James Talarico is running for Senate in Texas as a Democrat. He goes around quoting scripture and taking it so wildly out of context that he must know what he's doing. On The Late Show, he claimed gay marriage and abortion aren't in the Bible. Yikes. What does the Bible say?

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. This is where we take the news of the day and we bring it to the Bible so we can walk away with perspective and peace. There's new headlines every day. Ecclesiastes says there's nothing new under the sun. So thanks for being here to get the true story. 

Early voting is going on right now in Texas for the Senate race. Very interesting on the Republican side. On the Democratic side, it's James Tellarico and Jasmine Crockett. Jasmine Crockett would be hilarious. I can root for her because she's the entertainment value will be off the charts. But James Tallarico is probably going to win it out. 

We've talked about him before, a couple of weeks ago. He claims he's a Presbyterian seminarian. And we talked about him because he was on Joe Rogan's podcast and he said that the Bible justifies abortion. Okay. Abortion is biblical because Gabriel asked Mary permission before she became pregnant with Jesus. And we read Luke and that's just not true at all. 

I can't, I usually like to be able to, I pride myself in being able to see the other side's arguments. Like, oh, like here's how you put that together. Like I get that. This one, I got nothing on this one. That's just straight made up. He is a blasphemer in a really sick way. 

I understand getting things wrong here and there, missing some nuance, maybe not getting the full context of this or the other, it's fine. But to justify wicked, sinful, evil things in the name of the Bible is demonic. He also said as a Christian that Christianity is just one of many faiths. He said this on a New York Times podcast. And it's like the word, it's like a different language and you can have a cup here and there's different words for the word cup in English and Spanish and French and German. and Somalian but it all leads to the same it all describes the same thing and and we all there's all these different religions Buddhism Hindu and they all they're all the same God and they lead to the same place like oh man what are you talking about that's awful how can anyone it speaks to how biblically illiterate unfortunately so many people are that This guy can go two seconds claiming to be a Christian or claiming to be a Presbyterian seminarian, whatever. 

So here's what happened the other day. Here's why we bring him up again. He was on the Colbert show and they recorded the interview as they always do with their interviews, but they didn't air it on TV. And Colbert said it was because CBS blocked airing the interview because of FCC equal time rules. Equal time, it applies to radio and TV, where if you interview a candidate, then you have to interview all the candidates. You have to give them equal time. 

Or don't interview anyone, but if you give some time to one, you gotta give equal time to another. I've never, in my radio days, I've never seen this really ever enforced. Actually, I've never seen it enforced in my life. But CBS was a little on the edge, because the primaries are going on. So they could've seen Jasmine Crockett's people coming out and complaining. So they didn't air it. 

But Colbert talked about it and talked about it as if, you know, oh, this got censored. So it ended up getting way more attention on YouTube anyway than it ever would have gotten if it did air. Like no one watches The Late Show with Colbert, so whatever. But he ended up getting way more attention with it. 

And that's fine because we then got to hear him say just blasphemous stuff. 

this. Well, for 50 years, the religious right, a political movement, that is the perfect description for it. They convinced a lot of our fellow Christians that the most important issues were abortion and gay marriage, two issues that aren't mentioned in the Bible, two issues that Jesus never talked about. Jesus in Matthew 25 tells us exactly how you and I, and every one of our fellow believers, how we're going to be judged and how we're going to be saved. 

By feeding the hungry, by healing the sick. 

So the Bible says we need more welfare for everyone, is what he then concludes. By welcoming the stranger. Nothing about going to church, nothing about voting Republican. It was all about how you treat other people. Don't, don't, I've said, I've said before, don't, tell me what you believe, show me how you treat other people, and I'll tell you what you believe. And I think in our faith, we've got to get back to those fundamentals. 

My granddad was a Baptist preacher in South Texas. And when I was little, he told me that Christianity is a simple religion, not an easy religion, he would always clarify, but a simple religion because Jesus gave us two commandments, love God and love neighbor. And there was no exception to that second commandment. 

Love thy neighbor regardless of race, or gender, or sexual orientation, or immigration status, or religious affiliation. And it's why I have fought so hard for the separation of church and state in the state capitol in Texas, because... Yikes. We talked about the separation of church and state in just our most recent episode. Reverend Ben Johnson said, does welcome the stranger apply to the stranger you personally created in your womb? 

No, just kill that stranger. I'll also add to love your neighbor means to tell them the truth. So what's broken here? Half truths, false preachers. This is the same guy who did a New York Times interview. And he said, they're talking about transgenderism. 

And he said, well, Paul said there's neither male nor female, which is pretty woke for the first century. Whoa, this is such a clear example of how this guy twists scripture. He's talking about Galatians 3, 27. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither slave nor free. 

There is no male or female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. He's not saying, obviously Paul's not saying that when you get saved, you I don't know, like a are able to turn into a man or a woman or forget even safer that you're able. There's no such thing as gender. That's not what Paul is saying. This is the same Paul who said that wives are to submit to their husbands. 

Okay, so Paul is saying here that when it comes to salvation, it doesn't matter who you are. Slave free, Jew, Greek, male, female doesn't matter. He's not saying that you can turn into something else or that gender doesn't exist. He's saying it doesn't matter when it comes to salvation. How wonderful is that news? But you see how twisted that is that he can get it. 

You can pull that off. how he can deceive people, what a liar, really twisting scripture in really, really evil ways. So on the point he was making, his opening argument that the Bible never even talks about homosexuality or what was it? gay marriage. Of course it does. Marriage is between one man and one woman. 

Genesis 2 24. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh. Man, woman, end of story. But Jesus affirms it. Matthew 19 4. He answered, have you not read that he who created, this is Jesus talking, he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. 

So they're no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. " So yes, the Bible talks about marriage and what marriage is, defines it. The Bible defines marriage. On homosexuality, Leviticus 18, 22, you shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. Oh, so that's Old Testament. Fine. New Testament, Romans 1, 26. For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature. And the men likewise gave up their natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another. men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error." 1 Corinthians 6, 9. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality. 

" Oh, it doesn't even talk about homosexuality. Of course it does. And then abortion. I mean, like, what do we even say? Abortion is obviously murder. What else would it be? 

Healthcare. Human life begins at conception. There's no other objective time into the development of a human being when it's more human than it was a moment before it. Human life, therefore, must begin at conception. There's no other point in a human's life when you're like, oh, this is when it's actually human. Nope. 

You're human from the very beginning and all the way through to the end. We have different names to define the different levels of development, different stages of a life, embryo, fetus, newborn, toddler, teenager, a seasoned citizen, but you're a human being the whole time. So there's some Bible verses to arm you with the truth. to combat the lies of Telerico and many others. Listen, politically, I'm happy that this is the best Christian that the left could find, because that's what they're doing. Obviously, we got to win in Texas. 

How do we do it? Well, let's find a Christian. Well, we can't. There are no Christians who are running or Democrats. So we don't know what to do. Like, well, find any blasphemer. 

It doesn't matter. Just anyone who can maybe quote a scripture or two out of context and we'll take it. Hopefully, there are not many Christians left in the Democratic Party. So politically, it's fine. But bigger picture, culturally, it makes me sad that anyone could misinterpret the scriptures this badly and not be open to any criticism. Like if I ever misinterpret a scripture or don't provide the full context, I would expect anyone, you and anyone in my church or whoever to come to me and be like, oh, Sutter, you missed this point here. 

You missed on it. And I will come back the very next day and correct the record. He's unwilling to do that. Of course. That makes me sad. I don't know if he is misinterpreting this though. 

I'm certain he's not misinterpreting this. I think he knows what he's doing. 

So what makes me sad then is that there would be anyone who would fall for it, but not you. 

So go spread the word. MikeSlater . Locals . com. Transcript commercial free on the website, MikeSlater .

If you've ever wondered what will come after the Trump era, I pray it's more of what we saw out of Marco Rubio in Germany. 

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. We take the news of the day, we bring it to the Bible so that we can walk away with peace and perspective because there's new headlines every day. But Ecclesiastes said there's nothing new under the sun. I want to get to Marco Rubio's speech in Germany this weekend. It was tremendous. 

It was shocking, really. I don't get shocked much, but we should allow ourselves to be shocked that this presidency has only been a year, but Marco Rubio gave such an astounding speech. I'm amazed this is where we are now. And I praise God for it. It's incredible, and this is an important moment. This speech, I encourage you to read it all. 

We only have time for a few parts here, but let me get to it. Again, he's in Germany. It's the Munich Security Conference. So the essence of this is about national security, but he got to the root of it. Marco Rubio, our secretary of state said, for the United States and Europe, we belong together. America was founded 250 years ago, but the roots began here on this continent long before. 

The men who settled and built the nation of my birth, arrived on our shores carrying the memories and the traditions and the Christian faith of their ancestors as a sacred inheritance, an unbreakable link between the old world and the new. " I'm so grateful that we have leaders in America now who will say Christian faith. First of all, it's obviously not Muslim faith, although some think it is or should have been or wish it were. But a lot of people do the cop out and be like, faith. Oh, yes. We have memories and traditions of faith, of ancestors that... 

No, no, no. What faith? Name it. Christian faith. Puritans, known as separatists, carrying the Geneva Bible across the ocean to the New World. Rubio said we are part of one civilization, Western civilization. 

We are bound to one another by the deepest bonds the nations could share, forged by centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry, and the sacrifices our forefathers made together for the common civilization to which we have fallen error. So don't lose it to the Muslims or pagans who want to destroy you from within. It's not what he said, but I think kind of what he was getting at. Two more long quotes here. Rubio says, and so this is why we Americans may sometimes come off as a little direct and urgent in our counsel. This is why president Trump demands seriousness and reciprocity from our friends here in Europe. 

The reason why my friends is because we care deeply. We care about your future and ours. We are connected spiritually. We're connected culturally. We want Europe to be strong. Check out this next line is so good. 

Again, this is at a security conference and he's talking about Western heritage, national security, which this conference is largely about. is not merely a series of technical questions. How much we spend on defense or where, where we deploy it, et cetera. These are important questions, but they're not the fundamental one. The fundamental question we must answer at the onset is what exactly are we defending? So great, you can lose the plot real quick. 

You get focused on defense and after a while you're like, wait, what are we, what are we, why are we doing this? And then eventually you just stop, stop defending it. Rubio said, what are we defending? Because armies do not fight for abstractions. Armies fight for a people. Armies fight for a nation. 

Armies fight for a way of life. And that is what we are defending. A great civilization that has every reason to be proud of its history, confident of its future, and aims to always be the master of its own economic and political destiny. Gosh, this is such an amazing rebuke of last few decades of wokeism, particularly the 1619 Project, where you were told only to be ashamed of everything that America has ever been. Last part, Rubio says, it was here in Europe where the ideas that planted the seeds of liberty that changed the world were born. It was here in Europe where the world, which gave the world the rule of law, the universities, and the scientific revolution. 

It was this continent that produced the genius of Mozart and Beethoven. of Dante and Shakespeare, of Michelangelo and da Vinci, of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. I would have left that part out, but OK. And this is the place where the vaulted ceilings of the Sistine Chapel and the towering spires of the Great Cathedral in Cologne. They testify not just to the greatness of our past or to the faith in God that inspired these marvels. Amazing. 

They foreshadow the wonders that await us in our future. But only if we are unapologetic in our heritage and proud of this common inheritance can we work together to begin the work of envisioning and shaping our economic and our political future. So good. So good. So what's broken in this scenario here? Because the speech was fantastic. 

We have been so demoralized lately. We've been humiliated, shamed and humiliated. And we've let ourselves get to this point. We've been ashamed of our heritage, taught from a young age to be ashamed of it, that it is bad. Ashamed of the pilgrims. And dare I say, shamed to live and proclaim your Christian faith. 

I never learned our heritage. I never learned our history. I lost the memory of it. So of course I couldn't be inspired by it. How could we be? I didn't know who anyone was. 

I didn't know who these people were. Who are the people who came before us? 

I don't know. 

We don't know their stories. Maybe. get little glimpses of the fact that there were stories. King Arthur. I've heard of that. 

It's a Disney movie. 

But were we ever taught who King Arthur was? Who were the knights at the round table? We've been humiliated. Christians were shamed into being silent on incredibly important cultural and political issues because we were told not to judge. Don't force your religion down my throat. And we let the pagans roll in and control everything. 

We've been shamed. I'll give an example, maybe a silly one, but I think it's tied in. I saw a video of Chappelle Roan. Are you familiar with her? Chappelle Roan is the current pop star person. And I saw her before she got famous and she was a beautiful, modest, lovely singer, very talented. 

And now she's just like all of them. She's like Madonna or Lady Gaga or whatever. 

It's sad. 

You're like, oh, why? Why do that? 

Why? 

Christians have been self -silenced, shamed, as our Christian heritage has been ridiculed and forgotten. Here's an example. I got a, uh, let me see if I can find this clip here. I don't know if I played this the other day. This is a documentary in Birmingham, Birmingham, uh, England. A migrant fella walks by. 

Wow. 

What do you think of Birmingham Cathedral? It's shit. But it's, it's a nice place to smoke weed. It's not my ancestors. 

I don't know who's ancestors it was, uh. 

It's not your ancestors, man. 

It's not. 

No, no. No, it's not. Let's go to the Bible. Matthew 5, 15 says, neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel. but on a candlestick and it gives light unto all that are in the house let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven we've been told instead to keep our the candle hidden Charles Spurgeon he said I long for the day Keep this in mind when you remember people telling you to keep your religion to yourself and don't talk about that. Separation of church and state, total nonsense. 

Of course it's backwards. We've gone over a million times. Let's see if I can do it in 10 seconds. I don't think I can do it in 10. Let me see how fast I can do it. Separation of church and state is not in the constitution. 

It is a letter from the Danbury Baptist in Connecticut telling new president, Thomas Jefferson, please don't interfere with our affairs in the church. And Thomas Jefferson, oh, don't worry. I, the government, will not interfere in the inner workings of the church. There's a separation of church and state. I'm not going to interfere with what you do in your church. And that has been spun to be the exact opposite, where people in the church have been told that we're not allowed to have any influence on anything in politics. 

Totally backwards. If Thomas Jefferson came back to life, among other things, he'd say, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's not what I meant. You guys don't totally took that the exact opposite of what I meant. But that's what you've been told. So keep that in mind when you hear Charles Spurgeon. He says, I long for the day when the precepts of the Christian religion shall be the rule among all classes of men in all transactions. 

Spurgeon went on and said, I often hear it said, do not bring politics, excuse me, do not bring religion into politics. That is precisely where it ought to be brought and sat there in the face of all men as on a candlestick. I would have the cabinet and the members of parliament do the work of the nation as before the Lord. And I would have the nation, either in making war or peace, consider it. Watching this speech from Marco Rubio, some have wondered what will happen at the end of Trump's presidency. He's come into the world stage and brought a wrecking ball to it. 

But what comes next? Well, I pray this Marco Rubio speech is a hint of what's to come. I pray that godly men with a Christian conscience and an eternal purpose, leading on the principles of the New Testament, do the work of the nation as before the Lord. Here's to much more talk of our Christian heritage. Mike Slater dot locals dot com. Transcript commercial free on the website.  Mike Slater dot locals dot com.

James Van Der Beek, an actor who was a part of every Millennial's childhood, passed away at the age of 48. He died with dignity. One thing we can learn from his dying is to proclaim the whole truth. Don't hold back.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. This is where we take the news of the day, we bring it to the Bible, and we can walk away with a perspective and peace. There's new headlines every day, but Ecclesiastes says there's nothing new under the sun. So thanks for being here. I'm gonna get the true story. Sola Deo Gloria, glory to God alone. 

I want to talk about James Van Der Beek, who passed away. To every millennial who's listening now, he was an important part of our childhood, star of, I was gonna say Party of Five, Dawson's Creek, and then Varsity Blues as well. He was 48 years old and died from colon cancer. He had six kids, beautiful family, kids like over the top cute. And he wrote on Instagram relatively recently, just posted this stunning picture of his family. And he said, being a father has been the most treasured honor of my life. 

Thank you to my kids for reteaching me how to live, laugh, love, and show up in my own life and in the world. And thank you to my superhero of a wife who constantly exceeds the boundaries of what I thought was human capacity. I love you with all of my heart. Being a father has been the most treasured honor of my life at Scream. His family shared pictures of his final days here on earth. This very handsome man, weak, frail, skin and bones, in a wheelchair, out in nature, outside, looking at the sunset. 

Here's a note from a friend. Spending these final days with you has been a true gift from God. I've never been so present in my life. When you know time is sacred, you don't waste a single breath. How can we live like this every day? How can we live treating life sacred? 

You don't rush. You don't scroll. You don't worry about tomorrow. You sit. You listen. You hold hands. 

You watch the sky change colors and let it change you, too. In these past days, you taught me more about being present than any book ever could. You showed me what it looks like to trust God's plan, even when it breaks your heart, especially when it breaks your heart. You are a gift, an incredible husband, an extraordinary dad. The way you showed up for your wife and your children, steady, strong, devoted, was a blessing to witness. It has been an honor to stand by your family in these sacred moments. 

It's pretty incredible how someone can fight so hard for so long, travel the world battling so much, and somehow still look so handsome doing it. You've given this world so many gifts. Your presence was a bright light in my life and in so many others. And maybe the lesson you leave us with is this. The present moment is everything. Love the people in front of you. 

Say the words. Watch the sunset. Trust God even when you don't understand. Very nice. Katie Holmes, who's, again, to millennials, indistinguishable, the two of them. together, but she wrote out this really nice note to him and hand -written and then took a picture of it, which is a nice way to present the note. 

At the end of it, she said, life is art, creating a beautiful marriage, six loving children, the journey of a hero. 

It's great. 

Someone else said, I think I can finally see the beauty in death. It's sad, but it's also one of the few things that forces us to be fully present and accept our mortality. And suddenly, everything except the people you love matters less. Maybe we're never more human than when we're dying. Okay, so this is usually the section of the podcast where I talk about what's broken in the situation and that's maybe a bit, it's not quite right, not broken. 

I just want to offer this as an encouragement. There are some videos that are making the rounds of James Van Der Beek and I want to use these to encourage you as well and not wait till the end of your life to have boldness. And I think James Van Der Beek in these videos, although beautiful and well -presented, it's missing that last little, no, I didn't say little, that last most important bit of truth. So I'm gonna play this video, it's three minutes, sit back and enjoy it for what it is and how it's presented. And then we can talk about what's missing. 

Today's my birthday and it has been the hardest year of my life. And I wanted to share something that I learned with y 'all. When I was younger, I used to define myself as an actor, right? Which was never really all that fulfilling. And then I became a husband, and that was much better. And then I became a father, and that was the ultimate. 

I could define myself then as a loving, capable, strong, supportive husband, father, provider, steward of the land that we're so lucky to live on. And for a long time, that felt like a really good definition to the question, who am I? What am I? And then this year, to look my own mortality in the eye. 

Quick timeout. Last time I'll stop. Super important to make sure you find your real identity as soon as possible. And it's not in any of these things. Beautiful things. Some people identify themselves as things that are not good, but even if people identify themselves as things that are great, but it's not your truest identity. 

And when you get to the end of your life, you realize that when you lose your body, you lose your ability. Maybe you identify yourself as a runner. Okay. What if you lose your legs? What if your legs don't work anymore? Who are you now? 

Not a runner. What are you? Well, I'm a radio show host. You lose your job. Now what are you? Oh, it better be something that's unbreakable, which actually was the last segment of our last TV special we did about building your house on a rock. 

James Van Der Beek had to confront this issue. 

I had to come nose to nose with death. And all of those definitions that I cared so deeply about were stripped from me. I was away for treatment, so I could no longer be a husband that was helpful to my wife. I could no longer be a father who could pick up his kids and put them to bed and be there for them. I could not be a provider because that wasn't working. I couldn't even be a steward of the land because at times I was too weak to prune all the trees during the window that you're supposed to prune them. And so I was faced with the question, if I am just a too skinny, weak guy alone in an apartment with cancer, what am I? 

I meditated and the answer came through. I am worthy of God's love simply because I exist. And if I'm worthy of God's love, shouldn't I also be worthy of my own? And the same is true for you. And as I move through this healing portal toward recovery, I wanted to share that with you because I think that revelation that came to me was due in no small part to all the prayers and the love that had been directed toward me. So I offer that to you, however it sits in your consciousness, however it resonates, run with it. 

And if the word God trips you up, I certainly don't know. I can't claim to know what God is or explain God. My efforts to connect to God are an ongoing process that is a constant unfolding mystery to me. But if it's a trigger, it feels too religious, you can take the word God out and your mantra can simply be, I am worthy of love because you are. Thank you for the loving prayers, everyone. 

So close. 

Let's go to the Bible. Maybe my frustration is a strong word. It's that, oh, it's like great. And then it's, well, however you define God, you're like, oh man, just according to the Bible, we are not worthy of love. We're horrible sinners. who are worthy only of God's wrath. 

Ephesians 2 .1 says we are dead in trespasses and sins. We are spiritually dead and unable to merit God's favor. It is God who demonstrates his love by choosing to save us. Ephesians 1 .5, in love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Christ Jesus. Our righteousness, whatever we think we do, is filthy rags. But Jesus 

died to save us from hell. And now if you make Jesus Lord of your life, you can come before God and spend eternity in heaven. Or however you think is best to divide, right? I mean like Hebrews 10, 19. Are you with me with that last little quip that I threw there? It's either this or not that. 

It can't be everything. It can't be this very specific thing. And then however you feel good about a thing, that I'm saying, but want to take the words, but use very different meanings for the words, like not a Hebrews 10, nine, therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and the holy places, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh. I love in the Bible, how when Jesus died on the cross, the curtain at the temple was torn from the top. So it was not by human hands from the bottom, but it was torn from the top. It was the curtain that separated. 

in the tabernacle or in the temple, from everyone else, from the most holy place, ripped. And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful. In Hebrews 4 .16, let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. This is scripture. My encouragement for you, for all of us. 

is to go all the way because people desperately need to hear it. They need to hear the truth, not half the truth and then new age mumbo jumbo, not 90 % of the truth and then a cop out of or whatever else you think people need to hear all of the truth. 

It also sounds like this diagnosis helped you find some sort of new perspective on faith. 

Before cancer, God was something I tried to fit into my life as much as possible. 

After cancer, I feel like a connection to God, whatever that is, is kind of the whole point of this exercise on this planet. He's right. He's right. Glorifying God, but exactly who we know him to be from the Bible is the point of life on this planet. Go all the way with the truth. Don't hold back. 

MikeSlater . Locals . com. Transcript commercial free on the website MikeSlater .