WEBVTT
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This is Generations.
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Welcome friends.
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Kevin Swanson here, and a couple of things.
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Now, today I want to do the unthinkable, the ultimately heretical in a world where God's law and God's word is repudiated by the masses, and we're supposed to be living in this pluralistic, polytheistic something or other.
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But what I want to do is I want to apply God's word to well, everything, politics and everything else.
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First, uh, I'm against aggressive dogs that kill people.
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But I'm against banning pit bulls.
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Now we've seen a couple of very sad stories come over the wire recently.
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A woman was killed in Florida in May by two pit bulls that had terrorized the neighborhood for quite some time.
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A pit bull killed a 76-year-old man uh back in March after the dog had already attacked and seriously injured a delivery worker.
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Also, another seven-year-old boy was killed by a pit bull earlier this year, and another 59-year-old man was killed by a pit bull in January out in New York.
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Well, this is a lesson for every family that owns animals, especially dogs.
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The dog is the second most dangerous animal in the world as far as killing people is concerned.
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We talk about this in God made animals.
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The mosquito is the most dangerous, and yet, you know, as families, we are called to take dominion over God's creation, including the animal creation of dogs.
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Now, I am against banning pit bulls, but I'm in favor of Exodus 21, 28 to 30.
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Here it is.
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If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, then the ox shall be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall be acquitted.
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But if the aggressive ox tended to thrust with its horn in times past, and it has been made known to its owner, and he has not kept it confined so that it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner shall be put to death.
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If there is imposed on him a sum of money, then he shall pay to redeem his life, whatever is imposed on him.
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Well, that's God's law relating to extreme negligence cases.
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Now here's my question: Is there any wisdom in God's laws?
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Shall we ban pit bulls or the bull that's want to push his horn or hold owners responsible by robust laws, like the gross negligence law we find in Exodus 21.
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Now, there is more wisdom in a legal system that imposes responsibility on owners of animals and machines by severe sanctions for rare but severe crimes, rather than to punish an entire society with an intricate regulatory system.
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All right, now in other news, the New York serial killer that terrorized the island for ten years just got rewarded with room and board paid for by the taxpayers for the rest of his life.
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Yay.
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Yay for that guy.
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Apparently, Genesis 9 6 in Romans 13 4 has no bearing whatsoever on the New York legal system.
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All right, in other news, during a recent gay pride game, the San Francisco Giants team members were forced to wear caps bearing the symbol of the gay rainbow.
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However, three Christian pitchers by the name of I believe Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow.
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As Johnny Cash would say, they didn't bend, they didn't bow, they didn't burn.
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Well, all three pitchers scrawled Genesis 9, 12 to 16 on their baseball hats over the gay pride emblem, having failed to make the proper prostrations at the altar of the sodomites, they were soundly rebuked by the MLB, the Major League Baseball Association.
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Quote, the writing on the cap violates our rules, and consistent with normal practice, we have warned the players about future violations.
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Guy named Sid Ziggler, co-founder of LGBTQ sports site Alt Sports, called the display disgraceful.
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Sid said, quote, they defaced the pride rainbow on the caps by telling the LGBTQ community they don't own the rainbow.
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God owns the rainbow.
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To which we say, uh, yeah.
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Well, actually, God does own the rainbow.
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Starting pitcher's Landon Raup was quoted as saying, First of all, as a believer, I would push my detractors to read the Bible.
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Good point.
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Rop stated, I think God has blessed me in so many ways, and I don't think I would be here right now if it wasn't for him.
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We live in a country where you're welcome to believe what you want.
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There's freedom of speech and stuff like that.
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So that's really all I have to say about that.
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I'm just thankful that God has put me in this situation that I can go out and share his kingdom.
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All right, well, that's what he said.
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Good.
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Kudos.
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Amen.
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Meanwhile, the Giants team offered their sycophantic prostrations to those who would have everybody celebrate and bask in their sexual perversions.
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Quote, we understand the choice by individual players has caused pain and anger to many in the LGBTQ community, and we are sorry for that.
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And I guess as long as I am applying God's authoritative law to the current situation, I might as well include this one from Romans 1.
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For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions, for even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature, likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
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And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them up over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, who knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death.
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Not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.
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Now, also, James Tallerico is the Democrat nominee for the Texas U.S.
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Senate seat this year.
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And uh this is what he was quoted as saying uh recently.
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Uh I always think of myself as a Christian who hates Christianity.
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He went on to say I always get drawn back into it because nowhere else in no other political philosophy and no other economic theory do I find anything nearly as truly radical or revolutionary as the teachings of that barefoot rabbi.
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And now here's an article from the Texas Observer that so perfectly nails the American religion in the chronicling of the life of James Tallerico.
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First of all, as we've mentioned before, David French, who's this PCA guy who um apparently was associated with Christianity today for a long time and still is, David French refers to Taller Rico as, quote, one of the few openly Christian politicians in the United States who acts like a Christian.
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Well, Tallerico was raised in the apostate denomination known as the PC USA.
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He's one of the few young people who still stuck around the decrepit and dying PC USA, one of the few young people who actually didn't totally apostatize into a self-professed atheism and agnosticism because he's currently still in the ministry and training for the ministry at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
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Well, Talarico quotes his Baptist preacher grandfather who says Christians are the ones who follow a barefoot rabbi who gave us two commandments, love God and love neighbor, because there is no love of God without love of neighbor.
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Actually, it would have been better to put it the other way.
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There can be no love of neighbor without love for God and his law.
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You can sense the man-centered emphasis that enters in to Talarico's grandpa and Talarico himself using statements like this.
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You see, liberals don't love God and they certainly don't love his law.
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That's why they love their neighbors in all the wrong ways, which means that they don't love their neighbors at all.
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The New Yorker went on so far as to say that the Talarico platform is the New Testament.
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Well, not the Old Testament, and certainly not the parts of the New Testament that quote the Old Testament, I would add.
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Apparently, Talarico's go-to gospel passage is Matthew 25, 35 to 40, where Jesus speaks of caring for the hungry, the stranger, and the imprisoned, all except for the fact that Jesus is talking about the least of his brothers.
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We're supposed to love the least of his brothers and take care of them.
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Which uh he uh defines in Matthew 12 as those who do the will of his father and follow through on the law of God.
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So Talerico is a gigantic religious fake, and he knows it.
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Okay, Jesus didn't mention homosexuality and abortion in the gospels, which is one of Talarico's points, as if these are the only scriptures Jesus respected.
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If he's this big New Testament Christian, why doesn't he embrace Matthew 15?
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That's my question.
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Matthew 15.
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Matthew 15 is the other passage where Jesus answered and said to the people, Why do you also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
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For God commanded, saying, Honor your father and mother, and he who curses father and mother, let him be put to death.
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You hear that, Talariko?
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But but you say, Whoever says to his father and mother, whatever prophet you might have received from me as a gift of God, then he need not honor his father and mother.
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Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.
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Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying, These people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
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And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
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All right, Big James Tallerico.
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How about following the barefoot rabbi from Nazareth on that one?
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You hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying, These people draw near to me with their mouth, but their heart is far from me.
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What?
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Jesus affirming Old Testament law?
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Absolute heresy from the perspective of American religionists, who by and large have no respect for God's law.
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Hey, both Republicans and Democrats alike pretty much despise God's laws.
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But at some point, here's my point conservative Christians are either going to have to vote for Matthew 15, 1 to 4 and other parts of God's laws, or just capitulate with James Talarico's version of autonomy and rebellion against God's laws.
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If you can't respect God's law as affirmed by Jesus in Matthew 15, you're not going to respect Exodus 21, 22 to 25 on abortion, and you're certainly not going to respect 1 Timothy 1 on the issue of sodomy.
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You're not going to respect Deuteronomy 22 on the issue of transgenderism and cross-dressing.
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Either God's law is the standard, or you're going to have to vote for James Tallerico for U.S.
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Senate and throw the Bible to the wind.
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Create your own religion out of bits and pieces torn out of the Bible here and there and join the apostasy.
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Or, or go with what God said.
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Friends, I encourage you to a copy of my new book, Under God, a battle plan for reforming civil government, hot off the press.
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Just pulled out 2,000 copies sitting right here.
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We just moved about 900 copies, so we've got a few left.
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But uh get yourself a copy of Under God, a battle plan for reforming civil government.
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Uh today, James Tallerico's major concern actually is Christian nationalism.
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In fact, as far as I can tell, that's his platform opposing Christian nationalism.
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Sam Russ joins me on this uh topic today.
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And Sam, it's really uh extraordinary how uh guys like James Tallerico are frightened stiff about the potential of the rise of Christian nationalism and really a return of the nation to the Christian foundations upon which the nation was uh formed 250 years ago.
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Um I mean that it seems to me to be just pure fright on the part of the left when they they're considering how uh a fairly substantial portion of America are thinking, you know, those Christian foundations weren't so bad after all.
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Yeah, it it's interesting.
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There's a lot of projection going on.
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Uh interesting that Talerico claims to be a Christian and yet is so scared of Christian nationalism, which ought to be the first tell.
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And and not just Christian nationalism.
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Yeah, he says he's afraid of Christianity.
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So it's not just Christian nationalism, he's afraid of Christianity.
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Yes, yeah.
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I mean, uh in the the pages of history with his ideology, his ideology doesn't fare well when it comes up against robust, grounded historical Christianity.
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Full stop.
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Yeah, and and and and I think people should be aware of the fact that you know there's a destructive force that's uh that's coming against our entire civilization.
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And I like to put it this way there's two things going on in simultaneously.
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Uh they're taking a wrecking ball to the foundations of our civilization, but you do that and you're gonna lose a civilization.
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You you you can't just you know somehow jack up the foundation of a 1,000-story building and shove in some other foundation.
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It's just not going to work.
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You're if if you're gonna destroy the foundations of this nation, you're gonna destroy the nation.
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I I don't think there's any two ways about it.
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Thus, the only thing, as I see it, the only thing that could salvage the nation is a return to the Christian principles upon which she was formed.
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Yeah, there's uh been a lot of press on Telarico because, in large part, he's in Texas.
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He's running for Senate in Texas.
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For those who aren't aware, uh Texas is the prize for the Democrats right now, has been for the last 15, 20 years.
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Uh, they're they're always one cycle away from flipping it blue.
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Um, and this is their latest attempt.
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And James has uh a lot of things supposedly going for him to run in Texas as a Democrat.
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He's he seems somewhat affable, um, white man, grown up in Texas, I think eighth generation Texan.
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Um, and he's he's relatively well spoken uh when he knows that he's in front of a camera.
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So there's there's all those elements that are combining to to to coalesce into an interesting electoral campaign.
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But he's he's running on an interesting platform, um, specifically of trying to be a certain kind of Christian.
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And I know that on this program, Kevin, you talk a lot about the Enlightenment, but I think that it's important for our audience to be able to trace back where James comes from.
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He's a direct product of the liberal wing of Protestantism, which really swallowed the Enlightenment whole and has adopted kind of this Lockean uh individual liberties above all else.
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Marry that with uh, you know, a lower view of scripture, don't hold to infallibility of scripture, and you get a cornucopia of denominations that we're all familiar with that are all unfortunately having their lamp removed if it's not entirely gone already.
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And Talerico is just the end state of that, um, where he has found a way um to justify on very public platforms um abortion, trans rights, homosexuality.
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I mean, you go down just about every social issue and turn that into a Christian issue where the liberal frame actually is blessed by his version of Christianity, which we should be clear is is no version of Christianity at all.
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He doesn't hold to anything orthodox in these realms um that would would enable him to actually make claim.
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Um, but that's that's a stream of thought, a stream of theology that has real-world consequences.
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And we're seeing that in our political sphere today.
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Well, I mean, I let's talk about Christian nationalism.
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Um, there are obviously different definitions, I'm sure.
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Uh first thing I like to say is, well, I don't like non-Christian internationalism, you know, um, some kind of you know, pagan uh international one-world order government.
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I I don't think the average Christian wants to go for that.
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Uh the idea of internationalism is that somehow you can build a Tower of Babel and bring all of the nations together to oppose Jesus.
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Uh literally, to oppose Christ, which is a very bad idea.
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Can I can I say that?
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The idea of forming a world government at the time of Babel was a bad idea anyway.
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Now to do it in opposition to Jesus Christ is uh is even worse.
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And uh so I I say that from the outset, but uh but a nation can be more or less Christian.
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And I I believe, and this is why I wrote the book under God, the more a nation aligns with Christian law, the better the nation, the better the nation for all of us.
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You you believe that?
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Oh, 100%.
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I uh whenever we're talking about terms that get thrown around in Christian nationalism, has really hit the zeitgeist over the last five or six years.
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It's used, it began as a pejorative term, kind of in the beginning of COVID.
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Um, and then certain elements of the Christian right, um, such as it is, have adopted it, tried to uh maybe define it better.
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But I always like to start with definitions.
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And so my go-to is to go to the 1828 Webster dictionary and look up words there.
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Nationalism, you won't find it there, um, which is kind of interesting to me, um, and speaks to the idea that prior to maybe the turn of the 20th century, uh, people didn't recognize nationalism as its own ideology per se.
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It was just the way the world was.
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Um, nationalism, as defined by Merriam-Webster today, is an ideology that elevates one nation or nationality above all others, and that places primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or nationalities.
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Um, and so we're talking about political outlook when we're talking about nationalism.
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Um, you know, we could point out globalism is maybe the antithesis of this, where everybody around the world is equal and no nation is special, no culture is special.
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They should all be celebrated somehow, but also not special.
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Um but in the political environment, you know, it's much like worship.
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Everybody worships something, it's just what you worship, not whether you worship.
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Well, everybody has a political ideology.
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It's not whether you have one, it's which one you have.
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Um, and nationalism is one that has been very strong throughout most of human history, um, and for a variety of reasons, has uh seen a big decline in the modern era.
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Um, as people have on the secular left have tried to redefine secularism and nationalism and national fervor.
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And we see that today in America, where you know the old loves of patriotism and we're an exceptional nation, all those things are they're not politically correct anymore.
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Now, there's certain corners that are trying to bring that back.
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But nationalism really just means I love my nation, I think I live in a better nation than many other nations, and I'm gonna prefer said nation over others.
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Now you affix Christian to that, and now we're bringing in what are the Christian principles at play?
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And there's a lot of different ways that theologians have pulled together these arguments.
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You have the old uh Aquinas and Augustinian, Ordo Amoris, the ordered loves.
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You've got uh more recent, like Stephen Wolfe's case for Christian nationalism, which is more of a natural law approach, um, you've got uh two kingdoms approach, which is somewhat familiar in covenantal circles going back to the Protestant Reformation, you've got Kyperian sphere sovereignty.
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Um, each of those, we could probably dive in and do 10 minutes on each of those in maybe some future episode.
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Um, but all of them recognize that when Paul in the New Testament, particularly in Galatians and Ephesians, when he calls for unity and the elimination of differences before Christ, he's talking about a spiritual reality, that in Christ there is no more slave nor free, male nor female, Scythian or Greek or Jew.
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Though those categories are dissolved in a spiritual plane.
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And each of the four viewpoints that are all upheld in, and I would say orthodox uh Protestant circles, um, they all recognize that distinction that in Christ, in the spiritual reality, those differences are dissolved.
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But Christ did not say, Paul is not saying through Paul that the genders are dissolved, that male and female are no more.
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Of course, that's not the case.
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Um, and so there's political realities that have to be worked through carefully in light of scripture as well.
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And Christian nationalism is trying to apply biblical principles to nationalism as an ideology, discarding the bad, kind of spitting out the bones of nationalism where they're found, but marrying those two things and seeking the good of the nation from a Christian perspective, which sounds an awful lot like uh what our founding fathers wanted and what most great Americans have believed going back 300 years, 400 years to the landing at Plymouth Rock.
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Sam, it doesn't seem important to me to sit around all day long and giving a list of reasons why our nation is better than every single other nation in the world today.
00:23:37.099 --> 00:23:40.539
I think it's legit to say, and I by the way, I have this in my book.
00:23:40.619 --> 00:23:44.779
I call it the evil index or the morality index, the more positive way to say it.
00:23:45.019 --> 00:23:50.859
There actually are nations that are better than other nations on about eight to ten indexes that I put together.
00:23:51.019 --> 00:23:55.579
So it's okay to do that, but I'm not sure it's it's a huge value to me.
00:23:55.660 --> 00:24:03.259
I I'm I guess there's reasons why we want to make our nation a better nation than it used to be, uh, more aligned with Christian law.
00:24:03.420 --> 00:24:10.539
Uh when we say a better culture, I would say a culture that more aligns with the the will of God for how we to are to function.
00:24:10.700 --> 00:24:19.740
Uh But what what matters to me in this, I like your comment on this, is the decentralization of power and the retention of national boundaries.
00:24:19.900 --> 00:24:21.500
To me, that's that's important.
00:24:21.740 --> 00:24:25.339
Uh maybe I'm just saying I'm setting myself against the globalists.
00:24:25.500 --> 00:24:38.619
I'm not keen on globalism because uh I don't I don't trust uh the centralization of power anywhere uh outside of that that power that is assumed by Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
00:24:38.859 --> 00:24:48.059
So nationalism to me is is to oppose the uh the the international the tendency to internationalism.
00:24:48.460 --> 00:24:58.859
And uh, you know, yeah, okay, I'm okay with appreciating our country, I'm okay with a degree of patriotism, a degree of uh gratitude for uh the rights that we we enjoy.
00:24:58.940 --> 00:25:11.500
And I and I think an argument can be made that America has been the freest nation, the most prosperous nation, uh more honest nation on, say, the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, et cetera, et cetera.
00:25:11.660 --> 00:25:13.339
We can say these sorts of things, and it's okay.
00:25:13.420 --> 00:25:16.700
It's a legit to be thankful for your nation.
00:25:17.019 --> 00:25:24.940
But uh at the same time, uh what I would like to see is a retention of a of a of our national boundaries.
00:25:25.180 --> 00:25:32.859
I would like to fight for Christian law, biblically based laws uh in national, state, and local governments.
00:25:33.099 --> 00:25:39.900
Um I would like to fight for Christian culture, not just in politics, but in every aspect of our lives.
00:25:40.140 --> 00:25:50.220
And as Christians, I think we're called to be salt and light and to impose our Christian values as best as we can into the business world, the other aspects of our culture.
00:25:50.460 --> 00:25:52.140
So uh your comment on that?
00:25:52.779 --> 00:26:00.140
Yeah, I think it's important to go back to the definition of nationalism, which is an ideology that elevates one nation or nationality above others.
00:26:00.460 --> 00:26:06.299
And that elevates it's not saying that intrinsically this country is better than others.
00:26:06.460 --> 00:26:10.460
You know, there should be Christian nationalists in El Salvador, in South Africa.
00:26:10.619 --> 00:26:19.740
Every nation should be uh nationalistic, in my view, which just means I am going to seek, God has sovereignly placed me in country X.
00:26:19.819 --> 00:26:24.539
And as long as He's made it clear that I'm to stay here, I should seek the good of my nation.
00:26:24.779 --> 00:26:25.099
Okay.
00:26:25.339 --> 00:26:30.700
Um and I should have preeminent loyalty to this nation, to this particular place.
00:26:31.099 --> 00:26:37.339
And arguably defend its borders and defend its borders against you know aggressors, right?
00:26:38.619 --> 00:26:46.859
The kind of, I think the definition of a nation somehow includes you have to be able to define who's in your nation versus out of your nation, which brings borders, right?
00:26:46.940 --> 00:26:47.099
Sure.
00:26:47.259 --> 00:26:48.859
And that's why those issues are so important.
00:26:49.019 --> 00:26:55.099
So in America, you know, we can make the argument that we live in the best nation in the world, and there's a lot of stats that point to that.
00:26:55.180 --> 00:26:56.779
It depends on what you're wanting to measure, right?
00:26:56.940 --> 00:27:03.740
But laying all those arguments aside, as an American, I should want the good of my nation.
00:27:03.900 --> 00:27:05.660
I believe that that's a scriptural principle.
00:27:05.819 --> 00:27:08.779
We should be part of making America a discipled nation.
00:27:08.940 --> 00:27:09.259
Yeah.
00:27:09.500 --> 00:27:21.339
That would be what is the best outcome for all the people, Christian or not, inside of America, absent the few evildoers that need to be dealt with and you know, dealt with by the sword.
00:27:21.900 --> 00:27:51.980
But that's where the Christian nationalism part gets kind of scary to people like Talarico, is they uh they are worried that Christians might actually apply what the Bible says is good for a society, good for families, good for communities, um, and how society ought to be structured, which includes a lot of rights and liberties, but also bounds those rights and liberties in the context of the law that God has written onto every human heart and then given us in his word.
00:27:52.460 --> 00:28:01.420
And we believe that if we pull forward the Ten Commandments as an example and and various other aspects of scripture, that we will have a more prosperous society.
00:28:01.500 --> 00:28:10.539
Uh, that kind of a society is much harder to hijack, it's much harder to accrete power to centralize it, which is why Christianity has always been opposed.
00:28:10.700 --> 00:28:19.259
Uh, it's it's much harder to corrupt robust Christianity than really almost any other ideology that's that's been across the planet, which should be no surprise.
00:28:19.579 --> 00:28:19.980
Yeah.
00:28:20.220 --> 00:28:21.420
Well, where do we go from here?
00:28:21.579 --> 00:28:24.779
Let's just just wrap it up, let me make some applications, uh, Sam.
00:28:24.940 --> 00:28:31.660
Um, you know, I'm I think we should raise our kids to to be uh future leaders uh in this nation.
00:28:31.819 --> 00:28:51.500
Ideally, you know, our young men, uh you know, with a vision for uh for the principles upon which the nation is founded, and certainly you know, rooted and grounded in scriptural law and uh and also um with with the character that's that's needed uh to take this nation to where it needs to be, say, by the year 2100.
00:28:51.660 --> 00:29:02.379
I've warned so many that if if if we don't fight for biblical-based liberties, we could be leaving leaving our kids in gulags and prison camps by the year 2048.
00:29:02.460 --> 00:29:04.059
And I don't want that to happen.
00:29:05.500 --> 00:29:12.059
Yeah, I want my children to enjoy the blessings of freedom uh greater than I enjoy today.
00:29:12.220 --> 00:29:13.980
Yeah, and that's gonna take a lot of effort.
00:29:14.140 --> 00:29:19.099
Uh I would point people to something, um, kind of piggybacking off of something we were talking about earlier.
00:29:19.259 --> 00:29:22.140
Categorical thinking is gonna be just so crucial.
00:29:22.379 --> 00:29:31.420
One of the ways that the left has consistently won ground is when people who are not Christian pull scripture out of context and say, we must love all.
00:29:31.660 --> 00:29:39.259
And and we saw that weaponized in COVID, where loving your neighbor suddenly was wearing a mask that didn't do anything, but it was still, you must love your neighbor.
00:29:39.339 --> 00:29:40.140
You're a Christian.
00:29:40.299 --> 00:29:50.220
And so we have to be able to delineate as Christians, as those with the Holy Spirit inside of ourselves, how um what is true at a spiritual reality?
00:29:50.379 --> 00:30:01.339
You know, what is true, what are the duties that I am owed to Christian brothers and sisters, to people in my community, to my family, to my nation, um, and and what physical duties do I owe?
00:30:01.500 --> 00:30:12.539
Um, and not let people conflate categories, especially those who are not Christians, people from the outside do this all the time, um, and weaponize love, they weaponize empathy.
00:30:12.700 --> 00:30:27.500
And we fall prey to that if we're not able to think in categories and think about what has God said about political reality, not for our time necessarily, but just what are the truths that are in scripture about nations, how we ought to operate in a nation.
00:30:27.660 --> 00:30:35.180
Um, Jesus had plenty to say, the Great Commission um deals with nations, other passages throughout the New Testament deal with nations.
00:30:35.420 --> 00:30:37.660
Um, how does that play out?
00:30:37.819 --> 00:30:44.059
And we've got to separate that from some other aspects and make sure that we're not linking things that ought not to be linked.
00:30:44.379 --> 00:31:01.819
I couldn't help but think of the uh classic kibling line uh as applied to James Talerico, and that is the guy who started by loving his neighbor and ended by loving his wife and his neighbor's dog and anything else as far as the sexual perversions go on the left.
00:31:02.059 --> 00:31:09.259
Um so you know, the idea that love is reinterpreted to mean just about anything.
00:31:11.019 --> 00:31:11.500
Wow.
00:31:11.740 --> 00:31:15.660
And and Jesus made it clear if you love me, you'll keep my commandments.
00:31:16.059 --> 00:31:20.539
And uh love is the fulfillment of the commandments of God.
00:31:20.779 --> 00:31:30.700
Uh that's super essential for for Christians who are thinking properly, uh, especially now with these terms being reinterpreted each and every way.
00:31:31.019 --> 00:31:32.859
So, well, let's uh let's wrap this up.
00:31:32.940 --> 00:31:36.859
Uh, friends, I'd encourage you to my book uh Under God, just fresh off the press.
00:31:36.940 --> 00:31:39.259
These are actually really beautifully put together.
00:31:39.420 --> 00:31:40.299
I tell you what.
00:31:40.379 --> 00:31:42.379
Uh our team worked hard on this.
00:31:42.460 --> 00:31:47.500
This is America's 250th commemorative edition, uh, Battle Plan for Reforming Civil Government.
00:31:47.579 --> 00:31:51.180
And check it out at our website, generations.org.
00:31:51.579 --> 00:31:55.180
Um, wow, I've got a whole section on Christian nationalism here.
00:31:55.259 --> 00:32:03.019
Uh I've got God's Law, Natural Law, Conspiracies, Maximizing Liberty, uh, drugs, pornography, and prostitute.
00:32:03.099 --> 00:32:07.740
I get right down into some of the more specific issues that people are, you know, argue about.
00:32:07.819 --> 00:32:14.299
And I we do as best as we can to bring a biblical perspective on these things, biblical economics, uh, pro-life strategies.
00:32:14.379 --> 00:32:17.180
I know there's lots of arguments over what are the best strategies.
00:32:17.259 --> 00:32:20.379
And I think, you know, do them the best I can to get into that.
00:32:20.539 --> 00:32:23.819
And I ran for governor of Colorado in 1994, U.S.
00:32:23.900 --> 00:32:25.180
Senate in 1998.
00:32:25.259 --> 00:32:33.019
Uh, I've been playing around with politics for a long time, and I think, you know, this is this is kind of this is 22 years of these radio programs.
00:32:33.259 --> 00:32:39.099
Just try to pull apart all these issues from a distinctively biblical perspective, and I put it into one volume, Under God.
00:32:39.180 --> 00:32:43.500
So this yeah, 22 years of daily radio programs in one book.
00:32:43.660 --> 00:32:49.180
So there it is, Under God, a battle plan for reforming civil government, available at generations.org.
00:32:49.500 --> 00:32:51.900
Sam Rust, my co-host on this edition of the program.
00:32:51.980 --> 00:32:52.460
Thanks, Sam.
00:32:52.539 --> 00:32:53.500
Appreciate you joining us.
00:32:53.819 --> 00:32:54.539
Thank you, Kevin.
00:32:54.779 --> 00:33:01.180
And this is Kevin Swanson inviting you back again next time as we continue to lay down a vision for the next generation.
00:33:09.660 --> 00:33:12.700
This has been a production of the Generations Media Network.
00:33:12.779 --> 00:33:15.980
For more information, go to generations.org/slash media.
00:00:06.559 --> 00:00:07.919
This is Generations.
00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:08.560
Welcome friends.
00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:10.480
Kevin Swanson here, and a couple of things.
00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:23.199
Now, today I want to do the unthinkable, the ultimately heretical in a world where God's law and God's word is repudiated by the masses, and we're supposed to be living in this pluralistic, polytheistic something or other.
00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:31.679
But what I want to do is I want to apply God's word to well, everything, politics and everything else.
00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:35.679
First, uh, I'm against aggressive dogs that kill people.
00:00:36.719 --> 00:00:38.880
But I'm against banning pit bulls.
00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:43.600
Now we've seen a couple of very sad stories come over the wire recently.
00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:49.119
A woman was killed in Florida in May by two pit bulls that had terrorized the neighborhood for quite some time.
00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:56.880
A pit bull killed a 76-year-old man uh back in March after the dog had already attacked and seriously injured a delivery worker.
00:00:57.039 --> 00:01:05.760
Also, another seven-year-old boy was killed by a pit bull earlier this year, and another 59-year-old man was killed by a pit bull in January out in New York.
00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:10.159
Well, this is a lesson for every family that owns animals, especially dogs.
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The dog is the second most dangerous animal in the world as far as killing people is concerned.
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We talk about this in God made animals.
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The mosquito is the most dangerous, and yet, you know, as families, we are called to take dominion over God's creation, including the animal creation of dogs.
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Now, I am against banning pit bulls, but I'm in favor of Exodus 21, 28 to 30.
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Here it is.
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If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, then the ox shall be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall be acquitted.
00:01:44.239 --> 00:02:00.319
But if the aggressive ox tended to thrust with its horn in times past, and it has been made known to its owner, and he has not kept it confined so that it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner shall be put to death.
00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:05.439
If there is imposed on him a sum of money, then he shall pay to redeem his life, whatever is imposed on him.
00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:09.599
Well, that's God's law relating to extreme negligence cases.
00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:14.639
Now here's my question: Is there any wisdom in God's laws?
00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:28.719
Shall we ban pit bulls or the bull that's want to push his horn or hold owners responsible by robust laws, like the gross negligence law we find in Exodus 21.
00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:43.840
Now, there is more wisdom in a legal system that imposes responsibility on owners of animals and machines by severe sanctions for rare but severe crimes, rather than to punish an entire society with an intricate regulatory system.
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All right, now in other news, the New York serial killer that terrorized the island for ten years just got rewarded with room and board paid for by the taxpayers for the rest of his life.
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Yay.
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Yay for that guy.
00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:07.280
Apparently, Genesis 9 6 in Romans 13 4 has no bearing whatsoever on the New York legal system.
00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:17.039
All right, in other news, during a recent gay pride game, the San Francisco Giants team members were forced to wear caps bearing the symbol of the gay rainbow.
00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:25.199
However, three Christian pitchers by the name of I believe Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow.
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As Johnny Cash would say, they didn't bend, they didn't bow, they didn't burn.
00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:45.120
Well, all three pitchers scrawled Genesis 9, 12 to 16 on their baseball hats over the gay pride emblem, having failed to make the proper prostrations at the altar of the sodomites, they were soundly rebuked by the MLB, the Major League Baseball Association.
00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:53.520
Quote, the writing on the cap violates our rules, and consistent with normal practice, we have warned the players about future violations.
00:03:54.080 --> 00:04:00.240
Guy named Sid Ziggler, co-founder of LGBTQ sports site Alt Sports, called the display disgraceful.
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Sid said, quote, they defaced the pride rainbow on the caps by telling the LGBTQ community they don't own the rainbow.
00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:11.039
God owns the rainbow.
00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:13.599
To which we say, uh, yeah.
00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:16.879
Well, actually, God does own the rainbow.
00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:24.800
Starting pitcher's Landon Raup was quoted as saying, First of all, as a believer, I would push my detractors to read the Bible.
00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:25.920
Good point.
00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:31.439
Rop stated, I think God has blessed me in so many ways, and I don't think I would be here right now if it wasn't for him.
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We live in a country where you're welcome to believe what you want.
00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:36.879
There's freedom of speech and stuff like that.
00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:38.959
So that's really all I have to say about that.
00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:43.120
I'm just thankful that God has put me in this situation that I can go out and share his kingdom.
00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:44.480
All right, well, that's what he said.
00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:44.879
Good.
00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:45.600
Kudos.
00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:46.240
Amen.
00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:55.199
Meanwhile, the Giants team offered their sycophantic prostrations to those who would have everybody celebrate and bask in their sexual perversions.
00:04:55.360 --> 00:05:04.000
Quote, we understand the choice by individual players has caused pain and anger to many in the LGBTQ community, and we are sorry for that.
00:05:04.319 --> 00:05:11.519
And I guess as long as I am applying God's authoritative law to the current situation, I might as well include this one from Romans 1.
00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:29.839
For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions, for even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature, likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:48.319
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them up over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, who knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death.
00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:52.800
Not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.
00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:58.160
Now, also, James Tallerico is the Democrat nominee for the Texas U.S.
00:05:58.240 --> 00:05:59.360
Senate seat this year.
00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:03.600
And uh this is what he was quoted as saying uh recently.
00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:07.439
Uh I always think of myself as a Christian who hates Christianity.
00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:20.959
He went on to say I always get drawn back into it because nowhere else in no other political philosophy and no other economic theory do I find anything nearly as truly radical or revolutionary as the teachings of that barefoot rabbi.
00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:30.319
And now here's an article from the Texas Observer that so perfectly nails the American religion in the chronicling of the life of James Tallerico.
00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:47.680
First of all, as we've mentioned before, David French, who's this PCA guy who um apparently was associated with Christianity today for a long time and still is, David French refers to Taller Rico as, quote, one of the few openly Christian politicians in the United States who acts like a Christian.
00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:54.319
Well, Tallerico was raised in the apostate denomination known as the PC USA.
00:06:54.639 --> 00:07:14.240
He's one of the few young people who still stuck around the decrepit and dying PC USA, one of the few young people who actually didn't totally apostatize into a self-professed atheism and agnosticism because he's currently still in the ministry and training for the ministry at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:28.240
Well, Talarico quotes his Baptist preacher grandfather who says Christians are the ones who follow a barefoot rabbi who gave us two commandments, love God and love neighbor, because there is no love of God without love of neighbor.
00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:32.000
Actually, it would have been better to put it the other way.
00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:36.480
There can be no love of neighbor without love for God and his law.
00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:44.000
You can sense the man-centered emphasis that enters in to Talarico's grandpa and Talarico himself using statements like this.
00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:48.319
You see, liberals don't love God and they certainly don't love his law.
00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:54.399
That's why they love their neighbors in all the wrong ways, which means that they don't love their neighbors at all.
00:07:54.639 --> 00:08:00.240
The New Yorker went on so far as to say that the Talarico platform is the New Testament.
00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:05.519
Well, not the Old Testament, and certainly not the parts of the New Testament that quote the Old Testament, I would add.
00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:19.199
Apparently, Talarico's go-to gospel passage is Matthew 25, 35 to 40, where Jesus speaks of caring for the hungry, the stranger, and the imprisoned, all except for the fact that Jesus is talking about the least of his brothers.
00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:22.879
We're supposed to love the least of his brothers and take care of them.
00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:30.800
Which uh he uh defines in Matthew 12 as those who do the will of his father and follow through on the law of God.
00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:34.559
So Talerico is a gigantic religious fake, and he knows it.
00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:43.039
Okay, Jesus didn't mention homosexuality and abortion in the gospels, which is one of Talarico's points, as if these are the only scriptures Jesus respected.
00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:47.600
If he's this big New Testament Christian, why doesn't he embrace Matthew 15?
00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:48.639
That's my question.
00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:50.080
Matthew 15.
00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:59.600
Matthew 15 is the other passage where Jesus answered and said to the people, Why do you also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:07.200
For God commanded, saying, Honor your father and mother, and he who curses father and mother, let him be put to death.
00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:08.879
You hear that, Talariko?
00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:17.519
But but you say, Whoever says to his father and mother, whatever prophet you might have received from me as a gift of God, then he need not honor his father and mother.
00:09:17.679 --> 00:09:21.120
Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.
00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:29.440
Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying, These people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:33.919
And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
00:09:34.159 --> 00:09:35.919
All right, Big James Tallerico.
00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:39.600
How about following the barefoot rabbi from Nazareth on that one?
00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:48.159
You hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying, These people draw near to me with their mouth, but their heart is far from me.
00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:48.639
What?
00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:51.120
Jesus affirming Old Testament law?
00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:57.919
Absolute heresy from the perspective of American religionists, who by and large have no respect for God's law.
00:09:58.080 --> 00:10:03.120
Hey, both Republicans and Democrats alike pretty much despise God's laws.
00:10:03.279 --> 00:10:18.559
But at some point, here's my point conservative Christians are either going to have to vote for Matthew 15, 1 to 4 and other parts of God's laws, or just capitulate with James Talarico's version of autonomy and rebellion against God's laws.
00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:31.360
If you can't respect God's law as affirmed by Jesus in Matthew 15, you're not going to respect Exodus 21, 22 to 25 on abortion, and you're certainly not going to respect 1 Timothy 1 on the issue of sodomy.
00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:37.120
You're not going to respect Deuteronomy 22 on the issue of transgenderism and cross-dressing.
00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:42.480
Either God's law is the standard, or you're going to have to vote for James Tallerico for U.S.
00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:44.399
Senate and throw the Bible to the wind.
00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:50.159
Create your own religion out of bits and pieces torn out of the Bible here and there and join the apostasy.
00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:53.519
Or, or go with what God said.
00:10:54.240 --> 00:11:01.200
Friends, I encourage you to a copy of my new book, Under God, a battle plan for reforming civil government, hot off the press.
00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:04.480
Just pulled out 2,000 copies sitting right here.
00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:07.679
We just moved about 900 copies, so we've got a few left.
00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:13.519
But uh get yourself a copy of Under God, a battle plan for reforming civil government.
00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:18.559
Uh today, James Tallerico's major concern actually is Christian nationalism.
00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:23.759
In fact, as far as I can tell, that's his platform opposing Christian nationalism.
00:11:23.919 --> 00:11:26.559
Sam Russ joins me on this uh topic today.
00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:46.080
And Sam, it's really uh extraordinary how uh guys like James Tallerico are frightened stiff about the potential of the rise of Christian nationalism and really a return of the nation to the Christian foundations upon which the nation was uh formed 250 years ago.
00:11:46.320 --> 00:12:03.120
Um I mean that it seems to me to be just pure fright on the part of the left when they they're considering how uh a fairly substantial portion of America are thinking, you know, those Christian foundations weren't so bad after all.
00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:04.960
Yeah, it it's interesting.
00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:06.639
There's a lot of projection going on.
00:12:06.799 --> 00:12:15.200
Uh interesting that Talerico claims to be a Christian and yet is so scared of Christian nationalism, which ought to be the first tell.
00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:16.960
And and not just Christian nationalism.
00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:19.600
Yeah, he says he's afraid of Christianity.
00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:23.120
So it's not just Christian nationalism, he's afraid of Christianity.
00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:25.440
Yes, yeah.
00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:35.679
I mean, uh in the the pages of history with his ideology, his ideology doesn't fare well when it comes up against robust, grounded historical Christianity.
00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:36.480
Full stop.
00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:48.080
Yeah, and and and and I think people should be aware of the fact that you know there's a destructive force that's uh that's coming against our entire civilization.
00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:52.639
And I like to put it this way there's two things going on in simultaneously.
00:12:52.720 --> 00:13:01.039
Uh they're taking a wrecking ball to the foundations of our civilization, but you do that and you're gonna lose a civilization.
00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:09.840
You you you can't just you know somehow jack up the foundation of a 1,000-story building and shove in some other foundation.
00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:10.960
It's just not going to work.
00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:15.200
You're if if you're gonna destroy the foundations of this nation, you're gonna destroy the nation.
00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:17.759
I I don't think there's any two ways about it.
00:13:17.919 --> 00:13:26.720
Thus, the only thing, as I see it, the only thing that could salvage the nation is a return to the Christian principles upon which she was formed.
00:15:39.179 --> 00:15:45.259
Yeah, there's uh been a lot of press on Telarico because, in large part, he's in Texas.
00:15:45.340 --> 00:15:46.779
He's running for Senate in Texas.
00:15:46.860 --> 00:15:53.980
For those who aren't aware, uh Texas is the prize for the Democrats right now, has been for the last 15, 20 years.
00:15:54.059 --> 00:15:57.419
Uh, they're they're always one cycle away from flipping it blue.
00:15:57.500 --> 00:15:59.100
Um, and this is their latest attempt.
00:15:59.179 --> 00:16:05.259
And James has uh a lot of things supposedly going for him to run in Texas as a Democrat.
00:16:05.419 --> 00:16:12.779
He's he seems somewhat affable, um, white man, grown up in Texas, I think eighth generation Texan.
00:16:13.019 --> 00:16:18.539
Um, and he's he's relatively well spoken uh when he knows that he's in front of a camera.
00:16:18.700 --> 00:16:24.460
So there's there's all those elements that are combining to to to coalesce into an interesting electoral campaign.
00:16:24.620 --> 00:16:32.460
But he's he's running on an interesting platform, um, specifically of trying to be a certain kind of Christian.
00:16:32.700 --> 00:16:41.659
And I know that on this program, Kevin, you talk a lot about the Enlightenment, but I think that it's important for our audience to be able to trace back where James comes from.
00:16:41.899 --> 00:16:54.860
He's a direct product of the liberal wing of Protestantism, which really swallowed the Enlightenment whole and has adopted kind of this Lockean uh individual liberties above all else.
00:16:55.179 --> 00:17:10.139
Marry that with uh, you know, a lower view of scripture, don't hold to infallibility of scripture, and you get a cornucopia of denominations that we're all familiar with that are all unfortunately having their lamp removed if it's not entirely gone already.
00:17:10.380 --> 00:17:23.900
And Talerico is just the end state of that, um, where he has found a way um to justify on very public platforms um abortion, trans rights, homosexuality.
00:17:23.980 --> 00:17:37.500
I mean, you go down just about every social issue and turn that into a Christian issue where the liberal frame actually is blessed by his version of Christianity, which we should be clear is is no version of Christianity at all.
00:17:37.659 --> 00:17:45.019
He doesn't hold to anything orthodox in these realms um that would would enable him to actually make claim.
00:17:45.099 --> 00:17:52.619
Um, but that's that's a stream of thought, a stream of theology that has real-world consequences.
00:17:52.700 --> 00:17:55.500
And we're seeing that in our political sphere today.
00:17:55.900 --> 00:17:58.460
Well, I mean, I let's talk about Christian nationalism.
00:17:58.619 --> 00:18:01.980
Um, there are obviously different definitions, I'm sure.
00:18:02.139 --> 00:18:14.860
Uh first thing I like to say is, well, I don't like non-Christian internationalism, you know, um, some kind of you know, pagan uh international one-world order government.
00:18:14.940 --> 00:18:18.380
I I don't think the average Christian wants to go for that.
00:18:18.539 --> 00:18:30.460
Uh the idea of internationalism is that somehow you can build a Tower of Babel and bring all of the nations together to oppose Jesus.
00:18:30.700 --> 00:18:35.179
Uh literally, to oppose Christ, which is a very bad idea.
00:18:35.420 --> 00:18:36.700
Can I can I say that?
00:18:37.500 --> 00:18:43.900
The idea of forming a world government at the time of Babel was a bad idea anyway.
00:18:44.059 --> 00:18:49.019
Now to do it in opposition to Jesus Christ is uh is even worse.
00:18:49.259 --> 00:18:54.860
And uh so I I say that from the outset, but uh but a nation can be more or less Christian.
00:18:54.940 --> 00:19:04.299
And I I believe, and this is why I wrote the book under God, the more a nation aligns with Christian law, the better the nation, the better the nation for all of us.
00:19:04.460 --> 00:19:05.819
You you believe that?
00:19:06.380 --> 00:19:07.420
Oh, 100%.
00:19:08.059 --> 00:19:14.779
I uh whenever we're talking about terms that get thrown around in Christian nationalism, has really hit the zeitgeist over the last five or six years.
00:19:14.940 --> 00:19:19.420
It's used, it began as a pejorative term, kind of in the beginning of COVID.
00:19:19.500 --> 00:19:28.299
Um, and then certain elements of the Christian right, um, such as it is, have adopted it, tried to uh maybe define it better.
00:19:28.379 --> 00:19:30.299
But I always like to start with definitions.
00:19:30.460 --> 00:19:34.940
And so my go-to is to go to the 1828 Webster dictionary and look up words there.
00:19:35.180 --> 00:19:49.819
Nationalism, you won't find it there, um, which is kind of interesting to me, um, and speaks to the idea that prior to maybe the turn of the 20th century, uh, people didn't recognize nationalism as its own ideology per se.
00:19:49.900 --> 00:19:52.220
It was just the way the world was.
00:19:52.379 --> 00:20:09.099
Um, nationalism, as defined by Merriam-Webster today, is an ideology that elevates one nation or nationality above all others, and that places primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or nationalities.
00:20:09.259 --> 00:20:13.980
Um, and so we're talking about political outlook when we're talking about nationalism.
00:20:14.220 --> 00:20:23.660
Um, you know, we could point out globalism is maybe the antithesis of this, where everybody around the world is equal and no nation is special, no culture is special.
00:20:23.819 --> 00:20:27.019
They should all be celebrated somehow, but also not special.
00:20:27.259 --> 00:20:31.339
Um but in the political environment, you know, it's much like worship.
00:20:31.500 --> 00:20:35.420
Everybody worships something, it's just what you worship, not whether you worship.
00:20:35.579 --> 00:20:37.900
Well, everybody has a political ideology.
00:20:38.059 --> 00:20:41.099
It's not whether you have one, it's which one you have.
00:20:41.259 --> 00:20:52.460
Um, and nationalism is one that has been very strong throughout most of human history, um, and for a variety of reasons, has uh seen a big decline in the modern era.
00:20:52.859 --> 00:21:01.500
Um, as people have on the secular left have tried to redefine secularism and nationalism and national fervor.
00:21:01.579 --> 00:21:11.099
And we see that today in America, where you know the old loves of patriotism and we're an exceptional nation, all those things are they're not politically correct anymore.
00:21:11.259 --> 00:21:13.180
Now, there's certain corners that are trying to bring that back.
00:21:13.339 --> 00:21:21.740
But nationalism really just means I love my nation, I think I live in a better nation than many other nations, and I'm gonna prefer said nation over others.
00:21:21.980 --> 00:21:26.779
Now you affix Christian to that, and now we're bringing in what are the Christian principles at play?
00:21:26.940 --> 00:21:32.859
And there's a lot of different ways that theologians have pulled together these arguments.
00:21:33.019 --> 00:21:38.140
You have the old uh Aquinas and Augustinian, Ordo Amoris, the ordered loves.
00:21:38.460 --> 00:21:55.660
You've got uh more recent, like Stephen Wolfe's case for Christian nationalism, which is more of a natural law approach, um, you've got uh two kingdoms approach, which is somewhat familiar in covenantal circles going back to the Protestant Reformation, you've got Kyperian sphere sovereignty.
00:21:55.819 --> 00:22:00.379
Um, each of those, we could probably dive in and do 10 minutes on each of those in maybe some future episode.
00:22:00.539 --> 00:22:21.339
Um, but all of them recognize that when Paul in the New Testament, particularly in Galatians and Ephesians, when he calls for unity and the elimination of differences before Christ, he's talking about a spiritual reality, that in Christ there is no more slave nor free, male nor female, Scythian or Greek or Jew.
00:22:21.500 --> 00:22:25.259
Though those categories are dissolved in a spiritual plane.
00:22:25.420 --> 00:22:39.099
And each of the four viewpoints that are all upheld in, and I would say orthodox uh Protestant circles, um, they all recognize that distinction that in Christ, in the spiritual reality, those differences are dissolved.
00:22:39.339 --> 00:22:47.019
But Christ did not say, Paul is not saying through Paul that the genders are dissolved, that male and female are no more.
00:22:47.099 --> 00:22:48.539
Of course, that's not the case.
00:22:48.700 --> 00:22:54.379
Um, and so there's political realities that have to be worked through carefully in light of scripture as well.
00:22:54.539 --> 00:23:24.700
And Christian nationalism is trying to apply biblical principles to nationalism as an ideology, discarding the bad, kind of spitting out the bones of nationalism where they're found, but marrying those two things and seeking the good of the nation from a Christian perspective, which sounds an awful lot like uh what our founding fathers wanted and what most great Americans have believed going back 300 years, 400 years to the landing at Plymouth Rock.
00:23:25.099 --> 00:23:36.700
Sam, it doesn't seem important to me to sit around all day long and giving a list of reasons why our nation is better than every single other nation in the world today.
00:23:37.099 --> 00:23:40.539
I think it's legit to say, and I by the way, I have this in my book.
00:23:40.619 --> 00:23:44.779
I call it the evil index or the morality index, the more positive way to say it.
00:23:45.019 --> 00:23:50.859
There actually are nations that are better than other nations on about eight to ten indexes that I put together.
00:23:51.019 --> 00:23:55.579
So it's okay to do that, but I'm not sure it's it's a huge value to me.
00:23:55.660 --> 00:24:03.259
I I'm I guess there's reasons why we want to make our nation a better nation than it used to be, uh, more aligned with Christian law.
00:24:03.420 --> 00:24:10.539
Uh when we say a better culture, I would say a culture that more aligns with the the will of God for how we to are to function.
00:24:10.700 --> 00:24:19.740
Uh But what what matters to me in this, I like your comment on this, is the decentralization of power and the retention of national boundaries.
00:24:19.900 --> 00:24:21.500
To me, that's that's important.
00:24:21.740 --> 00:24:25.339
Uh maybe I'm just saying I'm setting myself against the globalists.
00:24:25.500 --> 00:24:38.619
I'm not keen on globalism because uh I don't I don't trust uh the centralization of power anywhere uh outside of that that power that is assumed by Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
00:24:38.859 --> 00:24:48.059
So nationalism to me is is to oppose the uh the the international the tendency to internationalism.
00:24:48.460 --> 00:24:58.859
And uh, you know, yeah, okay, I'm okay with appreciating our country, I'm okay with a degree of patriotism, a degree of uh gratitude for uh the rights that we we enjoy.
00:24:58.940 --> 00:25:11.500
And I and I think an argument can be made that America has been the freest nation, the most prosperous nation, uh more honest nation on, say, the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, et cetera, et cetera.
00:25:11.660 --> 00:25:13.339
We can say these sorts of things, and it's okay.
00:25:13.420 --> 00:25:16.700
It's a legit to be thankful for your nation.
00:25:17.019 --> 00:25:24.940
But uh at the same time, uh what I would like to see is a retention of a of a of our national boundaries.
00:25:25.180 --> 00:25:32.859
I would like to fight for Christian law, biblically based laws uh in national, state, and local governments.
00:25:33.099 --> 00:25:39.900
Um I would like to fight for Christian culture, not just in politics, but in every aspect of our lives.
00:25:40.140 --> 00:25:50.220
And as Christians, I think we're called to be salt and light and to impose our Christian values as best as we can into the business world, the other aspects of our culture.
00:25:50.460 --> 00:25:52.140
So uh your comment on that?
00:25:52.779 --> 00:26:00.140
Yeah, I think it's important to go back to the definition of nationalism, which is an ideology that elevates one nation or nationality above others.
00:26:00.460 --> 00:26:06.299
And that elevates it's not saying that intrinsically this country is better than others.
00:26:06.460 --> 00:26:10.460
You know, there should be Christian nationalists in El Salvador, in South Africa.
00:26:10.619 --> 00:26:19.740
Every nation should be uh nationalistic, in my view, which just means I am going to seek, God has sovereignly placed me in country X.
00:26:19.819 --> 00:26:24.539
And as long as He's made it clear that I'm to stay here, I should seek the good of my nation.
00:26:24.779 --> 00:26:25.099
Okay.
00:26:25.339 --> 00:26:30.700
Um and I should have preeminent loyalty to this nation, to this particular place.
00:26:31.099 --> 00:26:37.339
And arguably defend its borders and defend its borders against you know aggressors, right?
00:26:38.619 --> 00:26:46.859
The kind of, I think the definition of a nation somehow includes you have to be able to define who's in your nation versus out of your nation, which brings borders, right?
00:26:46.940 --> 00:26:47.099
Sure.
00:26:47.259 --> 00:26:48.859
And that's why those issues are so important.
00:26:49.019 --> 00:26:55.099
So in America, you know, we can make the argument that we live in the best nation in the world, and there's a lot of stats that point to that.
00:26:55.180 --> 00:26:56.779
It depends on what you're wanting to measure, right?
00:26:56.940 --> 00:27:03.740
But laying all those arguments aside, as an American, I should want the good of my nation.
00:27:03.900 --> 00:27:05.660
I believe that that's a scriptural principle.
00:27:05.819 --> 00:27:08.779
We should be part of making America a discipled nation.
00:27:08.940 --> 00:27:09.259
Yeah.
00:27:09.500 --> 00:27:21.339
That would be what is the best outcome for all the people, Christian or not, inside of America, absent the few evildoers that need to be dealt with and you know, dealt with by the sword.
00:27:21.900 --> 00:27:51.980
But that's where the Christian nationalism part gets kind of scary to people like Talarico, is they uh they are worried that Christians might actually apply what the Bible says is good for a society, good for families, good for communities, um, and how society ought to be structured, which includes a lot of rights and liberties, but also bounds those rights and liberties in the context of the law that God has written onto every human heart and then given us in his word.
00:27:52.460 --> 00:28:01.420
And we believe that if we pull forward the Ten Commandments as an example and and various other aspects of scripture, that we will have a more prosperous society.
00:28:01.500 --> 00:28:10.539
Uh, that kind of a society is much harder to hijack, it's much harder to accrete power to centralize it, which is why Christianity has always been opposed.
00:28:10.700 --> 00:28:19.259
Uh, it's it's much harder to corrupt robust Christianity than really almost any other ideology that's that's been across the planet, which should be no surprise.
00:28:19.579 --> 00:28:19.980
Yeah.
00:28:20.220 --> 00:28:21.420
Well, where do we go from here?
00:28:21.579 --> 00:28:24.779
Let's just just wrap it up, let me make some applications, uh, Sam.
00:28:24.940 --> 00:28:31.660
Um, you know, I'm I think we should raise our kids to to be uh future leaders uh in this nation.
00:28:31.819 --> 00:28:51.500
Ideally, you know, our young men, uh you know, with a vision for uh for the principles upon which the nation is founded, and certainly you know, rooted and grounded in scriptural law and uh and also um with with the character that's that's needed uh to take this nation to where it needs to be, say, by the year 2100.
00:28:51.660 --> 00:29:02.379
I've warned so many that if if if we don't fight for biblical-based liberties, we could be leaving leaving our kids in gulags and prison camps by the year 2048.
00:29:02.460 --> 00:29:04.059
And I don't want that to happen.
00:29:05.500 --> 00:29:12.059
Yeah, I want my children to enjoy the blessings of freedom uh greater than I enjoy today.
00:29:12.220 --> 00:29:13.980
Yeah, and that's gonna take a lot of effort.
00:29:14.140 --> 00:29:19.099
Uh I would point people to something, um, kind of piggybacking off of something we were talking about earlier.
00:29:19.259 --> 00:29:22.140
Categorical thinking is gonna be just so crucial.
00:29:22.379 --> 00:29:31.420
One of the ways that the left has consistently won ground is when people who are not Christian pull scripture out of context and say, we must love all.
00:29:31.660 --> 00:29:39.259
And and we saw that weaponized in COVID, where loving your neighbor suddenly was wearing a mask that didn't do anything, but it was still, you must love your neighbor.
00:29:39.339 --> 00:29:40.140
You're a Christian.
00:29:40.299 --> 00:29:50.220
And so we have to be able to delineate as Christians, as those with the Holy Spirit inside of ourselves, how um what is true at a spiritual reality?
00:29:50.379 --> 00:30:01.339
You know, what is true, what are the duties that I am owed to Christian brothers and sisters, to people in my community, to my family, to my nation, um, and and what physical duties do I owe?
00:30:01.500 --> 00:30:12.539
Um, and not let people conflate categories, especially those who are not Christians, people from the outside do this all the time, um, and weaponize love, they weaponize empathy.
00:30:12.700 --> 00:30:27.500
And we fall prey to that if we're not able to think in categories and think about what has God said about political reality, not for our time necessarily, but just what are the truths that are in scripture about nations, how we ought to operate in a nation.
00:30:27.660 --> 00:30:35.180
Um, Jesus had plenty to say, the Great Commission um deals with nations, other passages throughout the New Testament deal with nations.
00:30:35.420 --> 00:30:37.660
Um, how does that play out?
00:30:37.819 --> 00:30:44.059
And we've got to separate that from some other aspects and make sure that we're not linking things that ought not to be linked.
00:30:44.379 --> 00:31:01.819
I couldn't help but think of the uh classic kibling line uh as applied to James Talerico, and that is the guy who started by loving his neighbor and ended by loving his wife and his neighbor's dog and anything else as far as the sexual perversions go on the left.
00:31:02.059 --> 00:31:09.259
Um so you know, the idea that love is reinterpreted to mean just about anything.
00:31:11.019 --> 00:31:11.500
Wow.
00:31:11.740 --> 00:31:15.660
And and Jesus made it clear if you love me, you'll keep my commandments.
00:31:16.059 --> 00:31:20.539
And uh love is the fulfillment of the commandments of God.
00:31:20.779 --> 00:31:30.700
Uh that's super essential for for Christians who are thinking properly, uh, especially now with these terms being reinterpreted each and every way.
00:31:31.019 --> 00:31:32.859
So, well, let's uh let's wrap this up.
00:31:32.940 --> 00:31:36.859
Uh, friends, I'd encourage you to my book uh Under God, just fresh off the press.
00:31:36.940 --> 00:31:39.259
These are actually really beautifully put together.
00:31:39.420 --> 00:31:40.299
I tell you what.
00:31:40.379 --> 00:31:42.379
Uh our team worked hard on this.
00:31:42.460 --> 00:31:47.500
This is America's 250th commemorative edition, uh, Battle Plan for Reforming Civil Government.
00:31:47.579 --> 00:31:51.180
And check it out at our website, generations.org.
00:31:51.579 --> 00:31:55.180
Um, wow, I've got a whole section on Christian nationalism here.
00:31:55.259 --> 00:32:03.019
Uh I've got God's Law, Natural Law, Conspiracies, Maximizing Liberty, uh, drugs, pornography, and prostitute.
00:32:03.099 --> 00:32:07.740
I get right down into some of the more specific issues that people are, you know, argue about.
00:32:07.819 --> 00:32:14.299
And I we do as best as we can to bring a biblical perspective on these things, biblical economics, uh, pro-life strategies.
00:32:14.379 --> 00:32:17.180
I know there's lots of arguments over what are the best strategies.
00:32:17.259 --> 00:32:20.379
And I think, you know, do them the best I can to get into that.
00:32:20.539 --> 00:32:23.819
And I ran for governor of Colorado in 1994, U.S.
00:32:23.900 --> 00:32:25.180
Senate in 1998.
00:32:25.259 --> 00:32:33.019
Uh, I've been playing around with politics for a long time, and I think, you know, this is this is kind of this is 22 years of these radio programs.
00:32:33.259 --> 00:32:39.099
Just try to pull apart all these issues from a distinctively biblical perspective, and I put it into one volume, Under God.
00:32:39.180 --> 00:32:43.500
So this yeah, 22 years of daily radio programs in one book.
00:32:43.660 --> 00:32:49.180
So there it is, Under God, a battle plan for reforming civil government, available at generations.org.
00:32:49.500 --> 00:32:51.900
Sam Rust, my co-host on this edition of the program.
00:32:51.980 --> 00:32:52.460
Thanks, Sam.
00:32:52.539 --> 00:32:53.500
Appreciate you joining us.
00:32:53.819 --> 00:32:54.539
Thank you, Kevin.
00:32:54.779 --> 00:33:01.180
And this is Kevin Swanson inviting you back again next time as we continue to lay down a vision for the next generation.
00:33:09.660 --> 00:33:12.700
This has been a production of the Generations Media Network.
00:33:12.779 --> 00:33:15.980
For more information, go to generations.org/slash media.
