I KNOW how to save this country. We need to go back to what our founders relied on to build this country.

Welcome to politics by faith. Thank you for being here. We had a wonderful caller today who made the point that the left is all about inequality, inequality about everything, right? All about the oppressed and the oppressors and all that. The caller made the point that the truth is we're all born on the exact same level playing field, a total depraved sinner in need of salvation from Jesus Christ. The left, the devil, has intentionally distracted us for a long time with all these other playing fields that don't matter. 

The only playing field that matters is the one that we're all the exact same on, no matter how much money you're born on or what your skin color is or whatever. And this salvation is available to everyone, no matter how little money you have or what your skin color is. If you took the piece of someone who's in all the oppressed groups, but is saved, it's so much greater than someone who maybe is in all the oppressor privileged groups who's not saved and will spend eternity in hell. But we start equal. I pray so many people are saved from the assassination of the Christian martyr Charlie Kirk, because that's what martyrdom is. And Sunday at this memorial service, it's going to be a wonderful moment. 

Please pray for all the speakers. I'm praying especially for his pastor. He has a chance to preach the gospel like maybe most people have never heard before. Fightforcharlie . com for more information, but it's one o 'clock Eastern on Sunday. I want to share here the segment we did in the third hour of the radio show today on SiriusXM Patreon about how we're a Christian nation and about how Christianity is the foundation of everything good. 

And when we got away from the foundation, of course the house crumbled. So if we want to build the house back, we need to go back to the foundation and the foundation isn't the constitution. It's before that. The constitution was built on top of the foundation, right? We need to go even deeper than the constitution. Where'd the constitution come from? 

Keep digging. Whenever there's a, let's say a church shooting or something, the left focuses on the gun, the object, because they're materialists. Many conservatives focus on the brain because they want to get to the root. It's a noble effort. I like to focus on the soul. That's the root of everything. 

Similarly here, where a lot of commentators focus on the policy. And then for a while now, we've had good conservatives focus on culture to save our country, right? People thought that policy would save our country. And then people are like, Oh, we need culture actually is what saves our country. I believe we can go even deeper. I believe we need to focus on the Bible. 

And I know that's true. because it's what the founders did build this country. Here's part of our show from this morning. 

Two of Charlie's goals. He said, you know, he wanted to bring people back to Christ and bring people back to church and back to biblical values. And he wanted to keep the mega coalition together and expand it and expand it. And the question is how you do that. And the answer is you focus on the first and the second is a by -product. Okay. 

The answer is that as Matt says, you have to unite around something and yeah, we can unite. in the short term around the fact that there are a bunch of people who hate our guts and want to murder us, which of course is true. But long -term unity, big movement change, which is what Charlie was really trying to drive and why he wants to talk to people who disagree, is about building around those core values. 

And so the long -term vision, yeah, we'll have our petty squabbles, and yeah, some of those squabbles will be more than petty, but the long -term vision has to be built around those original biblical conservative values that charlie stood for things like the bible things like free markets things like family all those things i think charlie stood for you gotta build the coalition around values we can't build it around the man but we can build it around the values that he left behind that he spent his entire life fighting for we couldn't be someone wrote this on twitter uh... by the way the unity is the gospel that's what Even Ben Shapiro was talking about the biblical values. I saw someone on Twitter, they said, as a Dawkins era atheist, I underestimated Christianity's role as a civilizational operating system. I took its moral foundations for granted, assuming that they were so self -evident that all humans would reach them once basic needs were met. At the very least, think of, at the very least, think of Christianity as a civilizational operating system. Someone posted a meme of Homer Simpson, uh, climbing Mount Everest and he's just in his sleeping bag. He's laying down in his sleeping bag on a sled and there's some Sherpas pulling them up the, up the mountain. 

And someone wrote the meme on Homer Simpson, secular Western ethics, like your dark Dawkins era, atheist, secular Western ethics. Don't murder something that basic don't murder. And then, but that, that ethic system is being pulled up by these sherpas on a rope by 2 ,000 years of Christian morality and then Homer Simpson wakes up and he says wow look how far I climbed and I'm not even tired yeah that 2 ,000 years of Christian reality did a lot of work you know that many classical music composers wrote glory be to God on the top of their manuscripts on the top of their music manuscripts like the handwritten notes of every piece of every note of every instrument in the orchestra. They would write Glory be to God. I heard that from Charlie Kirk. 

I heard Charlie Kirk said that the other day. I didn't know that. 

I looked it up. 

It's true. I went down a whole rabbit hole on it. So one of my favorite composers is Bach. This is a song. It's called Jesus Joy of Man's Desiring. You've heard this before. 

Jesus Joy of Man's Desiring. Bach at the top of his manuscripts would write SDG, Soli Deo Gloria. solely, alone, deo, God, gloria, the glory, to God alone, the glory. Before he started a piece of music, he would write at the top, J . J. , Jesu, Jova, Jesus, help me. 

When he would start, he would write, Jesus, help me. When he ended his pieces, he would write, I . N . J. , in nomine Jesu, in the name of Jesus. masterpieces were a prayer. They were a prayer. Jesus helped me. Then he wrote his music, and he wrote, in the name of Jesus and to the glory of God alone. He said, Bach said, music's only purpose should be for the glory of God and the recreation of the human spirit. And I pronounce recreation wrong because I've made this point on purpose, because we make this point a lot that there's a difference between leisure and recreation. Leisure is more like laziness. Recreation literally means recreation. You recreate. And Bach is saying that music purpose is to recreate the human spirit. How come we've never heard anything about Beethoven's faith? Everyone's heard about Beethoven, but no one's ever heard about Beethoven's faith. Beethoven was a contemporary of our founding father. He was born in 1770. It wasn't that long ago. But he wrote in 1801 that God is nearer to me. than others in my art, so I will walk fearlessly with him." Beethoven 

Beethoven said, don't only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets. For it and knowledge can rise men to the divine. This ties into what we talked about earlier with Michelangelo. And this is what Paul said. So whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. Beethoven did. 

Haydn, never was I so devout as when I composed the creation. Haydn said, I knelt down each day to pray to God to give me strength for my work. When I was working on The Creation, I felt so impregnated with divine certainty that before sitting down to the piano, I would quietly and confidently pray to God to grant me the talent that was needed to praise him worthily. Haydn didn't pray to God to give him the talent that was needed for him to make a great piece of music so he could make a lot of money and fame. It was to give me the talent necessary to make a piece of music that can glorify you appropriately. Mozart said, God is ever before my eyes. 

I realize his omnipotence, and I fear his anger. I fear his anger. Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. But I also recognize his love, his compassion, and his tenderness towards his creatures. That was Mozart. You never hear about that. 

Never in my whole life have I ever heard about the classical composers and their dedication to the Christian faith. I'll end with Brahms. These guys weren't that long ago. Brahms was born in 1833. Brahms said, you see, the powers from which all truly great composers like Mozart, Schubert, Bach, and Beethoven drew their inspiration is the same power that enabled Jesus to do his miracles. I know several young composers who are atheists. 

I've read their scores, and I assure you that they are doomed to speedy oblivion because they are utterly lacking in inspiration. Their works are purely cerebral. But the great Nazarene, Jesus, knew that law also. And he proclaimed it in John 15, four, the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine. So atheists will never, excuse me, atheists. No, excuse me. 

No atheist has ever been or ever will be a great composer said Brahms said, no, no atheist has ever been or ever will be a great composer. This is why we're told we've been told that classical music is stupid or boring. It's the same reason that we were told that our founding fathers were deists and that America is not a great nation. Because if people knew the truth, it would lead to revival. It's all about keeping people in the dark. It's about keeping people in the dark. 

It's about keeping, and if there's anyone who's on the fence of feeling like Christianity is silly or whatever, it's like, oh yeah, no, like scientists. you're a dumb idiot. If you think creation, it's like what every single cultural force is to convince you to stay in the dark and to convince Christians that you're isolated. And September 10th ended that it ended it. And Charlie Kirk, if I may on classical music, he said, we do not listen to classical music enough in the West. Go back to the music that built our civilization. 

I would flip it. I would flip it. I'd say it's the principles of the West that built classical music, but either way, it's the demise of the West. that has resulted in the slop music that we have today. That's catchy, but that's it. If you told me a couple of weeks ago, let alone a couple of years ago, that the vice president of the United States. 

Okay. So you want to come at me like, ah, Slater, enough with the Christian stuff. Okay. I'm just telling you what time it is. 

Okay. That's all. 

I'm just telling you what time it is. 

If you told me that the vice president of the United States would be reciting the Nicene Creed while hosting one of the top podcasts in the world from the white house. Don't think I would have believed you. Now, the most important truth Charlie told is this, that long ago a man begotten, not made, came down from heaven and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man. For our sake, he was crucified under Pontius Pilate and suffered death and was buried and rose again on the third day. Charlie believed, as I do, that all the truth he told flowed from that fundamental principle. I'm just telling. 

I'm telling you what time it is. I'm just telling you. what country this is today. Earlier in the week we played a six -minute clip. It's my favorite Charlie Kirk clip. Six -minute clip where he talks about how we're obviously a Christian nation. We're obviously founded as a Christian nation. 

Twelve of the thirteen colonies had in their state constitutions a declaration of faith. If you wanted to hold a win an elected office or hold a appointed office. You needed to declare that Jesus Christ was Lord and you had to declare that the Holy Scriptures were written by God. That was 12 of the 13 colony constitutions. To serve in any elected office, you had to declare that Jesus was Lord. And now people want to come in and be like, I don't think we were a Christian nation. 

We're a bunch of deists. Stupidest, stupidest lie ever told. I want to play one part of this. 

Actually, I want to play two parts. But two parts, it's six minutes. I'm going to play the whole six minutes again. Uh, it's on my Twitter. It's like a radio, but let me just play these two. They say that God was only mentioned four times in the declaration of independence. 

Well, that's a big deal. Okay. Laws of nature and nature's God. The last paragraph of the declaration reads as a prayer. It says, we appeal to the Supreme judge of the universe. Who's the judge of the universe. 

Jesus Christ, as it says in revelation that Jesus will judge the earth on his throne. So in the declaration, they were praying to Christ, our Lord. as a prayer very specifically. Thirdly, as I said on stage yesterday, Deuteronomy was by far the most quoted book, religious or non -religious, in the time of the founding when they were putting together the Constitution. More than John Locke, more than Montesquieu, more than Blackstone. So the Book of Deuteronomy, which talked about laws, customs, traditions. 

It was Moses' farewell address as he's about to say goodbye. Say, hey, good luck in Canaan, guys. Here's how you should set up your form of government. But Finally, and most importantly, let's look at actually what the founders said. John Adams famously said, 

the Constitution was only written for a moral and religious people. It was wholly inadequate for the people of any other. The body politic of America was so Christian and was so Protestant that our form and structure of government was built for the people that believed in Christ our Lord. 

One of the reasons we're living through a constitutional crisis is that we no longer have a Christian nation, but we have a Christian form of government, and they're incompatible. 

So you cannot have liberty if you do not have a Christian population. So finally, finally we got the right diagnosis. So on Deuteronomy, uh, he's right. Deuteronomy appears in the writings of our founding fathers appears twice as often as John Locke. Why? Deuteronomy is about Moses, the pilgrims and the Puritans and our founding grandfathers believed that they were on, that they were engaging in a second great Exodus through the wilderness into the promised land. 

And Deuteronomy is also a book about how the Israelites are to set up a new nation, a new nation. The founders were also a bit curious. How should we start a new nation? We both fled a tyrant. We both crossed the Red Sea. We call it the Atlantic Ocean. 

We both met the Philistines and Moabites. We call them the natives. We're reliving the book of Deuteronomy in America. They knew it. There was a sermon that was delivered by a guy in Massachusetts, 1755. His name was Samuel Langdon. 

He was not just a guy. He was the president of Harvard at the time. And he was also on New Hampshire's constitutional ratifying convention. So he was engaged. He said the Jewish government, according to the original constitution, which was divinely established, Deuteronomy, was a perfect republic. The civil polity of Israel is doubtless an excellent general model. 

At least some principle laws and orders of it may be copied to great advantage in more modern establishments. " Roger Sherman, he was a part of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. He said, the civil polity of the Hebrews was planned by divine wisdom and is a commendable exemplar of our civil government. Isn't that amazing? Deuteronomy. Our founders also believed that the Bible was a source of what good citizenship means. 

Not only good systems of government, but a good citizen. Are you with me on the Homer Simpson meme? The Sherpa, like carrying him, like, like the atheists just like got Sherpa'd up the top of Mount Everest. And they're like, Oh, that was easy. I'm amazing. God doesn't exist. 

Like, Oh man, you got no clue. Deuteronomy 28. If you fully obey the Lord, this is, this is, so this is what our founding fathers new citizenship entailed. If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all of his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come to you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God. You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. 

And then second part of Deuteronomy 28 are all the curses for disobedience. Here's a good one, Exodus 18 21. Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe and place such men over the people. That's why John Adams knew that this is only possible with a moral and religious people. Men who feared God. 2 Samuel 23. 

This is the final words of David. I'm not going to read the whole thing. 2 Samuel 23. Go read the final words of David. And then a description of David's mighty men. And our founders knew that. 

They knew it in their bones. And they dedicated themselves to being. And the reason, and I said this earlier about Charlie Kirk, I talked to Charlie Kirk, the Turning Point USA faith director yesterday, and he said, Charlie Kirk was first and foremost a Christian, and that informed his love of country, that informed his love of all these other things that he then stood for. But Christian first, and the reason our founding fathers could speak so passionately about liberty was because they were Christian. They knew Galatians 5 .21, where they said, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath set us free. Liberty. 

They knew liberty because they knew Jesus. I want to do a quick aside, but I don't have time. I'll do the very short of it. Someone sent me a note the other day about three professors at Syracuse University, where I grew up, who sent horrific messages about Charlie Kirk's assassination, celebrating it. These three professors work at the Maxwell School for Citizenship. And here they are celebrating the death of a young man who was engaging in debate in the public square. 

And these are professors at the School of Citizenship. They have no idea what citizenship means. The rot is so... So here's my conclusion of this point. And then I'll get to the real clip of Charlie Kirk I wanted to play. Virtue and morality are necessary for free Republican government. 

Small, small, lowercase r. Okay, so virtue and morality are necessary for a free government. 

Religion is necessary for virtue and morality. Religion, therefore, is necessary for a Republican government. Our founders knew that. We've abandoned it. we wonder why things are off the rails. Here's the clip I wanted to play, Charlie. 

That's just a surface -level belief. So then they'll go to the First Amendment, which has two parts of the First Amendment which get conflated. First of all, separation of church and state is not in the U . S. Constitution. That is a single letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1807 to the Danbury Baptist Convention in Massachusetts, assuring them that the government would not come after the church. 

Okay, which is the opposite of what they would say. 

However, that was then resurrected by the Warren Court and the Burger Court in the 60s, where they said, hey, you know, all of a sudden we're now going to make this as if it's the Constitution. It does say in the Constitution two things, which is the establishment clause and the free expression clause. The establishment clause is that Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise thereof. What they were most worried about was a Presbyterian or a Anglican or a Quaker type religion taking over the federal government. Instead, it was that there is not going to be a state run religion or a state run government. Did you know that one of the first acts of Congress was taxpayer funded Bible printing and distribution? 

Did you know that there are church services held in the Supreme court building as late as the Jackson presidency in the 1820s? I did not know that. I did not know that. So because I'm curious, I looked that up. I wanted to, I wanted to see if that was true. Uh, especially the first part, the taxpayer funded Bible printing. 

Is that true? And I want to, real quick, I'm curious. I'm curious. You're curious. Unlike many, all the haters of Charlie Kirk, who are not curious enough to wonder what the full context is of the clip that they just saw. And they hear it. 

They see a clip of Charlie Kirk and they're not curious enough to be like, well, what, what was he, what was he trying to say? Or what's the context or what did he say a minute before or 10 seconds after I'm curious, I'm curious. I want to know more. They're not curious. They don't care. I am curious. 

I heard Charlie Kirk say that. I was like, oh, I've never heard that about Bible printing. Sure enough. Here's the backstory. In the 1770s, there was a shortage of Bible printing. coming from England. 

So three Presbyterian clergymen in 1777 petitioned the Continental Congress to get more Bibles. So there was a congressional inquiry into it. And they said, we got to import Bibles from other countries or we need to print them here. So in September 11th, 1777, a legislative committee recommended the importation of 20 ,000 Bibles from Holland, Scotland, and other European countries. Top priority from the very first Congress, a top priority. 

We got to get by. 

We got to get 20 ,000 Bibles from the rest of the world. 

We got to bring them in here. 

Top priority from our Congress. You know, the deist who don't really believe in God. Top priority from these founding fathers. And today we're like, ah, whatever. Who cares? Stupid book. 

I don't know. The shortage of Bibles got worse. So there was another congressional inquiry in 1780, and there was a printer in Philadelphia who said, I'll do it. I'll do it. I will produce a neat edition of the Holy Scriptures for the use of schools. 

Aitken was his name. 

A -I -T -K -E -N. And he said he went to Congress to ask for permission to print sacred scriptures, quote, under the authority of Congress. He finished it in September 1782. The congressional chaplains commended the great accuracy of his work, and they passed a resolution in Congress. The United States of the United States and Congress assembled highly approve the pious and laudable undertaking of Mr. Aitken as subservient to the interests of religion and being set. What religion? 

Buddhism. and being satisfied from the above report of his care and accuracy in the extension of the work, they, the Congress, recommend this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States. First top priority of our Founding Fathers. I'll end on these points. Benjamin Rush and John Adams were best friends. Benjamin Rush was the doctor of the Founding Fathers, and they wrote a lot of letters back and forth. 

And they wrote a lot about the moral decay of the United States. Benjamin Rush said, by renouncing the Bible, philosophers swing from their moorings upon all moral subjects. This is Benjamin Rush in the early 1800s saying, Oh man, people today, they're not grounded in truth. They're swinging all over the place. Any topic of morality, they're just making it up. Exactly what we talked about in the last hour. 

That was Benjamin Rush. He said, it is the only correct map, the Bible is the only correct map of the human heart that has ever been published. The Bible contains a faithful representation of all of its follies, vices, and crimes. All systems of religion, morals, and government not founded upon the Bible must perish. And how consoling the thought. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 

John Adams wrote back, the Bible contains the most profound philosophy, the most perfect morality, the most refined policy that has ever been conceived upon earth. It is the most Republican book in the world, and therefore I will still revere it. Without national morality, Christianity, a Republican government cannot be maintained. Do we think we're smarter than these men? Do we think we're wiser? Do you think they thought we could not create a country or maintain a country without it being a Christian country? 

Yet here we are. We think we're better. We think we can, we think we can make a country. We think we can improve a country without the foundation they built it on. And we think we can save it. country without getting back to that foundation? 

David Ramsey was in the Continental Congress. He said, remember that there could be no political happiness without liberty, and there could be no liberty without morality, and there could be no morality without religion. Benjamin Rush, 1786, he said, without religion, there could be no virtue. Without virtue, there could be no liberty, and liberty is the object in life of the Republican governments. In conclusion, people say we have a constitutional crisis. Sure, maybe. 

But the reason we have a constitutional crisis is because we have a Christianity crisis. 

Because the constitution was built for a Christian population. If you've made it this far and you're not a Christian, congratulations, you can do whatever you want. Do whatever you want. Does America need to be 100 % Christian in order to survive? 90 %? 80 %? 

70? How low can we go? How many righteous people need to be left? 10? God, 10 people? How low can we go? 

I think we're testing the limits right now. Why are they so threatened by me coming up there for three hours? Open mic. So let me get this straight. Washington State University gets them for four years. I might get some of them for three hours because they know that I, in three hours, can undo the damage of four years of garbage.  one sentence, one question, one truth claim. And that's why they have to try so hard to not let me speak.

I came across this poem the other day, and it may be helpful to you in a time of grief. 

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. This is the third time I've recorded, and I've never, I've never taken two takes on this podcast. This is the third time I've had to do a take here. I just recorded this episode reading a poem that I thought would be helpful to a lot of different people in a lot of different circumstances. Whether you've experienced a horrible loss in your life, I think about this from the perspective of Charlie's parents. 

I think about this from his wife's, his wife, his children's perspective one day, Charlie Kirk, of course. We have this memorial service coming up on Sunday, and I pray that it is beautiful. I pray that God speaks through everyone who is speaking there and that the people there who are speaking say what God wants them to say and what this country needs to hear. I pray it sparks a revival. I pray this Sunday is a beautiful event and good. Before we read this poem, I want to play this clip here of A man, Frank Turek. 

I didn't know this, but Frank Turek is the author of a book that someone gave me that early in my becoming a Christian called, I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. It's my favorite apologetics book I ever read. It's the first one I ever read. And it's amazing. And I've given it to a lot of people. And it's amazing book. 

I don't have enough faith to be an atheist. And he was amazing friends with Charlie Kirk. He was actually standing right next to Charlie Kirk when he got shot. He was the man in the white hat who people are like, oh, he's making a hand signal to. No, this is Frank Turek. He's an amazing man and apologetics assist. 

And as you hear here, a wonderful father, like figure to Charlie Kirk. I want to play what he said first about Charlie's final moments and then go into this poem. 

Now, Here's what Erica wants me to relate on Sunday. This is going to be the hard part, but maybe also the comforting part. Charlie Kirk was literally like a son to me. I have three sons. He was like my fourth son. My three sons are a little bit older than Charlie. He was like my fourth son. 

So when he was hit, if your son got hit, what would you do? What would you do? I got in the car. Because if there was any way I could save him, I had to do something. I couldn't just take him. You guys got it. 

So I They got him into the side of the car. It was an SUV. It was the SUV we took over. And I'm on one side, and there's actually some video. There's somebody who's taking video of this. I'm on one side of the car, the right side, and they're getting Charlie in. 

So I run over to the other side, but the guy who was dragging him in is now blocking that entrance. So at that point, I run around to the back. I pop the top, the back gate open, and I jump in the back. The car lurches forward. Apparently, somebody jumped in the car. So the car lurches forward. 

So I almost fall out of the car. or the SUV. Then I grabbed the thing and close it. And there's five of us in the car now. Justin is driving. Dan is up front with the GPS. 

Rick has got him. Rick's on my left. And Brian is there. And I'm coming over the back seat. And Charlie's laid out in front, just right in front of me. And Charlie's so tall, we can't close the door. 

We drove four miles, I don't know, it's four something miles, all the way to the hospital with the door open. To this day, I don't know how Brian stayed in the car because we're just go, go, go. 

go, go. 

We're trying to stop the bleeding, you saw it. And I'm yelling, come on, Charlie, come on, come on. Meanwhile, my phone is still on. My son and daughter -in -law are hearing this whole thing. And his security team, again, Justin, Dan, Brian, and Rick, they love Charlie, but they're much cooler than I. I mean, they're just carrying out, they're calmly, but they're swiftly doing exactly what they were trained to do. 

Rick starts praying out loud. I'm praying out loud. We're yelling, come on, let's go, let's go, let's go. My son's hearing all this, and we're doing the best we can to navigate traffic. This is not a highway, we're on surface streets. And suddenly there's an ambulance coming toward us. 

And there was conversation in the car, should we stop? We're like, no, no, just keep going, just keep going. The doctor later said that was the right thing to do. Ambulance goes by us. We're still heading to the hospital trying to get there. At one point, somebody says, let's get there in one piece because we're just we're cutting through intersections. 

You know, we're just beeping the horn. This is not an emergency vehicle. There's no there's no lights. There's none of this. And I go, we've got to start CPR. So I try and start that. 

Now, he wasn't there. 

His eyes were fixed. He wasn't looking at me. He was looking past me right into eternity. He was with Jesus already. He was killed instantly and felt absolutely no pain. That's what I was told later. 

But of course, we had to try. By the way, there was just nothing, nothing any of us could do about it. We were giving him CPR, but nothing was happening. It wasn't like if we had better first aid or we had better medical facilities or we're faster to the hospital, we could have saved him. We couldn't. So if that's any comfort at all, Charlie didn't suffer. 

He was gone. He was with Jesus absent from the body present with the Lord. That's where he was. Now it is true. When we got to the hospital, And they started working on him right away. They did get a pulse back. 

And so Rick and I were just everyone's praying. We're just praying for a miracle. We had a we had a small sliver of hope. And the doctor later said that we got a pulse because Charlie was a very healthy man. But the shot was catastrophic. So 20 or 30 minutes later, the surgeon came out and said he was dead. 

Can't wait to hear what he's going to say on Sunday. Now I want to play this poem that I already recorded and it's about heaven. So I've recorded this poem and then right afterwards, my producer sent me this, that clip you just heard right there. And I was like, Oh, I got it. I got to put this in the beginning. So here is a poem about heaven. 

It's a poem by John Pierpont. He's a poet 150 years ago or so. It's called My Child. He says, I cannot make him dead. His fair sunshiny head is ever bounding round my study chair. He's always running around me. 

Yet, when my eyes now dim with tears, I turn to him. The vision vanishes. He's not there. I walk my parlor floor, and through the open door, I hear a footfall on the chamber stair. 

I hear him. 

I'm stepping towards the hall to give the boy a call, and then bethink me that he's not there. I tread the crowded street. A satcheled lad I meet, with the same beaming eyes and colored hair. And as he's running by, I follow him with my eye, scarcely believing that he's not there. I know, I know, his face is hid. Under the coffin lid. 

Closed are his eyes. Cold is his forehead fair. My hand that marble felt. O 'er it in prayer I knelt. Yet my heart whispers that he's not there. Quick pause, I'm halfway through. 

Nothing's really been said. I haven't heard anything said about Charlie Kirk's parents. So they're thinking that of their child. They have their emotions. This is from Erica's perspective, thinking of her children that now don't have a dad. And you've gone through heartache. 

This may be super relevant to your life right now as well and maybe what you need to hear. The poet says, I cannot make him dead when passing by the bed. So long watched over with parental care, my spirit and my eye seek it inquiringly before the thought comes that he is not there. When at the cool gray break of day from sleep I wake with my first breathing of the morning air, my soul up with joy to him who gave my boy then comes the sad thought that he is not there oh my goodness I don't know which of these is more heartbreaking when at the day's calm close before we seek repose I'm with his mother offering up our prayer whatever I may be saying I am in spirit praying for our boy's spirit though he's not there not there where then is he can we please have a turn in this poem not there where then is he The form I used to see was but the raiment that he used to wear. Clothes, they're just clothes. 

Raiment's just clothing. So the form, the thing that I see that I can't stop seeing running around, jump around me, climb up the stairs, whatever. The thing I can't not see, the thing I can't unsee is just clothes that he used to wear. The grave that now doth press upon that cast off dress is but his wardrobe locked. He is not there. He lives. 

In all the past he lives, in all my memories, nor to the last of seeing him again will I despair. In dreams I see him now, and on his angel brow I see it written, thou shalt see me there. Yes, we all live to God. Father, thy chastening rod, so help us, thine afflicted ones, help us to bear that in the spirit land, meeting at thy right hand, t 'will be our heaven to find that he is there. John Pierpont. my child, I can't wait to go to heaven one day too. 

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

I came across this poem the other day, and it may be helpful to you in a time of grief. 

I'm adding a short little intro here to the normal intro we normally do. I'm about to read a poem here. It's way sadder. There's moments of it that are way sadder than I even thought. So I just want to give a little emotional warning before this episode. Just brace yourself, prepare yourself. 

There is a turn in the poem, so it ends up joyful, but in the beginning, it could be difficult. Okay, now to the regularly scheduled podcast. Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thank you for being here. This Sunday is the memorial service for Charlie Kirk. I pray it is a beautiful service and moving and Holy Spirit led and sparks a revival and that God speaks through everyone who is speaking there and what needs to be said is said and heard by the American people. 

I came across this poem two days ago. There's a lot of things in here that I think are relevant. It depends where your perspective is exactly, but I think it can help a lot of people in a lot of different ways. It's a poem by John Pierpont, who's a poet 150 years ago or so. It's called My Child. He says, I cannot make him dead. 

His fair sunshiny head is ever bounding round my study chair. He's always running around me. Yet when my eyes now dim with tears, I turn to him, the vision vanishes. He's not there. I walk my parlor floor and through the open door, I hear a footfall on the chamber stair. I'm stepping towards the hall to give the boy a call and then be thanked. 

me that he's not there. I tread the crowded street, a satcheled lad I meet, with the same beaming eyes and colored hair. And as he's running by, I follow him with my eye, scarcely believing that he's not there. I know, I know, his face is hid under the coffin lid. Closed are his eyes. Cold is his forehead fair. 

My hand that marble felt. O 'er it in prayer I knelt, yet my heart whispers that he's not there. Quick pause, I'm halfway through. Nothing's really been said. I haven't heard anything said about Charlie Kirk's parents. So they're just thinking that of their child. 

They have their emotions. This is from Erica's perspective, thinking of her children that now don't have a dad. And you've gone through heartache. This may be super relevant to your life right now as well, and maybe what you need to hear. The poet says, I cannot make him dead when passing by the bed, so long watched over with parental care, my spirit and my eye. Seek it inquiringly before the thought comes that he is not there. 

When at the cool gray break of day from sleep I wake, with my first breathing of the morning air, my soul goes up with joy to him who gave my boy. Then comes the sad thought that he is not there. Oh my goodness. I don't know which of these is more heartbreaking. When at the day's calm close, before we seek repose, I'm with his mother offering up our prayer. Whatever I may be saying, I am in spirit praying for our boy's spirit, though he's not there. 

" Not there. Where then is he? Can we please have a turn in this poem? Not there. Where then is he? The form I used to see was but the raiment that he used to wear. 

Clothes. There's clothes. Raiment's just clothing. So the form, the thing that I see that I can't stop seeing, running around, jump around me, climb up the stairs. The thing I can't not see, the thing I can't unsee is just clothes that he used to wear. The grave that now doth press upon that cast -off dress is but his wardrobe locked. 

He is not there. He lives. In all the past, he lives. In all my memories, nor to the last of seeing him again will I despair. In dreams I see him now, and on his angel brow I see it written, thou shalt see me there. Yes, we all live to God. 

Father, thy chastening rod, so help us, thine afflicted ones, help us to bear that in the spirit land, meeting at thy right hand, t 'will be our heaven to find that he is there. John Pierpont, my child. I can't wait to go to heaven one day too. Mike Slater dot locals dot com. Transcript commercial free on the website. Mike Slater dot locals dot com.