Will you see Stephen Spielberg's new movie? Do we need more things in our culture causing us to question the existence of God? Luke 19 has some insight into what we should do with Spielberg's offer.

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. New headlines every day. But Ecclesiastes says he's not the new one of the sun. So thanks for being here. To get the true story, the story of the day, Steven Spielberg says his new movie, Disclosure Day, will leave Christians questioning their faith in God. 

So we got a new movie coming out. Disclosure Day, it's a story of a cybersecurity expert and a TV meteorologist who race to leak classified government archives proving non -human intelligence exists. Yet, they're pursued by a shadowy establishment determined to suppress the truth to maintain the world order. Steven Spielberg hasn't had a good movie in like 20 years. Breitbart's, our friend John Nolte is the senior writer at Breitbart. He's one of the main culture writers there. 

massive movie expert. He watches like two movies a day for his life. He says Spielberg's on about a 20 -year losing streak, had some of the big hits early on at Schindler's List, Jurassic Park, Jaws, Close Encounters, Raiders of the Lost Ark, got it, E . T. Then a couple other ones, I'll throw Saving Private Ryan in there. That was 1998. 

All right, so really since 1998, Nolte, who's seen them all, said Lincoln And Bridge of Spies, he said, we're all OK. But in that same period, you got the Indiana Jones with the ghost or the crystal skull, the adventures of Tin Tin, War Horse, BFG, The Post, Ready Player One, West Side Story, The Fablemans. The Fablemans and West Side Story were two just massive box office disasters. So he's going on this publicity tour for he's trying to make this as big next. And here is what he said on CBS Sunday morning. This truth were just known overnight. 

If the government announced, yes, we have been keeping this from you since 1947, that would mess up a lot of people. And the movie also takes the position of the church. What does this do to the fundamental beliefs that many of us have? And, you know, is God our God only on this planet? Or is God a God for us? So what's broken of this story? 

Why talk about it here? I don't need my belief in God question. The devil's working overtime to try and get people to not believe in God. I don't need Steven Spielberg to join in on that effort or work as a tool of the devil. Romans 10 17 says faith comes through hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. This needs to be our top priority. 

To increase our faith in God. I would say most people's problem in America is not that we don't question God's existence enough. It's that we question it too much already. You with me? The problem with America is there's too many people that believe in God and they haven't really thought it through. The problem is not enough people believe in God. 

Or they say they maybe kind of do, but they don't understand the ramifications of God. We need to spend more time in this country increasing our faith, not questioning it. I also don't need non -Christians telling me and other Christians what we should believe or not believe or what we should question. No thanks, Steven. Did you see the other day, the Pentagon, they reduced the number of recognized religions. 

How many religions could you name? If we sat down and brainstormed religions, how many could we name? We've got Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Zoroastrianism or something. I don't know, five? Maybe we could sit here and get to eight. They've removed uh so they had uh 211 they had 211 religions and they cut it down to 31 and that's still like what 31 so they removed atheism that was a recognized religion humanism paganism wicca witches druidism asatru unitarian universalism which is hilarious that's the that's the funniest religion because it's just all of them they're like we believe in all the things of all the religions and they're all true as they what one is pronounced magic m -a -g -i -c -k i don't know shamanism deism n -car n -kin -car bathomet b -a -t -h -o -m -e -t i don't know and troth troth t -r -o -t -h what in the world so the ones that remain are a bunch of christian denominations and then agnostic bahai Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Sikh. 

Those are the main ones. But the idea, I bring this one up here because the idea that we had 211 recognized religions in the military, and by the way, still have a handful of blasphemous religions allowed in the military, shows how far we've fallen and how much we've already been questioning the existence of God. and coming to our own ridiculous conclusions. 211 different, after all, let's say Christianity is one of them, let's say. So 210 false, wrong conclusions after all the questioning of his existence. If I may make a suggestion before we get to the Bible, I hate to be a cultural prude here, but be careful of anti -Christian culture being I was going to say being pushed into your home and into your heart, but it's not, I mean, it's being pushed, but in the end you still allow it. 

So be aware of what you allow into your home and into your heart. C . S. Lewis wrote a lot about this. He said, the world does not need more Christian literature. What it needs is more Christians writing good literature. 

So I'm not saying every book you read has to be the Bible or that every book you read has to be about the Bible or that every book you read has to be explicitly Christian. But we need more Christians writing good literature of all genres. Read old books, right? The older authors are often usually more informed by Christian culture in their writing. And it's just better. See, this is Lewis's advice to read old books, at least every other. 

Secular books by secular authors can stumble upon a truth here or there. And again, I don't want to be a prude about it, but if I can just encourage us all, there's so much good stuff out there. There's so much good literature that's been written. that so many of the greats we haven't read before. Go to the good stuff. There's so much good literature and poems and movies and tv shows that have been made 

Why do we have to fill the short time that we have here on earth with more modern secular slop? There's enough good stuff there. I don't need new. My last C . S. Lewis quote of the day, it's one of my favorite quotes of his. 

He says, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half -hearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition. When infinite joy is offered us, Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. Like a vacation. That's a British word for vacation. Vacation at the sea. 

We are far too easily pleased. Here we are messing around with Steven Spielberg's latest stupid movie, which it promises to question your existence of God. Oh yeah, I can't wait to play with that mud pie in a slum. What a fun night that'll be when God has so much more available to us. We are far, far too easily pleased. Let's go to the Bible. 

I read this, uh, this morning, Luke 19. And I got a minute, I read it and I was like, ah, this, I don't get it. This parable made no sense to me. So obviously I had to do more research on it. And I think it fits in here pretty nicely. We'll see if it does. 

So this is Luke 19. It's right after Zacchaeus climbed the sycamore tree. And he decided to give half of his goods. He's a thief. So he decided to give half of his goods away and then restore the people he defrauded fourfold. And then Jesus goes right into the parable of the ten minas. 

Minas, M -I -N -A -S. So one minas is three months. It's money. It's three months of wages, three months of labor. One is. So he gave ten servants each one amount of money, a lot of money. 

money, three months worth of money. So I don't know if you make 60 grand, right? So it's like a good chunk of money he gave people. So he gave each of those, each of the 10 servants, the same amount. Let me pick up here. He said, therefore, a nobleman went into a far country. 

This is the parable. To receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Calling 10 of his servants, he gave them 10 minus and said to them, engage in business until I come. But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, We do not want this man to reign over us. More on that in a second. When he returned, having received the kingdom, he offered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they gained by doing business. 

What have you got? What did you do? I've been gone. What have you done with the money? The first came before him saying, Lord, your mina has made ten minus more. And he said to them, Well done. 

good servant, because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over 10 cities. " Pretty good. And the second came saying, Lord, your mina has made five minas. And he said to him, and you are to be over five cities. Then another came saying, Lord, here's your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief, for I was afraid of you because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow. And he said to him, I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant. You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did, taking what I did not deposit, reaping what I did not sow. Why then did you not put my money in the bank? And at my coming, I might have collected it with interest." And he said to those who stood by, take a mina from him and give it to him. who has ten minas. And they said to him, Lord, he has ten minas. I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given. 

But for the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me. is even if you are that third servant who did nothing and was scolded, at least we're not the enemy who were slaughtered, who were killed right there on the spot. The point of this part here is that everyone has to answer to the master, just like we will all have to answer to God. The main point of this parable is that Jesus's kingdom will not appear immediately. There will be a period of time when the King of Kings is absent before the kingdom will be fully set up. So this nobleman left, his master left, and he put in charge, he gave his servants a commission. 

to see if they would faithfully execute it until he returned. Go do business. Some did, some did not. We similarly have a short time here on earth to do God's will well. We need to be good and faithful servants. Now, I pray that we're not going to be the ones who reject God outright, like the people who hated the master and who were executed when the master got back. 

But everything we do on earth should be done in the hope of hearing well done, good and faithful servant. And I would argue part of being a good and faithful steward of our lives is how we spend our time, and what we consume, and who we support with our money. I suggest we choose accordingly. If you're watching this, listening to this on the podcast, you can join us over on YouTube, youtube . com slash atpoliticsbyfaith for free. 

You can subscribe. That'd be wonderful. Help us out with the algorithm so we can spread the word.

We once had a God-fearing society. Then the pagans came in and threw God out of our culture, but thought they could keep all the good stuff. They were wrong. And one of those things that we lost was the ability to dispense justice through a jury system. Unfortunately, Pagan tribalism killed the jury system in America.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. It's where we take the news of the day, we bring it to the Bible so we can walk away with peace and perspective, live to fight another day in this fallen, broken world. There's new headlines every day, but Ecclesiastes says there's nothing new under the sun. Thanks for being here to get the true story. Thanks for subscribing to our YouTube page as well. If you're listening to this podcast form, you go to youtube . 

com slash at politics by faith and subscribe over there. The story of the day, the Carmelo Anthony trial. All right, we're about halfway through the trial right now. Here's what happened. Get caught up, get in front of things here. Here's the basics. 

Austin Metcalf. He was white. It's an important part of the story. He was 17 years old at a high school track meet in Frisco, Texas. Carmelo Anthony is black. He's from a different high school in that area. 

They were both at this track meet and there were thunderstorms, so the meet was delayed. For some reason, the black student, was in the white student's tent, the school tent area at this meet, right? And in the trial yesterday, two days ago, we found out from a witness that the black student, the black athlete was told to leave at least 15 times. Like, get out of here. This is not your school. Your school's tent is over there. 

We don't know why he was there. We don't know the motive behind why this interaction ever even took place at all in the first place. At one point, Carmelo Anthony said, touch me and see what happens. Metcalf then pushed him. Anthony then pulled out a knife and stabbed Metcalf in the chest, then ran away. Carmelo Anthony told police I was protecting myself. 

We also know he was quote crying hysterically when he was arrested. He told police he put his hands on me. I told him not to. And then he asked the officer if what he did could be considered self -defense. Carmelo is charged with murder as an adult. He was 17 when this happened. This was last year. 

This happened last, I want to say April. There is security camera footage of this. No one in the public has seen it yet. The jury has. They've now seen it. All right. 

Pun to do with this story. I want to talk about the most upfront, obvious surface level part of the whole thing. And that is the skin color of the people involved and of the jury and of the outrage that you're going to hear when the verdict is ultimately given. This is a woman who is outside the courtroom. in support of Carmelo Anthony. If evidence does come out that Carmelo was not in fact fighting for his life when he stabbed and killed Austin Metcalf, do you think that the black community will accept that? 

If evidence shows that he did not, no, we're going to stand by ours regardless. They stand by theirs. We're going to stand by ours regardless. I'm a mother first. I'm a black mother. Let me put that on there. 

I'm an African -American mother. So I have to put away my color first and step into the motherhood. Nobody wants to see their child slain. So I do want to send prayers to Officer Metcalf, their family. But at the end of the day, I got to think like, okay, what did you do to them or whatever to cause this to happen, the reaction? We got to start taking accountability for our kids. 

Because then again, if my kid, that's why it's a catch -22, if my kid was Carmelo and I feel like his back was up against the wall, I'm going to tell you something. up, better mine than yours. Better mine than yours. So either way it go, everybody loses. A black boy allegedly erred, and I say allegedly, heavy on the allegedly, allegedly erred at somebody. You see what I'm saying? 

So yeah, this is about race. Because if the shoe was on the other foot, they wouldn't give a damn. Who wouldn't give a damn? The, let me say this, let's say the community. So if Carmelo Anthony was the one stabbed and killed by Austin Metcalf. They wouldn't give a damn. 

George Floyd died of a fentanyl overdose and country. You can't have a jury system like this. There's been studies on this, plenty of analyses on this. There was a study that looked at trials with black and white defendants. So black and white defendants and then black and white people on the jury. and who voted guilty. 

So what they found in this analysis was if the juror is white, so a white juror, white defendant, the white juror says guilty 39 % of the time. If the defendant is black, so white juror, black defendant, the white person says guilty 32 % of the time. So about the same, but actually less. of but we'll call it the same, 39%, 32%. Okay. 

Then they looked at black jurors, black juror. If the defendant was white, the black juror found that white guy guilty 73 % of the time. If the defendant is also black, so black juror, black defendant, they only found that black defendant guilty 24 % of the time. That is a massive difference. So again, when it was a white juror, it didn't really matter if it was a white defendant or a black defendant, 39, 32, whatever, it was about the same. But if there was a black juror, massive difference. 

What did she say? We protect our own or something like that? That's tribalism. You can't have a jury system like that. You really can't have a jury system in a multi -ethnic society because the ethnicities become tribal. Now, in this particular trial with Carmel Anthony, Austin Metcalf is the person who was murdered, with Carmel Anthony, there are no black jurors at all. 

Because in the jury selection process, which might be the most important part of the entire trial, one prospective juror said, I don't, this is a quote, I don't know if I feel right putting a brother in jail, even if he murdered someone like that woman said, what if it came out that he wasn't acting in self -defense? Well, nah, I still wouldn't put it. And then like someone who was actually, that's just some crazy woman outside the trial, but even someone who was selected for jury was like, nah, I can't put a, I can't put a brother in jail unless he admitted it. So it doesn't matter what One of the OJ jurors admitted on camera that letting OJ off was payback for Rodney King. It did not matter one bit what was ever said in that trial. However long that trial lasted, trial of the century, it didn't matter at all what happened. 

It was already done. One of the jurors on the trial, as he walked out, threw the black power fist over at OJ, the whitest black guy ever, threw the black power fist at him. What? There was another major study done. This was done by the American National Election Studies, University of Chicago at Stanford. supported by the National Science Foundation. 

It's like maximum credibility in the study. This was done before and after the 2020 presidential election. So they asked a bunch of different questions, like 100 different questions. One of those set of questions was, they called it a feelings thermometer. So the question was, how would you rate different ethnicities based on zero to 100? So 50 to 100 means you have a favorable and warm regard towards this group. 

Zero to 50 means you don't have a favorable view towards this group, and you don't care much for that group. These are the words that they use. And they would ask you to rate, so let's say you're white. They'd say, all right, well, how do you feel about black people? How do you feel about Asian people? How do you feel about Hispanic people? 

And then if you're any of those other races, they would say, well, how do you feel about white people? So they asked white people first, right? And they said, well, then not first, but I'll do my analysis first. They said white people, right? So hey, white people, how do you feel about white people? Actually, they would ask white people how they feel about white people. 

So white people, how do you feel about white people? And white people are like, OK, I'm going to go around 70. And then, hey, how do you feel about black people? How do you feel about Hispanic people? How do you feel about Asian people? It was all around 70. 

How white people felt about white people? 75%. How white people felt about black people? 73%. That two point difference in America we call systemic racism. Two points. 

But they also asked Hispanic people. Hey, Hispanic people, how do you feel about Hispanic people? 85 % love Hispanic people. Hispanic people think Hispanic people are the bee's knees. Love, love Hispanic people. All right, Hispanic people, how do you feel about white people? 

65%. Pretty big spread. 20 points. Again, white people, two points. Two point spread between white and black. Two. 

And zero between white and Asian white and Hispanic. Zero. The same, same, same. White and black, two points. But Hispanic, between Hispanics and white, 20 points. Then they asked Asians. 

Hey Asians, how do you feel about Asians? 82%. Love. Asians, how do you feel about white people? 68. Pretty big spread. 

And then they asked black people. Hey black people, how do you feel about black people? 85%. Love black people. All right black people, how do you feel about white people? 60%. 

25 point difference. Biggest spread at all. All these other three groups of people had huge spreads between, if I may, my own kind and white people. For black and white, 25 points spread. Meanwhile, white people, a two point spread between black and white people. And we call that systemic racism. 

And we're lectured about it all the time. Back to the justice system. Hey, black juror, did this black 17 year old murder this white kid? No. Oh, well, here's security camera footage of it. Don't matter. 

Now, if Carmelo Anthony is found guilty, there will be mass outrage from the left. Black Lives Matter, the whole thing. And then the video will be released finally to the public a year later. And it won't matter. One iota. to any of those people. 

Truth doesn't. So as I'm recording this right now, the prosecution has rested their case. The defense picks it up next. The prosecution, the state, Metcalf's team, can then give a rebuttal. And then the defense gives a rebuttal to the rebuttal. And then it's up to the jury. 

And it's got to be unanimous. We'll keep you up to date. But let's go to the Bible now. I want to talk about justice. How does the Bible define justice? Justice is giving people what they are due. 

Now, when it comes to heaven and hell, you do not want what you are due because you are due hell. That's where Jesus comes in. Justice. There's a lot of different elements of justice. Let me just pick one for the sake of our time here. Justice is impartial. 

Deuteronomy 1 .17 says, you shall not show partiality in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not fear man for the judgment is God's. Justice should be based, according to the Bible, based on the facts of the case. and the facts of the case alone. Now, partiality can go all sorts of ways, and you should go no way, only the way of the facts. 

The Bible says you can't judge against a person because they're poor or because they're rich, but you can't do it both ways, right? So someone may say, well, don't be mean against poor people. Well, you also can't go against rich people either just because they're rich, right? You can't judge a person guilty because they're black, but you also can't say they're innocent just because they're black. It had nothing to do with it. And you also can't judge someone guilty or innocent based off of a different case, like they did with OJ. 

Oh, what was the payback for Rodney King? The Bible speaks to this a lot, actually. Leviticus 19 .15, you must not pervert justice. We're going to get back to that word in a second. You must not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the rich. You are to judge your neighbor fairly. 

Deuteronomy 10 .17, by the way, neighbor, your neighbor, not race. Your neighbor, Deuteronomy 10, 17, the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God. Let's get back to that in a second as well. Showing no partiality and accepting no bribe. If I could pick one story as if the biblical God talking is not enough here. 1 Samuel 8, 3, this sentence here, his sons, speaking of Samuel and his sons, however, did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after dishonest gain and took bribes and perverted justice. 

" There's the word again, perverted justice. The Bible a lot, Exodus 23 says, you shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute. Keep far from a false charge and do not kill the innocent or the righteous for I will not acquit the guilty. You shall not take a bribe for a bribe blinds the clear sided and subverts the cause of of the just. I want to get back to Samuel, Deuteronomy 16, 18 says, You shall appoint to yourself judges and officers in your towns, which the Lord your God has given you according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. You shall not distort justice. 

You shall not be partial, and you shall not take a bribe. There it is again, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. It's all throughout the Old Testament. So let's go back to Samuel. How terrible is it that Samuel's sons did not follow his way? They didn't follow dad's way. 

or their Heavenly Father. They turned aside. Turned aside is a verb that is translated 30 different ways in the Bible. Isn't that amazing? And it depends what noun you have next to it. So if you have the word tent next to this word, then it means to spread it, spread it out. 

If you have the word justice next to it, then it means to pervert it. Don't pervert justice. In the case I'm referring to, like what I'm talking about here, it's more denying it. Same thing, I guess, right? Now I'm not, well, I guess what's different is I'm also, I'm not saying the judge is taking bribes, but the jurors, They can't be motivated by anything other than the truth, whether it's taking a bribe, monetary bribe, or it's just deep seated racial resentment. The Bible has so many verses about taking bribes and just in general, lack of justice. 

It is clearly something that God hates. If we had, and this goes back to that scripture we shared of, you know, your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords. If we had a jury of our peers, a system that we created full of Bible believing Christians, who were afraid of the wrath of God for perverting justice, when they are given the solemn responsibility of dispensing justice, of finding someone guilty or innocent, if we had a jury of peers who all agreed, all felt that same way, and all knew that God was watching, then a jury system can work, then a jury system is fair, and a jury system is good. But with the tribalism we have in America today, what's keeping people honest? Who cares? This is what happens when you throw God out of our culture. 

We lost so much more. Pagans thought they could throw God out and keep all the other good things that came from a God -fearing country. We had all this good stuff that happened from a God -fearing, biblical -minded country and culture. All these amazing things. We took it all for granted. The godless pagans came in, threw out God, and thought they could keep all the good stuff. 

And one of the good things they thought they could keep was a jury system. Who thought we were going to lose that? It's gone. Truth doesn't matter. You throw God out of our culture, you lose everything. I pray in this case, and all cases, for God -fearing justice. 

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Have you ever heard of the Black Robe Regiment? I haven't either, but when you hear what the Black Robe Regiment meant to America 250 years ago compared to what we're working with today, it makes sense why we're not where we need to be.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. It's where we take the news of the day and we bring it to the Bible so we can walk away with peace and perspective. New headlines every day. Ecclesiastes says, not the new under the sun. So thanks for being here to get the true story, the story of the day. Today, the Black Robe Regiment. 

You've heard of this? I've never heard of this group until, I'll be honest, this morning. This is the name that the British gave the American clergy, or I should say the clergy colonist clergy, the clergy in the colonies who preached the gospel from the pulpit firing brimstone for 150 years prior to the revolution, the black robe regiment. We talked to Seth Gruber on my recorded TV show. We're going to air that podcast or release that podcast here, I think on Friday. and he said it just in passing. 

John Adams said that the pulpits thundered and he specifically identified Christian pastors. as being among the characters most conspicuous, the most ardent, the most influential in the awakening and revival of American principles and feelings that led to the American Revolution. There was a British magazine that said if Christian ministers had not preached and prayed, there might have been no revolution as yet, or had it broken out, it might have been crushed. There's a British historian who said the ministers of the revolution were like their Puritan predecessors, bold and fearless in the cause of their country. And that also says everything we talk about in this show, it comes up often, I should say, not just our founding fathers, but our founding grandfathers. The founding grandfathers were the Puritan predecessors, and now we have the preachers during the revolution as well. 

This British magazine says, the British historian said, no class of men contributed more to carry forward the revolution and to achieve our independence than did the ministers. Ready for the story about Paul Revere? Paul Revere goes off for his ride. One if I land, two if I see. Where did he go? He went to the home of Reverend Clark in Lexington. 

That's where John Hancock and Samuel Adams were. Everyone talks, at least when you go to Boston, you go to Leicester, they talk about how Paul Revere went to go see John Hancock and Sam Adams, but whose house were they at? They were with Reverend Clark. Clark and Hancock and Adams, I should say, Hancock and Adams turned to Clark and asked if the people were ready to fight. And the Reverend Clark's response was, I have trained them for this very hour. So they all went to the town green and Let me quote here from Joel Headley. 

He says, there they found their pastor, Reverend Clark, who arrived before them. The roll was called and 150 answered to their names. The church, the pastor, and his congregation stand together in the dim light awaiting the Redcoats, the seven colonists who died on the Lexington Green, all members of his church. I'll give you another one. Part of the black regiment, the black robe regiment. Reverend Nepthali Daggett. 

You ever heard that name? Feel like I would have heard that name if I wouldn't forget it. Reverend Nepthali Daggett. He was the president of Yale University in 1776. That's my mater. the name Naphtali Daggett. 

When the British attacked New Haven, he fought back. He was on the top of this hill firing shots down on the British. The British captured him and bayoneted him to death. And was it just him in New Haven? Reverend James Caldwell did the same thing in New Jersey, and the British burned his church. His family was murdered. 

The British soldiers, they abused, killed, tortured, imprisoned clergymen across the country, and they suffered harsher treatment, more severe penalties. The British targeted the ministers, also their churches. There were 19 church buildings in New York City. 10 were destroyed by the British. From the very beginning, the British knew they had to take down the church in America. republished in 1772. 

Again, it's been called The Textbook of Our Founding Fathers. I'll share that in just a minute, but I just want to share the Black Robe Regiment and who these guys were and what they preached and how hard they fought physically and spiritually for the revolution. And I want to compare that just for the sake of comparison to James Tallarico. James Tallarico, when he was a state assemblyman in Texas, he's now running for Senate in Texas. This is the best Christian that the Democrats could find in Texas to run for the Democratic Party. Listen to this guy. 

The house and gallery will please rise for an invocation which will be offered by the Honorable James Tallarico of Williamson County. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let us pray. Holy mystery, you have so many names. The Torah calls you creator. The Quran calls you peace. 

The Gita calls you destroyer. The Dharma calls you truth. And the first epistle of John calls you perhaps the most beautiful name of all, love. You are the strange love uniting all things. The love that drew elements together after that big bang. The love that drew life itself from those primordial oceans. 

the love that drew us all to this exact moment, the love we were born of, the love we exist in, and the love we will one day return to. In my faith, you expressed yourself through a barefoot rabbi who embodied your perfect love, a crucified carpenter who gave only two commandments, love God and love neighbor, because there is no love of God without love of neighbor. Help us love not just in word, but in action. Help us honor not just the name of Jesus, but the way, of Jesus. Help us free the oppressed, feed the hungry, house the homeless, heal the sick, release the prisoner, welcome the stranger, forgive the enemy, and above all, protect your creation. The word of God is love. 

Let us not be hearers of your word, but doers of your word in our families, in our communities, and in this chamber. Not just with prayers, but with policies. Not just personal love, but political love. Because democracy is not just a constitution. Democracy is a covenant. Holy mystery, open our minds, open our hearts, open our hands so that we may build a new world in the shell of the old, a world that is more just, more free. 

more whole, and more in love with you. In all your many names, we pray. Amen. Every time I hear that, I hear something new, more blasphemy. Did he say release the prisoner? That's not what the Bible says. 

The Bible does not say we need to release the prisoners. Let's compare that with the opening prayer of the Constitutional Convention in 1774, which was led by just the local guy. It wasn't like the most renowned pastor in Philadelphia. It was like, hey, let's find a guy to do it. Oh, Lord, our Heavenly Father, high and mighty King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who dost from thy throne behold all the dwellers of earth and reignest with power supreme and uncontrolled over all the kingdoms, empires, and governments. Look down in mercy, we beseech thee. 

On these are American states who have fled to you from the rod of the oppressor and thrown themselves on thy gracious protection, desiring to be henceforth dependent only on you. Oh, how we have fallen from Reverend Duchesne to Tallarico. I mentioned a second ago this pamphlet that was published in 1710. It was by Reverend Wise. So there was a proposal in 1705 to centralize the power of churches across New England. And Reverend Wise was very much against this concentration of authority. 

So he wrote this pamphlet called The Church's Quarrel Espoused, 1710. It was republished in 1772 and became alive again because the topic wasn't as relevant anymore specifically because it was published dealing with something that happened 70 years earlier. But the themes, were then reapplied to the revolution itself with government. So where the pamphlet was about against a concentration of church authority in New England, the colonists took the same themes and applied them politically. They were against a political consolidation of power in England against the colonies. 

And it's full of amazing quotes like, churches and governing our own government, not needing a king. And it's up to us. Furnish your churches with ruling elders. He said, take charge yourself for yourself, for your community, for your church, for your own governments. I want to jump over to the Bible again, but again, just to drive that point home, started off as this church document, which was then republished in 1772. Again, written by this reverend, Reverend Wise, and thought of again in a more secular way for the revolution itself. 

The Black Robe Brigade was incredibly powerful or influential, I should say. Let's wrap up with a Bible story here. I'm reading about all this. I'm learning about this Black Robe Brigade that I've never heard before. And somewhere along my reading, I came across, or I'm reminded of, Luke 16, the parable in Luke 16, the dishonest steward. This is a potentially tricky one. 

At first glance, you read it and you're like, I don't get it. Why? Why is Jesus praising? I don't, it's hard to understand the motivations of this, but here's what happened. Luke 16 verse one. So this is Jesus talking. 

He tells a story. There was a certain rich man who had a steward and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods or even embezzling the money. So he called him and said to him, what is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship for you can no longer be steward. He was going to get fired. Then 

Then the steward said within himself, what shall I do? For my master has taken away my stewardship away from me. I'm going to lose my job. I cannot dig. I'm ashamed to beg. There's nothing else I can do. I'm going to get fired. 

What do I do? I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. Who? So he called on every one of his master's debtors to him. and said to the first, how much do you owe my master? And he said, 100 measures of oil. 

So he said to him, take your bill and sit down quickly and write 50. So you don't owe Hunter anymore, you now owe 50. Then he said to the other, and how much do you owe? So he said, 100 measures of wheat. And he said to him, take your bill and write 80. So now you owe less. 

So the master, right, so he went to all these guys and say, you think you owe this much? Well, congratulations, you owe now half as much. So he kept doing this. The master then commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. What? He stole from him more. 

But here's what Jesus said of this parable. For the sons of the world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. Well, that's confusing. So the, the, the master is going to fire this manager of the money and the manager then steals more from him. He went to all the people who owed money and gave him a deal. Why did he do this? 

Well, he knew he was going to get fired. And he knew that when he got fired, he was going to need some friends. But why would the master praise that? The master praised it not because he was doing the right thing, but because he was shrewd. We've done this before. You ever come across someone or maybe one of your kids doing something wrong or sneaky, or they do something at school that they're not supposed to, they break the rules somehow. 

but they're clever about it. Here's kind of a silly example. Grace at school, the math question, one of the questions was like, and how did you solve this problem? It was a word problem and in the end it was like, how'd you solve it? And she said, I used my brain or something. And you're like, that's not the right answer. 

But also you're like, no, pretty good, pretty clever. That's good. So if ever someone does something wrong, but they're clever about it, you're like, nah, well played. Well played. You admire the ingenuity of their thievery. You don't approve of their conduct, but you admire their shrewdness. 

The illustration here that Jesus was using is that we, the sons of light, need to be as shrewd for good as the sons of evil are for the world. David Guzik, he said, if we pursued the kingdom of God with the same vigor and zeal that the children of this world pursue profits and pleasure, we would live in an entirely different world. The sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. And we shouldn't be like that anymore. We need to be more shrewd ourselves. We need to have more zeal, more passion. 

Alexander McLaren, a Bible scholar in the early 1900s, he said, go to the men of the world, thou Christian, and do not let it be said. that the devil's scholars are more studious and earnest than Christ's disciples. " Gosh, I love that quote so much. Go to the men of this world, Christian, and do not let it be said that the devil's scholars are more studious and earnest than Christ's disciples. The pastors of the revolution and prior who set the foundation of this country, the spiritual and cultural foundations of this country, which we still benefit from today, they were zealous and they were brave and they were skilled and they were studious and they were spiritual and they were impressive men. 

We today, sons of the light, should be too. And we do it the same way they did, prepare every day, read the word, pray to God. YouTube . com slash at politics by faith just wanted to present to you something new to me, the Black Robe Brigade. youtube . com slash at politics by faith spread the word