The Democrats, and Our Kids, Have Never Been Worse

MikeSlater

Politics • Spirituality/Belief • Culture

Politics By Faith, June 3, 2025

June 03, 2025

Politically, I'm happy the Democrat party is failing this badly. But, if half of America is failing as badly as this political party, this is bad for America.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thank you for being here. Yesterday, we talked about 1 Kings 1. David, at the end of his life, gave advice to his son, Solomon, be strong therefore, and prove yourself a man. Live the way God tells you to live.

We talked about how the instructions are very simple, but we don't do it. At the same time, he wrote Psalm 37. More advice. He said, I've been young, now I'm old, yet I've never seen the righteous forsaken. And then Solomon says to Adonijah, who tried to take the throne from him, he said, let King Solomon, so this is Adonijah, let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death with a sword.

And Solomon said, if he proves himself, so if you prove yourself a worthy man, not one hair of yours shall fall from fall to the earth, but if wickedness is found in you, then you shall die. So we have three calls, three charges here about virtue. Be strong, be a man, be righteous, prove yourself a worthy man.

Now, yesterday I did not bring a political aspect to this. Apologies, had to get to the kids' swim meet, which by the way, started at 2.30 and lasted four and a half hours. It was in, it was like an intramural. It was like an intra squad scrimmage. It was a scrimmage.

It was a scrimmage. It's our own team and it was four and a half hours long. What in the world is next Monday? It's a kid's done the team. It's like a nine hour swim meet. What in the world? Anyway, let's bring some politics into this now. So today on the show, we're talking about the

Democratic Party, the state of the Democratic Party. And then we kept digging deeper and deeper and deeper. And we got to a depth of failure that I didn't think was possible. But it can still go lower. So let's start at the top. So CNN poll found that the Democratic Party

is in a bad place politically where the question is, who do you trust on the economy? And it was plus 12 Republicans. People trust the Republican Party with the economy. Who's the party of the middle class? Well, back in 1989, it was plus 24 Democrat.

And now it's tied. So the Democrats are no longer the party of the middle class? Well, back in 1989, it was plus 24 Democrat. And now it's tied. So the Democrats are no longer the party of the middle class. We made the point, well, why would they be? Why would anyone think that they have the answers for the economy?

Why would anyone think that they have the answers that would best benefit the middle class? What have they brought to the table that makes anyone think that? Then we talked about, you go a step lower, we talked about the bench. The Democrats have no bench, really. Like, who did you judge? We talked about how the Democrats, they're just at the very base, they're just not a

party of following the law. All right. They're appalled when Trump enforces immigration law, which is what a majority of Americans elected Donald Trump to do. All right. But then it gets to a whole nother level.

There was a recent Harvard poll. What percentage of young Democrats, this is 18 to 29, what percentage of young Democrats do you think are proud to be an American? Only 24%. Now it's only 76% of young Republicans are proud to be an American. Think about it, if this poll said that only 76% of Democrats are proud to be an American. Like, think about it, if this poll said that only 76% of Democrats are proud to be an American, I would think that would be a problem. But no, that's like the patriotic group.

Only 76% of young Republicans are proud to be an American. 24% of Democrats. Bill Maher took that poll and he did a great segment on it and he said, well, this is a major problem for the Democratic Party because the Democratic Party is all about catering

to the young and the young are all about catering to terrorists. Now, it gets worse than that. Nate Silver did a survey, he's a pollster guy, and the first question was, how would you report your mental health?

Excellent, very good, good, fair, poor. How do you rate your mental health? Go ahead, how do you rate it? Then they mapped that with whether you're a progressive, a moderate, or a conservative. Of those who report their mental health excellent,

20% of those are liberal, 30% moderate, 51% conservative. It adds up to 101%, so there's some 10s here, but 51% conservative. Those who say excellent. Those who say poor, their mental health is poor. It's 45% liberal, 35% moderate, only 19% conservative. Charlie Kirk said,

Democrats have turned themselves into the party of the neurotic, the unstable, and the miserable. Now, if I may, let's go even deeper than that. How much lower can we go? The kids discovered the limbo the other day. So, a lot of limbo-ing going on in that.

This is from a Reddit post for teachers. Teacher said, what's happened to our kids? We had a field day yesterday. I'm always with kindergartners, so I normally don't see the skills of the fourth or fifth graders.

But yesterday was very eye-opening to see what kind of skills our older kids are lacking. We had a dunk tank, and the amount of fourth and fifth graders who could not throw a ball was shocking. I was telling my 20-year-old daughter this, My 20 year old daughter does this and she says that because she used to play softball, she's still on the email list and she's noticed over the past few years an uptick in emails

saying the lack of softball and baseball players is making the program at risk of having to close. I think what she's trying to say is the lack of ability to throw. The program may not continue. But here's the key, having a ball in their hands

trying to throw it was like having this newly invented, no one knows how to use it object placed in their hands. I would say a good 90% of these kids couldn't get the ball to go past a foot when thrown. I can't even say they threw the ball, they just sort of pushed it downward.

But this idea that you give a kid a ball, and they don't know what it's, like, what do you want me to do with it? That doesn't even register that it's a thing, a ball. And I'm not making fun of someone for throwing like a girl or they don't have a great form of throwing.

There's nothing here. It's like even lower than, oh, you throw like a girl. This is cannot throw, does not know what throwing is. I don't even know what it is. Zero interaction with the real world. Now this is a metaphor, this is true, sorry,

but it's a metaphor too. Like just no interaction with the world at all. And we've talked a lot on the show lately about will versus skill or will and skill. And we're lacking both right now. So here's an example, if you don't know how to throw, you're lacking the skill.

But if you don't even know that there is throwing, then you lack the will. And most of this is because kids today are grown in a 2D, were raised in a 2D world of their phones and iPads, and they can swipe fruit with the best of them. Oh, if you throw in fake digitized fruit on the screen, they can swipe it with their finger like nobody's business, but that's not real.

You give them an actual ball and they don't know what it is. So the lack of skill comes from a lack of will to do anything and to be anything. And I just think this story speaks to so much. And someone called in and said, well, we've thrown God out of, out of the equation and

people have lost their sense of direction. And that's definitely true. Definitely true.

Of course.

But we haven't. So I've made the argument many times that you throw God out of like the school and then you end up throwing a lot of virtues out with it or all the virtues out with it. I've made that argument many, many times. Others have. This is even more than that.

This is, we throw God out, we throw everything out, and we throw all of it out. Like, everything, how to throw a ball. All the stuff is gone. There's nothing left. So a woman called in and she said,

her name was Megan, I think in Pennsylvania. She said, Slater, I vowed before I had a kid that I would never give them an iPad. I would never be one of those parents. And then when my kid was three years old, I gave him an iPad just to quiet him down.

And she said, when he did did that his behavior went bonkers. Just off the charts insane. And after a couple months they took it away again. And then two weeks later, after a detox, he was back to being a kid again. Back to going outside, playing, throwing, running, et cetera.

We had a story of a teacher, a nurse, says kids would come to the nurse's office complaining of shortness of breath, and she would say, well, what happened? And the kid would say, I ran. And the nurse had to explain, that's what happens. Like if you run, your breath, but the kids never run, they have no concept of it.

So this kid, his mom, she took away her kid's iPad and finally he went back outside and ran, and then wasn't scared of breathing. We have to take these things away, these toxic, wicked things that Steve Jobs never gave his kids. We need to take them away from kids.

There's no good use of them, none, not zero, zero. And so they're like, oh, well, there's some good content. No, no, it's not. Even if it's good content, it's not 3D, it's not real life, it's not humans, it's not people with eyeballs that you look at.

You're training a kid to be only entertained or to keep focus only if things are flashing and it's bright colors and there's noises and it's happy. And now that your kid will not be able to stay focused on any other interaction in life, unless it's all cocoa melon colors.

And kids also need to be bored. Your kids can be bored, but you have to say no. And I bring this up here because this mom, Megan, she said, I mostly blame parents for this. And I had to come back after and say, no, no, I blame parents entirely for this. Kids don't buy iPads.

I've been to many Apple stores, walked by them. I've never seen a kid buying an iPad on their own. I drive, drive to the store, buy an iPad, bring it. I've never seen that. It's all parents. Parents have to say no.

Now let's bring it back to first Kings one. This was not what I intended when yesterday I brought a first Kings one and I said, hey, let's talk about David's parenting tomorrow. I did not intend to have this story fit,

but it fits perfectly. So let's talk about David and his parenting. We'll start with one of his sons raping his half-sister, Tamar. And the Bible says that David was very angry with his son, but there's no record of any punishment. Raped his sister! Some early documents and translations will say, but he, he, David, so, but David vexed not the spirit of, of Abnon his son, because he loved him because he was his first born. So just baby them and never held them accountable to anything ever.

And because there was no discipline or justice, even to Mars brother took matter in his own hands and killed Abner in revenge. Okay, great job, David. Good job, dad. Okay, so missed opportunity. Number one. So that's Absalom. Absalom is the third son of David.

He's the one who killed Abner. I'm not. He resented his dad for not doing anything about tomorrow. And that resentment and anger eventually led to rebellion against David and against his being King, then we have the story we shared yesterday, Adonijah, who tried to take over the throne right before his dad died and he did for a minute.

But it says in first Kings one, David did not displease his son by asking, why have you done so? And David would be like, what are you thinking? What were you thinking? Why did you do that? Never wanted to displease, I never want,

I want my kids to be uncomfortable. I want them to like me. It's like the ultimate being your kid's friend. This is what this David did it. So David in these three instances was never a dad that confronted his sons with the truth and with discipline. He never disciplined them. We have a mighty warrior who killed Goliath,

but he couldn't confront his own children. We have Abnon the rapist, Absalom the murderer, and ultimate rebellion, and then Adonijah, his attempted coup. I mean, what? All against dad and it all comes back to dad. Well, sin goes back to Adam and Eve, of course, the sinful nature of children. There's a modern belief today that kids are born perfect or a clean slate.

No, no, no, sinful, sinful, sinful, sinful, bound in the heart of a child. The lack of parenting though, that's the parents fault. All of it, 100%. Of course the kids want cookies for dinner. Of course kids wanna watch iPads all day.

Of course kids wanna be lazy. Of course kids do things that are sinful. Of course, like you name the sin. Kids want to naturally commit them. It's bound in the heart of a child. It takes parents to lead, guide and say no.

Now when a kid turns 18, now, and progression before then, more and more responsibility falls on them and their decision-making ability is more on them, but we're little kids. It's all on the parents. And if we want to save our country,

it goes back to the parents, not executive orders. And of course there's a role for everything. Executive orders, the president, Congress, yes. Spending, debt, war, got it. But really, all comes back to parents raising kids. And if we live in a country where all the parents are like David, never disciplining,

you might see the fruit of it. MikeSlater.Locals.com. MikeSlater.Locals.com. Transcript commercial free on the website MikeSlater.Locals.com.

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Mike Slater@slaterradio

January 24, 2022

Fox & Friends

We were on Fox & Friends talking about all of the train robberies in CA. It's so bad the train company says they may have to ride right THROUGH Los Angeles entirely and never slow down lol. What a joke this state it.

https://archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20220122_110000_FOX_and_Friends_Saturday/start/5640/end/5700

That link is a bit odd, I've attached a short video to get the gist.

In short, The rich get richer, the poor get the handouts and the middle class gets out of town.

This causes these progressive politicians to get even more entrenched.

We haven't hit rock bottom yet.

00:00:32

Mike Slater@slaterradio

October 18, 2021

Boys to men, girls to women

How do you do it? Advice please!

Dean Abbott,
"Why contemporary relations between the sexes are so messed up. The problem starts with men because men lead, the masculine pursues and initiates, and problems always start at the level of leadership.

Most men aren't taught that a relationship with a woman means accepting responsibility. No one tells us that a woman represents not only pleasure, but obligation.
The fact that having a relationship with a woman means responsibility and obligation never enters many men's minds.

When these men enter into a relationship with a woman, they are overwhelmed by her needs, her feminine communication style, and her emotions.
Moreover, he unconsciously resents her for having needs at all since he has been conditioned to see her solely as a source of pleasure.
When her anger and disappointment over his irresponsibility gets intense enough, he splits in search of another woman.
He mistakenly believes the problem wasn't his attitude nor that it is a ...

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Mike Slater@slaterradio

August 09, 2021

Surly this will be kicked off twitter eventually

00:06:34

Mike Slater@slaterradio

April 20, 2023

Morning Motivation, April 21, 2023

I found a way to easily transcribe the podcasts, so I will post them here first before they go out to iTunes and the rest.

Good morning. Welcome to The Morning Motivation, brought to you by Public Square and Patriot Gold Group. I'm grateful you're here. I was reading a sermon by the great Puritan preacher John Owen in the mid-1600s. I'm so fascinated by this time period, 1600s, early 1700s. We focus a lot on our founding fathers. I think that the Tea Party movement and just conservatism in general has focused a lot on the founding fathers, and that's amazing, but I'm very fascinated by our founding grandfathers or great-grandfathers, the people who created the culture that our founding fathers were raised in.

0:00:44
Isn't that a fascinating era? We got like 1776, like that's great, I love it, I want to know more, I don't know nearly enough. But what about the 1720s? What was going on there? Or the late 1600s? What was going on in America at that time? And you know, we've all heard of the Puritans, but you ...

Mike Slater@slaterradio

October 19, 2022

Inflation and ANGER

I am angry and frustrated. With our Rulers. For getting us in this terrible economy. It doesn't have to be this way.

How could they never learn from past mistakes! This is ANCIENT history, stop printing money...yet, after COVID, we never printed more. Amazing.

Please leave a 5-star review on Itunes. We have a ton of momentum, this is about to break through! Thank you!

Also, I haven't done any lives anywhere becauase we're hosting a daily TV show "Road to Misterms" on thefirsttv.com, and it's taken all of my extra time. And my wife is giving birth any day now, so...it's been a lot around here. But after the midterms, time will free up.

Mike Slater@slaterradio

October 17, 2022

Politics by Faith: Parkland and the Death Penalty

I've gone back and forth on the death penalty many times over the years. I've recently come down on the other side.

Should the Parkland murderer have gotten the death penalty or life in prison?

Please leave a review on iTunes! We need to get to 1k :-)
www.thefirsttv.com/mikeslater

Btw, we're getting the momentum we need, more downloads every day, THANK YOU!

WarriorSandy1@WarriorSandy1

September 30, 2024

This is spot on Mike! We have become dehumanized! You can not read a persons real needs on a screen nor text! A job or passion offers human interaction and I pray these stay at home on our tax dollars find that truth. We have lost our way… People need hugs and love and someone to listen. If we do not have that face to face interaction we will become nothing more than those who can not deal with lives issues.
Our politicians need to stop thinking about themselves and their agenda and think of the country as a whole. My suggestion today is go out and make someone’s life a little better than it is and not with money! And if it is only leave a space better than you found it -imagine if everyone left every place better than they found it. If you did one thing to make another human beings life better and told them you loved them. If we did this every day- what a great world we would have again! Time to get back to this countries MOTTO… if you do not know the counties motto it is ...

Kellypreston78@Kellypreston78

December 05, 2023

Good morning @MikeSlater and all my fellow Slater Crusaders! I've been following Mike for years and after having MANY one way conversations with the radio or podcast, have finally joined the community here on locals.com. I can't wait for the chance to share thoughts and ideas with you all. Thank you Mike for creating this place. I hope we can help inform each other about our world and support growing our relationship and faith in Jesus.

Lavender315@Lavender315

March 08, 2023

Hi @Mike Slater! Are you coming back to locals? Haven’t seen any posts in some time.

Mike Slater@slaterradio

18 hours ago

Hulk Hogan Was A Christian

Politics By Faith, July 24, 2025

Of all the accolades and titles and fame and praise, Terry Bollea wants to first and foremost be known as a Christian.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. Hulk Hogan has passed away. Real name Terry Bollea. 71, heart attack, we're told. People know his wrestling persona, of course.

Jesse Kelly said, I'm not one of these everything was better back in my day people But I cannot properly describe how much different the 80s were than what we have today It was fun and happy and patriotic and ridiculous and over-the-top It was wonderful and Hulk Hogan was a big part of it and he put a picture of Hulk Hogan in there ring holding this huge American flag my wrestling childhood Was after Hulk Hogan that was more of the Rock era

but Hulk of course transcended what was just his peak of wrestling. And then of course more recently people know him as speaking at the Republican National Convention for Trump just a week after Trump got shot remember that and got up there and gave a great speech. But do you know that Hulk Hogan was recently baptized and that he would want you to know him first and foremost as a and gave a great speech. But do you know that Hulk Hogan was recently baptized? And that he would want you to know him first and foremost as a Christian.

Public baptism. You have said the greatest moment of your life.

Yes, without a doubt.

Terry, what did that mean for you?

It broke down that fourth or fifth wall to tell people the truth about my Lord and Savior How you know you should look at things or how you should care for people and not judge people. It set me free It wasn't that perfect vessel that I should be or should have been. Once I was baptized

I felt I was all I knew. It really was a major pivot in my life. These two clips right here. I want to talk about Identity. It's a question we all have to come to terms with. Who are we? major pivot in my life. These two clips right here, I wanna talk about identity. It's a question we all have to come to terms with. Who are we? And where do we get our identity from? And someone like Hulk Hogan

would have a harder time than most trying to figure out who they really are, because he was having to live a dual life always. In this interview he says he knew, because he's a good man, so he wanted to give people what they wanted.

So he knew that people wanted the persona, they wanted Hulk. So he'd be walking down the street and the mailman would say, hey Hulk. And he wouldn't be like, hey Jim. He'd say, oh, what's up Hulk, what's up brother?

Like he'd do the thing, because that's what people wanted. But you do that your whole life and it'd be really easy to not know who you are anymore. But after becoming a Christian, he knew what his proper identity was.

Well, the moment I come home, the headband comes off the bald head. And you know, it's just Terry. Dad, father, husband, friend. I have no wrestling pictures in my house. I have no wrestling belts. Just Terry. The problem is the moment I leave the house, the moment I walk out the front door, the world doesn't want Terry.

I can't imagine the ego that would be built up over the decades of being Hulk Hogan, right? That'll mess you up. You go on Madison Square Garden, you have tens of thousands of people cheering for you. That'll really mess you up. So he was all out of whack, but once he became a Christian,

he knew what his true identity was, and he knew what he brought to the table compared to his creator.

So what Terry brings to the table is a meat suit, you know, a meat suit filled with the spirit of Christ, and it's a testing ground for me. I accepted Christ as my savior when I was 14, but I derailed. It wasn't my life. He has given me the opportunity to prove that I'm faithful,

and I'll never make those same mistakes again.

I never heard this story from, about Hulk before, about Terry. It's about his dad and it ties in so perfectly because we seek approval. We're looking for our proper identity and when it's not in Christ we're so lost we don't know what to do. That's why I was lost but then I was found. But also we seek approval and one of the people we seek approval from the most of course is our earthly father and

Terry never got that and that could cause a lot of trauma a lot of wounds and Really hurt Terry until this happened. This is his answer to the question. What's your most memorable moment as a wrestler?

It didn't have anything to do with being in the ring It had to do with after the match at Madison Square Garden, January 23rd, 1984, where I wrestled the Iron Sheik for the WWF title. Iran had 444 American hostages, and they were keeping our Americans in.

The Iron Sheik, he was the actual bodyguard for the Shah of Iran. He was the real deal, and the fans knew it. And I was the all-american character Hulk Hogan. That night I flew my parents up and and you know my dad and I didn't see eye to eye because I was going to University of South Florida here in Tampa and I was majoring in finance and

management. But when I left college and didn't become an accountant or whatever that degree would lead me to, there was a huge divide as far as communication with my dad and I. You know, so it kind of was a void. And so that night after Madison Square Garden, you know, my dad goes, man, you know,

Terry, I'm very proud of you. You made the right decision. I love you so much, I'm so sorry that I tried to make you do something you didn't wanna do. So that was the greatest night for me, for my dad to say that to me. Because I really didn't know if I was right or not,

it's just I was doing what I love doing. And to me that felt right, but then to have my dad confirm it, but I had to be the main event at Madison Square Garden to get him to break. But that was probably the greatest part of my wrestling career to have that moment with him because I really valued what he thought about me.

A lot of people when they're first becoming a Christian are trying to figure out who God is. And that is very much informed by their earthly father. For better or worse, often for worse. But your heavenly father will never let you down. Your heavenly father is absolutely perfect in every way. Where earthly fathers will surely let their children down, your heavenly father never will. I'm reading John Steinbeck's East of Eden right now.

And I just read this last night. It says here when a child first catches adult out, when it first walks into his grave little head, that adults do not have divine intelligence, that their judgments are not always wise. They're thinking true. Their sentence is just.

His world falls into panic, desolation. The gods are fallen and all safety gone. And there's one sure thing about the fall of gods. They do not fall a little. They crash and shatter or sink deeply into green muck. It's a tedious job to build them up again.

They never quite shine. And the child's world is never quite whole again. It's an aching kind of growing. We realize our father is not God. But how wonderful to know that God is God. All powerful, all knowing, and loves you.

All Christians need to go through this process of finding their true identity in Jesus. Galatians 2 20, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I

get sick and tired of myself. You know, The two people in my head, the ego and the real I am, I mean, I just surrendered. I just said, I can't do it anymore. And I went back to the Bible and I started reading again. And I'm either all the way in or all the way out with whatever I do.

So if you're with me, there's no guesswork. If I'm with my Lord and Savior, I'm all the way in.

What message do you now convey at this stage of your life?

It's a spiritual war in this fallen world. To turn to the truth, seek him and you shall find. To step outside their comfort zone and accept Christ, knowing that he would heal the land and heal this nation and heal the people. It just seems like such an easy choice for everyone. If you'll just surrender, accept him as your savior.

A lot of people are going to be reminiscing and talking about the legacy of Hulk Hogan, but I think Hulk Hogan would want his legacy to be as one of a Christian

and a slave of Christ. I just read this poem yesterday. It's by St. George Tucker.

It's probably written late 1700s. Let me see here. St. George Tucker, born in 1757, died 1827. So we're gonna go late 1800s or late 1700s. Ready for this poem? George Tucker, born in 1757, died 1827. So we're gonna go late 1800s or late 1700s. Ready for this poem? Just read it yesterday. Gosh, this is true for all of us,

but I just think Hulk Hogan, because of his so much strength, right? In what he was doing as a wrestler, and then we all die. It's called Days of My Youth. It says, days of my youth, ye have glided away.

Hairs of my youth, ye are frosted and gray. Eyes of my youth, your keen sight is no more. Cheeks of my youth, ye are furrowed all over. Strength of my youth, all your vigor is gone. Thoughts of my youth, your gay visions are flown. All those good times, strong, vigorous, our youth, it vigor is gone thoughts of my youth your gay visions are flown." All those good times strong vigorous our youth it's all gone her eyes are her

hair, her cheeks, strength all gone right? Days of my youth I wish not your recall hairs of my youth I'm content ye should fall. Eyes of my youth, you much evil have seen. Cheeks of my youth bathed in tears have you been. Thoughts of my youth, you've led me astray. Strength of my youth, why lament your decay?" So this first stanza, it's like, oh, I'm so sad. I hate that my strength and vigor has gone away. Oh, my youth, I hate that it's gone. And the first stanza, it's like, oh, I'm so sad. I hate that my strength and vigor has gone away. I, oh, my youth.

I hate that it's gone. And the second stanza is, oh, but there was so much pain, actually. There's so many days that I don't even want to think about again. So many tears, so many thoughts that I've had that have sent me in a bad direction. I've seen so much evil in my life. And it ends with this stanza, days of my age. All right, so now here we are, older, reflecting on right now. Days of my age, ye will shortly be past. Pains of my age, yet a while ye can last.

Joys of my age, in true wisdom delight. Eyes of my age, be religion your light. Thoughts of my age, dread ye not the cold sod. Means being buried. Don't dread dying. Hopes of my age be fixed on your God. Can I do this last part real quick?

Eyes of my age be religion, your light. Thoughts of my age dread ye not the cold side. Hopes of my age be fixed on your God. Let's take it from Hulk Hogan that the most important thing in life is being a Christian. Mike Slater dot locals dot com for the transcript and no commercials Mike

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Mike Slater@slaterradio

July 23, 2025

You've Already Won

Politics By Faith, July 22, 2205

Christian Scottie Scheffler won the British Open last weekend. What Nike did with his win could be a sign of the cultural shift we need in America. But Scottie's boldness led the way.

I got back this last weekend from a three hour drive with the family and loved it. It was great. I like car trips because we're all together. I came across this clip recently from this TV show called the middle. I've never heard of the show, never seen the show, am not endorsing the show, I know nothing about it.
But I came across this one scene where the mom and dad, I'm guessing they have older kids who are out of the house now or on the way out, and the dad's reminiscing.
You know when I was happiest? I mean really happy? When I was driving everybody. When they were small, I'd be driving, didn't matter where. It was just me at the wheel and you next to me, those three idiots in the back.
I knew everything was okay. I was driving. And I had it.
I had everybody.
We have a nine hour drive coming up in a couple months with the whole family. Can't wait for it. We spent the night at my house my wife grew up in and we love doing that because it's like 1200 square feet and we all camp out in the living room, big slumber party in the living room. Johnny and I sleep in the lazy boy reclined all the way back.
They've never seen a lazy boy before, I guess. So they're like, what is this? So that's just as good as it gets. Did you see the newest Nike ad? I saw it and I thought it was fake. I didn't confirm that it was true.
And indeed is true. So Scottie Scheffler, he won the British Open in golf and after he won, him and all the big wigs are on the final green and up waddles in the scene his one year old son and then he trips on the little hill, the sloped green, falls down, oh the whole crowd.
Dad goes over and gets him and it was a nice little moment. So Nike took that moment as inspiration and they made a new Nike ad and it's a picture of Scottie kneeling down with his putter in front of him and the baby is crawling towards him reaching out for the club and the ad says in the Nike font it says says, you've already won. This could be a data point of a massive cultural shift that's happening in our country.
And I pray that we keep having in our country. Every Monday on Sirius XM show, we have gratitude Monday. People call in the first segment of the show and say what they're grateful for. And guy called in yesterday said he was excited because he's getting married soon it's awesome and and I asked him first are there no oil the old ball and
chain or none of that none of those jokes because it's a beautiful thing and marriage needs to be celebrated and I asked him why why get married why not just yeah keep shacking up Are you just doing it for tax purposes? What's the reason? He said, Oh no, we're doing it so we can help each other get to heaven. He was getting off the night shift at a chemical plant in Louisiana. The answer he had to that question had more wisdom to it than anyone at Ivy League school or wherever.
So Scotty Scheffler, when he won, he said, the first person I look for is my wife. She's always the first person I want to celebrate with. So just a lot of loving your family. A lot of celebrating families. That's a good thing.
I saw this video, I saw like 10 seconds of this video and what I heard, I was like, oh, that's Ecclesiastes. I didn't know he's a Christian or not, but sure enough, his Instagram handle says Christ follower pro golfer. So he has his priorities, right? Oh, one last thing about Nike ads.
This cultural shift, like people have been posting like old Nike ads, actually old, like 2020, 2021 Nike ads where our culture was really leaning hard into ugliness and it'd be like an obese black woman grinding and be like, get on the floor. Nike. I like what, gross. And here's Scotty Shuffler, him, his baby, you already won, you're like, oh yeah, like that's clearly the direction we need to be going in as a country.
So here is Shuffler, this is before he won. This is a couple of days before in the press conference. It's a few minutes long, but it's worth it all.
You know, I think it's kind of funny. I think, you know, I think I said something after the Byron this year about like, it feels like you work your whole life to celebrate winning a tournament for like a few minutes. It only lasts a few minutes, that kind of euphoric feeling. And I like to win the Byron Nelson championship at home.
I literally worked my entire life to become good at golf, to have an opportunity to win that tournament. And you win it, you celebrate, get to hug my family, my sisters there, it's such an amazing moment. And then it's like, okay, now what are we gonna eat for dinner, you know? Life goes on.
Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf yet? I mean, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about because it's literally worked my entire life to become good at this sport and to have that kind of sense of accomplishment I think is a pretty cool feeling.
You know, to get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, it's like I'm not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I'm not here to inspire somebody else to be the best player in the world, because what's the point? This is not a fulfilling life. It's fulfilling from a sense of accomplishment, but it's not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart.
There's a lot of people that make it to what they thought was going to fulfill them in life, and then you get there and all of a sudden, you get to number one in the world, and then they're like, what's the point? And I really do believe that, because what is the point? You're like, why do I wanna win this tournament so bad?
That's something that I wrestle with on a daily basis. It's like, showing up at the Masters every year, it's like, why do I wanna win this golf tournament so badly. Why do I want to win the Open Championship so badly? I don't know. Because if I win, it's gonna be awesome for about two minutes. And then we're gonna get to the next week and it's gonna be like,
hey, you won two majors this year, how important is it for you to win the FedExCup playoffs? And it's just like, we're back here again, you know? So we really do, we work so hard for such little moments And I'm kind of a sicko. I love putting in the work. I love being able to practice. I love getting out to live out my dreams. But at the end of the day, sometimes I just
don't understand the point. Because I don't know if I'm making any sense or not. But am I not? It's just one of those deals. I love the challenge. I love being able to play this game for a living. It's one of the greatest joys of my life,
but does it fill the deepest wants and desires of my heart? Absolutely not. I mean, I love playing golf. I love being able to compete. I love living out my dreams. I love being a father.
I love being able to take care of my son. I love being able to provide for my family out here playing golf. And every day when I wake up early to go put in the work, my wife thanks me for going out and working so hard. And when I get home, I try and thank her every day for taking care of our son. It's just, that's why I talk about family as being my priority,
because it really is. I'm blessed to be able to come out here and play golf. But if my golf ever started affecting my home life or it ever affected the relationship I have with my wife or with my son, that's going to be the last day that I play out here for a living. This is not the be all, end all. This is not the most important thing in my life.
And that's why I wrestle with why is this so important to me because I would much rather be a great father than I would be a great golfer. At the end of the day, that's what's more important to me.
But I think that's why I asked the question,
what is losing like for you?
It sucks.
I hate it.
I really do. But that's part of the competition. That is, and I think that's why we try to work so hard to not lose, but golf's a game where you just lose a lot more often than you win. I mean, that's just a simple part of it.
You know, in basketball or football, when there's only two guys out there, you can win a lot more than you lose. But I think I was looking at stats. It was one of the best tennis players. It might've been Federer or Djokovic or somebody.
They only won like 48% of their points or something like that. I mean, playing professional sports is a really weird thing to do. Like, it really is, just because we put in so much effort, we work so hard for something that's so fleeting. I mean, it really is. Like, the feeling of winning just doesn't last that long. You know, when I sit back at the end of the year and, you know,
I kind of try to reflect on things, like having that sense of accomplishment from winning the Masters Tournament, from winning the PGA Championship. I have a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation for it, but it's just hard to explain how it doesn't, it just doesn't satisfy, is how I would describe it. It's an unsatisfying venture. And so I guess what I'm trying to say is this is not the place to look for your satisfaction.
This is something that's where you can have a great appreciation for and a great amount of thankfulness for being able to do this. And it's, I mean, like I said, it's literally one of the most fun things that I can do in my entire life.
I love being able to come out here and play golf and compete. But at the end of the day, it's just not what satisfies me. I'm right here, Jamie, where are you?
You're right there. You could sit there and you could sit that chair if you want. Or you want to come in daddy's lap. He says, I want to go in daddy's lap. Jamie, good timing, by the way, but okay. You could sit right there.
Uh, here is a bit of a more explicit explanation of what does satisfy him.
I would say that, I mean, in the simplest of terms, we have a Creator. You know, God created the earth and he sent his Son to save us. I mean, the Lord covered our sins on the cross and victory was secured over death. We will live forever with Christ when we eventually pass on from this earth and Jesus saved us. He died and saved us from our sins. It's really just as simple as that.
So the victory is secure whether or not I win a golf tournament or never be able to play golf again. You know, my identity and victory secure, know that I'm going to spend eternity with Jesus.
You want me to go downstairs?
Okay.
Jamie, can I just make one last point here?
Okay.
Let me take one last point here. Someone posted on this video.
Hello.
So I'm posting on the video, uh, a quote, if you're not good enough without the gold medal, you're never going to be good enough with it. That is from John Candy in the film, Cool Runnings. It's not fulfilling, of course, none of this stuff is fulfilling because what we are all searching for is eternal meaning
and these earthly things will never give that eternal meaning. The only identity that you can have for eternity is in Christ. And I'll leave you with this because Jamie says, I need to go downstairs.
Second Corinthians 5.17, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is passed away. Behold, the new has come. Mike Slater dot locals dot com transcript commercial free on the website,
Mike Slater dot locals dot com. Jamie, come here, say hi. He's playing with the printer. Come here. Come say hi, you wonderful boy. Say hi to everybody.

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Mike Slater@slaterradio

July 21, 2025

We Don't Want To Live Forever

Politics By Faith, July 21, 2025

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about heaven. With the recent tragedies—devastating floods in Texas, the passing of John MacArthur, and loved ones of friends reaching the end of their lives—it’s only natural to reflect on what comes next. In the midst of it all, I found a poem from the early 1800s that brought me peace and perspective about death. In this episode, I share that poem and explore why we’re not meant to live forever.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. I've been talking a lot about heaven lately and how awesome it's going to be. So I'll start it with the disaster in Texas, the tragedy in Texas. There's been a few people in my life who have another friend or family member who have passed away, all old age, and just the last couple of weeks here, old age where it's a relief for them

and everyone involved, and a celebration. John MacArthur passing away the other day, we're doing a TV special on him this week, so just heaven dying in heaven has been on my mind a lot lately.

I read a poem the other day

and I have nowhere else to put it. I have to tell people this poem. And I, I don't know, I don't want to spend, I kind of pushed the limits on what we do on SiriusXM as it is kind of outside of politics. So I don't know if I can just sit here and read a poem, maybe a little much, but I just want to put it here and I could put some politics into it.

I could also save it until we have another tragedy, but I haven't stopped thinking about it since I first read it and I just want to share it here because it is written by William Augustus Mullenberg. Should I give a little background to this first? So I bought this book, it was published in 1896 or something. It's called An American Anthology, and it's just poems.

It's thick, it's huge, it's like 1,000 pages, it's just a poem. So every day I've just been opening it up to a different one and this one is early in the book by a guy I've never heard of, William Augustus Mullenberg. He was born in 1796 in Philadelphia,

founder of St. Luke's Hospital in New York City, all according to Wikipedia. He's known as the father of church schools in America. The poem is called, I Would Not Live All Way. Let me read these first two lines and then I'll tell you what I did to make it make sense.

I would not live all way, live all way below. Oh no, I'll not linger when bidden to go. The days of our pilgrimage granted us here are enough for life's woes, full enough for its cheer. I had no idea what that meant. I would not live all way?

What does that mean? It means I don't want to live forever. So it's an old timey way of saying, I don't want to live forever. I don't want to live for always. I don't want to live all way.

No, no. I will not stay here when I'm called to go. The days of our pilgrimage granted us here are enough for life's woes, full enough for its cheer? Would I shrink from the path which the prophets of God, apostles and martyrs so joyfully trod? Like a spirit unblessed over the earth, would I roam while brethren and friends are all hastening home?

What am I?

I'm not going to go to heaven when I'm called to go to heaven. Are you kidding me? I'm just going to roam around here on earth forever? When everyone else is going home? Going home to heaven? No way, I'm out of here.

I would not live all way. I ask not to stay. Where storm after storm rises dark over the way. We're seeking for rest, we but hover around Like the patriarch's bird, and no resting is found. Where hope, when she paints her gay bow in the air,

Leaves its brilliance to fade in the night of despair, And joy's fleeting angel never sheds a glad ray, Save the beam of the plumage that bears him away. I would not live all way, thus fettered by sin, temptation without, and corruption within. Man, it's so good.

I don't wanna be here forever, held down by sin, temptation everywhere around me, corruption everywhere within me. In a moment of strength, if I ever sever the chain, scarce the victory is mine before I'm captive again. Oh, it's so good.

If I'm ever strong enough in a moment where I'm not held by sin, scarce the victory is mine before I'm captive again. Oh, I could fight against this sin for just a moment, but the victory is mine for just an instant before I'm captive again. Oh, I could fight against this sin for just a moment. But the victory is mine for just an instant before I'm captive to sin again.

Even the rapture of pardon is mingled with fears and the cup of thanksgiving with penitent tears. The festival trump calls for jubilant songs, but my spirit her own misery prolongs. I would not live all way. No, welcome the tomb.

Since Jesus hath lain there, I dread not its gloom. Why would you be afraid of dying? Where he deigned to sleep, I'll too bow my head, all peaceful to slumber on that hallowed bed. Then the glorious daybreak to follow that night, the orient gleam of the angels of light, with their clarion call for the sleepers to rise and chant forth their

matins away to the skies, singing, Who, who would live all way, away from his God? That's the best thing about heaven, see? Who would live all the way away from his God, away from yon heaven, that blissful abode, where the rivers of pleasure flow over the bright plains and the noontide of glory eternally reigns? Where the saints of all ages in harmony meet, their Savior and brethren transported to greet, while the songs of salvation exultingly roll,

and the smile of the Lord is the feast of the soul. Man, that makes me wanna go there so bad. That heavenly music, this is the last stanza, that heavenly music, what is it I hear? The notes of the harpers ring sweet in mine ear. And see, soft unfolding, those portals of gold, the king all arrayed in his beauty behold.

O give me, O give me the wings of a dove, to adore him, be near him, enwrapped with his love. I but wait for the summons. I list for the word. Hallelujah. Amen. Evermore with the Lord." Come on. How good is that? It's like, I don't want to live here forever. You know, there's that tech guy, that billionaire guy who's doing everything he can to try to live forever, eating just the precise amount of every particular food.

And he's monitoring every single aspect of his body that he possibly, he's worshiping the body. I mean, this is all ancient pagan stuff. Worshiping the self, worshiping the body. And here's someone with a proper perspective. It's like, no, I don't wanna be here.

This life, it's got enough woes. I'm ready to go to heaven. There's one way to get there. Acts 4.11, there is salvation in no one else besides Jesus. And there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

There's only one way. You have to believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, came down in the flesh to die for your sins, was killed on the cross and then resurrected on the third day. If you believe that, congratulations, that's it.

The five solas. Sola is alone. Grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, scripture alone, glory to God alone. And you will know that you are doing those things when this poem speaks to you in a powerful way, because this poem is the opposite of what this

world of what the world is trying to tell you. The world wants you to live for this world, for the moment, and this is all there is and all that matters. When the Bible tells you this is but a fleeting moment, eternity is what we need to set our eyes on. Mike Slater.locals.com,

transcript commercial free on the website. Again, the poem, if you want to read it yourself or share it or have it William Augustus Mullenberg, M-U-H-L-E-N-B-E-R-G William Augustus Mullenberg, I would not live all way. Mullenberg, I would not live all way. Mike Slater dot locals.com.

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