right way. people that are looting and causing chaos that's clearly not showing love that's full of hate and goes against most of the biblical principles. I think some people would disagree with this one but I would tend to agree that if you're coming to another country your culture and your love for past and your history everything that makes you who you are but also be willing to assimilate to the culture. that you're coming into and not demand that the country you're coming to assimilate to yours. Even if you keep things from your culture, you don't need to force everyone else to change. Right. think it's showing a lot of respect and love for the country you're coming to bring what you have and learn what you can from those in your new country. Exactly. Many years ago when this country was formed by immigration, people were coming here, they were learning the language, they were learning the culture, they were adding a little bit of their culture to our culture, but it was very peaceful, it was very organic, they weren't trying to shove everything from their culture in or come in and ignore everything the way we do it and change. stuff. It was much better process than what's been going on lately. Yeah, and I think in the Bible, a lot of it surrounded being godly. Like if you're from a pagan nation and you're coming into godly one, like the Jewish nation, then you need to come adopt our way of life to some extent. Like we're not going to force you to worship, but don't bring your pagan gods, please. I think that's kind of isn't that what happened? I'm not super, super biblical scholar. I want to be someday. Yeah, that's part of it. I can't remember the exact details of that, but some people that were coming in were trying to of change and alter the nation they were moving into to believe in their gods. oh Which is why separation of church and state, I think it's so inspired government needs to stay out of religion and religion needs to stay out of government and commerce. And whenever you introduce lobbying and money, money laundering is almost always the result down the road. with that said, our current weather is fear and anxiety for the future and worrying about what's going to happen next and what this means for our country all the things going on, people are scared and angry. What can we do? The enemy likes to spread fear and division and that's the actual root problem. the way to fix that is talk to people who don't share your beliefs. Ask them why they believe what you don't understand. Have respectful conversations. I have good friends who have different political views and we're able to discuss those and they have a lot more respect and understanding when they see the why, even though we don't come to the same end conclusion. Mm-hmm. I totally agree. We need to be talking and we need to be practicing, even if you do it imperfectly. And Try again. I think this attitude of we never talk about politics and we never talk about religion has backfired because we are not understanding each other. And where there's a lot of assumptions and a lot of division around how can you believe that? Again, like that makes you bad. You must be stupid. because we're not really communicating. you know, spouting things on social media or seeing these clips, but it's such a narrow approach and such a low-level low-level thinking. And if someone absolutely does not want to talk OK, I can respect that. I encourage you to make that change to be the one willing to do it. something I did a couple of years ago, I had someone reach out to me on social media because they liked my blog post. I was like, awesome. I have one fan. Woo-woo. And we got into some conversations via Facebook Messenger about the current events. we could agree on some things, but we disagreed on a stuff. He had a very conservative mother and a very liberal father. And so he lived in a household where there was a lot disagreement, but they had a good marriage. And so he was very good at talking through things and he literally wanted to know my opinion and see my side and we didn't always agree and it was very uncomfortable, very uncomfortable for me because I was very unpracticed. I hadn't done this much and when I tried it hadn't gone very well. Let's just put it that way. And having someone to kind of banter with who wasn't going to get offended think it was also good. would just walk away from the text for a while and then come back to it once I thought through what I wanted to say and be able to say in a respectful manner. And it was hard. like every time I'd hear the ding from him and I'd see it was him, I'd go, uh, because I, was very uncomfortable. I almost didn't want to read what he had to say. But again, it was so good for me. It was so good for me. and required lot of discipline and patience and Christ-like attitude and prayer. Like, please help me, Lord. Please help me not get elevated about this, because we can train ourselves to just listen. We won't get that boiling in our system that goes blah anymore if we train ourselves enough. But we can't train ourselves without the practice. is there anything else you would like to say especially in regards to those who are struggling with depression. em The best way to not be worried about the future or depressed about the present, is faith and a relationship with Christ. Know that the Lord has a bigger plan and the Lord is in control and has already won the fight in the end. And that makes it a lot easier to deal with whatever's going on. I agree. I mean, it's a done deal. It's not something that's maybe or if or what if he loses. It's done. it will look? Debatable. Everything leading from here to there. But it's not something we really need to be worrying about. And if we're worrying about it, we're just wasting energy on something we can't control and losing sleep when we could be doing things within our own families and communities that can make a difference. thank you again, Joey. I appreciate you so much taking the time out. I know you're very busy and I think you're amazing. yeah. you. It was a pleasure to join you on here. So next I have John who is a frequenter on this podcast. that with us and I appreciate you hopping on, I know you had some technical issues, but you're here now, yay! Woo woo! So, regarding, again, current events and how it relates to our mental health, depression, and relying on God amidst all of it, I want to hear some of your thoughts about the current events, ICE, Trump, the disagreements between us, why Satan thinks he's winning. What he's doing to try to mess us up so that we lose focus and get scared we he wants us to be scared so if you're scared you're Falling to his way falling to exactly what he wants. one of my friends brought this issue up after church and I disagreed with them to some extent because he was defending the ICE agent But then he started going on about how, that lady was crazy. This, this, this, this, everything that the media had just been spouting out. Whereas my mind, when these sorts of events happen, I try to look at the bigger picture. initially, I'll just say my thoughts on that whole shooting incident, it was a bad scenario that should not have happened. But it happened because I believe that those people were placed into that situation intentionally. are people out there that want to foster their own agendas. They want to get their own laws enacted or their own means of power. And one of the ways they do that is by fermenting conflict. Mm-hmm. mean, it's intentional. one of the things that I saw, So I'm going to come at this actually more from a humanistic point of view. Say you want people to become accustomed to having armed military walking around the streets. I saw one blogger put up a picture of what police used to look like, in the blues, the traditional blues, not even really with a side arm sitting there with people in the streets having a conversation. This was back in like the 70's, in the 80's even. And they gave a picture of what the police now look like in full tactical gear with assault rifles. The same place, just years apart how the world has changed. So if your ultimate goal is to change police in the country into a more paramilitary, formation, then you need to create a scenario that forces the populace or coerces them, to accept this. and one of the ways to of both, right? Because you feel like you have to. right. And some of these people are not afraid to use innocence to further in fact, they use innocence all the time. here's how I look at it. If you open the borders and allow many, many illegal immigrants to come into the country, I'm going to say a lot of those people coming into the country are interested in the United States. know, they're God-fearing, good people, just trying to look for a better life, trying to escape whatever hardships or horrors that may be in their original countries. And I don't fault them for wanting a better life, either for themselves or their children or whatnot. However, when you have it unrestricted, you also get the undesirables. Because a lot of these other countries like to send their criminals into other countries because then they don't have to deal with it. They'll let America deal with it. And that's what some of these people hoped and desired. is the more and more of this criminal element that gets into the United States under the ruse of immigration naturally and let me get this kindness Right. And then these elements begin to cause trouble. radicalized probably from their own countries or they might have a lot of mental issues already, a criminal background, and they start causing issues and problems here in America. And as this begins to spread, they begin to, injure Americans, Americans begin to call, hey we can't deal with these criminals, we need a stronger police force. So then they start calling on the government to create a stronger opposition next thing you know here comes the National Guard, here comes ICE agents to counteract. these criminals and in the process many innocents are caught in crossfire. it's always been known that there's been a group of these people that do these severe protests that are being paid they even now have caught some of them on video. I mean, they're so so emboldened actually told this yeah, I'm getting paid right now. I'm getting paid to protest. Just blatant. So now you have these paid protesters whose job is to cause dissent, problems. When you have people in ICE that are really trying to capture criminals, then you have paid dissenters interact, you're stirring the pot. what ends up happening is you have these two groups of diametrically opposed individuals thrown into a big pot. and eventually something happens. Something is going to go off. And that's where I see this ice shooting. that as a very sad outcome that is a result of somebody putting those two groups intentionally together. It just so happens to happen to this guy, this woman. They were the unlucky ones. I would say that every person on this planet is some shade of gray. There's not a bad guy and a good guy like in the movies. Usually there's like a core to the bone evil guy. And then there's just the good guy who's just all good for the most part with maybe a few flaws. But we tend to see the world through that filter. It's not true. That woman, not all bad. good. Me. Not all bad, not all good. Some good, some bad, right? And we're told not to judge. We are commanded not to judge. Be an observer. Look at it, consider it. Stop making judgments. Because you could have a million different people see the same thing in broad daylight, It could be a stadium watching an event take place. And every single one of those million people would have a different perspective on it. And if all of those million people had a camera and showed all their camera footage online, then it would then be interpreted by millions of people who have their own skewed perspectives and biases and another millions number of You have to consider also how this all plays into the way you see yourself and why you see the world through the filter you do is probably because there's some aspect of yourself that you are judging very, very harshly, which keeps us in depression. Right, what gets me upset is the media designed for ratings on negativity and they will foster stories that I'm talking general media, ABC, CBS, Fox News, whoever. They want to generate ratings, they use negativity, they take a politically charged position in order to do that. that so many people out there still focus on one channel and they'll get all their news from it. And then I see these outcomes. For instance, at our church during one of the prayers, the person leading the prayer we're also going to offer these prayers on behalf of the woman that was killed. There's nothing wrong with praying for somebody regardless. I mean, we want everybody to be saved. And there were people, even my ex there were people in the church after the prayer was done that walked up and complained and said, why did we pray for a blah, blah, blah, blah type of person? praying, praying that the And I'm, yeah, this is last place I would expect to hear that. But again, they're just being swayed by the media, it's just wrong. told my friend, he was discussing wow, know, ICE is now justified in shooting and doing what needs to be done to take care of this problem once and for all. And I'm like, all right. And then Trump is no longer president, we get somebody else in. What happens if he starts to use that same force using those laws against you? He's like, oh, no, you know, no, that's not going. I said, I hope it doesn't happen, but. It can change on a dime. And that's why I said I'm like a third position. I'm looking at this. I'm like, I understand both sides, but I also see this third side where these powers could be used. in the wrong way. It is a very slippery slope seen evidence of different political individuals abuse power. They've done it before throughout history actually one of my concerns because I see that happening. see that possibility. I pray that it doesn't happen. Time will tell if you know my fears are justified or I should say my concerns because I'm not really afraid. I find it all kind of fascinating just watching the whole process going about. But that's that's forced to do something, right? So problem that you talked about earlier with the criminals coming into the country, coming full circle, Trump felt inclined, I'm assuming, to send troops in because it's become such a dire issue people, how are we going to get ourselves out of this without that? but at the same time, it's gray whether it's constitutional or not. You national emergency or not, it's setting a precedent for exactly what you described and that's what's I think scaring a lot of people. because normalization of armed military or military-like law enforcement on the streets as a regular view. That's what other... countries do. I'll say like socialist countries. I mean you see that in North Korea, you see that in Russia, you see that in Venezuela, you see that in the Mideast. That's how they control their populace. Where America was founded on the belief that the police officers live in the community. They know the people of their community, they're friends with them. It's a very social interaction, so you don't need that heavy-handed approach. And the problem that comes into play is when you're forced to use a heavy-handed approach, there's no familiarity between the law enforcement and the citizen. And that sets up the potential for slew of shooting type incidents when you don't understand the other person or don't take time to understand. And again, I'm not taking sides. I'm just looking at this purely from a neutral perspective and seeing how things have panned out in other countries. This is like how it always started because even if you really want a good example, since Venezuela is in the news, you should study Venezuela and see exactly what happened when their government fell, their police changed. like when you look at some of these other countries, it Sarajevo? these countries were really rich, prosperous democracies. And then something happened, it crashed, and then it became these regimes over time. It's the same playbook. over and over and over again. Well, in this case I'll say Satan. ah on the religious perspective on this, yeah, Satan, this is where a strong moral and religious view is really necessary for people to have. exists, he's already won. he's a liar, deceiver, and that's his greatest power. don't know that you're in danger you don't know the threat. Let's see, a good analogy for If you're walking down the street, brick is falling and nobody says anything, when that brick hits you, you're totally blindsided and sometimes it might be too late. do bad things. Exactly. So that's the best... Yeah. But that first impact, trust me, it's a doozy. When people say they don't believe in Satan, don't believe there's an evil force out there, he's there, he's acting, he is every negative emotion. God is the source of every good thing. He's love. He is hope. He is joy. He is the source of all good things. Satan is the diametrical opposite because Satan rejected everything God is. Therefore, by doing so, Satan embraces negativity, anger, hatred, depression. So all those negative influences really stem from him. One-third of the angels fell because of his influence. And he wants humanity to fall too. He doesn't want God to win. He can't hurt God directly because God is his creator. So the only thing Satan can do, is hurt his creation. By By harming them. Exactly. And no, not my babies. Not my babies. God has the perfect perspective to know that this whole thing is for our good. And you're going, what? all the evil in the world? Listen to podcast, Number Nine, with Andrew McKee. He had a near-death experience. He has a very good view on that. But ahead and continue with Satan God to say, I made a mistake creating humanity. Satan wants to hold up God's creation, his children, and look, they followed me, not you. You failed. You said that they would follow you, but they didn't. And that's kind thanks to Jesus and God having a better plan, it's not working out the way Satan exactly thought. know, Satan has run into numerous roadblocks because I mentioned, history keeps replaying itself and that's because Satan has tried this same plan over and over and over again and every time it works for a little while and then typically God intervenes and then it all falls apart and Satan's thrown back to the drawing board. You know, he has to start all over again and it's just been replaying throughout history because Satan's that determined. doesn't- Satan does not want to admit that he's made a mistake. would you say that he's made it farther time around than any other time? Because that's kind of the feeling that had. I would say from my religious perspective, from my personal encounters with God and the things I've seen and some of the prophecies I've read from various mystics out there even some that are confirmed by the church, Catholic Church. yes. this time frame that we are living in right now is the worst, even more so than the time of Noah as far as the fall of humanity. the sheer number of humans that have embraced Satan's teachings, his philosophies, And they do his bidding the earth, too. We got AI, internet, it speeds things along pretty fast, but on the same token, it can also speed up the good. there's power in both and they're both becoming more powerful. just as the wicked is more wicked than it's ever been, those who embrace the light and the light itself is brighter than it's ever been as well. There's so much hope and we have a savior. And it's, yeah, and this has also been through some of the mystics and God has said through them, some of the greatest saints humanity are born this time period. So while the darkness is at its greatest point, evil is there, but so too because of Jesus. The souls that are coming out of this fire that are devoted to God are going to have such a strong devotions be so beautiful that it makes everything worthwhile in the end. God has a great ability generate good from the darkest evil. And I would say that's one of the things that really makes Satan mad. It's like no matter what he does, God always finds a way to bring good out of it. even though Satan doesn't want to do what God tells him to do, Satan being Satan, doing what he's doing, he's still helping God. And it makes him mad. every single time. like, I want to read a quote because I think it's kind of funny, but it's by James E. Garfield. And he says, the truth will set you free, but first it can make you miserable. And I think that's kind of true because it can seem hopeless, it can seem dismal and bleak and dark. And when you look at what's actually happening in the world and you don't turn a eye to it and you study Isaiah, everything, you know, kind of falls apart. it can, make you kind of depressed, right? For a while until you realize that we're here for a reason, that it's going to be okay. That all of it is purposeful. agency is such a beautiful gift. And where a lot of people, all of us at times use it pretty poorly, it's the only way it, it always was the only way to grow and to become more like God, to have that understanding. If we're not experiencing things, if we're not seeing the good, the bad, and the ugly and experience it even vicariously; some people have more of a, I guess intuitive gauge at knowing amount of pain that something will cause before it happens. And I'm one of those. So before something happens, or when it's happening to someone else, I'm so visionary. And I've been this way since I was a child, which made it hard not to be depressed, because I could see how much pain people, my friends, people in the community, the world, all of it. I could see the pain humanity was causing each other. And it's almost like when I experienced different things for myself throughout my life that I envisioned I wasn't surprised It wasn't like, wow, this is harder than I thought. was, this is pretty much exactly as painful as I thought it would be. Most people have to go through it. And if you're one of those people, understand that You don't understand until you experience something it's possible to do it vicariously. That's a gift I have, that's gift God gave to me. Most of us have to experience it ourselves. But if you haven't, or you haven't experienced vicariously, you can imagine what it would be like, but it's different, okay? Do not judge. give people the benefit of the doubt. Brene I love this by Brene Brown, that assume the best in others and your life will be so much easier. And it's true. Don't judge. Assume they were doing their best, even if their best was terrible. It takes the burden off. Like You can't make them do what you think they should. Yeah, and I'm going to say too, I see the overall picture. That's my gift. But if all you can see is a piece, If that's the way your life is, there's nothing wrong with that. Focus on that piece. You don't have to see the overlying picture because that's God's job. God is making the tapestry. You're just making the thread. that one little piece. it okay to know what's going on in the world? Yeah. What's going on in the country as a whole? Yes. But is that going to directly involve me at this moment in my little town, in my little state that's so far away? And the answer is no. Yeah, and that's not to say it doesn't impact us as a, you know, cause moving pieces start to make things roll, you know, even if it's far away. But can you really control the situation? Can you really do anything to make it better or worse? No, not really. So why are we, like, just, you have to focus on your puzzle piece, where you fit in and doing what God needs you to be doing. Because if you're not, you're going to be distracted from what you're supposed to be doing. There is a quote by Russell M. Nielsen. recently passed away. I consider him a prophet my church, the Church of Jesus Christ. And he said, 2021. hit me like a ton of bricks. And most people didn't even notice this, because it was part of an overall talk, and he didn't focus on it very long. But this is what stood out most to me. If most of the information you get comes from social or other media, your ability to hear the whisperings of the Spirit will be diminished. Make your spiritual foundation firm and able to stand the test of time by doing the things that allows the Holy Ghost to be with you always. What are you doing to stay connected to God? The more you are connected to God, less mental health issues you will have, the less depression you will have because you are connected to God, the one with all the truth. and the truth really does dispel depression. If you think you know the truth, but you're massively depressed, you're being deceived on a lot of levels and you have to let go of those lies if you're going to heal. And so my challenge to those listening is to stop looking at social media. Stop looking at social media. other things with your life and then ask God questions about the things that you saw that may have concerned you. But don't go diving into these algorithms that are gonna feed you. And frankly, it's really hard to overcome depression if you're believing in lies and half-truths. And like you've said many times before, John, Satan will feed you 100 truths that may be in the form of little clips on social media and shorts if he can get you to believe one lie. And that one lie can be all that it takes to destroy you. So. And if you have any doubts as far as whether or not you should trust social media, Currently there is six companies that run all the media in the world. Six companies. They control everything. Jennifer has talked about food. And I sent her this one too. There's 12 companies that control all the food that is produced. Yeah, Joey sent me something really cool about a couple that have a YouTube channel, they're really pushing for people to shop locally, support their local butcher, their local chicken, farm person and for many good reasons, including this one, that if we're not supporting our own communities, it all goes to these big corporations who are then controlling us through these mediums. So is your money going? Where's your money going? can make a difference by where you spend your dollar. You really can. And encourage commerce in your community rather than giving it to the capitalists who don't care about you. Kind of like the police analogy where they don't see you. not in touch with you or your community. Not really, other than how to manipulate you to buy their stuff. So with that said, this has been kind deep dive for those who struggle with depression. We're not trying to make you more depressed. We're trying to make you look at things just a little bit differently so you can get out of depression. And if this makes you feel more depressed, that's maybe normal. We're trying to offer you hope though, so that you can pull yourself on the other side and start, if you start looking at things differently, again, like James Garfield says, at first it'll make you miserable. When you start seeing the truth, it's like, ooh, ow, even when you're looking at yourself. I don't wanna see that. That makes me feel worse about myself. I don't wanna see it, right? But as you start to love those parts that you hate, that you don't want to see, and letting it go and giving it to Christ so that he can heal you, that's when the miracles start to happen. You have to be brave enough to take a step into the dark in order to be healed. the step into the dark isn't closer to Satan We're saying, you don't know. You don't know what's going to happen. You're like, but I'm scared. Take a step into what you don't know. Not into darkness, but you know what I'm saying. With that said, we do want to offer hope and healing for those suffering from depression on this podcast. And so if you're still here, we thank you for listening all the way through. We hope that this has enlightened you in some ways. With that said, we will have more content for you next week So again, we appreciate you. We love you. and we'll see you time. Take care. With that said, I want to play a clips from our Prophet You may have had days when you wished you could don your pajamas, curl up in a ball, and that's something to awaken you in that turmoil. But my dear brothers and sisters, so many wonderful things are ahead. In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior's power that the world has ever seen. between now and the time he returns. He will bestow countless privileges, blessings, and miracles upon the faithful. m Nonetheless, we are presently living in what surely is a most complicated time in the history of the world. The complexities and challenges leave many people feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. I weep over your heartaches, disappointments, and worries. um I assure you that our Heavenly Father and his beloved Son Jesus Christ love They are intimately aware of your circumstances, your goodness, your needs, and your prayers for help.