Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 414 | Phil’s Mom Fed an Ungrateful Hobo & Train Robbers

Episode Date: January 23, 2022

Phil shares a story about his mom's southern hospitality to an ungrateful hobo. Jase jokes about a solution to railway theft, and Phil labels Los Angeles the "Venereal Hot Spot" of America. Al remembers being young and catching some boys stealing from his dad. And the guys talks about equality and the problems with the methods of obtaining it. https://PhilRobertson.Substack.com — Read two FREE chapters of Uncanceled by Phil Robertson - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So, Dad, I understand you saw the train robbery is back in modern-day America. It's, you know, it's a big deal back in the late 1880s. It's been a while since I've watched Matt Dillon and the train robberies. And watch our uncle, I call him, because his name is Dale Robertson, you know, he's got a little deal, you know. Yeah. You know, what is it? that company he's with,

Pony Express, whatever. Right. But the train robbery was a way of life in the West. Because that's how everybody got out west. They've cranked it back up now, and the thugs that live on the street and wherever, they just robbing the trains.

Yeah. I don't know whether when they park them, they rob them. They could then run up beside them. I saw them. Tair the doors off. You'd think a freight car, no matter what kind of tools you have,

LA, how are they breaking in to train cars? I don't know. All I saw. I just saw the debris. The aftermath. It looked like a tornado had gone right down the railroad tracks. They just... Y'all saw this on the news?

Yeah. It was in Los Angeles. And evidently, they don't have enough men to slow it down because they're not putting people in jail for it. They're letting people out more than that they're letting people out more than. then they're letting them in and you've got train robbery going on. I'm pretty sure train robbery is against the law. I'm beginning to wonder. It is against the law, but Jay's the problem is you haven't been watching a lot of newsletters.

We've got a lot of DAs, including L.A., that won't prosecute criminals. I was sitting there thinking that while y'all were watching the train robbery, I was in a field and in a weird bit of circumstance, I found, all I found was about 50 railroad spikes. They were probably 50 years old. Oh, have we dug up a train? The train rail around here? You would have to transport the spikes in order to nail it in, nail the tracks down to the timbers. Underneath them, you'd have to have them, so they hauled them by, I don't know who was making them at the time, but they...

Well, I found about 50 of them. Yeah. If you want to build your little train track over on the land. So somebody had it in a wagon probably going to the wherever the, because there's a railroad track that crosses the Mississippi River over there. Yeah, I was over around the Mississippi. Yeah, they were probably heading to that and lost some along the way or something. I mean, you're talking about well-built, though.

I mean, I'd throw one of them things. They'd just, you know, I mean, it's like a big, heavy dart. Yeah. But think about how it has to hold up that train car. Yeah, I mean, they were impressively built. you just think how long they've been laying out there in that field and they just all you needed was a sledgehammer 200 years probably right at it I don't know when the the rail system was a bone to be chewed back when this was just a bunch of wilderness well you know it's funny they crisscrossed the entire united states with railroad tracks this is always into stocks you know the blue chips back in that day were the railroads

i mean that that was where everything was happening that's where all the money was guess what al oh that ain't nothing change. I have three railway stocks and they're well and to dad's they do one thing go up. Yeah. To dad's point, they're still moving product, which, you know, now they're robbing them again. The volume of stuff they haul still is hard to top with the 18 wheelers on the highways. Right. I mean, because, you know, the old tracks, the railroad tracks, they're 200 years old. I mean, they've mounded them up cross river. I mean, look, when they got this train thing going, but now they're being robbed of all of their stuff they're hauling

by local population of the Los Angeles, California people. Right. They're robbing them. It's train robbery. Yeah. And it would look like... Used to as a stiff fine, I would think. And they were showing close-ups, Jay's.

It was everything from testing, Corona testing kits. You know, it was like, oh, yeah. Amazon books. They were just laying out. Amazon books, you know. Amazon. packages, toys. Look, fish lures. They showed a big old pile of fish. Listen, Jake, as far as the eye can see, it's just debris where they robbing the trains and just going out of them with locusts.

They just come in there. And there was one guy out there, one law enforcement guy, he pulled up there and looked around. I thought, this has to be a bigger effort to stop. You know, they call him the posse when you said, We need some 40, 50 million. What were they called? The Pinkerton. Yeah, the Pinkerton. I was thinking of the same thing. They need some Pinkerton.

The detective agency. They're going to have to do something because they're not doing anything for train robbery. But you know, there's no repercussions. That is interesting that we've had a lot. In the last two years, obviously, had a lot of law enforcement issues because of defund the police and all that. But back in the day, Pinkerton was a private security company. I mean, they were private detectives is what they were. Maybe that's the way to go.

Well, that's what I'm saying, it's funny. All these years later you think, well, we've sort of gotten past the having to go private. No, you still got to go. We're past the era of train robbing. No. I mean, this is right. What do they say? Everything makes a comeback.

Including train robber. I figured that was one that died in the old west. I'm wondering about if this could happen in the south down here. We hear a train go where we're duck hunting, but there's one that attracts wheel where we hear it every morning. but, you know, they still have the old rails there, you know, but I don't know whether this is just unique to Los Angeles or whether it's widespread nationwide, but if you can't ship produce, you're going to go in there,

and there's two things that comes out of socialism, and one of them is the lack of empty shelves. There's empty shelves, and there's anarchy. Right. So we're kind of got a little bit of that going on. these days. You know what's crazy is no matter how much everything changes, when you read all these lists of sins in the Bible and the problems of that corner, it's always the same because

when you, you boil it down, it's just theft. Oh, that's right. You're just stealing something that doesn't belong to. It's easy. Right. But to your point earlier, Dad, I noticed most of those cars were sitting still, and it looked, you know, congested, which you think of LA, you think congestion, right, whether it's traffic. So these trains aren't moving much.

To rob the train around here, every train I see coming by is going about 50 miles an hour. It's humming. So you're going to have to get back on horseback and do it. I'll just go over this. One of the things I was canceled for, do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? do not be deceived. Sex of them are all idolaters, adulterous,

male prostitutes, homosexual offenders. Then he gets on this list, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkenness, nor slanderers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

And what's amazing is to the church at Corinth, guess what he followed that up with? And that's what some of you were. But, so you say, well, we can't help these folks.

There's one way out. You were washed, probably referring to their baptism. You were sanctified, set apart to do good works. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God. So I would just tell the robbers if they would just get a group of them, I said, before you send them to prison or before you let them go, let me just give them a little bit on, they can get out of this and come out of it. And all of these sins can be forgiven.

Because the Apostle Paul is telling them, you know, you better know this. You know, don't be deceived. There's bad, bad payment for death if you keep this lifestyle going. So other than that, how are you going to get them to stop robbing and raping? Well, option three, prison ministry. You can share Jesus with them while they're in prison. Paul had a pretty good prison. He was saying you can come out of this.

But that's interesting, Dad, because you know, you think about individual sins and why people do what they do. You know, you had a period of time where you weren't, you know, thinking about biblical, you know, living right. But one thing I'll say from when I was a little boy, even when you weren't a Christian, one thing you drilled into us was don't steal. I did. I mean, do you remember that, Jay? I mean, that was like a don't take things that don't belong to. That's right. And so, like, as a kid, you know, like I said, our life was kind of all over the place.

But one thing I remembered, you don't steal. You don't take stuff that doesn't belong to. That's correct. You ingrained that in us. What was the reason? You don't steal. I drilled that into your head because of the culture you now see. Right.

I could just look out there. And I said, this has to be somewhere where you say, no, we're not going beyond this point. Don't do that, guys. With young, young, you know, you put a belt on somebody's butt when they do that. They said, well, I tell what, nobody's going to tell me. I can't steal what. Well, I made sure that, no, this. Well, when I went off the rails, I did a lot of things wrong.

But one thing that kept coming to my mind is don't steal. I mean, out of all the things I did wrong, I was like, don't do that one because Phil Stowe is not. I've been drunk with the worst of them, but you say, were you ever into thievery? I said, no. No. Was that drilled into you? I mean, did you hear that?

What was your aversion to is what I'm wondering? Because you didn't have anything else. going on right in your life? Why would you be? First of all, we weren't, we were not in a position where there was anything worth stealing within miles. I mean, there was nothing to steal. We're talking a log cabin, take a dump outside back there in the back, 200 yards away.

There was no bathtub. There were no running water. The ice box was just that. He opened it up, put a block of ice in there. And that's where the butter and the cheese went and the milk. So what you're saying is if a train happened to come by and stop. for some kind of mechanical issue, you then would have had a temptation. And the way the code...

There was nothing around the state. The way the code went is you would look up and it would be about daylight and you would see a long figure in the backyard. And he's walking up there and he's looking rough and you literally can smell him. He has a stench about him. And you somebody said, well, who? Who were there? Were there a lot of them? A lot of them.

They just showed up. The word got out among the hobos, we call them. Yeah, hobos. Hobos is you jump on a train and head west, whatever you want to do. But when they came through Dixie, Louisiana, the word got out. There's a woman there. There's a family that'll feed you and let you take a bath if you'll stop there. They'll be good to you.

Well, that was us. That was the Robertson people. They'd come up. we'd all be standing out looking at them, you know. Si be standing there butt naked. And, you know, he's standing there with it. And we're looking at him. We say, hey, what's your name?

And we'd, but what got me was out. So I went through a long spell. This man was invited into the house. The hobos were invited into the house. Ma would fix them something to eat. And one of them, I saw her get hot one time of it. She had squirrel and dumplings. which to us that was fine dining there and she said you like the squirrel in dumpins he said i tasted

better he she looked at him she didn't like that because she's going to have him she let him bathe she fed him and he bad-mouthed and cooking we're all got riled up about that she said let me tell you something you come in there off of one of his train yeah she chastised him over yeah who's a food critic but you know what now i'm looking at it now i'm looking at it now Can you imagine people walking up in the yard, smelly, old guys, and you invite them in, and that's come and gone. We don't see that anymore. It's all kind of like a government deal where they're going to do this and that and the other.

They're planning to help the poor. But as far as just family units saying, come on over and have a meal. Well, and the other problem is... We've lost that as a country, and that's a bad thing to lose. You're right. And the other problem is with the... Now it's the drug. drug addiction that goes along with a lot of these guys that are on the street and so it's a little

different situation than the old guy on the train that just didn't have much I mean these people now of course that's the other thing that's kind of a rash here lately there's a lot of murders I mean I didn't realize corinth I didn't know the lengths that which it had was depraved but after reading Jim McGuigan whom I trust emphatically I trust him but he did his little what do you call it uh commentary he just wrote a book a commentary on corinth i just looked at the historical and man between the venereal diseases and the and the cutting up and the false gods i mean it was really and the and the sexual thing was just i mean out of control the apostle paul he goes in there he said i came up in here with fear

and trembling. I mean, he was... That's why I said everything makes a comeback. It was the sexual revolution. They were... And if you brought up the resurrection of the dead,

you were laughed out of town. So, you know, it's amazing that McGuigan said that, you know, when he's talking, he said, I came to you to know nothing but Jesus and him crucified. He didn't even add the resurrection

because once you started telling people you could be raised from the dead, the big, wisdom of the world would come at you with both feet, about like it is now. Yeah, I mean, I quoted this text to a guy, and it's cost us a lot of money and whatever, but we come out of a smitten like a rose. I mean, so. Yeah, but Phil, they didn't know you were quoting a text. That was the funny point. Let's take a break.

But he got to it in First Corinthians 15. Yeah. I mean, I think it's the greatest. He brings it all back together. I think that's why he, I think that's right. That's probably why he did it at the end of his letter. Yep. But it was kind of the crescendo of the book.

Well, I think he was also what I've been harping on every time we've been in Corinth. He was, he was stressing that there is a God and he's real. I mean, he was the realness that God is a living being instead of some. This is not club church Corinth, where everybody has these different. abilities. See, they were all looking at their false gods that had all been set up around the city, including, you know, the temples, whatever they call it, they got the name part, where they housed 1,000 prostitutes, and they just descended on the population every time it got dark. Every evening when it started getting dark, well, here they come. And I mean, it was just a sexual

free-for-all. Yeah, I was there. I walked up, and this thing, look, not only did you, it was, the temple, a place where they gathered. I mean, you had to hike straight up a mountain to get there. It was like the ultimate, you know, like now you can just have a private room somewhere or a private place. They just made it private by the only way you're getting there is through a straight up mountain hike. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean? And like the higher you go, the more private it became. Oh, yeah. So we got all the way that's time. I mean, I went through the first two rungs there and I was like I'm good you know some of our crew kept going up

they're like we're going to the top I was like well by the time you get there you're going to have to lay down from what I've read it looks like Los Angeles California and there's other cities too but L.A. in particular it's a modern day car rent I'm sorry but that's the way it looks as far as the list of what they were up to here you say it's LA. Yeah, and that's what happens when you don't have people.

You remember the founders talked about self-governance. The idea is so back to we were talking earlier about stealing, there was another thing that happened. When you were a brand-new Christian, we were living in some apartments. And we may have told the story before. But this drilled into my head because I was about 11 or 12. Jace was about seven or so, eight.

And there was a, you had some fishing poles in the back of your truck. And there were some people that live straight across some of us in an apartment across the street. And they had two little twin boys that were younger than we were about they were younger than Jays. And so you went out to your truck where your fishing poles were gone. You had two of them in the back of the truck, gone. Yep. You're asking us, did y'all get the fishing poles? No, sir.

So, you know, a day or two went by. Well, we see the two kids across the way with two new fishing poles. So we went and told you. We said, I think your fishing poles are across the way. So you went over there to their apartment and the dad comes to the door. And you said, your boy's got my fishing poles out of the back of my truck. And the guy said, well, you didn't have them locked up. I mean, you just left them in your truck and you expected them to still be there when you came back.

And I remember, now you're a brand new Christian. I'm sure there was some anger going on. I don't know this for sure. But you said, that's exactly where I expected them to be. You don't take something out of the backs of my truck. But he still defended him. He defended them because you didn't have an underlocking key. My fault.

That's why they said if you don't lock your car, you need to get robbed. Right. Which is kind of funny. That's full circle now, though, Dad, because in San Francisco, they've started leaving their cars unlocked because they don't want people to bust out the window. They'd rather than just open the door and get the stuff out. I told you all this before, but, you know, the only time I had a burglar at my house was on Christmas. Eve because we were down here and they get back and my doors laying on the floor and they had stole some of the Christmas presents and I think a game console console and some games.

But the biggest damage on the whole thing was that door. Sure. And the door was unlocked. They could have just opened it. Yeah. But they kicked it down. And I mean, that's what made me so mad. I was like, don't tear up my door.

I mean, they got to pay to have that fixed. Well, right. I mean, it costs whatever it costs. I mean, because they. What kind of mind breaks in your house and steals Christmas gifts? Yeah. Think about that. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Well, Paula, John and Paula. That's Corinth. And that's L.A. John and Paula had a, had an around Calhoun, Louisiana. They had a camera under their carport. And so about three Christmases ago, she's got all her Christmas presents.

She's delivering, including mine and leases, in the back of her car. But it's under a carport. It's not locked. And so here you see them come in, little porch pirates. And they steal all the Christmas presents. But you're watching them, and of course, they had a mask on, you know, he couldn't do it. They were. But they stole every Christmas present.

Well, that was the thing last year. Remember they were saying all these delivery trucks during Christmas. They'd put the, these, these thugs followed the delivery trucks. every time they drop something off, they go up and get it. If I go on to the next stop, drive it off, big it up. So my point is, thievery and immorality, it just wasn't going on 2,000 years ago. Oh, no. Yeah, exactly.

I keep bringing this up, but it's still going on, just like it always had. But what gets me? Pravity now in these United States, depravity is common. Right. We're living in a depraved culture. That's why it is tough to be. I just wrote a book to try to help. But I mean, I think it's helped some, but I mean, it's a big task.

That's why it is tough to be hospitable. And people tend to just become inward focused on their dwelling. Because look, through this show and me doing all this treasure hunting and metal detecting, I'm meeting a lot of people for the first time because I just pull up in their yard. I'm looking at map saying, oh, we need to go here. You go find out who owns it. But it's, that's why it was funny when you said, are people still showing up smelly? Yeah.

Yeah, that's me. I'm showing up there. Well, if they don't know me, it's, you can't get to the door. They're either weapon in hand or, you know, I told you the story about me and Jeff in downtown Austin. this, I mean, all this work is going on, one of the fastest growing cities in the world. And there's one little place right by where we live that just looked like it was 1880,

like an old Western ranch, and you could tell the land hadn't been disturbed, no little shacks and barns. And I'm like, Jim, we need to hunt this. And he's like, well, do you know who lives there? I was like, let's just pull up there. and see. And so when we pulled up, I said, you're younger.

You look a little more innocent than me, but you know how we look. Jeb got halfway there, and there was an older woman came up to the door, and she just put her hands over her ears and just started screaming. Just, ha, ha, ha! And Jett was trying to talk, and I was like, Jep, let's go. She was just, ha, ha, ha. So, I mean, you have that response. which is not good you get in your truck and leave i think you got a little taste of why it's so critical

for individuals to love god and love their neighbor i mean they couldn't get past the outward appearance of my brother jeff but then you have people who are still who had these god qualities in that you know when somebody shows up like you were saying about your mom our grandma who they're like, how you doing? Because a lot of these places are out in the middle of nowhere. And they don't know who you are, but they're just, they're trying to be hospitable. And, uh, which is rare. And then the best case scenario is if they say, are you on them duck guys from like, yep, I'm Jace. And that, that's the, does it help? That's the only reason that we're fixed to have a conversation. So that changes everything. Yeah. Let's take another break. Well, but you know, that was,

a lifestyle with Granny, though, because even when we moved way down here on the river, there's no train tracks anywhere near here, nor any people. We're out in the middle of nowhere, although people did find their way down. Every time there would be a few little leftovers after a meal, not many, Granny would put them on a plate, and then she'd take a piece of foil and put it over the top of that. And I always, first she was doing that, and I thought, well, why is she doing that? And I said, Granny, why do you fix a plate? She's, well, you never know when a stranger might come by.

and so what I'm saying is years later after the hobos on the train I think we've kind of lost that part of it. Well, and a lot of it is just in our culture. I mean, this is kind of a funny story, but I pulled up into one place and I had some of the TV people and we were just probing to see, you know, I was looking at maps and I think this is where we need to go. Let me be the lead vehicle. Let's meet these people, you know. So when I got out, they recognized me, you know. Jay's, yep, hey, how are you doing?

I was like, I got some TV people with me here. We're just looking. We're, you know, I was kind of going through the bit. And so the guy's like, well, you're welcome to come on in. You can leave them right where they are. Of course, they were like, there's no way this is going to work. They won't even let us in the door, you know. I was like, hey, y'all got a bad reputation.

What can I say? And it actually worked out, you know, we wound up hunting their place. But it just, well, what they're shoveling out there, these people were like, we're not supporting it as a whole, you know, based on what they had seen on TV. And I really didn't blame them. Right. So it's crazy. Yeah, and everything goes by people's experiences. I mean, typically is how they're going to do it.

But it's what I'm saying, what's missing, what's missing in most place in America is the same thing. thing that was missing in Paul's in 1st Corinthians is that people striving to do the right thing if they don't have anything to do the right thing for. In other words, without the cross, without the spirit, what's going to motivate people to do the right thing? I mean, you lapse back into just human wisdom, selfishness, you know, I want to get mine and I don't care about you and let the government take care of. I was saying about this case, why would why would in America, these district attorneys and these people, these are very smart people. They all graduated from law schools and they're not dumb people. It's not just ignorance as to why

they're doing what they're doing. It's something more. There's a pull there about you don't prosecute criminals. You don't put people in jail. You don't even hold them accountable for all this crime. So it's not just because they don't know. It's more than that. There's a there's a pull there that's beyond. They don't view, you know, everyone who sins breaks the law. First John 3, verse 4. Everyone who sin breaks, in fact, sin is lawlessness. And that's the reason Jesus came. Right. So he could break through that and get people to love one another. Well, if you get them to love one another and love their God, they quit stealing in. Yeah. It's a deep, rooty. reason why I can't just go out here and take what I want on planet earth.

I just can't do it. But that's why we have the ultimate rehabilitation in Christ. Because, you know, when he said in chapter one, you know, where's the wise man and the scholar? And, you know, he then goes on this riff about that God chose the foolish things of the world. He chose the lowly things. He chose the weak. most people put other people in a box. You see the guy walking up who don't have much, the hobo,

and they're like, yeah, this old boy is up to no good. Well, then here's God in this letter saying he chose the things that the guys and the women that we think would never amount to a hill of beans. But he stresses that over and over. He's like, because when that hits you and you hear what Jesus did, and you realize this is God, choosing me, despite my beginnings about what I know and what I've done. You read that whole long list of sins and God still chose me? I mean, worldly wisdom does not have any room for Jesus Christ.

It's not included. And he makes that clear in this text. It's just a blank spot there. All this stuff you see coming out of government. That's why I talk, I'm doing less and less and less and less taking up for the government to fix anything. I just point him to Jesus. I said, he'll fix it. But that's the only thing I've seen that will fix it. Not programs. Right.

Because he's not in the program. Government programs, they don't have, they don't have Jesus there. That's the hub. They just don't have it. He's not there. And I think it's because the point you is major, it's too lowly.

In other words, it seems like it's, well, what does that matter? You know, you're, so they've compartmentalized your religious beliefs. That's what they call it. Yeah. And it's just like, well, that's just what weak people do. That, you know, that has nothing to do with us running things. Yeah. But they've missed the whole point because it has everything to do with running things. Well, they're just like, we'll try to fix, you know, let's spread the well. If everybody made the same money, there would be less thieving. But when you look at real life and these, these qualities, that's not going to fix it. No.

there's just as much corruption among the rich people when it comes to sinful behavior and stealing. You know, it's funny. There are the guy trying to find something off a train. Trust me. I was just watching. So in L.A., there's like 68 or 70,000 homeless people in these encampments in this whole area. They call it Skid Row. And so the state of California or the city of Los Angeles are both.

So they come up with the idea, well, they just, you know, They just need something to live in. I mean, they're just, it's poor people. They're just down here. They don't have any choice of it. So they're building these two huge skyscrapers right next to it that are going to be, I forgot the price tag. It was, I don't know, many, many billions of dollars.

So they're going to build these two skyscrapers. And then they're going to, so then the ideas will move everybody off the street because they're in the tents into a nice, beautiful apartment. It showed all the, they were putting all the nice, you know, refrigerator and stuff. And I thought to myself, what, you talk about thinking your wise, these people, they're probably going to move in there. And then that place will be condemned in about three years. It'll be destroyed. Be destroyed.

And because they don't understand the base issue here that these people have. They don't understand it at all. So they keep coming up with these solutions that don't work. And to Jason, to your point, they put billions of dollars. And guess what they've got? More homeless people. They don't realize is that here you have a guy who's rich, and then you got the hobo on one side.

The only thing that they could have in common, from our perspective, is the realization that God chose them for a purpose and something greater in their life. Exactly. I mean, that's it. There's no, because you're looking at, but you see them having the same struggles. I mean, that's why it's an illusion.

You're not going to put everybody on the same base and then have everybody get along. Right. It's not going to work. You've got to have something more, which is this whole point. Let's take another break. But wouldn't you say, how many times have we ran across somebody that was living in their car, whatever,

and down their luck, sometimes they've been on drugs, and then we share the gospel with them. They become a son or daughter of the Almighty. We're praying with them. having a meal with them and then they go on their way rejoicing. We know changed inside, but we share with them. We're no better than that person. We're no less than that person. We're just sharing them with the good news with that. I mean, how many times does that happen? I mean, it's happening to me many, many, many times. Which to your point, that's what,

that's what equalizes everything. You want to talk about equity and equality. That's the ultimate equalizer. That's the ultimate equity. Because if you still don't handle the success right, I mean, we had a weird, weird thing yesterday. We were somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and some woman came by and recognized. And I mean, you're talking about the world's number one Duck Dynasty fan. She was it. Screaming, hollering, running. Just.

Like a woman beating the air. Yeah. Now here you are looking at it. Everybody's look, every time has stopped here because this woman is went absolutely insane. And so you can think, oh boy, I'm something, Arna. You could think that or you could realize, okay, whatever she's attracted to, it must be coming from God because look at us. We came from nothing. We look like hobos. we're not very smart like your robert redford and paul milan out there she doesn't know me from that she was sitting in there watching one series after another and just drank the duck cul-lade you know and it's like boy this is big time today and so we were saying that when when she left which i thought to the cruise surprise because i i was i was saying it's overrated you're we're just just regular people. The whole time she was screaming and hollering and making various comments that were way over

the line, you know, the status of our marriages. And, yeah, I mean, she was just like, yeah, this is, this is it. I said, no, it's all an all an illusion. We're just everyday people. I kept trying to water it down, but it was like it was making it worse. That's right. She was like, oh, no, you're a big deal. You're drawn to our faith.

this spark that we have. We've been transformed. We have a bigger purpose. Yep. You know? And so I don't know what else you could do because in the end, who am I? I mean, nothing. It's just an illusion.

But I'm saying if you handle that the other way and think, oh, I'm something. Yeah. You know, I'm better than you. Think about all the problems that are going to come in your life when you start thinking you're better than somebody else. To keep that from, you have more money or fame. To keep that from happening. The Apostle Paul said, he said, I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of the Lord Jesus,

that all of you agree with one another, so there may be no divisions among you, you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. Some of them Chalo's household have informed me that there's quarrels among you. What I mean is, one of you says, I follow Paul, I follow, I follow us, I follow people, that at pecking order and kind of what see they had picked one of these and they had said I'm a follower of him

which was beside the point no Jesus they were elevating Paul Peter and and they said that's the one of and he says it he says is he divided was Paul crucified for you were you baptized

until the name of Paul he said I'm thankful that I did not baptize any of you except a few here I can think of. He said, because y'all would have lifted me way up like they were doing, Jay said the woman muller. That's the way they were doing with these guys. And then Paul and him said,

we've got to clamp down on this thing. Jesus is what we're all about here. No, I think you're right, because I think that's one of the things that led to their demise, or not demise in that they can be saved because he referred to them, you were washed,

but they were becoming inward focus. Yep. Because they were focusing on all the fireworks and not looking at who's providing the fire and the spark. That is it. And they were just saying, oh, I have this gift. I have this gift instead of the one who was given the gift. I mean, he stresses that over and over. That's why in your sermon that we're going to probably get to, I guess, the next podcast.

But I really like one of your points there about the transformation aspect. of the Holy Spirit. Because that's what the world, until they look at God as real and Jesus in a way that they can experience the benefits of what he did on a cross and them being chosen before the creation of the world for a purpose, you know,

all the great things about Christianity, if they're looking at it from a mile off and missing what we see on a daily basis is transform lives, Because to me, it's the greatest evidence that God is the ultimate provider of this fire and this spark in our lives. Because we've seen, just like Phil, when you were talking about being a kid, living in a log cabin, not having all this, I mean, if you'd ever thought how much you would be an influence to our society through the spirit of God. That's true. And I mean, like at every point, it seemed like when you had the chance to be an NFL quarterback,

you would just think most people would say, there's your path, there's your platform. But for whatever reason, and mainly because of your life before Jesus, you kind of had to hit that bottom. God takes you when you're at the bottom, the low of the low. Yep.

Resurrects you transformationalally through the spirit. And all of a sudden, you got your same platform through a, what the TV people call it, duck whistle. Yeah. So the same thing at current, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.

You're like, man, what a statement. They hear about Jesus and his death. To them, they're like, pah, they're too smart. Too smart to say there's anything to that. So they, it's foolishness. But to us who are being saved, it's the power of God. It's written. I'll destroy the wisdom otherwise.

the intelligence of the intelligent. I will frustrate. Where's the wise man? Where's the scholar? Where's the philosopher for this age? Well, he was in a hotbed of them. I mean, it was all around him. I mean, they had more people that thought they had it all figured out.

I mean, I mean, it was a rough place to win people for Christ. No, no doubt. And really, in truth, they're all rough places, right? Let's take another break. But to your point, Jace, you know, we, talked about this last night we did a talk shop live and dad's written you know seven books now and i asked him last night said dad did you ever think when you were growing up out there in dixie louisiana that one day you'd be writing books that you know hundreds of thousands of

people would pick up and read to care what you think about i never would have ever ever dreamed but think about the human wisdom size is that a man that walks away from an opportunity to be an NFL quarterback because those are very famous people in our culture. Yep. Because you can throw a football really well. Yep. On Sundays. And to walk away from that and then to ultimately be known for being a strong Christian

and a strong voice of, you know, reason and spiritual wisdom, that just shows you has to be a got thing. But that's why it's called a secret wisdom here. That's right. People look, the rulers, the government officials, people in the world, they're looking from the outside in trying to make everything. thing justified in their mind. Why are these people successful?

This just seemed, you know, and all the persecution that when our show first started, because they were like, oh, he's a bunch of hillbillies and all this will, this will be a flash in the pan. And all of a sudden, after a while, they're like, what exactly is going on here? What's a secret? Because they don't understand, oh, you're seeing God's transformational power. happen in people's lives who don't give a rip about material possessions or fame related to our faith in Jesus. And it really became the greatest negotiation tactic that you could have.

And I'm never going to be pushed around by worldly wealth or fame in any kind of negotiation. You remember when they had the hour or two interviews with each one of us that all gather around would go up to the warehouse and we'd sit in a chair and they would start pumping questions at us. I preach more sermons. You can only have that footage. Yeah, during that period of time, I don't listen. They never ran one line of it. I would preach to them and I would look for it maybe to hit the airways. Nothing.

No, it wasn't coming. But what was amazing, that they kept asking me to come up and sit down and I'd preach the gospel to them. Well, I realized something, though, Phil, through the years and, I guess, doing this. Duke Dynasty, they axed every bit of that. Well, they didn't ax it. They just didn't run it. They would look at each other like, oh, here you goes again.

Well, you got to remember. tricky when someone asked you a question and they have no idea what you're fixed to say. So then they thought, ask him something else because we're not running that. And so they asked you. That's why they were so long. That's right. And that's why you didn't have many interview bites only. But I would do a sermon.

And if you look at it, as Duck Dynasty moved on, if you look closely, I'm not even there anymore. I mean, I'm not on, I'm part of the, yeah, I'm out. Right. Yeah. But, you know, it's funny, Dad, because what the things that did come across on the show, because I was as much, I was a fan of the show before I was actually on the show, is that a lot of what you did, you really do. I mean, like, you know, I think about the two scenes where, you know,

y'all were caught in the, for the frog hunting and the fish. on the pond and they were like oh yeah mr field you know the game warden comes up or the cop comes up and everybody just left and then dad just leaves and they're like well why'd you leave like because i would never get caught with the rest of them well and look to be fair i just thought to me that was like dad 100% well and to be fair none of us you know the tv people set that up right they sent the guy down there well i was looking around thinking because the guy played an awesome part. Yeah.

He started ripping into the TV people, you know, turn that camera off. And I thought, is this real? So if I looked up, Phil's gone. But like, you know, they kind of surprises to that end, which I think made a pretty good because you were questioning, is this really happening? I mean, but then I got to look and I was like, I know that guy. But he just went bonkers on that. He went full character.

It was like when they brought Haxall Duggan out of the back of the truck, none of us knew he was in there. I was just, but another thing I'll say about Phil, I think Phil was the only to use their lingo cast member that was oblivious to everything that happened or was fixing to happen the entire time. You know, me and Willie were more like. We all were thinking about the episode, the A story, the B story. Well, they would interview us and say, what's going on in your lives? And we would have a discussion about where this was headed during the week,

which I think Willie depicted. I heard him one time say, we kind of knew what was happening. We just didn't necessarily know how we were going to get there, which was the show. But Phil was oblivious of everything. And they would tell Phil to show up, and he'd show up and he's looking around, has no idea. what's fixing to happen while we're here and look so phil would just turn around and say something and so when you when you see you know watch a i think it would change the way you watch that dynasty knowing phil

that's why you remember that that time which i think the most set up thing we ever did you would think was the time that this local news station said hey we're going to let y'all do a show it was like a Thanksgiving special or whatever. You took over the news. We took over the news and people said, boy, that was real set up. You think when they turned that camera on and said, go, I had no idea what we were fixed to talk about. It just, Willie started talking.

I started kind of playing off of what he was saying and they had Phil out in the parking lot. And when they threw, we threw to Phil, well, Phil had no idea what we were doing. So then he goes into a duck report. It was the funniest. Phil just went off on this rant and I literally got so tickled because I had no, I was like, what is he fixed to say? And that, I don't know how many people watched that episode, but that was probably the hardest I have ever laughed.

It was funny because people, that episode, Jace, people either really loved it or really hated it for whatever reason. Because it was so different. They just put us up there and said, y'all figured out. And then, you know, they went to cut to size. he was the weather man yeah had no idea what he was fixed to say he had no idea and i mean i don't even remember what he did he was clicking the thing and coming up so i i really thought it was funny but i think most people thought they didn't really like it as well as the other episodes but that was my personal favorite of all i've forgotten about that but again the authenticity is what i

think dads came through because it was the most just him doing what he would do, whatever, you know. I mean, I think that's why I like when I would go back and watch them again, I just appreciate that. And it tickles me because especially you and mom and some of the interactions. Boy, it's funny is while we were filming that, we were in the studio like an hour. And we either had walkie-talkies or something to communicate. And Phil kept launching into his segment.

And they're like, no, Phil, we're not. But I was like, what is somebody, will somebody tell him we're going to throw to him? But the whole time, you just hear him start talking. I could hear him in my ear because we had either headphones or an earpiece in. And Phil would start talking about the weather and the duck report. Somebody would say, Phil, we will throw it to you. And then you can do whatever you want, whatever you want. Just wait.

Just wait. And like, fit it because, like, it would be. 15, 20 minutes go by, and then here he'd come again in my ear. I was like, I took my time. Will somebody tell, Phil, something? Because he's out there behind their studio in the woods going off about the weather, duck hunting. Oh, it's hilarious.

It was funny. All right, we're out of time. I'll preach my sermon to you next time. We'll critique it. You have thick skin or thin skin? Oh, yeah, thanks a good. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes.

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