Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 1026 | Our Prayer for President Trump & America on Inauguration Day

Episode Date: January 20, 2025

Jase, Al, and Zach deliberate what the next four years under President Trump’s leadership will bring and offer up a prayer for his guidance of the American people. While Zach schools Jase on the Federal Reserve, Jase relives that time he befriended and baptized an actual currency counterfeiter. Al looks forward to seeing the impact of having multiple tech billionaires onboard with the new administration, and the guys find a way to poke fun at Zach's brief career in politics. In this episode: Hebrews 3, verse 4; Romans 13, verses 1-3 — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. Jason, I'm just, I got goosebumps. I'm so thrilled today because we finally got into our new studio. Really? And it gave you goosebumps. Well, either that or it's just, it's also 27 degrees. That's where I was here. It was 21.

Yeah. It got very cold. I think it looks good. What do you think, Zach? Because you're the first one to actually look at. Jason and I are in it. Yeah. Well, I was the architect of, I didn't implement. I didn't implement.

So I got implementers that are in the ring. I like it, Zach. I feel like this is the appropriate time to read this in the spirit of my dad. What would Phil say? Dasher, for every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. There you got. That's Hebrews 3, 4. So we've, that's the WWPD.

What would feel? Well, you channeled your inner feel, feel on that. That was good. You really did. There's a lot of inner feel going on here. Yeah, it is. So, yeah, I did something I don't normally do during duck season. I slept in today.

Yeah. Because it was so cold. Well, it was so cold, but, I mean, I had a reason for that. I had to be with y'all. Yeah. And then ducks can't. Got to be with us. You got to be with us.

Ducks, right? He said, I got to be with y'all. Yeah. Yeah. I just got to you. It's how you emphasize that, Zach, whether he's excited about that or he's. He said I had to be with him. Oh, okay.

I think that little hand slap that I just put on him with Hebrews 3, 4 has caused some consternation among the brothers and family cousins. But I give you a helpful duck hunting tip when it gets really good. cold, ducks fly late. So I'm going this afternoon. I talked to the crew that went early because they defied you. And they had six is what they had as of 20 minutes ago. So just so you know, if you keep a score. Well, I'll give you an up-to-date.

They still have six. So we got the next wave coming in. I'm going to hunt. And you've got some guests that are here that won the, there was a, a duck hunt giveaway way back in March of 24 when dad released his new book. And I was surprised, Dad, he rarely gives away duck hunts. And he did for the release of his new book. And the winners are here today, Stephen and Vanessa.

They're from Colorado. And you'll love this, Jay's. They're from Montana. And they said they moved to Colorado because the winners were too bad. And I was like, when you move from. Montana to Colorado to get the balmy winters. Yeah. That's a life we don't even know anything about.

So they're laughing at us. They're laughing at us about the... Well, we'll see. There's a lot more moisture in the air than they're... People in from Colorado say we have it very cold here, so we'll find out. Yeah. They're going with you on the odds of this. Yeah.

So I guess that's a weird turn of events. Phil gave away a hunt that I'm now... That's not hunting anymore. So Jason has stepped in. So you're... Yeah, you're taking on the liabilities now. That's your role. That's right.

So what you do, Jay. And they sound, I haven't met them yet, but I heard the chatter in the background before the podcast started. They sound like a lively crowd. They are. Great couple. I took them through the tour this morning, which was a lot of fun. So we got cranked off of that. So we got a big day plan and appreciate them coming and being a part of this, what we're doing.

I want to mention one other things. So when I was gone this last week, I went to Faith Academy. in Mobile, Alabama, the Christian school there, and Lisa and I spoke at their chapel last week, and I know a lot of them listen to the podcast. So you guys treated it as great, awesome. We got to, Lisa and I got to speak, Zach, to a thousand teenagers, middle school and high school

that are at this school. And so they were so impressive. You and Jace would have loved it during, they had a worship period, and it was led by teenagers doing the worship. And, you know, you think about it's in the morning, that's at school. You're thinking what this is going to be up.

But man, they're down front, hands raised. I mean, it was inspired. We came to inspire them, but I left inspired. So, anyway, hats off to Barry and the crew at Faith Academy. You guys were awesome. Well, I wanted to promote an event. Let's see if we can sell this thing out. I had to do a video.

It was real weird yesterday. I did two videos. I had two requests on the same day. One was about the inauguration. Fox News asked me to do a video, which I'm not sure where or if that will be seen. Or by whom? Or by whom? Because I did it on my phone.

So I thought, you know, they said 60 seconds. Well, I just kind of sat there and thought, okay, I'll do it. But then I couldn't. I didn't know what to say. Wait a minute. Because you just frame that, Maddie. Jay said, I don't know what to say. That just came out of his mouth.

I was left speechless. I've never seen that. So I called my good buddy, who's a lot smarter than me. He's probably my best friend outside of family. And he was like, oh, here's what you need to say, you know. And I thought, too much fire here. Then I called my wife, you know, and I said, because she's, I, Our second grandson is, it's his birthday today.

Oh, okay. He hit the big number two. I'm calling later, and I'm going to sing a solo of that. So I'm turned into quite the video production here. You may get a road. Is there a place for Jace on your staff, Zach? He's now into production. Yeah, I'd love to have him on the team.

Well, look, here's the thing about, and I'll finish my event. This is turning into a long story. which once again, I'm shocked you ran out of something to say. So the little one, he, you know, he was scared of me. So we go up, we, you know, we're grandparents again, yeah. And he just, every time he saw me, his face was filled with terror. And this went on. And nothing says, I love you, grandpa, like a face filled with terror.

So we would literally, like, we've been visiting, we'll visit my son. in his wife's house, like three days at a time. And it's terror from him from the moment he sees me until I leave. Just any time I move toward him. So my son had a great idea. He put up a, I did a recipe for cooking frogs. And he played that on TV. And this boy watched it.

And somewhere in watching that, the terror, Went away. Was it the frogs or was it just you on television? He was like he kept pointing at the screen saying, J. Rock. Jay Rock. Jay Rock. You just had to get famous enough to be on television. Yeah, so literally the one thing about being on TV that's been a positive is it took the terror away.

So now we're buddies and he's wanting to FaceTime me all the time. He never says anything but Jay Rock the whole time. Jay Rock. I were talking. I was like, what's you doing, buddy? you know and he's like j-rock so uh i don't know that that went off the deep end but so what was i talking about you were telling you're doing the event yeah i was doing the two videos and so i'm starting to see why i took 40 takes to do this video yeah it took me 40 takes but i did it so that's out

there somewhere it's a 60 second because i thought you know it's your take for fox news on the inauguration. Yeah. Okay. It was my take. So it's floating around out there. Yep. But then I had to do a little event promo.

And so I wanted to give that now because by the time this episode is released, you'll have time. So it's February 8th, 6 to 9. It's dinner, auction, and a speaker named Jace Robertson. Listen to what the title is, moving towards greatness. Moving towards greatness. Interesting. Couples night out. So it's like a date night.

Oh, yeah, because it's getting close to Halloween. Valentine's Day. It's funny how my mind just went there, right? I just now made that connection. Yeah, Valentine's Day is like a Valentine's Day. It's the week before Valentine's. Right. Duh.

Okay. With a splash of Halloween. It's in Bowling Green, Kentucky, February 8th. If you want tickets, you can go to re-up men. It's interesting. Re-up men. dot com. R-E-U-P-M-N.

dot com. So I'll see you there so we can have a date night. I love it. Bowling Green is a nice area. I've been there several times. Yeah, I'm speaking in Macville,

Kentucky at the end of March. I'll tell you about that later. So Zach, what's your, so we got invited to the inauguration, but we were busy doing podcast and everything else

going on here and duck season. Well, the first time I went, which was in 2017, 17. That was exhausting. It was very exhausting. It was no sleep. And I thought about the same thing.

It was really, really hard. You remember Zay? I mean, you're just going 90 to nothing and, you know, all the balls and the stuff like that. This has been a different inauguration. I was just, you know, think about who I was there. You know, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook. It's kind of interesting that how the tides have turned in all the big tech billionaires. They're all coming in now.

So it's going to be interesting to see what happens in this thing. Yeah, we weren't able to make it. Yeah, the first time it felt like to me, it was because it was so, you know, Trump was so unknown in terms of like politics, it felt like it was, man, everybody's like, this guy's, this is going to be terrible. So it was like a all out assault on, we can't have this by a lot of people and other people. Oh, yeah. That's the most. That's what I remember from being there, don't you, Jay's? That's the most I've been cussed at in my life.

Like, the rest of my life. I mean, other than side. Well, they had the big protest outside the first inauguration, you know, which was pretty massive. Yeah, this, I think the tide has turned for sure. There's a cultural, major cultural shift. When you see the big billionaire guys come in, you know, and now they're saying, okay, we're here. We're going to be part of the team. You know, I'm really curious to see how that's going to play out because we've complained a lot.

Not complained, but we've pointed out maybe privately at least the big tech algorithms. and how they've really censored a lot of a big chunk of the American voice. So I think that hopefully that's going to be rectified. And at least there'll be some opportunity to have, you know, more open, free conversation. Yeah, I felt like being there, Jase, it was, I was a little bit fearful just because there was just so much. And there was animosity. There was excitement. But I don't know, it was just a lot of chaos being on the scene on the spot.

Yeah, I didn't realize there was going to be so many protesters and people holl. And, you know, there's still people don't like Trump. We get that. But it seems like now it's like, okay, the guy's been in office. Let's just see and let him lead. Well, I was just wanting to see the process. Yeah, that's me too. And so it was, and it was interesting.

Even today, I saw the, they had like the Nebraska choir singing. Yeah. in the uh where because they moved it indoors because of the weather they said but they were like singing to no one but it was it was being filmed it was like empty the hall where where it's going to go down but uh i was really impressed it was uh it was like some song called one voice or whatever but i thought boy these people can sing but it was it just had a kind of a feeling of okay you know who who sets this up is what i was thinking who lines all this up yeah because they have a they have a church service, you know, at St. John's. They've done it for a hundred years or whatever.

So that's kind of when we went. Even last night, I was noticing that they did a big prayer vigil at the National Cathedral that Trump was at and spoke at. So I just like the idea. Maybe it happens all the time. I don't know. But I just like the idea of, you know, we're inviting God to lead our country and be a part of this new administration. And I just like it that obviously Trump's got a lot of people around him, too, that value the stuff that's important to us. Well, I was expecting I sent y'all a copy of my 60-second thing that I was a production of one, me in my phone. So I was wanting y'all to weigh in where I went wrong, what should I do better, and it was nothing. It was like it was. Where's your cricket? Get your cricket button.

We have no buttons. I guess they got left at the L studio. They built the new studio. There's no crickets. There's no bongos. They put off the old self. Yeah. There's another first for you. So it's sad that that cricket machine didn't make it. We must find that before the end. You know what they're actually doing when they make that sounds out? They're rubbing their little front legs together like this.

So I guess I'm just, for those watching, I'm rubbing my two fingers. Well, I might remind you that, what was it, an 11-year-old boy sent that in? Oh, that's right. You got to find that, man. That boy, we're going to send him into a mid-teen crisis. here. He sent that, and so we need to find that. We'll rectify that. We'll get somebody on that. Still no take on that? No, I thought it was really good. I mean, it was difficult. I didn't realize that

didn't respond. Somebody tells you something, and you think, oh, that'd be easy. You say, how does, my main lane is being a disciple of Jesus. So when someone asked me, give a 60-second blurb on the inaugurial. it's not really in my lane. Yeah. So I thought you handled it well. Now, Maddie, I was surprised Maddie that you didn't weigh in. Is it because the production was so bad?

I mean, okay. I put my phone up. What did she say? She said nothing. She just kind of grinned like I didn't like it. But I put my phone up and it's hard to do it all yourself. And I was going to build a fire. And, but the wood I got is a little green.

All I had was smoke. And then every time I would push record, either the dogs would start barking, the heat would come on because it's so cold, or my phone would fall off. And it just, it was like. So nobody was there just you doing it? Mia was in her room listening to all this. And she said, she came down because she came in for some kind of worship. conference and she said boy this is exhausting she said that was exhausting to listen to

because I and then when I started after a while I wish we could have been filming you doing this then that would have been worth making a whole episode I deleted all takes except the one I went with and so finally it just all the stars aligned because I was doing it off top of my head I didn't have a script or anything yeah and it had to be 60 seconds and when I pushed end, by the time I edited me pushing the button and me pushing the button again, it was 60 seconds identical.

I took that as a sign. Yeah. I mean, do you realize how like that. Yeah. You hardly ever do that. Yeah. So I basically just said. So you were self-editing.

You were editing as you went, which is why I'd do some many takes, I guess. Normally, I just do it. I just couldn't put two sentences together that seemed coherent. or I had an outside distraction. So I congratulated the president. I then brought up, you know, when he got shot. Yeah. And I quoted Romans 13, which when you read Romans 13,

I feel like I should read that. Read it. And this is what my buddy said, well, Romans 13's in the book. That was his first line. And I thought, let me go over there and read Romans 13. That's a, you know, if you had 60 seconds to say something. Yeah. But I just found it fascinating when I read this, which I've read this many times, but I guess in the moment of the inauguration, it really spoke to me.

I thought, huh, everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. Yeah. What a statement. Yeah. So I paraphrase saying, God sets up governments. And then I paraphrase the next section, which says, the authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted

and those who do will bring judgment on themselves. And here was the part I really zeroed in on. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. I talked about that. I was like, we shouldn't fear the government. If you're doing what's right. I said, now if you're doing what's wrong, I might have said evil or wrong.

That's another story. Yeah. And then I brought up about him getting shot in the ear because he said, I feel like God saved me because he had a purpose for me. And so I brought that up. I mean, that's what he said. Yeah.

And so then I talked about as citizens. I gave three or four things that I thought we should do. I love one another, work hard, that kind of thing. But then I said, I ended it with, but as followers of Jesus, we should live and love like Jesus. And then I kind of did a little take on his phrase, and I said, I think that's the recipe for making this country great again.

And then I said, pray for our president. Yeah, I thought it was really good. Okay. I thought you did a great job. Have you all seen that someone took that the two frame, the back-to-back frames when Trump got shot in that field in Pennsylvania? And one frame, his head is looking at the audience. And then the next frame, of course, he turns his head to look at that slide. And that's the difference in the bullet path because, you know, here, I mean, it hits him square in the head.

He would have killed him immediately. And so just seeing that just gave me like a chill came over me because I just thought, literally a second from death. Yeah. I thought about addressing that in my mind, but I thought, because most people who don't believe, they're like, well, he just got lucky.

But that's why I said what he said about it. And because I think that's a good thing for followers of Jesus, if the president is saying, you know, I think God saved me for a purpose. I'm like, okay, I like that attitude. Right.

But because I was going to say a couple things and I thought it was too blunt. So I didn't. But because I thought, you know, if people with evil intent, which is what that was, be careful if you miss. Yeah, exactly. And because I've always said that, you know, you shoot at me. You better not miss. You won't get the comeback.

Well, I'm just saying, I'm pretty good with a rifle. Gotcha. But I don't know. So I think that plays into it a lot for sure. And, you know, I love biblical history. So I remember back when there were different periods of Israel's history where they were really doing bad as a people and God was not happy. And so, you know, all these people that wrote this would give you that kind of insider intel. But there's always the same thing.

When the people are not doing well, their leadership is not doing well. But it's because the people aren't doing well. You know, you can't just blame it on a leader most times. It's because, and I'd say it's the same with us, Jay. I love that text in Romans 13 because the description there is that God works in any and every situation. And so there's going to be times of suffering. So I look at us and I see somebody that is a particularly bad leader. It's typically when we're in a particularly bad place as a people, at least the majority of us,

and we're putting in people that aren't very good. I mean, it just makes perfect sense to me. That's why you wind up the way you wind up. Well, yeah. Well, you remember with Jesus himself when they like had him trapped, You know, it's like, should we pay taxes? You know, which Romans 13 goes on to say, hey, pay your taxes. Yeah.

If honors do, if taxes are due, if whatever. Yeah, because they asked Jesus an unanswerable question because if he says, you know, don't pay your taxes, well, then they're going to call the authorities, and it says, well, if you pay your taxes, then everybody's like, well, you're validating this oppression that we're having to pay taxes, you know, to this foreign government that has taken us over.

And he had that famous line, you know, give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God, what is God, which is, it's a pretty deep thought. Yeah. Well, the question was, look at the coin. Whose face is on the coin? It's kind of a typical Jesus, how he does that. Whose face? Okay, yeah, well, you give him what's his and then give to God what is guys, which does lead us to believe that there's something, that there is. Like, what is gods?

You know, I mean, it's kind of all gods, if you think. about that. But you think about the, Zach, it's when we're, we talk a lot on this podcast about being kingdom first people. And when you are and you realize you're co-air of the universe, I realize that it's a big deal paying taxes. I don't like it. I'm trying to work hard for my money. Oh, I hate it. I hate it too. But at the same time, I also realize since we're inheritors of the entire universe, you know, we're going to have some tax years here. We're going to have some stuff we hate to do. But in the big scheme of things, we're still God's people doing his work here. So we just, do what you got to do.

You do it. I mean, I think we hate it because based on the regime, you're looking at where the money is going. That's why, you know, if you think about that too much and see a list of where all the money's going, it'll cause you to wake up in the middle of the night and go, ah, I'd push back a little bit. I hate it anyways because I hate it. Well, you're a bit of a tight wad, though. Well, maybe so. Well, let me tell you this.

A bit of a tight wad. I think that's the nicest thing has ever been said about you. Zay. As you sit in your nice studio, I just call me a tight one. Look at the rat. Well, that's why I went to Hebrews 3, 4, and I said, but God is the builder of everything. I did this. I got that from Jesus. On the taxes, I was trying to make some synergy there. There's a word, one of your words. But piece behind you, that's an antique piece of furniture that we bought because I wanted it. Do you realize that out of the Jay's other, the three of us sitting at this table, I can tell who almost made it to

Congress, because he's describing things in this room that we already had that have been now reclaimed and put into this position and then saying, hey, I mean, all I'm doing is working for the people. That's all I'm doing. You got to remember, though, if you started asking me what's in my house, this is a really touchy subject. If my wife ever listens to this podcast, this will cause me a couple days of misery. I don't notice. Hey, she's not listening. I don't, notice what's in the house unless it's a person. I notice the people and the pets and the fireplace. But stuff, no.

No, all this little. If something fell off the wall and broke, you'd notice it because it would. Yeah, and I would be like, when did that get here? She's like, that's been here for 14 years. So that's what causes all the problems because I'm constantly walking by. saying, oh, well, this is cool. She's like, that's been on the shelf for seven years. Oh, you just saw it.

I'm just now noticing that. Well, apparently your wife doesn't do what mine does. Every time she buys something new, she comes in to show it to me. So I have to notice it. So you know when it's coming in. Right, I know. She says, look at this clock that Hawke gave it. Oh, that's great.

And she said, where do you think I had to put it? I'm right there. Why would I put it there? Okay. So anyway. Well, speaking of taxes, though, I do want to do. tell you this. All right.

Last night, a bear, my son, he wants to go on a mission trip. I also go on two mission trips, but they're pretty pricey. And you've got to raise your own money, but he also wants. We've already established that Zach is a bit of a tight one. Well, like, I love that you're dreaming big, but I said, you know, your level of competency has to rise to the level of your dream. He's dreaming big with your money, Zach. Oh, yeah. He's like, I'm confident I can raise the money.

I said, oh, there's no doubt. doubt, I know your confidence. I do not doubt your confidence one bit, but your competency has to rise to the level of your confidence. And so we're going to eat at this whole. How old is this boy? How old is his bear? He's 16.

He's about to get his driver's license. Well, he's 16 going on 14. I got, I got a feeling that when you said your competency has to, what did you say? Rise to your confidence. He didn't, that went in. I don't even think it went in the air. He wasn't. Key was looking for a cricket button on that one.

My dad said, oh, look at there. Oh, we brought it back. They found it. They found it. And my dad said, let me tell you something, son. Your competency needs to reach the level of your confidence. It's alliteration. That's, I mean, that's poetic.

That's why I like it because I'm preaching. Yeah, I would walk away and think, what was he talking about? Well, you know, it really shocked him. I did shock him. I was able to shock him into reality. It was because he's got his mind. He had, in his mind, he had made, I can make $1,000 a week working at the grocery store. And I said, work, work with me on that.

Work with work with, work the math out for me. So he's out to doing the whole math and everything. And I was like, have you factored in a little thing called withholding taxes? He said, no, what? What? I said, yeah, withhold. What, how much I did? And I told him, I said, I'd probably, you're probably going to end up paying about 20% in withholding.

So then he goes back and redos the math. And he's like, are you kidding me? Like, do you have to do this? I said, yeah. He said, that 20%, I said, yeah, and it goes up from there. Like, yeah, he was absolutely shocked when he realized how much money adults have to pay in taxes. I don't know why I never thought of this. And I'm like, no, this is the world we live in.

So you have to factor that in, you know, to your take-home pay. I'd explain to him what the difference between pay was and take-home pay. What you just did, Zat, you took your. son, you just cut 10 years off his life backwards to teach him what most people don't learn until they're in their 20s and early 30s when they have to figure that out on their own. Yeah. You gave him a glimpse of head attack because that's when progressives become conservative when it comes to the idea, do I want to give half of my money to the government?

Yeah. Well, I think the irony of all this is the most influential man that's ever lived on this planet was homeless and penniless. True. Which has been the two things that we've discussed here. But he owned the universe, and he still does. What does that say? That says you need to do a sermon on that somewhere.

You're right. Look, you're not going to hurt my feelings. I'm just saying as a member of the kingdom of God, who, on my allegiance is to the king of kings, I'm in a world within a world. old. I think when Jesus famously said that to Pilate, but Romans 13 is in the book. So I tried to navigate that, and it was more difficult than I anticipated. Well, and it always is. So let's listen to this then and get our audiences take.

Congratulations to Donald J. Trump and his re-election in becoming the 47th president of these United States. As a believer in God in his holy book, I know that Romans chapter 13 says that God Almighty establishes governments. And us as people, we have nothing to fear as long as we do what's right. But for those who do wrong, that's a different story. When that bullet went through Mr. Trump's ear, he stated that God had saved him because he had a purpose for him. So let's do our part as citizens.

Let's do what's right. Let's love one another. Let's have compassion on others. As followers of Jesus, let's do our part. Let's live and love like Jesus. And I truly believe that's the recipe for making this country great again. God bless you. Pray for our president.

So listening to that, Jace, I think it's interesting that the call is to pray. But we would pray for any president, honestly. At the end of the day, we want any. president. Do we? But do we? That sounds good. You're saying, do we pray for them?

I'm telling you. It's tougher than sometimes they make you. And I do. I really, really do. Sometimes they make you mad, Al. I know. They do. Now, the prayer may be something like this.

I pray, Lord, that you defeat their entire agenda. I mean, so you could be a prayer like that. I don't know. It could be one of those Psalm prayers where it says, I pray vengeance on my enemies. Well, you know what? it's a great question because I thought about this a lot because they're like when we talk about praying for our enemies, that doesn't mean that you're, I would pray for anybody's success

in respect as it aligns to God's agenda. So if you pray for someone who had, if I pray for the success of a president who I don't agree with, I'm not praying that he would succeed in his agenda that may be against what what the kingdom of God would be, but I would pray that he would see what God wants for him and how God wants him to lead. And so I think the prayer is that we would pray for any leader is not that they would achieve everything that they want to achieve, but our prayer would be like Jesus said, that thy kingdom would come, that they will be done on earth just like it is in heaven. So I would pray that for anyone in any position of authority that our will would align

with what God's will is and that we could see the kingdom of heaven come. here and his will be done right here on Earth just like it is in heaven. I think that's the key. And it should, that should be right. That should be a consistency for us. And let's face it, I mean, you know, the American experiment, which is still fairly new. I mean, you're talking about something's not even 300 years old. It's a new experiment in this idea of a Democratic Republic.

But the idea is that you get to choose your own representation. And again, back to my earlier point, when your people are in a good place, both with God and with one another, I think you'll see better leadership because you're just picking people out of your own number. When you're not so good, you see a lot of corruption and a lot of difficulty. And I mean, again, someone gave me this year, I think it was a listener, someone sent me a copy, a book, and it's got all the great, you know, things from our past, the constitutions in there, the Bill of Rights. And so I spent a bit of time the last couple of weeks just reading through some of it. And it was really interesting just seeing how the founders kind of

went about the process. But I think sometimes maybe it was hard for them to imagine what would happen when you add in a couple of hundred years and you put some corruption in there and some evil one action and a lot of other things, just how difficult it would be to maintain a country. It's not easy. Well, they, I would say they understood it on some level, but that's why they set it up in the way that they did with the balance of powers. Yeah.

You know, our system is actually, it's interesting that a free market system, economic system is actually predicated on the idea that man is inherently sinful. That is actually the basis of what's historically known as conservatism or classical liberalism. The terms change a lot depending on what part of history here. But the idea was that, okay, can we understand that man is fallible, that man is sinful, that man is corruptible? Lord Acton said that power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So the idea of the free market system was that Adam Smith, who wrote a book called Wealth of the Nations, he said that there's an invisible hand that guides the economy, meaning like it's the collective will of the people.

And central planners are never going to be able to snuff out corruption because when they get that kind of power, they're actually going to become corrupt. But what will snuff out a corruption is just the collective market. Like it just tends to figure things out. And so the system was built, like our whole system was built on how do we develop a political and economic system that takes into account the corruption of mankind? How do we disperse power from a centralized place to the far corners of the earth? And that really is the basis for the American system. So, you know, if you go back and read it, I think that we have to continue to remember that philosophy.

And I think we have to continue to fight for that philosophy to prevail in our, in any cultural moment. Well, I think, you know, just at a practical level for me personally, I think term limits for Congress would have been a nice thing to put in. But again, I can't imagine them thinking somebody would want to spend a career in Congress because there'd be no money in it unless you had corruption. and which is added to that. And then the other thing is a flat tax. I mean, we're just paying too much. And I don't mind paying some money in to be a part. It's like when you all go together and buy something.

Like we're going to buy this meal and there's a bunch of us putting our money in the thing. Everybody knows we put in a bit together. But this thing now with the 50% of your money, that's too much. It's just ridiculous. It's a lot. It's a lot. Especially what you said, Jace, when you see where it's going, I mean, it is kind of crazy, which I think we're going to.

I think with this DOGE, it's going to be interesting to see how things change, especially the Doge bros. Oh, man, it's going to be. So that's interesting, Zad. When you think about this idea of Doge, which is Department of Government Accountability, is that what it, or efficiency? Efficiency, which accountability would be. Good luck with that.

Exactly. Because that's the. I heard that and I thought, that's never going to work. Well, but I would agree. And look, it's going to be a struggle because these people aren't going to give it up. easily. But I will say this, you got a couple of billionaires that have built successful businesses and do a lot of stuff outside of that, just, you know, basically pro bono for the country, which is amazing. Well, you're, I mean, when you think about it, in your own family

life and how you handle money, everybody has to go through this. Yeah, we all need a dose. Everybody sits down at some point, and I've said this maybe two or three times. I mean, the first five years of my marriage, I didn't say this because there was, you were just like, hang on. It was just survival. You know, we got one vehicle. I'm hitchiking, you know, when I need a ride, it was pretty rough, didn't have any money. Baby, it's going to get better.

It's going to get better. And she's like, well, you need to take some risk there. I mean, I'm cutting firewood, which is why I steal every once in a while. I just cut a tree of my neighbor. It was a good love your neighbor. And it took me about a week. And they're like, you seem to enjoy this. Because it's like, do you want the, well, I was like, no, I want nothing.

I'm going to cut this tree down, saw it up, and I'm going to split it for you. I was like, it's a great stress reliever. But the real reason that I enjoy doing it is because I did that for a living for two years. And I realize every time I do it now, I'm so glad I don't have to do this. You know what it was for me, Jay's it for me and Lisa. It was cleaning new construction housing. I did it for like 10 years. I remember you doing that now.

When I was in ministry and especially focusing on windows, you know why? Because nobody likes to clean a window. And it is not a fun thing to do. But now I think about the same thing. I think about during that time, that was shaping character. I know. Well, I've said, look, you go back to our past. I mean, the happiest we were.

in our family was when, you know, our parents came to the Lord, and they had this transition. Well, we didn't have any money. It wasn't about money. It wasn't about who was in power in the government, you know. And that's why I'm saying, now, when you get money, it sure makes things a lot nicer. And as Phil always said, the menu improves drastically. But still, to my original point, you have to have these moments. in your family where you're like, okay, you know, there's more leaving than what's coming in.

So we need to make some doge decisions here. Doge will only work where there's more coming in. I think those conversations in your family work if you realize the big picture also. Because most of the times when you look, if you have money or you come into money, I mean, it's a lot of frivolous spending. Right. It's stuff you don't need. We're talking about things.

Well, the big difference, though, is in your family, you don't have the ability that the federal government has, which they have the ability. Print through print money. Yeah. And so Jill and I just went down to a place called Jekyll Island in South Georgia around Sea. Well, that's an interesting choice. Yeah. See, if my wife said, hey, you want to go to Jekyll Island? I was like, no.

Just the name, the name. Nah, it's kind of a weird name. Is it across the river from Hyde Island? Hey, there's a lot of darkness that happened there as you think about. So I was there and it was interesting because we, we, it's an old, it's very old Georgia. Like, it's on the ocean. It's beautiful. The whole area is beautiful.

The big trees and the Spanish mocks. The lava. Actually, I think the Oki-Fanokey swamp starts around there, which goes into the Swanee River, which I grew up on the Swanee River. So, like, I could, you know, kind of, I kind of have. To you go back to your rates. Oh, yeah, took you back to my rates. What happened at that place, I think it was in 1910. They came up with the whole idea of the Federal Reserve,

which is an unelected body of officials who dictate the money supply, and then implemented sometime later the whole idea of central banking. But, I mean, I would love to see this administration. I hope they will do this. I don't know. I mean, this is a big, big move. But I think we've got to have a conversation about abolishing the Federal Reserve. is if you wonder why inflation is happening and you wonder why you're paying so much for a gallon of milk now,

the real reason why is that the federal government prints money to pay for debt. And that is the problem. And if that continues, then it's going to continue to cause inflation. That's why all these cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are just skyrocketing right now. And Trump just watched one called Trump dollar or something that went to the roof. But it's because people are looking for alternative. alternative ways to put their currency. They don't trust the dollar anymore because they can just devalue it on the whim of a few non-elected people. And so I think there's a bigger issue going on here. But I don't have that ability of my family. I have whatever money I have, it's what I have or what I'm going to make. But I can't just go print money to pay off my mortgage. Sure you can. It's called counterfeiting.

I guess I could. Yeah. Yeah, we print it all the times. I did share the gospel with the couple at one time. I was like, you don't worry. He was a, he, that's what he did. He was a counterfeiter? Counterfeiter. Because he, when we got into the repentance and the new self, I was like, you need a new line of work.

That is interesting. Yeah. Now you're going to get a call from some. Well, no, this was 25 years ago, but I saw his little setup. He showed me his little setup. I mean, he literally was printing money. You can't do that anymore. It's a lot harder to get away with that now.

They've got all the magnetic strips and everything. I mean, I guess people do it. Well, I don't think it was elaborate. It was literally, he lived out in the middle of nowhere, and it was, I would say, the equivalent of a moonshine factory. Yeah. I mean, it was just, I just thought. What's interesting, you say that, though. I mean, is it really that what the Federal Reserve is?

It's just counterfeit money. They're just literally printing money. That's right, because there's nothing behind it. He was the same guy that was, he came to, the first time he came, it had never been to church in his life. And he came, and for the service even started, he got tiered up. He was reading back then we had bulletins, you know, where they printed the little bulletins.

Yeah, yeah. And he got choked up. And I was like, why are you getting choked up? And he pointed to us, this is crazy. It was a, they were having some kind of a potluck meal or whatever. And there was a sentence at the bottom. It said, all are welcome. And it broke him down.

Wow. And I thought, this is what you're upset about, that everyone's invited. And so that's what I'm saying. You get detached from Jesus and his people and you live in a, world where we're so divided and we're so I'm just going to go do my own thing. That just, that just impact. It broke him to tears, you know. It's pretty special. Yeah, I thought it was. And then he put some money in the plate and you're like, oh, I thought the same thing. Is that real? No, I was sitting there thinking, please do not put a bill in that plate. And that was before they had the

markers. So you couldn't take the marker and run it down there to see if it was legitimate. I was like, I'm going to have to go run and tell the elders. Look, I'm pretty sure whatever that got put in there is not real. So here's what I just looked it up. It was a secret gathering at a secluded island off the coast of Georgia in 1910. It laid the foundation for the Federal Reserve System. It was six guys that met in private, very, very private meeting. And then three years later, in December of 2000, I'm sorry, December 23rd, 1913, President Woodrow

Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act in the law, and it stood as a classic example. Well, basically, it was to bring the banking system into one cohort. And that, if you want to know, why do we have massive inflation? Why does it cost four times what you spent five years ago to buy a house? It's because of something they started in 1913. A little education for you right there. And was like after listening to you. I think that if Jesus himself came up to you, he would say, Zach, here's what you do.

Go sell everything you have and follow me. You think that's what he would say? Well, the knowledge you have about money? And I'm like, where is that? But again, it's actually not about the money. What it is about, it is about the way that corruption uses money to enslave people, and to take advantage of people and for their own personal gain and power. So it's not about the money as much as it is about the oppression that happens through centralized power.

And so I think that actually I actually believe that the founding fathers understood this on some level that our economics and our politics do matter. I mean, if you look at communism, for example, which is an economic system, it's responsible for about 100 billion people. throughout history being murdered. So there are real life consequences to it. It's not really about the money as much as it is about the power that corrupts and that corrupts societies and ends up in the loss of freedom and the loss of life. And to the earlier point made in the podcast, it does come back down to even asking about it. And Jesus even dealt with in his day with the coins and all that.

So you do know it is found. Oh, I know. I think it was a good point. Because that's why you have all these, when you listed off all the tech CEOs sitting there. You're like, why are they sitting there? I'll tell you why. They want to make some money.

Exactly. So look, we're about to enter this second Trump era, and so we do congratulate he and his team. We're excited about it about the possibilities of it. Obviously, we think it's going to be some better days coming along, but I think we do need to pray about that. Zad, would you offer up a prayer for our nation, our leaders, and our attitude and hearts, I think,

to be right, to always put kingdom first, which our interaction with the Trump family and with people now in power has been that. I think that's, we've been pretty consistent with the Robertson family to be consistent with God. So I think if you do that prison. I always say the same thing. I said, no, look, if y'all need any, because I did offer my services to be the duck hunting czar, which I never got a response on that. But that's true story.

I actually sent that in a text. I thought it'd be good. I said, or anything about Jesus and his people. Where in? I'm your man. Everything else, I'll pray for you. Yeah. All right, Zach.

Father, as we come before you, as your people, recognizing that all authority ultimately comes from you and that you have established, as your word says, governing authorities to promote justice and order and peace. And so, God, we come to you today. We lift up our new president asking for your guidance and wisdom to be upon him. Father, we pray that you grant him a heart that seeks justice and righteousness with humility to recognize our need for you and his need for wisdom and every decision that he's going to be making in this entire administration. May they lead this administration with integrity, upholding truth to work to promote the common good in a manner that truly honors you.

And, Father, we pray for your protection over their hearts, over their minds, shielding them from pride, corruption. God, we pray you surround them with wise and godly counselors, people who love you, people of the kingdom, people of the way, who will speak truth and love and guide them towards decisions that reflect your will that would promote peace among all people. And while we respect the office that they hold, we know that you alone, God, are sovereign over all the creation. And so we ask God that the president and all those in authority, who remember that their power is temporary, that it is entrusted to them for the purpose of serving others, not themselves, God.

And we ask that you would help us as citizens of this country to honor the authority that you put in place, that you've allowed, and to pray faithfully for our leaders, God. We pray that we have a hope, Lord, that is beyond this, a hope of our King Jesus reigning forever, God, who we, you get to participate in this kingdom forever, never, and ever. It's in Jesus. Let me pray.

Amen. Amen. Well done, Zat. We'll see you next time from our new studio on Unashamed. Thanks for listening to The Unashamed podcast. Help us out by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcast. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube. And be sure to click the little bell and choose all notifications to watch every episode.