MikeSlater
Politics • Spirituality/Belief • Culture
Texas Flooding: Learning, Earning, Returning
Politics By Faith, July 7, 2025
July 07, 2025

What can one say about the tragedy of the flash flood in Texas? A caller of ours did better than I ever could. And a volunteer firefighter isn't saying anything, but doing what needs to be done.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thank you for being here.

I want to talk about something horribly difficult to talk about. The Texas flooding tragedy. It was so awful. Honestly, over the weekend, I didn't want to hear about it because it was so sad I couldn't engage. I just saw pictures of missing little girls who went to Camp Mystic. It's this big camp right along the river.

750 girls at this camp. And just thinking about how this happened so early in the morning, no electricity, pitch black, girls swept away. I can't go there. It's so awful. Let me tell you what happened on the radio today.

And hopefully this can be helpful in some way. This guy called in, he's a volunteer firefighter in his town in Texas. It's about two hours away from Kerrville where the worst of this flooding happened. And he was on his way with 15 guys

to go and help the local fire department there in whatever way they could be of assistance. And he was gonna spend the night, or spend the week, the week at a friend's house. All the guys were gonna spend a week at a friend's house. So I think we made appropriate honor given to him,

the 15 guys taking a week out of their lives I think of we made appropriate honor given to him, the 15 guys taking a week out of their lives, away from their families, and then this friend putting up all these guys for a week so they could all help out and search for many of these girls who are still missing. So we took that phone call from that wonderful gentleman.

Then we took a Breitbart reporter from Texas who described the scene and what happened. The background of this is there was this massive thunderstorm, 15 inches of rain in just a few hours, very slow moving. And it just happened to be in this one area where all the water drained into this one river.

And our Breitbart reporter said that if this storm was a mile in a different direction, then the water would have drained into multiple different rivers and it wouldn't have been as dramatic of an effect. And then it happened to be 4th of July.

So there were a lot of people camping along the river. If it happened any other day, there wouldn't have been as many people in there. So we talked to our Breitbart reporter who was there, told the whole backstory. And I made some point, because how do we talk about this and then pivot into any other news story that I did? So I was like, I got to try to make some point here. So the point

I decided to make was if you're 99% in on something, life is really hard. If you're 99% in on something, life is really hard.

If you're 100% in, then life is really easy.

And I use the example of working out. I think that's the clearest example. If you're 99% in on running, that sounds pretty good, right? I'm 99% in, but that 1% of not in is a total drag.

Pulling you down, pulling you back, But that 1% of not in is a total drag.

Pulling you down, pulling you back, whining and complaining all the time. Every morning you wake up, ugh, I don't want, ugh, I hate running, ugh. That 1% is brutal. Being 99% in is not good. And you may go still run, but it's just difficult.

But if you're 100% in, life is simple. I'm not saying it's easy, but it's simple. You wake up, get out of bed, go run. That's it, there's no debate, there's no question, you're not questioning, you just get up and do it. There's no other way.

And that's what that caller was, I believe his name was Clint. And he called in, he's telling him what he's going to go do. And I said, well, why are you doing this? What's in it for you? And he said, well, this is what life is all about. And this is what God teaches us to do.

So he's 100% in. He's a volunteer firefighters. He made that decision to be 100% in a long time ago. So there was no question about what he should do. Like, I don't know, should I go to the Kerrville? It's like two hours away. I don't know, I got a lot of stuff going on this week.

This wasn't really in the plan. I don't know. And I'll kind of just be a bother to people. I better just stay back and not do it. Right, so there you go, it's out. That 1%, if he was 99% in it, that 1% would have won. But it was 100% easy, so it was a simple decision. Should I get up and drive and spend a week

camping at my friend's house? Sure, and not only will I do it, of coursepool up and do it together. Cause he's a hundred percent in. So I shared that thought. And then Lee called in from North Carolina and I want to play her comments in full. And then I'll come back with a biblical point.

She makes many, but I'll come back with my own after Lee's phone call. Let's go to Lee over in North Carolina, who can relate a little bit. Lee, good morning.

Good morning. How are you?

Really good. Tell me your story, Lee.

Well, I run a nonprofit called Patriot Relief that started after Helene hit Western North Carolina. And I'm actually headed to a long-term recovery group meeting this morning because we're still trying to get people back home. And your 99% comment, I just had to call in because after police hit North Carolina

and we are trying desperately to find our people and then to get them in cover, we started building shelters. And there's this fellow named Scott from Tennessee who had lost his wife. And when I put out the call for volunteers to come help build shelters, buddy, he got in his car and drove to North Carolina, slept in his car for three days to help me build shelters.

And he never once just said I shouldn't have been here. He found a way to plug in. And so all I can say is that if anybody's listening to this, and your heart is pulled to Texas, you pray first. You donate whatever you can to local orgs like the Kerrville Foundation.

Get your money as local as you can. But if you show up at the right time, the organizations there will plug you in, and it means everything to the people. I just, I can't stress enough, we understand it in North Carolina in a very visceral way

and there is no reason to stop hoping and to stop working. And so everything you said in that segment and everything Clint said, all I could say over here in Dakar was, amen.

What did Scott want and what did he get for his three days of efforts?

Well, what he wanted was to be helpful, right? And he didn't know what he would be able to contribute, but he drove over because we were on the wing in a prayer trying to figure out how to provide shelter because we were dealing with the lack of response from the state and from the feds. We were dealing with the geographical challenge that Clint wasn't trying to explain that for all these politicized people. Understanding the geography is very challenging.

But when Scott got here, it was how do you use me? And then we didn't even know he was sleeping in his car, Mike. We found that out on about day three when we spotted him in the back of his Suburban. Well, the community college had raised their hand, and their kids were helping us build shelters, too. And Dern is the guy that runs the construction program,

didn't carry Scott home and let him sleep at his house. And they became best buddies because Scott told me at the end of that weekend that he had been looking for purpose after his wife passed and being able to help somebody else helped him get his mind back to a place of good and looking forward.

And he didn't know what he needed, except he knew he had to say yes. And that's what a calling looks like. And he answered it, and he came, and then he winds up with a new best friend, and then he's volunteering with the community college kids.

And I mean, my mother's heart was just exploded to watch all the goodness happen. And there's no way to put a dollar value on that. And I'll tell you that the phrase I was told a long time ago was at a point in your life, you learn, then you earn, and then you return and Scott had found his way to return on behalf of everything he knew for somebody he'd never see again.

Okay, hold on. I'm not going to let that gem go away one more time. What, what are the three say it again first you

learn then you earn then you return what's the return explain the return for me yes okay you have a chance to give back and it's not about being a big philanthropist I think some people think about giving back as, oh, I've got to be Rockefeller kind of money, but you don't. You just have to find a way to be helpful

at some point in some way. And I mean, when I started doing relief work because it's my state, it's my people, I had to put my business on hold to do this. And my poor husband says he's married to a whirlwind and I guess he is, but we have the abilities because we've earned and put back money that we said

you know what now's the time to give back and we'll worry about the finances later and I'm grateful for that hundred percent at mindset and I just think that segment just got to me so hard because When you surrender to the Lord, you wind up in places you didn't expect doing work you didn't ask for and the outcome is bigger than you've ever expected.

Oh, there you go. You hit it right there. I'm on the patriotrelieffund.com website and I'm looking at a picture of you, Lee, and a bunch of people behind you. Who are these people, these young people behind you?

Oh, Lord, I don't know which picture it is, but we've been working with high school groups that helped us with supplies. We had community college kids, church groups, homeschoolers, you name it. We've had people of every age and category that have helped us in Western North Carolina. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, that picture you have was one of our supply drives on about day three of the Helene aftermath when we were having to go around

the FEMA roadblocks to get to people. And there's just a certain moment in your life when you realize you take care of people first and you worry about the rules later. And we did not put anybody's safety at risk, but we weren't willing to let anybody suffer while we had a chance to help.

Sure.

Let me, let me selfishly ask you one more question, Lee. So my TV producer said, Hey Slater, you should do a politics by faith on the flooding. And it might one of my podcasts it's like well geez like I know what to say like what the heck what what honey I can tell you so many miracles

I've watched happen in these mountains oh lord we can talk about that for days

give me give me one send me in a direction what good what good what and what God how about this what God would allow this to happen, Lee?

It's not that God allows it to happen. It happens and God shows us what to do through it. We can't be blaming God for everything but then demand that we have our own agency. I mean, you have to pick a lane. God does not protect us from storms, but He brings us through them. And so you look at what happens on the other side, all right, so get this. We did this program at Christmas called Winter Wonderland. It was the brainchild of my girlfriend, Michelle, and some of her schoolteacher friends.

And they said, we're going to put together Winter Wonderland for children in one of the schools who had a great loss of family members and lost everything. But her brainchild, and she's so smart, Michelle Clark, I just got to give her a shout out, she said the children have received a lot, they need to remember how to give as well. And so she put together this program with gifts for moms and dads and grandparents, and the kids could come to the school, pick out gifts for their loved ones,

instead of just getting Santa for themselves. So she was talking to me in the car, and she said, we don't have enough dad gifts, and we've got a bilingual area, actually it's their Spanish speaking area, because you have a lot of agricultural visa workers

in the mountains during apple season and tree season. So we're riding down the road and I said, well, how many do you need? She said, I need 200. Not two seconds later, my phone rings and it's a lady I've never met. She follows me online. She was out of Georgia and she said, I volunteer with Dr. Stanley's ministry.

And I said, like the Dr. Stanley, like Charles Stanley, like the king of the pastor, you're gonna watch at home when you have the flu?" And she said, yes. And I said, all right. And so she said, I work in this ministry, we have, get this, 200 Spanish and English Bibles that are solar operated.

They're little recorded Bibles, like a little iPod. And I said, you got how many? And she said 600, and Michelle's sitting over here in the car looking just white as a sheet. She couldn't believe this was happening. So this lady sent them to us, and then we include them for this program.

Well, then another lady reached out and she said, I finally got access to this one trailer park where some Hondurans live, and they had some trust issues, but they needed to be served. And so we gave her a whole pile of those English and Spanish solar power Bibles and tears come running down their face because all they wanted was to hear God's Word in their language and to allow

to be served. And so that's just one example, but it's that perfect provision what you need, when you need it, so that the people can be served. It's amazing.

All right, Leigh, I'm gonna be one more hard question. What is your prayer for the parents and the families of the kids who have been killed by this flooding? What are you praying for for them? Well, I pray that

they will have a hedge of protection against all of the negative and evil faults that they will be encountering because Satan is the master of chaos and the master of division and God is the God of order. And so they need to be protected to have peace, be protected to have comfort. Those that will get their baby girls back need to have protection against survivor guilt because that's a real thing.

And they're going to feel like there's something that they did wrong that they got their baby girls back, even though they're grateful. And so I just, I pray that they are protected. And one of the prayers that we have to always pray is that they are able to continue saying the names of their baby girls, that the ones that have are able to continue saying the names of their baby girls, that the ones that have gone home to be with the Lord, because

they know the Lord takes children home, and that they not be treated like the social media world treats grief. And I think it's a challenge that we have in today's world. Your timeline moves really quickly in social media, but you're sitting over here buried in grief and the rest of the world has moved on. And I watch it in Western North Carolina every day. There's people that are still suffering and they feel forgotten. So we have to make sure those families don't feel forgotten and

they don't stop feeling protection. This is not why you called in, but are you still doing work and Patriot Relief Fund still need money?

Oh, we can't stop and we won't stop.

And in fact, we were having a meeting last week with about four of the non-profits that

sprang up out of this.

And we were just discussing how obviously we weren't the grifters because we're still here. And there were a lot who came in and made money and moved on. But the need for housing is great. Obviously, we weren't the grifters because we're still here and there were a lot who came in and made money and moved home. But the need for housing is great. The need for trauma support is still here.

Because you remember every time it rains, our people feel a sense of panic and they hear the wind and they feel a panic. And the same things will happen in Texas. And so we are still serving. We are still getting people back in houses and still figuring out how to help them put their lives together so that they will not feel forgotten.

And eventually, over the next 12 months, we'll have our structure in place at Patriot Relief to have chapters around the country. So we've already served Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, and we're figuring out how to make this thing scale. Because as it turns out, if you are the boots on the ground,

which is what they're discovering in Kerrville right now, there's a power they have that the big organizations have lost touch with. And so that's why I tell people, give as locally as you can to take care of people where their needs are.

Okay, you didn't call for this reason, but I will give it out, Patriotrelieffund.com. Patriotrelieffund.com. Lee, you are wonderful. Thank you for calling in.

Well, thank you for taking my call and thank you for what you're doing. And I'm just so grateful and thank you. You're the best. Thank you, Lee.

How wonderful is all that? So what are we to do in a tragedy like this? I don't think anything I say here would be of any comfort to the families who lost little girls, daughters, and loved ones in this tragedy. I believe you need to know the truth well before tragedy hits in order to be able to weather the unimaginable pain that losing a child like this would bring. A couple of things that are true.

This is a fallen world. God remains sovereign and good. It is also true that the natural state in this fallen world is not to have anything. Not to have a house, not to have clothes, not to have food, not to have beautiful children. The natural state in a fallen world is nothing but suffering and toil and pain. That's the natural state. We are spoiled. We are spoiled. We think, especially pagans, think that the natural

world is health and perfection and wonder all the time. Whatever I want, all the time. That's not it. That's not the natural state. Similar idea, pagans think that people are born good. Same idea. And they believe that the world is good, naturally. But Christians know that human nature is not born good and should also know that the natural state of existence is not roses. We've been spoiled with so many blessings that God has given us. Every second that we have a good thing is a blessing from God. It is also true that suffering is a blessing too. Romans 8 17. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with

Christ. If indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time, the sufferings of this present time, horrible flooding, little girls killed, are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. So I read a couple commentaries on this verse that I think are noteworthy. If indeed we suffer with him, we will suffer. If we want the inheritance, we will suffer. We will share in the sufferings that exist in this life before we go to heaven. And we suffer with him. Part of being in error with Christ is suffering with Him,

like He suffered on the earth on the cross. I want to quote at length here Alexander McLaren. He was a Bible, a Scottish minister in the mid-1800s. He wrote a commentary. He said, Brethren, you and I have, each of of us one in one way, one another, all in some way, all in the right way, none in too severe a way, none in too slight a way to tread the path of sorrow. He says, is it not a blessed thing that we go along that dark valley of the shadow of death down into which the sunniest paths

go sometimes, to come amidst the twilight and the gathering clouds. Is it not a blessing to come upon tokens that Jesus has been on the road before us? They tell us that in some trackless lands, when one friend passes through the pathless forests, he breaks a twig ever and anon as he goes, that those who come after may see the traces of his having been there, and may know that they are not out of the road. Oh, when we are journeying through the murky night and the dark woods of

affliction and sorrow, it is something to find here and there a spray broken or a leafy stem bent down with the tread of his foot and the brush of his hand as he passed, and to remember that the path he trod he has hallowed, and thus to find lingering fragrances and hidden strengths in the remembrance of him as in all points tempted like as we are, bearing grief for us, bearing grief with us, bearing grief like us." We are called to suffer with Jesus. He says, trials have no meaning unless they are means to an end.

The end is the inheritance and sorrows here, as well as the spirits work here, are the earnest is the inheritance. And sorrows here, as well as the spirit's work here, are the earnest of the inheritance. Measure the greatness of the glory by what has preceded it." Ooh, check this out. God takes all these years of life and all the sore trials and afflictions that belong inevitably to an earthly career and work them, into the blessedness that shall come. If a fair measure of the greatness of any result of productive power be the length of time that is taken for getting it ready, we can dimly conceive what that joy must be,

for which seventy years of strife and pain and sorrow are but a momentary preparation, and what must be the weight of that glory which is the counterpoise and consequence to the afflictions of this lower world." I think the point here is that the struggles we go through in our life, it's just a down payment on the inheritance of the glory that is to come. And every year of hardship that we live through on earth,

it's just, it's preparation. Like if you judge the value of something by how long it took to prepare, I mean, you've lived a whole life with so much suffering in it, but what does that mean for the joy that is to come? And this isn't some like self-help,

mamsy-pamsy, this is Romans 8 we're talking about here. This mid-1800s Scottish preacher goes on, the further the pendulum swings on the one side, the further it goes up on the other. The deeper God plunges the comet into the darkness out yonder, the closer does it come to the sun at its nearest distance, and the longer does it stand basking and glowing in the full blaze of the glory from the central orb.

So in our revolution, the measure of the distance from the farthest point of our darkest earthly sorrow to the throne may help us to measure of the closeness of the bright, perfect, perpetual glory above when we are on the throne. For if so be that we are sons, we must suffer with him. If so be that we suffer, we must be glorified together." Joseph Benson wrote a commentary, like 1810 or so, he said of this scripture that we may be also glorified together.

He said, "...with him, which we cannot be in any other way than by suffering with him. He was glorified in this way. And so must we be. Well, how about that? If Jesus is glorified through suffering, then we must as well. Here, the apostle passes to a new proposition on which he enlarges in the

following verses, opening a source of consolation to the children of God in every age, that's what we need, by drinking at which they may not only refresh themselves under the severe sufferings, but derive new strength to bear them with fortitude. This promise is what we're drinking to refresh ourselves from these severe sufferings. But not only that, but also to get new strength so we can bear it with fortitude. Amazing. And here's the encouragement. It comes from Peter, 1 Peter

4 to 13. To the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing so that also at the revelation of his glory you may rejoice with exaltation. What kind of suffering? All the kinds. Disease, death, natural disasters, losing a child, any hardship that may destroy your faith and lead you away from God, that's suffering. But don't let it lead you away from God. Let it bring you closer to him.

If or when something like this happens to me, I'm going to be an absolute mess. And I would have to remind myself over and over, over and over constantly,

every second of the day, the truth of the Bible about the suffering of this world,

about how children go to heaven and the promise of seeing them again.

I had to remind myself of things that are true that still be a mess. All of this is so easy to say, so easy to even know, not easy to live. I want the confidence of Lee, and I wanna be 100% in like Clint from Texas. All I can suggest is whatever suffering you're going through

is to keep going. There's a famous story that was first told by John Newton, early 1700s. He said, suppose a man was going to New York to take possession of a large estate. John Newton was in England.

So New York was very far away in the 1700s. So very long journey. So you're going to, it's a huge journey to go to New York and you're gonna get this huge estate, it's gonna be amazing. Just imagine giant house, swimming pool, the whole thing that works. And his carriage should break down a mile before he got to the city.

Oh, and it obliged him to walk the rest of the way. What a fool we should think him. If we saw him wringing his hands, blubbering out all the remaining mile, my carriage is broken. My carriage is broken. You're one mile away from the estate. You are so close to heaven.

Keep going.

Mike Slater dot locals dot com is my website. Transcript is there and no commercials. Mike Slater dot locals dot com is my website. Transcript is there and no commercials. MikeSlater.Locals.com.

 

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I don't want to offend anyone. I want to be politically correct. So I'm just going to speak gently. I want to appeal to as many people as possible. Nothing convicting. Nothing that smacks of judgment. We don't want to, you know, I don't want to say anything that may lead to rip to

repentance. No, no, nothing frightening, nothing upsetting, no terror on his gentle tongue. No grading truths. Don't want to offend anyone. That strange new birth, that Methodistic grace, nor in his heart nor sermons found a place. The Methodistic grace here, this is good. This is your

sinner. You need to repent and experience God's grace. That's what it is. That whole thing? No, not in that preacher's heart or in his sermons. Does that ever come out anywhere? So what does come out? Plato's fine tales he clumsily retold. Trite, fireside, moral seesaws, dull as old. So today the joke is, oh, that preacher

just gives a TED talk or a motivational speech. Back then it was Plato's fine tales he clumsily retold. But it's just empty rhetoric, doesn't mean anything, nothing convicting and nothing of God's word. His Christ and Bible placed a good remove. Guilt, hell deserving and forgiving love.

So we're not going to touch the important stuff. We're going to put Christ, the Bible, it's out of reach, don't need it. To his best, he said, mankind should cease to sin. Good frame required it. So did peace within. So like at best, this preacher's up there and saying, being a good person, just be a good person. Stop sinning. Everyone, okay, we'll just be nice. Let's just all be nice and if we're all nice, you know, love is love, and that's all we need to worry about.

Why? It'll make your life a little better. Good fame required it. You know, people will think nicer of you if you're just a nice person, be a good neighbor, and you'll feel a little better inside.

It's all the same reasons why atheists say you should be a good person. They don't believe in God, but some reason they still believe in good. Okay, fine. Their honors, well he knew, would never be driven,

but hoped they would still please to go to heaven. So the people in the audience who like it, who like the TED Talk, this preacher knows that they're of such high status, their position in society, the preacher knows they'll never give that up. They'll be like the rich young ruler, they'll never give up what they need to.

So why bother? Don't upset anyone. At best, maybe we can hope that everyone kind of wants to go to heaven a little bit. Each week, this preacher, he paid his visitation dues. Coaxed, jested, laughed, rehearsed the private news. Smoked with each goodie, thought her cheese excelled.

Her pipe he lighted and her baby held. So he makes his visits. He has fun, socializes, or placed in some great town with lacquered shoes. Trim wig and trim her gown, glistening hose. He bowed, talked politics, learned manners mild, most meekly questioned and most smoothly smiled.

So, well, maybe we'll do a little social climbing. If I'm in a nice town, then things will be a little bit nicer here, but I'll be all things to all people. At rich men's jests, laughed loud loud their stories praised. Their wives knew patterns gazed and gazed and gazed. Most daintily on pampered turkeys dined, nor shrunk with fasting nor with study pined."

So he'll laugh, play along, do the whole thing and get fed. Whew, man, feast on these delicious, delicious dinners. Never fasting. As the Bible says, when you fast, never bother with that and never want to just study God's word, never pined after studying. All right, here's the conclusion here.

Yet from their churches saw his brethren driven." So the preachers, these soft preachers who are leading these churches. See men leave. See his brethren driven, who thundered truth and spoke the voice of heaven. Chilled, trembling guilt in Satan's headlong path, charmed the feet back and roused the ear of

death." This is good. So this man sees the strong preachers, the men who want to be, who have the courage and the clarity and the confidence to go out and thunder truth and speak the voice of heaven and speak of sin and fight back against Satan and rouse the ear of death. So what does the preacher say? Let fools, he cried, starve on. All that fasting stuff.

While prudent, I snug in my nest shall live and snug shall die." So these blasphemous or weak churches that never shared the gospel message. The great men left and they spoke the truth. The preacher saw that and he said, whatever. Snug in my nest, I shall live and snug shall die. He wanted to be comfortable all the way to the end. How great is that? That poem's over 200 years old.

The moral of that story is go find a church with a preacher who thunders the truth and surround yourself with friends who thunder truth. I read Job 26 this morning. Job thunders that he will keep his integrity amidst it all. He says, as long as my breath is in me and the breath of God in my nostrils, my lips will not speak wickedness nor my tongue utter deceit till I die. I will not put away my integrity for me. My righteousness I hold fast

and will not let it go." And then my final point, Job 27, he's talking about wisdom here. And he talks about how people will search all over the world for gold and silver and iron and copper and search everywhere for it But what about wisdom? But where can wisdom be found and where is the place of understanding? People go anywhere to find the gold But where do they find wisdom?

Because they can find the gold and the silver and all these other jewels. It talks about all this other stuff. You should go read the whole thing, chapter, uh, Job 26, 27, all these different sapphires and all the rest. And those are valuable, but you can't buy wisdom with it. So how does he conclude this importance of wisdom to man?

He, God said, behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. And to depart from evil is understanding. Wisdom is the fear of the Lord. This concludes my mini sermon. Three points. Find people who thunder the truth. Hold fast to your integrity and never let it go. And the most valuable thing in the world is to fear the Lord.

Mike Slater dot locals dot com. Transcript, commercial free. Website Mike Slater, Outlocals.com, transcript, commercial free. Website, Mike Slater.locals.com

 

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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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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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