Daniel Penny NOT GUILTY

MikeSlater

Politics • Spirituality/Belief • Culture

Politics By Faith, December 10, 2024

December 10, 2024

Many people on the left are blaming Jordan Neely's death on "the failures of the social safety net". No, that's not it. People on the right are blaming Neely for the bad decisions he has made in his life. Okay, sure. But...I think the most blame goes even before that.

Welcome to Politics by Faith, brought to you by the Patriot Gold Group. Thanks for being here. Today was a very interesting show on SiriusXM Patriot. I don't know if it worked at all. It took me a while to talk out loud for a bit and refine my thoughts. So if you were a part of it today on SiriusXM, thank you for going on the journey.

The very short of it is Daniel Penny, if you've been following the story. Daniel Penny and Jordan Neely on the New York City subway. Well, praise God, Daniel Penny found not guilty. That's a wonderful thing. We need more Daniel Pennys in our country. I want to be more like Daniel Penny. I pray we have more Daniel Pennys. So that's thought number Then, we talked about Jordan Neely. Now we have two things that tend to get talked about here.

So if you're on the left and you want to talk about Jordan Neely, they freak out about how the system failed and there's no social safety nets for the Jordan Neelys out there. And I would argue that that's not true. Jordan Neely, when he punched a 67-year-old woman on the sidewalk for no reason, if there's ever a good reason, but for no reason, randomly, he was given a safe place to stay and treatment for his addictions,

etc. and mental health problems. He didn't take it. So I don't know how much more social safety net one needs. It's the progressive worldview is that all good things come from government. So if something is broken, it means there's not enough government or there wasn't enough government. So here we have what Jordan Neely did and who he was and who he became and how he was acting and it's broken and the problem is not

enough social safety nets. Like no, that's not it. And then you have conservatives who blame him. He's been arrested 42 times or whatever it was and and it's his fault, and so I'm looking at it and I blame the parents. Now we got a couple of things on the table here. First thing to reiterate, Daniel Penney, all good. We need more Daniel Penneys. done. Second thought, I totally believe in personal agency always. I have to

believe that. I must believe in that. That must be true. And obviously in the end of the day, at the end of the day, only that person is responsible for the actions or the decisions etc. etc. Yes, that is true. Third point, Jordan Neely really had no chance. Because of the decisions made by the people around him, specifically his parents. We told the full of the story on the show this morning,

I'll do the very short of it. New York Magazine wrote a whole article about him. You have his mom, Christy Neely, met his dad, Andrew Zachary, who by the way, is doing this whole, I love my son so much routine because he sees major dollar signs.

They met at a club. He was a member of an R&B group. They had sex, she got pregnant, and Jordan was born. And he actually, he was a member of an R&B group, and they actually got a song that was on the charts for 20 weeks back in 1995.

And he got some money from it, and he blew it all, and he slept around. So, he left, Jordan had no dad. He was about two years old. He had no role model. His mom was doing the best she could.

She was a telemarketer in Manhattan. They lived in shelters for a while in New York City, but mom wanted a place of their own.

So she took classes to become a paralegal.

And in the class she sat next to this guy. Started dating. She saved enough money, could rent an apartment in New Jersey. And she invited the man to come live with her. This guy's name was Sutherland. Kept a padlock on the door, the bedroom door.

So Jordan, as a young boy, could not enter the room. Weird. Super jealous guy, would call his girlfriend, Jordan's mom, 10 times every hour if she was out with her mom, right, that kind of guy. And one day, his mom always woke him up every morning before school.

And one day, mom didn't wake him up. He was 14 years old. So he got ready on his own and went into the bedroom to say goodbye, but Sutherland, the boyfriend, blocked the door closed. Okay, so he goes off to school, comes home.

No one's home. So Sutherland says, oh, my aunt died, I left to the funeral. For days, he didn't know where his mom was. And he didn't tell anyone.

He's 14 years old.

So finally, he calls her work. And her colleagues were wondering where she was too. And Jordan told the co-worker, I don't know what to do, it's cold, the mail keeps coming in, the heat went off. One of mom's rules for Jordan was you can't cook by yourself and over all those days he never cooked any food because he expected mom to come home at any minute and he didn't want to get in

trouble. He finally got on his bike and he rode to a family friend's house. They filed a missing persons report. They got the boyfriend on the phone. He said she went on vacation. And Jordan's like, no, that's not what happened. While they're on the phone with the guy, they had the TV on. And the reporter on the TV said that a woman's body had been found

in a duffel bag in the Bronx. And the corpse is decomposed, and they don't know who it is. And on the news, they put a picture of her belt and a turquoise ring. And Jordan knew immediately that that was his mom. 14 years old and the boyfriend was the murderer. So that's some trauma. Where's the boy gonna go live with his dad? Nope. When he was 16 he started doing this Michael Jackson

impersonating on the subway. When he was 18 he went to go live with his dad, but his dad was, I mean, I wasn't there. I don't know, I can't judge it, but it didn't work. So, that was it, out in the streets. Now, who's to blame?

Who do you blame?

In no particular order, I blame the dad for being a deadbeat, sleeping around, and not wanting to raise his child. I blame the mom for making bad decisions. Now real quick, every time I mention a deadbeat dad on SiriusXM, it's very interesting, a bunch of dads call in, and this is true, there's truth to this.

Hey Slater, don't be so hard on dads, it's not always the dads, oftentimes it's the mom who kicks the dad out, maybe it's the mom who goes crazy. And the dad wants to be a part of the son's life, but it's the mom, fair enough. I don't think that's the situation here, but fair enough.

That can happen too. I do blame this mom for making bad mating decisions. We don't talk about that in our country. That's what I really want to talk about here. We don't talk about mating decisions. I don't know a better way to put it.

We don't talk enough about who people sleep with. And then of course you got to blame the murderer. But why are you bringing in this guy? Well it's because the dad left. That's the fault of the dad for leaving the mother and child in the first place and a woman is going to want to bring someone in to provide and make bad decisions all around. and some people are blaming Jordan Neely for his bad choices.

I want to go a little bit further back and I want to blame mom and dad for having sex out of wedlock in the beginning and for not making a family and not providing for a family. That to me seems like the nexus of the whole thing that no one's paying attention to. As we often say, Henry David Thoreau, there's thousands hacking at the branches of evil

to every one who strikes the root. So we're talking about this on the radio today. My whole point, I just want us to do better at helping our kids make better decisions on what to look for in a spouse and who you mate with, who you have children with.

And we had these calls and there was like a moment when I was like, I don't know what to teach our kids. I don't know what we should be telling our kids, but it ain't working now. And I was in this free-fall state. A guy called in and he goes on and quotes God's word.

And you're like, oh, yeah, that's the answer, obviously. Thank you, thank you very much. I was in free fall for a moment there. It was perfect timing yesterday. The two boys were in jujitsu class. It's an hour, so I got me, the two year old boy,

and Grace, who's six. And Grace likes to play, it's good, me and Grace time. And we came up with a game, pin the tail on the donkey. So we're in this long hallway with a waiting room in it, and I put a blanket, or a jacket over her head, and spin her around a bunch of times

and she has to try to find this sign that's on the wall. There's a sign that says, I don't know what it says, like no smoking, I don't know what it says. It has Braille on it. So she has to find the sign without, right, after I spin her around. And it was super fun, we had a great time. And that's what I was like.

I was like spinning, out of control, didn't know where I was pitch black grasping for an answer of I don't know what we should look for and that's all of us too that's like our culture that's our society today we're like where am I what do I do who do I marry who do I have who do I have kids with you and that's it like how's it going not well and when this guy because caller quoted the Bible it was just like taking the blindfold off. You're like, oh, here I am.

And this is what I should do. We need a more intentional conversation in our culture about what we should look for in a spouse. I say, let's do descending order. How we should treat each other in a marriage. Before that, how to find the right person to marry.

There's no conversation about that. And then the world would say, well, before that, it should be, you know, who do you want to sleep with? It's like, oh, we're out of order here. I should be able to marry that, then the sleeping and having kids and then having a proper marriage. So we're all out of order. We're all out of whack.

So first order of business, we have to change our culture about sleeping with people out of wedlock. And it's got to change. And it can. It really, genuinely can. Obviously some people still will. But we need to stop treating it as a norm or celebrating it.

No. We need to stop with this cultural expectation that you should just have sex. And potentially have kids out of wedlock. It's not good. And if you make a claim like this on the radio, someone's gonna call and be like,

well I have two kids out of wedlock and they're fine. Are they?

And it's really difficult to talk about any of this stuff

because people get very defensive or people get full of regret for things that have happened in their life. And it's okay, fine. Get over it. We gotta focus on the next generation.

Let's focus on the next generation and help them make better decisions. Okay, so we're done with the premarital sex. Great. But then said, who should I marry? What should I look for in a spouse? We're not intentional about it. Okay, so what do you want me to do? Well, let's go to the Bible. It's all there. The gentleman who called in with

the God's word, he said, the Bible says, don't be unequally yoked. Like, oh, yeah, that's it. That wooden bar between two oxen. If one is stronger, one oxen is shorter, or whatever, it won't work. The ox is going to pull in circles. You're not going to go straight. You're not going to complete the task.

That's what the Bible says. Don't be unequally yoked. Okay, so what should you look for in a spouse? Well, fear of the Lord. Your spouse, number two, your spouse should be honest, trustworthy. Trustworthy.

Proverbs 31, we just go through Proverbs 31, the heart of her husband trusts in her. Number three, she should be someone who's helpful, builds you up. Verse 12 says, she does him good, not harm, all the days of her life.

You should look for someone who loves God, fears the Lord. Number two, honest. Number three, supports, builds up. Number four, hardworking. Proverbs 31 says she seeks wool and flax, works with her willing hands. She's like the ships of the merchant. She brings food from afar. She rises while it's yet night and

provides food for, right? Number, so hard worker. Number five, somebody who's generous and hospitable. Sticking in Proverbs 31, she opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. Number six, you want to look for someone who loves wisdom. Verse 26 says, she opens her mouth with wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

Number seven, you want someone, my favorite, in verse 25, my favorite part of Proverbs 31 is verse 25, she laughs at the time to come. Trust Jesus. Someone who trusts Jesus. Number eight, someone with self-control. Proverbs 23 20 says, do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat for drunkards and gluttons become poor and drowsiness or laziness clothes them in rags. So get someone with self-control. That's not

just a hard worker. That's right. That's one of the other ones we listed here. But someone with self-control. If you lose, if you lack your self-control, then you will become poor and you will be in rags. And number nine, someone who is patient. James 1, So then my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

So those are nine things that I think we should be telling our kids from a young age, I don't know, 14, this is what you should be looking for in your future spouse. Put it in there pretty young, I don't know when the right age is. You want to be looking for a spouse that you're going to spend the rest of your life with. Someone who's a hard worker someone generous and hospitable

someone who loves wisdom Someone who trusts Jesus laughs at time to come that's good perspective Friends of ours put it someone who's in on the joke Like they get they get life they understand life Number eight is someone who has self-control. And number nine is someone who's patient.

Those are nine really good values, aren't they? Do we tell our kids about those nine?

I just came up with those nine.

I didn't spend an hour on this. I just looked up the Bible real quickly.

That's all there is there.

I'm sure there's more.

Can we be intentional about this? So I'm thinking, well, what do we tell our kids now about who to look for in a mate? And we had a guy call in and he said, well, today, you know, it's all about what clicks. Do we click? Isn't that an interesting word that we've come up with?

Oh, we click. And the guy's like, well, this is no good, this caller, because he says, you often seek what you grew up. So if you grew up in dysfunction, you're going to seek that same dysfunction because it's comfortable in a perverted way.

So you find someone who's equally dysfunctional and the person says, well, we click. Okay, that doesn't mean it's good. Click doesn't mean good. So we have to do better than that. We have to get rid of that term entirely.

Oh, we just click. Like, no. So, alright, so what are we basing our decisions off of now? I guess looks. But the Bible speaks to that too. Proverbs 11, 22, like a gold ring, oh that's nice, a gold ring. In a pig's snout is a beautiful woman without discretion.

A gold ring, oh that's nice, and a pig snout. So if you focus on a woman's physical beauty, you can often miss her lack of character. That would be the ugly pig. Proverbs 12, you would never marry an ugly pig. The pig, you get it, the gold ring is the beauty on the outside and the pig is the woman's character.

Man's too, we'll apply it equally. You don't want to marry the pig. Proverbs 12.4 A wife of noble character is her husband's crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones. Proverbs 31.3

Charm is deceptive, beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. I read this. Outer beauty is often what initially attracts a man to a woman, but it can also trap him. Instead of obtaining a wife who is a crowning jewel to be highly praised, the man who selects a beautiful woman who

lacks discretion gains a frivolous and sensible companion who will make him look like a fool. My point of this Giordanile segment is we need to be more intentional about this in our churches. So I don't know what this means to you as a parent, and someone wrote me an email that says parenting doesn't end when the kids turn 18 But there's still a lot of life decisions to be made and there's maybe this cultural push it like you're 18 You're out of the house. You're on your own and I raised you and now you make decisions, but it's like oh

I don't know. Maybe your daughter's 22 and needs some helps. I could still be guided well, right? So we need to kind of fight back against that cultural thing too, but so as a parent What can you do with this stuff and also someone in your church what can you bring into the church what can you encourage the leaders of the church to do to speak more to this into kids with its youth ministry or whatever because we have to be more intentional about this we just have to be we can't wing it

anymore so what should you look for in a spouse and then a challenge for men and women is to be that person that people should be looking for. Again, there are thousands hacking at the branches of evil to everyone who strikes the root. People are talking about lack of city services, like, hmm, that's not it. Well, he just, you know, Jordan nearly made bad choices. Okay, fine. Let's keep digging. It's all about the family, and I would like to prevent almost every social problem in our country

is caused by broken families. So I'd like to really get to the root of these social problems and encourage everyone to make better decisions before families are even made. Think of what heartache can be avoided and what godliness can be gained. I hope that's helpful.

I hope that's something.

I'm still talking this through. If you have any insight you can give me on this would be very much appreciated. My personal email is slaterradio at gmail.com, slaterradio at gmail.com. Or if you're on the website, mikeslater.locals.com, of course you can leave a comment

there, mikeslater.locals.com. there, mikeslater.locals.com. Transcripted commercial free, mikeslater.locals.com.

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Talarico, The Late Show, and Wicked Liars

Politics By Faith, February 18, 2026

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 .

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Mike Slater@slaterradio

February 16, 2026

Marco Rubio's "Christian Heritage" Speech In Europe

Politics By Faith, February 16, 2026

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.

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Mike Slater@slaterradio

February 13, 2026

James Van Der Beek and Going All The Way

Politics By Faith, February 13, 2026

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 .

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