The Art of the Insult

00:00 Father, in Jesus' name, it's always a privilege to be before you as a son before a good father. So, Adam and I come to you this morning. We pray for all of our friends and listeners that will be hearing this podcast. We ask, Lord, that you would open their hearts to a deeper and more meaningful relationship with you as they continue on their journey of faith. And, Lord, we say this, we mean it. It's become the title of this podcast, but we get to do this and we're thankful for it. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. It's Wednesday, March 11th, 2026. We get to do this. This is episode number 24. This is the life we've been blessed with.

00:43 This is a gift for this. This is a chance we dare not miss. This is the life. We get to do this. You notice how pro we are now. We just come in, we sit down. You're still cleaning your screen. Boom, we pray. We're into the show. It's like we're just rocking and rolling here, brother. Rocking and rolling, I'm telling you. Is that the sign of a pro? Yes. It reminds me a little bit of back in my radio days. You know, you'd come in two minutes before. Two minutes before, you got all your stuff. The other guy's still there. You know, he's like, get out of here. Cleaning his head. Move your stuff out of the desk. Yeah. Matt Long does. Totally. And it's like, oh, yeah, we got 30 seconds.

01:26 We should go in. Exactly. They're in a container, which makes it even funnier. I love those studios. Those little school. Patriot FM here in the Hill Country. Yeah, yeah. I love it. It's old school because it's got dirt on everything. I mean, it's and then all kinds of stuff on the walls. Nasty. It really is. I mean, it's a shed. Yeah, and it's lived in. It's just lived in. Those guys, they do a great job with what they got. And of course, Matt Long's daily podcast on the Godcasters, Bridge Church. Hello, Fred. Whichever station you choose, it's all there. Brother, what a week it's been. It has been quite, especially for you and Damonette and Mr. Chevy. Mr.

02:08 Chevy's had a rough go of it. You know, we came off of being sick three weeks. I mean, we're just like in recovery mode, right? Getting our back in the office, which I loved being back. And then he jumps off the bed on like Thursday, which he's done for 10 years of his life. And he, about two days later, it didn't happen immediately, but I know how this goes because I have back issues too. Not anymore. I mean, very rare. Stop jumping off the bed, paste the streets. I didn't mean to quit jumping off too. Or off the back of the couch. Anyway, he's a little poodle mix. He's called a Havishan. So he's a poodle mix, white, little fragile guy, 10 years old, but thinks he's one and a half.

02:51 So he loses his mind, runs off. So he jumps off the bed in the morning, as you know, in the morning. We're a little creaky, you know? Yes. Snap, crackle, pop. Especially dog year, 70. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So anyway, a couple of days after that, we just noticed him acting weird. I mean, he was like starting to whimper. And then he just, he just diminished quickly. I mean, like, so by the weekend, it was getting bad. Like Sunday, you had to stay home with him. It was awful. It was awful. He was screaming. You know, I've only heard a dog scream a couple of times, and it was when I was younger, and I had to put a dog down.

03:31 And it was heartbreaking and hard. But there's a sound. Humans make it too. I've been in hospitals when my brother got hit by a car and broke his femur. And I just remember the sound coming out of him. Yeah. Never had heard it before. Haven't heard it since. Same way with a dog, you know, or any animal that feels like they're dying in the moment, you know? So he was screaming out in pain. He lost the use of his back legs. Then how do you take him out to go to the bath? I mean, it just got bad. And so by Sunday, Sunday night was terrible. So she stayed home. Monday, we're thinking, all right, we're going to turn the corner because we did have meds from, he did the same thing last year, but this was way worse.

04:17 Last year was the first injury. But, you know, you know this about a human body or an animal. The more you do it, the more it's going to hurt the longer it'll take to return. We respond to that, right? And at his age. So we had meds. We had methylcarbonol. We had a pain med. We had prednisone. I mean, stuff like that. You were giving your dog meth, really? Methocarbon. Oh, I'm sorry. It's a really good muscle relaxer. That doesn't make you loopy. Sorry, I digress. I revert. So anyway, so we started doing that on Saturday or Sunday, and we knew it would work because we know what's going on. He has a bulging disc that's hitting a spinal cord, so he's losing the use of his back legs.

04:56 You're getting paralyzing. Yeah, basically. And so. we knew what was going on, and we knew if we could get the inflammation down. So I reach out to Lauren Horster, who is a veterinarian at the vet where we go, the vet hospital. So she knows. And she was gracious and wonderful and helped calm us down a little bit. So Annette stays up with Chevy or sleeps on the couch with Chevy. I couldn't even move him. This poor dog didn't pee for 22 hours. I was getting the running commentary. Annette was texting Tina, and we're watching something like phone. I see the phone light up, pause. Okay, what's going on? We would literally stop and pray for him and for you guys and then continue.

05:39 And then, oh, I mean, we're dog people. We know how this feels. Exactly. And you and I are probably even more connected to our dogs than our wives are. I'm just thinking that there's a somehow boy and his dog. You know, it's just, it's a deep thing. Yeah. So that night we go to bed and every two hours he'd wake up and start screaming for no reason. I mean, she wasn't touching him. He was nothing. I don't know if he was just in the night. It was getting worse. So I'm up most of the night. Monday night. We're going to go to the doctor the next morning because I talked to Lauren and she said, yeah, take him in, let Dr.

06:20 Lindner look, check him out. Since he knows him, because he treated him last year. You were already fearing the worst at this point. This is where I'm going. So we made our decision. She's on, we've never not, we've never done this. One of us sleeps on the couch ever. We're not those kind of people. So we don't fight and go, oh, you're sleeping on the couch. We don't do that. So this is weird. I'm in the other bedroom. No sound machine, no earbuds. I wear Oslos at night because I love the just the inner ear and the alarm and everything. This all works for me. So I'm totally out of my element. My way better half's not with me. And he's not with me because he sleeps in between us. So everything's off. We're worried about him.

07:01 And I start praying and I say, Lord, I'm willing to let him go because I do not want this dog to suffer. If this is what we're looking at, and this is the rest of his life, then I would rather put him down. And I just gave it to the Lord. I said, otherwise, show me a sign because if not, this is what we're doing. She made the same decision in the middle of the night. We hadn't talked about it at all. She came to that same resolution where you just resolve to something. Doesn't mean you like it. You just resolve to it. I read Psalm 23 through Psalm 34 at 4 a.m. And the Lord just ministered to my soul. It was amazing, actually.

07:44 I haven't had a nighttime read like that in decades where he was just speaking to me. Obviously, not audibly, but just the scripture was speaking to me. So I get up the next morning. I'm afraid to go in there. I let him sleep in. Remember, I said, they're not even awake yet. I just snuck into my office, turned on one light, didn't get coffee. I just sat down because I was wide awake. I just let him sleep as long. They slept till like 9:30 because it was a rough night. Very rough. I get up and go in there. She gets up and we're looking at Chevy like, what, you know, just heartbroken. And he perks up and he looks like the life is back in him. His ears are perking up.

08:27 His eyes are bright again. He's panting, he's smiling. And we're like, Chevy, and he's responsive. Do you want to go outside? Tilts his head. Like, yes, I do. I can't, but I want to, you know. So all of a sudden, it was like, all right, what's going on here? And all that morning, we couldn't get in till 1:30. We thought we'd go in the morning, but we called and they couldn't see him till 1:30. So every hour upon the hour, he got better and better. But what it was prayer of the saints, but also the medication, I think mixed with prayer. That's why I wrote, meds are good, but prayer is greater.

09:10 But both together, you know, that's how it should be. And, you know, that disc could begin to come down because that was his third day on meds. We had done some research, and it said the third day, well, that's when the inflammation rises. Oh, Jesus and Chat GPT. What a comedy. Oh my gosh. No kidding, right? Well, it was comforting. And two, it gave us a goal kind of like if he doesn't make the turn today, then the dead dog. And he did. I was able to pick him out. No more crying. He hasn't cried since. You sent me a picture of when you were feeding him with a water dropper the night before. And the next morning, and he's like sitting up. Sitting up. Hello. How are you? It's normal, right? Unbelievable. No, actually, very believable. There we go. Very believable.

09:52 Don't tell me God doesn't do miracles and that he. he doesn't care about our fur babies. He does. I mean, you can tell me that, but I won't believe you. It was, we were, everybody was relief. And, you know, because we were just, I couldn't get to sleep, man. I'm like, oh, come on, Lord. Come on. That's kind of cool. That's what I love about my church. You know, I mentioned this in the pulpit on Sunday. Yes. I was swarmed with people. Not just ladies. I thought ladies would come say it was men. It was menly men coming to me going, bro. I know it's exactly where, man, it's killing me too. I mean, I'm going to pray for your little dog. I mean, it was like that's beautiful. I left the parking lot lifted,

10:32 just thankful. I always am thankful, but I left the parking lot going, we have the best church on the planet. I can get up there and bleed out about my dog. And 50 people come to me and hug my neck and tell me they're praying for him. That's so good. That just, gosh, it was such a lift, you know, in the middle of all that. And I didn't get the value of that, but I came home lifted, even though it was harder after that, actually. We had to get through the hard season, but took him to the doctor. He did do an x-ray just in case to check for fracture and to see the disc itself when you could see it all very clearly what was happening. And he said, man, that thing's really diminished where it's not hitting on the court, barely hitting on the cord.

11:17 He said, another couple of days, just don't let him jump off of anything. Yeah, right. So anyway, got up this morning. He's doing good. So we're just so thankful. You were so excited and buzzing, you know, and you were over texting, which is like, okay, yes, all right. All right, brother. And then I realized, oh my God, and they're like, yeah, I'm sparring with people on Facebook. I'm like, okay, all right. I needed that. I needed to come back. You know, I was so focused on this dog. I was like, I need to get back in the game. So I'm just going to throw out a little post about Tyler Rico. Just a little something. Wow. Boy, the claws came out. But you know what? It was actually good for me.

12:02 I laughed about it because I was like, I needed that. That felt good. After about an hour and a half, I said, all right, I'm done. Yeah. Well, after the last lady called me a hypocrite and said I shouldn't be a pastor doing politics. So I just thought, okay, time to stop. Well, the thing about Tyler Rico specifically is that his entire Christian air quotes church life is all about politics. He is, I mean, and we're going to prove that. And it's important because from two perspectives: one, he is now the senatorial candidate for Texas.

12:43 And now I don't think it was that hard for him to beat Jasmine Crockett. Exactly. Low bar. Yeah, but pretty low bar because she just literally says she hates white people. I mean, you can hear her saying it. It's just crazy, which makes no sense. Apparently, he does too. Well, so it's not, it's not only because, and this is politics. It is, but he's bringing it, and we're going to show that to you, but also just his understanding of what being a Christian means is, is, I mean, you can, he did this thing in a church, and I have some clips from that.

13:23 And you hear people going, Amen. I'm like, oh, man, this is this is it's really confusing. And I, I can see where a lot of Christians may feel like, oh, okay, I'm a good Christian, and I don't have to stand by certain things that God says that are written in the Bible. So I feel even better about my faith now. And I can, I've seen this with many different people. So before we get into this particular sermon that he did somewhere in 2023, this all started. You sent me a, I think, an Instagram post, and there were two clips in there that kind of set you up.

14:06 You're like, oh, wow, we got, and I think he even said, like, I got to find a long form of this guy because I need to make some clips for the show. So here he is. These are just very short. These are like, you know, less than 20 seconds. And the Gospel of Thomas, which was later omitted from the Bible. The Gospel of Thomas quotes Jesus' service. We just stopped there. The Gospel of Thomas that was later omitted. Is this true? It was never part of the canon. It was denied straight up by the early church fathers. And the reason is because it was written 150 to 200 years after the Gospels. So it would be considered an extra-biblical writing. Another thing that's interesting interesting is. is Thomas didn't write it.

14:51 So it's the Gospel of Thomas. Who wrote it? We don't know who wrote it. It wasn't Paul. I mean, he wasn't there. Paul was not one of the biblical writers. So it's interesting because there's 114 sayings. It's broken down. It's like a sort of like a Proverbs, but a Jesus version of Proverbs. That's what the Gospel of Thomas is? Yeah, 114 sayings. We'll talk more about it. I'll read number 114 to you later. But first of all, what he says, it was never in the Bible, period. So he starts off on the wrong foot. First of all, he's going to quote an extra biblical source as gospel, and he's going to say it was in and later omitted.

15:35 It was never in. Okay. In the Gospel of Thomas, which was later omitted from the Bible, the Gospel of Thomas quotes Jesus as saying, When you make the male and female one in the same, when the male is not male, when the female is not female, then you will enter the kingdom of God. Wow. So when the male is not male and the female is not female, then you will enter the kingdom of God. That's in Thomas in this writings. He didn't say where it was. And by the way, Tylerico, before Congress, stated that there are six genders, and science has proven it.

16:17 Yes. I don't know if this is part of that clip, I think. Is both masculine and feminine and everything in between. God is non-binary. That was good enough for me. Ooh, he's non-binary. Okay. So let me read to you saying number 114, straight out of the gospel of Thomas. Simon Peter said to them, it sounds like the Bible. Simon Peter said to them, Let Mary leave us, for females are not worthy of life. Jesus said, See, I shall guide her so that I will make her male in order that she also may become a living spirit resembling you males.

17:02 For every woman who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven. So what he's doing is he's saying this book that was part of the Bible but got left out actually proves the fact that God was non-binary because he didn't care about male or female. So, I mean, how does this he's he went to seminary? I'm not sure which seminary he went to. A Presbyterian seminary in Austin, Texas. Okay. It doesn't get much more progressive than that. So are they just making stuff up out of whole cloth? Did they not realize that? There's agendas that drive this. And we know there's a progressive agenda that is extremely left, extremely liberal.

17:47 And the sad thing about it is people believe this stuff. I think he believes it. Oh, I think he truly believes what he says. Well, he's very winsome, but so was Bill Clinton. He's very attractional. He's sharp and confident, but so is Obama. I mean, so you can be winsome, secure, intelligent, articulate, and wrong. And it doesn't take much for people to go, that's got to be true because a very intelligent person wouldn't be saying these things. Yes. Well, it's mind-boggling. So he did.

18:28 He was a Presbyterian church in Austin where he was preaching there in 23. Okay, so I got a couple of clips from that, from that actual from that sermon. And right off the bat, well, actually, let's just get into just an intro and then I can set it because I have very strong opinions about what he's doing here. But if I'm being very honest, sometimes I hesitate for telling someone I'm a Christian. There is a cancer on our religion. Until we confess the sin that is Christian nationalism and exorcise it from our churches, our religion can do a lot more damage than a six-pack of lone star.

19:12 So that's loaded. Right. So he calls out Christian nationalism. And this is a term that I've had my eye on for quite a while now, and it's bandied about. It's often, and I looked up as many different definitions as possible. His is absolutely mind-boggling. Maybe I should ask you, what do you because it's a label, right? I mean, you could category. But what to you is a Christian nationalist? What does that mean in your life? mind? Well, first of all, semantics matter and the order of the words matter. I am a Christian.

19:52 A nationalist, in my understanding, is someone who believes in what their country has stood for and stands for. I tend to go back to our founding fathers, to the original years, to the original pastors like the Reverend Jonas Clark from Lexington and others who stood the Black Robe Regiment. I go back to those and say this is what created what we call America, the United States. Tallarico's coming along and saying, hey, this Christian nationalism stuff has got to go. It's a cancer. And I'm thinking, no, heresy is a cancer. Heresy from a pulpit is a cancer. And it was denounced by the Apostle Paul.

20:36 It was denounced by Jesus. It was denounced by the biblical writers. And actually, in the early years in some of the, you know, the early Catholic church, I mean, they would, they would, if you were a heretic, you could be killed for it. Before we get into the heresy. But Christian nationalism, okay? That has become a term. So if you think about it, the Bible says that they were first called Christians at Antioch. By the way, it was a negative term. It was a slur. It was derogatory. But it stuck. The British coined a phrase for the pastors who fueled the fire of freedom and freedom from tyranny in the American Revolution.

21:19 They called them the Black Robe Regiment. And it was a disparaging term. And it took. It stuck. So I can't remember. You probably, I'm sure you've played the clip before of the broadcaster, the journalist/slash journalist, quote journalist, who said, talked about Christian nationalism. It became kind of a term thrown out on the air at one point. And no one really knows where it actually came from. She just said it out loud. These Christian nationalists. Yeah, yeah, it was on CNN, I think. So when I hear the word Christian nationalist, I take it as a compliment. I'm not a nationalist who happens to be a Christian. I'm a Christian who happens to stand for my country and believe that.

22:01 Here's a couple of definitions that I found. Sure. And these are all cited. There's a sociological definition, which is the fusion of identities. The concept there is a Christian nationalist blurs the distinctions between religious and national identity, believing the nation's history, sacred symbols, cherished values, and public policies are intrinsically tied to a cultural expression of Christianity. Sounds pretty good, actually. That does. That comes across as then the critical definition. And so there's actually groups out there, Pastor, like Christians Against Christian Nationalism.

22:42 It's like Ron Reagan Jr. I think he would fit in this category. They define it as political ideology that seeks power at the expense of religious pluralism. So that would be a Christian symbolism as a permission structure to acquire political power and enforce social control. So I think that's, I mean, that's odd. And I wonder if, well, I think that's what's been what the term means to a lot of people. Then we have the proponent of the proponent and self-described definition.

23:21 Okay, so this is supposedly what we would think. Proponents believe that a nation has a distinct historically Christian identity that must be preserved. They argue the purpose of government is to protect the Christian understanding of civilization, orient public policy around a biblical worldview, and reject secularism without necessarily forcing individual religious conversions. Also doesn't sound all that bad to me. And we have the receipts on the origin of our country. I mean, all these early founders, the forefathers, they all were biblical men. Everything they wrote had God in it and scripture in it. Then there's the global definition. I did some work here, brother. I got some stuff for you. Thank you, ChatGPT.

24:06 Hungary, Poland, Brazil, Ghana, a Christian nationalist is part of a political coalition, often uniting conservative Catholics and evangelicals that seeks to embed social conservatism into law, uphold the nation's traditional Christian heritage, and actively curb the influence of Western progressivism, moral relativism, or secular liberalism. There's also pieces in there that I agree with. But it doesn't necessarily, I felt this way before I was saved. Exactly. It doesn't really come from. from my faith. Well, I felt some of these ways before there was an actual word for it, you know. Yeah. And really, a lot of us who have said, okay, you want to call me that? Fine. I am.

24:50 But by my definition, not yours. And so that's the thing is when we get into that to definitions and categorization. And labels. And labels. Labels. Yeah, that was really the word I was looking for. When we get into labels, that's when we get in trouble because now if I can label you, I can put you over here. Yeah. I can push you at the same time. That is exactly what's happening. I'll be over here. You over here. So now that we need to get rid of this cancer, Christian nationalists and exercise them from the church, I'm like, trust me, in that church, there's not a one sitting there that is already. So they've already been exercised from that church, I'm certain. Two more definitions. The theological definition,

25:28 Christian nationalists in this context believes Christians have a divine mandate to exercise dominion over all spheres of society. I would say that's the seven mountain mandate, including government, media, education, that a nation's civil law should be directly modeled after biblical laws. Also, kind of getting our founding fathers, said the same thing. Then the heritage or the patriotic definition in this colloquial definition, a Christian nationalist is someone who believes their country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, loves their country, and believes society functions best when it broadly respects Christian moral values, even if they do not advocate for an official state

26:12 religion. Also, in there. So, except for the very first one, which was that we blur the distinction between religion's religious and national identity, which obviously you can't. We have so many different religious identities. Tallarico's not blurring the line. Well, let's listen to his definition of Christian nationalism. There is nothing Christian about Christian nationalism. It is the worship of power, social power, economic power, political power in the name of Christ. And it is a betrayal of Jesus of Nazareth. He told us we would know them by their fruits.

26:58 Jesus includes. Christian nationalism excludes. Jesus liberates. Christian nationalism controls. Jesus saves. Christian nationalism kills. Jesus started a universal movement based on mutual love. Christian nationalism is a sectarian movement based on mutual hate. Jesus came to transform the world. Christian nationalism is here to maintain the status quo. They have co-opted the Son of God. They've turned this humble rabbi into a gun-toting, gay-bashing, science-denying, money-loving, fear-mongering fascist.

27:48 And it is incumbent upon all Christians to confront it and denounce it. Amen. So when I hear this, I already hear politics. I hear clear politics. I hear, when I hear gun-toting fascists, he's basically saying Republicans, and even I'll take it further, Trump. That's what he's saying. But these are some pretty harsh words he's saying here. And he's saying it with conviction. Very. Virtue signaling out the wazoo. This is all about their moral, his version of moral superiority. And that he is somehow walking out the pure Christian faith.

28:31 That's just arrogant. Listen to some examples he has of Christian nationalism at work in our country. Christian nationalism is on the rise. Two years ago, Christian nationalists stormed the U.S. Capitol, killing Christianity. Wow. Hold on. I cut it off too soon. Way, Christian nationalists stormed the U.S. Capitol, killing police officers. Okay. No one killed a police officer. Police officers had heart attacks and had other things happen to them, but that's just a lie. And to say that Christian nationalists stormed the Capitol. I don't even think that term was a term then. That wasn't even a word. No, there were some. What was the flag?

29:18 Besides the Gadson flag, there was also the, oh, come on, we talked about it. The white flag with the pine tree. Yes, I see it. Yeah, okay. I can't remember the words. We are bad Christian nationalists, Pastor Jimmy Pruitt. We're not pure. We're not doing it right, pure. nationalists stormed the U.S. Capitol, killing police officers while carrying crosses and signs reading Jesus saves. Last year, Christian nationalists on the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade, allowing states like ours to outlaw abortion, even in cases of rape and incest. Very loaded what he's doing. Wow. No kidding. So, you know,

30:03 it was a majority of the Supreme Court. And it's also factually untrue that they overturned Roe versus Wade. You know, it's technically there was no, there's opinions, you know, so the whole thing is. Yeah. So here's where the politicization just comes in so hard. I'm like, okay, why don't you just say vote Democrat? Because that's what he's really trying to tell a group of people in a church. And as we speak, two Christian nationalist billionaires are trying to replace public schools in Texas with private Christian schooling. Also, not true. No one's trying to replace public schools. No, they're just given equal access.

30:50 So when people push back on you about, you know, stay in your lane, Pastor, don't get political. This is what it is. This is, I mean, that politics, as you say, arrives on your doorstep. You have to be involved in this, according to our Christian nationalist mantra and the rules that we were given once we were saved. You know, this is what we have to do. Now, here's some historical stuff, which maybe you'll be able to help me parse and understand, because he goes way back now to the roots of Christian nationalism, the real roots of it all. The book of Acts tells us that the first Christians were persecuted for turning the world upside down.

31:33 But 300 years after Jesus was executed by the Roman Empire, Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official state religion of that very same empire. Constantine was the first Christian nationalist. I'll just stop there for a second. Wow. So what is he trying to do here? Well, he is defining terms is what he's doing. And he's building a case. This sounds very much like what a legal person, you know, an attorney would be. Yes, yes. He's building a case with very, very clear semantics and very intentional wording. And like I said, this is virtue signaling to another level. He's good at it.

32:17 But what, so is he comparing Constantine to President Trump and saying, you know, Constantine made it the official religion, which, of course, we don't have an official religion, nor do we want that. No, but that's what's so crazy is he's he's passing on these tropes that have been going on for and I'm sure that there must be some Christian groups or churches that are definitely out there. Oh, sure. And like for any religion. But that is not, in my experience, the majority at all. He continues with his history lesson. And ever since, the powers that be have been taming Christianity, domesticating it, diluting it into something more palatable, pro-war, pro-wealth, pro-white supremacy.

33:11 That original countercultural movement became a tranquilized, privatized, weaponized religion, the official sponsor of Western civilization. Now, what I actually hear in this clip is projection. Yes. Because he is the one that has been weaponizing. He is literally weaponizing faith right here, or religion, as he calls it. And it is my experience that being a believer today is in fact counterculture. It is just almost definition of going against culture, his culture, which I grew up with.

33:53 I grew up with all of this stuff. So it's mind-boggling to hear this. We'll just close this here with what I think he is touting. And this would be probably a very liberal Democrat stance. Christian nationalists obsess over people's private parts while the planet burns. Again, the projection is unbelievable. Who's obsessing? You are. You're obsessing over it. And then to say, well, the planet burned. Okay, throw some climate change in there. The planet is not burning anymore. anymore or less. California was on fire 200 years ago.

34:34 You know, that's just the world burns all the time and then it doesn't burn. And there's a cycle to things, but okay. Eight men own as much wealth as 3.6 billion people. And Christian nationalists are boycotting Barbie. The Bible doesn't mention abortion or gay marriage, but it goes on and on about forgiving debt, liberating the poor, and healing the sick. You want to comment on that about the Bible doesn't mention? This is kind of interesting. It's a way of Romans chapter one. Just read it for yourself. Christian nationalists like to say this is a Christian nation. Not only is that historically inaccurate.

35:20 So again, you know, it's just like it historically, you're just wrong, Mr. Tallarico. But he's so confident in his wrongness. You know, that's he's actually good in terms of how he communicates. I just want to know who I got to meet the people who taught him this. And what literature are they? Because that's what we need to investigate. He's another level. Very much so. It's like to say this is a Christian nation. Not only is that historically inaccurate, not only is that theologically blasphemous, but it's also just not true. Look around us. If this was truly a Christian nation, we would forgive student debt. If this was truly a Christian nation, we would guarantee health care to every single person.

36:03 If this was truly a Christian nation, we would love all of our LGBTQ neighbors. If this was truly a Christian nation, we would make sure every child in this state and in this country was housed, fed, clothed, educated, and insured. If this was truly a Christian nation, we would never make it a Christian nation. Become a Christian like me, and everything will be taken care of. He's touting Marxism, horror Marxism, 101. Marking like basic. Because we know the table of fellowship is open to everybody, including our Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, and atheist neighbors.

36:42 Jesus could have started a Christian theocracy, but love would never do that. The closest thing we have to the kingdom of heaven is a multiracial, multicultural democracy where power is truly shared among all people. Something that's yet to exist in human history. Exactly. Literally, because it doesn't work. Because of the human condition. Yes. Apparently, he is a prerequisite. He believes that the human condition is basically good. And this is where we would part ways. Yes. Let's get back to the beginning theology 101.

37:25 The scripture says that every man has lost his way. None seeks God. I mean, it's clear that we were born in sin. Paul made it clear. He said it over and over. But this kind of thinking bases, when you boil it all back down to the root, is that no, we're all intrinsically good. We all deserve a medal. We all deserve a ribbon participation trophy. We don't want to hurt anybody or trigger anybody. But this stuff is so scary. He would have fit right in with Joe Biden's regime. I mean, when they were, he's a little out of his time, but he's trying to pull something back.

38:05 What worries me is that it's a shortcut to on the narrow path because these are exactly the things that we learn from scripture what sin is when it comes to sexuality, when it comes to abortion. Those are the top two ones. That's the biggest problem right there. And just because you believe in that and you have faith in the word of God doesn't mean that you hate someone who's gay, quite the opposite. Exactly. This is why this level of virtue signaling bothers me so much because

38:51 he's categorizing people into this very narrow frame. And reading minds, apparently. Oh, yeah, but he's projecting things into that same frame. So he builds the frame. He lumps millions of people into it with these terms. And then he piles on top of that additional ancillary things that are inflammatory and controversial. And now he puts them in all in the same frame as though this is true. And I'm thinking, this guy doesn't doesn't know me. know me at all. So the danger lies in people who

39:31 feel called, feel called to Jesus, culturally are afraid to say, oh, I don't believe that this is a right thing to do, or I think that is wrong. Not saying you don't have the right to do whatever you want, broken person, because we live in the broken world, and take this shortcut because someone is in the pulpit with a rainbow scarf and says it's okay. And once you go down that road, they can make many things okay. Once you change scripture, which is one of the is definitely a no-no. I've read that. You don't just change scripture. So there's new translations which have all these different interpretations, even the fact that the Bible is open to interpretation.

40:19 And it's just, it's, it's disturbing because this, this is the actual dilution of faith. And it doesn't seem like it'll end well. It won't. Let me give a basic rationale. In Ephesians 4, it says, until we all attain, Paul is talking about the gifts that were given to the church, the apostle, the prophet, the evangelist, the pastor, and the teacher, these five offices given to the church. Why? For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry. He says, this is why these things are here, these people, these offices.

40:55 And then he goes in and he breaks off from that to say this: it's for the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Until we all, we haven't done it yet, so these are still necessary to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ so that we may no longer be children. He's saying it's time to grow up and mature, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, because that's what he was writing against in the prison epistles. All these doctrines were being pulled into the church from culture and paganism. He says this: by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes.

41:35 Then he says, and this is a scripture that I would say the progressives have camped out on. He says this: rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head of Christ, the head, into Christ. So there it is. Speaking the truth in love. This phrase has been co-opted to use Tallarico's. The only thing stronger than hate is love. That's right. Pastor, so I had someone come at me online, and they told me, Pastor, love thy neighbor. In fact, let me just give this to you because this folds right into this.

42:14 Oh, that's no coincidence. So listen to this. This person writes me, Can you explain why you think Tallarico is unbiblical and you presumably think Trump and Paxton and the rest are upstanding Christians? I never mentioned Trump or Paxton or Paxton. She's projecting. It's very confusing. Personally, I think Jesus' teachings have totally disregarded, been disregarded by our leadership at the state and national level. Then she says this: I also think preachers should not try to influence politics. It is not your role, and it's wrong. Love thy neighbor, Pastor.

42:55 That is like saying sick unto a dog to me. That's like, put on the gloves. So I respond. Thanks for your comment. As for preachers not influencing politics, look up the Black Robe Regiment from our founding days just before and during the American Revolution. Read about Reverend Jonas Clark, who preached over 3,000 sermons on liberty and freedom from tyranny. The Minutemen who stood against the British military machine on Lexington Green were members of his church. Also, I'm not a pastor who's chasing politics. Politics and policy showed up on my front porch. To not speak out, which I'm grateful for the freedom to do, is to be complicit when others are already speaking out.

43:35 I'm in my lane as a shepherd in the body of Christ, and I never touted President Trump and Attorney General Ken Paxton as models for the Christian life. Again, thanks for your comment. So this projection that happens, the next person just called me out, a hypocrite. I said, oh, now we're calling names. Now we're name-calling. Okay. So it just went down from there. And I decided on social media. But I read that. I think it's important because sometimes people think, you know, because you're a Christian, but especially if you're a pastor, you need to stay out of politics. And it's like I explained, I'm not chasing politics. Policy, which shapes all of our lives.

44:20 whether you're a pastor or not, doesn't matter who you are, you're going to be impacted by policy. And so we've been given, according to our Constitution, the right to vote and to speak into policy. So for me not to, because I'm a pastor, just have your Bible study over here. This is what I'm just going to say it: Adolf Hitler told the pastors in Germany: Go see the movie. Go to your church, have your Bible studies, but stay out of my way. Yep. And the minute they started to do it, that was the end of that preacher. It destroyed them. And so when I hear this, and I think, you know, more than one signer of the Declaration of Independence was a pastor.

45:05 Many of them were deacons and elders in churches. These were men who were well read in the scriptures. It's been, there was a study done in Maryland, and they found that 33% of the content of the Declaration of Independence came out of the Bible directly. And so to say that because you're a pastor, it's wrong for you to do this. Love thy neighbor, pastor. Well, it's even crazier because look at what Tyler Rico is doing. He is literally, the whole sermon was political. Which is why I said, as others are doing. Yes. You know, and so I have a right for me not to speak is to be complicit, and I won't do that.

45:46 I'm going to take a sharp right turn here since we've been talking about labeling people and how words matter. And we've learned in the course of doing this podcast how even the term supporting Israel can be misconstrued. True. This is, I just pulled this clip. It's about a minute and a half about the difference between Muslim, Islam, and Islamists, because we've got a lot of fear being propagated, particularly in Texas. And as long as we have the right terms, I think we'll be okay. What is the difference between Islamic and Islamist? These two words sound very similar, but there are big differences between them.

46:31 Islamist is the name for a dystopian ideology, which is destructive for everyone, including Muslims. Islamic is an adjective for Muslims. The threat we face is from Islamists and not from Muslims. So when we talk about radicals or a radical ideology, the right term to use is not Islamic, but Islamist. The difference is huge. There's over 1.5 billion Muslims in the world. Targeting all of them as a threat will not only not defeat Islamism, but also help radicalize more people. In this regard, a useful analogy I have in mind is the relationship between communism and the working class, which I think is very similar to the relationship between Islamists and Muslims.

47:15 During the Cold War, communism, as an ideology, tried to derive legitimacy from, stand for, and recruit from among the working class. We did not let that happen. We targeted communism, but not the working class. Now, Islamism tries to derive legitimacy from, stand for, and recruit from among Muslims. We should not confuse the two. We should target Islamism, the ideology, the communism of the period, and not the working class or the Muslim population. Confusing the two would be a huge disaster. Imagine what would have happened in the Cold War if we had targeted all working class people as communists. We would have lost the Cold War. That's the trap we have to avoid today. Not target all Muslims as Islamists.

47:57 The difference is small in words, but huge in consequences. It is. And I hear a lot of people saying the Muslims are taking over. All these different things that are being shown to us, I believe, as a part of a gathering of conservatives to make sure that you vote for Republican representatives because they'll protect you from the evil Muslims. We've got Tommy Robinson, who I like from the UK. He's doing interviews, going to churches all over the country right now, saying, you know, they're on your doorstep. It's coming. Don't let happen here. What happened in the UK?

48:41 And I mean, that was an immigration issue, not just a religious issue. So it's important. By the way, what country has the most Muslims in the world? It's not Iran. It's not Saudi Arabia. It's India. That's where the majority live. So I think we need to be very careful not to look at a certain kind of person and say, you're a threat to me. Right. That's overgeneralization. But I'm going to be honest. I'm going to be very transparent that when I board a plane and I see some men get on the plane of Eastern descent, I would love to say that doesn't bother me a bit.

49:28 I'd love to say I'm completely inoculated from that. Wow. But I'm just being real. Yeah, yeah. I don't have that, but I can understand why that's amazing. I do, and most people do, because what has been reported on over and over, and I don't think it's all lies, is that a lot of atrocities have been committed by people that have been labeled under this. Absolutely. And so over time, it has generated a momentum of its own, almost a perpetual motion thing. And is that racist? I don't know if that's even a right definition of racism, but

50:12 honestly, I get nervous if I board a plane and I see several people of Eastern descent get on the plane. I don't get paranoid. I'm not angry. I'm just going, hmm, you know? I know, I'm just being real. No, no, that's not getting it out there. Do you have the same feeling when you see a map on Instagram and it shows all the mosques that have popped up? Do you get the feeling that they're taking over and we're in trouble and we have to be careful? I'd be lying if I said, I don't share your open arms, you know, to that.

50:50 I didn't grow up around Muslims. You said you did. You've had friends and you knew people who were, by all accounts, kind of normal. And it's true that the radicalized version is very small percentile of the Islam, you know, of the Muslims. It would almost be, to me, it's almost like in Ireland, we should be worried about Catholics because the IRA were Catholics and they were bombing everybody. I'm not saying it's perfect or that it's right. I'm just saying I know that that's there in me and it's been because of what's been portrayed to us. And I don't know that it's all off. I think the majority of it probably is, or at least it was for a reason.

51:33 But there is that sense. And I'm a Texan. I grew up here. And when I heard about Epic City, which became the meadows, that bothered me. There was something in me, and it wasn't just because some conservatives yelling it, of saying, okay, they really are putting together their own community. That's not unusual. LA has a little China. I mean, Manhattan has, I mean, different areas have their own sections and whatnot. But then we're told, you know, they're going to be under Sharia law, Sharia law. I did a little word study on Sharia law. It's not all that bad. I mean, most of it's not.

52:14 It's the radicalized version of this stuff that's so dangerous. So, but to say that I'm not concerned, I would be lying. When we were in Paris in 19, we're walking up and down the Louvre, power shopping, you know, doing all that and enjoying the, and I'm having to literally step over and walk around people at a certain time of day when they stop dropping, do their thing. And at that time, they weren't blowing the sirens, you know, the sound. I know that sound. Well, that to me is unacceptable because we just have laws, ordinance laws. You can't be disturbing the people. But the concern is that's going to happen. If there's a neighborhood or group or Epic City or whatever,

52:58 you know, and things are being reported out of New York City right now that, you know, they're going around on horseback enforcing Sharia law. Haven't really seen any of that. I don't know if that's true, but that's just saying it's out there. So that's the problem. And that's what I'm pushing back against. I get it. Let's not be fearful of everything and everybody that moves. Yeah. I mean, I agree with that. Lots of people had fears on getting on an airplane for all kinds of reasons. And in America, we certainly have been programming. I'm not excited about everything that's happened with computer systems on airplanes either. So, I mean, you expect a chance. There's all kinds of things. But I've just want to be transparent about that because I don't want to come off as though I'm somehow over all this stuff.

53:42 Ever since 9-1-1, before 9-1-1, I would have never thought a thing about it. But after 9-11, it was like it was so impactful to our nature and our culture. But by the same token, we have legions of people who see a Hasidic Jew and think bad, something bad's going to happen. They're in control of something. All of a friend grew up in New York and he's convinced that Jewish are the, they're horrible people. Yeah. And I can't talk him out of that. He grew up in that culture in the borough there. And so I can't talk him out of it. He cringes every time we pray for. I guess what I'm saying is I'm just trying not to be terrorized by it because that is, you know, I do understand

54:29 continuously. Be afraid, be afraid. Oh, it's coming. That's the thing that breaking alert, alert. I know all of that. It bugs me a lot. It does, too. People come to me and say, what's going on? I'm like, well, you don't really have to worry about, well, do you know that they're doing this? Do you know that they're setting up halal kitchens in schools? I don't know. Maybe, maybe on Instagram, maybe true. I don't know. But you're being abused is what I'm saying. Yeah, from the media for sure. And entities. So not saying you shouldn't be cautious in life. There's lots of things to be cautious of. But you're being abused by groups, forces.

55:09 I agree with that. Spiritual. In the heavenly realms. 100%. You're being abused for things that you're not aware of. And I don't know. I just don't want people to live in fear decently. That does really hurt. I'm with you on that. That's really what it is. But I also want to be honest about my own feelings here because I don't want to ever come off as like, man, not a care in the world. You know, he's got it all together. No, I'm a human being being human, too. And so, and I'm not afraid to talk about that and say, gosh, I've got some of these concerns myself. Can I end on a word? Only after you thank Jodi.

55:47 Oh, is that the pickle girl? Yes. Jody, I love you. I don't know you, but I would hug your neck if you were right here in this studio right now. Literally. So I cracked him open the other night. These are the Louisiana almost pickles. I'm going to give Annette some. I was like, I had them in my backpack. She didn't even know I had them. I was like, she's not listening to the podcast. She doesn't even know that Adam came through on his commitment to give me these pickles. I should actually mention, because she did send me a note. Yeah. She said, actually, her friend Bo Lacoste, he makes the pickles, but she is now talking to him about

56:30 changing the name to Pickle Princess because of our talking about it. Hilarious. And anyway, she found our podcast and she loves it. Yeah. She loves it. So cool. Well, thank you, Jody. And Pickle Princess. I don't know. Maybe that'll work. Did you say Bo? Bo's the one who makes it. It's Bolacoste. So I cracked it open. I said, Annette, I want you to try this. And man, she was, I want another one of those. And no, no, no, we're going to ration these. We have one jar. You can have a little bit of onion sliver. Yeah, yeah, you can have an onion. You can have a pickled jalapeno. It's sweet. Man, seriously, the best pickle I've ever put in my mouth.

57:12 Absolutely. It's all I can do to not just eat the whole jar. So thank you. Yeah. So, hey, and I did something. I hope it's okay. I didn't even ask you, but I took livingupinadownworld.com, our newsletter. Yes. I sent out a newsletter to all of our subscribers saying, hey, making a little switcheroo. Yeah, you're on the list. Making a little switcheroo. And so I didn't put a support appeal on that. I just said, hey, subscribe to the newsletter. That way it can let you know. So I know we've got some things in the works there coming. But in the short term interim, I'm going to bump that out to all my followers to say, hey, man, check out.

57:51 We get to do this. Yes. Well, Tina, the keeper, has said, hey, I think it's time for you guys to get serious. She wants to do the marketing suite, which is at a wheelhouse. So over the next few weeks, I'm going to get stuff kind of started. Well, in the short term, I'm just sending that out to Marcy subscribers and to say, hey, Annette's alive, I promise. She didn't die suddenly. Curry and the keeper has the same issues. Like, well, I think they both feel like maybe we're just supposed to do separate podcasts so these two can finally do their podcast together. I don't know. You want to end on some scripture, brother? Yeah, yeah. This is something that's on my heart. And really, it even goes back to what we talked about with Islam.

58:35 And that is this idea of grace, this idea of grace. And that's one of the things I pray for. God, you've shown me so much grace. Help me turn that towards others. Everybody. So this is out of John 1.16. Listen to this. For from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace. That word upon is also its primary preposition and can also be because. So, think about it. From his fullness, we have all received grace because of grace.

59:13 Because this is the heart. Scripture in another place even calls the New Testament in the gospel the gospel of grace. But we don't always know what it means. We think it's just some soft buffer. Yeah, like passive, nice, sweet, warm, kind, be sweet, kind, be sweet. It almost reeks a little bit of Tallerico's language. So I want to clarify. So here, the title of it today is The Grace Empowered Life. Now, that might give you a little clue where I'm going with this: empowered. So the Daily Grind, I'm not going to read it like a Daily Grind, I'm just going to read it. We who are in Christ have received out of God's fullness. By the way, the word fullness there, I did a little dig on that.

59:56 It literally means overflowing. It means absolutely overwhelmed. It's full and overflowing. It's more than enough. Out of God's fullness, completeness, and abundance. All those are words that mean fullness. Grace upon grace, or grace because of grace. Remember, grace is God's, this is important to know what grace is. It's God's strength, it's God's power, it's God's authority, God's ability, and God's favor to do what you cannot do in and of yourself. Wow. This is what grace does: it empowers us beyond us. It's the engine. It is. It's what supernatural. It's the word supernatural.

1:00:40 Supernatural only means super means overimposed. It means it's imposed over something. So you've got the natural life, but then you've got the supernatural life. And that's what this is saying. Grace over grace. Grace upon grace. Because of grace. And because of that, we can live a supernatural. It means above nature kind of life. Out of God's abundance of love and mercy, he has offered and we have received his empowering and overflowing grace. This is Pastor Jimmy Pruitt. Have an amazing day. On purpose. We'll be back next week. Love you, brother. Love you. I love you, brother. It's so much fun to do this. We'll see you next week.

1:01:23 We get to do this. This is the life we've been blessed with. This is the gift we get to do this. This is the chance we dare not miss. This is the life we get to do this.