Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro and Dr. Jordan B. Peterson discuss using the Lord’s name in vain and the meaning of prayer in the newest episode of “Exodus,” now streaming on DailyWire+. 

With a panel of nine renowned scholars, Peterson and Shapiro finish their reading of Exodus, the second book of the Bible, and explore the significance of the re-establishment of the covenant as well as the Israelites’ vision of the Promised Land. Part of the discussion focuses on the importance and practical applications of prayer.  

“The verb ‘to pray’ in Hebrew is actually in the reflexive tense: ‘lehitpallel.’ It’s supposed to be something that acts on you,” Shapiro said. “The prayer is supposed to act on you; it’s not supposed to be something where you’re attempting to pry an answer out of God.”

Peterson added to Shapiro’s point, saying that prayer and thought are strongly connected, with thought emerging from prayer. “I really do believe that our capacity to think – and I’m thinking about this as an evolutionary biologist – actually emerged out of the domain of prayer, because thought seems to me to have a prayer-like structure.” 

In a separate conversation on taking the Lord’s name in vain – the third of the Ten Commandments – Peterson says that throughout the discussion his view evolved on the Commandment. He originally said that people should not use the Lord’s name for justification of “tyrannical presuppositions.”

Peterson later adds to this, saying, “I also think there is likely an injunction against the casual use of the sacred, the casual reference – like touching the Ark of the Covenant by mistake. You should be careful when you’re treading near holy ground just as a matter of practice.”

Later in the discussion, Shapiro brings up Exodus 33 – when God tells Moses that He will put him in a “cleft in the rock” and cover him with His hand – and explains that the rock could represent the tablets of the Ten Commandments. God is revealing himself to Moses in a veiled way, because while Moses knows God is present, he doesn’t know what He is thinking, Shapiro explains. 

“The God that is inscribed on the stone, the laws, they are the consequence, they’re the wisdom of history,” Peterson adds. “It is as if God has written them in stone with His fingers. These are the patterns of history. These are the fundamental elements of necessary social organization.” 

Dr. Douglas Hedley, professor of philosophy at Cambridge University, emphasizes a point he made earlier in the series, saying that the vision of God is a “necessary condition” of a flourishing society and that a people will perish without this vision. 

Peterson explains that all enthusiasm is filled with the spirit of God and is therefore positive emotion. “All positive emotion of the most intense sort – I don’t mean satiation and satisfaction, I mean hope and enthusiasm – that moves you forward is tied to a vision, because all positive emotion signals movement toward a valued goal.”

This is the sixth of eight new episodes in the series, exploring the importance of Exodus according to theological and literary scholars and showing why the book remains significant thousands of years after being written.

For a deep dive into the Ten Commandments and other important topics in Exodus, including the meaning and restrictions of “an eye for an eye.” You can watch previous episodes here.

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Bud Light’s parent company Anheuser-Busch has lost $3 billion in market cap value following its endorsement of a transgender social media influencer.

The beer conglomerate was worth $132 billion on March 31st. On April 1, the company announced it was partnering with trans activist Dylan Mulvaney.

Reaction was swift. Musician Kid Rock posted a video showing him shooting cases of the beer. Then country music stars Travis Tritt and John Rich ripped the beer company.

On Tuesday, Anheuser-Busch’s share price dipped to $64.96, which wiped out $3 billion from the company’s value, the Daily Mail reported.

Despite the heavy hit, Anheuser-Busch stands by its partnership with Mulvaney.

“Anheuser-Busch works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics and passion points,” vice president of marketing Alissa Gordon Heinerscheid said.

“From time to time, we produce unique commemorative cans for fans and for brand influencers, like Dylan Mulvaney. This commemorative can was a gift to celebrate a personal milestone and is not for sale to the general public,” she said.

Anheuser-Busch distributors in the South, meanwhile, were “spooked” by the backlash and have been placing fewer orders.

“We reached out to a handful of A-B [Anheuser-Busch] distributors who were spooked, most particularly in the Heartland and the South, and even then in their more rural areas,” according to a Beer Business Daily report reviewed by Fox News.

Since the announcement, Consumers across the U.S. revolted against Bud Light, according to bar owners and beer-industry experts around the country.

“I think society flexes its muscles sometimes and reminds manufacturers that the consumer is still in charge,” Jeff Fitter, owner of Case & Bucks, a restaurant and sports bar in Barnhart, Missouri, told Fox Business. “In Bud Light’s effort to be inclusive, they excluded almost everybody else, including their traditional audience.”

Fitter said sales of Anheuser-Busch bottled products dropped 30% over the past week, while draft beer plunged 50%.

It wasn’t just Case & Bucks that saw sales of Bud plummet. Brewhouse owner Alex Kesaris told Fox that 80% of Bud Light drinkers ordered something else this week, “while the 20% who did order the beer ‘weren’t on social media and hadn’t heard yet.’”

A national beer-industry analyst told Fox Business that Bud Light’s move was a “bad decision” that defied “virtually every rule in building brands and marketing.”

The analyst cited a scenario in Texas, where Bud Light has long sponsored a weekly dart league that draws more than 100 players every Thursday. The bar usually blows through three kegs of Bud Light at the event — nearly 500 12-ounce glasses.

This week, the bar sold only four bottles of Bud Light.

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.