Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 383 | Why Atheists Believe in Miracles & Phil’s Fatherly Hunting Advice to Jase

Episode Date: November 19, 2021

Jase recalls some good advice Phil gave him about deer hunting. Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council and host of “Washington Watch,” joins the guys to talk about how Jesus and politics mix. Phil remembers a time when there were no deer in Louisiana. Tony and Al discuss what happens when the government attempts to address climate change. Phil explains why even atheists believe in miracles. And Jase points out that the Bible reminds people to do things that feel uncomfortable to get out there and share the Word. - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So, Jason, I was just getting a text from Missy. Oh, really? Yep. And it was like, anybody around tonight, I'm cooking grannie's homemade chili, which I like that. She didn't just say I'm cooking homemade chili.

She said grannies, meaning our granny. Okay, and my wife can cook chili. It is good. So I'm seeing the responses, Anna's like, I'm in. Jay's I'm in. I said I'm in but Lisa's in Alabama. Here's what's weird is I'm not on that tech. No. I thought Jay was cooking for us. He's cooking lunch for us. For Perkins. He's cooking lunch, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, because we're going to have Tony on the podcast. You're invited if you want to make the track to get granny. For those listening, that was a patented fill eye roll.

He'll ain't making a trip for no chili. Now I do I will say this. Sometimes I'll do it for a stay, Well, yeah. Last time I went to prime rib and guess who showed up? Well, he said, you know, I finally realized something. I said, what's that? He said, y'all, y'all learned how to cook? That's right. Well, it took dad, like, how many years it'd take him to trust that we could actually, that we had learned from the best? It would actually took them several years to get it down. That's right. But they did get it down. I got it down. Gone on record saying my wife could not boil an egg when we got started.

Mine couldn't either. I remember when we went through that phase. Give them some time. You never know. Now, the difference was Missy learned from town, Lisa, we spent our first five years next door to Mom a day. Take sacrifice, and it's hard work. And Granny was still alive for Missy and Lisa. But you know what?

You keep learning. You know, Missy just last week came down and they had a chicken and dumpling session. And she's so excited. She was like, oh, I got that down. But that's what I like about it is that. that they still want to learn how to, you know, what mom is doing, right? Well, I tried to tell me. It's an art.

Yeah, I tried to do a little of set cleaning there where you're doing. Yeah, I was cleaning out the chair if you do. I will say this. That gravel was getting big enough for he had no it. The last two nights, I have cooked supper for. You got somebody living with you, right? Or living. You know, I do.

We took on a couple who actually, they work. I think he's working for me. It's my company. They work behind the scenes of the various podcasts. I have not met him yet, which happens a lot of people that work for me. I've met him because he lives at my house. I got to come to. So I said, well, look, y'all are welcome to just come in at any time.

Because I have a little pool house that we built for Mrs. Grandparents, and they've gone on to be with the Lord. but at the time their house had flooded due to frozen pipes and they needed a place to stay. We were remodeled in our house. So we quickly built a place where they could live. But there's no stove in there. We call it the pool house. Yeah. And there's out by the pool.

And there's no oven. So I was like, well, y'all just come in for meals, but they don't, they feel weird about that. They have yuppie tendencies. They had, when they pulled up, they had two vehicles. They had two, a bike. owned their vehicle. Yeah. I've seen those with the little racks on there.

Oh, yeah, so they're into it. And there's nothing wrong with that, but it just, I felt that yuppie was the, if you're riding around with a bike on your car, you might be a yuppie. Maybe we should have a version of that. Maybe you could do the top ten things you might be a yuppie. Yeah, and so he's, what's the dude's name? Do you know his name? Oh, boy.

gains gains gains yeah gains way to put me on the spot well i mean he lives there i'm here to know his name was and uh yeah so him and his wife yeah they lived there but when here's what's funny when missy got back from tennessee she like forced the action because she's like there's not a stove down there there's no oven and they said yeah we've been getting by with a crock pot and a microwave and she's like oh this is not living so they They came in for beans and rice one night. So I wonder if they'll be there for the grannie's homemade chili or not.

Maybe I'll get a chance to meet. I'm sure they'll be. They were probably on the list. You just didn't. Well, right. I probably didn't notice that. But my last two meals, I cook croppy, fresh croppy from next door. Yep.

Which is why I got the fish slime in my. Which is why I have that. I mean, I've, well, but we may have people listening for the first time. So I'm not trying to be cool. And I ate the last of the second deer. had on the season, the young deer that has caused a couple people to reach out to my assistant and then she forwarded me the emails. Look, they let you shoot as many deer as they, as the government prescribes. And I'm perfectly within my rights to shoot the smallest deer I

won't because that is the best tasting deer. I don't feel bad about that. But some people, I don't know where we got in our society where people are like, oh, because it's a younger deer, maybe we shouldn't eat that. It has to be a giant or has to be a decent. The bigger the deer, the worse it tastes. Well, you can eat them. I'm just saying if you shoot a young deer, it's just going to be a better experience. Plus, I remember growing up with the motto of boys you can't eat horns. That's what dad always told us.

So horns are inedible. So who cares about what's on top? What it matters is what's underneath. Well, from a processing stem point, that's why I shoot smaller deer. Or I just put out a hit. I let people hunt my stand, and I'm like, bring me a deer, and you can hunt my stand. Perkins, come on in. Come on in.

We're in formal. So I love it on Unashame. You never know. So Tony just got here. Tony Perkins. Welcome to Unashamed. Well, good to be with you guys. We were sitting there talking about deer meat.

You said you just finished off the last deer sauces. We had the last sausages weekend. There you go. And I just happened to be going deer hunting this coming week. So why we love you, Tony. I mean, you wear the three-piece suit. You're looking like, you know, America's sharp dress man, but down deep, you are a Louisiana guy that loves the wood. Walking in here, I was looking at those side beside you had.

And I think that's pretty nice. All that mud, looking forward to them. I got to ask you, were you thinking as you were looking at? at walking through like how do they do a podcast here did that cross your mind the thought did cross my mind let's back up Tony at what point on the way down here did you say this can't be right uh like the third time we turned around after we got lost yeah I mean you can't mark anything because they're cutting all the trees down I mean it's just like clear cut did you notice all the bullet holes in every sign I knew I was moving in the right direction by that

sign so tony is from louisiana he's from baton ruse so he understands the louisiana what we call up here the redneck mine you got a little bit of a joining of cultures down there because you got the cajian mine the redneck mine you got a little bit of everything so all right finish your story just about was i telling a story you were telling a story about your last deer oh well i just what we do every year is i have a deer a young deer because they taste better right i never put it in the freezer. I just put it in a Yeti ice chest right in the middle of the kitchen on ice, and we eat it every night until it's gone. I can't say I've done that. And so when I get to the bottom of the ice chest, I go look for another deer. And we,

the back straps and the hindquarters go in there and we start to process all over. The reason I like a young deer is because I can process it myself. I just turn. everything into a steak. Phil calls my deer nuggets because they're small. There are a lot of deer. You know, when I was a boy, we were raised. We never saw so much as a deer track. Nothing. There were no deer. Really? None. So we're talking through about 1966. A couple of years after I've started going to college, they talked about bringing pairs of deer from Wisconsin and putting them in this parish and that parish. I wasn't aware of this. Oh, yeah. There were no deer in the, up to about 66. Well, they brought them down here and placed them around in Louisiana. And before I left

Louisiana Tech, probably late 60s, you know, when by, you know, working at night and getting my degrees, I noticed that you go in the woods, you see deer tracks. I thought, I said, hmm, there's deer. Well, then we started killing a few of them. And then they had a deer season. Well, now you drive down this road right here and go over here, get on your stand, and you look, and about 40 or 50 will come out there on your food pots, you know,

and you size it up and say, well, so they did, the wildlife people did. a wonderful job. What's amazing is these pioneers with primitive weapons. When they started across this country, I mean they literally cleaned them out, took them out. So they're back now in full force, that's for sure. So a lot of deer. I've probably hit 10. A lot of turkeys, a lot of deer. In my life, I probably, I think I'm up to double digits. And you're not trying to hit them. There are some guys around here. I tried to hit one. I tried to hit one. And Jimmy Red, so I hit another deer in my truck and I said, I said, why is it that you continually are hitting deer?

He said, oh, there's an art to it. He said, well, first of all, you have to have a good bumper. This is one. Yeah. We wouldn't condone anything as illegal as all that. I don't think it's illegal to hit one. Well, I mean, maybe on purpose, but how would they ever know whether you did on purpose? But you do have to watch.

So you'll certainly have a wreck. I told him my wife's car. I was not trying to hit that. back when I had zero money and I did have insurance, but I mean, that was not the plan. The good news is in Acts chapter 10 when the Apostle Peter under strict food laws for 1,500 years, he saw this what looked like a sheet being let down by its four corners. So it's some type of movie screen and God's going to send him a lesson. And the movie screen contained all kinds of four-footed animals.

I'm like four-footers. Deer. I said, that'd be deer. Elk. Elk, moose, four-footers, the rabbit squirrel. That's a Cajun gumbo. That's where it came from. And the command said, arise, kill, and eat.

So it is biblically authorized. It is a sound teaching in the Bible. God says, I made the animals. You can kill them, kill them and eat them. Let's face it. In your conversion, Phil, that was right under the gospel of Jesus. And you read that, you thought, okay. It was worthy of note, I must admit.

Then, Jay, you go all the way back to Genesis 9. I do. I do that in my speeches. For the original. You know what I find strange is that a lot of church-going people are shocked that that's in the Bible. They're like, I never knew that was in there. You know, they get to the flood and Noah and the ark and everybody singing kumbaya. And they just move past what happened next.

where he said, let's start hunting. That's right. The first thing that thing, when it landed and they let the animals lose, it was like. Evidently, they were vegetarians. He said, I gave you at first. What did he say? The green plants. The green plants, but now I give you everything.

So they were vegetarian up until, so when there's the garden, everybody was getting along. So that started, I don't know if you know this. That started a whole movement that people said, well, that's what we got to, if we want to live, they were living eight, nine hundred years old. We want to get back to that. We need to quit eating these animals and go back under the, you know. I love that movement, though. I'm like, that's more for me. That's more meat for the rest.

When people come over there and say, oh, I don't eat meat, I was like, great. I'm going to get twice my usual portion. Well, Dad, you had a whole vegetable feast last night. You didn't even have a piece of meat. All veggies. That's what my mom said. I told some girls, she said, you know, I just don't think it's right. She was interviewing me about something.

And I said, well, I said, where did you come? up with that. I said, is it you saying biblically it's not right? She said, oh no, I don't believe in God. I don't, I don't read Bible. I said, well, I said, so where's the wrongness of it, you know, killing animals, fish, eat them? And she said, I just don't believe it's right. I said, well, you're bound to have gotten that information from someone. You read something that said, we don't think it's right to kill animals. I said, you bought it. I said, well, I don't see anything wrong with it. I said, but I don't hold it against you at all if you just want to eat veggies. I love veggies. But didn't she try something? Well, she said, do you have a restaurant you can

recommend? I said, about the cook good veggies. I said, oh, yeah. So I told them up here, a restaurant, local restaurant. I told her good about that. They fixed great veggies. So I didn't hold it against her. I did walk in my kitchen and I picked up a jar of may haul jelly. And I said, You see that? And she said, what is that? I said, that's jelly. May hall, jelly. You ever heard of that? She said, never heard of that. I said, it's a little red, looked like a little apple. And I said, it grows the same places where the deer are and the squirrels and the ducks. I said, there's trees that produce fruit. We make jelly out of it. We eat the, we eat the animals. We're people. We eat the fruit that grows. This is Earth. And I said, let me show you something. And I took a little teaspoon. I said, I just want you to taste this. She's tasty. She said, oh, my goodness, that is delicious. I said, so is deer.

I said, it's all coming out of the same place, honey. So, Phil, you have a berry. Look, here's the rest of the story. The deer is the mayo. I told her that. And I said, but whatever, I said, we're going to eat mayo jelly, and we're in the animals. I said, it's tasty.

It's really good. Louisiana's famous for it. Good food. But anyway, she said, do you have a restaurant you could recommend? I gave her that. Well, we got a note about a month later, she sent it to aisle, and she said, tell your dad that I went by that place that he recommended to eat, and I ordered brazed duck.

Oh, boy. She said it was delicious. This is breaking news. So I think if we don't, if we're not unkind to them, we just tell them, look, I don't know where you're getting the information. It's not the Bible. old writings maybe you shouldn't kill animals i said i don't know where you got it from i think probably a university some college professor got to expound it on those issues and talked people out of

some great she was uh she was she was an assy an awse so who knows let's take a break i'm just going to say when when paul says uh be careful about those who tell you not to eat this or eat that you know we're free to eat as as you said peter saw that vision and the ability to to eat that, it's becoming somewhat of a religion on the other side to move away from what God says we can do. That's correct. Which I think most of the, my only environmentalism, it could be anti-mead or anti-hunting, you see, that is almost its own religion now.

I mean, all those elements, they tend to kind of line up, which makes sense because when you read Romans 1, it's pretty clear that that's exactly what's happening. It's a self-induced creed. They come up with a creed, and they have a, they have. some hollow and deceptive philosophers who have putting this on them and they just believe it. And it's like a creed and they go down the list of what you can do, rule after rule after rule, it's unfortunate. The problem is we're going to keep enjoying what God has provided.

But have you ever noticed that the rules change with them? That's what I was about to say the exact same thing. A lot. Yeah. So they never know what's right or what's wrong. See, the benefit of being a follower of Christ is it's all laid out there for us. We know exactly what he has told us to do. So it doesn't change.

That's right. And it's not rocket science with him. No. It's not complex at all. He puts it on the low shelf for all of us. It's on the bottom shelf. The problem is they're trying to come up with the information, and we have an informant. You know, when Pilate asks what is truth, what Jesus had already said, I am the truth.

You know, the better question, if he would have said, who? I mean, I'm trusting Jesus what he says. I have what he says. I look and it works. It makes sense. And the benefits of it, not only in this life, we have eternity involved. But if I was just trying to find information bits and pieces and then so all of a sudden, I'm constantly changing what I thought was truth because I really have no one to go to a source.

It's just different opinions about everything. I mean, even the climate and the environment has become a religion to some. I mean, I'm all for having great climate and great environment. But that's not going to be what I give my soul to as far as, you know, apaches of my life. Yeah, absolutely. It's becoming a religion. Yeah.

Yeah, there's no doubt. And I think that's why we don't get as upset about. But it's dangerous when you think about what they're saying with the global warming. when they attribute what God says is going to be happening in the end times, and you attribute that to man and not God warning, you distract people from the bigger picture of what God is communicating to man. And so there's this deception that settles upon men. And government, I mean, think about this for a moment. How is government going to save the planet? They can't even, they can't save themselves, first off.

But we have a dysfunctional country. I mean, you look in Washington, D.C., and we can't solve the simplest of issues. Like an immigration border or something. Look, these issues. I thought a budget. There you go. Let's start there. We have not.

About 15, 16 years ago, I wrote a book called Personal Faith Public Policy, identifying seven major issues. You know what? Those issues still have not been resolved. Immigration, racial division, health care. You name the issues. There's still issues today. Government haven't solved it, but we can save the planet.

Yeah, so the one word it kept coming to mind to me, Tony, was arrogance. What an arrogant approach to think that somehow you, or if the government of the world just came together. Even now, what's being driven on the front page, I mean, Biden's talking about meeting with China to come to some deal, where all of a sudden our arch enemy, we're going to all work together to save the planet. It's such a joke. I mean, to me, I'm just like, and so arrogant. But you don't, when you don't have hope, when you don't have hope, and I mean afterlife, big picture, or purpose, you tend to elevate small things to salvation status like we even did with the mask. Yeah. I mean, look, I wore my mask like a good boy, but there were a lot of people that funneled their salvation and for saving the planet into a piece of cloth that was never really proven to do anything.

Well, pretty much from the start, they said it wasn't going to work very well. I mean, that's what they said rightly from the beginning. In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like a garment. You'll roll them up like a robe, like a garment. They'll be chained, but you remain the same.

And your years will never end. but so the Hebrew writer said what was verse? Hebrew is warm. The earth would wear out like a discarded cloth. You're not going to be able to save it. God made it and it's going to just slowly wear out. He takes the eternal ones, the faithfuls with him,

and the rest are weeded out. It's a dangerous thing. I used to do it. I used to do a bit in my speech. I'd get up there and I'd say, I believe in global warming, and it would just the tension would matter. when I said that, you know.

Everybody's thinking, what is he fixed to say? Is he, the left winger's got him? I said, second Peter, and I would do the worst sound in the duck blind, especially for bearded men, I'd go, whew. I was like, at a later date, it's going to get real hot around here. So you believe in global warming, you believe strongly in global heating. Yeah, at a later date. The elements will melt in the heat.

This is going to get hot around. Have an exit strategy. But I quit doing it because people like, you know. They couldn't take the tension now. You should revive that, though. Especially now. A lot of church folk, they're uncomfortable when you do that, you know. It's just like they'd rather do stuff like, I mean, you fired me when I was like, look, trees, they don't need hugs.

that always gets a laugh. It really doesn't mean anything, but it's letting people's minds know that, hey, people are more important than trees, although we love trees. We love trees. But you know what, going back to your point there with the mask and all that, it's a fear that has gripped people. And even the issue of climate change has gripped a lot of people with fear. But you've got to go back to what Jesus said in Luke chapter 21, where he wore.

warns of what the end times are going to look like. He says, take heed, that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name saying, I am he, and the time has drawn near, therefore do not go after them. But you will hear of wars and commotions do not be terrified, for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately. Then he said, nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and there will be great earthquakes in various places, famines and pestilence, that's viruses, and there will be fearful. signs. That's active, literally the Greek there is a, it's like act of terrorism, strikes of terror, and great signs from heaven. But before all these things, they will lay hands on you and persecute you

you and deliver you up into the synagogues. So again, this is taking our attention away from what Jesus is warning us. We're moving toward the end times. What should we be doing? Preaching the gospel so that people will repent and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, but rather we're interjecting government as the savior of mankind. We're going to solve these issues of the natural disturbances. We're going to deal with this with global warming. In fact, it is God's warning that the time is coming to a close. I got a history professor, one of the brothers that I said,

so you taught history here at this university for 30 years. I said, so what did you do when you came to the historical timeframe of Jesus Christ? he said we weren't allowed to teach that we weren't allowed to expound on that I said so you're just skipped over those years when Jesus became flesh and died on the cross was raised from the dead talk about Rome talk about something he said we could talk about any of it he said but when I tried to force the issue he said I'm not a professor anymore see you later relieved him of his command I mean I didn't think about that one of the most defining moments in human history I mean we've we even set the the calendar by it.

I talk about that all the time. Of course, we've changed that now. It's no longer AD, B, C, and AD. We've changed it, you know, before the common error. Which I refuse to use, by the way. We don't have to go along with that. Dad has a way, let's take another break. Dad has a way of, when he talks about it, Tony, says, you know,

now they call it common error, before common error, after he said, what does that mean? He says, before Jesus got here. I mean, whatever you want to tag it, it's still before Jesus got here once he was here, which is the thing. Yeah, I told them other day, you know, I was talking some atheists, you know, and he said, y'all believe in miracles.

He said, but we, I said, y'all believe in them too. I said, you teach them all the time. And he said, well, what are you talking about? I said, well, before y'all said there was an explosion 13.5 billion years ago, I said, what was there before it exploded? What was there? Was there anything there? They said, nothing.

I said, so nothing explodes to get the cosmos here. That's a miracle. That's pretty miraculous. And lo and behold, on this particular planet, three-fourths of it ended up saltwater, and the slime and the salt water created us. I said, that's a miracle, dude. I don't believe in that miracle. Only Phil would come up outwitted by a redneck.

That always, Tony Dad's favorite line is every time he talks. about some amazing thing that happens either with people or on the planet is what department in salt water came up with that. Yeah. Made a duck. That's right. And me. What department of salt water was the origins of that, which is pretty good.

The color code of a wood duck that came out of an explosion, slime, and there's a duck, beautiful wood duck. I'm like, in a mallard and a teal. I'm like, you're trying to tell me, with that. the straight face, do you think salt water made those things? I said, come on. And a wood duck can fly into a tree, a hole in a tree, a little bit bigger than him, her, and fly into a tree going 30 or 40 miles an hour. It's the most amazing thing you've ever said. That's where they nest. Be a hole this big. And a wood duck goes in that hole. It's just flying along and just

disappears into that tree. Eggs down at the bottom of a 10-foot holler. The eggs are down here, some of them 10 foot, but for some strange reason, a wood duck is given a little hook. A little hook on their bill. On their bill. And the little babies are no bigger than my thumb. The eggs hatch and these woodies climb the wall of that tree. Look out. And the mother's down at the bottom, you know, they're jumping out of the tree.

I'm watching them hit the ground. I'm thinking, salt water made that? I mean, that's just one observation. I just came back. That's just one observation. Don't have enough faith to be an atheist. That's exactly about it. And to see and to look at what's around you.

So let me formally introduce you, Tony, because I didn't do that. So Tony is the president of the Family Research Council, which is a great group in D.C. I guess you'd call it probably the most well-known Christian lobbyist group in D.C. Yeah, we work on public policy as it pertain to. to the family from a Christian perspective right in the heart of our nation's capital. We've been here for years and we like what you do.

But ever since Trump lost and Biden came on, Tony, I just can't watch it. I can't, I've not watched the news since Trump lost and Biden's never. I have not watched any news.

I just can't do it, We're grateful they're guys like you. I'm glad you're in there with them, but I'm thinking, I can see you. It's a nice way to say he hasn't been watching. I can save you the trouble just with one word, bad. That's what it looks like, bad. So I wanted to talk a little bit about Tony because you have a really interesting sort of evolution to what you're doing now because you started, I think you started Louisiana Family Forum. I did here years ago when I was in the legislature.

Right, which the idea was the same thing. Someone that would take up for family, God, you know, what most of Louisiana citizens believe in in our own Louisiana legislature and Senate. And so you started that here when our friend Gene Mills is a great guy and he runs that. But it's still, so you've seen the idea that if the way this is going to work for us to make a difference in our culture and in our system of government, you have to have a voice. because without a voice. But Tony, you remember, without even saying it, I am the father of Al and Jace and Willie, Jep, Phyllis. So I'm the father of these two, but we have Bibles in front of us. We believe the Bible, God wrote it.

We believe in Jesus. We're counting time by them, like you said, removed our sin, guaranteed we'd be raised from the dead. Constant mediating work, when we make a mistake as a Christian. No sin in the past counted against us. No future ones counted against us. Immortality in life, and the immortality is riding on it. So a father and his two sons are simply telling people that. We're doing it from down here where we go duck hunting.

we've got all every eggs out there, you say it's our task, I just don't think it's a political fix at all. No, I'm saying if they repent and turn to God, it would fix itself with God's help. You're absolutely right. And what I often say to people about our work in Washington, and I've been there over 18 years now, is that we're basically just keeping the barbarians at bay so that believers can do the work of evangelism, the churches, the families. Here's the issue. This is why we're there. I never went to Washington thinking we were going to solve the nation's problems. What I did, what I realized and what I even more so is true today is that we're just trying to keep the government's anti-God perspective out of our families, out of the broader culture, in our schools. I mean, look at what's happening in our schools today where we're turning our children against their parents because we're filling their idea, their heads.

with these ideas that they can determine their own gender? We've got these open bathroom policies where girls are being assaulted in bathrooms. These are government policies. Sad. Sad, sad, sad. We've got people that are losing their jobs if they proclaim their Christian faith. You know, we now have this mandate about this vaccine, that if you even have religious exemptions or qualms about it, you can't exercise that.

We have a government that is filling the space that God wants filled in our society. And so what we're trying to do is give the church the ability, I say the church, Christians, followers of Jesus, the ability to live out their faith. Religious freedom, the left sees religious freedom, and they're generous if they give you this, the ability to choose what church you want to go to on a Sunday. Religious freedom is the ability to live out your faith in such a way that it impacts the world around you. That's being salt and light. And so what we're doing is to preserve. that fundamental freedom by working for policies that respect religious freedom in this country. So you can sit around this table and you can have a podcast.

See, this is after you leave church services on Sunday. This is Monday. We're still there. Tomorrow we're still there. The next day, we're still there. That's a great. Let's take another break. That's a great point, Tony, because what we're doing is straight into culture and we're the most at risk because

we know we've only got a handful of platforms, and we're out there trying to get this word out, but then you have a handful of corporations that say, no. Right. What you're saying is hate speech, so we're going to shut you down. Look at, we just finished. We're doing a two-year journey through the Bible, and we're just about finished with it. In December, we finish, and then we'll start again. It's called Stand on the Word.

Doing it as a staff, doing it as an organization. We've got several thousand people going through it with us. But we just finished the book of Acts. You read Acts, and Paul, face the cancel culture. I mean, he would go in, he would preach the gospel. Over and over. Exactly. He would go in, he would preach. There were those who benefited from sin and deception would get upset. In fact, oftentimes it was the Chamber of Commerce. That's right. Who would then organize a mob who would either run him out, beat him up, or have him thrown in jail.

That's right. But what did he do? And I'm going to, in fact, I'm going to be talking about this to the Baptist pastors here tonight, where in Acts chapter 18, the Lord speaks to Paul, he's in Corinth, and he says this, he says, don't be afraid, speak, and don't be silent. And this is a guy who had been several assassination attempts. He had been stoned with rocks. He had been thrown in prison, shipwrecked three times. This guy's not a weak sister. But yet he had face this same crowd over and over and over and he goes here we go again but god said don't fear speak and don't be silent and to his credit luke recorded first paragraph from the book of acts uh my former book the obelus i wrote about all that jesus began to do were on jesus and to teach

and what he said until the day he was taken up to heaven post resurrection after giving instruction through the Holy Spirit to the apostles, he had chosen. After his suffering, his death, his resurrection. He showed himself to these men, gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to him over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom. That's the opening paragraph in Acts. Fortunately for the church and us too, the last thing that Luke wrote in the book of Acts is the Apostle Paul for two whole years, Paul stayed there in his own.

rented house and welcomed all who came to see boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus from cover to cover throughout the book of Acts. You could give you more as that because I thought it pretty amazing. And that's the New Testament Church and I believe that's what we're to be about today. That regardless of the deplatforming, the cancel culture, we cannot go silent. We cannot back up. We've got to be, we've got to pivot, you know, where if he was run out of one community, he went to another.

If you're deep platformed from one, you go to another. We create our own. If he hated me, Jesus said, they'll hate you too. We can't give up. You know, also I think it's interesting in Acts 18. He said that I have people in this city, which I thought about that when you were talking. If somebody said, look, the Lord said, take, Washington, D.C. and he says, I got people in this city. A lot of people would be shocked.

Yeah. But I am glad you're there as a representative. That's really a good point because Corinth was a wicked city. It was a very wicked city. But here's what happens with this. And you guys had a little problem with male and female. A lot of problems. Yeah. But you guys have experienced this. When one person stands up and speaks, guess what happens? Before long, they're not alone. That's right. Because Because courage breeds courage. Correct. And that's what the left, that's what the enemy of our soul wants, is for us to be silent because then we all feel isolated and alone.

But when a voice like yours, Phil, steps up, people begin to realize, wait a minute, that's the same thing that I believe. That's what the Bible says. And so it encourages others to stand. So one of the things, Tony, and you and I have been friends for a long time, and one of the things I've always appreciated about you personally is that you're working in Washington, D.C., trying to make a difference. You've been there, like I said, 18 years. But you've always maintained a life here in Louisiana. You're a pastor to church. You raise your family here. So it's not like a lot of people

go to D.C. and then get sucked into that whole vortex. I've seen a lot of good men and women who went in there with their right ideas, you know, into the government itself, and then just get sucked into that machine. So is that been important for you to keep that sort of outside of that? I don't know. It is because we all want to, we all are made for the most part to have fellowship. We want to fit in. Nobody says I want to be the odd duck. You know, there's a few, but not many. And so when you go there, you conform to your environment. And so, yeah, I've been commuting back and forth for the last 18 years, plus the food's better here in Louisiana. Much better. And I didn't want to move my family, but I got five kids. And I wanted to do.

them to be rooted here in Louisiana. You know, you go up there and you raise your kids and they scatter to the winds. And so, you know, we've all raised all our kids here. We've homeschooled. You know, we live in the, not as much of the country as you live at here. We're not that far out. You don't get turned around four times going to your half. Well, and I've got, I've got a dollar general within a half a mile. So we're not too far from civilization. We retreated somewhat, but we're not silent. No, I'm sure we can hear it when duck season. We're beaming out. Look, I'm one of the odd ducks you referred to, but I realize was the second chapter

when the Lord said it's not good for man to be alone. And I learned that this courage that is contagious, you know, it's not about me as my faith has matured. And I realize you have to do things that are uncomfortable. I mean, you being in Washington, D.C., being outnumbered, I'm sure seems uncomfortable from time to But I just got back from Greece where I visited Corinth and I saw the layout, the public bath houses where, you know, here I am. And so what we were doing there went in with the points you were saying is a lot of these refugees that come from these radical countries where they were escaping at risk for their life. Well, there's a missionary there, a guy from Oklahoma who just felt like the Lord had called him to share Jesus. Which is where Tony's from.

Oklahoma. And so they've converted hundreds of people from Iran and Afghanistan and Iraq and other kind of radical Muslim-controlled states. Well, these people, once they feel lucky to be alive just to make it out of there, then they come to Jesus and then they're like, well, the Lord has a purpose for me. And they go back. So when they asked me to come over there and speak, I said, well, what are the ramifications for this? They're like, well, we're going to film this and pump it into these underground churches in these radical controlled countries. And I said, well, what does that mean for me?

And they said, well, that probably means that your face and picture will go up on a board somewhere as a threat. But to me, I'm like, but I'm safe here. these guys and gals who came to Jesus, they're risking their life. They're going back into the country where if it's found out, they will die. But when you said that, it occurred to me that I had that moment of clarity where I thought, what I'm doing is nothing. And their courage inspired me to do this.

Exactly. Let's take our last break. I was just to say, I've had the privilege of serving on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which is a bipartisan nine-member commission. I served as the chair. I've gone around the world to some of these bad places. And we have it so easy here in this country. Oh, my goodness.

I wish every American would go. I was in Sudan my last trip before the pandemic. And you talk with believers who were persecuted. You go to a place. I was actually in Turkey when Andrew Brunson was released and brought him back. And you see this happening around the world. That is a part of why we've got to be aggressive in defending religious freedom here at home or else will become like some of these other countries where we're underground. Which is what you're trying to avoid.

Yeah. And one of the places we went with our broadcast was in Sudan. But some of the stories of the atrocities that had happened to these people. And here they are filled with joy and peace and patience via the Holy Spirit. Because most of the people that were in the room had been in the. the faith at least five years. So they were the more mature. But it goes back to what you said about purpose. You see, we have so many distractions in in America as believers. We're distracted and we never really zero in on that purpose that we have as followers of Christ. So, you know,

Tony, in your younger life, you were a Marine, police officer. Obviously, tough jobs that, you know, get a lot of opposition. But I would dare say, and I'm just guessing, you can tell them if I'm I'm wrong, that you probably have faced more ill will and opposition because you're willing to be a face for a group that's lobbying for Christianity than anything else you've ever done. Because I always joke when I do an event, one of your events, that I'm going to get the most hate stuff I get every time I do an event with Tony is because there's just this group of people out there that are laying in wait. They must watch.

I'm hoping at some point I'll convince some of them. At the height of the pandemic. I would stop after I would share Jesus with people. And then Jesus said, go make disciples and baptize them, in the name of the Father, Son, the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey what I've commanded you. I'll be with you to the end of the age. I said, so you folks want to be baptized today.

I said, it presents a problem because the government has said, I can't get within six feet of you. I said, so we've got an option here. I said, we're going to get a rope. and I get you on the end of the rope and I said somehow snatch you under the water and then you just A pulley system

Yeah and you just have to come up the best you can I said I said or we can remember that Jesus raise his dead men from the ground and we just take our chances and baptize you and go on with it you know six foot whatever

pandemic or what so we went with the just going to go ahead and baptize them and we never caught anything Well, that's why it infuriated the world because, look, we've used our TV show and the different avenues the way we became famous as a platform to share Jesus. But I've held the hand of hundreds of people who are on their deathbed and kids and all these situations where you're trying to offer peace and a bit of confidence in a very difficult. situation. Well, if I didn't have Jesus's words in the hope of that, what can I do? The difficulty in life is all around. And it was here before the pandemic. People who were surprised at seeing

this in the pandemic were not dealing with people on a daily basis. But as people who have been doing this for years, it's difficult because bad things happen. And we all die. We all make mistakes. And so we're interacting with these people and these godly principles that do bring joy and hope. And most of these people, especially among, you know, the kids that are suffering. I mean, they have just active courage after active courage. And, you know, they're inspiring you just for being there.

So that's what I think about when these people are running around being shell-shot because somebody didn't have a mask on at the Dollar General, you know. I'm like, get a life. Life is tough. It's been tough before this. And there's a lot of qualities that God offers that makes sense that are historical and have evidence, even in creation, you know, where we started, that will bring you some joy and peace and comfort that we're dealing with on a daily basis. And that's why they're perceiving us as yawning when something like this happens. and it's not that we're yawning or taking it lightly,

but our hope is in something way bigger and greater in this, and we've put our faith and trust in that. Yeah, that's that deal song. Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And so, Tony, we're almost out of time, but one thing I want to say is, you know, we're unashamed nation is what we call our group, and it's right out of Romans 116 and 17.

And so we're challenging the many, many thousands of people that listen. And we do it through Bible study, just like you guys are doing. That's our core of who we are. But the whole idea is to live unashamed. And I can't think of a better person that could be our poster person for living unashamed than you do. And I just wanted to thank you to our audience. And look, if you guys ever want to check out more of what Tony is doing, it's FRC.org, is the website

and see a way to get involved, support these guys. Dad and I are going to be on your radio show today. So because you're in back home in Louisiana, you're speaking to some pastors, and so you're going to do your show from here. Yeah, we are. Washington Watch is going to be Monroe Watch. It's exactly right here from the unashamed lair. It's the first.

It's the first. This is going to be interesting. Yeah. And it's always good to meet a fellow Louisiana guy. Look, and what I loved, the last event we did, you sort of rebranded to Prevote Stan, which was a great event. And you invited me to speak. And the night I got to speak, I was just surrounded by some amazing people, apologists. fire brand preachers, but also Mike Pompeo and great political people who are believers.

And so it's really encouraging every time I do that, Tony. And dad got to share the gospel with President Trump before he was president at your event. Right. Right. And we told that story before on the podcast. So you're giving opportunities for that to happen. I just want to tell you thanks. He did say he was a sinful man. I thought, well, at least you're honest. That's exactly. I said, and you're going six feet deep in a hole, right? He said, no doubt about it.

I said, Jesus just solves your problems right here. I said, haul at me up here. I said, I'll drive up, whatever, fly up. And I said, you know, I'll baptize you if you want to. I said, you look up the verses yourself. I said, have a nice day. Who knows where that family is. He did not say, get that bye by my faith, no.

No, he was very respectful. I had many conversations with him on that front. But, you know, I just, I want to thank you guys. So I tried my best to convert him. Yep. And keep praying for it. And he may be. Keep praying for him.

But I want to thank you guys for building that courage in men and others across this country. We've got to, we've got to draw into our strength. And Ephesians 6 says, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. We cannot be ashamed of the Word of God. Amen. Whether you're a police officer, whether you're a banker, whether you're a teacher, whether you're a coach, whether you're a duck hunter. We need the Word of God.

It is our foundation. We cannot be ashamed of it. We've got to live that way. All the empires of planet Earth, the history buff I told you about the historian, every single one of them before us has collapsed. All of the rise to great heights, they collapse, they collapse, they collapsed, they collapsed. Well, now we, India, Russia, China. could throw in there. You've got four or five right now that's up on the top of the,

but they're coming down like all the rest of them. There's one kingdom that won't. That's right. Exactly. Kingdom of that. And you could become a citizen of that kingdom. That's right. Absolutely. By accepting Jesus Christ, that's Lord and Savior. So now, Tony, you get to experience the best side benefit of being here. We get to go to Miss Kay's kitchen for lunch. That's where we're going from here. So thank you, Tony, for being here today. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes. And for even more content that you won't get anywhere

else, subscribe to blazed TV at blazestiv.com slash unashamed.