The Trump interaction with the governor of Maine was refreshing. You rarely hear two leaders confronting each other like that. Would it be good to hear more of it?
Welcome to politics by faith. Thank you for being here. I Still can't find the intro music. I actually forgot that I was supposed to look for it this weekend I never did that so I'm looking for now. I can't find it I did however find the intro music to my very first radio show in Jackson, Tennessee 15 years ago, I found an audio file from
2010 and I can't find the audio file that I use every day for the last two years. What in the world is that about? So I'm taking it as a sign we're switching up our intro music. I can't find it. But I did find, like when we first started this podcast like two years ago or whatever, I did use a different intro music.
So that one I have a million copies of that. So we're just going back to that. And that's okay. Remember I used to listen to Glenn Beck all the time growing up and every year he would change his intro music. So we're switching it up.
Welcome to the new and improved politics by faith. I was reading Acts 13 the other day and was struck by something. We'll get to that but I want to start with the political thing here. We spent 45 minutes talking about this on my Sirius XM radio show of examples of things that Trump has done that the left and the media freaked out about and Obama did all all the same things. And our main point was that this is not a revolution. This
is a counter revolution. As Victor Davis Hanson said, it's only a revolution to revolutionaries. To the rest of us it's just a return to normalcy. And the main example that we used was Trump's altercation with the governor of Maine. Now we played this clip on Friday. This was Trump at an event related to the governor's meeting. So there's a big meeting with all the governors. And that's where the Maine altercation took place.
But Trump was talking about this a couple days before.
I heard men are still playing in Maine. Is anybody here from Maine?
Who is that?
Is that the governor? That's, well, I hate to tell you this, but we're not going to give many federal money. They are still saying we want men to play in women's sports, and I cannot believe that they're doing that. They are. Let's just find out who that guy is that raises his hand.
Maybe he's just kidding. But so we're not going to give him any federal funding, none whatsoever, until they clean
that up.
Now, that was so early on in the process that Trump didn't know that the governor of Maine was a woman.
All right.
So then the next day, or maybe even that same day, there was a much smaller event with only the governors. And Trump was talking to you about the male boxer who competed against women in the Olympics.
It's just a left jab. She got hit so hard, she said, I can't do it. They forced her to go out. No, go out. Go out again. You'll do it.
Goes out again, hits, gets hit again. No, no, that's it. She didn't want to die. And that's crazy. But the N.C.A.A. has complied immediately, by the way. That's good. But I understand Maine is the main here. The governor of Maine. Are you not going to comply with it? I'm fine with state federal law. Well, we are the federal law. Well, you better do it. You better do it because you're not going to get any federal
funding at all if you don't. And by the way, your population, even though it's somewhat liberal, although I did very well there, your population doesn't want men playing in women's sports. So you better come. You better comply because otherwise you're not getting any any federal funding. Every state. Good. I'll see you in court. I look forward to that. That should be a really easy one. And enjoy your life after governor because I don't think you'll be in elected politics.
Every state has a... Trump was, seems right. There's a poll that just came out with the governor, her approval rating. She won in 2012 by 12 points. There it is. Won in 2012 by 12 and she's now underwater by negative 1%.
So 49% disapprove of how she's handling. This was a poll that was done just a couple days before that altercation with President Trump. So of course the left, the media, all the norms, the norms, look at Trump he's so mean and he's using federal funds as leverage over the schools. Norms, norms, norms, norms. Obama did this multiple times and this is what we went over in great detail on the SiriusXM show but I'll do the very short of it here.
Barack Obama and his Department of Education Office of Civil Rights wrote three, what they called Dear Colleague letters. The first was in 2011 about campus sexual assaults. And they said to all the college campuses that you have to set up these,
essentially kangaroo court tribunals to judge all sexual assault claims. It lowered the standard of evidence to preponderance of evidence in order to kick young men out of college. The men were not accused or not told of what they were accused of at all, and they couldn't
cross-examine. So there's no due process for men who were accused of sexual assault. This is in the middle of the whole Me Too stuff. And that letter said, when a recipient, college, does not comply with, does not come into compliance voluntarily, the Office of Civil Rights may initiate proceedings to withdraw federal funding by the department or refer the case to the US Department of Justice for
litigation. Okay, leverage over the colleges. The next year colleague letter that was 2011, the next was 2014. This was the disparate impact letter. Let me read what this says because it's so insane. If a policy, this is a discipline policy, so a discipline policy that says students are not allowed to punch their teachers in the face, for instance, and if you do you get suspended. If a policy is neutral on its face,
meaning that the policy does not mention race, and even if it's administered in an even-handed manner, but has a disparate impact, that is a disproportionate and unjustified effect on students of a particular race, then the policy itself
is racist. So if it would be one thing if the policy of the school was black kids are not allowed to punch their teacher in the face but white kids no problem that would be a private fit but if the policy is even if the policy is no one's allowed to punch the teacher in the face if more black kids do than white kids and the policy itself is racist and has to go. This of course was tied with receiving federal funds and 350 different school districts
were investigated by the Department of Justice. They, that was 10 million kids are under those districts. That's one fifth of all the public schools, school students in the entire country. Those districts were investigated for violating this Dear Colleague letter.
This disparate outcome or disparate impact worldview was everywhere during this Obama era. My favorite example, the one I always go to is in San Francisco, it's illegal to jump the turnstiles to go on the train, but more black people were arrested than white people,
therefore the law itself was racist, and they got away with it, they got rid of the law, and they didn't arrest people anymore for jumping the turnstile because there was a disparate impact. It's saying right But again tied to federal funds third example is 2016 Barack Obama out the door. This is the beginning of all the transgender
Stuff that we kind of made it official into the mainstream. This is the letter that identified or Was it looking for a date I'd defines gender identity sex assigned at birth, pronouns, gender transition, all this wacky stuff that was just in the women's and gender studies classes and wacky universities was now in the mainstream. It said, the letter, as a condition of receiving federal funds a
school agrees that it will not exclude, separate, deny benefits to, or otherwise treat differently on the basis of sex any person. This means that a school must not treat a transgender student differently from the way it treats other students of the same gender identity. So let me translate that. That means if a boy identifies as a girl and a girl identifies as a girl,
they both must be treated the exact same way and cannot be separated in any way at all, sports teams, locker rooms, etc. So we have three Obama, Dear Colleague letters, depriving college students of due process, eliminating school discipline policies, and introducing transgender insanity into our schools. All of them led to investigations from the executive branch into the districts that were
not complying, and all of them under the threat of do this or else we're taking away your federal funding. Not a peep from anyone. And to Trump, who issues the most common sense dear colleague letter imaginable, which says boys can't compete in girls sports and the norms it's an end of all the norms insane I'll stop there on this we did 45 minutes on this on Sirius XM today but let me pivot over to the politics by faith part of this the
boldness of that video we played of Trump taking it directly to the governor of Maine. I've never seen that amount of boldness in politics, ever. People are always talking behind people's backs. You know what I mean? You have a problem with someone at work
and you, people talking to everyone except the person. No one ever talks, no one ever confronts. You got a problem with someone, you go talk to them about it. That's what the Bible says. You go talk to that person directly. Let's actually find that scripture here. Ah, here it is. Here it is. Here it is.
If your brother sins against you, go and complain about it to everyone you know. No! Go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you've gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
If he refuses to listen to them, go tell it to the church. If they refuse to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. But if you have a problem with somebody, go talk to them directly. That's step number one. We don't do that in our country today. And we certainly don't do it in politics.
So it's nice to hear that and see that. It's refreshing. I like it. But I was reading Acts 13, the section about Paul and Barnabas sent off to Cyprus, sent off by the Holy Spirit. And at Cyprus they speak in a synagogue. And what they said was so well received, they came back the next week.
And the next week they came back, the synagogue was packed, packed with people. The whole town was there. Verse 45, but when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. And they began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him, fueled by jealousy.
Remember that.
But did that stop Paul? Of course not. Or Barnabas. When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.
But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city stirring up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of the district. So what'd they do? They shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to the Iconium. Shaking off the dust, it's an old expression, it's in the Bible four times. It's like, alright, see ya, like you're on your own now. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Isn't that great? They were sharing the truth.
Even in persecution, they were filled with joy. Joy and the Holy Spirit. But here's the main thing I wanted to share about this section. Before that, when they first get to Cyprus, this city in particular was known for worshiping Venus, who was the goddess of sex. This was a depraved culture. I'll start with verse 6. They came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas
and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elmas, the magician, for that is the meaning of his name, opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. So we have a man here, this magician, who has a lot of power and influence. He's buddies with the pro-consul, this guy who's in charge of the area, like the governor. So he's got power, he's got influence, he's got connections, surely making money as well.
He's got a lot of things going for him, this false prophet. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, I don't want to hurt your feelings. You and I have some slight disagreements on some things perhaps. He looked intently at him and said, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness,
full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time. Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him
and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Imagine that scene. You can't see him anymore. He's desperate. Help me, help me, help me.
Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. The boldness of Paul to say directly to this man's face, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of deceit and villainy. Charles Spurgeon said, wherever there is likely to be great success, the open door and the opposing adversaries will both be found. If there's no adversaries, you should fear that there will be no success. A boy cannot get his
kite up without wind, nor without a wind which drives against the kite. So it's good when you see the persecution. This is the analysis that most people take with this scene and it's a wonderful analysis and conclusion. But what I take from this, right, you with me on that? Like the first thing is, hey, you're going out, you're spreading the word, you have Barnabas and Paul, they're going to a place, they get confronted with a false prophet, they rebuke it.
Great. Great lesson from this. The encouragement I get is to speak boldly for the truth. Paul didn't mince words there. Paul didn't go behind his back, he didn't speak badly about the magician to other people. He didn't spread rumors about him.
He spoke directly to the magician and spoke boldly. Now we have the Holy Spirit working in this scenario here. So it's like next level. Politics is different. In politics there must be some humility. There has to be.
I'm often wrong. I'm sure I'm wrong about things that I think right now. I've been wrong before. I was talking to our Breitbart border guy, Brandon Darby today about the cartels and going after the cartels and what that would look like. And I was telling him I'm trying to learn my
lesson from Afghanistan and Iraq and my support of those things and thinking, oh, this will be over in two weeks. Like, no, it's not a lot more than that. And he's like, oh, that's wise. And there's, as we embark on what we're doing with the cartels, there's a lot of unknowns and a lot of uncertainty and things can go a lot of different ways. We don't know.
But we think this is the best course of action based on the things we do know and we're doing the best, right? That's a great, humble approach to take to political things. That amount of humility is good. But when you're dealing with the truth, we have to be bold in asserting it. There's times for humility in politics
and there's times for boldness in life. Let's pray for discernment to know the difference and know the right time to have each. The problem is the default among many Christians for a long time has been a waffling between this false humility and weakness.
And as many Christians are internally debating about whether I should project a false humility or just straight weakness, the truth has gotten washed away completely. Satan loves it. Let us ask for wisdom. Find the truth.
And be bold and proclaim it. Mike Slater dot locals dot com. Transcript commercial free on the website Mike Slater dot locals dot com.
Mike Slater dot locals dot com. Mike Slater dot locals dot com. Transcript is commercially free on the website Mike Slater dot locals dot com.
