MikeSlater
Politics • Spirituality/Belief • Culture
Remember Lot's Wife
Morning Motivation February 19, 2024
February 19, 2024

On the radio show this week we have a few stories about "intentionality". Does it matter if something is intentional or not? We're going to look for answers in the Bible because Jesus told us to "Remember Lot's Wife." This is a command from Jesus himself. Why? What's so special about her? Why do we have to remember her? 


Good morning, welcome to the Morning Motivation brought to you by the Patriot Gold Group and the Public Square app. On my Sirius XM radio show, we're going to talk about the Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting. We haven't done that yet. I was out the last couple of days of last week. And how, of course, it was committed by three young black men, two are under 18 and one's 22. It was a personal dispute. So some gang related thing but that doesn't fit the narrative so this whole story will poof go away. Gang shootings like this happen all the time and they never make the news. Of

0:00:38
course this one did it was much more dramatic 22 people were shot including 11 kids but shootings like this happen constantly. People just don't want to hear the truth about this. They don't want to get to the bottom of it, they don't want to solve it, it's hard. So instead they just come up with more government programs to do something that they think will make a difference, pat themselves on the back, and it never does make any real difference. The best secular answer to explain this is fathers. More fathers in the home are needed to help young men channel their anger and their energies

0:01:12
and keep them away from bad people and situations, of course. That's the best secular answer. The real answer is Jesus. And the importance of giving every kid an identity beyond the street, an identity beyond what the world is telling them. Give them an identity beyond themselves. Life's not all about me and what people think about me. I'm living for something much bigger than anything that the world can offer me,

0:01:39
and nothing can pull me from that. That's how we need to be raising our kids. But no one wants to hear that, of course. No, could you imagine? No one wants to hear that the solution to school shootings is Jesus. But of course, that's the answer. We're going to play this clip on Tuesday's radio show. It's of Roland Fryer. A bit of back story. Do you remember Claudine Gay? She was the president of Harvard who was since fired and now still has a $1 million a year job that they just made up for her to keep her at Harvard even though she's not the president

0:02:14
anymore. But before she was the president, she was the dean of the College of Arts. And Roland Fryer was the greatest economist in the country. He's a superstar. He won all these awards, the Genius Grants, all this other stuff. Youngest black econ tenured professor at Harvard or maybe even anywhere, the guy's an absolute genius.

0:02:36
All the accolades, all the firsts you could imagine. But then he did some research on black people and police shootings. And it was Claudine Gay who had him suspended from Harvard and his research center closed. He doesn't do a lot of interviews. He just did one the other day. And I just realized I can't play it because I am traveling right now and do not have my normal setup. So why don't I just tell you what Roland Fryer said and then on tomorrow's episode, if it's

0:03:04
still important, I can play it for you. But his research found that yes, there was indeed some racial bias from police on low level interactions with people, but there was no racial bias at all with police and shooting black or white people. And he says all these elites and academics, they of course liked the first result, but they didn't like the second result. And they told him that he should not publish his findings. And so hold on, what if we found, what if the data found that there was a racial bias

0:03:37
in police shootings, then would you want me to publish it? And they said, yes, of course. It just didn't fit the narrative. Now it was a hundred and eight page document with a hundred and fifteen pages of footnotes. He says as soon as he released the results it took about five minutes before people came back and said your results are blank. Swear word. He said, wow you're a fast reader. It's unbelievable how quickly you could criticize this research. I think he said he had 15 full-time research fellows doing the

0:04:03
research for the study and he couldn't believe the results so he hired another 15 to go over the numbers once again and it was the same result indeed it was true. He said after releasing this he had to live under police protection for about a month, month and a half. He had a seven day old daughter at the time. And he went shopping for some diapers and he had to have an armed guard following. That's how crazy it was. That's how much people don't want to hear the truth. People don't want to hear the truth. And these elites maybe had good intentions, but it's so hard to admit you're wrong or maybe some people don't have good intentions. Either way it's the same end result. But it's those good intentions that we're going to talk

0:04:59
about this week. We talked a bit about intentions last week on the radio show as well because we don't need to go over the details now but test scores are so bad that there's no way they're trying to educate kids and failing this bad. You can't fail this bad. You can't fail more than no kids in the school can read. You can't do worse than that. So I can only come to the conclusion that they're doing it on purpose. So intentionality became a thing that's come up lately. So I want to talk about intentions as it comes to the Bible. You've perhaps heard before that the shortest scripture, what's the shortest scripture? It's the

0:05:43
shortest in English? Two words, nine letters? But in Greek it's 16 letters. It's actually 1 Thessalonians 5.16. Only 14 letters in Greek. That scripture says rejoice always. Either way, whatever technicality you want to throw, these are powerful lines because they're short. That's like John Wayne or something. Talk low, talk slow, don't say too much. Short staccato, powerful lines. Rejoice always.

0:06:15
Can I give you one more? Oh, it's a little long. It's three words. Jesus said it. Remember Lot's wife. That's what Jesus told us to do. He said, Remember Lot's wife. Lot was a righteous man.

0:06:36
It says in 2 Peter 2, Lot was a righteous man. He and his wife, they left Sodom when it was being destroyed. And she, Lot's wife, looked back towards the city against God's expressed command. And she was struck dead immediately turned into a pillar of salt and Jesus tells us today remember lots wife. He doesn't say remember Abraham. He doesn't say remember a lot He doesn't say remember Isaac or Jacob or Ruth or anyone

0:07:02
He says remember lots wife quite a warning Especially when you consider who he first gave it to. He wasn't talking to the Pharisees. He didn't say, Pharisees, you better watch out or you're going to be like Lot's wife. He didn't say that. He said it to his disciples.

0:07:25
Even to them, he thought it was a worthy word of caution. Remember Lot's wife. I'm going to take this insight here from the great J.C. Ryle. He made the point that Jesus doesn't say, do not be like Lot's wife, or beware of acting like Lot's wife. It was remember Lot's wife. J.C. Ryle said that Jesus speaks as if we are all in danger of forgetting the subject. The word remember, that command, is more active.

0:07:59
You should constantly be thinking about Lot's wife and what happened to her.

0:08:04
Remember her.

0:08:06
So Jesus, of all the people He could tell us to remember, focuses on Lot's wife. And of all the people He could be telling this command to, it's His disciples. And of all the things about Lot's wife, He tells us to remember her actively, all the time. Remember her. Let's get to the story and then we'll break it down throughout the week here.

0:08:31
Genesis 19. So, this is the scene where Lot takes in two angels and the men of the city start banging on Lot's doors because they want to rape the angels. And Lot offers up his daughters instead. That's another... We could spend another week on that one. And then the angels blind the men, but it doesn't stop them from trying they're so ravenous they're so full of lust they can't stop trying to get inside to rape these angels I'll

0:08:58
pick up verse 12 then the men the angels said to Lot have you anyone else here sons-in-law sons daughters or anyone you have in the city bring them out of this place for we are about to destroy this place because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord and the Lord has sent us to destroy it. So Lot went out and said to his son's-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, Up, get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city. But he seemed to his son-in-laws to be jesting. They didn't listen.

0:09:31
As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, Up, take your wife and two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city. But he lingered. So the man, the angel, seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him. And they brought him out and set him outside the city. And as they brought him out, one said, Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Skip ahead to verse 23.

0:10:05
The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground. But Lot's wife behind him looked back and she became a pillar of salt. I love the beginning of verse 29 too. So it was. It's like that's what happened. It's in so and so it was.

0:10:38
But Lot's wife looked back and she was struck down immediately. What in the world are we to do with that and what could we possibly learn from that? Well, there better be something, because Jesus told you, remember Lot's wife. On tomorrow's episode, we'll talk about who Lot's wife was and how we are a lot like her. Mike Slater dot locals dot com. The night Lot's wife was and how we are a lot like her. Mike Slater dot locals dot com. The night before transcript, commercial-free. Mike Slater dot locals dot com.

community logo
Join the MikeSlater Community
To read more articles like this, sign up and join my community today
0
What else you may like…
Videos
Podcasts
Posts
Articles
Fox & Friends

We were on Fox & Friends talking about all of the train robberies in CA. It's so bad the train company says they may have to ride right THROUGH Los Angeles entirely and never slow down lol. What a joke this state it.

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

That link is a bit odd, I've attached a short video to get the gist.

In short, The rich get richer, the poor get the handouts and the middle class gets out of town.

This causes these progressive politicians to get even more entrenched.

We haven't hit rock bottom yet.

00:00:32
Boys to men, girls to women

How do you do it? Advice please!

Dean Abbott,
"Why contemporary relations between the sexes are so messed up. The problem starts with men because men lead, the masculine pursues and initiates, and problems always start at the level of leadership.

Most men aren't taught that a relationship with a woman means accepting responsibility. No one tells us that a woman represents not only pleasure, but obligation.
The fact that having a relationship with a woman means responsibility and obligation never enters many men's minds.

When these men enter into a relationship with a woman, they are overwhelmed by her needs, her feminine communication style, and her emotions.
Moreover, he unconsciously resents her for having needs at all since he has been conditioned to see her solely as a source of pleasure.
When her anger and disappointment over his irresponsibility gets intense enough, he splits in search of another woman.
He mistakenly believes the problem wasn't his attitude nor that it is a ...

00:07:55
Surly this will be kicked off twitter eventually
00:06:34
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
...

post photo preview
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

post photo preview
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 .

 

Read full Article
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 .

 

Read full Article
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

 

Read full Article
See More
Available on mobile and TV devices
google store google store app store app store
google store google store app tv store app tv store amazon store amazon store roku store roku store
Powered by Locals