MikeSlater
Politics • Spirituality/Belief • Culture
Politics by Faith, The Bubbling Anger
Is It Righteous?
May 02, 2023

*The Politics by Faith podcast is available everywhere. We put it here ad-free and provide the transcript.*

Tucker Carlson said the debates in our country are between Good and Evil. But you can't say that today. In today's culture, everything is good. If you talk about evil then you're being mean. This leads to a lack of moral clarity and conviction. This has led to chaos.
Let's learn from Achilles to the Puritans about when anger is righteous and when it's corrosive.


Welcome to Politics by Faith, the long-form episode. We have the daily, shorter episodes, and then we have the twice-a-week, longer episodes here just for you, just for the podcast, and I'm grateful you're here. It's brought to you by Patriot Gold Group and Public Square. There is a lot to be angry about right now. A lot to be grateful for, of course, but anger is an overwhelming emotion. It's a very motivating emotion. It's a captivating emotion. This is why a lot of snake oil salesmen use anger to captivate us, to hook us, and then manipulate us. I'm thinking about the debt ceiling in DC. There's so much betrayal. Oh, it's just a mess. And the Democrats do this all like self-righteous. Oh, can you believe the Republicans would be willing to default on the debt of the United States of America? It's like, guys, you kidding me? You're the ones who keep spending all this money that puts us in this position every year.

0:01:18
There's been a lot of senseless murders lately. The guy in Texas, the neighbor who goes to the fence and says, hey man, can you stop shooting your gun? We have a baby over here trying to sleep. So then he walks over to their house and murders five of the people in the house, including an eight-year-old, shoots him in the head, and then he's on the loose. I'm talking right now, and they haven't even found him. This happened on Friday.

0:01:40
I'm recording this Monday night. And it's like, what? And then just to make you more angry, he's been deported four times. How can that be? Four times? This murderer has been deported four times to Mexico and he keeps coming back? He keeps... he's able to come back? I read early on, don't know if this one is true, but the last time he was deported maybe was 2006. So all that time he's able to come back many times and then just stay here for that long. Unbelievable. He came over a fifth time. That makes me angry. The military found another unidentified balloon flying over Hawaii. We're back to the balloons and they don't even know, they don't know what it is, they don't know who it belongs to, they don't know anything. And it's just, we are just being led by inept people. So I get angry that we have a system that has turned into this. It's just, it's just such a far cry from founding FOD. And I don't know, is it just me?

0:02:56
I'm the only one feeling this low grade malaise of anger. I don't know where you are. It's somewhere between anger simmering deep below to, oh no, it's boiling on the surface later. Either way, anywhere in between, it's not good. So let's talk about it. We've played a couple clips from Tucker Carlson's final speech that he gave as an employee of Fox News. He was speaking at the Heritage Foundation 50th anniversary dinner. And there's a couple great clips.

0:03:33
I don't think we've played this one, but this is an important one because some people are saying that this is maybe not the thing that got him fired, but the type of talk that got him fired. He's talking about good and evil. What you're watching is not a political movement. It's evil. So if you want to assess and I'll put it in and I'll stop with this, I'll put it in non political, I'll put it in non political or non rather non specific theological terms and just say, if you want to know what's evil and what's good, what are the characteristics of those? And by the way, you know, I think the Athenians would have agreed with this. This is not necessarily just a Christian notion. This is kind of a, I would say, widely agreed upon understanding of good and evil. What are its products? What do these two Well, I mean, good is characterized by order, calmness, tranquility, peace, whatever you want to call it, lack of conflict, cleanliness.

0:04:38
Cleanliness is next to godliness. It's true. It is. And evil is characterized by their opposites. violence, hate, disorder, division, disorganization, and filth. So if you are all in on the things that produce the latter basket of outcomes, what you're really advocating for is evil. That's just true. I'm not calling for a religious war. Far from it.

0:05:06
I'm merely calling for an acknowledgment of what we're watching. One side's like, no, no, I've got this idea, and we've got this idea, let's have a debate about our ideas. They don't want a debate. Those ideas won't produce outcomes that any rational person would want under any circumstances. Those are manifestations of some larger force acting upon us. It's just so obvious. It's completely obvious. And I think two things. One, we should say that and stop engaging in these totally fraudulent debates where we are using the terms that we used in 1991 when I started at Heritage as if maybe you know I could just win the debate if I marshaled more facts. I've tried that, doesn't work. And two, maybe maybe we should all take just like 10 minutes a day to say a prayer about it.

0:06:05
I'm serious, like why not? And I'm saying that to you not as some kind of evangelist, I'm literally saying that to you as an Episcopalian, the Samaritans of our time. I'm literally an Episcopalian, okay? And even I have concluded it might be worth taking just 10 minutes out of your busy schedule to say a prayer for the future, and I hope you will. People get turned off by that language of good and evil. It makes people very uncomfortable. Christians shouldn't. Christians should not get uncomfortable when talking about good and evil. We need to have more maturity and discernment and confidence when it comes to talking about this.

0:07:02
Ephesians 6, 10, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm." Not wishy-washy, not, I don't want to, stand firm. having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace, in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith, in all circumstances, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one, oh I don't know, evil, good, makes me feel uncomfortable, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.

0:08:07
To that end, keep alert, with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me, and opening my mouth boldly, and this is true for you, to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I might declare it boldly, as I ought to speak. Yes, there are some people who may support a policy, let's just say transgender kids. They may support a policy that they haven't thought through and they may not know any better and they just want to be seen as nice and it hasn't really affected them personally so they don't really get it and they say they support it.

0:08:42
Is that an evil person? No, they're not evil. They're misguided, certainly. But then, some people are actively involved and pushing evil things. And that is more than just misguided. That is evil. We must admit—well, maybe first we must be aware that evil exists, and then we must be able to admit that evil exists and not be afraid to say it. Far from this modern idea that evil doesn't exist, evil is pervasive.

0:09:19
It's everywhere. It's inside all of us. It's personal. It's spiritual. And it carries on. Sultan Iskandar said that the problem with revolution is, his quote is, they destroy only the carriers of evil. So the person may die, but the evil lives on. So what's really going on with this? We're so far away from battling good and evil. We're in a culture today where we can't even admit that that even exists. That there even is evil. So who do you think will win? I remember as I just a quick flashback to the war on terror and there are people on the left who wouldn't say islamic extremists and uh... claim from the conservatives were you're not going to win if you can't even say what it is, like what are you fighting against, even the war on terror itself, like what do you mean terror, you can't fight a war against terror, what are you even talking about, define what we're talking about and the same thing with our country today, we can't even define evil, we can't even admit that it exists. My concern is in our modern world, which prioritizes being nice over everything else, tolerance isn't even enough. Tolerance has been replaced with affirmation of acceptance of everything all the time, no matter how deviant, how perverted, how sinful, how just dumb, how wrong or evil, you must actively affirm always. So the concern is that because you just have to be nice that this concept of evil is therefore mean. And if you speak in terms of good and evil you're called a bigot and an extremist and you're shut down. It's funny, if you say good and evil and you like you're talking about these terms, they say, oh, that's, you're being exclusionary and you're shutting down debate and you're like, no, you're shutting me down.

0:11:22
I'm trying to define some terms here. If you see things in terms of good and evil, your opinion doesn't count because apparently you think you're better than everyone else or you're too extreme. And you're like, no, I just have moral clarity on this issue and I have a conviction that this is wrong and I have some wisdom here of a better way. That's all. I'm like, oh, you're a bigot extremist. No, moral clarity, conviction, and wisdom is actually what I have. Moral evil has dominated human life. Genesis 8, 21, the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth.

0:12:06
There's three types of evil. You have your natural evil, that's disease, disaster, catastrophes, that all comes from the fall as well. Then you have moral evil, and that's, I mean, we see it all the time. We see it everywhere. It's every human person and every human relationship, therefore, because every human relationship is just collisions of immoral people and then you have supernatural evil this is demonic evil John 844 Jesus said to the Pharisees you are of your father the devil first John 519 the whole world lies in the power of the evil one I know we've talked about Judas a couple times in the last week but Luke 22 3 says, Then Satan entered Judas, one of the twelve, entered him. Fascinating detail right there.

0:12:59
So yes, there's evil in the world. I mean, that's what they, well, is there evil in the world? You're not even allowed to say there is. What are you talking about? Is there? Isn't there? It's everywhere, and it's inside all of us, and we have to hate it. We have to have a moral clarity against it. We must hate it and it's okay to be angry about it. And that's what I want to talk about today. Righteous anger. Let's lament first though. Let's lament. Let's lament all this brokenness. I want to talk about Homer and Achilles here in just a minute and see, there's four ways that Achilles' anger led to even worse destruction, and I wanna see which of these relate most to your life, but first I wanna tell you about Patriot Gold Group.

0:13:51
We have more banks being taken over by the federal government. It's like, this is fine. We have more failed banks. I guess First Republic Bank was seized by the feds and then sold to JPMorgan. Okay. Oh, it's all fine. And Biden says, no, the system is safe and sound. Do you believe him? You believe any of them?

0:14:15
I don't. See if gold is wise for you and your family. Consider it. I can tell you it's been around for a while. Patriot Gold Group is, well, it's where I bought gold. I think they're the best. I'm not going to mess around with anyone less than the best. Why would I not go to the best? So I went to the best, and I'm telling you who I went with, Patriot Gold Group. They have a no-fee-for-life IRA, where your IRA or 401k can be put in physical gold or silver, and you may be eligible for a no-fee-for-life IRA and qualifying rollovers, that's good.

0:14:56
Or you can just buy gold and just have it, and they mail it to you. A FedEx truck shows up and gives you gold. You're like, huh, this seems illegal, but that's certainly not. Well, not now. For now it isn't, I should say. FDR made it illegal to own gold physically. basically. 888-617-6122.

0:15:14
Get a free investor guide. Start there. Patriot Gold Group, consumer affairs top rated gold IRA dealer six years in a row. Told you they're the best. 1-888-617-6122. 888-617-6122. Tell them you know Mike Slater. PatriotGoldGroup.com. Homer's The Iliad is a great description of how rage and anger it's all-consuming. The opening word of The Iliad is wrath.

0:15:48
It's the first word in the whole thing. It's long, but Homer went with wrath as the very first word. So I've got four examples of the wrath of Achilles here, and I want to see which one of these four you can relate to the most. So you can look back on the anger, the times when you've been angry in your life, and then also if you're angry right now. So the very first one is, dear childhood friend died in battle. His name was Patroclus.

0:16:15
So here's from the Iliad. Achilles was now beside Patroclus, weeping bitterly. He laid his hands on his chest and held them there for a long time as if warming them out of fire. Patroclus, he cried, dearest friend, since I left you last, I have come to know the full extent of my anger. It has brought me nothing but pain and grief, and now it has cost you your life.

0:16:39
So anger can bring pain to others around you, those closest to you. Have you ever experienced that? Okay, we don't want that. So let's table that. We'll get back to it. Achilles was also angry at the Trojans for killing his fellow Greeks. Achilles was burning with anger. He stood on the high ramparts looking out over the plain and shouted to the gods of Olympus, Father Zeus, if you have ever granted me a prayer, grant me this. Let me take revenge on these Trojans for they have killed my friends and stripped them of There's anger again, and again not helping. So anger can hurt not only the people you love the most, those closest to you, friends or family, but any group you're a part of, any community you're a member of, and your country.

0:17:27
It derails the mission you're on in life, consumes you, and takes you to places you don't want to go. We'll get to that in a minute. A third example, his rage and battle. Thus spoke Achilles and led the way in the forefront of the battle. And the earth groaned beneath the tread of the warriors as they rushed to the fight. And the dust rose up like a thick cloud as the Trojans and their allies advanced to meet them. And in the midst of the conflict, Achilles raged like a lion that has been wounded by hunters and fights with double fury. Anger makes you go berserk, makes you lose your mind and do things you would never dream of doing, nor should you do. And the fourth example is the beginning of the entire thing. It's the opening line of the epic poem. Agamemnon took his war prize and Achilles that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans.

0:18:30
Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades, and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures. So Achilles' wrath didn't help anything. Sent them all down a path. That's not a point you just can't get back from As either of those happen to you Just examples of where your anger Doesn't help I Lament that all of it inside of us Ecclesiastes 7 9 says be not quick in your spirit to become angry for anger lodges in the hearts of fools I Don't want to be a fool, but hold on Slater not all anger is bad, because Jesus got angry. So how do we make sense of this? All right, let's pivot to the biblical stuff here. So my conclusion here is that it's okay to get angry just for the right reasons and in the right way. And the Bible is clear about this. Well, the Bible is full of wrath. So God's wrath is just. That's the first point Romans 2 5 pauses, but because of your hard and impenitent heart Means a feel no shame you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath When God's righteous judgment will be revealed so it will be revealed and you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath There's more wrath coming." Proverbs 24 12 says, If you say, Behold, we did not know this, does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?

0:20:09
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it? And will he not repay man according to his work? Yes, he will, is the answer to that. The main difference, one of the main differences, but I think the biggest difference between the Greek and Roman gods, we were talking about Zeus a second ago, right? And God is the, uh, like Roman, uh, that's what I'm looking for, uh, when they're fake. What's the fake gods? Mythology. The mythological gods, they were fickle and irritable and acted on whim and they were just people. They were just like acting like people, they just had like power. God never does that. God is not fickle. He does not act on a whim.

0:20:53
His wrath, in the words of J.I. Packer, is a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil. It's a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil. And second point, God's wrath is love. His wrath is just and it is loving. He must act justly to judge sin, otherwise He wouldn't be God, or good, or loving. And Jesus did the same. Jesus got angry too. People only refer to Him as the Prince of Peace, but He's also the King of Righteousness. Matthew 18, 6 Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me.

0:21:36
But whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. That's a better outcome than what is going to happen to you. Dane Ortlund makes an important point. He says, Jesus says this not because he gleefully enjoys torturing the wicked, but because he loves little children. It's the love. People today, just in our politics, they focus on the wrath and how bad that is, but what they don't realize is that the wrath comes from love.

0:22:11
I'll just give you a simple example. So let's say someone murders someone, and people focus on how mean it is to sentence the murderer to life in prison, But what about the family of the people he murdered? So people's desire to not have a righteous anger at the murderer and not to seek justice is leading them to not act lovingly towards the victims. So you have to balance both of those. Matthew 23, 13, But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

0:22:43
For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves." That's not like, woe to you! This isn't nice. Oh, Jesus, you're being very judgy. Yeah.

0:23:23
How about the famous scene of Jesus flipping tables? Not nice! Come on, Jesus, control yourself. He was. He was perfectly under control. John 2, 14, In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and the money changers sitting there and making a whip of cords. He drove them all out of the temple with a whip with the sheep and oxen and he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables and told those who sold the pigeons, take these things away.

0:23:51
Do not make my father's house a house of trade. This visual of Jesus sitting there making a whip himself. Why did he do this? And why didn't he just do it nicer? Because he knew it mattered. He knew it mattered. The temple, the Lord's house, his Father's house, was a house of prayer. By the way, our churches today, many have forgotten their true purpose. It's not a social club. It's not a babysitting event.

0:24:20
It's not a place to be entertained. It's a place to praise God. And it's time that we clear out all the lies from the church and clear out all the corruption from our government, from DC, from the media, from everywhere. There needs to be a clearing out of the temple and a draining of the swamp. We need to demand more. Let me, because here's what happens. When you clear out and you demand more, you get clarity and conviction. A righteous anger that doesn't turn into sin, we'll get to that in a second, but a righteous anger properly acted upon leads to clarity and conviction. Here is Martin Lloyd-Jones, I was able to find his actual sermon, this is out of maybe 1930s or 40s or something like that, and listen to him talk about what happens during a proper restoration, a proper clearing out.

0:25:17
Go back and read your history. Read about the Protestant Reformation. What did it lead to? Well, amongst other things you know, it did lead to the Elizabethan period. Once you are right at the center, once the temple is cleansed and reformed and renewed, it percolates through the whole of life as a new tone. Where there is vision, the people succeed. Where there is no vision, the people perish. And this is the supreme need of the hour, to recapture the vision, to turn back to him and allow him to act and to speak to us, and to cleanse and to drive out. And then I say, you will get what you had following the Protestant Reformation.

0:26:09
You had exactly the same thing in the Puritan era. You can laugh at the Puritans if you like, my friends, but never forget this, that the Cromwellian period, the period of the Commonwealth, was one of the greatest periods in the whole history of this country. Everybody's agreed, even secular historians, that the basis of this country's greatness was laid down then, when there was a moral tone in the nation, when men and women put God first. Then, I say, the whole nation was elevated. Righteousness exalted the nation. And indeed, it is true to say in a large measure that what was truly great and glorious in the last century was the direct outcome of the evangelical awakening of the eighteenth century. There is no question about this. It can be established even historically.

0:27:02
Leckie, the historian, tells us that it was that and that alone that saved this country from something similar to what happened in the French Revolution. And other historians will tell you the same thing. The fount, the origin, the source, not only of greatness in a national sense, but the enlightenment of the people. I've been saying the same thing about, and this is why I've been focused so much lately on Puritans and the preaching from America's true founding, like the 1600s, early 1700s, because they laid the groundwork for our founding fathers. I've been very focused on our founding grandfathers and great-grandfathers and the people who laid the moral foundation that our founding fathers were born into, that gave them clarity and conviction.

0:27:52
They were angry at the right people for the right reasons. My point of all this is it's okay for humans to get angry. In fact, it's essential because here's the problem. The people who say, oh, you're talking about more good and evil, that's not right, you don't know, you can't judge. What that does is it turns them into people of indifference. And that's like awful, like that's terrible, indifference. Like, wake up, wake up and make a stand, take a stand on these, you know, not on everything necessarily, if you don't know all the facts or whatever, that's fine, but on the things that are obvious and that matter, take a stand. This is B.B. Warfield, he was a professor at the Princeton Cemetery, this is like late 1800s.

0:28:37
He says, it would be impossible, therefore, for a moral being to stand in the presence of perceived wrong, indifferent and unmoved. If you are a moral being, you should not stand, you should not be able to look at evil and be indifferent and unmoved. Precisely what we mean by a moral being is a being perceptive of the difference between right and wrong. If you're unable to determine or to see the right and wrong, you're not a moral being. And not only determining the difference between right and wrong, but reacting appropriately to right and wrong. The emotions of indignation and anger belong, therefore, to the very self-expression of a moral being as such and cannot be lacking to him in the presence of wrong." You have, clearly, a deceived world telling you that there's no such thing as evil.

0:29:34
You can't—how dare you even say such a thing? You're a bigot and trying to silence you, that is an effort to make you no longer a moral being. That is an effort to silence you and make you indifferent and meaningless and to doubt and to not have conviction and not have moral clarity. And then what are you? The Bible on the other hand is very clear. Psalm 4.4. David says, be angry and do not sin. The Hebrew word here for be angry is, it means to tremble, to be troubled, to shake, to quake, to be perturbed, to quiver with anger.

0:30:23
So care. Care. Like, have conviction. Care about what's happening in front of you. Care about it. Be angry. Be perturbed. Tremble. Shake at what you're seeing. Have the moral clarity to see that this is evil.

0:30:46
And while our country is saying, Oh, who are you to say blah blah blah, I'm a moral being. I am angry at this because this is bad, this is wrong, this is dangerous, this is evil. Be angry and do not sin. So his point here is it's okay to care a lot. You must, in fact. Just don't go so far as to sin. Ephesians 4, 26, be angry. This is in Greek so it's a different word, but be angry and do not sin.

0:31:12
Do not let the sun go down on your anger. So the Bible commands you to be angry. But what do we do with that anger? Well, a couple lines after that Psalm 4-4, he told you, be angry, but don't sin, offer right sacrifices and put our trust in the Lord. Put your trust in the Lord. That's the key. So, what's in my control? First you don't get discouraged. When everyone around you is lukewarm, when everyone around you is, oh don't be judgy, when everyone around you doesn't have conviction and doesn't care and isn't paying attention, don't let that distract you, don't let that discourage you. You are called as a moral being.

0:31:50
See a lot of people will say, well who are you to say? I am a moral being. I'm a moral American human being. That is who I am to say. Oh, who are you to say? I'm a moral being. So don't get discouraged by people who are not. That's the first thing. Are you angry today? Why? Is it righteous? Here's a good tip. Is it about you? If it's about you, it's probably not righteous. Could be, could be, could be, don't get me wrong, but that's a first hint of just something to be aware of.

0:32:38
A yellow flag, not a red flag, a yellow flag. Is it something bigger than you? Is that why you're angry? That's a better sign. Is this anger leading you to a sinful place? I'm reminded of the story of Catherine of Siena, 1400s. She died when she was 33. She had a stroke at 33. Her final words, she said, Dear children, let not my death sadden you? Rather, rejoice to think that I am leaving a place of many sufferings, to go to rest in the quiet sea, the eternal God, and to be united forever with my most sweet and loving bridegroom. I leave darkness to pass into the true and everlasting light.

0:33:32
I have sinned, O Lord, be merciful to me." She had a stroke at 33. She wasn't angry. I say that because anger isn't the only emotion, but it may be a good place to start. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5, 21, hold fast to what is good. Hold fast to what is good. So let's not be discouraged by those who say, who are you to say? Let's have a righteous anger in the right way. And then hold and all at the same time while holding fast to what is good. How's that? Let's be angry about the things that truly matter. Final thing to meditate on.

0:34:33
I just found this hymn. Thy kingdom come, O God. Thy rule, O Christ, begin. Break with thine iron rod the tyrannies of sin. Oh, that's violent. Yeah. Break with thine iron rod the tyrannies of sin. Our first sponsor of this podcast is Public Square. Was Public Square. It is Public Square.

0:35:09
They're amazing. It's an app. You can download it in the app store for free and it connects you with people who own businesses that share your values. So the Bud Light is just like a perfect example. I love that people are not spending the money on Bud Light. Great, perfect, but where do you go? Or whatever, but it's not just alcohol. It's every business, every single business has these major players that hate you.

0:35:32
Like they just despise everything about you. They hate every value you have and they're getting bolder and bolder in speaking against you. So enough already. Public square, download it, start small like I did, just hit near me restaurants, and instead of going to some big chain that hates you, go to a local restaurant that shares your values. They have coffee and tea, so just something easy, and then grow from there.

0:35:58
And pretty soon, you're only buying things from people who share your values. And it's great because money's a tool. And how you spend it matters, not only on what you spend it on, but who you spend it with, who you're giving it to in return for great products, of course, great products and services, and they're all on the app. Download it, it's free.

0:36:20
Public Square in the App Store, publicsq.com, and if you scroll down, you can see the five values that every business owner has to sign on to in order to be featured in this app. It's nationwide, public, square, free download in the App Store.

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https://archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20220122_110000_FOX_and_Friends_Saturday/start/5640/end/5700

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Morning Motivation, April 21, 2023

I found a way to easily transcribe the podcasts, so I will post them here first before they go out to iTunes and the rest.

Good morning. Welcome to The Morning Motivation, brought to you by Public Square and Patriot Gold Group. I'm grateful you're here. I was reading a sermon by the great Puritan preacher John Owen in the mid-1600s. I'm so fascinated by this time period, 1600s, early 1700s. We focus a lot on our founding fathers. I think that the Tea Party movement and just conservatism in general has focused a lot on the founding fathers, and that's amazing, but I'm very fascinated by our founding grandfathers or great-grandfathers, the people who created the culture that our founding fathers were raised in.

0:00:44
Isn't that a fascinating era? We got like 1776, like that's great, I love it, I want to know more, I don't know nearly enough. But what about the 1720s? What was going on there? Or the late 1600s? What was going on in America at that time? And you know, we've all heard of the Puritans, but you ...

Morning Motivation, April 21, 2023
Inflation and ANGER

I am angry and frustrated. With our Rulers. For getting us in this terrible economy. It doesn't have to be this way.

How could they never learn from past mistakes! This is ANCIENT history, stop printing money...yet, after COVID, we never printed more. Amazing.

Please leave a 5-star review on Itunes. We have a ton of momentum, this is about to break through! Thank you!

Also, I haven't done any lives anywhere becauase we're hosting a daily TV show "Road to Misterms" on thefirsttv.com, and it's taken all of my extra time. And my wife is giving birth any day now, so...it's been a lot around here. But after the midterms, time will free up.

Inflation and ANGER
Politics by Faith: Parkland and the Death Penalty

I've gone back and forth on the death penalty many times over the years. I've recently come down on the other side.

Should the Parkland murderer have gotten the death penalty or life in prison?

Please leave a review on iTunes! We need to get to 1k :-)
www.thefirsttv.com/mikeslater

Btw, we're getting the momentum we need, more downloads every day, THANK YOU!

Politics by Faith: Parkland and the Death Penalty
November 26, 2025

Baptized Brethren contest with each other AND against The Church, calling “Lord, Lord” (Mt 7:21-22, 25:11; Lk 6:46), in the Devil’s disunity, whilst the enemy has breached the Gates and is welcomed at and obliged at the most august Court. “Lord, Lord.”

Faith of our Fathers. Jer 6:16; Mal 3:6; Heb 13:7-9; Jam 1:17; Gal 1:6-12; Jude 3; 1 Pet 5:5

THE CODE OF CATHOLIC CHIVALRY

The knight receives as his law the knightly Code of Honor, which is the expression of his absolute fidelity to God:

I. The Knight battles for Christ and His Reign.
II. The Knight serves his Lady the Blessed Virgin Mary.
III. The Knight defends The Holy Church unto blood.
IV. The Knight maintains the Tradition of his Fathers.
V. The Knight fights for Justice, Christian Order and Peace.
VI. The Knight wages war without truce or mercy against the World and its Prince.
VII. The Knight honors and protects the poor, the weak and the needy.
VIII. The Knight despises money and the powers of this world.
IX. The Knight is humble, magnanimous ...

November 19, 2025

You were terse and dismissive in this morning's 7:25 Eastern time call with the Man with four step children applying for Naturalization from his Naturalized U.S. Wife of Philippine descent. You should be more considerate of history about America's relationship such as with the Philippine People, which is quite notable with intrinsic factors which should have favorable weight in consideration the Filipino propensity to immigrate and become American Citizens.

"The Resident Commissioner of the Philippines was a non-voting member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1907 until the Philippines gained independence in 1946. This role was established under the Philippine Organic Act of 1902, allowing the Philippines to have representation in Congress, similar to current non-voting members from U.S. territories."

Don't be so apparently xenophobic and stop misrepresenting American (and Christian while you're at it) History in omission through culpable ignorance.

The Philippines, 1898–1946
...

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November 11, 2025

Happy Veterans' Day.
Support our Troops. Before. During. After.

St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, Confessor, Soldier of the State, Soldier of Christ
November 11
https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/lives-of-the-saints/volume-xi-november/st-martin-bishop-of-tours-confessor

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It's A Wonderful Life
Politics By Faith, December 5, 2025

Even if you've seen it 100 times or if you've only seen bits and pieces, watch all of It's A Wonderful Life this weekend. And don't wait until Christmas to watch it. Let it inform your entire Christmas season starting now.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. This is my annual reminder to watch It's a Wonderful Life, the movie. Go watch it right now, this weekend. Don't wait till Christmas. You don't have to watch it on Christmas Eve. 

I feel like you miss it. You miss the whole month. You should watch it now so it informs the whole month of Christmas, not after Christmas. And then you forget about it by the new year. I watched it last year for the very first time. It's my favorite movie. 

Now, if you asked me two years ago, have I ever seen It's a Wonderful Life? I would have said, yeah, like twice. Most of it, probably, I've seen bits and pieces, so yeah, I get the gist of it. Belle, Angel Wings, I get it, yeah. That was two years ago. Last year was the first year my wife and I sat down and watched the whole thing. 

I loved every second of it. So we just watched it again the other day with the kids this time, and it's amazing. The whole movie is perfect. Now, if you're gonna watch it with your kids, a warning, there's a lot of drinking in it, and there's a couple sexually inappropriate kind of things, but it's like 1940, so it's okay. There's a scene where Violet is wearing a dress and all the men are oogling. And they say, nice dress. 

And she says, oh, this old thing, I only wear it when I don't care how I look. And then she walks away. She's like, all right, like we can handle this. Whatever Frank Capra in 1946 thought was risque, I think we can handle in the twenty twenty five. So don't let that stop you. Interesting. 

It's a wonderful life fact when it came out in nineteen forty. So actually, let me go back. It started with this guy wrote the story and he tried to pitch it to the thirties and he tried to pitch to a bunch of magazines and they wouldn't take it. So he sent it out to friends in a Christmas card. And somehow it made it to Frank Capra. Frank Capra loved the story. 

They bought it, made the movie, flopped, lost $500 ,000. The reason it became a Christmas classic is because in 1974, the production company made some clerical mistake or something, and the movie ended up in the public domain. They lost the copyright to it. So the TV stations could air it without paying any royalties. So they just played it over and over and over again. 

It's just to fill time. And that's how it became a tradition. That's how people saw it and loved it. And now they keep playing it, right? Isn't that amazing? The total fluke that we even know it exists. 

The author of the original, say, book, it's not even a book. I bought the book. It's by Philip Van Doren Stern. He wrote this, uh, he wrote the Christmas card. So I bought it and it's all right. It's like, fine. 

There's a couple points that he makes that are in the movie, but the movie is way better. I've never said that before. I mean, usually it's the book that's way better, right? In this case, the movies are way better, but he just sent out this Christmas card to friends and family and somehow it made it away. It's unbelievable. I love everything about the movie. 

Next time I watch it, hopefully this weekend again, I want to write down more of my favorite parts and favorite lines. I love how it starts off with people praying for George, the story of sacrifice. George wants to do all these things. He wants to travel the world. He wants to go hit it big. He wants to go on a honeymoon with his wife and he always sacrifices for other people. 

And his wife serves him in that last point of sacrifice. Love, love that story. Love that storyline. This is the best line in the movie. Think right here. 

Right in the middle of it. Soon as I got Mary's telegram, good idea, Ernie, a toast to my big brother, George, the richest man in town. 

Come on. There's so many great lines. I love that relationship between the brothers throughout the movie as well. That line always does it to me. One line came up during the show the other day. Why did it come up? 

Oh, darn it. Why did it come up? It was the line where George crashes his car into a tree and the owner of the house comes out. Do you remember what he says? The owner of the house? He said, my great grandpa planted that tree. 

Took a nick out of the tree. This part's actually in the Christmas card. My great -grandpa planted that tree. That amazing, that incredible connection to the land, to the town, to his home, that still this guy's living in the same house where his great -grandpa planted the tree in the front yard. Doesn't that speak to something so beautiful? Of course, the story of good man taking a heroic stand against forces trying to destroy the town. 

The last two times I've seen it, that theme always stands out to me, this beauty and importance of a town, a story of community where everyone knows everyone. Everyone knows Bert the policeman, Ernie the taxi driver, Sesame Street said, that's just a coincidence. I don't know how that could possibly be. How could that be a coincidence? The movie came first, by the way, and Sesame Street came after. You're going to call the two main characters Bert and Ernie and not be a reference to, and the good guys win and the good guys win with the help of the people. 

It's all the great things. On my SiriusXM show, I'll go into more detail about the town and the importance of towns. But this is a religious, I shouldn't say religious. I don't like saying religious because religious is like, Oh, we allow all the great faiths of history to be... No, it's a great... body. 

So let me bring in some scripture here because all good stories have a Christian roots in them. The one scene when Potter, the evil Potter, thinks he finally can beat George Bailey. Well, he realized he can't beat him, so he's going to join him or really get George to join him. So he's going to offer him a huge paycheck. Also, there's one line when George, when Potter is talking to Bailey, he says, oh, Bailey, you only make this much a month. And after you pay to provide for your mother, you only end up with this much for your wife and kids. 

And I love that little note there because then when George Bailey goes back, you know, as if he never existed, he goes to his mom's house and his mom is running a boarding house and she looks terrible versus that lovely scene when mom is bright eyed and thriving. And she tells George to go, go find that girl. Go, go meet Mary, go see Mary. And they, they kiss each other. They love each other so deeply. But then when George doesn't exist, no one's there to take care of her. 

And it's just that one little line that informs us that he's in fact doing that. So he gets enamored with the money. George does. It's a lot about falls off his chair. He says, well, let me, let me give it a day to think it over. Talk it over with the wife. 

Oh, sure, sure, sure. 

Go talk it over with the missus. I'll work on the papers. You let me know tomorrow. I sure will. Mr. Potter holds out his hands. And the second they shake hands, second, George Bailey feels the coldness and he's about to do business with the devil. 

He wipes, wipes his hand, like wipes the grime. off of his hand on his coat. Can't believe I even... considered it for a second. And then he told him off. Reminded me of Psalm 52. 

Psalm 52 is David writing about a story that happened in 1 Samuel 21. The very short of that story is Doeg, who was Saul's chief herdsman, told King Saul that David visited some priests. And then Doeg falsely accused the priests of helping David against Saul. So Saul ordered the priests to be executed, and Doeg is the one who carried it out. Killed 85 priests, along with other women and children too, but 85 priests. So that's Doeg. 

And here's David talking about him. Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man? The goodness of God endures continually. Your tongue devises destruction, like a sharp razor working deceitfully as his potter as well. You love evil more than good. lying rather than speaking righteousness. 

You love all devouring words, you deceitful tongue. God shall likewise destroy you forever. He shall take you away and pluck you out of your dwelling place and uproot you from the land of the living. The righteous also shall see and fear and shall laugh at him. Doeg, God took him out, right? Shall laugh at him saying, here is the man who did not make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthened himself. 

in his wickedness. That's Potter, isn't it? Strengthening himself in his wickedness, surrounding himself with as much wealth as he can possibly accumulate from the people. And then when he's in charge of the town, it becomes a den of gambling and prostitution and sin. But with George Bailey, salt and light, he brings a purity and a goodness to all around him and to his town. We are called to be these people. 

We are called to be George Bailey's. We are called, whatever business you work at, responsibilities you have, maybe business you own, I believe you're called to be Bailey building and loan as much as you can to your customers and to your employees. Well, I've been saying recently that as John Adams said, that our constitution was only made for a moral and religious people. I believe capitalism is only made for a moral and religious people too. We are called to be George Bailey. We're called to be and run our businesses like Bailey building and loan. 

And of course, more than George Bailey, we're called to be like Jesus. We talked today to the CEO of Trail Life USA. The Secretary of War has officially cut off the military from all connection with scouting America. It used to be called the Boy Scouts. Boy Scouts are no longer for boys. They've completely abandoned everything that made them amazing for 114 years. 

And they're a total disgrace. Trail Life USA has risen from the ashes. And it's a proudly Christian scouting organization. TrailLifeUSA . com. We talked to their CEO. 

He was wonderful. Talked to him this morning. The motto of Trail Life USA is walk worthy. That nice walk worthy. Where's that come from? Colossians 110. 

That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work. and increasing in the knowledge of God. May we dedicate ourselves this month, it's Christmas month and forever, but this Christmas month to walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him. If Mr. Potter can give us a visual of what not to be, and if George Bailey can give us a little artistic visual of who to be more like, that's just great, as long as it's pointing us closer to Jesus. mikeslater . locals . 

com transcript commercial free on the website. Go watch the movie right now. Go go watch it. mikeslater .

 

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The End Of All Things Is At Hand
Politics By Faith, December 2, 2025

Abraham Davenport was a member of the founding generation. When everyone around him thought Jesus was coming back, and I mean thought he was coming back that second, Davenport didn't change a thing. We should have a similar posture.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. I read 1 Peter 4 this morning, underlined a bunch. I was going to go over a bunch of different things here, but I can't really make it past this one sentence. 1 Peter 4, 7, but the end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be serious and watchful in your prayers. 

That's the ESV. I almost always quote ESV, but I do want to give NASB here. The end of all things is near. Therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. sound judgment, sober spirit, serious prayers, watchful of your prayers. John Calvin said it ought to be the chief concern of the believer to fix his mind constantly on Christ's second advent, his second coming. 

We should be thinking, we should be fixing our minds constantly on the second coming of Jesus. This is Christmas, so it's all about the first coming. That's great, but the second coming is quite important as well. Remember, Joy to the World is actually about the second coming, it's not really a Christmas song. So I was doing some research on that sentence because that stuck out to me so much. In my research, I came across this poem about a particular day in New England. 

Let me quote here from the newspaper in 1780. It says here, the Northern states wrapped in a dense black atmosphere for 15 hours. Again, this is 1780, the day of judgment supposed to have come. Cessation of labor. People stopped working. Religious devotions resorted to. 

The herds retire to their stalls, the fowls to their roosts, and the birds sing their evening songs at noonday. clips there was, it was crazy. All the crickets came out. Science at loss to account for the mysterious phenomenon. One of nature's marvels. Redness of the sun and moon. 

Approach of a thick vapor. Loud pearls of thunder. Sudden and strange darkness. Alarm of the inhabitants. End of the world looked for. Dismay at the brute creation. 

An intensely deep gloom. This is the newspaper in 1780. Difficulty in attending to business. lights burning in the houses, vast extent of the occurrence, condition of the barometer, change in the color of objects, quick motion of the clouds, birds suffocate and die, the sun's disk seen in some places, oily deposits on the waters, impenetrable darkness at night, incidents and anecdotes, ignorant whims and conjectures, an unsolved mystery. " That was in 1780. So this poem was written by James Whittier about Abraham Davenport. Abraham Davenport was the grandson of the founder of the New Haven colony, and he was a state rep. And I just want to read through the poem here that can give us some insight into how we should be acting every day. In light of 1 Peter 4, 7, the end of all things is at hand. Here is the poem. In the old days, a custom laid aside with britches and cocked hats. It's like the founders, their tricorn hats. The people sent their wisest men to make the public laws. And so from a brown homestead, where the sound drinks the small tribute of the Mayanas, waved over the woods by ripawoms, so in Connecticut, and hallowed by pure lives and tranquil deaths, Stamford sent up to the councils of the state wisdom and grace in Abraham Davenport." It's the people put forward 

Davenport and all his wisdom and grace. "'Twas on the May day of the far old year 1780 that there fell over the bloom and sweet life of the spring, over the fresh earth and the heaven of noon, a horror of great darkness, like the night and day of which the Norrland sagas tell, the twilight of the gods." It's " It's a reference to Norse mythology, end of the world. It was bad out there. The low -hung sky was black with ominous clouds, save where its rim was fringed with a dull glow, like that which climbs the crater sides from the red hell below, like a volcano. Birds ceased to sing and all the barnyard fowls roosted. The cattle at the pasture bars lowed and looked homeward. 

Bats on leathern wings flitted abroad. The sounds of labor died. So everyone stopped working. Men prayed. Women wept. All ears grew. 

Think about the state of people. where it goes dark for a while and everyone freaks out and starts praying and thinks it's the end of the world and that it's not the end of the world, second coming. I wanted to say like there's something like this that happened if people would think it was aliens or people's instinct would be like a nuclear attack or war or something like that. I wonder how many people would think second coming. That's what happened in 1780. Men prayed, women wept, all ears grew sharp to hear the doom blast of the trumpet shatter the black sky. 

That trumpet would be 1 Corinthians 15 -52, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. So people were waiting to hear that doom blast, that the dreadful face of Christ might look down from the rent clouds, not as he looked, a little guest at Bethany, but stern as justice and an exorable law. Meanwhile, in the old state house, dim as ghosts, sat the lawgivers of Connecticut, trembling beneath their legislative robes. The state reps are freaking out. 

They're dim as ghosts, right? It is the Lord's great day. Let us adjourn. It's second coming. We're done. 

Bang the gavel. 

Let's get out of here. Some said, And then, as if with one accord, all eyes were turned to Abraham Davenport. He rose, slow, cleaving with a steady voice the intolerable hush. Here's what he said. This well may be the day of judgment which the world awaits, but be it so or not, I only know my present duty and my Lord's command to occupy till he come. So at the post where he has set me in his providence, I choose for one. 

to meet him face to face. No faithless servant frightened from my task, but ready when the Lord of the harvest calls. And therefore, with all reverence, I would say, let God do his work and we will see to ours. Bring in the candles. And they brought them in. Then by the flaring lights, the speaker read, albeit with husky voice and shaking hands, an act to amend, an act to regulate the shad and all why fisheries. 

So just take a dumb bill about fish. Whereupon wisely and well spake Abraham Davenport straight to the question. With no figures of speech, save the ten Arab signals, yet not without the shrewd dry humor now. to the man. So it's just like logical, no -nonsense, right to the point, but also witty and thoughtful. His awestruck colleagues listening while, by the way, the world's coming to an end. 

His awestruck colleagues listening all the while between the pauses of his argument to hear the thunder of the wrath of God break from the hollow trumpet of the cloud. And there he stands in memory to this day, erect, self -poised, a rugged face, half seen against the background of unnatural dark, a witness to the ages as they pass that simple duty hath no place to fear. JFK would sometimes use this story, this poem, as in his campaigns. He would say, I hope in a dark and uncertain period of our own country that we too may bring candles to help light our country's way and not hide, not be afraid. But I love his argument. He says, God put me here to do this work. 

I'm going to keep doing it. When he's, if he's coming down, this is, I want him to see me doing this, what he put me here to do, which of course means if you're not doing what God is calling you to do, we better get doing it. The end of things is at hand. Therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers and everything else. The sound judgment of first Peter four, seven, sound judgment, sober spirit, sound judgment is really interesting word. It means the Greek word here. 

It means saved mind. This word is used six times in the new Testament. Mark 5 15, I'll just give a couple. Mark 5 15, and they came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon possessed, sitting down, clothed, and in his right mind. There it is. Luke 8 35, and the people went out to see what had happened. 

And they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out. sitting down at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. If you're in your right mind, you would be at the feet of Jesus. Romans 12, for though the grace given to me, I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to have sound judgment as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. Sober judgment, a saved mind. It means you're sane, you're clear thinking, you have self -control. 

A self -control against earthly passions, earthly pleasures. William Barclay made a whole list of how Greeks, like ancient Greeks, used this word in a secular way. So Plato defined this word as the mastery over pleasure and desire. Aristotle said it's the power by which the pleasure of the body are used as law commands. Pythagoras said it is the foundation on which the soul rests. Euripides said that it is the fairest gift of God. 

This other Greek philosopher said it is the safeguard of the most excellent habits of life. So the idea is that someone with a sane mind is someone who knows and loves Jesus and therefore has serious prayers. You are serious about your prayers. You're watchful in your prayers. You have sound judgment and a sober spirit for the purpose of prayer and in doing what you're supposed to be doing all the time. And so Confident in that, that even when it looks like the world around you is coming to an end, when everyone else around you thinks the world is coming to an end, at this very moment, like it's pitch black outside in the middle of the day, the world's coming to an end, this is the second coming, even then, you'll say, well, I just need to keep doing what I'm doing. 

Let's be sane minded, save my life. Let's be doing what God would want us to be doing when he does come, because it's going to happen in a flash. Matthew 25, 27, as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the son of man. To drive it home one last time, if you're doing right now what you're not supposed to be doing, you better stop. The second coming could be right now. The end of all things is at hand. 

Mike Slater . locals . com for the transcript and commercial free. Mike Slater .

 

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Boasting Serves You Right
Politics By Faith, December 1, 2025

A sailor on the Mayflower, not one of the Pilgrims, boasted about his health and mocked the sickly Pilgrims. Then, he got what was coming to him. We must learn the lesson his fellow sailors learned: to thank God for all things.


Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. I have one final Thanksgiving message and then after that we'll move on to our one month long analysis of the movie It's a Wonderful Life, which we saw on Thanksgiving night. Last year was the first time we watched It's a Wonderful Life from start to finish. And if you asked me two years ago if I've ever seen It's a Wonderful Life, I'd be like, oh yeah, definitely. 

I've seen it because I've just seen bits and pieces my entire life. But that doesn't cut it. That's not the whole thing. Seeing bits and pieces of It's a Wonderful Life is not the same as seeing the movie It's a Wonderful Life. And it's my favorite movie, and it's incredible, and I want to encourage you to watch it now and not wait until Christmas. Because if you watch it on Christmas Eve, you kind of miss, you miss a whole month of opportunity to really reflect on it throughout all of Christmas. 

So go watch It's a Wonderful Life right now with the whole family. It's amazing, and we will do more It's a Wonderful Life analysis. I wasn't kidding, by the way. Not a month, of course, but I'll sprinkle it in now. But I have one final Thanksgiving message just about the pilgrims. We can talk about all the time, but what's going on here is some people sent some stuff from the old world to the new world and it didn't make it. 

So William Pierce wrote a letter back to the people who sent it and they said, we lost all your stuff. I don't know if we lost it or you lost it. It just got lost. Just the way it goes. So here's what he said. Dear friends, you may know that all your beaver and your books of your accounts are swallowed up in the sea. 

Your letters remain with me, and shall be delivered, if God bring me home. But what should I more say? Have we lost our outward estates? Yet a happy loss, if our souls may gain. There is yet more in the Lord Jehovah than ever we had yet in the world. Oh, that our foolish hearts could yet be waned from these thoughts. 

here below, which are vanity and vexation of spirit. And yet we foolishly catch after shadows that fly away and are gone in a moment. Would you have had that mentality if you were traveling to a new world with nothing but an ax and a Bible? God, well, all the stuff you sent over, it's gone. But anyway, it's great. It's a happy loss if our souls may gain. 

And if God has ever decided to bless you with any good things, which are all the things you have, you better not be boastful. William Bradford wrote this. He said, I may not omit here a special work of God's providence. There was a proud and very profane young man, one of the seamen. So remember there were 102 guys on the boat, but 61 of them were not Puritans or the separatists. They were the crew, 61, most of them. 

So one of the young men of a lusty, able body, which made him the more haughty. He would always be contempting the poor people in their sickness and cursing them daily with grievous execrations. It's an execration. Making fun of an angry denouncement or curse. Just making fun of the old sick people and did not let to tell them that he hoped to help to cast half of them overboard before they came to their journey's end. So he'd mock them for being sick and say, I can't wait to throw you overboard when you finally die. 

You're not going to make it. You're so weak. And to make merry with what they had. Stop complaining. Be strong like me. And if he were by any gently reproved, knock it off, he would curse and swear most of the time. 

But, okay, so you're with me on the scene here, right? You got 41 of these Puritans, these pilgrim separatists having a tough time, 66 days over the ocean and six more months off the coast, dying. This guy's making fun of them. But if it pleased God before they came half seas over to smite this young man with a grievous disease of which he died in a desperate manner, and he was himself the first to be thrown overboard, Thus his curses light on his own head, and it was an astonishment to all his fellows, for they noted it to be the just hand of God upon him. " So it's all the all the other not Puritans were like, oh, they're not be like that guy. I wonder if that's one of the reasons why they ultimately signed the Mayflower Compact. 

I'm like, well, these guys seem to have something special helping them out along the way. So I hope you brought the pilgrims into your Thanksgiving celebration. They're wonderful people. And this is who we came from. And we can't forget it. And I was reading Deuteronomy 8 the other day, and I thought of this story from William Bradford that we just shared. 

Deuteronomy 8 says, every commandment which I command you today, you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers. And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you the way these 40 years in the wilderness to humble you and test to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know what manna is. not that man shall not live by bread alone but man lives by every word that proceeded from the mouth of the lord your garments did not wear out on you nor did your foot swell these 40 years you know incredible that is 40 years of walking your sandals never wore out your feet never your knees never hurt Clothes didn't wear out. You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you. Man shall not live by bread alone. 

There it is, Deuteronomy 8. Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of your Lord your God to walk in his ways and to fear him. Do we fear the Lord? For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, fountains and springs that flow out of valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates. I don't love pomegranates, but I guess if you were back then, pomegranate would be pretty special. A land of olive oil and honey. 

A land in which you will eat bread without scarcity. See Harry, here's how boastful I am. God's like, I will bring you to a land of pomegranates. I'm like, I don't really love. That's the kind of cuties. 

I love cuties. 

Cuties are good. 

I have cuties instead of pomegranates, the averils or whatever those things are. They're kind of like you chew them and you don't really get a lot of burst of flavor. And then it's kind of like, it's like a seed inside of it. It's not that impressive, but hey, whatever God, whatever you want to give me. A land of olive oil and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity in which you will lack nothing. A land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 

When you've eaten and are full, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which he has given you. " That's what's true for us today. When you are eaten and you are full, every time that God provides and everything you have is God providing, then you should bless the Lord your God for everything that he has given us. We should break down every line of Deuteronomy 8, but the point is everything comes from God. God will protect you, provide for you with manna. Everything you have is manna. 

What's manna? Manna is everything you have and everything you earned is because God gave you manna to earn it with. He gave you the ability to... earn it. This radio show I have, this is not from me. Well, I'm very good at the radio. 

If I ever do anything good, it's only because God gave me the ability to do a thing. But even if I do good, if no one listens to it, then that's, and that's not up to me. I can't decide if anyone, if you decide to listen to this right now, that's all God. Everything, it's entirely 100 % in every way, all God. And then if you lose it all, will you still praise God? That's the story of Job, and that was the story that I first shared here with the pilgrims. When they're like, ah, we lost our stuff. 

Yet it's a happy loss if our souls may gain. One last part of Deuteronomy 8 verse 11, beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments, his judgments, his statutes, which I command you today. Lest when you have eaten and are full, and you have built beautiful houses and dwell in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied. Gosh, this is today. Did you eat a big Thanksgiving meal? Do you have a nice house that's safe? 

Do you have things, herds and flocks, nice TV, whatever, nice car, your silver and your gold are multiplied, your stock market's doing well, and all that you have is multiplied. When your heart is lifted up and you forget the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, who brought you from the life of sin you were living in, from the house of bondage, who led you through that great and terrible wilderness in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water, who brought water for you out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and that he might test you to do good in the end. Then you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth. It is wonderful to have wealth and flocks and health like the sailor on the maple leaf. 

had. 

But we better not boast that God had nothing to do with it, because he had everything. MikeSlater . Locals . com. For the transcript and commercial, free website, MikeSlater . Locals .com

 

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