The Eric Metaxas Show - #140 - Rod Martin

Episode Date: June 17, 2026

Today On The Eric Metaxas Show, Eric talks with Rod Martin about Trump, Iran, Israel, China, oil, the shadow fleet, the midterms, Elon Musk, SpaceX, and America’s changing role in the world. Then Er...ic talks with Pastor David Engelhardt about Flag Day, Trump’s birthday celebration, the dramatic rainbow over Washington, D.C., the storm that seemed to split around the city, and why Christians should look for signs of hope instead of living in fear.⭐ ORDER NOW:Revolution: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World📕: https://a.co/d/0ir3NlapTODAY'S SPONSORS:🛏️ MyPillow — Save BIG with code ERIC: https://www.mypillow.com/☀️ Honest, fast, and free Medicare plan guidance: https://askchapter.com/metaxas/

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Starting point is 00:00:46 Welcome to Wednesday, which I consider today because it is. And I guess it's the 17th, suddenly. Is it the 17th? Yes. Okay, we have two guests today. two pretty special guests. The first is Rod Martin. He's been on this program many times.
Starting point is 00:01:05 He's brilliant. I wouldn't say that if he could hear me because I don't want to, you know, I don't want to encourage him too much. But he's absolutely brilliant in making sense of what's going on in the world. He and I will be discussing, among other things, President Trump and Iran.
Starting point is 00:01:36 I don't know if you know, but Iran's been in the news a little bit lately. We're going to be talking about what's going on with President Trump and Iran. So that's going to be Rod Martin in just a moment. Can you hear the sirens? They're coming for me. And then after that, I'll be speaking with my friend David Englehart. David Englehart is the pastor of King's Church here in New York.
Starting point is 00:01:59 If you come to New York and are looking for a church, if you're looking for the church that I go to, it is King's Church. here in New York City. I think the website is kings, NYC.io, could that be right? It's King's Church, New York City, King's Church, down on 33rd Street. But he and I will be talking about
Starting point is 00:02:22 what happened a few nights ago on Flag Day, which was President Trump's 80th birthday, with the cage matches on the White House lawn. Sounds like something I'd make up. but it's true. So we're going to be talking about that. We're going to be talking about the symbolism of what some of us saw that day, the rainbow. Pretty amazing.
Starting point is 00:02:48 As usual, David Englehart has a beautiful, fresh, encouraging take on that. Before we go to Rod Martin and then David Englehart, I want to remind you, I am all over the country. Tomorrow, I fly to Washington State. I'm going to be at FreedomCon in the middle of the state. this is all on my website erranttaxas.com. I'm going to be going to a wedding in Colorado and then flying to the Ark Conference in London. After that, I will on the 28th of June,
Starting point is 00:03:19 a day after my birthday as it happens, I will be speaking at Second Baptist Church in Houston and on and on it goes. After that, I will be down in D.C. doing a number of things around the 4th. On June 5th, I will be, speaking at in Leesburg, Virginia, at Cornerstone Chapel, Gary Hamrick's Church. That's on July 5th. On the night of July 5th, I will be speaking at a turning point faith event in Washington, D.C.
Starting point is 00:03:52 It just goes on and on. I'm going to be in Las Vegas after that. I'll be in Dallas after that, and on and on. If you go to my website, most of it is there, and we're going to be adding stuff. I want to mention that tonight they will announce the New York Times bestseller list for the week. As you know, last week I was number two. Jill Biden's book, Bump Me, or so they say, but we know that didn't really happen. This week, I don't know where I will be on that list, but I think we'll still be on the list. But I want to say, if you want to get a book, you can get books delivered immediately through Barnes & Noble. If you want a book for Father's Day, please.
Starting point is 00:04:35 go to Barnes & Noble. You can go to my website. But Barnes & Noble.com, my Revolution book is available. I know Amazon, they're having shipping issues or something like that. But if you want it for Father's Day, and may I say, I recommend it,
Starting point is 00:04:51 if you'd like a copy of Revolution, go to Barnes & Noble.com. God bless you. You'll be right back with Rod Martin. I just decided I want to write a book on the American Revolution, because this is extremely important. Unless Americans know our story,
Starting point is 00:05:10 we cannot possibly continue to keep the Republic. Hey there, folks, as I promised, we have our friend Rod Martin, known to some of you as Rod D. Martin, not Roddy, Rod D. Martin. Rod, welcome back. Good to be here. Listen, you have been posting and writing and talking about all kinds of stuff.
Starting point is 00:05:43 I don't even know where to begin. Should we begin with the Iran situation? What do you think? Sure. I think that everybody needs to take a breath and trust the president. I mean, we'll see what happens. It's certainly possible that he had an out-of-body experience, brain transplant, something else. But the Donald Trump, we know, could have made a bad deal a month ago.
Starting point is 00:06:06 Could have made a bad deal six weeks ago. Could have just not gone to Iran at all. So my guess is that a lot of what we're hearing right now with leak demo use and so forth just isn't real. We've heard Secretary Heggseth, Vice President Vance, and the president himself repeatedly say, no money is changing hands except based on performance of very specific things.
Starting point is 00:06:36 There's no reason to disbelieve this that I'm aware of. So we'll see what happens over the next few days. But first of all, my guess is Donald Trump delivered exactly what he said he would. And second, if not, more likely than not, that will be because Iran violates the deal and we resume operations. My guess, and I'm basically right where you are, is that we should trust the president. Why? Because he is famously KG. He is not going to say anything that he doesn't need to say he's playing it.
Starting point is 00:07:21 You know, he's playing everybody. That's what you want. You want that guy working for you, which is what we have. We have the greatest dealmaker in the world working for us. And his caginess, I think, is, it's part of the plan, that he kind of throws stuff out there. So I guess my, when I hear people think that he's getting played, I think, wow, do they know Donald Trump? I don't see Donald Trump getting played. I see him playing the other guy every time.
Starting point is 00:07:58 And then you have people that are convinced, this is what I find confusing, maybe you can help me out. I find people, they're people, I was just speaking to a friend last night, they're convinced that he is, you know, that Israeli intelligence and the Israelis have really hijacked Trump's brain. And they've got him thinking what they want him to think. Then you have people who, whom I respect also,
Starting point is 00:08:24 thinking that he is kicking the Israelis to the curb. I don't see him doing that either. I see most of this as performative so that he can do whatever it is that he's doing, which we'll find out in time. Anyway, that's my... Visit BetMDM Casino and check out the newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick.
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Starting point is 00:10:05 people who would tell you that Israel is engaging in some kind of ethnic cleansing of Christians. And that's not what's happened. Over the course of that civil war in Lebanon, you started with a slight Christian majority. And as the Muslims, particularly Hezbollah, but initiated by the Palestinian guests in Lebanon, took more and more control, they systematically killed as many Christians as they could. So that number's gone from a slight majority to about 37 percent in Lebanon. Israel is the one being attacked daily. Israel is the one having rockets poured into its neighborhoods in the north of Israel, Galilee, daily.
Starting point is 00:10:54 Israel is responding to that. And honestly, the best thing that could happen there is if the Israelis and the Lebanese government collectively worked to disarm and remove Hezbollah. Well, Trump smacks Israel around a little bit theoretically, publicly, or, you know, they're going to mess up the deal. And then when asked, but can't they defend themselves? He's like, well, of course they can. So, yes, he's being cagey yet again.
Starting point is 00:11:25 Another vignette that is of significance, I think, is that in the past several days, the regime has had a lot of protesters, the Iranian regime, has had a lot of protesters in the streets in Tehran in support of itself. and one of the things those crowds have been chanting is death to the foreign minister. They are angry at the people who are making this deal with Trump.
Starting point is 00:11:58 So it makes sense to me that a bunch of people who are religiously committed to the idea that America is the great Satan might not be too happy with him labeling the group he is doing business with as pragmatic and rational and willing to do that deal. And this may all, to some degree, be a play to even further separate the fissures within the Iranian leadership. I was going to say that that's, again, Trump would never be foolish enough to talk about all of this openly. But that is my guess, that he has, we have so devastating.
Starting point is 00:12:41 their leadership that who knows what battles are going on right now for control. That's the idea is that if all of the leaders have been killed, the third and fourth and fifth tier leaders are now jockeying for position. And we've been trying to deal with that. Who do you talk to? So Trump is certainly not going to talk about that. He's not going to lay that out for us. but certainly we know or he knows all kinds of things.
Starting point is 00:13:15 And so it is fascinating. And I do think that there are Fisher's dramatic. You've just given us a specific example of evidence of that. So we don't know where this goes. And I find it really interesting. James Lindsay put something on X yesterday where he was opining on what is really going on, what the strategy is, and that Trump is doing. the strategy in concert with the other Arab nations. So there is a lot going on. And Trump is
Starting point is 00:13:49 too wise to tell us if he doesn't need to tell us because this works in our favor. He's letting it work itself out. And I simply don't see him getting played. But it's funny, Rod, isn't it because people see what they want to see? There are people. I mean, I remember in 2016, when I thought, I'm going to vote for Trump, there were plenty people that said, don't you know that he, blah, blah, blah, and they would go on, that he is basically not conservative and he's going to do this and he's going to do that. And I thought, well, the alternative is Hillary Clinton, and we know what she's going to do.
Starting point is 00:14:27 And so we'll take a gamble on a President Trump. And he turns out to be far better than all of those naysayers. He really does not, I guess my point was that people really, they see what they see. And I'm fascinated that people think he could get played. But it's funny on both sides. I mean, as we just said, it's like there are people who believe that he's in the pocket of Israel. That's what's going on. And there are other people who believe he's just been, he's just
Starting point is 00:15:02 betrayed Netanyahu and Israel. And I cannot help believe knowing Trump, this is performative. He's doing this on purpose. He's playing it all, you know, for an end goal. So anyway, that's, is there more we can say on this? Should we switch subjects? I would just say this. the people who think this is all about Israel have a very limited view of the world. They really think that the whole world revolves around a country of 10 million. That's not what Donald Trump's world revolves around. Donald Trump's world revolves around reasserting American hegemony and containing and defeating China.
Starting point is 00:15:44 And Iran, like Venezuela, like Russia, has been one of the primary sources of 40% of China's imported oil. China is the number one oil importer on earth, and all of that at steeply, steeply discounted prices because these regimes have no one else to sell to. Trump has systematically dismantled the shadow fleet that carries that oil. And to be fair, some of our allies have really helped. I saw the French capture to tanker just the other day. And we are making the shadow fleet uninsurable. We are limiting China's ability to use this illicit oil to pump up its economic numbers in a moment where it's really in free fall, and it's increasingly necessary for it to double down on exports to wait for it, the biggest consumer market in the world, the United States.
Starting point is 00:16:46 And that was an interesting aspect of the G7 talks yesterday. The realization, the realization, particularly by the French planning agency that the Chinese are using their overwhelming overcapacity and their normal dumping tactics to basically de-industrialize Europe. They tried that with the United States. They were somewhat successful. Donald Trump is reversing that. The French are saying to the Germans,
Starting point is 00:17:16 who don't seem to want to listen, we actually have to do more of what Trump was doing here. And the Iran piece of this plays into that, just as it did with getting the UAE out of OPEC, just as it did with creating these dollar facilities with currency swaps. All of this is about strengthening the United States. And look, Israel's wonderful. I'm all for them. But that's not what's pushing Donald Trump's buttons.
Starting point is 00:17:48 Donald Trump is about America first. That seems right to me. And I think that President Trump is, let's put it this way, you know, people call him a narcissist. He is ambitious for his own reputation. He cares about his name and his legacy. And I think he pays very close attention to everything that's going on and that he really is trying to do so many things at once. You're one of the few people, maybe the only person. who seems to see it all and can talk about it,
Starting point is 00:18:26 that he is doing so many things at once. What he did in Venezuela, what's cooking in Cuba. It really is extraordinary. I mean, just the other day, there's so much news, when we learned that he has been, we have been secretly offloading the Iranian oil. Why? So that it doesn't back up, right?
Starting point is 00:18:50 Because I think you said it on this program. If they do not continue to pump it out, it basically messes things up. So they have to keep pumping it out. But where is it going to go? Well, Trump had his eye on that he's like, well, we'll take it, right? I mean, it's kind of amazing. I don't know the details of that, but he really, he's just, he's doing many things at once. Yes, he is.
Starting point is 00:19:12 And by the way, oil is moving dramatically in the right direction now. while we bring online a tremendous amount of Venezuelan supply that didn't exist before, the UAE is going to nearly double its production over the next nine months or so. All of these Middle Eastern countries are building transport networks that will allow them to bypass the Strait of Hormuz in the future. All of this augurs well for U.S. suppliers, for global oil markets, and for the global economy, but primarily for those parts of the economy globally that center on the United States. And that can't be missed. All of this is reordering the world. And by the time Trump is done, we're going to be a long way to a very new global order compared to that
Starting point is 00:20:11 which has existed since 1945. Well, provided we win the midterms. And what is your sense there and what is your sense of Trump's sense of the midterms? Honestly, two things. First, I don't think the midterms necessarily affect that much of what I just said. Much of what I just said depends on foreign policy powers that are going to be very difficult for a Democratic House to obstruct. Second, and I think this is crucial with regard to Iran. The Iranians believe Trump is motivated to act based on the midterms.
Starting point is 00:20:46 The Democrats believe Trump, is motivated to act based on the midterms. The never-Trumpers and the people who hate Israel are all convinced that this is all about the midterms. I don't think Donald Trump sees it that way. I think he definitely wants to bring down gas prices for all kinds of good reasons, and the midterms are one of them. But Donald Trump knows the result of Calais.
Starting point is 00:21:13 Donald Trump knows the result of the various redistrictings, and particularly, the Democrats defeat before the Supreme Court in Virginia on that ridiculous gerrymander there. Odds are pretty good. We're going to hold the Senate. I don't really see any good math. And I saw Mark Halper on the other day saying he didn't see any good math by which the Democrats could take the Senate. I think we've got a decent chance at a pickup there. And in the House, I think the redistricting math changes the game fundamentally and people haven't adjusted. So I think our chances are really good in the fall, and I think Donald Trump thinks the same. Well, that's a big deal.
Starting point is 00:21:56 That's especially coming from you because you think about this stuff. Rod, can we turn the page to the space XIPO? I know that you have thoughts on that. And by the way, it is really a big deal that there's a man in the world who is a trillionaire. I mean, the fact, I'm not saying for good or for ill. I'm simply saying the idea of it is staggering, that a moment in history has, we've just passed where there is such a thing as a trillionaire. I guess the question is whether there will ever be another trillionaire. It's kind of a heavy lift.
Starting point is 00:22:38 I don't know that I'll get to be a trillionaire, but will anyone else ever get to be a trillionaire? Is there anybody worth half a trillion at this point? know. I suspect we'll see more. Apple was the first trillion dollar market cap company a few years ago. Not a person. Let me remind you. After there were like five of them. So, you know, these things, these things have a way of clustering. But nobody is Elon Musk. Elon is just an amazing guy. And he took two of the ideas that have to be, you know, by the conventional wisdom, the dumbest you could possibly pick to turn into this multi-trillion dollar fortune. You know, multi-trillion for the investors plus Elon, a trillion for himself.
Starting point is 00:23:31 How did that work? Well, okay, he bet on electric cars. What were the odds anybody was going to want an electric car? And if they did want it, why wouldn't they want it from Toyota or GM or Ford? You know, and here he's going to start a car company. And wait, even dumber than that, he's going to start a car company in somebody else's cast-off car factory in Fremont, California with all the regulation and taxes in California, and he's going to somehow make this go.
Starting point is 00:24:05 And he did. And then the SpaceX thing is he's. even crazier because Elon put most of his fortune coming out of PayPal into SpaceX, which literally means into things that blow up in midair. And he blew up some in midair. He didn't initially want to take any outside investment and he had to because he'd blown up too many rockets. And as a result of that, we get a complete and total revolution. Elon Musk has now launched more satellites into space than all of the rest of humanity combined in all of history. It is absolutely unfathomable.
Starting point is 00:24:49 And he's brought the price down the cost per pound to orbit. He's brought the price down 95%. Now, that's phenomenal. John D. Rockefeller brought down the price of kerosene by about 90%. Elon Musk has bested that in his own sphere. So if you create radical value in an area where no one is willing to compete with you, you can really do something extraordinary. But I think the biggest point there is that he did that extraordinary thing in America.
Starting point is 00:25:26 In South Africa, they won't even let him offer Starlink service without taking on some corrupt local communist partner. In Canada, they literally ran a headline when he became a trillionaire about how to properly hate him for it. He is a Canadian citizen. He's a South African by birth, and he's here. And only here is such a thing possible, and it just happened before everybody's This is a civilization-changing event. We are going to be a multi-planetary species and you're in my lifetime. Now, when you say that, I would disagree with you.
Starting point is 00:26:08 How can we possibly be a multi-planetary species? We've only got a couple of minutes here, but there's no atmosphere on Mars. Everybody acts like, oh, yeah, other planets, no. No, there's nothing that begins to begin to begin to compare with this planet. There's no, like, close second. There's nothing. There's rocks in space.
Starting point is 00:26:26 Why would we want to live there? We would want to live there because they're phenomenal resources there that are going to transform Earth's economy. We have much, much more scarcity than we realize simply because we don't realize how much is close by. So there's going to be tremendous mining and manufacturing, and that's going to take people, and that's going to build churches and towns and schools. On Mars. You would like to go to church on Mars? Is that what I'm hearing?
Starting point is 00:26:55 I'm so fascinated by this convention. What are you talking about? This spring, denim gets a softer, lighter update. Introducing Old Navy's drapey denim wide leg, a new fit that moves with you. It's everything you want denim to feel like for summer. Easy, breathable, and effortlessly cool. With a fit that creates natural movement and a wide leg that feels modern, not overwhelming. Plus, that signature, wait, for this price, moment.
Starting point is 00:27:24 Old Navy's Drapey Day. Get him wide leg. Well, look, have I mentioned there's no atmosphere? Do you understand what you need to do? There is an atmosphere. You just can't breathe it. There's no atmosphere, kids. Not on Mars. You might as well try to breathe underwater. Good luck.
Starting point is 00:27:43 Or try to breathe sand. Try that. Or in a submarine or in a space shuttle. How big is a submarine? You want to live on a submarine? Not for more than a couple of months, right? Both Mars and the moon have tremendous amounts of water ice that we've discovered far more than we could ever use to create atmospheres within. So when you're-
Starting point is 00:28:05 Habitation domes, but also to create the rocket fuel to get around the inner solar system and beyond. All right. So maybe. I find it so funny. I'm not saying that we can't go there. We can't do stuff there. we can't do some mining, but the thought of anybody, you know, wanting to live there. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:29 Well, we're going to have to go. We're going to have to say goodbye for now. Rod Martin, you're a treasurer. Appreciate you. Thanks for coming on the program. God bless you. Thank you. Hey there, folks.
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Starting point is 00:29:52 As I believe I promised, I get now to talk to my friend and pastor, David Englehart. David, welcome back. Thanks, Eric. Great to be here in the wake of your victorious success with the Revolution Book. Yes, I have crushed Jill Biden. And now my next goal is to crush J.D. Vance. Even though I love J.D. Vance, I want to crush. I want to crush him.
Starting point is 00:30:21 No, we, his book is doing very well, but he was on the view. I was not on the view. Jill Biden was on the view. J.D. Vance is on the view. So isn't that cheating? You know, I think it's cheating. If you're on the view, like, I don't know. I don't think you'll be invited.
Starting point is 00:30:34 It's so awesome. You will likely not be invited on the view. I, well, yeah. Okay. So you and I were having a conversation. I said, we got to talk about this on the air about what happened on June 14th. A couple days ago. in D.C. with the claw, the octagon, the spectacle, with Donald Trump, the showman presiding over this amazing patriotic event on his birthday.
Starting point is 00:31:03 And I have always loved June 14th because it's Flag Day. I write about it in my book, If You Can Keep It, when I was nine years old for the first time ever I heard about Flag Day. And it's just so beautiful. And so, and then to find out, oh, yeah, President Trump's birthday is on Flag Day. So this event happened. a couple days ago, three days ago, whatever. And you had some thoughts on it. So let's talk about that. And go ahead. Yeah. I mean, I think June 14th started with June 13th and and and or started, uh, subsequently after June 13th.
Starting point is 00:31:37 June 13th, uh, was this incredible day where there was almost kind of a setup for the 14th president's birthday and flag day in the UFC event. But the 13th, both the 13th and the 14th, As most of you know, the weather channels were saying it was going to be abysmal. There were going to be mosquitoes. There was going to be hail and rain and snow. Let's be clear. They were adamant.
Starting point is 00:32:01 Yes. They were adamant on this, that it is going to be a downpour, tons of mosquitoes. It's going to rain on his parade half literally. It's going to rain on his spectacle. It's going to rain on his spectacle. party and you could see people just getting all excited about the fact that it's going to rain on Trump's, you know, celebration or whatever it is. And yes, what happened? And it's funny that they said there are going to be mosquitoes and torrential rainports. Like, those don't usually
Starting point is 00:32:37 happen together, generally speaking. But what we saw, and most of you probably saw that night, was this just blazing red, orange, pink sky with a rain. Bo. Everyone, all the reports I read said the temperature was absolutely beautiful. And then lightnings kind of, you know, spreading through the sky on this background. And I just immediately thought this prophetic picture of for, in biblical history, the sky is God's canvas. It's where he takes his palette and draws symbols for men. If you think of, you know, the wise men looking to the sky and seeing symbols and then making their way to Christ, I'm not saying Trump is Christ. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You're saying he's not the Messiah? I want to be clear,
Starting point is 00:33:28 because I'm theologically confused. And, you know, so you're saying he's not the Messiah. He's not the Savior. But you are, you do agree he's president of the United States. That is correct. The leader of the world. Okay. Thank you. Good. Good. And then in Genesis, we get kind of the format. It says that God puts these stars, moon, these things in the sky to indicate times and seasons. And so when I saw, you know, on the brink of this 250th celebration, right, as we're about to enter it, this blazing orange sky, an incredible rainbow and lightnings, I just couldn't help to think of a covenant keeping God that kept and does keep covenants with his people as represented in the rainbow as opposed to mosquitoes and tornadoes. But even more than that,
Starting point is 00:34:12 I thought that the orange and pink and red sky reminded me when Jesus said to the Pharisees, don't you, don't you even look to the sky to see the signs of the times? And can you even see the signs of the times that we're in? But you're so insanely fixated on your own power and your own pride and your own arrogance. You can't even see the signs around you. You all called for a tornado watch. And yet look at the beauty that God is bringing here. and you can't even see the signs of the day.
Starting point is 00:34:45 I mean, listen, I wasn't there in D.C. I was in California speaking in a church. I don't really get to see any of this except on social media. But the pictures were astonishing. I mean, really, really, really astonishing. The rainbow, it was glorious. The picture of the Washington monument and the rainbow and the lightning. I mean, it really was the kind of thing that,
Starting point is 00:35:11 how can you not be moved by the beauty of it? And how can you not at least be tempted to think that it's not just whether that it is God speaking. It's God's approval. Now, look, we don't know that. And, you know, there are people that claim things. And we don't know that. But you try to be honest about, does it, you know, is a wishful thinking on our part? One thing we know, David, and you've said this, the naysayers were just gloating all
Starting point is 00:35:41 already that the weather is going to stink. It's going to be awful. It's going to be miserable. And God is going to rain on his parade, on Trump's parade. And not only did that not happen, but it was patently glorious, extraordinary on every level. But the weather and that picture, it really was so, so striking, that rainbow. And you remind us that it is the covenant, the sign of God's covenant. And And as you know in my book Revolution, I talk about this a fair amount that the founders, the revolutionary era really, before the founders, they really were covenantal in their view of we will honor God because we want God to honor us.
Starting point is 00:36:27 We will humble ourselves before God, before God, because we want God. They really took that seriously, that Reformation, really Puritan theology. And so, yes, the covenant that we would rededicate ourselves. of God, which happened on May 17th, officially. All of that is rather a big deal. And who expected it. It's kind of funny because it's one thing to say, oh, it was nice weather. It didn't rain, but it didn't just not rain.
Starting point is 00:36:57 There was a rainbow, and it was glorious. And you mentioned the color of the sky and the lightning. Yeah. You share about the lightning. I found that interesting as well. Yeah. Yeah. So both the color of the sky, I think, are important because
Starting point is 00:37:10 you know, this famous phrase that we've all heard, it was an adage in Jesus time, red sky at nightseller's delight. And it meant like there's beautiful, stable times coming. Like, so you have the covenant rainbow in the setting of this evening sky that's, again, proclaiming beauty, fairness, red sky and nightseller's delight, like this beauty, stableness coming. And then just to kind of climax it, you just ask about the lightning, like there were these sparks of lightning throughout. And throughout the scripture, lightning really represents either God or the
Starting point is 00:37:46 acts of God. In Daniel, I think it's the eighth chapter. It says the face of Jesus of the godlike figure. It doesn't say the name Jesus. The face of this godlike figure that's coming out, his face is like lightning. See, all throughout the Psalms that his words are like lightning, that he throws showers of lightning. It represents two things. One, how powerful God is, because you can imagine, like, in ancient times ancient peoples, seeing this incredible power source. Now we have Times Square, and we're like, it's not a big deal. But back in the day, this is like the most powerful thing you've ever seen in your life. And it's in the heavens. It's in God's domain. So it represents power, but it also represents speed, the speed of which God can get things done before even the sound
Starting point is 00:38:34 comes. And I think that's congruent with biblical promises. Like, God makes a declaration from heaven, it happens before we even know it's happening. And could this be a moment where God's saying, I'm reestablishing my covenant with the United States, you guys prayed, you guys fast, and even though there are naysayers, it's going to happen faster than anyone can possibly believe. That's the kind of promise I want to believe in. That's the kind of hope that I want to have that God would do this spectacular day. And that's not even on Flag Day. That's the day before setting up the next event. And of course, we don't know that this is going to happen.
Starting point is 00:39:10 The proof is in the pudding, which I believe is from Leviticus, and you have to be careful how you make the pudding. It has to be kosher pudding. No, but the proof is in the pudding in the sense that we don't know, but we try to read the signs. And it really was rather overwhelming. I mean, there are times when you just go, yeah, whatever. And then other times you think, well, this makes me pause.
Starting point is 00:39:34 This was extraordinary, and it's extraordinary, particularly given the forecast, the gloom and doom forecast, the nattering nabobbs of negativism, to quote Spiro, Agnew, and William Sapphire. They, you can just see. I find it funny, actually. We even talk about this, but so the next day you have the UFC thing and whatever. I'm not like a big fan of UFC, but I got to say the spectacle was just beyond, belief and the counter programming with, you know, I mean, I'm just thinking of like the fact of of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, Midler, her quavering voice, uh, singing these kind of pathetic.
Starting point is 00:40:21 It wasn't even, it wasn't even good, you know, it wasn't like James Taylor and Carol King doing something. You go, well, you know what? That was, it was beautiful. No, it was just, it was just sad and pathetic. Right. Yeah. I mean, It looks like less than community college. We were driving down the road that morning, and I guess they had some protests around the country. And there were, you know, seven or eight sad people standing at the side of the road holding signs about Donald Trump is a tyrant and we won't have tyrants. And you just think, like, do you know what a tyrant is? And I feel bad for that because that means they're locked in the land of leftist media, CNN, insanity world.
Starting point is 00:40:58 And they just get this repetitive, you know, gong going on over and over again. they come out with their very sad song and dance. In contrast to the F-16s flying overhead, the fireworks, the strongest, greatest, truly athletes, warriors in the world that are over and over again, just exclaiming that their Lord and Savior is Jesus Christ. It's like, this is like the day I'm so grateful to God that I'm not on the left at the sad, you know, community college. But it is so sad. I mean, to see Robert De Niro, you know, when I think of him, some of his performances, Raging Bull, you know, probably the best, this great actor reduced to sputtering, cursing.
Starting point is 00:41:52 I mean, what does he think he's accomplishing? It's a strange, it's very strange to try to fathom what it is they think they're accomplishing. And again, if Donald Trump were 18. tyrant, you would have all been beheaded by now. Do you know what a tyrant is, Bobby? They don't seem to, they say, I mean, Robert De Niro, as he was declaiming from that sad stage, he's, he, he calls Trump a racist xenoph, and I thought, racist, what really and truly, they must believe this. They, but they really do believe this. And that's part of why I feel sorry for them. They believe this stuff.
Starting point is 00:42:35 They really believe he's this monster. And, you know, anyway. And yeah, the next day, there's this incredible boxing match, you know, MMA match, which, by the way, is not, you know, the Roman gladiatorial games where lions are eating people's intestines alive out of their stomach while they're alive in front of you. It's a boxing match with kicking and wrestling, like we've had boxing for hundreds of years. And by the way, Paul in First Corinthians says, you know,
Starting point is 00:43:03 I run like I chase God. I fight and box, not just like I'm beating the air, but I'm like I have a real match in front of me. Boxing in the Bible in First Corinthians was a picture of spiritual strength and warfare. It was seen as a virtuous thing. Now, listen, I don't like gore.
Starting point is 00:43:21 I don't like people's eyeballs falling out, et cetera. But I think boxing is cool. I think God thinks it's cool, actually. God, in fact, made lions. God is not some kind of pansy that just drinks tea all the time. heaven. God loves danger and adventure and made this world with all of these incredible things that make us excited like eagles flying and lightnings, you know, shabbling the sky. These are all
Starting point is 00:43:45 from God's domain. And it's I, I'm waiting for, for President Trump to announce drag, dragster racing on the national mall. Uh, you know, it's the right length and we're going to set it up and we're going to have a nitro burning tea rail dragster. Yeah. you know, called the Spirit of 76. You don't know what he's going to do. I mean, it's just, that's to me, that's what makes it so funny and delightful that the fact that they would set this thing up outside the White House. And, you know, you know that he's making these decisions.
Starting point is 00:44:23 He's like, no, no, it's like, we're going to do this. Yeah. He has some instincts that I'm in awe of his instincts, that he pulls it off and you don't go, eh, you go, wow, yeah. amazing, beautiful, so beautifully done. So then you get the fight day, right, flag day, and you have a storm that's headed towards DC. And if you've seen the Doppler radar, it's, I mean, it looks like a miraculous thing that the storm splits north and south of DC for this incredible event. I saw an X, witches
Starting point is 00:44:54 were saying we've been trying to curse Trump and curse the event and bring witch weather there and destroy everything. Somebody's got a force field around it. Somebody's blocking it. It's like, well, guess what? The Lord's plans can't be thwarted. And I don't care if you don't like them. God's the control of the nations and the leaders and kings of the earth.
Starting point is 00:45:12 That's very clear in the Bible. So there was a storm coming, as they predicted, and you said that it's split. Yes. Yeah. Chris, if you can show this on the show when it goes live, that Doppler going north and south. It's just jaw-dropping is what it is. We don't have time for that. But I got to tell you.
Starting point is 00:45:30 The fact that that actually happened, it's at least interesting, folks. I don't know. I just find it, it's just amazing that it went as well as it did. And then at 2 a.m., President Trump is, you know, after he's done taking pictures in the octagon, he gets on a plane and zips off to the G7. What? Yeah. Like, who is this guy?
Starting point is 00:45:59 Yeah. You know, he's some kind of vampire. How does he keep this youthful? This is on his 80th birthday, you know. And on his 90th birthday, he's vowed he's going to be in the octagon. Yeah, he's going to be there. Elon Musk has some special serum that he's going to get from Mars, and it's all happening. It's all happening.
Starting point is 00:46:20 Well, David, we've just got a minute or so left. Any final thoughts? I'm just so glad you could come on today. Yeah, I mean, have hope in the future, you know, go to church. Go to King's Church if you live in New York City. If not, go to church. Go to King's Church. If you live in New York City, it's where I go whenever I'm in New York City on a Sunday,
Starting point is 00:46:38 which lately has not been often. But I did speak there a few weeks ago. I'm zipping around the country, speaking everywhere. But when I'm in New York City on a Sunday, that's my church. You're my pastor. I do feel a sense of hope because there is a lot of gloom and doom out there. Sometimes if I'm on X as I was today, the negativity is painful. We need to, you know, on X today, I posted Philippians, you know, whatsoever things are good,
Starting point is 00:47:09 whatsoever things are true, what sort of, you know, think on these things. Rejoicing the Lord always. That's actually very, very important. It's very important that we have God's perspective. God tells us to rejoice in him, to hope in him. So a lot of times I think people are in love with all the bad stuff that's happening and it's so terrible and I think that that's that can be very bad and it can be a temptation for people to go negative so thanks for bringing us a word of hope um and what's the website for kings kingschurch
Starting point is 00:47:41 i.o kingschurch.io all right if you come to new york go to kingschurch.io and visit kings david god bless you my friend thank you blessings

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