Counterflow with Buck Johnson

This week, I have Father John Strickland on the show. Fr. John serves as priest at St. Elizabeth Orthodox Church in Poulsbo, Washington. He is the author of "The Making of Holy Russia" and the four-part book series called "Paradise and Utopia: The Rise and Fall of What the West Once Was". We are discussing the broad themes of his book series as well as focusing on the fourth book, "The Age of Nihilism: Christendom from the Great War to the Culture Wars". Much like St. Seraphim Rose before him, Fr. John links many of the issues that the West has experienced and continues to experience to the Great Schism of 1054, or as he calls it, the Great Division. He takes us back to Christendom and up through the culture wars of modern-day America, as viewed through the Orthodox lens. This is a wonderful book series, and I think you'll enjoy this interview thoroughly. For more information on Fr. John, his books, his podcast, and his blog, go here: https://johnstrickland.org/ Sponsor: The Podsworth App: Get 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com when you use code BUCK50 at checkout! Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com Leave us a review and rating on iTunes! Thanks!

Today, two of my friends are back with us: Matt Erickson from the Kingpilled Podcast and Adam Patrick from The Age of Information Podcast. We cover the topic of re-orienting oneself towards Truth once new information has been made evident to us. As Adam puts it, centuries ago, people truly were at a disadvantage because of the lack of access to information. However, today, we have so much of the entire history of the world at our fingertips. We have all been in a quest for cohesion and true epistemic sense-making, and we discuss parts of that journey and where we've ended up. I think many of you will find this discussion quite relatable and hopefully also enjoyable. For more information on Matt Erickson, check out the Kingpilled Podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/@kingpilled/streams For more from Adam Patrick, check out the Age of Information here: https://www.youtube.com/@theageof_info For more info on the event with Father Sergius, go here: www.stmattroyalton.org Sponsor: The Podsworth App: Get 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com when you use code BUCK50 at checkout! Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com Leave us a review and rating on iTunes! Thanks!

My guest this week is Fr. Deacon Ananias Sorem, PhD. He is CEO, Founder, and President of Patristic Faith. Fr. Deacon is an Orthodox apologist and teaches Philosophy at Fullerton College and Carroll College. He is the author of several articles and peer-reviewed papers, including: "Searle, Materialism, and the Mind-Body Problem", "Gnostic Scientism and Technocratic Totalitarianism", "An Orthodox Approach to the Dangers of Modernity and Technology", and "An Orthodox Theory of Knowledge: The Epistemological and Apologetic Methods of the Church Fathers". He is also known for his YouTube channel, the Norwegian Nous, where he provides content on theology, apologetics, logic, and philosophy. In this episode, we discuss the scientism that really became the main cultural "religion" being pushed over 2020 and 2021. The cult-like tactics being used harken back to Gnosticism, and Fr. Deacon details where this came from and how we can avoid the snares of scientism. Go check out his page and the great organization Patristic Faith here: https://www.patristicfaith.com/contributors/fr-deacon-ananias/ To buy "Let No One Fear Death", please go here: https://uncutmountainpress.com/shop/product/let-no-one-fear-death-1/ Sponsor: The Podsworth App: Get 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com when you use code BUCK50 at checkout! Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com Leave us a review and rating on iTunes! Thanks!

My guest this week writes for several publications, runs the Singularity Weekly substack, and is the tech editor on War Room with Steve Bannon. Joe Allen is here to discuss all things transhumanism, the singularity, technology, and AI. What makes AI evil, if it even is? What is the idea of transhumanism based on? Is there a spiritual nature to all of this, or is it just ones and zeroes the way the pro-abortion crowd believes we are just clumps of cells? We take a deep dive into all of this and more on this episode of the Counterflow Podcast. For more from Joe Allen, go here: https://joebot.substack.com/ Sponsor: The Podsworth App: Get 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com when you use code BUCK50 at checkout! Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com Leave us a review and rating on iTunes! Thanks!

Dr. Clark Carlton is the author of many books, including one of my favorites, "The Life: The Orthodox Doctrine of Salvation". We discuss many of the themes in this book, including theosis, faith vs. works, once saved - always saved, heaven, hell, sin, differences in the Church and the various denominations, and more. Clark Carlton was reared as a Southern Baptist in middle Tennessee. He was enrolled as a Raymond Brian Brown Memorial Scholar at the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, when he converted to the Orthodox Church. If you are unsure of what the Orthodox view is on any of the issues listed here, this is the episode for you. For more on Dr. Carlton, go here: https://www.ancientfaith.com/contributors/clark_carlton Find his books on Amazon! Sponsor: The Podsworth App: Get 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com when you use code BUCK50 at checkout! Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com Leave us a review and rating on iTunes! Thanks!

My guest today is the host of the Part of the Problem podcast and also a well-known standup comedian. He has the largest audience of any podcaster in the libertarian world and has been on the Joe Rogan Experience many times. Today we discuss his ability to see the Trump phenomenon for what it was when many in the libertarian world couldn't. We also discuss the Covid years and how he was able to see through the massive amounts of propaganda being shoved down our throats. We also get into Dave now seeing much of what is going on these days as a spiritual battle rather than just a political battle. Dave gives a very honest account of when he found God and how impactful that moment was to him. For more about Dave Smith, go here: https://comicdavesmith.com/ Sponsor: The Podsworth App: Get 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com when you use code BUCK50 at checkout! Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com Leave us a review and rating on iTunes! Thanks!

First of all, Julie Mastrine is back with us as my co-host, and we are interviewing Father Vincent Lampert. Vincent Lampert is an American Catholic priest and the designated exorcist of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis. As you may imagine, he's seen a lot of things that most of us haven't. We dive into his experiences as an exorcist and what that looks like, what it means, what it doesn't mean, and so on. Are demons real? Is possession real? Does it look like it does in the movies? Why does possession happen? Can we open ourselves up to it, even by accident? Is this just a way to deal with a person that needs psychological help? You will hear all of these issues and more discussed on this episode of the Counterflow Podcast. Sponsor: The Podsworth App: Get 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com when you use code BUCK50 at checkout! Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com Leave us a review and rating on iTunes! Thanks!

My guest this week is author Kenny Xu. Kenny has written "An Inconvenient Minority: The Harvard Admissions Case and the Attack on Asian American Excellence" and "School of Woke: How Critical Race Theory Infiltrated American Schools, and Why We Must Reclaim Them". He is also part of the lawsuit against Harvard on behalf of Asian students that calls out their racist admissions program. In this episode, we discuss the evils of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies and the harm they continue to do. We discuss the lawsuit that he's part of vs. Harvard, social credit and ESG scores, woke corporate policies, where it all comes from, and what to do to fight it. For more info on Kenny and what he does, go here: https://colorusunited.org/portfolio-item/kenny-xu/ Sponsor: The Podsworth App: Get 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com when you use code BUCK50 at checkout! Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com Leave us a review and rating on iTunes! Thanks!

This week, we bring you Part 2 of a two-part series on the issues surrounding discussions of Orthodox Christianity on various internet platforms. This format is slightly different for a few reasons. First off, it's moderated by Alex Braszko rather than myself, and I'm more of a panel "guest". And then, as you've likely noticed in the title, it's broken into two episodes. Fr. Turbo guides us through explanations of the hierarchy of the Church, what is appropriate for certain people to speak on publicly, dealing with criticism, and more. George offers up his opinions and experiences running the Monomakhos blog for many years. Why can certain online Orthodox forums be as toxic as they are? Are we risking appearing prideful and lacking humility to Ortho-curious folks? Are people coming to the Church because of finding it through online platforms? Why are so many Orthodox Christians seeking guidance from voices online? We get into all this and more. For more on Father Turbo, go here: https://stmaryofegypt.net and here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheRoyalPath/podcasts For more from George, go here: https://mail.monomakhos.com Sponsor: The Podsworth App: Get 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com when you use code BUCK50 at checkout! Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com Leave us a review and rating on iTunes! Thanks!

This week, we bring you Part 1 of a two-part series on the issues surrounding discussions of Orthodox Christianity on various internet platforms. This format is slightly different for a few reasons. First off, it's moderated by Alex Braszko rather than myself, and I'm more of a panel "guest". And then, as you've likely noticed in the title, it's broken into two episodes. Fr. Turbo guides us through explanations of the hierarchy of the Church, what is appropriate for certain people to speak on publicly, dealing with criticism, and more. George offers up his opinions and experiences running the Monomakhos blog for many years. Why can certain online Orthodox forums be as toxic as they are? Are we risking appearing prideful and lacking humility to Ortho-curious folks? Are people coming to the Church because of finding it through online platforms? Why are so many Orthodox Christians seeking guidance from voices online? We get into all this and more. For more on Father Turbo, go here: https://stmaryofegypt.net and here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheRoyalPath/podcasts For more from George, go here: https://mail.monomakhos.com Sponsor: The Podsworth App: Get 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com when you use code BUCK50 at checkout! Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com Leave us a review and rating on iTunes! Thanks!