The Eric Metaxas Show - Gary Hamrick

Episode Date: November 2, 2024

Gary Hamrick Pastor of Cornerstone Church on "Why Your Votes Matters: A Biblical Perspective For the Soul of America". More at https://www.amazon.com/Why-Your-Vote-Matters-Perspective/dp/073699243X

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Chug! Stay tuned. Here comes Mr. Chugg-a-Lug himself, Eric Ma, Texas. Hey there, folks. Welcome on the program. It is Friday, November 1st, a couple of days before the most important election of our lives. That is not hyperbole. I wish it were hyperbole.

There are many people out there. I have to say, profoundly ignorant of where we are, who don't seem to think it matters whether we vote. That is just mind-blowing to me. I want to be real clear. I'm not somebody who just says stuff. If I could be persuaded that it didn't matter whether we voted, believe me, I'd be thrilled. But I think that's not the case. It's kind of like saying, well, I don't think you'll get hit by that car.

Go out in plane traffic. son. Well, maybe you won't get hit by that car, but maybe you will, and that's not really prudent. We are at a moment where, you know, you could always say, well, who's to say what's going to, yeah, but you know what? If you are politically aware, historically aware, theologically aware, it looks to me like God is giving us one last chance, and this election is it. but some people kind of they've never dealt with, you know, everything's always been the same. Everything's always fine.

Nothing dramatic ever happens. So they don't really believe that something horrible could happen. So you warn and you warn and you warn and you warn and then it happens. You know, Pearl Harbor was bombed. It happened. 9-11 happened. There were warnings. It'll never happen.

If you've ever lived through anything like that, you understand it could happen. Many of us, 2020 was that. The COVID madness, I mean a level of madness. I'll never forget, Chris, it was a few days after the lockdown. It had just started two weeks to flatten the curve. As people know, I'm a runner. I went for a run. I went up, I guess, must have been like Madison Avenue running up into,

Harlem. And I mean, there's nobody out on the streets. And I remember it was like an Asian woman on a street corner screamed at me. Where you're bleeping mask, she screamed at me. There are these moments where you just think like, what is happening in the world? People are going crazy. folks, things are not always wonderful. There are moments where people kind of buy into lunacy, and they think bad things can happen. It happened in Germany. My mother lived through it.

My family lived through it. We're at a moment right now where a lot of people are nuts. I've seen enough of it to know that it doesn't need to go well, but I believe it's the Lord's will that we pull out of the death spiral. But it means we've got to vote on Tuesday. if you haven't already voted. It means you need to fast and pray. The most important thing I think I can say is this weekend,

maybe Sunday night, Saturday night, Monday night, I don't know. But maybe you take the day, maybe you take that evening. And you and your family or maybe a church group, you decide to pray for the nation and understand what's at stake. And the Lord graciously gives you an opportunity to participate in what is fathomlessly significant. It is as significant as it gets. It's really the future of the world because we're privileged to live in a nation that really decides the future of the world. The United States of America is not some nation.

God has given us things that people around the world dream of. and we have power in the world that God wants us to use for his purposes. This election is for all the marbles. And so there are voices out there that they don't get it. Some people are extremely foolish. I mean, some people are dumb enough to somehow think that you could actually vote for Kamala Harris. Like, that's just hard to take in. But let's be clear.

In history, there have always been. people who get things dramatically wrong. It's just the fallen world we live in. And so I pray that God has mercy on those people. And we've talked about that on the program. There's a website that my friend Jay Etzel has put up, StrengthenThe Nation.com. That is there to give you all kinds of information about fasting and praying in America.

Jay is a trusted friend. very good friend of mine for 30 plus years. He's a very mature Christian. And he put up that website at his own expense, Strengthen the Nation.com. There's detailed information on what fasting is, how we might pray. I'm sending you there just because I believe it's the best resource. So please go to Strengthen the Nation.com. And please, if you have a church or a small group, commit to fast and pray over this next few days, however you see fit.

Because I really believe it will move the heart of God. And not just that we might win the election, but that there would be peace in America, that there would not be riding in the streets, that there would not be the electrical grid getting shut down and causing chaos and food shortages and whatever lunacy the devil would like to bring to this great nation. The main thing is we keep our eyes on the Lord.

That is the main thing. But don't let that be so abstract. I think the Lord calls us to live in this world. That's a big Bonhofer thing. To live in this world, not to have our faith, this pietistic, merely theological world, but that we live our faith out in this world. I guess, Chris, we're going to go to Pastor. Gary, yeah.

Hamrick is my guest. Now, he has been a friend for years. He's at Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia. Pastor Gary Hamrick, I'm going to be talking to him about the election and everything. Yeah, he did a sermon on why your vote matters as a Christian and turn that into a pamphlet. And so that's actually a really helpful conversation that you guys are going to have. Yeah.

Yeah, something that he grew into sort of understanding better. There's so much else to say. If you don't know about the cruise, ladies and gentlemen, I don't think you want to miss this one. We've got like 150 people for sure already coming. Go to Eric Mattax. join the fun albin and his wife anne will be there uh it's going to be nuts johns me it's going to be unbelievable we've got a lot of other people we haven't announced yet but

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trump coins or a 10 ounce silver American flag bar with every qualifying IRA. That's noblegoldinvestments.com. Folks, welcome back. As I promised, I get to talk to my friend Pastor Gary Hamrick. He is one of the heroes. There aren't a ton. I seem to get to meet all of them. Many of them have me speak at their churches. I have been to Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia, many times. And Pastor Gary Hamrick is one of those that we can count on to give a biblical view of what it means to be an American citizen. of why we as Christians need to vote. He does not shrink from being political because he understands there's a biblical mandate for us if we have the ability to advocate in the political sphere to do it for God's purposes, not to hoard power unto ourselves,

but for God's purposes. So Gary Hamrick, it's just a joy every time you come on this program. Thanks for being my guest. Hey, thanks, Eric. Always good to be with you. Appreciate all you're doing. I really have to say, you know, I'm absolutely astonished at people who go to churches that are not like Cornerstone Chapel that do not have a pastor like Gary Hemrick. And these people kind of complain, like they say, well, my pastor, he doesn't, you know, he doesn't say anything about the election or he doesn't.

And I think to myself, why are you going to that church? Why are you tithing God's money to a church that is, let's be clear, being unbiblical, unbiblical, not neutral, unbiblical. God commands us to do what we can to love our neighbors. And if you have a pastor who, because of ignorance or cowardice or whatever it is, is being silent on this stuff and is making it seem like, you know what, it doesn't really matter if you vote. That's not our business here. We're just talking theology.

that is utterly out of line with the biblical mandate. It's completely wrong. And these people probably have been cowed by threats of, oh, you're a Christian nationalist. You better be quiet. It's so astonishing. So God bless you, Pastor Gary Hamrick and the people at Cornerstone Chapel for getting it right. People can follow you online.

They can watch your sermon instead of going to their lame church, if they're going to a lame church. Because honestly, you can tell I really had it. I'm just amazed. People understand where we are. So you published something last month about Christians voting. Do you want to talk about that? Yeah.

It was a booklet that came out of my sermon. I delivered on September the 8th. And it's called Why Your Vote Matters, a biblical perspective for the soul of America. And it was really somewhat of a transcription of just what I preached on September the 8th. every four years, I preach an election sermon around the presidential cycle because I think it's important for a congregation to be informed about. Here's what the candidates believe. Here's what their platform states. Now, you all have to go out there and vote your biblical values. Christians

need to have their voices heard and their votes counted. And when we are silent in the pulpit, it'll create apathy in the pew. And so it's my desire and motivation because I just want to honor the Lord to try to equip people in their faith. And part of equipping people in their faith is helping them to understand 2. Corinthians 520. We're all ambassadors for Christ. And why is it that some people think, well, we'll represent him in certain areas, just not politics.

It's too dirty. Government's a dirty word. And I try to remind people, look, there are three areas that God has ordained, three institutions or three particular important aspects of human society that God has implemented. The first, of course, is family. It's Genesis 224. The second is government. Right when Noah stepped out of the ark, God gave the first civil law, Genesis 9, 6. And then, of course, is the church. God established the church. So most Christians understand out of those three, family, government, and church, sure, we need to defend the family.

We need to fight for the family. We need to defend the church. We need to fight for the church. But then when it comes to government, all of a sudden, Christians feel like that should be left up to somebody else. Yeah, left up to the people who are going to continue to advance evil ideology and all of these kind of progressive kinds of destructive evil agendas. And so it's like, how can we be silent?

This is too critical. We have to be involved. You know, I'm at the Museum of the Bible right now. Last night, we did an event here where we showed. the Bonhofer film. And I've been rereading my Bonhofer book. And it's so fascinating that he was disgusted with these so-called pietists. These people, and it's exactly what we're dealing with today.

These people, their Christian faith is in this little box. It's in this little holy religious box in the corner. And they don't seem to understand the mandate to live our faith out in all spheres, which is a blessing. to everybody. If Christians get involved politically, you know what happens? The slave trade gets abolished.

Slavery gets abolished. Rovi Wade gets overturned. Lives are protected. People are blessed when Christians get involved politically. And there's so many that somehow they don't get this. It's like they're ashamed of their faith. It's like they're buying the secular or atheist view of Christian faith, that it's this negative thing, and we don't want to impose it on

anyone. You think, negative thing, Christians, by being active, they created hospitals, they created universities, care for the poor. That's what Christians do when they get active. And there are many pastors that are just, I mean, I think it's a level of, it's ignorance on the one hand. They really don't understand biblical teaching on this, which is why I'm so grateful for you. Is that published someplace, the thing that you put out? Yeah, it's on Amazon right now. It's also on Christian books.

Yeah, and I totally track with you, Eric. You know, of course, I think we would both agree that there's an aspect of this, too, that is just spiritual warfare. I mean, the enemy is going to try to silence the church as much as the culture does because the enemy doesn't want us to represent God's views and values in our world. And so, of course, the enemy is going to, you know, work on us to try to silence us. And, you know, the silence creates the vacuum. And when the vacuum exists, all of this evil agenda is going to flood in.

So it's part of our duty as the church to stem the tide of evil, to do what we can to make sure that we're trying to advance godliness and righteousness. I mean, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. That's Psalm 3312. I mean, that's kind of a strong biblical verse that would motivate, should motivate us to try to do what we can to advance godliness in our world. So the apathy is, I think, partly from a cultural persuasion. I think it's spiritual warfare. I think also, to be honest, I think too many pastors are reluctant in the pulpit because they're afraid of losing their tax-exempt status, you know, separation in church and state, all this nonsense. So I think it's just, you know, kind of a perfect storm of what contributes.

to such a lack of involvement and engagement on behalf of the church today. And as a pastor, it just grieves me because I see too many pastors are silent. And I think that contributes largely to why there's apathy and the pews. Well, I mean, this is what I've been saying. I say it in my book letter to the American church that what happened in Germany, I mean, this is so, if people can get their heads around this. Yeah. satanic evil of the death camps.

Yeah. Is because of Christians in Germany not living out their faith. Yeah. Period. End of sentence. Think about that. That is the most chilling indictment of the so-called church. Because we say it's the church.

Is it the church? If the people of God don't behave like the people of God, are they the people of God? Are they saved? If you're saved, you're going to live out your faith. So many German. Christians were persuaded that it didn't make any difference what they do, that they just needed to sing their little hymns to Jesus, as though Jesus wants to hear those hymns if you're not living out your faith to stand against the evil that's coming against his chosen people. It's so

amazing to me that that lie was so powerful in Germany and it is still powerful in American churches today. And it's why I value you, Pastor Gary Hamrick, and I value Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia, because there are just a handful of churches that are bravely talking about this. Well, I appreciate you saying that. And, you know, as you're saying all this, it does remind me, too, it's kind of our end-time theology, too. It's our eschatology that gets in the way because I'm a pre-trib guy. I believe that Jesus could come at any time. That also can create an apathy among people who think, well, Jesus is coming back. We don't really need to be involved.

We don't need to be engaged. Similar thing was happening in Germany during World War II. You know, they saw Panzer tanks pulling up to their churches in Europe and they thought, well, you know, Hitler is the Antichrist. Mussolini is the false prophet. And Jesus is going to come again and rescue us so we can just check out because Jesus is coming back. Well, I believe that too. But living with the expectancy of his imminent return means we are still engaged.

check out because we know he could return at any time. It did not bode well for those living in Europe in the 1930s and 40s, and it doesn't bode well for us too. We can kind of get this mentality. Jesus is coming again, so I don't need to be concerned about what's going on in the world. All these things are temporal, earthly. Yeah, I get that, but didn't Jesus say occupy till I come. So we have to make the best and influence the best we can. Well, we'll be right back, folks. I'm talking to Pastor Gary Hamrick of Cornerstone Chaplain Leesburg, Virginia, one of the great churches in America. We'll be right back.

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That's N-U-T-R-A-M-E-D-I-X.com. Neutrametics.com, use the code Eric for 15% off. Again, Neutrametics, N-U-T-R-A-M-E-D-I-X. Nutrametics.com, use the code Eric for 15% off. Welcome back talking to my friend, Pastor Gary Hamrick of Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia. Yeah, Gary, I've got to ask you, what was it in your life or in your ministry that woke you up so that you understand this stuff? Because so many pastors don't get this or they're timid or they're cowardly. They think, oh, I don't want to lose my 501C3 status.

You're going to lose way more than that. What was it in your life? Did you always understand this? No, I have to give credit to David Barton, the president and founder of wall builders. In 2008, he came to my church, and that was another election cycle for a presidential election. And he came to my church and he asked me, he said, Gary, do you preach election sermons? I said, David, I don't even know what an election sermon is. And he showed me, which I've since gotten, a two-volume set of books called Political

sermons of the American Founding Era, 1730 to 1805. And I just started devouring that, reading those volumes that speak of pastors who preach sermons very directly about the politics of their day, the culture of their day. And so when David challenged me about this, I started just looking into our own history and realizing there were pastors who were an integral part of the American Revolutionary War who led their congregations not just for the sake of war, but for the sake of liberty and particularly religious liberty. So when I started digging into our own history and read about pastors like Jonas Clark in

Lexington and William Emerson in Concord and John Peter Mullenberg here in Virginia. I just got inspired. John Peter Mullenberg preached a sermon from Ecclesiastes chapter 3 on January the 21st, 1776. And he got to verse 8 where it says there's a time for peace and a time for war. And he unzipped his black clerical robe and he revealed his continental officer's uniform in the Continental Army, marched to the back of his church. And he said, what men are with me? 300 men left with him and formed the 8th Virginia Brigade. They're still an active duty today. So I looked at history, and then I looked, honestly, I looked in our Bibles and realized when you see every prophet of the Old Testament who spoke truth to power, they were not intimidated. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel,

I mean, they spoke to the kings of Israel. Daniel spoke to the kings of Babylon and Persia. And they involved themselves in the affairs of governance because they saw, that that influence was critical. It was, you know, one area of influence, but it's a critical area of influence. And, you know, even in the New Testament, John the Baptist confronting Herod and Jesus saying to Pontchus pilot, everyone on the side of truth listens to me.

So it was just a combination, Eric, of American history and the Bible, and realizing we need to continue to speak truth to power. Christians have to be influential in the ranks of government because I've said this to our congregation, because as simplistic as this sounds, politics influences policies and policies influence a nation. And even though politics is, quote, a dirty word, it influenced policies and influence a nation. And we must be involved in that. And I would say politics isn't a dirty word.

William Wilberforce. God bless him. That man, if people want to read my book about him, it's called Amazing Grace, one of the great heroes of history. he comes to faith at age 26. He goes to his friend, John Newton, the former slave trader, who's an evangelical preacher in the Church of England who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace. He goes to him and basically says, I've come to faith. What do I do? I guess I have to leave politics.

And God bless John Newton. John Newton says, no. No. This is 1785. He says, no, who knows, but that God has raised you up for such a time as this. He's put you in politics with your talent in politics to advocate for his purposes with and through the political structure. Yeah.

And Wilberforce thought, yeah, I guess that seems right. I could do a lot of good here. I can bless a lot of people. And he did many, many, many things, the most famous of which is he advocated for the abolition of the slave trade. Ladies and gentlemen, if you were alive then and you didn't care about the abolition of the slave trade, I don't know what kind of Christian you are. But there are people today, it's the same thing.

We have bloodthirsty gangs, violent gangs on our southern border trafficking children for sex. If you don't care about that, if you don't care about that, I don't know what kind of Christian you are. I don't know what God thinks of your so-called Christian faith. And we have people who act like, well, that's a separate thing. And I think it's not separate to God. God cares about that. So I want to exhort people to fast and pray for the election.

We've got another segment coming up with Pastor Gary Hamrick. But folks, I want to remind you that there's a website, my friend Jay Etsel put up. It's Strengthen the Nation.com. It has all kinds of details on what fasting is, on how you can fast, on how you can pray. And then it talks about the spiritual roots of this country and why this is a spiritual battle. This is not just a political battle. It's a spiritual battle. If the nation doesn't get right with God, it doesn't matter who we elect.

This is all related. And so it really is a wonderful website. I want to recommend it to everybody. and I want to recommend to people this weekend, pick a time, do it, do it as you want to do, but fast and pray for this election. This is an opportunity in the 11th hour to stand and to take part in what I think is going to be historic, but it's a battle. So I want to tell people that this is, you know, you don't get to do this in January or February.

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And together, let's show Wall Street what investing with biblical principles can do. Inspire advisors, biblically responsible investing. visit inspireadvisors.com slash Eric. That's inspireadvisors.com slash Eric. Welcome back talking to my friend, Pastor Gary Hamrick of Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia. I've had the privilege of speaking from that pulpit a number of times. So Pastor Gary Hamrick, where do you see this country going in the days and weeks and months ahead? Are you hopeful?

Well, I'm hopeful, but I'm hopeful because, you know, of course, our trust is in the Lord. Ultimately, he's sovereign. He's on the throne. I was talking with a mutual friend of ours, Jack Hibbs. And, you know, Jack said to me, Gary, I don't know if we're going to, the end of the results of the election is going to be for our benefit or for our judgment. And we had a prayer meeting at our church last night just for the elections. And I said a similar thing to our folks. I said, look, you know, sometimes God comforts the afflicted and sometimes God afflicts the comfortable. And so I'm hopeful, but I'm hopeful because God is always at work and he often will stir up the church to get involved in ways that otherwise we wouldn't if we were too comfortable. So I am hopeful, but I'm hopeful only in the sense that if people respond, if the church responds to the nudging of the Lord, to really live out. our faith, to share our faith, and to be unashamed about our faith, then there's hope for America.

Otherwise, we, you know, God's been merciful to us for way too long. And I think we deserve his judgment, but I continue to pray for his mercy. You know, over 60 million babies have been aborted in our country. And so there's so much that we have to be thankful for his mercy concerning. But I am hopeful if the church will rise up and really respond in the ways that God is nudging us. But, you know, we just have to keep our eyes on the Lord because I'm too concerned that we are looking for, and this is kind of the game that people play politically. They're looking for a political hero, a political savior. And, you know, and I say to people all the time, look, you better, you better keep your eyes on the Lord because people are going to constantly

disappoint us and we have to make sure we're following hard after the Lord. Well, that's what's amazing to me is that there are people who think Trump's going to solve all our problems. And I think, folks, we're going to solve all our problems. And Trump is a major part of it by the grace of God. But it's up to we the people and it's up to the people of God to bring this nation back to its biblical roots. Now, this doesn't mean making it an officially Christian nation.

you can't do that. We have religious liberty. But at the same time, I mean, I say it in my book, if you can keep it. Franklin, you know, when he's asked after the constitutional convention in 1787, what have you given us, Dr. Franklin, a monarchy or a republic? He says, a republic, madam, if you can keep it. That's why my book is called if you can keep it, because it is up to we, the people to keep the republic. And it means we have to be virtuous. It means we have to be prayerful. It means. we have to do all the things necessary. It doesn't happen just by electing someone. Electing someone is necessary. If you don't have the right person in office, if you don't have the right people in office,

you can't even do what needs to be done. So Trump, by the grace of God, will give us the opportunity to keep the republic. But then it is up to we the people to keep the republic. And so there's a lot of work to be done, but we should do it with joy, with joy that we're allowed by God to live in a country where we get to govern ourselves, where we get to bring God's principles to bear on our laws in the culture. It's an extraordinary opportunity. And the founders and the pilgrims before the founders, they understood this is an opportunity in history for a nation to look to God and to show the whole world. We want to be like a shining city on a hill. We want people to look here and say, what do they have? Where do they get that from? What's the source of that freedom and that flourishing?

That source is the Lord of the Bible, the Lord of hosts. So it's an extraordinary opportunity. That's how I see it. You know, it reminds me, Eric, about the founding of our nation, as you mentioned there, April of 29, 1607. The first planting in America was not corn, was not barley or wheat. first planting was a cross when they settled on to Cape Henry there on the Virginia Beach and Robert Hunt, Reverend Robert Hunt got out. They planted a cross on the beach and he gave a wonderful prayer committing this land to the Lord and committing that the gospel would go forth from America. And it has. And because we have such precious liberties and such of the great opportunity of living in the United States of America.

We've been entrusted with much. And Jesus talks about this in Luke chapter 12, to whom much is given. Much is required. Luke 1248. So we have a moral responsibility to take good care of what God has entrusted to us. Our liberties, as we all know, are not free. And we have to fight to preserve them. Well, there's no doubt about it.

And I really think part of why we've come to this. horrible, horrible, horrible pass in our history is because the Lord has allowed it to wake up the holy remnant, the people of God, to say, oh, I guess we need to do something. I guess we need to fast and pray. I guess we need to get active. I guess we need to teach civics. I guess we need to learn about the Black Road Robe Regiment. I guess we need to visit wallbuilders.com. Folks, we just heard, Pastor Gary, you just mentioned David Barton, how he in 2008 helped you to wake up to your duty as a pastor to talk about our history and a great resource is wallbuilders.com. We've had David on many times and his son on even more. And I just say that it's kind of amazing that the church has drifted along to where we didn't know this.

And then now suddenly people are waking up. I remember when I wrote my book, If You Can Keep It, I was blown away that I hadn't understood what I was writing about. So we're all on a process. It happened for you in 2008, happened for me in 2015. Yeah, and I hope that others will continue to be awakened. And again, I want to shout out that two-volume set for anybody who wants to get it. I'm sure you can find on Amazon, but it's political sermons of the American founding area, 1730 to 1805. and it will just encourage you to realize just how much the church has been engaged in the whole political process.

But yeah, I appreciate David Barton for helping to awaken me on the subject. Well, I really think the Lord is giving us an opportunity to learn what we've forgotten and that we're in that moment right now. But folks, fast and pray for this election. I ask you to fast and pray for the election. Go to strengthen the nation.com. It's a tremendous resource, strengthen the nation.com. We've got a few days. Pastor Gary Hamrick, God bless you, my friend.

Thanks for being my guest. Thanks, Eric. Love and appreciate you, brother. Okay. Wow. All right. So Gary Hamrick, one of the heroes, I have to say, coming up in hour two, I'm re-airing my conversation in case you haven't heard it yet.

Or maybe you've heard it and you want to hear it again. with my friend Jay Etzel, because I got to tell you, folks, he has his finger on the pulse of where we are in the country. He's put up a website called Strengthen the Nation.com. I hope you will go there. And I hope you will join us in fasting and praying. We're, listen, we've never been here before in this country. We've been really blessed and spoiled. And we need to fast and pray for the nation. there are many, many Christians who do not understand where we are. I did an awful podcast with some folks in the UK called, it's called Unbelievable. And someone who interviewed me, obviously dripping with contempt for Donald Trump and

believing all of the lies and believing every negative twisting interpretation. of whatever Trump said interviewed me. And I just thought there are people who are absolutely convinced that Trump is a threat to democracy. They don't seem to know what that means or how to explain why they feel this. They say, well, he wouldn't accept the results of the election. That itself is a lie. But they believe these lies. They believe them so strongly that they're not willing to question that belief.

and I was just amazed, but it's the unbelievable podcast. And I never get that exercise in an interview, but I was just so sickened by. Who was the interviewer? It wasn't, I mean, obviously it wasn't just. He's not someone that I know. He's a Brit. He thinks that people like me who advocate voting for Trump are out of our minds. We've sold our souls to the.

devil, you know, put in the cliche. Yeah. But I was just amazed. I'm amazed. I have no patience, really, for these folks anymore. They know not what they do. Father forgive them, or they know not what they do. They have no idea.

And I know that they're earnest. But it's terrible. It's terrible. We're in an existential crisis. And again, as I say always, I wish I were wrong. I desperately wish I were mistaken. but we're in an existential crisis and we have to vote. We have to pray.

We have to really pray for this nation. That's why I hope in our two you will be encouraged by my conversation with my friend Jay Etzol. I hope we go to the website, strengthen the nation.com. I hope you will understand that we have an opportunity in prayer to beseech the Lord of the world, the Lord of history, the Lord of hosts. the Lord of hosts to move on our behalf. It's something we, excuse me, it's something we can do.

And I think that you'll be glad you did it. If you do fast and pray over the weekend, I want to encourage people to do that, to get your churches to do that. It's one thing we can do, folks. People say, what can I do? Well, you can do that. The power of prayer is real.

and fasting and praying, it ought to be a way of life, and it hasn't been for most of us. And I want to say that if ever there were a time to fast and pray, believe you, me, this is it. This is it. So the website is Strengthen the Nation.com, and in the next hour I'll be talking to Jay about it. In happier news, if you haven't signed up for the cruise yet, if you want to find out about it, go to ericmetaxis.com. Cruz, Ericmetaxis.com slash cruise, June 6 through 16th. Really thrilled.

We're going to be doing this together. Many of you have signed up. Ericmataxis.com slash cruise. And we'll be right back with Jay Edsel.