Your Chriamas service might mention Isaiah 9, calling Jesus the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. That's great, but I have never heard the REST of Isaiah 9 quoted. 

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. Quick, before we get to the main portion of today's podcast, I want to mention the Michigan football coach. Still lots of rumors going around. Don't exactly know what happened, but it seems to be a mistress of sorts on the staff, a young woman on staff. He's married. 

He has three kids. He was taken into custody by police in Michigan. A lot of holes to fill in the story, but apparently he was fired. And then he went to this young woman's house with a knife and threatened either to kill her or himself, both, and then she called police and they took him in and he's in protective custody right now. Daryl Harrison, he said, as a pastor friend of mine once said, sin makes you stupid. Adultery is never worth what it will surely cost you in the end. 

Proverbs 5 says, my son, be attentive to my wisdom, incline your ear to my understanding. that you may keep discretion and your lips may guard knowledge, for the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil. But in the end, she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two -edged sword. Her feet go down to death. Her steps follow the path to Sheol. She does not ponder the path of life. 

Her ways wander, and she does not know it. " Harrison said, Sharone Moore, the head coach of Michigan football, is finding that out in real time. Pray for him, his wife, his children, the alleged adulteress, and everyone involved, the situation is as ugly as the sin that caused it. Someone else posted the line, sin will take you farther than you want to go, cost you more than you want to pay and keep you longer than you want to stay. It's amazing that someone can have it all. 

Wife, kids, tons of money, fame, power. You had it all. So you thought. So the world told you, but it wasn't enough. So you sought more. 

Blew it all up. 

Parable. Actually ties in nicely to the ending of Isaiah 9. If you go to a church service coming up here and it's Christmas themed, Isaiah 9, the beginning of Isaiah 9 might come up. This often quoted around Christmas sermon or scripture says, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Now, if that's all you read out of Isaiah, you might think Isaiah is pretty nice, pretty good little book in the Bible. Alas, if you read all the chapters leading up to that, it's as heavy and dark as could possibly be. 

Praise God that there is this not only a glimmer of hope, but the brightest blinding light of hope that you could ever imagine. But it is this bright because it is amidst the darkness that is the first at least 10 chapters of Isaiah. Let me just quote a couple quick points of Isaiah or moments in Isaiah 1 through 10. I just picked like four random ones. A sinful nation of people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly. The audience, We'll go on. 

Instead of perfume, there will be rottenness. Instead of a belt, a rope. Instead of a well -sealed... baldness. Instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth. And branding instead of beauty. 

Your men shall fall by the sword and your mighty men in battle. And our gate shall lament and mourn. Empty, she shall sit on the ground. Later on, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will be as rottenness and their blossom go up like dust. For they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them. 

And the mountains quaked, and their corpses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still. " Later on in that day, every place where there used to be a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver will become briars and thorn. And then the line right before Isaiah 9, what we call Isaiah 9, they will look to the earth, but behold distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they will be thrust into thick darkness. But now we have Isaiah 9, but the gloom will not be upon her who's distressed. As when at first he lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, we'll get to those in a second, and afterward more heavily oppressed her by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan and Galilee of the Gentiles, The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. 

Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. Let's jump over to Matthew verse 15. Jesus was just baptized. He was immediately tempted by the devil. And the very next section, often titled Jesus Begins His Journey. verse 12, now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee, and leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, of all places, so that when was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled, and he quotes, the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, Isaiah was written about 700 years before Jesus was born. 

Here's what I love about this. Neptali and Zebulun, it was as dark and hopeless as you can imagine, called out in Isaiah as being the darkest of the dark lands. But then Jesus, in the very beginning of his ministry, went to this place. And said what? Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The people in this region were the first to feel the wrath of the Assyrian invasion on them. 

And they were the first to see the light of the Messiah during his ministry. Now, if I may, a Christmas sermon might stop at the beginning of Isaiah 9 with a very nice sounding Prince of Peace. But if you keep reading, here's how it goes on. The Israelites, unrepentant Israelites. who say in pride and arrogance of heart, the bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild. The sycamores are cut down, but we'll replace them with cedars. 

Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of resin against him and spur his enemies on. The Syrians before and the Philistines behind, and they shall devour Israel with an open mouth. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. " This is straight after the old Prince of Peace talk. So the Israelites, ah, who needs God? Oh, fine, sure, maybe an enemy will come and knock us down a little bit, but we'll just rebuild, no big deal. They still refused to humble themselves. John Calvin wrote this over 300 years ago. He said, how many are the distresses with which Europe has been afflicted for 30 or 40 years? How many are the chastisements by which she has been called to repentance? Say the same about America today, right? And yet it does not appear that those numerous chastisements have done any good. On the contrary, luxury increases every day. Lawless passions are inflamed and men go on in crimes and profligacy more shamelessly than ever. What then? shall we expect, but to be bruised with heavier blows." More affliction on our nation doesn't necessarily cause people to repent, could cause people to sin even more. So my goodness, what's the way out? 

There's only one way out, being born again. And only Jesus can give us the new heart. This is the Christian singer Jelly Roll. It's Jelly Roll's real name. I don't like using stage names. I think it's silly. 

Jason DeFord. It says Jason DeFord. Right when he walked on the Joe Rogan set, Joe Rogan says, you're a totally new human being, man. 

And here's how Jason takes it. 

You're a totally new human being. It is, man. You know what's crazy? I don't want to get super spiritual out the gate, but I will, because I think God wants me to right now, because you're saying that. There's a scripture in the Bible that says, in Christ, all things are a new creation, which I thought was interesting, because it didn't talk about restoring the old. It says that in God, we are a completely new creation. 

You know what I mean? So like I was looking at it at first, like I'm restoring my heart. But then when you're saying that, I'm like, no, I didn't restore my heart. I got a whole new heart. 

This is a brand new heart, Joe. 

You know what I mean? Yeah, it might be cloaked as the old one, but God touched it. 

It's a whole new heart, baby. All I can end with is what Jesus told us to do when he was in the land of Zebulun in the land of Naphtali. Repent, repent, repent, and he will give you a new heart. Merry Christmas. Mike Slater dot Locals dot com. Transcript commercial free on the website. Mike Slater dot Locals dot com.

Media today doesn’t just blur facts—it distorts morality. From a young age, children are told that good and evil are relative, even reversed. Another “kids’ movie” came out teaching that villains are the heroes. In a world bent on confusion, our goal is to find moral clarity.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks so much for being here. Got a little sneak peek on something we're going to talk on the SiriusXM show tomorrow. There's a new movie coming out. It's called Steps, a new animated film for children that follows Cinderella's evil stepsisters who are actually depicted as kind and misunderstood. Starring Ali Wong and Stephanie Hsu as the stepsisters releasing in 2026 on Netflix. 

So what's happening here? It's same as always. pretty much every aspect of our culture, and specifically entertainment for kids, stories, movies, et cetera. It's a moral inversion. The bad guys are actually the good guys. Or the bad guys, they're just victims of trauma from their childhood, or they're really just misunderstood. 

We see this in real life, too. We see this in the criminal justice system. Oh, that murderer, he just had a tough job. There are two 15 -year -olds from Afghanistan in Germany, no, London. who assaulted, in case there's kids listening, a young girl in a park in England. And the claim was, well, actually, let me, I don't think I'm making it up. 

There we go. I could pause right here, but I'm not. I keep forgetting this is a podcast. I'm recording this, not live radio. Here we go. During the trial, the defense attempted to excuse the rape of the 15 -year -old girl by citing, quote, cultural differences and the supposed trauma experienced by the rapist while growing up in their native Afghanistan. 

The lawyer told the court that his client is quote, not used to a society where women are free. and deemed equal to men. He's not used to a society where alcohol is freely available. He's morally at sea. There are massive cultural barriers that have become massive moral barriers. Fortunately, the judge said nice try, although many other judges have agreed with that. 

We see it in movies here, too. Oh, well, who's really the bad guy? You think that's the bad guy, but they're actually the good guy. I haven't seen Wicked because it looks awful and the stars of the movie just look awful. Like the wokest people imaginable, so I'm out. But I looked up the plot. 

It says here, a central point of Wicked is that the Wicked Witch of the West is profoundly misunderstood due to prejudice, propaganda, and her green skin, which leads to her being scapegoated as evil by her advocacy for the oppressed. The story reimagines her as a smart, fiery outcast who faces lifelong bullying and discrimination, challenging simplistic good versus evil narratives. Born different, the witch seeks acceptance while boldly opposing injustice. like the silencing of talking animals, earning her the Wicked label from the wizard's manipulative regime. The wizard brands her wicked to unify Oz against a common enemy using propaganda to control the populace. Devil, Deville, was bullied as a child and her mother died because she was pushed out of a window by a Dalmatian. 

That's why she hates Dalmatians. So who is the bad guy? The left just wants, the devil, wants to create moral confusion. I'm in the business of moral clarity. All right, that's the news. Let's bring it to the Bible. 

On the radio tomorrow, I'm going to go in a different direction. Here, we're going to thump the Bible. The other day, I decided to go through Isaiah because Isaiah 9, it is said, prophesies Jesus. But I want to know what's going on in 1 through 8. So here's the background. 

I'm just going to go through Isaiah 1 and a little bit of 2. Isaiah is a prophet. This is a period of Israel's history. It's from 2 Kings 15 through 21 and 2 Chronicles 26 through 33. It's all historically accurate. By this point, Israel had been in the promised land for 700 years. 

And it would be about another 700 years until Jesus came to earth, Emmanuel. Up until the time of Isaiah, the kingdom of Israel, the northern 10 tribes had 18 kings, all of them bad. The kingdom of Judah had 11 kings before Isaiah's ministry, some good, some bad. They were also surrounded by Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon. So I want to read some of the parts of Isaiah 1 here, and you can see, you can decide if you think there's moral confusion here from God, or if he's pretty clear. Quote, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. 

The ox knows its owner, the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not consider. So the people of Israel are dumber than dumb animals. Even the animals know their owner, but we're so clueless we don't even know God. Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick. 

The whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have not been closed or bound up or soothed with ointment. Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Strangers devour your land and your presence, and it is desolate and as overthrown by strangers. 

As long as Judah rebels, they will keep it. stricken with horrible things. Just repent already. But how about that strangers devour your land, right? Part of God's divine judgment is invasion from foreigners. And then God goes on and talks about the empty practices of sacrifice because their heart isn't in it. 

Bring no more your futile sacrifices. Incense is an abomination to me. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hates. Your hands are full of blood. I don't really know how he feels here in this scenario. He talks about how the people are like Sodom and Gomorrah, and you will end up the exact same way if you keep this up, Judah. 

There's no moral confusion here, but there's hope. Wash yourselves. Make yourselves clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good. 

Seek justice. Rebuke the oppressor. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow. Come now. Let us reason together, says the Lord. 

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they're red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. " That's moral clarity. Do these good things, good things happen. 

Do bad things, bad things happen. Pretty clear. Let me quote this from Spurgeon just because it's good. Charles Spurgeon says, a wicked old wretch who has taken his degrees in Satan's college has become a master of Baal, a prince and chief of sinners, a Goliath amongst the Philistines. Yet such a man is this word sent today. I would say the people who are putting out most of the content in today's world to children are in this category. 

on purpose. They're purposefully doing this. They're purposefully manipulating kids across the country to have confusion. Here's Spurgeon. Your hands are bloody with the souls of the young. You've kept a hell house. 

You have grid up public entertainments, which have debauched and depraved the young. You have gold in your pocket today, which you've earned by the blood of souls. You have the fool's pence and the drunkard's shilling, which have really come into your hands from the heart of poor women. You've heard the cries of the starving children. You've tempted the husbands to take the drink and ruin their bodies and their souls. You've kept the place where the entertainment was so low, so groveling that you awoke the slumbering passions of evil in the minds of either young or old. 

And so you shall sink to hell with the blood of others on your head, as well as your own damnation, not with one millstone around your neck, but with many. All this may be true of you, Spurgeon says, yet God can forgive your sins and you can be made white as snow. There's some hope. God goes on how the faithful city has become a harlot. My Bible said W. H. O. R. E. It was full of justice. Righteousness lodged in it. 

But now murderers, everybody loves bribes and follows after reward. 

That's all. 

What's in it for me is only all that matters. But we're not even done with Isaiah one halfway through Isaiah one. 

Let's let's skip. 

Let's skip to Isaiah two. 

Can we? 

I can't stop here. I got to do Isaiah two because there's a turn here. The Messiah Isaiah two. Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on top of the mountains and shall be exalted among the hills and all nations shall float to it. Many people shall come and say, come and let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the Lord. of Jacob. 

He will teach us his ways and we shall walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. " It's a famous line in our nation's history too. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. 

Oh house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord. Want to stop right there for now. This was to the people of Judah. Jesus was 700 years away, but Isaiah is saying, don't wait. Walk in his ways now. Walk in the light, walk in the light of the Lord. 

Now there's no moral confusion here. There's no, well, your ways are okay too, I guess. No, no big deal. You know, you do you coexist, kind of just figure it out along the way. Maybe it'll be fine. No, no, no. 

You are a harlot or worse. And you're going to die like Sodom and Gomorrah. Unless you do this very specific thing. And there's only one way. Walk in the light of the Lord. Isn't that so refreshing? 

Isn't that so freeing? It's so liberating knowing that that's just all you have to do. That's the answer. There it is. All these terrible things were happening and all I have to do is this. Sign me up. 

But every message from the world is like the serpent. Did God really say? Trying to confuse. Don't let people who hate you get to your children. And then for the rest of us, let's not be deceived. Pray for clarity while the world is trying to confuse you. 

We need to be people of moral clarity. 

Do more on this tomorrow as we build up to Isaiah 9. Mike Slater dot Locals dot com. Transcript commercial free on the website. Mike Slater dot Locals dot com

A listener brought up this wonderful scene of accountability from George Bailey. Also, how can we "Take heed" and not be choked out by the "cares of the world" in this busy season?

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. You hear Jack playing the piano? Probably just singing his Christmas carols, playing his Christmas songs on the piano. I don't want to tell him to stop. Anytime he's playing the piano, I'm like, knock off that racket. 

I want to thank Daniel for calling in today and for giving a shout out to the podcast. Daniel, it was worth playing your phone call again here for the podcast audience. I love the movie. It's a wonderful life. Talk about it all the time on the radio. And Daniel wanted to comment on one of the scenes. 

Here it is. Oh, I should say this was a part of our gratitude Monday segment where people call in and say things they're grateful for. And we had a gentleman call in just before Daniel here whose father had the fifth stroke just the other day. And his mom has Alzheimer's and they're both in the hospital, but the whole family, his whole family's back. And they've had moments, distraction -free, where they've been able to just be together. And even in the midst of this horrible time, they're able to have these moments of joy. 

And it was a really beautiful phone call. And then we went to Daniel. 

Hey, Slater, I'm doing great. Boy, that's a tough call. tough one to follow. We're just thinking of Mark and everything he's going through, so say a little prayer for him if you're listening. But then again, this might be actually something perfect to follow up with this. So you were talking last week about It's a Wonderful Life, the movie, and you talked about that on your Politics by Faith podcast. 

I'm very thankful for that. for that movie. Oh, I only watched it on Christmas Eve. I know you said you watched it a couple of times before. I only watched it on Christmas Eve. I only watched the black and white version. 

So I'm old school like that. But you mentioned all these examples in the movie about George, George Bailey, and he's a good man taking a stand against things like trying to destroy his town, and he's just doing the right thing. And all the examples through Georges, and like I said, you brought up a couple of examples. And you said the best line, and it is a great line, by Big Brother George, the richest man in town. When you started playing that, I was blowing leaves this weekend, and you started playing that, and I knew I was going to tear up, and sure enough, I do. 

I always do. Watched it for 30 years, and I still do that. But the most interesting line to me, I wanted to find out, see if you thought this was interesting, because it's insightful. It actually kind of tells you who George is, and just in a way that, you know, Mark's sharing his story about his parents told us who he is. It's when George has lost the $8 ,000, or Uncle Billy lost the $8 ,000, and he's sitting there with Potter, desperate, at the end of his rope, and Potter's sort of toying with him, and Potter says, George, and I looked up the script just so I could get it right, so he says, George, could it possibly be there's a slight discrepancy in the books? And George, again, at the end of his rope says, no, sir, there's nothing wrong with the books. 

I've just misplaced $8 ,000. I can't find it anywhere. And George Potter looks up and says, you misplaced $8 ,000 because he knew Uncle Billy misplaced it because Uncle Billy misplaced that $8 ,000 with Potter there in the bank. But George takes the blame. George says it was me. And it shows you what kind of a man he is in the movie. 

all the sacrifices you mentioned, you know, the way he took care of his mother, the way he, you know, gave back to the town, the way he didn't leave, the way he showed grace to everybody. And there and there, that best of desperation Christmas Eve. I've always thought it was interesting how Potter looks up and sort of, and he says it quietly, says, you misplaced $8 ,000. In other words, it really hit him that George has taken the blame, and he knows it's not George's fault. And he sees a little glimpse, like it hits him how good of a man George is. 

And I've often wondered, had there been a sequel to It's a Wonderful Life where you got to look ahead past, you know, you know, to my big brother George versus Man of the Town, everything saved, happy ending. I always wonder what Potter, how he was affected by that, or if he was, or like, how did that change him? Did that impact him? And so I just I'm very thankful for that movie because it shows you what kind of an impact we can all make just by doing those little, those little things the right way. And when no one's looking, like Mark's doing with his parents. And just very thankful for that, thankful for the movie and your observations and these times on Monday where we all get to share that. 

Here is the scene in question. I'm in trouble, Mr. Potter. I need help. Through some sort of an accident, my company shortened their accounts. The bank examiner got there today. I've got to raise $8 ,000 immediately. 

Oh, that's what the reporters wanted to talk to you about. The reporters? 

Yes, they called me up from your building and loan. Oh, there's a man over there from the DA's office, too. 

He's looking for you. 

Please help me, Mr. Boyd. 

Won't you please? Can't you see what it means to my family? I'll pay any sort of a bonus on the loan, any interest. If you still want the building and loan, I'm... 

George, could it possibly be there's a slight discrepancy in the books? 

No, sir, there's nothing wrong with the books. I've just misplaced $8 ,000. I can't find it anywhere. 

a wonderful scene, Daniel. Thank you for bringing that to our attention. I was reading this morning, Luke 21. Maybe we can make this both fit together. Jesus is telling people about the last days and he ends with, therefore, this is how you should live. This is Luke 21, 34. 

But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life. and that day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. " So many words we could focus on here. I always love when there's something like take heed. 

It's always a good word to focus on, but I want to focus instead, maybe this ties into the Christmas season as well, the cares of this life. Same word as Matthew, about the parable of the sower. As for those for the seeds that were sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches. Choke the word and it proves unfruitful. Same in 1 Peter 5, 7. Cast all your anxieties, there it is on him, for God cares for you. 

He cares for you. The Greek word here means to draw in different directions, to pull apart. Isn't that an amazing word for anxiety, for cares, for worries, to be pulled apart. That's what anxiety is, right? You're pulled in all these different directions. There's another connotation to the old English word meant to strangle. 

So pulled apart, you're strangled, but that's what worry does to our life. It strangles us. The cares of the world, they strangle us. Let me quote the American hero. Dictionary. It's Middle Eastern descendant, Wurian, keeps this sense and developed the new sense of to grasp by the throat with the teeth and lacerate or to kill or injure by biting and shaking. 

That's what worry meant. It's what it meant to be worried. This is the way wolves or dogs might attack sheep, for example. In the 16th century, worry began to be used in the sense to harass. as by rough treatment or attack. It is, worry is an attack from the devil. 

To assault verbally. In the 17th century, the word took on the sense of to bother, distress, or persecute. And it was a small step from this sense to the main modern sense, to cause, to feel anxious or distressed, and to feel troubled or uneasy. First recorded in the 19th century. George lived an upright life. He served others. 

Found an amazing woman, by the way. We had another caller later in the show. Turned out to be That radio show's turning a bit into the, uh, it's a wonderful life show, but that's okay. Someone called in and said, Hey, Mary deserves a lot more love. It was her idea to spend the $2 ,000 from their honeymoon to save the bank during the bank run. It was her idea. 

She only, she not only didn't complain about George choosing the bank over their honeymoon, it was her idea to spend the money to save the bank. And then she went off and put together a little bit of honeymoon in that old rundown house. It was her idea to spend that money to save the bank. And it was her idea, while George was about to jump off a bridge, to go and get the whole town together to help her husband get that $8 ,000 back. Mary's the star of the show. In these busy Christmas days, take heat. 

Don't worry. Watch and pray that every day you are counted worthy. Stand before the Son of Man and go watch It's a Wonderful Life. Mike Slater dot locals and read your Bible. Mike Slater dot locals dot com for the transcript and commercial free. Mike Slater dot locals. .com.