Our freedom of religion doesn't need to be extended to "Satanists". Let's not be ridiculous. Also, the greatest news in the world is found right on the piano.

Welcome to Politics by Faith, brought to you by the Patriot Gold Group. I'm sorry, I'm supposed to start, hello, hello. I'm not going to make that a thing, I promise. It is the day before I go on vacation, and I have very high hopes for doing this podcast over the next two weeks, and it probably won't happen, just being honest. But I'll try.

If we don't meet again until Christmas, Merry Christmas. And I would like to present to you here what I like to do every year on the radio. By the way, someone sent me a note. I did a statement on the radio. It wasn't even that religious. It was about, let's see, I'll find this guy's note.

Here it is. When did Breitbart News become a religious program? Did I miss the announcement? I don't know, sorry man. That's the way it goes. But it wasn't even a religious segment.

I did a quick short little segment on how Satanism is not a religion. Every year around this time of year there's always some Satan display at some local courthouse or something around the country. And there was one in, I think, New Hampshire, Vermont, whatever. And someone knocked it over. And the people who put it up are always like, oh, we need Satanism

because freedom of religion. And don't be ridiculous. Satanism is not a religion. It's not, it's not a religion. Right?

If you're an originalist, you go back to the words that were written and what the words meant when they were written by the people who wrote them. And you go to the Webster's Dictionary 1828, go online Webster's Dictionary 1828.com. Religion is a belief in the being and perfections of God. And you go back earlier, Samuel Johnson's 1768 Dictionary of the English Language. Religion is virtue as founded upon reverence of God. And the Britannica Dictionary 1730. Religion is a general habit of reverence towards the divine nature, by which we are both enabled

and inclined to worship and serve God. Religion is God, not Satan. That freedom of religion we have, as written by the people who wrote it, our founding fathers, was not referring to Satanism, and does not need to be extended to Satanists. Let's not be ridiculous. Okay? That's my argument. Stop being ridiculous. And don't let ridiculous people trick you. Like, oh, you got me. Oh, I guess we have

to have the Satan display next to the negativity. Oh, darn it. Oh, freedom of religion got me. I guess we got to let the Satanists be here. No, you don't. Okay. Satanism is by definition of the people who wrote it, not a religion. No way did our founding fathers seek to protect Satanism. So stop letting them make a mockery of that freedom of religion and of course of Christianity. It's not on par. Knock it off.

Stop entertaining these people. Anyway, so the guy wrote me, he's like, when did Breitbart become a religious thing? It's like, listen man, you want to solve the problems of this world? That's what I'm here to do.

There's only one way to do it. So anyway, we ended the show with my segment that I've done the last couple years on Christmas, and that is that the best news in the world can be found on the piano. I want to thank Igniter Media for this story.

That it's right there on the piano. I don't know how to play the piano. My kids are doing piano. It's an incredible skill. I don't know how people do it. I can't help my kids anymore with it

because they use two hands.

Grace the other day asked me to help her.

I was like, Grace, I don't, I don't know how to use the left hand. I don't even know what that note is. It's up to you now. You're on your own. I can't do it.

And I see people play with two hands without music. Like these unbelievable people. It's like, what do you do? How does your brain do that so I can't do it but no matter how good or bad you are at the piano the greatest news in the world is found right there and you know it it's a scale and you

can play it so you just start on C and you play all the white keys until you get to the next C and just the white keys you don't do now you know I was like I don't know what to see it okay so there's two black keys and three black keys and two and three. So find two, two black keys and go down to the left. And there's your C. I know that. So go C to C and you have yourself the best news in the world. Pretty good. Anyway, hold on. I don't, I didn't hear it. What's how's that the best news okay sorry my fault you gotta play it backwards

sorry it's C to C down the scale my my here here here there you go greatest news in the world you didn't hear it you play the right notes, but you have to put in the pauses. Alright, Slater, I told you I can't play the piano. I don't know, you don't have to be Mozart to hear the good news or play the good news. You have to play the pauses. First second, fourth, sixth, seventh.

One two four six seven. Play the pauses. And then you'll hear it. Simple scale. Down, C to C. Play the pauses.

1, 2, 4, 6, 7. And you have just discovered the greatest news in the world. You can play it yourself. You can know it yourself. Dare I say you already know it.

It's written on your heart. Just have to accept it. So next time you see a piano somewhere give it a go. Start at C, go down to C, and pause. 1, 2, 4, 6, and 7. And you will then hear the greatest news in the world. Joy to the world! The Lord has come.

Merry Christmas.

Now I should end the segment here.

And I normally do. On the radio when we do it, we end it right there.

It's called a hard out. You go out hard, boom, right there on that powerful note. And it's very nice. But it's a Christian podcast. So I'll just throw one little thing in there. This is my most snobbish Christmas carol take? And that is a joy to the world is not a Christmas

carol? Because the gentleman who wrote it, Mr. Watt, Isaac Watts, excuse me, Watts, he was writing about Psalm 98. And Psalm 98 is about Jesus's second coming. It's not about the birth of Jesus, it's about his second coming. Psalm 98 says, He cometh to judge the earth with righteousness he shall judge the world and the people with equity. So it's about the second coming, not the birth. So I'm not saying don't sing joy to the world this Christmas. In fact, I'm saying we should sing it every day.

Mike Slater dot locals dot com is the website transcript and commercial free on the website. Mike Slater dot locals. And we give you an email every day when it gets published and we send an email and everything before it gets everywhere else. before it gets everywhere else. Mike Slater dot locals dot com.

How could the Republicans propose such a pathetic continuing resolution bill? Because we are half-hearted, so this is what we get. We are satisfied with striking the ground three times when we need to strike it six.

Hello, hello. Welcome to Politics by Faith, brought to you by the Patriot Gold Group. I don't know why I started out like that. I've never started out like that before, but I already pressed record, so I guess here we go. We did a segment on SiriusXM Patriot the other day about the need for conservatives to have a revolutionary mindset.

Bloodless, of course, need that be said, but we need a mindset of a revolution, and the American people do not have it. By the way, you will hear my kids in the background. They're up very close to the wall, they're playing. We need a revolutionary mindset.

We had a beat Kamala mindset. We had a support Trump mindset, but we don't have a revolutionary mindset. Many people still just watch Fox News and every four years vote for president mindset and think that that's sufficient and that that's their civic duty. By the way, you should stop watching Fox News.

But if I just watch Fox and vote for president, I'm good. No, not even close. Not even close to the mindset we need to have. Got an email from John. I said, Slater, I think you're—one last thing about revolution. My argument is we've had a hundred years of a progressive revolution.

Little bits at a time. We've had a hundred years of one. So to undo it, we need a full revolution return, not just little bits. So here's John. He said, I think you're onto something important with your talk about the level of revolution that Republicans need.

We conservatives are by nature opposed to revolution, but our current government is so far separated from the government that we ought to have, that a drastic revolutionary change is the only way to get where we need to be. They have pushed us left bit by bit for decades, and now we are a revolution away from the system that we had. Think of revolution as a distance, right?

We're one complete distance away. We're a unit of measurement away. How far? A mile? Nope. Ten miles?

Nope. We're a revolution. That's how far away we are from where we need to be. We need to get as much done as we can in the time that we have to accomplish it. If we try to do incremental changes to repair the damage, we're essentially just affecting the slow suffocating, or accepting the slow suffocating death of our country and our culture.

We have to expect a lot more. We have to be less timid I'm reminded of the interaction between Elisha and King Jewish in second Kings yes John yes and he said the Lord's arrow of victory the arrow of victory over Syria

this is Elisha for you shall fight the Syrians until you have made an end of them and the King said excuse me Elisha said to Jehoash, the king of Israel, strike the ground with them. And he struck three times and stopped.

Then the man of God, Elisha, was angry with him, and said, You should have struck five or six times. Then you would have struck down Syria until you made an end of it. But now you will strike down Syria only three times." John finished his email saying, "'We can't just come in and take the arrows and strike the ground three times.

We have to execute our work with enthusiasm, passion, and gusto. No more half-hearted attempts at reform. No more half-heartedness. We need zeal. Zeal for a full revolution's worth of change. Now, I obviously need to take this as an opportunity to tell more of that story in 2 Kings that

John quoted. So this was around the time with all these kings of Israel who were terrible, and Jewish abandoned God, worshipped the idols in Israel, and a priest stood up, Zechariah, and said, Thus says God, said this to the king, Why do you break the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, He will forsake you. Wow, the guy stood up boldly, stood up boldly to speak to the king, rebuke the king.

What was his reward for speaking the truth. By command of the king they stoned him in the court of the house of the Lord. They killed him. Now this is even more evil what the king did when you know that it was this priest Zachariah, it was his father who protected Josh for years when he was a baby. So the backstory of this, the king died and that king's grandmother tried to kill everyone in the royal family to secure her power. So Joash, J-O-A-S-H, so Joash was hidden in the temple for six years by Zachariah's dad.

And then Joash was later named king and it was Zachariah who told Joash to not abandon God and Joash had him killed for it. So that's who we're talking about here with this king. So in 2 Kings, Elisha is dying and Jewish is upset about it. And Elisha says to shoot this arrow out the window in faith. And if you do, you'll defeat the Syrians.

Then strike the ground with the arrows. And he struck the ground three times as we just read, but Elijah was upset that he didn't keep striking the ground. And maybe it wasn't so much that he didn't keep striking it as much as what he did strike was a half-hearted strike. You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Syria until you had destroyed it.

But now you will strike Syria only three times, and the king ended up losing battles with Syria. with Syria, won three of them, but lost ultimately, as was foretold, and then his own officials assassinated him. That is how King Jewish died. So let's quote from Charles Spurgeon.

I will relate this to our lives, if not just politics. Charles Spurgeon said, If he will take those arrows, and will shoot five or six times, their great enemy will be broken in pieces, if he will be dilatory, hesitant, and will only shoot three times, he will get only a measure of victory, and poor Israel will ultimately have to suffer again from this enemy, who has only been scotched, not killed.

You do not know, dear friends, what responsibility lies upon you. You are the father of a family. What blessings may come to your household, or may be missed by your children through your conduct. To your mother you think yourselves obscured, yet your children's future will depend upon your teaching or non-teaching. Great events depend upon little matters, as large vessels hang upon small nails. So that's the first point, little things.

Like, I'm just hitting the ground with the arrow. How can that—no, no, great events depend on little matters. Spurgeon said, there are some who, having great opportunities, shoot only three times when they ought to shoot five or six. One of these matters is in warfare with the evil within. Some, as soon as they begin their Christian life, fit an arrow to the string and shoot

down big sins, such as swearing, or drunkenness, or open uncleanness. When they shoot these three times they seem to think that the other enemies within them may be tolerated. My brother, thou shouldest have shot five or six times. There remains a bad temper within you that must be conquered. There remains an unforgiving nature that must be slain. There are no going to heaven with that evil thing alive. Keep striking within. Isn't that great? Love that idea. Oh, I got the big ones done.

Like, no, no, no. That enemy is still there. Second point, why did the king stop? He stopped because he didn't have enough zeal. Spurgeon says he was not wide awake. He was not thoroughly aroused.

He did not care for the glory of God. If he could beat the Syrians three times, that would be quite enough for him. He thought that they would have enough of it, too, and so he laid down his bow and arrows. And the result? When Joash was shot, had shot three times, he paused, and therefore the blessing paused. Three times he shot, and three times God gave him victory. Do you see what you are doing by pausing? You

are stopping the conduit pipe by which the river of blessing will flow to you. Do not do that! To impoverish yourself must certainly be a needless operation. You will suffer in consequence, as the king did. For after the three victories, the rival power came to the front again. You will suffer in many ways, if you cease to draw daily supplies of grace from God,

or cease to shoot the arrows against sin.

So don't stop. Keep going.

Keep shooting the arrows, and the blessings will continue to come. Now if you need to be inspired to not stop and to keep going, maybe it'll help knowing that the enemy will never pause. They will be at it, the enemy, with all their might, seeking to do mischief against the kingdom for our Lord Jesus Christ. And there is the same choice for you that the Scotch captain put to his men.

Lads, he said, you see the enemy there? If you don't kill them, they will kill you. If you do not overthrow the powers of evil, the powers of evil will overthrow you." Again, we need to have the zeal for what is right. We don't have enough of it. In the political realm, we are King Joash, half-hearted, idolatrous, forgetting our calling and purpose,

betraying those who came before us and who have given us so much. I'll leave with this, too. Early in the revolution, or before the revolution, there were a lot of efforts by the colonists to compromise with the king. You do a search for Olive Branch petition. You'll find a petition from the colonists on July 8, 1775.

And the men who wrote it, they're just tripping over themselves to the king. To the king's most excellent majesty, most gracious sovereign, we your majesty's faithful subjects of the colonies, and list them all. And on behalf of ourselves and the inhabitants of these colonies who have deputed us to represent them in general Congress, entreat your Majesty's gracious attention to this, our humble petition. And it goes on and on like that.

The king never read it. But it was saying, hey, let's, can we get along, please, blessed king. And John Adams signed it, and Samuel Adams, and Ben Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson. It didn't work. Then it was time for revolution. Listen, this is from the Olive Branch petition.

We beg leave further to assure your majesty that notwithstanding the sufferings of your loyal colonists during the course of the present controversy, our breasts retain too tender a regard for the kingdom from which we derive our origin to request such a reconciliation as might in any manner be inconsistent with her dignity or her welfare, that your majesty may enjoy a long and prosperous reign, and that your descendants may govern your dominions with honour to themselves and happiness to their subjects, is our sincere and fervent

prayer. Signed, John Hancock." They tried, they begged, the King didn't care and it started a revolution. Dare I say we have tried to our Congress. They have ignored us. We can't put up with this mentality anymore. As Elon wrote, unless Doge ends the careers of deceitful pork barrel politicians, the waste and corruption will never stop.

Therefore, there's no choice but to do so. I wish there was another way, but there is not. That's what Elon Musk said. If you vote for this continuing resolution, then there will be a primary against you in two years. People say, we need term limits.

We have term limits. Your term is limited to two years and then you're up for re-election again. And if we had the zeal to keep fighting, then these people would never let their guard down and they would always vote on behalf of the people

who elected them. Know that. But this is a biblical podcast, so I will end on a personal point. I love what Spurgeon said about, yes, we need zeal for our country, but I'd rather have

the zeal for ourselves and the zeals for our sanctification and the zeal for fighting the sin that is within and around us at all times and never settle for good enough. Mike Slater dot locals dot com is the website. On the website, we have nothing other than this podcast with no commercials and a transcript. And we emailed to you a little bit before it comes out for everyone else. And we emailed to you a little bit before it comes out for everyone else. Mike Slater dot locals.com.

I was on Bill O'Reilly's show yesterday and he asked how San Diego went from such a conservative place to a wacky blue city: (San Diego is now SUPER sanctuary city). I have 5 reasons for how this happened, but then someone called in with the 6th and ultimate reason.

Welcome to Politics by Faith, brought to you by the Patriot Gold Group. Merry Christmas. Thank you for being here. On the Sirius XM show today, we talked about San Diego and the politics of California and San Diego declaring themselves a super sanctuary state. I was on Bill O'Reilly's TV show yesterday and he asked me questions about this, so we

talked about it in greater detail on the radio. Real quick, the super sanctuary. Back in 2017, Jerry Brown passed a sanctuary state law that said if you are an illegal alien who's arrested for a crime, we will not, and no law enforcement is allowed to, tell ICE that you're an illegal alien to come and get you and take you away. Cities, police officers, police departments are not allowed to cooperate with ICE. But in that original bill, they put a carve out that said, unless you break really super

serious crimes, in which case, yes, then we can tell ICE about you. Now the far left activists, ever since that passed in 2017, have always called that a loophole. So San Diego just voted to close the loophole. So now even if you're an illegal alien, even if you get arrested for rape, stalking, assault and battery, DUI, burglary and child abuse in San Diego, even for those crimes they will not notify ICE. That's the

super sanctuary law in California. So Bill O'Reilly was asking me about the changes that have happened in California over the years. He said, why? Why did California go from a red state to as wacky as they are right now, especially San Diego? And I gave a couple of reasons.

I gave, well, I didn't give, I only gave like two or three, but on the radio, I expanded it to six. And I didn't realize this, but I put them in sort of a ascending order from small to like big. I don't even know how to put it. Maybe like specific to general.

The first reason why San Diego is now so blue, by the way, when I moved there 12 years ago, it was a five to four Republican city council, largest Republican city council in the country. The mayor was Republican, largest city in the country, the Republican mayor. The county board of supervisors was five nothing. Now it's nine nothing Democrat city council, wacky Democrat mayor, and even the board of supervisors who just voted on that illegal immigration thing, they're three

to two Democrat, but really it's gonna be four to one here pretty soon. Okay, so lost cause and it's over. Why did this happen? First reason, in the 80s and 90s the aerospace industry left San Diego, took a lot of conservatives with it. Second, San Diego has always been a military town, Pendleton and Miramar and all the rest. But because housing is so expensive, there's no military legacy like San Diego used to have

because all the veterans left. So in the past, you would serve at Pendleton and then you'd live in San Diego the rest of your life because it's awesome. But now, you can't, you're out, you leave. So the influence of the military

and being conservative in the military isn't as profound as it used to be decades ago. Third reason, people moving from San Francisco and LA, moving to San Diego because it's so much nicer than those awful places. Fourth, San Diego, California, San Diego has attracted

a certain type of immigrant, legal or illegal. There's been some analysis done that in Texas, they attract a more entrepreneurial-minded or more conservative worldview immigrant, and California attracts the opposite of that. Over a third of Californians are on the dole in some way, including illegal aliens getting

access to $150,000 for a down payment on a house, a bill that passed the state assembly and the state senate. So that's going to attract a certain type of in-person. Then it goes up bigger. I talked about the Curley effect. The Curley effect is named after James Curley, who was the mayor of Boston,

four-time mayor of Boston in the early 1900s, and his stated goal through policy and rhetoric was to kick out his opponents, kick them out of the city, like make things so oppressive for them that they just leave.

And a normal person looks at that and they're like, well, what do you mean? Like, why would a mayor do things that hurt people that make them move? That's not good. Well, you're a normal person.

James Curley wanted power. And if you want power, one way to keep it is to kick out all your would-be opponents. Get out, make them leave, and say good riddance. It's called the Curley effect. I think there's a lot of that in California.

I think when a business or conservatives move out of California, I think Gavin Newsom and a lot of these Democrats say, good, see ya. One less vote against me in the next election. Then we want to step bigger, because I like to think of not only the practical reasons,

but the psychological reasons behind why people do certain things. These people are, well, they're Marxists, and they are subscribers to a woke religion. Peter Boghossian made a really nice chart of this that I put on my Twitter, Slater Radio on Twitter.

It's all the top progressive issues that fall under the woke religion, racism, climate change, drugs, mental illness, transgender, all this stuff, and broke each one of those topics down into their different aspects of a woke religion.

So each of these topics has an original sin, a devil, myths, sacred victims, the elect, supernatural beliefs, taboo facts, taboo speech, and purifying rituals. And it's this beautiful chart, you can find it on Slator Radio and Twitter, you should check it out. So I'll do it real quick, we'll go over crime. So crime is an

issue, or it's a topic, and the original sin of crime is private property and capitalism. That's what's to blame for crime, private property and capitalism. Not people, obviously. If you believe in the woke religion, then this is what you must believe, that the cause, the original sin of crime is private property and capitalism. The devil is the police, prison guards, and capitalists. The religion's myths are that crime is not increasing in cities, police forces

descended from slave patrols, black people or police killed unarmed black men, and you should be scared to go outside. The sacred victims are incarcerated people, black people, and criminals. They can do no wrong. Throw in wrong, throw in there illegal aliens. The illegal alien is a sacred victim in the woke religion. If you are a member of the woke religion, the illegal alien can do no wrong, even if

they're an illegal alien and rape someone. That's how insane these people are. The elect are the woke politicians, the progressive DAs, Black Lives Matter, people like that, they are the woke elect. They view themselves as the upper echelon of the religious hierarchy. And the purifying ritual of this woke religion is to defund the police, abolish the police, de-incarceration, decriminalize theft, and sanctuary cities.

So there's a psychological, almost theological analysis that we provided as well to sanctuary cities.

Those are my five points.

And you see, we're starting with the aerospace industry and then we go all the way up to woke religion to explain why this is happening in certain places. And then someone called in, a gentleman from Georgia, I believe Steven from Georgia, and he said, Slater, great points, good job,

but don't forget about demonic influence.

And yes, demonic influence, manipulating people, driving people towards wickedness.

And I'm so grateful for that call and for that point being made. We did an episode just the other day, I think it was our most recent one, about the birth of Jesus and how the heavens opened up and an army of angels sang to the shepherds. An incredible scene.

This unseen world is around us all the time. And demonic influence is around us all the time. John MacArthur said, there are these two mighty fortresses working in the unseen world, spiritual spheres. And all of us are on one side or the other. We're either a companion of God or a companion to Satan. We are either those who take part with the holy angels in the enterprise of the advance of God's kingdom, or we are engaged with demons and the expansion of the power of Satan.

There's no in-between. You're on one or the other. If you're not a companion to God, then you are working for the enemy, for Satan. MacArthur says, to doubt this reality is the most momentous mistake that a person can ever make. It has eternal consequences. Now, this gets kind of like, woo-woo, you either believe in the spiritual realm or you don't.

And it's an exact parallel to you either believe in the Bible or you don't. And I believe in the Bible, which is why we need to be on the lookout from every direction. First Peter 5.8 says, Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him. Firm in your faith.

You must resist. You must be sober-minded, watchful, because the devil is prowling like a lion seeking to devour you. And now if you go back to what MacArthur said, that you're either a companion to God or a companion to Satan, people are like, well no, I'm not a companion to Satan. Well, if you're not one to God, then you are to Satan, because all Satan needs is for you to not be a companion to God, he wins. Satan wins. C.S. Lewis wrote in, um, screw tape letters.

So you gotta read it. But the demon is writing a letter to his nephew. And the demon says, they will say, excuse me, you will say that these are small sins. And doubtless like all young tempters, you're anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the enemy. In this case, the enemy is God.

From the demon's perspective, the enemy is God. It does not matter how small the sins are, providing their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the light and out into the nothing. Murder is no better than cards, if cards can do the trick. Indeed, the safest road to hell is the gradual one, the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.

We need to be aware if we're a companion to God or not. Many times we don't even know, we can't even know. That's the trick. That's Satan's workings. Most of us, myself included, of course, don't even realize when we're being pushed and pulled and manipulated in unrighteous directions.

We need to actively fight against it. I love this scripture. This is the main scripture I want to throw to you today. Yet even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning, and check this line out, and rend your hearts and not your garments.

One of the ways they used to show remorse and emotion back in the day was to rip your clothes. And here is God saying, no, no, tear your hearts, or rend your hearts, like the Webster's original dictionary definition. Rend means to separate any substance into parts with force or sudden violence. To tear asunder, to split.

As powder rends a rock in blasting, lightning rends an oak. To rend the heart in scripture means to have bitter sorrow for sin. Joel 2.13. The original dictionary, I love this reality, what our culture used to be. The original dictionary in 1828, every single opportunity they could, their example was a biblical reference.

And their biblical reference, the word rend, is exactly what we're talking about. Joel 2.13. Rend your hearts, not your garments. So this coming up on Christmas and any day of the year, doesn't matter, let's watch out for the rulers and authorities and powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces

in the heavenly realms. The spiritual forces are evil in the heavenly realms. Watch out for them. And let us do the thing that they don't want us to do the most. And that is to rend our hearts and repent of our sins and be sure that we are a companion And that is to rend our hearts and repent of our sins and be sure that we are a companion to God and no one else.