MikeSlater
Politics • Spirituality/Belief • Culture
The Ultimate Redemption From Hate.
Politics by Faith, May 28, 2024
May 28, 2024

My daughter said she was hungry the other day so I went into a fatherly tale of WWII veteran Louis Zamperini. If you ever saw the movie Unbroken, it only shares half of his story. The second half is the most important. The second half is the redemption.​

0:00:00
Hey, welcome to Politics by Faith, brought to you by the Patriot Gold Group. Wanted to give one more thought here regarding Memorial Day, but this is every day. Freedom-loving American patriots like us, we're not one day a year, it's every single day we celebrate these men and women. We don't need an excuse for it. Although we'll take the Memorial Day excuse. My kids on the Memorial Day event we went

0:00:32
to on Monday, yesterday, they got to shake the hand of a World War II veteran. You kidding me? They shook the hand of a 99-year-old man who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. They shook his hand and said, thank you for your service. Each and every one of them. Ah, it was beautiful. I don't know if I share it here in this segment, so let me just share it real quick again,

0:00:54
and if you gotta hear it twice, fine. We found out he's there, and the event's almost over, and I have the kids come over here. I gather them, I say, kids, you're like seven, six, and four, and I'm holding the baby. I said, you guys, you're not gonna believe this.

0:01:05
That is a real-life World War II veteran. This is unbelievable. We're gonna go shake his hand, and we're gonna say thank you for his service. And Grace goes, wait, what do I say? I say, thank you for your service.

0:01:15
Thank you for your service. Johnny, what are you going to say? Thank you for your service. Got it. Boom. Here we go.

0:01:21
Sliders, we're going to do this. This is unbelievable. I can't believe we get this opportunity. We go up there. I'm like crying because I'm like a little girl about to meet Justin Bieber or some K-pop band or whatever.

0:01:27
So I'm doing the best I can to keep it together. Sir, thank you for your service. Can my children shake your hand? Oh, yes, I'd love it. Jack shakes his hand and says, thank you for your service. you for your service." And the man, the World War II veteran, says,

0:01:39
Son, you have a great handshake. Love your country. Love your neighbor. Done. I hope you had a meaningful Memorial Day as well. I want to share here our segment we did to kind of ease back into the week. It's a political show we do, but Monday is our first day back after a weekend. It's always like, I don't know, do we want to hit it hard? Get right to the politics. It's 6 o'clock Eastern Time. It's 5 a.m. where I am. It's pretty

0:02:28
early to go heavy politics. So we try to ease into the week at least. And we told the story of Louise Amperini. The rest of the story of Louise Amperini. Enjoy. You've seen the movie Unbroken by Angelina Jolie. I saw it like ten years ago when it came out. I remember liking it. I think, I don't really remember. But the story is incredible. And of course the book is always better. Gotta read the book.

0:02:53
And it's the story of Louis Zamparini. Is the name ring a bell? The problem with the movie is it only does half the book. It's half the book. You're reading the book. You know back in the day when you used to watch a 30 minute TV show and you're 26 minutes

0:03:11
into the show and you're like, wait a second. This isn't gonna finish in time. There's no way they can wrap up this story in the next four minutes, what's happening here? And then they do a to be continued. You're like, ah, they didn't make it.

0:03:23
And you have to wait a whole nother week. It's the same thing with the book. Like the book's, like the war's over, and you're like, wait a second, there's still a lot of book left to go. So let's just jog everyone's memory real quick

0:03:33
on Louis Zamperini, a name that everyone needs to know. So he lived in Long Beach, California before the war, went to USC for track, qualified for the Olympics in the 5,000 meters. He was 19 years old, youngest qualifier at that distance ever, and still today, 19 years old.

0:03:51
And he got eighth in the Olympics in Berlin, but there was something about his finish, he had such a strong finish, that Hitler summoned him up to his stand and to see him. He ran the mile in four minutes, eight seconds was his time. So then he goes to World War II,

0:04:06
and he's flying in airplanes. And one of his flights, one of his planes crashes. 850 miles off the coast of Oahu. He's in the middle of nowhere. So three of the guys survive, and they're on this raft and all they have to survive is rainwater.

0:04:32
They had a couple rations for the three of them and they were able to catch raw fish and a bird landed on their raft and they grabbed the bird and killed it and ate it raw. Meanwhile, they're fending off shark attacks in the middle of the ocean and it's totally zero hope that they'll be found. I was telling my kids a story this weekend because we went on Saturday or whatever, we went to a Memorial Day concert in the neighborhood.

0:05:04
And Grace, who's six, is, Daddy, I'm hungry. There are food carts there, right? There are like four different food carts. They're like, Grace, you had your tacos. We gave you the pick of the litter. You had a whole array of food options.

0:05:17
And you didn't want any of them, so okay, whatever, don't eat.

0:05:20
She's like, what do you mean, don't eat, what do you mean? I'm so hungry.

0:05:23
I said, Grace, Grace, Grace, Grace, Grace.

0:05:25
Just don't eat.

0:05:25
If you don't want to eat any of the food, just don't eat the food and just don't have dinner. It's fine. Or you can wait till we get home and there's some food in the fridge. Whatever, just like stop complaining.

0:05:33
I said, I'm so hungry. I was like, Grace, kids, gather around, gather around. You could go a long time without food, you know. And they're like, how long? I was like, well, let me tell you the story of Louisiana Breed, that's why the story's in my brain.

0:05:48
So they're on the raft, 33 days. Oh, by the way, they're also on the raft, airplane comes, one airplane came, and they shot off a flare, and the airplane didn't see. Oh, could you imagine the hope? And then it's shattered so then you know weeks later weeks another airplane flies

0:06:05
low and they're like oh I'm blue it was a Japanese airplane and there's this shoot at him this 33 days into this one of the three men died 47 days in they They saw a ship, but unfortunately it was a Japanese ship. And thus started Louis Zamparini's prisoner of war camp life. And they were tormented as prisoners of war, particularly by a Japanese prison guard they named The Bird.

0:06:45
He would force Zamparini to punch other prisoners until they were unconscious. One punishment he had to get punched 220 times in the face. Louis did. He'd beg for water. They'd throw burning, scalding water in his face. They'd put him in a cage and they'd poke him with sticks and throw rocks at him and force him to dance. Just constant torment. Then he worked in the coal barges. Just horrific. At one point he broke an ankle so they made him clean out the pig stalls with his bare hands. Just cruel dehumanizing. These guys they lost on average like 60 pounds. They only weighed 150 pounds to begin with. These guys are

0:07:29
under a hundred pounds and dehumanized and demoralized in every way. It's such a weird thing in our history, culture, or whatever, that the face of evil in America, like when we look back, like we think of evil, we go right to Hitler, and not also Hirohito. Like isn't that like the weirdest thing?

0:07:49
Like, Hitler, yes, I'm not like, oh, Hitler's not that bad. Like, Hitler, yes, but can we also add in a little Hirohito, too? All right, so that's the movie, the movie's all about that. But Angelina Jolie left out the second part of his life, and I think that's the most interesting. And I reread it this weekend.

0:08:13
So let me share some highlights, if I may. Also I was thinking about this, because when I was, so we're at the memorial service yesterday, and here's this 99-year-old World War II veteran. It's hot out. It's hot. We're in Tennessee. It's hot, humid, gross. People

0:08:29
are like, the pass out fans. I was having a tough time. And here's this 99 year old veteran over there in khaki pants, dress shoes, long sleeve shirt, and a suit jacket. Fine. Standing, totally fine. Doesn't bother him at all. I'm over here trying to be tough for my kids so they don't complain. Meanwhile, this guy's over here like it's nothing. So, Louie Zamperini, after the war,

0:08:59
gets home to LA and he finds his childhood home where his parents still live. And I love this line. He looks at this house that he grew up in and he says, this, this little home was worth all of it.

0:09:13
I love that.

0:09:14
And the power of that line means even more when you really fully realize what all of it is. All of it is the worst thing you could possibly imagine. Yet that was all worth it because of his little house that he grew up in.

0:09:29
This was worth it. That's such a beautiful thing. This. And that's why last week, we were like, hey, it's not happy Memorial Day, I hope you have a meaningful Memorial Day,

0:09:44
but it's not, oh, don't have the barbecue. Like, Memorial Day should be a more solemn day, but also have the barbecue and do the community stuff and do all that fun stuff too, because that's what Louis Zamparini says, like this, this home, this is why they fought,

0:09:55
this home is worth all of it. I just think that's so unbelievably beautiful. So they have a nice homecoming for him and everything's fine. And at one point in the night, his sister puts on a record player, a record on the record player of some of the Japanese propaganda that they forced Zamparini to read on the radio and he lost it.

0:10:15
And he screams, turn it off, turn it off. And he tells his sister to smash it in pieces and he falls on the floor and he's shivering and it's horrible. No one knew what to do, and that was the first moment when everyone's like, whoa, and when Louie's like, oh, I'm not, this is not.

0:10:32
PTSD, like we think of our, I don't know about you, but we look back at our World War II veterans, and we're like, oh, they were treated well when they came home, unlike Vietnam veterans, and they didn't have PTSD, unlike, you know,

0:10:42
our current wars we've been fighting. It's like, no, no, no. We just called it something different back then. So Louis had all these requests to speak and they were overwhelming but he had awards and he went and he gave 95 speeches

0:11:01
right immediately after the war and even more radio interviews. And all the attention was on him and it was exhausting. So he did two things. First thing he did is he drove to the mountains

0:11:15
I

0:11:16
Drove to the forest he went into the wilderness and walked among the trees and he found a peace there That he hadn't felt since he was a young boy But then he got back in his car and as soon as he got back in his car driving back to civilization all the anxiety Came back So that was the first thing he did second thing. He did there was a time a gala for the LA Times He was the man of honor of course and they offered him a drink and

0:11:40
it was the first time he said yes to the offer and he felt as he called it a pleasant numbness and the anxiety went away and he started drinking more and more and finally his nightmares stopped. Every night he would dream about the bird, the tormentor, the tyrant every night and he was scared to sleep. But now he could drink and fall asleep and he could drink and maybe not remember the dreams.

0:12:08
So he became an alcoholic and it was so sad because there was that other option, that nature was a true medicine for him. But the alcohol was much easier. So he would have these PTSD moments, he would be in a bar and a car would backfire and he'd fall to the ground in the fetal position or someone would yell something that sounded like a Japanese word and he'd lose it. He was at dinner with a friend once and the friend got rice.

0:12:35
He was served rice as a side and he lost it because it reminded him of... And then something happened. He heard the story of a former Pacific POW who went into a store and saw one of his former Japanese captors and he called the police and the police arrested the Japanese guy as a war criminal and Louie heard that story and he decided this is it this is my new life mission my new life mission is to find the bird and kill him so now he's

0:13:10
anxiety, fear, depression, alcohol, and now rage. So he walked around every single day with murder on his mind. He went and he practiced boxing, just imagining beating the bird to death. Hillenbrand who wrote the book, she says, in seeking the bird's death to free himself, Louis had chained himself once again to his tyrant. He had one nightmare and the bird was beating him as always.

0:13:46
But in this nightmare he was able to get on top of the bird because he was winning, right? He was fighting in his mind all day. He was ruminating about how he was going to kill the bird. So now here he is dreaming about him actually killing the bird. And he got on top of the bird and was choking him. And then he woke up and he was choking his pregnant wife who was lying next to him in bed in real life.

0:14:07
His daughter was born, he loved that girl but he couldn't take care of her. He would shake her and he would just keep drinking and his wife finally left and filed for divorce and it was the lowest point of his life. It was lower than shoveling pig filth by hand. I think this part, like this is, and I understand there is a movie made about this actually. I haven't seen it, but there's a, one of those Christian movies made about this.

0:14:32
Christian movies, what do you mean? One day, a man set up a circus tent in Los Angeles and set up 6,500 chairs. And the man had a press conference to announce a three week long event that he was having in Los Angeles and not a single newspaper covered the story. So they had this event and no one showed up for the first few days and then more people showed up and then it was half filled and then by the end of the three weeks the tent

0:15:01
was filled and newspapers started picking it up and Billy Graham kicked off his revival in Los Angeles. Now Louie and his wife didn't get a divorce but things were really tough. She begged him to go hear Billy Graham speak and he kept saying no over and over again he said no and his neighbor awesome Louie you got to go go here but go once go one time and he finally went he sat in the back row and

0:15:25
Billy Graham's up there and these you can hear the real recordings of these sermons so Billy Graham's out there and he's reading John 8 this is the story of the adulterous woman who was going to be stoned to death and Jesus said if any one of you is without sin let him be the first to throw a stone. And he's hearing this and he was full of rage. And Billy Graham even said, oh, I'm sure you're thinking you're not a bad fella.

0:15:56
But when you die, God's going to pull down a screen and show you everything you ever did and every thought you ever had in your head for every second of your life. And those words and thoughts and deeds are going to condemn you. And God is going to say, depart from me. And Louis lost it. Absolutely, I'm a good man, I'm a good man.

0:16:11
And he knew it was a lie, but he left.

0:16:13
He ran.

0:16:14
Ran away. And his wife begged him to go back the next day. And he did. And Billy Graham, and I love this story so much. Remember this for next week's gratitude segment. This next sermon, and you can find it online, it's called, it's about communism. It's entitled, the problems with communism or something.

0:16:44
I can find it, one more second, I'll find it during the break. It's not Satan's religion, that's not the one. Why God Allows Communism to Flourish, that's it. So you can hear the real sermon. Why God Allows Communism to Flourish, 1949. So he's talking about God's power and God's creation

0:17:03
and God and beauty and he's talking about the beautiful California sky and how God made that and how God knows the numbers of hairs on your head and knows when a sparrow falls and loves you even more and all that. And in the midst of this beautiful sermon, Louis had this flashback. And he remembered one day when he was on this raft for the 47 days, right?

0:17:27
And he was dying, but for some reason he was looking up in the sky and the clouds captured him in some way. And he forgot that he was dying and he forgot how hungry he was and he forgot how thirsty he was, and he felt this overwhelming sense of gratitude. Keep in mind, he's on the raft,

0:17:45
no hope at all of anything, starving. Not like, oh, I'm at an event and I don't like the food trucks, starving. Like, actual starving, dying, being fried to death, sharks around him, but he felt overwhelming gratitude. to.

0:18:03
And that feeling came back to him. He forgot it. It came back to him. And then Billy Graham said that God works in miracles. And then Louis thought of how when the plane crashed, he was underwater and he was trapped in all these wires and he couldn't get out.

0:18:23
And then all the wires vanished. And he was able to get to the surface and he thought back of how the Japanese plane flew overhead and riddled him with bullets but not one hit him and once again he had a yet another flashback when he said He whispered One time on the raft

0:18:53
He wasn't religious at all. He didn't know God at all. He said if you save me, I will serve you forever He said that he remembered he forgot he said it he remembered he said that That was it he went home poured all the alcohol down the drain and for the first night since Did not dream about the bird and the bird never entered his dreams

0:19:15
ever again

0:19:22
and for the first time in his life or I should say for the first time post-war he started to think not of everything that happened to him but of all the things look all the terrible things but of all the things that happened to save him. And he thought not of all of his misery, but of all the things that, and all the people that intervened to keep him alive.

0:19:49
And totally changed his mindset. And the bird tried to take away his humanity, but instead, now, he was born again. I'll leave you to read the book and you can finish the rest because there's more to the story even after that. He did make it back to Japan, I'll tell you that.

0:20:08
But I just think of that, I mean,

0:20:09
there's so many unbelievable things. Like, so just to wrap up, remember last week we talked about Barack Obama's speech to the college graduates of Morehouse College back in 2013 and he said, hey, there's people all around the world today who have it way worse than you, you've ever had it.

0:20:22
And people in our history have had it way worse than you've ever had it. So stop complaining. No one cares about anything in your life. No one cares about the discrimination. That's Barack Obama back in,

0:20:35
no one cares about discrimination that you've had. No one cares about the tough things you've had in your life. You just suck it up and let's go.

0:20:41
Almost no one has ever had it worse than Louie Zamperini.

0:20:45
He made it out the other side. If you want to read the book, you can check out,

0:20:52
there's more to the story, but I will say

0:20:54
this one thing he did. He started a boys camp. He bought this camp with no money, it was a total dump, renovated it himself, and made this camp for troubled youths for boys, for boys who were on the wrong path and they went swimming and horseback riding and camping and mountain biking and they were back in nature they were

0:21:22
back in God's creation and who knows how many lives he saved doing that as well come on that's an incredible story that's as good as it gets so remember that story next time your kids complain that they're hungry that story next time your kids complain that they're hungry kids complain that they're hungry.

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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.

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Boys to men, girls to women

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Dean Abbott,
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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 ...

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Surly this will be kicked off twitter eventually
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Morning Motivation, April 21, 2023

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

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

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

Morning Motivation, April 21, 2023
Inflation and ANGER

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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

This is spot on Mike! We have become dehumanized! You can not read a persons real needs on a screen nor text! A job or passion offers human interaction and I pray these stay at home on our tax dollars find that truth. We have lost our way… People need hugs and love and someone to listen. If we do not have that face to face interaction we will become nothing more than those who can not deal with lives issues.
Our politicians need to stop thinking about themselves and their agenda and think of the country as a whole. My suggestion today is go out and make someone’s life a little better than it is and not with money! And if it is only leave a space better than you found it -imagine if everyone left every place better than they found it. If you did one thing to make another human beings life better and told them you loved them. If we did this every day- what a great world we would have again! Time to get back to this countries MOTTO… if you do not know the counties motto it is ...

Good morning @MikeSlater and all my fellow Slater Crusaders! I've been following Mike for years and after having MANY one way conversations with the radio or podcast, have finally joined the community here on locals.com. I can't wait for the chance to share thoughts and ideas with you all. Thank you Mike for creating this place. I hope we can help inform each other about our world and support growing our relationship and faith in Jesus.

Hi @Mike Slater! Are you coming back to locals? Haven’t seen any posts in some time.

Hulk Hogan Was A Christian
Politics By Faith, July 24, 2025

Of all the accolades and titles and fame and praise, Terry Bollea wants to first and foremost be known as a Christian.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. Hulk Hogan has passed away. Real name Terry Bollea. 71, heart attack, we're told. People know his wrestling persona, of course.

Jesse Kelly said, I'm not one of these everything was better back in my day people But I cannot properly describe how much different the 80s were than what we have today It was fun and happy and patriotic and ridiculous and over-the-top It was wonderful and Hulk Hogan was a big part of it and he put a picture of Hulk Hogan in there ring holding this huge American flag my wrestling childhood Was after Hulk Hogan that was more of the Rock era

but Hulk of course transcended what was just his peak of wrestling. And then of course more recently people know him as speaking at the Republican National Convention for Trump just a week after Trump got shot remember that and got up there and gave a great speech. But do you know that Hulk Hogan was recently baptized and that he would want you to know him first and foremost as a and gave a great speech. But do you know that Hulk Hogan was recently baptized? And that he would want you to know him first and foremost as a Christian.

Public baptism. You have said the greatest moment of your life.

Yes, without a doubt.

Terry, what did that mean for you?

It broke down that fourth or fifth wall to tell people the truth about my Lord and Savior How you know you should look at things or how you should care for people and not judge people. It set me free It wasn't that perfect vessel that I should be or should have been. Once I was baptized

I felt I was all I knew. It really was a major pivot in my life. These two clips right here. I want to talk about Identity. It's a question we all have to come to terms with. Who are we? major pivot in my life. These two clips right here, I wanna talk about identity. It's a question we all have to come to terms with. Who are we? And where do we get our identity from? And someone like Hulk Hogan

would have a harder time than most trying to figure out who they really are, because he was having to live a dual life always. In this interview he says he knew, because he's a good man, so he wanted to give people what they wanted.

So he knew that people wanted the persona, they wanted Hulk. So he'd be walking down the street and the mailman would say, hey Hulk. And he wouldn't be like, hey Jim. He'd say, oh, what's up Hulk, what's up brother?

Like he'd do the thing, because that's what people wanted. But you do that your whole life and it'd be really easy to not know who you are anymore. But after becoming a Christian, he knew what his proper identity was.

Well, the moment I come home, the headband comes off the bald head. And you know, it's just Terry. Dad, father, husband, friend. I have no wrestling pictures in my house. I have no wrestling belts. Just Terry. The problem is the moment I leave the house, the moment I walk out the front door, the world doesn't want Terry.

I can't imagine the ego that would be built up over the decades of being Hulk Hogan, right? That'll mess you up. You go on Madison Square Garden, you have tens of thousands of people cheering for you. That'll really mess you up. So he was all out of whack, but once he became a Christian,

he knew what his true identity was, and he knew what he brought to the table compared to his creator.

So what Terry brings to the table is a meat suit, you know, a meat suit filled with the spirit of Christ, and it's a testing ground for me. I accepted Christ as my savior when I was 14, but I derailed. It wasn't my life. He has given me the opportunity to prove that I'm faithful,

and I'll never make those same mistakes again.

I never heard this story from, about Hulk before, about Terry. It's about his dad and it ties in so perfectly because we seek approval. We're looking for our proper identity and when it's not in Christ we're so lost we don't know what to do. That's why I was lost but then I was found. But also we seek approval and one of the people we seek approval from the most of course is our earthly father and

Terry never got that and that could cause a lot of trauma a lot of wounds and Really hurt Terry until this happened. This is his answer to the question. What's your most memorable moment as a wrestler?

It didn't have anything to do with being in the ring It had to do with after the match at Madison Square Garden, January 23rd, 1984, where I wrestled the Iron Sheik for the WWF title. Iran had 444 American hostages, and they were keeping our Americans in.

The Iron Sheik, he was the actual bodyguard for the Shah of Iran. He was the real deal, and the fans knew it. And I was the all-american character Hulk Hogan. That night I flew my parents up and and you know my dad and I didn't see eye to eye because I was going to University of South Florida here in Tampa and I was majoring in finance and

management. But when I left college and didn't become an accountant or whatever that degree would lead me to, there was a huge divide as far as communication with my dad and I. You know, so it kind of was a void. And so that night after Madison Square Garden, you know, my dad goes, man, you know,

Terry, I'm very proud of you. You made the right decision. I love you so much, I'm so sorry that I tried to make you do something you didn't wanna do. So that was the greatest night for me, for my dad to say that to me. Because I really didn't know if I was right or not,

it's just I was doing what I love doing. And to me that felt right, but then to have my dad confirm it, but I had to be the main event at Madison Square Garden to get him to break. But that was probably the greatest part of my wrestling career to have that moment with him because I really valued what he thought about me.

A lot of people when they're first becoming a Christian are trying to figure out who God is. And that is very much informed by their earthly father. For better or worse, often for worse. But your heavenly father will never let you down. Your heavenly father is absolutely perfect in every way. Where earthly fathers will surely let their children down, your heavenly father never will. I'm reading John Steinbeck's East of Eden right now.

And I just read this last night. It says here when a child first catches adult out, when it first walks into his grave little head, that adults do not have divine intelligence, that their judgments are not always wise. They're thinking true. Their sentence is just.

His world falls into panic, desolation. The gods are fallen and all safety gone. And there's one sure thing about the fall of gods. They do not fall a little. They crash and shatter or sink deeply into green muck. It's a tedious job to build them up again.

They never quite shine. And the child's world is never quite whole again. It's an aching kind of growing. We realize our father is not God. But how wonderful to know that God is God. All powerful, all knowing, and loves you.

All Christians need to go through this process of finding their true identity in Jesus. Galatians 2 20, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I

get sick and tired of myself. You know, The two people in my head, the ego and the real I am, I mean, I just surrendered. I just said, I can't do it anymore. And I went back to the Bible and I started reading again. And I'm either all the way in or all the way out with whatever I do.

So if you're with me, there's no guesswork. If I'm with my Lord and Savior, I'm all the way in.

What message do you now convey at this stage of your life?

It's a spiritual war in this fallen world. To turn to the truth, seek him and you shall find. To step outside their comfort zone and accept Christ, knowing that he would heal the land and heal this nation and heal the people. It just seems like such an easy choice for everyone. If you'll just surrender, accept him as your savior.

A lot of people are going to be reminiscing and talking about the legacy of Hulk Hogan, but I think Hulk Hogan would want his legacy to be as one of a Christian

and a slave of Christ. I just read this poem yesterday. It's by St. George Tucker.

It's probably written late 1700s. Let me see here. St. George Tucker, born in 1757, died 1827. So we're gonna go late 1800s or late 1700s. Ready for this poem? George Tucker, born in 1757, died 1827. So we're gonna go late 1800s or late 1700s. Ready for this poem? Just read it yesterday. Gosh, this is true for all of us,

but I just think Hulk Hogan, because of his so much strength, right? In what he was doing as a wrestler, and then we all die. It's called Days of My Youth. It says, days of my youth, ye have glided away.

Hairs of my youth, ye are frosted and gray. Eyes of my youth, your keen sight is no more. Cheeks of my youth, ye are furrowed all over. Strength of my youth, all your vigor is gone. Thoughts of my youth, your gay visions are flown. All those good times, strong, vigorous, our youth, it vigor is gone thoughts of my youth your gay visions are flown." All those good times strong vigorous our youth it's all gone her eyes are her

hair, her cheeks, strength all gone right? Days of my youth I wish not your recall hairs of my youth I'm content ye should fall. Eyes of my youth, you much evil have seen. Cheeks of my youth bathed in tears have you been. Thoughts of my youth, you've led me astray. Strength of my youth, why lament your decay?" So this first stanza, it's like, oh, I'm so sad. I hate that my strength and vigor has gone away. Oh, my youth, I hate that it's gone. And the first stanza, it's like, oh, I'm so sad. I hate that my strength and vigor has gone away. I, oh, my youth.

I hate that it's gone. And the second stanza is, oh, but there was so much pain, actually. There's so many days that I don't even want to think about again. So many tears, so many thoughts that I've had that have sent me in a bad direction. I've seen so much evil in my life. And it ends with this stanza, days of my age. All right, so now here we are, older, reflecting on right now. Days of my age, ye will shortly be past. Pains of my age, yet a while ye can last.

Joys of my age, in true wisdom delight. Eyes of my age, be religion your light. Thoughts of my age, dread ye not the cold sod. Means being buried. Don't dread dying. Hopes of my age be fixed on your God. Can I do this last part real quick?

Eyes of my age be religion, your light. Thoughts of my age dread ye not the cold side. Hopes of my age be fixed on your God. Let's take it from Hulk Hogan that the most important thing in life is being a Christian. Mike Slater dot locals dot com for the transcript and no commercials Mike

 

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You've Already Won
Politics By Faith, July 22, 2205

Christian Scottie Scheffler won the British Open last weekend. What Nike did with his win could be a sign of the cultural shift we need in America. But Scottie's boldness led the way.

 

I got back this last weekend from a three hour drive with the family and loved it. It was great. I like car trips because we're all together. I came across this clip recently from this TV show called the middle. I've never heard of the show, never seen the show, am not endorsing the show, I know nothing about it.
But I came across this one scene where the mom and dad, I'm guessing they have older kids who are out of the house now or on the way out, and the dad's reminiscing.
You know when I was happiest? I mean really happy? When I was driving everybody. When they were small, I'd be driving, didn't matter where. It was just me at the wheel and you next to me, those three idiots in the back.
I knew everything was okay. I was driving. And I had it.
I had everybody.
We have a nine hour drive coming up in a couple months with the whole family. Can't wait for it. We spent the night at my house my wife grew up in and we love doing that because it's like 1200 square feet and we all camp out in the living room, big slumber party in the living room. Johnny and I sleep in the lazy boy reclined all the way back.
They've never seen a lazy boy before, I guess. So they're like, what is this? So that's just as good as it gets. Did you see the newest Nike ad? I saw it and I thought it was fake. I didn't confirm that it was true.
And indeed is true. So Scottie Scheffler, he won the British Open in golf and after he won, him and all the big wigs are on the final green and up waddles in the scene his one year old son and then he trips on the little hill, the sloped green, falls down, oh the whole crowd.
Dad goes over and gets him and it was a nice little moment. So Nike took that moment as inspiration and they made a new Nike ad and it's a picture of Scottie kneeling down with his putter in front of him and the baby is crawling towards him reaching out for the club and the ad says in the Nike font it says says, you've already won. This could be a data point of a massive cultural shift that's happening in our country.
And I pray that we keep having in our country. Every Monday on Sirius XM show, we have gratitude Monday. People call in the first segment of the show and say what they're grateful for. And guy called in yesterday said he was excited because he's getting married soon it's awesome and and I asked him first are there no oil the old ball and
chain or none of that none of those jokes because it's a beautiful thing and marriage needs to be celebrated and I asked him why why get married why not just yeah keep shacking up Are you just doing it for tax purposes? What's the reason? He said, Oh no, we're doing it so we can help each other get to heaven. He was getting off the night shift at a chemical plant in Louisiana. The answer he had to that question had more wisdom to it than anyone at Ivy League school or wherever.
So Scotty Scheffler, when he won, he said, the first person I look for is my wife. She's always the first person I want to celebrate with. So just a lot of loving your family. A lot of celebrating families. That's a good thing.
I saw this video, I saw like 10 seconds of this video and what I heard, I was like, oh, that's Ecclesiastes. I didn't know he's a Christian or not, but sure enough, his Instagram handle says Christ follower pro golfer. So he has his priorities, right? Oh, one last thing about Nike ads.
This cultural shift, like people have been posting like old Nike ads, actually old, like 2020, 2021 Nike ads where our culture was really leaning hard into ugliness and it'd be like an obese black woman grinding and be like, get on the floor. Nike. I like what, gross. And here's Scotty Shuffler, him, his baby, you already won, you're like, oh yeah, like that's clearly the direction we need to be going in as a country.
So here is Shuffler, this is before he won. This is a couple of days before in the press conference. It's a few minutes long, but it's worth it all.
You know, I think it's kind of funny. I think, you know, I think I said something after the Byron this year about like, it feels like you work your whole life to celebrate winning a tournament for like a few minutes. It only lasts a few minutes, that kind of euphoric feeling. And I like to win the Byron Nelson championship at home.
I literally worked my entire life to become good at golf, to have an opportunity to win that tournament. And you win it, you celebrate, get to hug my family, my sisters there, it's such an amazing moment. And then it's like, okay, now what are we gonna eat for dinner, you know? Life goes on.
Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf yet? I mean, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about because it's literally worked my entire life to become good at this sport and to have that kind of sense of accomplishment I think is a pretty cool feeling.
You know, to get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, it's like I'm not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I'm not here to inspire somebody else to be the best player in the world, because what's the point? This is not a fulfilling life. It's fulfilling from a sense of accomplishment, but it's not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart.
There's a lot of people that make it to what they thought was going to fulfill them in life, and then you get there and all of a sudden, you get to number one in the world, and then they're like, what's the point? And I really do believe that, because what is the point? You're like, why do I wanna win this tournament so bad?
That's something that I wrestle with on a daily basis. It's like, showing up at the Masters every year, it's like, why do I wanna win this golf tournament so badly. Why do I want to win the Open Championship so badly? I don't know. Because if I win, it's gonna be awesome for about two minutes. And then we're gonna get to the next week and it's gonna be like,
hey, you won two majors this year, how important is it for you to win the FedExCup playoffs? And it's just like, we're back here again, you know? So we really do, we work so hard for such little moments And I'm kind of a sicko. I love putting in the work. I love being able to practice. I love getting out to live out my dreams. But at the end of the day, sometimes I just
don't understand the point. Because I don't know if I'm making any sense or not. But am I not? It's just one of those deals. I love the challenge. I love being able to play this game for a living. It's one of the greatest joys of my life,
but does it fill the deepest wants and desires of my heart? Absolutely not. I mean, I love playing golf. I love being able to compete. I love living out my dreams. I love being a father.
I love being able to take care of my son. I love being able to provide for my family out here playing golf. And every day when I wake up early to go put in the work, my wife thanks me for going out and working so hard. And when I get home, I try and thank her every day for taking care of our son. It's just, that's why I talk about family as being my priority,
because it really is. I'm blessed to be able to come out here and play golf. But if my golf ever started affecting my home life or it ever affected the relationship I have with my wife or with my son, that's going to be the last day that I play out here for a living. This is not the be all, end all. This is not the most important thing in my life.
And that's why I wrestle with why is this so important to me because I would much rather be a great father than I would be a great golfer. At the end of the day, that's what's more important to me.
But I think that's why I asked the question,
what is losing like for you?
It sucks.
I hate it.
I really do. But that's part of the competition. That is, and I think that's why we try to work so hard to not lose, but golf's a game where you just lose a lot more often than you win. I mean, that's just a simple part of it.
You know, in basketball or football, when there's only two guys out there, you can win a lot more than you lose. But I think I was looking at stats. It was one of the best tennis players. It might've been Federer or Djokovic or somebody.
They only won like 48% of their points or something like that. I mean, playing professional sports is a really weird thing to do. Like, it really is, just because we put in so much effort, we work so hard for something that's so fleeting. I mean, it really is. Like, the feeling of winning just doesn't last that long. You know, when I sit back at the end of the year and, you know,
I kind of try to reflect on things, like having that sense of accomplishment from winning the Masters Tournament, from winning the PGA Championship. I have a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation for it, but it's just hard to explain how it doesn't, it just doesn't satisfy, is how I would describe it. It's an unsatisfying venture. And so I guess what I'm trying to say is this is not the place to look for your satisfaction.
This is something that's where you can have a great appreciation for and a great amount of thankfulness for being able to do this. And it's, I mean, like I said, it's literally one of the most fun things that I can do in my entire life.
I love being able to come out here and play golf and compete. But at the end of the day, it's just not what satisfies me. I'm right here, Jamie, where are you?
You're right there. You could sit there and you could sit that chair if you want. Or you want to come in daddy's lap. He says, I want to go in daddy's lap. Jamie, good timing, by the way, but okay. You could sit right there.
Uh, here is a bit of a more explicit explanation of what does satisfy him.
I would say that, I mean, in the simplest of terms, we have a Creator. You know, God created the earth and he sent his Son to save us. I mean, the Lord covered our sins on the cross and victory was secured over death. We will live forever with Christ when we eventually pass on from this earth and Jesus saved us. He died and saved us from our sins. It's really just as simple as that.
So the victory is secure whether or not I win a golf tournament or never be able to play golf again. You know, my identity and victory secure, know that I'm going to spend eternity with Jesus.
You want me to go downstairs?
Okay.
Jamie, can I just make one last point here?
Okay.
Let me take one last point here. Someone posted on this video.
Hello.
So I'm posting on the video, uh, a quote, if you're not good enough without the gold medal, you're never going to be good enough with it. That is from John Candy in the film, Cool Runnings. It's not fulfilling, of course, none of this stuff is fulfilling because what we are all searching for is eternal meaning
and these earthly things will never give that eternal meaning. The only identity that you can have for eternity is in Christ. And I'll leave you with this because Jamie says, I need to go downstairs.
Second Corinthians 5.17, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is passed away. Behold, the new has come. Mike Slater dot locals dot com transcript commercial free on the website,
Mike Slater dot locals dot com. Jamie, come here, say hi. He's playing with the printer. Come here. Come say hi, you wonderful boy. Say hi to everybody.

 

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We Don't Want To Live Forever
Politics By Faith, July 21, 2025

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about heaven. With the recent tragedies—devastating floods in Texas, the passing of John MacArthur, and loved ones of friends reaching the end of their lives—it’s only natural to reflect on what comes next. In the midst of it all, I found a poem from the early 1800s that brought me peace and perspective about death. In this episode, I share that poem and explore why we’re not meant to live forever.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. I've been talking a lot about heaven lately and how awesome it's going to be. So I'll start it with the disaster in Texas, the tragedy in Texas. There's been a few people in my life who have another friend or family member who have passed away, all old age, and just the last couple of weeks here, old age where it's a relief for them

and everyone involved, and a celebration. John MacArthur passing away the other day, we're doing a TV special on him this week, so just heaven dying in heaven has been on my mind a lot lately.

I read a poem the other day

and I have nowhere else to put it. I have to tell people this poem. And I, I don't know, I don't want to spend, I kind of pushed the limits on what we do on SiriusXM as it is kind of outside of politics. So I don't know if I can just sit here and read a poem, maybe a little much, but I just want to put it here and I could put some politics into it.

I could also save it until we have another tragedy, but I haven't stopped thinking about it since I first read it and I just want to share it here because it is written by William Augustus Mullenberg. Should I give a little background to this first? So I bought this book, it was published in 1896 or something. It's called An American Anthology, and it's just poems.

It's thick, it's huge, it's like 1,000 pages, it's just a poem. So every day I've just been opening it up to a different one and this one is early in the book by a guy I've never heard of, William Augustus Mullenberg. He was born in 1796 in Philadelphia,

founder of St. Luke's Hospital in New York City, all according to Wikipedia. He's known as the father of church schools in America. The poem is called, I Would Not Live All Way. Let me read these first two lines and then I'll tell you what I did to make it make sense.

I would not live all way, live all way below. Oh no, I'll not linger when bidden to go. The days of our pilgrimage granted us here are enough for life's woes, full enough for its cheer. I had no idea what that meant. I would not live all way?

What does that mean? It means I don't want to live forever. So it's an old timey way of saying, I don't want to live forever. I don't want to live for always. I don't want to live all way.

No, no. I will not stay here when I'm called to go. The days of our pilgrimage granted us here are enough for life's woes, full enough for its cheer? Would I shrink from the path which the prophets of God, apostles and martyrs so joyfully trod? Like a spirit unblessed over the earth, would I roam while brethren and friends are all hastening home?

What am I?

I'm not going to go to heaven when I'm called to go to heaven. Are you kidding me? I'm just going to roam around here on earth forever? When everyone else is going home? Going home to heaven? No way, I'm out of here.

I would not live all way. I ask not to stay. Where storm after storm rises dark over the way. We're seeking for rest, we but hover around Like the patriarch's bird, and no resting is found. Where hope, when she paints her gay bow in the air,

Leaves its brilliance to fade in the night of despair, And joy's fleeting angel never sheds a glad ray, Save the beam of the plumage that bears him away. I would not live all way, thus fettered by sin, temptation without, and corruption within. Man, it's so good.

I don't wanna be here forever, held down by sin, temptation everywhere around me, corruption everywhere within me. In a moment of strength, if I ever sever the chain, scarce the victory is mine before I'm captive again. Oh, it's so good.

If I'm ever strong enough in a moment where I'm not held by sin, scarce the victory is mine before I'm captive again. Oh, I could fight against this sin for just a moment, but the victory is mine for just an instant before I'm captive again. Oh, I could fight against this sin for just a moment. But the victory is mine for just an instant before I'm captive to sin again.

Even the rapture of pardon is mingled with fears and the cup of thanksgiving with penitent tears. The festival trump calls for jubilant songs, but my spirit her own misery prolongs. I would not live all way. No, welcome the tomb.

Since Jesus hath lain there, I dread not its gloom. Why would you be afraid of dying? Where he deigned to sleep, I'll too bow my head, all peaceful to slumber on that hallowed bed. Then the glorious daybreak to follow that night, the orient gleam of the angels of light, with their clarion call for the sleepers to rise and chant forth their

matins away to the skies, singing, Who, who would live all way, away from his God? That's the best thing about heaven, see? Who would live all the way away from his God, away from yon heaven, that blissful abode, where the rivers of pleasure flow over the bright plains and the noontide of glory eternally reigns? Where the saints of all ages in harmony meet, their Savior and brethren transported to greet, while the songs of salvation exultingly roll,

and the smile of the Lord is the feast of the soul. Man, that makes me wanna go there so bad. That heavenly music, this is the last stanza, that heavenly music, what is it I hear? The notes of the harpers ring sweet in mine ear. And see, soft unfolding, those portals of gold, the king all arrayed in his beauty behold.

O give me, O give me the wings of a dove, to adore him, be near him, enwrapped with his love. I but wait for the summons. I list for the word. Hallelujah. Amen. Evermore with the Lord." Come on. How good is that? It's like, I don't want to live here forever. You know, there's that tech guy, that billionaire guy who's doing everything he can to try to live forever, eating just the precise amount of every particular food.

And he's monitoring every single aspect of his body that he possibly, he's worshiping the body. I mean, this is all ancient pagan stuff. Worshiping the self, worshiping the body. And here's someone with a proper perspective. It's like, no, I don't wanna be here.

This life, it's got enough woes. I'm ready to go to heaven. There's one way to get there. Acts 4.11, there is salvation in no one else besides Jesus. And there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

There's only one way. You have to believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, came down in the flesh to die for your sins, was killed on the cross and then resurrected on the third day. If you believe that, congratulations, that's it.

The five solas. Sola is alone. Grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, scripture alone, glory to God alone. And you will know that you are doing those things when this poem speaks to you in a powerful way, because this poem is the opposite of what this

world of what the world is trying to tell you. The world wants you to live for this world, for the moment, and this is all there is and all that matters. When the Bible tells you this is but a fleeting moment, eternity is what we need to set our eyes on. Mike Slater.locals.com,

transcript commercial free on the website. Again, the poem, if you want to read it yourself or share it or have it William Augustus Mullenberg, M-U-H-L-E-N-B-E-R-G William Augustus Mullenberg, I would not live all way. Mullenberg, I would not live all way. Mike Slater dot locals.com.

 

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