MikeSlater
Politics • Spirituality/Belief • Culture
Christian, Husband, Dad...Radio/TV host.
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September 26, 2025

On Christian Martyrs

Good day Brother Slater,

Semen est sanguis Christianorum.
(The blood of Christians is the seed of the Church)
Tertullian 160-230 AD, Apologeticum, 50
https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14520c.htm

V. Pretiósa in conspéctu Dómini.
Precious in the sight of the Lord

R. Mors Sanctórum eius.
Is the death of His Saints.
Psalm 115:15 (116)

List of Christian Martyrs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_martyrs

Your attendance to Christian Martrys, in light of the murder of Charlie Kirk, is timely and kudos for your focus in this most virtuous of Deeds before God.
May God Bless you for your good work to illumine this vital matter for Christian Souls!

And I saw seats. And they sat upon them: and judgment was given unto them. And the souls of them that were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God and who had not adored the beast nor his image nor received his character on their foreheads or in their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:4

2.—Constancy of the Martyrs
Is 44:5; 2 M 7:2; Je 26:14–15; Ap 6:9–10; Is 26:19; Lu 12:8–9; Jn 12:24–25. W 3:4–5; Ap 7:14.

3.—Words of the Seven Machabean Brothers to Antiochus: their Mother’s words of encouragement
1.—St. Machabee. 2 M 7:2, 6
2.—St. Abel. 2 M 7:8–9, 9
3.—St. Machir. 2 M 7:11
4.—St. Judas. 2 M 7:14
5.—St. Achaz. 2 M 7:16–17
6.—St. Abeth. 2 M 7:18–29
7.—St. Jacob. 2 M 7:30–38
8.—St. Salome.

(1) Her words to her seven sons. 2 M 7:22–23
(2) Her words to Jacob, her youngest son. 2 M 7:27–29.
Rev. Vaughan, Kenelm, The Divine Armory of Holy Scripture 1894 471-473.
N.B. Heb 11:35 allusion to 2 Macc 6:18–7:42
http://www.handsonapologetics.com/50%20%20COMMENTARIES.pdf

Jesus Christ Mk 8:31 See also Isa 53:10

Jesus Christ’s life is given as a ransom for believers Mt 20:28 p.p. Mk 10:45 See also Lk 9:22; Jn 10:11; Ac 2:23

Examples of martyrdom
Abel Ge 4:8; Mt 23:35 p.p. Lk 11:51; Heb 11:4; 12:24; 1Jn 3:12
Zechariah 2Ch 24:20-21; Lk 11:51
John the Baptist Mt 14:10-12 p.p. Mk 6:27-29
Stephen Ac 7:58; 22:20 Stephen is the first martyr of the Christian church.
James Ac 12:2
Peter Jn 21:18-19
Antipas Rev 2:13

Unnamed martyrs 1Ki 19:10; Ro 11:3; Ne 9:26; Mt 23:30-34; Lk 11:47-49; Ac 7:52; Ro 8:35-36; Heb 11:35,37; Jas 5:6; Rev 11:7; 13:15; 16:6; 17:6;
Prophets slain by Jezebel, 1 Kin. 18:4, 13
The prophets, Matt. 22:6; 23:35; Rom. 11:3; 1 Thess. 2:15; Heb. 11:32–37.

Martyrdom must be recognized as a possibility for all believers
Lk 21:16 See also Mt 10:21 pp Mk 13:12; Mt 24:9; Jn 16:2; 21:18-19

Holy Mother Church has accorded Right Reverence for Christ Jesus’ Martyrs and has always commended pious Devotion to the most Beloved of God’s Faithful, dutifully keeping the lives, faith, and works of the Martyrs in veneration in prayer, Liturgical, corporately and privately, Clergy and Laity.

For some, a less in-the-moment piety to the Seed of Christian Faith, Christ Jesus’ Martyrs - dilectus Deo - following Ss John the Baptist and Stephen - protomartyr and First Christian Martyr - we recall, consider, and revere Holy Mother Church’s Martyrology on a regular - some (Clergy, Religious, and some Laity) on a daily - basis. Over the course of time, we learn of the great many Martyrs and are astounded at thier Witness to the Truine God and God’s Incarnation, Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.

The Roman Martyrology - Alphabetical Index

4,441; 2919 Martyrs; 287 Virgins; 5 centurions; 9 boys; 14 anchorets; 26 Prophets, 104 Doctors; 69 Soldiers; 9 subdeacons; 2 Deacons; 172 Priests; 114 Abbots; 943 Bishops; 398 Cardinals; 86 Popes

https://www.ecatholic2000.com/roman-martyrology/alphabet.shtml

AT Nicomedia, the birthday of the holy martyrs Cyprian, and Justina, virgin. Under the emperor Diocletian and the governor Eutholmius. Justina suffered much for the faith of Christ and converted Cyprian, who, while a magician, endeavored to bring her under the influence of his magical practices. She afterwards suffered martyrdom with him. Their bodies being exposed to the beasts, were taken away in the night by some Christian sailors, and carried to Rome. They were subsequently taken into the Constantinian basilica, and deposited near the baptistery.—At Rome, the holy martyr Callistratus, and forty-nine other soldiers, who endured martyrdorn together, in the persecution of Diocletian. The companions of Callistratus were converted to Christ on seeing him miraculously delivered from drowning in the sea, where he had been thrown sewed up in a bag.—Also, at Rome, pope St. Eusebius.—At Bologna, St. Eusebius, bishop and confessor.—At Brescia, St. Vigilius, bishop.—At Albano, St. Senator.—In the territory of Frascati, the blessed abbot Nilus, founder of the monastery of Crypta Ferrata, a man of eminent sanctity.—At Citta di Castello, St. Amantius, a priest distinguished for the gift of miracles.

And elsewhere many other holy martyrs, confessors and holy virgins.
Thanks be to God.

https://roman-martyrology.brandt.id.au/martyrs/09-26.html

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

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

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

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

This causes these progressive politicians to get even more entrenched.

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

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

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

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

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

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Politics by Faith: Parkland and the Death Penalty

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

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

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

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

Politics by Faith: Parkland and the Death Penalty
September 23, 2025

Thanks, Brother Slater, for this edification. Great contemplation exercise to consider how we oft incorporate this attributive defect in our confirmation-biased-weakened Will & Intellect.
Calumny & Detraction.

Pax Christi in regno Christi

post photo preview
September 23, 2025

Pre & Post Americana historical tidbit of the day: Spain’s European Catholic Colonial influence in the Americas

Lost Footnotes in History: Why Texas Was Once Called New Philippines
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https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/new-philippines-a00304-20200614

The Legacy of Spanish Texas: Exploration, Missions, and Cultural Impact
Texas State Historical Association
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/spanish-texas

September 19, 2025

On your Show this morning, Mr. Slater, you mentioned your admiration in recently discovered Mr. Mortimer J. Alder (R.I.P.), Editor of Britannica and The Great Ideas Syntopicon. You were incredulous that you had never before heard of Mr. Adler.
I’ve been an admirer of Mr. Adler since my 1983 purchase of that year’s Britannica and Great Works of the Western World in my first year in the Army, in the Federal Republic of Germany during the Cold War, Protestant (Baptist) Democrat then, like everyone from Harlem (born) and the South Bronx (raised).
You stated that Mortimer Alder was a “Conservative Christian”. The fact is, Mr. Alder was a lifelong Agnostic until 1984, at which time he entered the Episcopal Sect of Protestantism. However, when Mr. Adler was 97 years old, two years before his death, he entered The Catholic Church by Bishop Pierre DuMaine, after the 1998 death of Mrs. Alder who some posit was his impediment to an earlier conversion.

Thank you for your good work, Brother.

“To be deep ...

Keep Bad Bunny Out Of Your Home
Politics By Faith, September 29, 2025

Bad Bunny will be performing at the Super Bowl halftime show. He's one of the most-streamed artists in America. He's awful and nothing he creates should be allowed in your home or in your kids' brains.

Welcome to politics by faith thanks for being here just want to mention briefly here bad bunny just got news that bad bunny will be performing at the halftime of the super bowl it's noteworthy for a couple reasons first he said he would never perform in america again because of trump and ice he said honestly i can't risk the safety of my fans like that mainland america just doesn't feel necessary to me anymore he's from puerto rico so he says mainland america so he's concerned that ice would be at his concerts which i've never heard of ice ever doing but wouldn't be a bad idea but he's concerned ice is going to be there and round up all of his fans uh but then he said in this commercial i've been thinking about it these days and after talking with my team i think i'll do just one more date in the united states have you heard of bad bunny He is the third, what a ridiculous name by the way, Bad Bunny. He's the third most streamed artist last year behind Taylor Swift and The Weeknd. He was number two the year before that. And in the year 2020, 2021, 2022, he was the most streamed artist in the world. That's crazy. I've never heard a song of his. 

I don't think I have. And there's a lot of people on the internet who are acting like Bad Bunny is satanic. And of course he is. You're either of God or of Satan. John841. Jesus says, you are of your father the devil and your will is to do your father's desires. 

He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there's no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies. And first John 3 10 says, by this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God. nor is the one who does not love his brother. You have to cut it all off. 

All of it. 

All the pop music. Be serious. Be serious. Your kids are desperate to be protected from this. Act like it is life or death. Your kid's souls are on the line. 

Why? Hand any of your child's soul over to these people who hate you. Your kids don't know better. You do. Keep them away from this. Give them something else good. 

because this stuff is so wicked. We are so numb, so numb to how off we are. I think this is the biggest, I don't know what else could be worse. I'm open to suggestions, but I think this is the biggest hurdle impediment for people repenting and getting saved is they don't think they're that bad. Like, oh, it's not, yeah, it's not that bad. No, it's really, you're really bad. 

You're in a really, really bad spot. This is all really bad. You're really bad. I'm really bad. We're all really horribly, awfully bad, like indescribably bad. Here's the problem. 

If you were walking down the sidewalk and I handed you a lifeguard buoy, flotation device, you know, like those long red foam things that lifeguards... If you're walking down the street and I handed you that, you would say, uh, okay, uh, I don't, I don't need this. I'm just, I was walking down the sidewalk. What's what's going on. But if you were drowning in the ocean and I threw one, you'd be pretty darn grateful. People are living their lives like they're just walking down the sidewalk. 

And then we throw Jesus at them and they're like, well, I don't, I don't need this. 

I'm fine. 

Everything's good. 

What people need to realize is they're drowning. They're drowning in the ocean. Then and only then will the good news mean anything. I think, this is my experience, is our culture doesn't do anything with the bad news. And if you don't highlight the bad news, if you don't understand the bad news, then the good news doesn't hit you as good. So what's the bad news? 

The bad news is all have sinned. All are sinners by our very nature. Romans 3 .23, there is no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All. Only by faith are you justified. Justified means as if you have not sinned. 

And grace means you get what you don't deserve. So mercy means you don't get what you deserve. Grace is, you get what you don't deserve. See the difference? So you don't deserve grace, but you get it. Unmerited favor for us all, sinners. 

You deserve hell because of your sins. But by God's grace, you get something you don't deserve. You get heaven. And you don't get God's wrath. Romans 5, verse 1. the opening line, it says, since we have been justified by faith, you have peace with God. 

It's just so interesting. Not peace of God. You don't have the peace of God. You know, people think of, oh, the peace of God. Oh, peace of mind. And that's true. 

That's a thing. Peace of God. That's great. That's not what this is. This is the peace. You get peace with God. 

With God. 

What do you mean? Because the day of wrath, if you're not saved, is not peaceful. All we hear about in our culture, if you ever hear anything about God, is how God is love. And that's totally true. But what is love? When people hear that, oh, God is love means I can do whatever I want. 

No, no, of course not. It's not loving to let your two -year -old run into the middle of the road just because he wants to. Of course not. No parent would do that. And our heavenly father doesn't want us to do that. The equivalent of that. 

It's not love to let people do whatever they want. So you have to define love, but also God is just. Psalm 711, God is a righteous judge and a God who feels indignation every day. That's a great word, indignation. So I went to the Noah Webster's dictionary, 1828. It's the best dictionary. 

It's the only dictionary you gotta go to. It's Webster's Dictionary, 1828 . com. And I looked up indignation. Anger or extreme anger. Mingled with contempt, disgust, or abhorrence. 

The anger of a superior. Extreme anger, particularly the wrath of God against sinful men for their ingratitude and rebellion. You know, Webster always went back and gave Bible verses whenever possible to every definition. And he cited 2 Kings 3 .27. Well, what in the world happened there? So here's what it says. 

Then he took his eldest son. This is the king. The king took his eldest son who was to reign in his place and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great indignation against Israel. " So the king murdered his son to the false god Shemash, the false god of the Moabites. You can imagine God being pretty angry at that. 

But God wasn't just angry one time thousands of years ago. 

He feels indignation every day. 

At who? Us. Romans 118, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Everything in our culture is unrighteous. Nearly every single thing of it. You name it. 

One last bad news, then we'll get to the good news. This is Romans 5, 10. For if we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. How much more that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life? You were an enemy of God. You were an enemy of God and Jesus Christ still saved you. 

What did he save you from? What did Jesus save you from? How about that too? So first people think they don't need saving, but then the question is, okay, fine, I do need saving, but from what? We don't make that clear. We don't make it clear that you need to be saved. 

Be like, Oh, I'm just walking down the sidewalk. I don't need a lifeguard buoy. What are you doing here? Okay. People don't know that they need saving. And then once they're like, you know what? 

I'm drowning here. I'm drowning. I need saving. It's like, Oh, really? You're just like sad or depressed or you're feeling away that nets. And that's great. 

Like Jesus. So that's a good, but you know, you need to really understand that you need saving, not from like bad times in your life. Although you do, we all do, but you really need saving from God's wrath. That's what you're being saved from. If you don't know that you're an enemy to God and therefore sentenced to eternal damnation to experience the wrath of God for all of eternity, then I don't know if the good news seems that good. 

What do you fear the most? People fear man. That's not man. 

You need to fear the most. 

Some people say it's Satan. 

I feel Satan. No, you don't. You don't need to fear Satan. God. The greatest enemy is God. Matthew 10, 28. 

Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. are not two sparrows sold for a penny, and not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father. And even the hairs on your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, you are more valuable than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge before my father who's in heaven. 

But whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my father who's in heaven. " You do not want Jesus to deny you before God, because God is the one who in his just and righteous judgment will send you to hell. Our modern culture today has made everyone think that God loves them no matter what. God loves you. God loves you no matter what. Let me quote John MacArthur. 

He says, the truth is this. God is our worst enemy, our ever present deadly danger, our eternal judge and executioner who will destroy both body and soul in hell. This is what is meant by the fear of God, right? What is the fear of God? The fear of God is the beginning of what? Beginning of wisdom. 

The fear of God. When people hear the fear of God, we've been told that it means awe. or reverence like an awe of god oh you have an awe of god and it does it can mean that too to have an on that's good you should have that but it also means fear. The fear of the Lord means fear. Proverbs 14 27, the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death. 

What do they mean fear? What does fear mean? It means fear. So you better get right with them. And the way to get right is to have faith in Jesus. And once you do, you are justified and now you will have peace with God. 

I think All Christians should work on having a good 60 second or whatever amount of time, but like pretty quick description of the gospel. And there's a lot of different ways to do it, but however exactly you word it, whatever you're most comfortable with, it has to weave in there that we are sinners, profound sinners, and we can only be saved through Jesus. Jesus died for your sin, the just for the unjust. God imputes, so he places our sinfulness to Jesus. Christ dies, then is raised from the dead. But not only that, the righteousness. 

Christ is given to you. So Jesus takes your sins, you get his righteousness. We're not born better, we're born again. And all of those who come to Jesus, everyone who places their faith in Christ, will be saved and sanctified. So that you're not just saved from the penalty of sin, that'd be one thing, but one day our bodies will be glorified with Jesus and we'll live forever with him in heaven. You cannot inherit the kingdom of God. 

You cannot do it. Jesus did it for you. And because we're saved, now we can go do amazing works. Because you're saved. The works won't save you, but because you are saved, let's get to work. Martin Luther has a famous line, he said, God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does. 

Jesus already accomplished everything necessary for your salvation. You are set free for the need to justify yourself to God to go to heaven. It's done. No matter what you do. And out of gratitude for that reality, Fully recognizing what we deserved and where we were going with, like, the good news is now the greatest thing imaginable. And out of that gratitude, we can work to serve our neighbors. 

Knowing that, knowing the importance of this, the beauty of it, the severity of it, why would we allow any filth into our lives and into our homes and into our kids' hearts? Even if it's a part of the Super Bowl halftime show.  MikeSlater . Locals . com. Transcript commercial free on the website, MikeSlater .

 

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September 25, 2025
It Is Hard To Kick Against The Pricks
Politics By Faith, September 25, 2025

I've never heard this line before in the Bible, but in this time of revival, I pray that more people come to realize it's true.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. I've got a couple of random things I want to share. First of all, I'm reading this book called Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers. Daniel Driesbach, D -R -E -I -S -B -A -C -H. I'm only on page 35, but it is awesome. 

I have so many things underlined here. It's ridiculous. Let me just quote this right here. This is all about how the Bible was used in schools and how it was the most important book in colonial America. It says here, some colonial laws even required households to possess a copy of the Bible. A Connecticut colonial law instructed the selectmen from time to time to make diligent inquiry of all households, how they are furnished with Bibles. 

And if upon such inquiry, any householder be found without one Bible at least, then the selectmen shall warn the said householder forthwith to procure one Bible at least for the use and benefit of their families respectively. Such laws were about promoting moral instruction and literacy among the youth, In addition to nurturing the spiritual improvement of citizens. Isn't that amazing? It was a law that you had to own a Bible in colonial America. And we're told that America is not a Christian country. The biggest, one of the biggest lies we've ever been told is that we are not a Christian nation. 

We're never one. And our founders weren't Christian and all this total absolute abject lie. We need to get back to our founding. We talked on the SiriusXM show today with Frank Turek, Dr. Frank Turek. He wrote a book that someone gave to me, a friend of mine gave to me about 14 years ago. It's called, I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. 

And it was the most pivotal book that I ever read towards me becoming a Christian. There are tons of people, tons of influences, tons of other things, but book, this is the one. And Frank Turek also was Charlie Kirk's mentor. He was standing right next to Charlie when he was assassinated. We talked to him today and I'll get the audio and we can put it here in the podcast version as well. 

Just want to mention that. Two books to buy, Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, and Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers, Daniel Driesbach. All right, here's the other random thing I wanted to share today. Someone sent me this note, Dave. He said, hey Slater, truly appreciate the way you have navigated our political discourse with frequent references to the great thinkers, including the greatest thinker of all, Jesus Christ. I would like to humbly suggest a song that you could weave into your broadcast or podcast. 

Here we are, Dave. So people will further understand the gravity of the situation facing us, not just today, but in eternity. The song is by Johnny Cash, The Man Comes Around. It certainly helped wake me up years ago. Spread the word, Dave. I've never heard this song before. 

And unfortunately, we can't play it here. It's called Johnny Cash. The man comes around. You should listen to it. It's classic cash and has a line here that really struck me and stood out to me. And I got to listen to it a few more times to see what else stands out. 

But this one in particular, this song is about the second coming of Jesus. He was 70 years old when he recorded it. Here's the stanza. Here are the trumpets. Here are the pipers. One hundred million angels singing. 

Multitudes are marching to the big kettle drum. Voices calling, voices crying. Some are born and some are dying. It's Alpha and Omega's kingdom come and the whirlwind is in the thorn tree. The virgins are all trimming their wicks. The whirlwind is in the thorn tree. 

Here's the line. It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks. That line stood out to me because I understood the other biblical references in that stanza, but where did he get that? hard for thee to kick against the pricks. So that one, I had to give that one a search. And sure enough, it's in the Bible. 

Here's the story. It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks. I like want to make a bumper sticker about this. I love this line. So it's an old Greek proverb. So here's the, you got an old, uh, ox goad, this long stick. 

It was this eight foot long stick with a metal point at the end. And you would poke the ox with it to guide them. And let's get going. And it would also have a flat end on it so that you could use it to push the dirt off the plow if needed. The ox goad is mentioned a couple of times in the Bible. First Judges 3 .31, Shamgar killed 600 Philistines using only an ox goad. 

So it could be a weapon too. Ecclesiastes 12 .11, the words of the wise are like goads and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings. So good things, like a nail firmly hit into what it needs to go. They are given by one shepherd, meaning the words of God pricks the heart of the sinner. Like the sharp end of the goad would prick the ox. And the good shepherd uses the word of God to prick our conscience and drive us to repentance and drive us to Jesus. 

It's what a good shepherd does. It's what all preachers should be doing as well. I will know that we are in a true revival when preachers start preaching on sin. and hell and how you are going there unless you get right with God today. Now some people don't like the ox goad. Frank Turk said today that one of the major reasons why people don't want to become Christian is because it means they'll have to change their life. 

And it was Milton in Paradise Lost. It's describing how Satan fell. It's a beautiful made up story, but it's a beautiful story, poem. And Satan said, it's better to reign in hell than it is to serve in heaven. People really believe that. They'd rather have their life be awful, but at least they're in charge of it. 

At least they're in control. At least I'm the boss of it. even though it's awful by every objective measurement imaginable. But at least I'm the one in charge, rather than be a slave to Jesus. Most people make that choice. So you got Jesus talking to Saul here. 

This is the third mention of goad, sort of. Doesn't use the word, but when an ox is pricked, he doesn't like it. So he'll often kick back at the goad. And this is the translation in the King James Version. Only the King James Version has this exact translation. So here it is. 

So Saul's on the road to Damascus. He's ready to go kill more Christians. Suddenly there shined around him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecuteth. 

It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Quoting Johnny Cash. No, no, the other way around, Johnny Cash. Quoting Jesus. Amazing line. It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 

What does that mean? If you're an ox and you're going the wrong way. and the farmer pokes you with the sharp end of an ox goat and you get mad and you kick him back, your foot only gets pierced even more and harder than before. You only suffer even more. If you reject God, you will only suffer even more now in this life and for eternity. Jesus told Paul, it is hard for you. 

to kick against the pricks, the sharp end of the goad. Knock it off. Stop your rebellion against God. Stop your rebellion against me. It is foolish for you. It is as foolish for you to do this as it is for an ox to kick the sharp end of the goad. 

Just let Jesus steer your life. He knows he is the way and he knows the right way. Solomon said stern discipline awaits him who leaves the path. It's Proverbs 15, 10. You're going to get the goad. Proverbs 13, 15 says the way of the unfaithful is hard. 

Jesus said it is hard for you, Paul, to kick against the pricks. 

So stop. 

Just surrender. Surrender. Stop making life so much harder for yourself. Again, Milton, in Paradise Lost, Satan said it's better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. No, no, no. It is way better to be a slave to Jesus. 

Because Jesus said, my yoke, you know what ox used to used to wear, you put two ox next to each other, you put a yoke, wood on top of them to keep them together. My yoke is easy. My burden is light. Stop. kicking against pricks. Slater Radio on Twitter and Instagram, mikeslater . 

locals . com is the website where we have commercial, no commercials, commercial free, and the transcript up on the website, mikeslater .

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September 23, 2025
Charlie Kirk: Forgiveness and Justice
Politics By Faith, September 23, 2025

The Christian is called to forgive. The state is called to enact justice. God gives judgment.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here.  Spent some time on the show today talking about Erika Kirk and her incredible forgiveness of the man who assassinated her husband and that her Christian obligation to do that. But some people are like, well, hold on. How can you like what Erika Kirk did and also what Stephen Miller said when he was up there? Because Stephen Miller's up there talking about the need to go after our enemies. Well, it's very simple. Erika Kirk, as a widow, has a Christian obligation to forgive her husband's assassin. 

Stephen Miller, as a representative of the government, his role, the government's role, God ordained, is to wield the sword of justice to destroy our enemies. Erika Kirk gave grace. The government punishes evil, and God is the ultimate judge for eternity. So there's three aspects here. You have individual forgiveness. You have government justice, and God judgment. 

What Satan did these last few decades is he took the scripture, don't judge. And the leftists have turned that to tell Christians to turn off their radars to evil. Christians had this superpower, this ability to be able to discriminate between good and evil. It's what we did best. And then the left came in and said, no, no, no, no, no, no. You're not allowed to judge. 

Godless heathens came in and said, no, you can't judge God. Only God can judge. People who don't believe in God. said only God can judge. And Christians are like, oh, I guess, okay. And then we just let evil reign around us every day, all day from every single possible place, from every direction. 

We're just like, well, who am I to say, who am I to say what's, I guess we just got to hand our kids over to Satan now. You know, what are we, what are we going to do? Can't judge. I'm not allowed to judge. Christians, we, as individuals, we don't, act out of vengeance. We leave that to God's divinely appointed governments to administer justice. 

And then we leave the judgment to the Lord. There's this really beautiful potential that it's such a wonderfully Christian, amazing thing where you can have a guy murder Charlie Kirk or anyone. Then that murderer becomes a Christian, makes Jesus Lord of his life. Then the government administers the death penalty. That murderer then meets his maker and then goes to heaven. And that is what loving our enemies means. 

We are called to pray that these people do become Christian. That's what loving your enemy means. Two things on this. First, when the Bible says love your enemies, the Bible doesn't say don't have enemies. That's important because that's just turning off your discernment. Second point, when 

loving your enemies isn't just having like these warm fuzzy feelings. That's what the leftists have become because they're all about feelings. It's like, oh, you're supposed to like, like love them like a teddy bear. No, no. It means pray that they become a Christian and pray that they become one before they die. Because once they die, that's it. 

There's no second chance on this one. Loving your enemies means praying that they become saved. That doesn't mean we pardon them. Like that's different. Like forgiveness is the individual action. The government can pardon, they can pardon, but that's not what's going to happen in Charlie Kirk's case for sure. 

There will be justice on earth and then judgment from God. Last point on this, and I want to pivot a bit a little bit. Don't listen to these atheists who tell you that only God can judge, therefore you can't judge, therefore I can do whatever I want. The people, the pagans who are telling you that only God judges, they don't believe in God. Also, they don't believe in heaven and hell, which is why God is judging. Very interesting. 

People pay a lot of attention to what God judges. God is judging. Like, oh, is homosexuality sin? Or is this a sin? Is that a sin? Right? 

People are focused on the what, but the pagans or whoever, they never focus on why God is judging. God is doing the judgment to determine whether or not you go to heaven or hell, but they don't acknowledge that. So why would we listen to those people who then come in and say, oh, you're not allowed to judge? God says. What God? You don't believe in God. 

His verse came up on the show today and I said it was worth a study. So let's do this quickly. Um, Matthew 10, six, Jesus says, behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves, but beware of men for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and Kings for my sake as testimony to them and to the Gentiles. That last line is pretty interesting. 

You'll brought before. governors and kings, like your, this is what Charlie Kirk, his evangelical work got the attention of kings and governors. The entire US government was at the Charlie Kirk Memorial, which by the way, probably wasn't very safe. It wasn't like a good idea. You know, when they have a state of the union, they always leave someone pretty high in the government out of that building. Cause everyone's in the building. 

I don't know if they did that for this, but it seemed like everyone was there, but alas, praise God, everyone made it out safe. But what Jesus is telling his disciples here is your sheep, you're going out in the midst of wolves. You're going into a very hostile, dangerous place. So therefore you need to be as wise as serpents and also gentle as doves. I think we get the dove part. We have a lot of focus on the dove part, right? 

We said the other day too much. I think in our church today, it's become too effeminate. Our church has become too focused on the lamb, not enough on the lion, too much on the forgiveness, not enough on the judgment. We get the dove. What about the serpent? What's that about? 

Why would God suggest that we act and tell us that we need to act like a serpent, which by the way, the serpent was the, the, the animal that Satan used to deceive Eve. Like what a weird animal to have chosen. It means to be wise. Don't fall into traps. Avoid the snares that people set up for us. Don't make dumb decisions. 

Don't be self -destructive. Don't pull trouble down on our own heads. There's Charles Spurgeon. and therefore must be gentle. The weapons of Christians are that they are weaponless. They are to be prudent, discreet, wise as serpents, but they are to be loving, peaceful, harmless as doves. 

The Christian missionary will need to be wary to avoid receiving harm, but he must be of a guileless mind that he do no harm. We are called to be martyrs, not maniacs. We are to be simple hearted, but not to be simpletons. I love this definition of shrewd. Shrewd means astute and penetrating. So we're to be as shrewd as a serpent, astute and penetrating. 

Jesus commands us to be the disciples continual mindset for B is in the present imperative, meaning you have to always be this. You have to always be not just one time. It necessitates continuing dependence on the Holy Spirit in order to obey this command. And that is the ultimate point. The best way to be shrewd is not to rely on yourself in your own ways, but to be directed by the Holy Spirit at all times. I got a way to call it the other day. 

It was so great. So it's like, Oh, I've listened for a long time. And I just had this, this Holy Spirit nudge to call in. And then he had a great point. And then I say, man, don't don't let this be the last time you call in. And he was like. 

was so wise. He said, uh, he said, all right, I'll see what the Holy Spirit tells me to do. It was like so natural. 

Just like, Oh yeah. 

I mean, I'll okay. Yeah. I'll see what the Holy Spirit said. I got a ton of emails from people after that. They're like, Oh, that was really cool. That's a really cool moment. 

It's someone who's in tune. This is who we're called to be in the world. Sheep among the wolves. How can you possibly survive it? To be only directed and always joined by the Holy Spirit. MikeSlater . Locals . com is the website. MikeSlater . Locals . com transcript commercial free on the website and Slater Radio on Twitter. Slater Radio on Twitter and Instagram. MikeSlater .

 

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