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.

There are many incredible things in Luke 2, but I feel like the army of angels that suddenly appear doesn't get enough attention. 

Hey, welcome to Politics by Faith, brought to you by the Patriot Gold Group. I want to share a Christmas-related story. Today I was reading this morning Luke's Gospel, his account of the birth of Jesus. There was one part in particular that stood out to me. First, you have the shepherds. We know about the shepherds, an unlikely source for angels to speak to about the birth of

Jesus. Jesus shepherding an old job. Adam had dominion over the animals. Abel was called a keeper of the sheep. Jacob, his sons, Moses, David, lots of shepherds in the Bible. The Lord is my shepherd, it says in Psalm 23. John 10, Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep. I know my own, they know me." So lots of

shepherding references from the very beginning. And shepherding was incredibly difficult work. Work that also kept the shepherds away from people and therefore away from power. They would be like the working class away from the elite. And the Pharisees looked down on them because they weren't as religiously pure as the Pharisees wanted them to be, because the sheep needed constant attention out in the fields far away.

So, why did God choose to make his announcement of the birth of Jesus to shepherds? I've heard lots of good reasons to stand out to me. One is to shame the wise, and God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing

things that are. So I like that answer. He did it to shame the religious leaders. Also, maybe a more basic answer is the gospel is for all people and announced the gospel to the shepherds, showing that the gospel is for everyone. That's a wonderful way of doing that. The angel said, do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. Okay, that's all very nice. Here's the next line that stands out to me.

Actually, there's one more before it. Here's what the angel says. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloth, lying in a manger. Here's the line that I've never heard before.

The next line, I've never thought about it before, never heard it. I've never seen it in a nativity scene or any Bible presentation of what was going on here. I'm sure you've noticed it before. I've never noticed it. So I wanted to highlight it here.

The next line, Luke 2. And suddenly there was with the angel, so right now you had one angel talking to the shepherds. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace goodwill toward men I love every time in the Bible when the heavens open up the sky parts and there's just angels everywhere like that it's crazy so just imagine

this scene it's different than what I've ever imagined you have this quiet dark night the shepherds are out doing their thing even just have that interrupted by an angel, and they fall to their knees, of course, because that's what you do when you see an angel. And then the angel says, you know, fear not. But so maybe when the shepherds kind of come to and they're like, oh, look, an angel. OK.

And they're like talking to the angel. But then to have suddenly a multitude of the heavenly hosts appear out of nowhere on top of just the angel the word host in Greek it means an army or a band of soldiers troops troops of angels angels everywhere I can't imagine it obviously but I do the best you can which is angels filling the sky and all of a sudden, they're just lit up with angels.

Amazing. First, it's just one, and then an army of angels singing, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. This reminds me a lot of the drones that have been seen over New Jersey. Now, that isn't it, we just talked about that on the radio today. It's the Politics by Faith podcast, so I've got to bring in some politics.

So I can check the box, okay, there's been drones reported, and no one knows what they are. There's your politics. It was a lot like seeing drones over New Jersey. I bet it was even bigger than that. I just love this idea that the angels had to share this. They burst forth. They couldn't contain their excitement.

And then contrast that with us today. Jesus, Christmas is coming up. Oh man, it's busy. Wow, I can't believe it's already here. Yeah, I guess we'll go to church. That's our reaction to it today. Let me read this from Spurgeon. He said,

So glad were angels at this gospel, that when the discourse was over, one angel, having evangelized and given out the gospel for the day, there suddenly appeared a band of choristers, and sang an anthem loud and sweet, that there might be a full service at the first propounding of the glad tidings of great joy. So the first reading of the gospel by the angels, Jesus born,

and all the angels had to sing at that very moment. A multitude of the heavenly host had heard that a chosen messenger had been sent to proclaim the new born king and filled with holy joy and adoration they gathered up their strength to pursue him for they could not let him go to earth alone on such an errand. They overtook him just as he had reached the last word of his discourse and then they broke forth in that famous chorus, the only one sung of angels,

that was ever heard by human ears here below. How about that? First time we've ever heard angels. Only time we've ever heard angels sing. Thus I say, they had a full service. There was a gospel ministry and rich discourse concerning Christ.

And there was hearty and devout praise from a multitude, all filled with heavenly joy. It was so glad a message that they could not let it be simply spoken by a solitary voice." I like that. All right, so what do we do? What do we do in response? Oh, this is very nice.

I've never noticed this. Every time I've read this, I've never noticed this one line with the multitude of hosts. Neat.

So what do we do?

Spurgeon says, brothers and sisters, if the birth of Jesus was so gladsome to our cousins, the angels, what should it be to us? If it made our neighbors, who had comparatively so small a share in it, sing, how should it make us leap for joy? If it brought heaven down to earth, should not our songs go up to heaven?

If heaven's gate of pearl was set open at its widest, and a stream of shining ones came running downward to the lower skies to anticipate the time when they shall all descend in solemn pomp at the glorious advent of the great king. If it emptied heaven for a while to make earth so glad, ought not our thoughts and praise, and all our love to go pouring up to the eternal gate, leaving earth a while, that we may crowd

heaven with the songs of mortal men? Yes verily, so let it be." So, I love this idea. If it is true that the angels burst forth, burst down, burst down to sing for us

that Jesus is born, the least we can do is sing back up to heaven our gratitude for the Savior.

MikeSlater.Locals.com. And watch out for those drones. I don't know what to do with the drones, to be honest. There's so much unknown there, I feel very uncomfortable with it. Because I don't know what to say, I don't know what to think, I don't know whatever. But I do know this.

I know what it says in Luke 2. It's true. MikeSlater.Locals.com. Transcript and commercial free on that website. Transcript and commercial free on that website. Mike Slater dot Locals dot com.