MikeSlater
Politics • Spirituality/Belief • Culture
JD Vance, The Gospel and The Soul
Politics By Faith, February 21, 2025
February 21, 2025

JD Vance spoke at CPAC and articulated 5 profound truths that I've rarely, if ever, heard anyone say publically.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thank you for being here. I'm going to be honest. I just recorded this podcast and I'm editing it and I don't know where the music is. I don't know where the intro music is. I can't find it.

I can't find it anywhere on my computer. I've tried for 10 minutes and I'm going nuts. So we're doing no intro music on today's podcast. It's also my son's fifth birthday, so I'm done. I can't look anymore. So I'm leaving.

No intro music. Enjoy the show. No outro music either. So it's just going to end very abruptly. Apologies. I'll look forward to this weekend. I want to play this clip of JD Vance at CPAC yesterday. And I want to break down all the wonderful things. It's just two minutes, but there's a handful

of really deep and profound themes that I want to touch on. So this isn't quite the gospel message. I think I said that on the radio and I was mistaken a bit. It's not quite the gospel message. The gospel message has to include that you are a sinner who needs to be saved. All people have sinned and are separated from God and the penalty for sin is death. You need to be saved.

But good news, that's the bad news, you're a sinner. But the good news is that Jesus is the path to salvation. Believe in him, believe he's the son of God, make him Lord of your life. That's the good news. Then you get baptized. That's the gospel message.

J.D. didn't quite say that, but that's okay. I'm sure he would if he gave him the opportunity. This is the closest though I've ever heard a vice president or president ever talk. I've never heard Mike Pence talk about it. It is wonderful to have a vice president who has a Christian worldview. Now he's not gonna save us, he's not, right, JD's our Savior and the government's not going to be, it

never should be, but it still should be encouraging nonetheless. Here is what he said, I'll play the whole thing and then we'll break down the main points.

First is, I believe, like the fundamental tenet of the Christian faith, it's not just a set of good moral principles, though it is that. I think the fundamental tenet of our faith is that the Son of God became man, He died, and He raised Himself from the dead. That is the fundamental tenet of the Christian faith, and I think so much flows from that. I think one lesson that flows from that is that we shouldn't fear death.

Of course, death is a very bad thing, but there are much more terrible things than just losing one's life, and importantly, you could lose one's soul. And I think whether it's fighting for the unborn or fighting for peace and security for our citizens, I want us to be the kind of society where my kids can grow up to be virtuous young people can be good young Christians, of course, because that's what I'm Trying to raise them to be and that's what our public policy is trying to do Creating the space where moms and dads can raise their children in their faith to become good

Young people who believe the things that I do That is what I'm trying to create is the space for you Of course to raise your children as you see fit, but the space for me to raise my kids to be the kind of young people that I think they ought to be. And the other thing that I take from it, Mercedes,

is if you look at the long history of the Christian faith, we've been around for about 2,000 years now, give or take a few years, and there have been really dark times in the history of the Christian faith, there have been really good times

in the history of the Christian faith. And I just try to remind myself that we put our faith in God above. We put our faith in the grace of God and we try the best to do his will and we don't worry so much about whether we're going to have earthly rewards. We worry about whether we're doing right by God almighty

above. That's what I try to do and that's how I try to run my life in public.

So really nice, right? So let's break some of these truths down that he spoke of. First thing, the acknowledgement that Christianity is not about being nice. That's not the point. We've had this belief these last few decades of what's called moral therapeutic deism, where God is your cosmic butler and all you have to do is just be nice and a better person than that guy

over there and don't ever have any conviction about anything because then you're judging and you're not allowed to judge you can't stand for anything ever similar to the Rick Warren thing that we talked about the other day like be in the middle Jesus was in the middle he was in the cross it's in the middle so you need to be in the middle cuz you don't offend anyone ever and most Christians unfortunately fall into that category have been tricked to fall into

that category. And therefore, most people who aren't Christian have created this pseudo religion where God sort of exists and I'm going to be nice to, or nicer at least than most people, but God, yeah, whatever, he's around. I can call on him when I need something, like a butler, but as long as I'm better than that other guy, then my conscience can be clean and that's all good enough.

And JD rejects that. He's like, no, that's not what Christianity is about. And by the way, the church needs to do a better job of speaking out against that lie as well. Second thing JD said is we shouldn't fear death. That's amazing.

It's amazing to hear a vice president speak like that. Again, pastors should be speaking this stuff too. One of the greatest lessons, or most regrettable lessons I suppose, from COVID was how much people are terrified of death. You should not fear death if you're a Christian. It was so obvious that most people are not Christian.

And they just fear death more than anything. They were willing to give up anything in the whole world. They were willing to give their whole life so as to not die. Paul wrote in Philippians 1 23, for to me, to live is Christ, to die is gain, but if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit for my labor. Yet what I shall choose I cannot tell.

Do I want to live or die? I don't know what's better. I'm hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. I love that. It's far better for me to go and be with Jesus. Nevertheless, to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.

And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you for all your progress and joy of faith." He's like, okay, I'm here for now. That's great. I need to be. That's where God wants me to be. But he's like, I'd way better, I'd way rather die. Because when you die, you're with God forever.

That's the, all is well, it is well with my soul. But Lord, tis for you, for your coming we wait, the sky, not the grave is our goal. And Lord haste the day, when the faith shall be sight. I love that. Haste the day when faith shall be sight.

Hurry up. The clouds be rolled back as a scroll. The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend. A song in the night, O my soul. Charles Spurgeon said, When men fear death, it is a very weak and sickly condition. By the way, when Paul talked about his desire, he's saying, I'm hard-pressed between the

two. I have a desire to depart and be with Christ. That Greek word there has force to it. It's not like, oh, you know, I kind of, I want some ice cream. He is longing. longing, he so badly wants to be with Jesus.

And we're just the opposite in our culture today. We so badly don't ever want anything bad to happen ever in any way. So for JD Vance to talk about how we fear death too much, wonderful, he talked about the soul, are you kidding me? When I first went over to SiriusXM Patriot,

I did a lot of segments on the soul. And got a couple emails from people who were like, enough already. Mostly people would call in and say, Slater, I was really, like, I was in the enough already category,

but now I get it, now I see it. And it's like, oh, that's really encouraging, thank you. Thanks for sticking around. I don't know, maybe a lot of people turned off and never came around, I don't care. Because no one in culture ever talks about the

soul, ever, never comes up, no one ever mentions the soul, ever. To hear Vice President talk about it was great, but to have anyone talk about it in public is great. I'll never forget, I talked to one of the most famous psychologists in the whole world and I asked him a question about how something affects the soul. It was either we don't acknowledge or we don't study the soul. Psychology literally means study of the soul.

And here's one of the most famous psychologists in the world saying, Oh, no, no, that doesn't exist. Whoa. JD Vance in his Munich speech, next time I talk to him, or first time I talk to him,

next time, with J.D. and I, when we talk to him, if I ever talk to J.D., I'm gonna ask him about that line. He said, we are not cogs in an international machine, like interchangeable cogs,

and he also said, we're not educated animals. Who put that in there? But it's the same idea. We're not animals. We are people endowed by our creator with inalienable rights.

We are souls. There's a lot of people who maybe at best think that we are a body or a person who has a soul. Like maybe that's that's like something that some people will think. But we're not even that. We are a soul that has a body for now. Even that's just temporary. It's your soul that matters. And one of the effects and I would argue one of the reasons why the

left has removed the existence of the soul from all consciousness and all discussion in our culture is because it is the soul that loves. Your body doesn't love, your soul loves. It is the soul that recognizes beauty and virtue and goodness. So if the left or atheist, Satan, Marxist, whatever, I'll say Satan, wants to numb you. One great way to do that is to deaden your soul. If he wants to control you, if he can just numb your soul,

then that's the point. Like I love my wife, I don't love her foot. And it's not my foot that loves her, right, you know, it's soul, it's our souls. I love her soul. It's my soul that loves her soul.

So if they can remove this from our consciousness, you can see how easy it is to manipulate and control us in every way. If you, someone cuts off your arm, you're still a person. And if you went blind, you're still a person. It's losing your soul that matters more than anything. And this is why the Bible talks about this.

Matthew 16, 26 says, for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? What shall a man give in return for his soul? Matthew 10, 28, do not fear those who kill the body. This verse is so good.

Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Proverbs 4, 23 says, keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flows the springs of life. The Hebrew word there for heart also can mean soul.

It is the spring of your life. And we have so neglected it in our culture. And we see the fruit of that everywhere. Meaning we don't see any fruit, but we see the problems. We see the dead branches of depression, anxiety, you name it.

All the social ills, which then can often lead to all these other problems, including addictions and everything else. All that comes from a deadened soul. So that, I think it's one of my jobs on the radio is to talk about the soul all the time, just to put it in the consciousness of life. And then we can start to tend to it.

And JD did the same. Fourth point of JD's, just a little two-minute snippet there, government's role in creating space where people can be free. That's not the end of my sentence though. Where people can be free to be virtuous and to be Christians. To create space where moms and dads can raise children. To be who they ought to be. This is a theme that I discovered about a year ago that freedom is not the end of the story

I always thought freedom was the point That the point of America is that you can live in freedom. That's not it Freedom is not the end of the story freedom is the beginning of the story It's freedom to live as you ought to live when we eliminate that concept then freedom just turns into Sin I have the freedom to sin or the freedom to do these things that are not good. And that's just a form of slavery.

That's not freedom at all. It's a different type of slavery. That may be government enslaving you, but if you're a slave to your sin, you're a slave, just the same or worse. So freedom is just creating space so that you can live as you ought. And our founding fathers knew this deeply.

And we've lost sight of it for a long time. And JD, here he is talking about it. Then he talked about putting God's will first. Are you kidding me? This is all in two minutes. Matthew 6, 33, But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,

and all these things will be added to you. Do God's will, and everything will be provided. Luke 12, 31, Seek the kingdom of God above all else, and He will give you everything you need. Isn't that great? Someone called in on the radio show today, Jillian in New Hampshire. She said she went last night to her kids open house in public high school.

She said there were I think 16 transgender flags, like 13 pride flags, and two American flags she saw in her visit. It's like, what is going on here? And I asked her what she was going to do about it. And I just, I said, I hope you feel encouraged that you know the truth.

And then the music was playing, I was just going to break,

and I said, I also hope you're encouraged that you know you're in the majority. And then the segment ended. And I said, oh, darn it, I shouldn't have said that rewind quick but you can't there's no rewind so we came back and I said you know what I misspoke there I should have just stopped at you should be encouraged that

you know the truth that's it it doesn't matter if you're in the majority or not I guess it's nice to be but doesn't matter we had a family meeting the other day because Grace slammed a door.

Or no, excuse me.

Excuse me.

A door slammed.

Grace said, Jack did it.

Jack said, Grace did it.

Uh oh. Someone's not telling the truth. Someone's lying here. So we had a family meeting.

Grace finally admitted to it.

Then John came in and said that Jack did it. So it's like, oh, geez. Now I don't know what happened, but it wasn't about the door. I don't even care about the door. Who's lying. Someone's lying.

And we have to be able to trust in this family. So, pulled out Proverbs 12, 22. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are his delight. You know the truth, and if you speak the truth, it is a delight to God. Isn't that wonderful?

We were talking about different scenarios

where lying can get you in trouble and is bad. First we're just doing practical things, practical stories about where lying is bad and then we made it to the more spiritual important part, but just some practical examples. And I said, you know, Jack,

sometimes there's gonna be times when you lie and it's gonna be really unpopular, but you have to tell the truth. And he said, when? Like, when would that be? I was like, oh, that's tough.

So on the spot, the best I could come up with was, you're playing dodgeball at school and you're the last one in on your team and the other guy throws the ball at you and it just skims your leg and that guy thinks he got you,

your team says no, he didn't, but you know you did get hit, what do you do? And you tell the truth, you got hit,

your team's gonna be upset at you,

but those who deal truthfully are his delight.

Whose delight, your teammates?

No, not at that moment. But his delight, God's delight. So there's a scenario where it's very unpopular and where you're not in the majority, right? It doesn't matter. The majority part doesn't matter. Those who deal truthfully are his delight.

Now, I honestly don't know where we are in our culture at this moment. It's tough for me to gauge exactly. But I do know, I don't know if we're in the majority or minority and I think we're still very much in the minority. We just happen to be winning at the moment, whatever that looks like.

We have a lot of work to do in this country. We have a lot to rebuild, a lot to reconstruct. And I'm thrilled about it. What a delight it is to live in this moment, to raise kids, to be in your community, and to live a life every day where we can live

and promote these truths that JD Vance was just speaking of, but we can all speak it and live it as well. MikeSlater.Locals.com. Slater Radio is my Twitter and my Instagram. MikeSlater.Locals.com is the website. We put this up first on the website and we have a transcript and no commercials.

We put this up first on the website and we have a transcript and no commercials. MikeSlater.Locals.com.

 

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Good day Brother Slater, et al.,

Regarding your mention of Church Bells contra the apostate Muslim Call to Prayer, a deep history article link, below, for your Kit Bag of "what to think".
May God Bless and Keep you and yours

Pax Christi en regno Christi

Exodus 28:33 And beneath at the feet of the same tunic, round about, thou shalt make as it were pomegranates, of violet, and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, with little bells set between:

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Exodus 39:23 And little bells of the purest gold, which they put between the pomegranates at the bottom of the tunic round about:

Exodus 39:24 To wit, a bell of gold, and a pomegranate, wherewith the high priest went adorned, when he discharged his ministry, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Sirach 45:10 He put upon him a garment to the feet, and breeches, and an ephod, and he compassed him with many little bells of gold all round about,

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Top Silva 🔝

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Happy All Saints' Day
Politics By Faith, October 31, 2025

It's time for my annual lament as to what our holy days have become. But the good news is, we can reclaim them right now.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. It is October 31st, so it is time for my annual lament about the holiday season and what the holidays have become in our secular pagan country. All of the holy days that we have on our calendar used to be, I should say, all of our holidays that we still have on our calendar used to be holy days. It's a better way of putting it. Thanksgiving started off as a day of prayer and fasting. 

Fasting. Thanksgiving used to be, used to be a day of not eating. And now it's a day of football and gluttony. Christmas was about the birth of Jesus. Now it's Santa and presents. Easter was about the resurrection of Jesus. 

Now it's an Easter bunny and eggs. St. Patrick's day, even it was a day at St. Patrick or Patrick was this guy. He's born in England. It's not even an Irish. And he was abducted and he was put on a slave ship to Ireland. And he spent six years there, six years there. 

And then he escaped to his home country, became a Christian, went back to the people who enslaved him. to spread the gospel to these lost people. And now it's drink green beer and pinch me. And so I was like, this hit me, I think it was like five years ago. And it was around Halloween. I've never really liked Halloween, but it was like, especially meaningless, whatever shred of meaning there even was. 

And I was like, this is really, like, what is this? Like, what is this silly thing? And I looked it up and turned, Halloween is All Hallows Eve. Hollow, meaning sacred. Webster's original dictionary definition, 1828, to make holy. Hollow means to make holy, to consecrate, to set apart for holy or religious use, to devote to holy or religious exercises, to treat as sacred. 

as in our father hallowed be thy name. And Eve, All Hallows Eve, day before All Saints Day. All Hallows Eve, kind of put it together, Halloween. That's where that came from. But what's All Saints Day? I mean, think about this. 

Even Halloween used to be a religious holiday, and now it's pagan. Even worse than pagan, right? It's like satanic in many ways. So I'm talking about All Saints Day. and give you the encouragement that your house can be whatever you want it to be. Your home does not have to be influenced by culture in any way at all. 

You can do anything. It doesn't matter how you grew up. It doesn't matter the things you did when you were a kid or what your parents did. You can do whatever you want. 

You're an adult. 

Think about it like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone or was it Home Alone 2? No, Home Alone 1 when he got a cheese pizza. He said, I got a large cheese pizza and it's all for me. That's you with the holy days that are in your house. You can do whatever you want. So celebrate All Saints Day if you want. 

So I was reading yesterday a sermon by Jonathan Edwards called The Reality of Conversion. And he was, in this sermon, articulating all the reasons why we know conversion exists. What is conversion? Of course, we'll go from a unbeliever to a believer, being born again, as we would put it today. And one of his proofs for the reality of conversion is martyrs. And I just want to read like three different paragraphs here about the existence of martyrs and how this creates evidence of such a thing as a change of nature by a supernatural power in their enduring such 

suffering for a good conscience and the glory of Christ. A very great alteration in life and manifestations of holiness of heart in doings is a great argument of a change of heart. " He said, many thousands, yay, and millions of professing Christians that have had this trial have acquitted themselves so under it as to give the most remarkable evidences of a supernatural love to God. and a weanedness from the world, like they've weaned themselves off the world. For they have been tried with the most extreme sufferings and cruel tortures that man could invent. I'll give you one of those in a minute. And the sufferings of many of them have been lengthened out to a very great length. Their persecutors have kept them under trying torments that if possible, they might conquer them by wearing out of their spirits. But yet they have rather chosen undergo all and have held out in suffering unto death rather than to deny Christ. Such has been their faith, and their love, and their courage, that their enemies could not by any means overcome it, though they had him in their hands to execute their will upon them. And very often they have suffered all with the greatest composedness of spirit, yea, and with cheerfulness. And many of them have appeared exceedingly joyful under the torments, and have glorified in tribulations." Amazing. Many have braved it out through an extraordinary stoutness and ruggedness of spirit. But so it has been with multitudes of all sort. 

Many that have been under the decays of old age, long after the strength of nature has begun to fail. And they were in that state wherein our want very much to lose their natural courage. And also women, even children, and persons of delicate and weak constitution, such as these have by their faith and love to Christ and courage in his cause conquered the greatest and cruelest monarchs of the earth. In all the most dreadful things that their power could inflict upon them, they have rather chosen to suffer such affliction than in the least to depart from their dear Lord and Savior. " These are just the parts I've underlined. Whoever reads the histories that give an account of these things must needs acknowledge, if they don't put out the light of reason, like if you're not a total fool, that those persons had something in them far above nature. 

that they were influenced by some supernatural and powerful principle that men naturally don't experience. And many of those that have thus patiently and joyfully suffered such things before their change were very loose, vain persons, contenders of all religion. Many that were cruel persecutors themselves have been seized with conviction and have then at last borne witness to Christ and his gospel by a patient suffering his will, a remarkable instance in which they have been blessed, which we have in the blessed apostle Paul. He goes and he talks about the state that people were in before they were saved. And yet here they are now. And one more part here. 

I'll end on this. I'll end on this line. It requires something above nature to make a man love an unseen object. So as cheerfully to lose all things and suffer all things for his sake, nature doesn't work in that manner. It may work so as to cause men to have a strong love to an object that they've seen with their bodily eyes and have conquered and conversed with. But it is beyond the power of nature to beget such a love to an object that they are told of. 

of which they are informed that he lived on earth many hundreds of years ago and now lives in an invisible world. Nature may operate so as to cause transient affections about that which they are so informed of, but not to knit the heart so strongly to an unseen object as to have such great effect as these. Only some mighty work of God alone hearts, changing their natures and infusing principles that strengthen them and carry them far beyond the strength of nature would be possible. Great stuff there from Jonathan Edwards. Now, if that's true for us, if we've been converted, if we've been saved, if we've been born again, do we act like it? 

Do we celebrate it? Are we grateful for it? Do we live like it? Do we tell people about it? Do we tell people about our salvation as if we were going to spend eternity in hell? But instead now we're going to spend eternity in heaven. 

Now it'd be nice if our society were a Christian society again. And we had these holy days set up around the calendar to remind us about what's really important. All the holy days that we had on the calendar have been secularized or eliminated entirely or secularized and become meaningless. So again, I just want to encourage you to make these holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, whatever you want them to be, whatever they should be, whatever they used to be. You don't have to be sucked in by the culture to make them pagan. It's your home. 

It's your family. And I would argue that if we stopped wasting our time with Halloween and made it All Saints Day again, we'd live in a better country. Because people would know the stories. They would know the stories of the people we should be emulating. We'd have heroes. Reminders of what's important. 

I always think of the story Perpetua. I'm gonna share two here, but Perpetua I gotta share. I share it every time. She lived in the year 203 under a brutal Roman emperor. She refused to worship the emperor and she was thrown in jail. She was to be executed at the next gladiator games. 

And her father visited her and begged her, pleaded with her to recant her foolish Christian beliefs, this invisible God and do it for you. You're only 22 and do it for your baby. You have a full life and you need to be here for this baby. So just do it, just recant, even if you don't really believe, or if you do believe, but you just say you don't, just so you can be free and live. Just recant it so you can get out of prison, give up your pride. Just say you're not a Christian, you'll be set free, and then you can continue to do whatever you want, but just say whatever you need to say. 

And she refused. In prison, her father visited her in prison, and she said, Father, do you see that bowl there? What is that? He said, that's a bowl. She said, of course. Could it be called by any other name than what it is? 

She said, well, neither can I. Be called anything other than what I am. 

A Christian. Couldn't lie, even when it led to her death. Which it did. at the Gladiator Games. She couldn't lie. What if we had All Saints Day, a day where we celebrated the martyrs of the Christian faith? 

What if this day was, once again, about heroes, martyrs? What if we changed the stories that we told in our country? There was an emperor in Rome, Julian. One of his main goals was to decrease the influence of Christianity in culture. He wanted to water it down. He wanted to create division in it. 

He wanted, he did, bring in more paganism. In schools, no Christianity. was able to be taught. Also, Christians couldn't be taught the classical texts, like the pagan texts, which means they couldn't rise up into the higher classes of power and influence. He just wanted to keep Christians down as much as he could. His goal was to marginalize Christians. 

So he would do some things, like a lot of unjust things, obviously. One would be if a Christian broke a minor law, then they'd get the book thrown at him. But if pagans committed crimes against Christians, then they'd get a slap on the wrist. We see versions of this today. There's nothing new under the sun. Everyone in our culture should know the name Artemis. 

He was a military leader, was a Christian. Two priests were tormented and executed, or so they were, they were exiled and then they died when they were exiled. And Artemis said that the emperor was possessed by Satan. The emperor didn't like this. So the emperor got him, tortured him. They pressed him between two rocks. 

It was so horrible. His bowels squeezed out and his eyes popped out of his head, but he lived. momentarily, but he lived. He lived enough where he had another chance to denounce Jesus, but he didn't. So the emperor beheaded him. I just think of a society that knows that story and thinks on that story, meditates on that story, lifts up that type of conviction. 

Hebrews 12 21 says, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. How would we act if we knew that these great martyrs were watching? They are our example. They are our model. 

And if we don't lift them up, how will people know what to do? 

We wouldn't. We'd flounder. We'd be tossed to and fro. And we have been. But we can't anymore. We're called for more. 

The truth is out there. The answers are out there. The models are out there. The martyrs are out there. In your home, in your family, let's bring them back. Make sure that your kids know the martyrs of our Lord. MikeSlater . Locals . com. Transcript commercial free. It's on the website MikeSlater .

 

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Why Are There 42 Million Americans On Food Stamps?
Politics By Faith, October 28, 2025

This is not a sign of a healthy nation. How can we reverse the trend of more people relying on the government dole and return to the way God wants us to help each other?

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. 42 million Americans are on food stamps. That's not a sign of a strong, healthy country. We talked earlier today about creeds. AOC gave a speech where she talked about how there's countless creeds in America. 

The immigrants and people who speak hundreds of different languages. And I'm like, that's not good. The crowd was cheering. There was a Zohan rally. And they're like, oh, it's amazing, 100 different languages. And I'm like, hmm, that sounds like the Tower of Babel. 

Yay, we can't communicate with each other. Yay, none of us believe the same thing about important principles of life and governance. Yay, I think. That doesn't sound good. So then we read from this thing called the American ethos. It was about 100 years ago. 

This person says, the American ethos, I do not choose, excuse me, the American creed, I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon if I can. I seek opportunity, not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk, to build and to dream, fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence, the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia. 

I will not trade freedom for beneficence, nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid. to think and act for myself, to enjoy the benefit of my creations, and to face the world boldly and say, this, with God's help, I have done. these 42 million Americans. And I don't want to be cruel. 

I don't want to be mean. But this is not good. One in eight Americans are on food stamps. Now I'm taking a pretty moderate approach here. I'm not saying we got to get rid of entirely. Maybe one day it'd be great if we could get, and I used to make this argument, it'd be great if we could get to the utopian ideal, which is where when someone's down on their luck, first you go to family. 

If you don't have any, you go to friends. And if you don't have any, then you go to church. And if that doesn't work or whatever, then there's other charities, faith, you know, Christian based, like rescue mission, stuff like that. And then like way down the list would be food stamps, but it wouldn't even exist at that point. It wouldn't be necessary. I think one reason why people don't want to go to church is because church requires a relationship and people don't want relationships because the person giving the charity may say, Hey, maybe you should stop doing drugs, or maybe you should make these other changes in your life. 

And people don't want to hear it. They just want the anonymity of getting the free money. So you can continue to live in this way that's clearly not going well. Another benefit of having church be the main means of charity is you don't just get regular water. You get a water where you'll never be thirsty again. People want government cheese. 

When if you go to a church, you'll get a lot more than your regular old bread. Charity through a church is a blessing for everyone. And food stamps are a track for everyone. But people don't want to go to a church because again, relationships, accountability, better to just get it for free in the mail. Better for what? 

Of course. 

So I'm taking a pretty middle of the road approach here. And I think for the next few decades, probably, we should limit food stamps to the elderly, the disabled, and people with an IQ under 80 who can't hold a job. IQ under 80, Jordan Peterson talks about this a lot. You can't fold a paper into thirds to put it in an envelope. That's what that IQ is. 

And everyone else, you gotta get to work. It's probably 60 % of people on food stamps is a combination of fraud and able -bodied adults who can work but don't. Probably 60%. So we'll say 20 million Americans are elderly, disabled, and otherwise unable to hold a job. 20 million. That's a pretty... 

Am I a horrible person for saying, I only want to give food stamps to 20 million Americans? I think if we do that for a while, then maybe, and we change a lot of other things in our culture, in our country, then I think maybe we can start to get to that ultimate ideal. But right now we're nowhere even close. Now we did talk on the radio. And we're going to do more on this tomorrow because someone sent me a article written by John Stuart Mill, or an essay written by John Stuart Mill in 1861 about universal suffrage. And it's very funny because this is 1861. 

This was 60 years before women had a right to vote. So this John Stuart Mill, very progressive guy, says, no, everyone should have a right to vote. Everyone should be allowed to vote. Women, laborers, low -income people, everyone should be allowed to vote. Unless, of course, you're on welfare. If you're on government dole in any way, then no, like definitely. 

And he also said, unless you can read, if you can't read, then obviously you can't vote. He went through all these exceptions that would pretty much accept, exempt or remove everybody's right to vote in America. He said, if you've ever been, if you've ever had bankruptcy, you can't vote. If you're in debt, you can't vote. So like no one in America would be allowed to vote. today if this progressive John Stuart Mill had his way a long time ago. 

But we presented this question of if you, just in an effort to shake this up and try to turn the ship around, if you're on specifically food stamps, you can't vote in federal elections. Again, I know there's problems, there's pros and cons to this, and I get it. I mean, you're still human, you're still a person, you're still all these things, you're still a citizen, but you can't vote in federal elections. So we brought this up as just something to think about. And then John Stuart Mill said the exact same thing back in 1861. But here's what I want to talk about on today's show on Politics by Faith, different than what we do on the radio. 

One last thing, someone wrote on Twitter, they said, my mom is disabled, 78 years old. She would die without food benefits. Oh, wow. Do you hear yourself? Your mom would die without food stamps? Your 78 year old disabled mother would die without food stamps? 

Feed your mom. Feed your mom. Honor your parents by feeding them goodness. All right, here's what I'm talking about here. Isaiah 58. Last night, I was reading a sermon by Jonathan Edwards on Isaiah 58. 

I'm not done with it. So maybe we'll do a part two of this when I'm done with Jonathan Edwards' words on it. But let's run through Isaiah 58. It's fascinating. It's about hypocritical religious observances versus true God -pleasing worship and action. That's what Isaiah 58 is about. 

And this opening section here is entitled, Why Do Our Prayers Go Away? And one of the reasons why our prayers go unanswered is because of our own sin. Isaiah 115 says, When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. This is God talking. I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen. 

Your hands are full of blood. Isaiah 59 verse one, behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save or his ear dull that it cannot hear. He's like, well, I'm able to do whatever I want people. Don't don't. I'm not answering your prayers because I'm not able to don't be fooled. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. 

Adam Clark in 1823, he said, how can any nation pretend to fast or worship God at all or dare to profess that they believe in the existence of such a being? while they carry on the slave trade, and traffic in the souls, blood, and bodies of men. O you most criminal of knaves, and worst of hypocrites, cast off at once the mask of your religion, and deepen not your endless perdition by professing the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, while ye continue in this traffic. " Of course, this applies to abortion today. The fasting in Isaiah 58 that's hypocritical is a fasting that You know, you're fasting to hurt your enemies, or you're fasting for selfish needs, or you're fasting to, the scriptures say, make your voice heard on high so to glorify yourself. This is no good. 

So what's true worship? Verse six, is this not the fast that I have chosen, colon, to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry? and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out when you see the naked that you cover him and not hide yourself from your own flesh? Loose the bonds of wickedness. Don't oppress others. 

Undo heavy burdens. Break every yoke. So stop oppressing others, but then actively love others, right? So stop doing the bad things and then share your bread with the hungry. So I know, hopefully you sense the pivot here. So my opening of this podcast is about, the receivers of the welfare. 

And now Isaiah 58 is talking about the givers of charity. And what happens when you serve others? First, it should be done for its own sake. But then when you do serve others, then your light shall break forth like the morning. Your healing shall spring forth speedily and your righteousness shall go before you. The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 

Then you shall call and the Lord will answer. How about that? So why are my prayers not going answered? Well, here's why. Okay, fine. What if I do that? 

Well, then you shall call and the Lord will answer. You shall cry and he will say, here I am. If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, if you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness and your darkness shall be as the noon day. It's great. The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in drought and strengthen your bones. You shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. 

Those from among you shall build the old waste places. You shall rise up, raise up from the foundations of many generations. You shall be called the repairer of the breach. the restorer of streets to dwell in. Wow. If we fast and pray and live a life of righteousness and love, then our prayers will be answered. 

And of course, if you're living that life. then your prayers will be in line with God's will. But I love this line, last part, those from among you shall build the old waste places. So if you do all these good things and you will build the old waste places. Wow, we need a lot of rebuilding today. It's a broken world. 

There are breaches all over the place, but you shall be called the repairer of the breach. There's brokenness, broken homes, broken hearts, a lot of waste places. We need to rebuild a lot. It needs to be a lot of rebuilding. There used to be protections. around sacred institutions or aspects of our life, the family. 

And those have been, protections have been torn down. Therefore the institutions have been torn down. We need to build up the protections again. We need to reclaim these waste places. And I'll leave you with two more scriptures that are convicting to me to be more generous. 1 Timothy 5, 8, anyone who does not provide for their relatives and especially for their own household has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 

Whoa. In Proverbs 19, 17, whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord and he will reward them for what they have done. MikeSlater . Locals . com for the transcript of this episode and no commercials. MikeSlater .

 

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Thank You, Pete Hegseth: Holy Warrior
Politics By Faith, October 24, 2025

The Atlantic wrote a hit piece on Pete Hegseth, calling him a Holy Warrior. She said his introduction of Christian principles is a departure from how previous military leaders have led the military. She's wrong. And if he can lead an organization of 3 million people this way, we have no excuse.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. I want to expand on something we talked about in the show this morning. Actually, something we're going to do next week. We'll talk about gambling, sports gambling. It was an incredible hour of the show. 

We briefly mentioned the sports gambling scandal with the head coach of the Trailblazers and all that stuff. But I quickly wanted to pivot into sports gambling and how prevalent this is among people and how dangerous it is. And I don't think it should be allowed because I don't think laws Laws, well, here's the question. Are laws here to protect our freedom or are they here to promote human flourishing? Think about that. Let's table that till the weekend, till next week, over the weekend. 

Are laws here to promote freedom or to protect freedom or promote human flourishing? It's an important question. It'll lead us to two, down two very different paths. Gambling does not promote human flourishing. Let's leave that there. So we'll chat more about that one next week. 

But it was a great hour because we had all these people call in who were gambling addicts, lost everything. And they all said they weren't. Here they are years later and they're not upset at the money they lost. Although hundreds of thousands, one person was a million bucks in gambling. It's not the money they lost, it's the time. And I asked one guy, you know, what's a thing you miss that you regret? 

He said, the birth of my daughter. It was a powerful moment. This forced gambling is a bad thing. So we'll talk about that next week. I want to share this first. The Atlantic wrote an article about Pete Hexeth called Holy Warrior. 

Pete Hexeth is bringing his fundamentalist interpretation of Christianity into the Pentagon. I love this. The fundamentalist interpretation. It's like THE interpretation. I guess it's opposed to the LGBTQIA plus trans -inclusive interpretation of Christianity that exists. But by fundamentalist, she means what the Bible says. 

So she went to a sermon that Doug Wilson gave and Pete Hegseth was in the front row. Although Wilson's Christ or chaos approach to spirituality is interesting enough, I like that Christ or chaos. That's great. The reason I'd come this morning is that I wanted to better understand what Hegseth saw in him. Unlike the 72 year old preacher, Hegseth heads a force of 3 million service members and civilians whose mission, a secular mission, is to keep the nation secure. So she believes that in no way are Christians allowed to introduce their ethos into their profession. 

or leadership or organizations that they run. But the left must. The left must infuse their religion into everything. And it is all a religion over there on the left. Black Lives Matter, trans, whatever it is. It has to be inserted into every single thing. 

They taught transgenderism to kindergartners for the love of Pete. We saw what they did. We're onto them now. And now we're doing it. And there's no holding back. The point I would like to make here is that Christianity has always been a part of our war department's ethos. 

This is the key to her whole article here. She goes into a bunch of examples of how Pete Hegseth is a Christian. All of this is a departure from how previous US presidents and military leaders have understood the intersection of faith and duty for generations. Although America's armed forces have always made space for religion, going back to the Battle of Bunker Hill, that place is a circumscribed one, entrusted primarily to several thousand chaplains responsible for attending to troops of their own faith and facilitating observance by those of other traditions. Prayers may be abundant in the foxholes, but commanders typically do not dictate matters of spirituality. 

" Totally wrong. By the way, she said religion is a circumscribed one. I mean, something's restricted within limits, but like outside of a circle circumference, it's outside of, right? So like we'll allow it, but it's severe, strict limits outside of what we're really here for. Totally not true. Now she brought up the battle of Bunker Hill. 

So I'm going to go as my evidence that this is wrong to the battle of Bunker Hill. There's a book written by J . T. Hedley. He's a historian. He wrote this around the hundredth anniversary of America. 

So 1876, it's called the chaplains and clergy of the revolution. Let's read a couple things here. As before hostilities commenced, there was scarcely a military muster, military gathering, at which the clergy were not present, but they were very circumscribed and kept under strict limits as to what they were on some occasion saying, behold, God himself is with us for our captain and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry the alarm. That's second Chronicles 13 12. It was to be expected when war broke out. They would be found in the ranks of the rebels, that's us, the colonists, urging forward what they had so long proclaimed as a religious duty. 

The first outbreak at Lexington and Concord gave them no opportunity to exhibit their zeal officially. It happened too fast. So some shouldered their muskets and fought like cocks. 

soldiers at the Battle of Bunker Hill. 

Among these were, and then he lists a couple ministers, who showed that clergy could fight as well as pray. It's great. I didn't bring up Bunker Hill. She brought it up. So here I am telling you about what happened with the tightly, very strictly, tightly circumscribed preachers, clergy at Bunker Hill. Yeah, right. 

They were deeply, intimately, profoundly involved. The militia troops were also religious. and their respect for the opinions of the clergy unbounded. To avoid the expense of chaplains, the clergy in the neighborhood of the camp near Bunker Hill were invited by Congress to perform divine service, 13 of them every Sabbath, a request they punctually complied with. Three or four chaplains, however, were attached to the army and prayed with the troops every morning on the common. " I love that. 

Like, hey, listen, we're not going to spend money on chaplains because we're kind of broke here, but why don't you just go grab some local preachers from all the churches nearby? Just knock on the door of the churches and have them come out. And they all did. Some of them grabbed guns and fought. One of the most important chaplains was David Avery. Washington saw in him the embodiment of all those qualities he wished in a chaplain, intrepid and fearless in battle, unwearied. 

And again, just to go back to the Atlantic article, what Pete Hexeth is doing is very, very different, a sharp departure from what the secretary of the military has always been, the total return. Intrepid and fearless in battle, unwearied in his attentions to the sick and wounded, not only nursing them with care, but faithful to their souls. as though they were members of his own parish. With a love for his country so strong that it became a passion, cheerful under privations and ready for any hardship, never losing in the turmoil of war. camp that warm and glowing piety, which characterizes the devoted minister of God. He rode with George Washington, ate meals with George Washington, close friends with George Washington. 

He's Pete Hex, that's Doug Wilson, David Avery. And he wrote in his journal, again, I didn't bring this example up. She could have mentioned any other time in history. She mentioned Battle of Bunker Hill. David Avery wrote in his journal, early in the morning, the enemy attacked our entrenchments, but was driven back. After repeated trials, they succeeded in dislodging the troops. 

In the retreat, many of Colonel's men were killed. My dear friend, Dr. Warren, was shot dead. I stood on a neighboring hill, the name of that hill was Bunker, with hands uplifted, supplicating the blessing of heaven to crown our unworthy arms with success. This is the reliving of Exodus 17 .8, when the Amalekites and the Israelites were battling and Moses was holding his arms up in the air. And as long as Moses' arms were in the air, the Israelites were winning. So Aaron and Hurrick came over and held up his arms and Joshua went on to defeat the Amalekites. 

This is what David Avery was doing. To us infantile Americans, unused to the thunder and carnage of battle, the flames of Charlestown before our eyes, the incessant play of cannon from their shipping from Boston and their wings in various cross directions together with the terror of the field, exhibiting a scene most awful and tremendous. But amid the perils of the dread encounter, the Lord was our rock and fortress. Oh yeah, but no, a military never had any religious tradition, ever. Only now after Pete Exe. Robert E. Lee. 

an incredible man. He would always attend prayer services, always attend church, no matter what. And he said to his troops, he said, soldiers, let us humble ourselves before the Lord, our God. By the way, just imagine if Pete Hexeth said this. I mean, he probably would, and maybe already has or will, but just imagine when this happens and the left would just freak out. Let us humble ourselves before the Lord, our God, asking through Christ the forgiveness of our sins. 

beseeching the aid of the God of our forefathers in defense of our homes and our liberties, thanking him for his past blessings and imploring their continuance upon our cause and our people. Allahu Akbar. All praise the monkey God. No, no, no, not that last part didn't happen. It was praying to God in the name of Jesus. I love this from Washington Post. 

Talks about what Pete's like behind closed doors. Several people told me that he's talked about having prayed over personal decisions. He's praying about personal decision. What a weirdo. And once called for a group prayer before an airstrike. Love it. 

This reporter then said, Hegseth has invoked George Washington as a kindred spirit. Washington was famously private in his faith, and rather than infusing the American government in its infancy with his beliefs, he stood for religious freedom. That's not true. George Washington's farewell address. Again, she brought up these examples. I'm not cherry picking anything. 

This isn't a random letter that George one time sent to his wife. This is his stinking farewell address. Everyone in school always talks about entangling alliances. In his farewell address, he said, I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have you in his holy protection and that he would incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another. and for their fellow citizens of the United States. And finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the divine author of our blessed religion. 

That's God. And without a humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation. He's talking about Jesus there. Yeah, George Washington here never said the word God. He's a divine author of our blessed religion. He's not talking about Hinduism. 

And he never said the word Jesus. Not in the farewell address. But he's talking about the humble invitation. That's Jesus. Farewell address. But he was very private about it. 

George Washington was not private about his faith. That's a lie we've been told to get us to be quiet about our faith. The Muslims want to blast their call to prayer across America five times a day. 

That is not quiet in their faith. 

But we're expected to be. Not anymore. Thank you to Pete Hegseth for being an example. Her point was, can you believe he's doing this in an organization of three million people? All the more encouragement to the rest of us. If he can do it in an organization of three million people, it's ours. 

MikeSlater . Locals . com. Transcript commercial free on the website MikeSlater .

 

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