The Conservative Podcast War is...unfortunate. I wasn't going to say anything until the odd altercation started by Rand Paul against Markwayne Mullin at his confirmation hearing. It seems we need a refresher on what the Bible says on how to handle personal disputes. Also, WWCKD?
Welcome to Politics by Faith. This is where we take the news of the day. We bring it to the Bible so we can walk away with peace and perspective because there's new headlines every single day. But Ecclesiastes says there's nothing new under the sun. So thanks for being here to get the true story. The story of the day today, the conservative podcast wars.
What's really going on here? I don't even know, to be honest. I just know there's a lot of drama. I was never really going to say anything about it, but something happened today that made me feel like something's worth talking about. So, quick background here. I'm not in it.
I'm not famous enough. I'm in a good place right here. If you're watching on the YouTube, youtube . com slash adpoliticsbyfaith, the people in the podcast wars, I'm down. I'm like here in the hole. I'm very content.
with my life and with being with my family and my level of fame. It's a place where if you're just famous enough where you get a little ego boost every once in a while, which is nice from time to time, people thank you for your job. No one else gets thanked for their job. The amount of times I get thanked for my job versus other people's jobs that deserve way more thanks is way out of whack. And I get to talk to cool people. It's great, I love my job, but I'm not like, need to hire security for my family.
Famous, because that level of famous is not good. 1 Timothy 2 says, pray for all the kings who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. There's a couple of cool parts about that scripture. First, early Christians were killed because they weren't worshiping the emperor. But the Bible here says the job of a Christian is to pray, not to the emperor, but for the emperor. So that's a neat point.
But obviously the main point is just be left alone. We just want to be left alone. I just want to live as quiet and peaceable as a life as I can with the people I love. But my understanding is that a lot of the big conservative podcast people are getting in pretty public fights and it's very odd. And I don't know any of these people involved, any more than anyone does. But just watching from afar, it draws people in because it's drama.
It's like The Real Housewives or whatever, that level of drama, but for conservatives. And it's very unproductive and should stop. And I was never going to talk about it, but I think the thing that got me into it lately is, I heard Rand Paul in the Mark Wayne Mullins confirmation hearing. He's a senator from Oklahoma and he's going to be the next head of Homeland Security. He'll he'll make it through. But he and Rand Paul, who's the head of the Homeland Security Committee on the Senate, he and Rand Paul have some beef or something.
I didn't know this. I don't know if anyone did until today. But here's Rand Paul at the committee hearing.
The leaders in our country disavow violence and lead by example. Through the years, I've personally been exposed multiple times to political violence. I was in the right field batting cage when the crazed shooter unleashed nearly 200 shots at our congressional baseball practice. I'll never forget Steve's police valiantly trying to drag his body away as the gunman continued. Later that year, a Trump -hating felon attacked me from behind. in my yard.
I was just straightening up from picking up a tree limb. I was wearing noise cancellation headphones. Never saw him coming. Running pell -mell down the hill. I was struck in the back. The force of the blow sent us through the air nearly 10 feet down the hill until a shoulder impaled me as we hit the ground.
Six of my ribs were broken. Three of the ribs were completely separated such that for weeks the ends of the ribs would grind upon each other. My lung was damaged. For weeks I could inhale but not have the rib strength to exhale. I developed two pneumonias. The pain was such that I could only sit up in bed by tying a rope to the foot of the bed and pulling myself up.
But even then, the pain was that of a thousand knives. Over the year of recovery, I began to cough up blood. I underwent removal of part of my lung. Complications led to an infection in the space between my lung and chest wall. I spent a week in the hospital having the infection lavaged every six hours through a chest tube. Recently, Senator Mullen, if you have time to listen.
You were confronted by constituents that were angry because you voted against my amendment to stop all funding for refugee welfare programs. Instead of explaining your vote to continue these welfare programs for refugees, you decided to transfer the blame. You told the media that I was a freaking snake and that you completely understood why I had been assaulted. I was shocked that he would justify and celebrate this violent assault. That caused me so much pain and my family so much pain. I just wonder if someone who applauds violence against their political opponents is the right person to lead an agency that has struggled to accept limits to the proper use of force.
You might argue you were mad and angry. about being confronted by your constituents. But Senator Mullen, your constituents are justifiably upset with you. By now, most of America knows that the Somali welfare fraud in Minnesota stole over $9 billion. But instead of defending your vote, you took to continue the vote to continue these refugee welfare programs. You chose to lash out at me.
You went on to brag that you'd already told me to my face that you completely understood and approved of the assault. Well, that's a lie. You got a chance today. You can either continue to lie or you can correct the record. You have never had the courage to look me in the eye and tell me that the assault was justified. So today you'll have your chance.
Today, I'll give you that chance to clear the record. Tell it to my face. If that's what you believe, tell it to me today. Tell the world why you believe I deserve to be assaulted from behind, have six ribs broken and a damaged lung. Tell me to my face why you think I deserved it. And while you're at it, explain to the American public why they should trust a man with anger issues to set the proper example for ICE and Border Patrol agents.
Explain to the American public how a man who has no regrets about brawling in a Senate committee can set a proper example for over 250 ,000 men and women who work at the Department of Homeland Security. Senator Peters, you're recognized for your opening.
That was his opening. Listen, I don't want anyone to be in pain and it sounds like a brutal experience physically. What does that have to do with anything, Senator? Also, I didn't know this until today, but there's a teleprompter in the back of the Senate chamber. So Rand Paul's doing this, this, this like say it to my face thing and everything you just read was off of the teleprompter screen. I just feel like I should give, I should play the clip of one of those.
Mullen's initial response.
Here it is. I can understand why the neighbor did what he did. As far as my terms as a snake in the grass, sir, I work around this room to try to fix problems. I've worked with many people in this room. Seems like you fight Republicans more than you work with us. I did address those remarks. I did explain your gimmicks by the amendment you put forth.
And as far as me saying that I invoke violence, I don't. I don't think anybody should be hit by surprise. I don't like that. But if I do have something to say, everybody in this room knows I'll come straight to you. I'll say it publicly and I'll say it privately, but I'll never say it behind your back. So for you to say I'm a liar, sir, that's not accurate.
And I got proof to say that because you have spent millions of dollars in my campaigns against me, because we just don't get along. However, sir, that doesn't keep me at all from doing my job. I can have different opinions with everybody in this room, but as Secretary of Homeland, I'll be protecting everybody, including Kentucky, as much as I will my own back yard in Oklahoma. It's bigger than the partisan bickering that we have is bigger than the political differences we have. The truth is I have a job to do and I don't like to fail at anything at all. So I can set it aside if you're willing to set it aside.
Let me earn your respect. Let me earn
very weird confrontation, like a very weird, like, I can't get over, I guess, Rand's say it to my face thing, as he's eight feet elevated above everyone else behind this, you know, Senate desk, and you, Mark Wayne Mullina, way down there below, and we're both sitting here and we can't move, and I'm reading this from a teleprompter, it's like, say it to my face. to my face. It's like just weird. Like, Grant, you could have gone to Mark Wayne's office and said all that to his face. So that's this is a good example of the show, right? So that's the news of the day is one of the pieces of drama or whatever.
And I'm sure we could go into more detail on the the podcast wars that are out there. But let's just let's just get to the Bible here. So first, Matthew 18, 15 says, If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you've won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church.
And if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. So if I made it to the conservative podcasters and to Rand, to Mark Wayne, if you have a problem with someone, go and talk to them. Not a text, a phone call or in person, like talk like humans. I'll see these tweets that some conservatives will send, a tweet, a public tweet to other conservatives, and sometimes they're like, and you didn't respond to my text that I, like what? Talk to the person one -on -one, and if they don't listen and there's still some issues here that you want to get resolved, go get some advice from a mutual friend, bring them in on it, try to resolve it. If that doesn't work, you just got to
on because people unfortunately do care about your beef that you're throwing out there publicly because it's a drama and we're attracted to that. But we shouldn't be wasting our time with this. We have a country to save. If I may make an aside here, all this podcast war silliness, it shows to me also how important Charlie Kirk was to the conservative movement. He was way more of a linchpin behind the scenes than I think most people gave him credit for. I think when Charlie was assassinated, I think, of course, there was remorse and lament for his family and all that.
But from a conservative movement perspective, we were like, oh, you know, his speeches and his campus tours and his Q &A moments and the YouTube videos and stuff like that. That's what I think people were thinking we would miss the most, or what we've lost. But I think what we've lost with Charlie Kirk in particular was something much more important, something much more valuable, and something that was much more impressive about him as a man, and that was his ability to bring a bunch of broken, probably jealous and envious and certainly ambitious people together, and have them focus on moving the movement forward. Charlie Kirk, within the conservative movement, was a peacemaker. James 3 .18 says, peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. The full scripture is, but the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. And instead people are fueled by, I think it's envy and anger or something, but this is why James 1 .19 says, for Christians to be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to speak, slow to tweet and slow to anger for human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. I love all the verses in the Bible about the tongue. James 3, 5 says, so the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire.
And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life and set on fire by hell.
Yikes.
So my two points of practical advice, first practical advice is keep your mouth shut. Uh, Martin Lloyd Jones made that point. He gave an amazing sermon. One of his, I think the best sermon series.
I have it right there.
Let me pull it up.
Martin Lloyd Jones studies and sermon on the Mount. Amazing book. Um, One of his points on Blessed Be the Peacemakers is just quiet. Stop talking. Stop talking. And when it comes to tweeting, if you sit down and you write out a carefully crafted tweet to a fellow conservative enemy of yours, or whether you rip out a hastily spit out tweet, calling someone out, just delete it.
Just write it out and then delete it. And then just go for a run or pray or something. Matthew 5, 9. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. " Mart Lloyd -Jones, he said, the peacemaker is active, not passive. He doesn't merely reflect.
from causing trouble. I think that's me. I just gotta stay out of it. But that's not a peacemaker. A peacemaker actively works to resolve tensions, to reconcile differences, to bring harmony where there's discord. It's one of the hardest works in the world because it requires humility, wisdom, and love. That's practical advice, is to zip it and write the tweet if you want, but just delete it.
The spiritual advice is for all of us to guard our hearts, keep your heart with all vigilance for from it flow the springs of life. We talked about that scripture recently. I'll give one more scripture here dedicated to Charlie Kirk, Romans 15, excuse me, 14, 19. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. We have a lot of work to do in this country of spreading the gospel, spreading the good word, spreading Christian ethics and morals, spreading God's kingdom on this earth, spreading. Political wisdom we've way more focused.
We need way more focus on good things not on petty drama Don't let the enemy win in causing divisions over ego Let's focus on and unite over what is true and good youtube . com slash at politics by faith I won't give daily updates anymore on my quest to be the biggest podcaster in the world So that I can be so famous 1 ,340 subscribers. It's amazing. Super grateful. YouTube . com slash at politics by faith. If you could subscribe over there, that'd be amazing. Spread the word.