All Those Rich Men North of Richmond

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00:01

We are live now on the Conversations That Matter podcast for this lovely Saturday. Hope you're having a good time wherever you are and prepared tomorrow for the

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Lord's day. I'm actually preaching tomorrow. So I would appreciate your prayers at not the church

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I normally go to, but another church in the local area, the one my wife actually grew up at. And so anyway,

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I'm still preparing my remarks for the sermon and I mean,

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I've already kind of know what I want to say, but I'm still trying to organize those details.

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And it's just how my mind works. I tend to write books starting from the middle and some people think that's odd. Some people get it, but I don't just have everything.

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I have a lot of facts on the table, but I have to organize it. My wife calls them files. Those are my thoughts. But anyway, I'm getting my file together for tomorrow.

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And hey, Abigail. Hey, Jacob. Welcome to the live stream. Good to see everyone for a

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Saturday. I know some of you are out already. You'll probably be listening to this later and you're doing the weekend stuff, which hopefully it's enjoyable, whatever it is.

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Yep, someone just said they heard the North of Richmond song today. Yes, I've had probably more than, in a long time at least, more than anything else, people have sent me that song.

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I mean, I'll get things sometimes when the Southern Baptist do something or Crew does something or some big evil organization does something.

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People will send me all kinds of things and they'll want me to comment on it.

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They'll want me to just make me aware of it. And sometimes I'm not. Like probably 90 % of the time

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I've probably seen it, but there are times I don't and it winds up in the program. This is one I did see. And this is, it's interesting to me that this song is striking such a nerve.

01:52

So we're gonna talk about the song Richmond, North of Richmond. I have a number of clips to play for you on a number of different things.

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And I just a few short announcements, but I wanna start off the podcast with talking about this viral song by Anthony Oliver, who no one knew, well, hardly anyone did a week ago.

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And now he is all over the internet. He's all over iTunes. And why is this song so popular?

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Why are people resonating with it? And I'll give you my thoughts on that. I don't wanna overcomplicate it, but I do think because everything happens within a context, there certainly are things to say.

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And I think a lot of people are getting it wrong. Not everyone, but I think a lot of people are getting it wrong. So anyway, we will talk about that.

02:36

Before we do though, I want to bring your attention to a few things.

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First, we do have a men's conference coming up. I'm helping host this in the Adirondack, if I can say it correctly,

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Adirondack Mountains. And I did some calculations. Unfortunately, I don't know what I did with my calculations.

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They were right in front of me, but I did some calculations before the podcast. And I was just curious, what would it cost you to go to a major conference, a major evangelical conference?

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It would cost you anywhere between 200 at the cheapest to probably like 328, somewhere in there to go to a major evangelical conference.

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That's just the registration. Now you add meals to that, seven meals. Let's say over the course of three days, you're going to have to pay for seven meals.

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Now it's probably going to be more than that, but let's just say for the time you're there, there's seven meals. Let's say you're able to get it.

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I mean, you're probably not, but let's say you can get the meals for seven bucks. That's $49. So we'll just say 50. We'll say another $50.

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So why don't we say $350. Then you have to pay for a hotel room for three nights.

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Maybe if you drive back really late, you can do two nights, but a cheap hotel room is now going to run you about a hundred bucks.

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So add another $300. You're talking $650 for a major evangelical conference.

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It's a lot of money. And that's one of the reasons I think, and it's not the only reason, but it's one of the reasons I've just shied away from those.

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It's so much. And yeah, it's great while you're there, but you go there expecting to, at least maybe

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I was naive. I used to expect to meet the people that are speaking and you hardly ever do. And if you do, it's a handshake and you're done.

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You don't actually get to really talk with the speakers. Now you do get to hopefully sit with people and get to know people at the conference, but there's really not much to do other than sit and listen to lectures and then walk around the booths.

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That's just how it is. And I've been to many of these conferences over the years. And so anyway, a few years ago,

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I just thought, I've been to men's retreats. I understand that's another dynamic.

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That's another thing churches do, mostly local churches with their own group. And I thought, it'd be great to do something like that and bring it to more people and really have a men's conference.

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So that's what we're doing, a three -day men's conference that is cost -effective.

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I mean, it's not gonna cost you at least an arm and a leg to go there. And all the meals are provided.

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You gotta get there, but we're gonna make transportation easy. At least there's a carpool set up.

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So if you go to overcomingevilconference .com, you can see what I'm talking about there. There's a carpooling signup.

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You can click on that and it'll take you to a page that has carpooling from different parts of the country. So if you're planning on traveling, this will help you connect with someone, share that gas.

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Gas is expensive right now. So if you're on the route, if you're on the way, let's say someone's coming from Ohio and you're in Pennsylvania and you're on the way, you may wanna go with them.

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But I wanted to bring the conference feel,

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I suppose, to what I would consider to be a better environment for getting to know people.

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I just noticed there was such a difference going to a retreat and going to one of these big conferences because at a retreat, there's a campfire.

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And men just open up for some reason when they're around the campfire. There's activities to do like going to the gym or going on the lake, going fishing, going hiking.

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There's just beautiful scenery right there in front of you. And so I thought this is just a much better environment for getting to know people.

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It's a much better environment for getting to know the speakers too, because there's plenty of time between, it's not just crammed sessions.

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Most of these big conferences have so many speakers. It's just session after session after session. You're afraid you're gonna miss something.

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And so then you get the tapes afterwards. You can listen to what you miss, but then why did you pay to go? It's this whole thing.

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So I thought, why not just have a few speakers and have plenty of time for people to relax, take a nap if you wanna take a nap, but get to know the people that are around you.

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And we had a great time last year. And so anyway, this is, and by the way, I should also mention before I move on to Anthony Oliver, there is financial aid available as well.

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If this is just still too much money for you, email info at truthscript .com. It's right on the website, overcomingevilconference .com.

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And we'll figure out a way to get you there. I mean, that's at least the hope. And don't feel shy about asking.

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This is something we want men to come to. The topic this year is overcoming evil. We have a number of great speakers, and I'm gonna be introducing them to you on this podcast in due course.

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The first one I wanna introduce you to is A .D. Robles. So this is a short, about a minute long video, and then we'll get to the

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Anthony Oliver stuff and Richmond, North of Richmond. It is time to sign up for the

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TruthScript Conference. It's coming up the end of September. Check it out.

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It was a great time last year. Not only is the location just beautiful and awesome, it's just, even the drive there was just, was worth it.

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The actually event itself, it was awesome. I actually enjoyed it. I enjoyed it more than I enjoyed the

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Fight, Laugh, Feast Conference. I think it was because it was smaller, you know? And so I got a chance to get to know a lot of people and good connections were made.

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And, you know, we talked about all kinds of stuff. It was very helpful and practical, which was good, but also, you know, just on a personal level, it's cool to connect with a lot of you guys.

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So I hope to see a lot of you guys back there from last year and maybe some new faces as well.

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I think you'll enjoy it. I'll be there. You can go fishing together too. I didn't really have much luck last year, but I'm hoping to try a few new tactics this year.

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So, you know, we'll see what happens. But anyway, sign up for the TruthScript Conference.

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Hope you found this video helpful. God bless. And you can go to overcomingevilconference .com

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for more information and look forward to seeing many of you men there. I think it'll be a good time.

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I think it's the best deal and the best time at a men's retreat you can get east of the Rocky Mountains. We'll put it that way.

09:11

Okay, one final, very short announcement. I just wanted to let people know, because months ago

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I talked about this documentary, American Monuments, which I'm involved with. I should be, you can pray for this,

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I should be looking at a rough draft later next week. And hopefully within a month we'll have it done.

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And then I don't know when we'll release it, but hopefully this fall. So that is still underway. We're still doing it.

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And you can go to 1607, not America. Did I say American Monument? I'm getting my documentaries mixed up.

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1607 Project, that's the documentary. You can go to 1607project, I think it's .com if you wanna see more.

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There's a little trailer there, but that's gonna be our response to the 1619 project.

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And there needs to be one because there hasn't been, I think, an effective one. Okay, so let's get into the Anthony Oliver stuff on that note.

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Now, there's this song, Rich Men, North of Richmond, that went viral, to put it mildly, went viral on,

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I don't know, was it three days ago? It wasn't that long ago. And I think I saw it almost immediately because I'm friends with the guy on Twitter who kind of, at least

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I'm Twitter friends, and I met him in person. I've spent some time with him, the guy who on Twitter posted it. I don't think he realized what he was posting, or at least that it would go this big.

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But since then, I've had all these people send me, John, you gotta listen to this song, Rich Men, North of Richmond. Now, I'm not gonna play it for two reasons.

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First, because now it is on iTunes, YouTube's gonna flag the video.

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I don't want YouTube to flag this video if possible. You can go listen to it yourself if you want.

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Rich Men, North of Richmond, YouTube, iTunes. The other reason is because I try to keep the show, even though we talk about a lot of sexual matters because they're in the political news, they're in the religious news,

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I do try to keep it as family -friendly as possible. There are a few words in this song, and for that reason,

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I don't want you to have to turn it off while you're driving or whatever. So I'm gonna just read for you some of the lyrics to the song.

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We're gonna start there, and I'm going to substitute for some of the profane, or what would be considered profane lyrics.

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I'm just gonna substitute, and you'll understand what I'm actually saying here. But here's the lyrics to the song.

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Oh, is that? No, that's not it. Yes, it is it. All right. So the first line says,

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I've been selling my soul. I should say it in the Appalachian dialect, right? I've been selling my soul, working all day, overtime hours for, and then there's a profane word, for crap pay.

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So I can sit out here and waste my life away, drag back down, and drown my troubles away.

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Now, I'm gonna play for you in a second kind of an explanation, or at least part of an explanation for the song that Anthony Oliver posted before this went viral.

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But the circumstances here, I think, are 2020. He's reflecting on not just 2020, but he has the time in 2020 to reflect.

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And he's saying, this is what life is like. It's all these overtime hours.

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It's, I can't pay my bills. I can't seem to survive. And I've lived,

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I think, near where he is, not far, at least. I mean, I lived in Southern Virginia for a few years, and it's different.

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For people who say they're from Virginia, and they're talking about Richmond, or they're talking about DC, or they're even talking about the coastal areas, it's a different Virginia.

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It's more authentic and real. It's not just Northerners who moved down. It's not cosmopolitan.

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When you get into these rural areas, it's a different kind of Virginia. It's Appalachian. And this is where Anthony Oliver's from.

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And it's clear, you could just look at him. You look at his face, and it's the shape of his face.

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I mean, genetic makeup does have something to do with this. The people who live in that area, because I worked in that area for a while.

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I traveled around doing repair work. Yeah, I mean, they're Scots -Irish. They look like it, and they have a heritage that goes back.

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And that's where you get the bluegrass, and this, I guess, what he's doing is kind of like a country kind of American folk tradition,

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Americana music. But that's where you get that. And it's rooted in the soil there.

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It's authentic. It's real. It's not something manufactured in some Nashville studio. I think that's the beauty of it.

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And then if you watch the video for it, he's got his dogs out. He's on a farm. Some of his other videos, he has like half -buried cars, which

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I actually, that gives me fond memories because so much of my family comes from Mississippi.

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When we would go visit for family reunions, I remembered all the half -buried cars. I remember they're just thrifty people.

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They want to conserve and save everything because they never know when they'll need it. Maybe that's just a result of living in poverty for so long.

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But anyway, so he says that basically, things aren't working out well in life at least.

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And what's the escape from it? Well, sit here, waste my life away, drag back home and drown my troubles away.

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So drinking, maybe drugs, doing things to just try to forget about how terrible life is.

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And this is, I'll just say, this is what conquered peoples do. You look at Native American reservations, you look at just people who once were proud, who once had success and prosperity, and they were conquered.

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They tend to, I'm not saying this explains every instance of someone turning to drugs or alcohol, but I'm just saying in general,

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I think there is a context here that probably fits, that the people of Appalachia, if you read their history, if you read the history of coal mining and the war on coal, if you read the history of setting up prisons in Appalachia and displacing people to put national park highways and through and the history, even the civil war history, you're going to come away with a perspective that says, wow, they really got the end of the shaft.

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And of course they're ignored because they don't fit the social justice victim ideology. They could,

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I suppose, if you really wanted to make them that, if you really wanted to portray them as victims and use that portrayal to then do some kind of a redistribution scheme of some kind, then you could do it, but people aren't interested in doing it because they're white males.

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They're actually the oppressors in the story that the social justice warriors want to tell.

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And I've just been around too many of them to know that that's just not the case. I mean, some of these people have nothing.

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Seven of the 10 most deadly diseases, common, they afflict people in Appalachia more than anywhere else.

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I mean, lack of access to healthcare, all of that stuff is present in Appalachia and things just got worse during 2020.

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And so this is the context that this individual, I believe Oliver Anthony is writing from.

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And of course this resonates with people outside of Appalachia. This extends past that because it's a story that goes beyond it.

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I'm just saying it's particularly bad in Appalachia. All right, living in the new world. This is the course, living in the new world with an old soul, these rich men

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North of Richmond, Lord knows they all just wanna have total control, total control.

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So he's acknowledging the Lord here. He's saying that, I mean, it's a passing reference, but as I play for you a video of an interview or a webcam video he did or something, cell phone video, you'll see that he actually, that there is a faith in God he has.

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Now, I don't know if that's a saving faith or not, but in fact, I think on Twitter I had said, well, he's probably not born again.

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Well, I kind of take that back. I don't know, I don't know. After seeing the interview, I don't know. People were telling me things like, well, he's got these other songs about smoking weed and stuff.

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I haven't listened to them, I don't know. But there is some kind of a religious background there.

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So at least a cultural Christianity. So he's saying that these Richmond North of Richmond, they just wanna have total control.

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They wanna usurp God. That's really what he's saying. They wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do, and they don't think you know, but I know that you do.

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So they don't think you're smart, they think you're dumb. They think you don't, you're not wise to their plans, but you, but he's saying that you're not dumb.

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You common people are not dumb. Cause you ain't, cause your dollar ain't worth, and then there's kind of an expletive, and it's taxed to no end, cause of Richmond North of Richmond.

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So he's saying, they're taking from you. They're taking from you, they don't think you'll notice.

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They're trying to take your privacy. They're taking your resources that you, and you're struggling to feed your family.

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You know, a lot of people find themselves in this position. A lot of people. And these are well -meaning people.

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These are people that want to feed their families. They wanna maintain their way of life. They're honest, hardworking, decent

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Americans. And this is what they get. This isn't people that are milking the system.

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These aren't people who say they have a victim mentality, but they've been on generational welfare.

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These are people that are trying their utmost to make it. They're working hard to do so, and they're failing.

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They're struggling. He says, I wish politicians would, this is verse two, would look out for minors, and not just minors on an island somewhere.

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Now, I believe this is a reference. I was listening to an interview that he did, and I think this is a reference somehow to child trafficking, okay?

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And of course, in the wake of the Sound of Freedom movie, this really resonates with people, especially.

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But I don't, I maybe understand all the symbolism in that line, but he's saying minors in West Virginia, in the

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Appalachian region, who are, there's a war on coal. They can't feed their families, the government regulations.

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But people in Congress seem to care more about minors on an island somewhere.

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They're in a, I think he's saying that they're in this pedophile ring of some kind.

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Now, if that's not what he's saying, then he's, that's one interpretation, I suppose. The other one could be that he's talking about the preference that people in Congress seem to have for others.

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People in Ukraine, people all over the world who aren't even connected to us, but they don't care about their own people who live in their backyard.

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Both of those fit. He says, Lord, we got folks in the street and got nothing to eat, and the obese milk and welfare, the obese milk and welfare, saying people who don't need it are getting resources, and people who do are not.

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Why is this situation happening? He says, and it almost sounds like a prayer at this point.

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Well, God, if you're five foot three and you're 300 pounds, taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds.

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You shouldn't be buying junk food to make yourself unhealthy, to make your, to fuel the problem that's already there, when if you didn't eat fudge rounds, you would be able to perhaps work, you'd be able to contribute.

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And he's saying, if you're grossly obese, you shouldn't be getting handouts. In fact, those are what, those are killing you.

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Those are bad for you. And this is at a time when some people are struggling to eat. So why is this disconnect exist?

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Young men are putting themselves six feet in the ground because all this darn country does is keep on kicking them down.

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This is referencing the male suicide rate, and it's particularly bad among white men. White men are killing themselves at an exceptionally high rate compared to any other demographic, why?

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How come you never hear about that disparity? Anthony Oliver was willing to talk about it. And then he says, it's a shame that the world's gotten, what the world's gotten to for people like me, people like you, wish

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I could just wake up and it not be true, but it is, oh, it is. So facing the music, facing reality, not, you know, you turn on the country station today and you're gonna hear all these party songs and all kinds of songs.

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And I've often thought, man, there's such a disconnect. There didn't used to be in country music as much.

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Every once in a while, you'll get a song that resonates, but even artists who record songs that resonate, like Trace Adkins, I remember, recorded this song, and I think

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John Rich did too during 2020, and it didn't get any play. And, you know, we're content to just keep playing these terrible party songs.

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And it's not us who are content actually, it's the people in Nashville who are increasingly leftist and controlling the industry.

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And the market demands, the people who listen to country music want music that actually speaks to the situations going on in their lives, and they're not getting it.

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And so in step, someone like Oliver Anthony, my brother, David Harris on Twitter, did a whole thread that got viral maybe two weeks ago.

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And, you know, the thread was on what he called Hicklibs, Hicklibs.

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And he said that these are Tyler Childers, and I forget all that,

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Casey Musgraves, there's a bunch of people in there that he says, look, these people are trying to say that they're authentic country music, that they're not the pop and rock of Nashville, they're real country, yet they're leftists when you get down to it.

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And why is that? And I mean, my theory has been any artist that, maybe there's exceptions, but any artist who records for NPR at their tiny desk is probably compromised, you know?

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Culture Wall hasn't done that. So there's just, there's few exceptions to this.

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It's like if you, there's two industries and they're both, they intersect, but they're distinct.

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You have one that's like the polished Nashville, and that this is in Christian music and country music and even rock music and pop and all that.

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There's this kind of cookie cutter, you know, they're selling you an image, optics fashion.

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And then there's the more real supposedly authentic style. But those guys are also sometimes fake because you have to get on this circuit where you're playing certain venues, you're playing certain theaters in blue cities, certain old theaters.

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So there's this sort of nostalgia about it, but it's in blue cities. And the people you're catering to are in blue cities. You have to, you have to go to places like Red Rocks where, you know, it's outside, there's a large urban population outside of the town.

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And there's nothing wrong with this by the way, but it's just what you have to do. And in doing that, and in getting on radio stations, especially

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NPR, public radio stations, you are rubbing shoulders with a whole lot of leftists.

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And people who start out not leftists become leftists, just like when they go to Congress, they start out good sometimes and then they're not.

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And so that's what happens in the country music industry. I happen to know this, I happen to have some loose connection with some people who are in that industry, this is what

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I'm told. And frankly, this is an industry I've thought about getting involved with.

24:39

I don't think my voice is good enough, to be honest with you. I mean, I'm a minister of music at my church, but I have a backlog of stuff.

24:45

Funny enough, I had a song that was similar to, not as well written, I don't think, but it's in a similar vein of Oliver Anthony that's been sitting on my hard drive for like years.

24:55

And anyway, I've been curious, it's been almost a hobby of mine to just kind of keep up with the music industry, the country music industry especially.

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And I enjoy going to Nashville and all that, but I can tell that there's a lot of rot at the top, that you are disqualified at early stages if you want to speak truth, and you wanna meet the demand the market actually wants.

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The market wants this, they want Oliver Anthony, and they're not getting it.

25:21

So that's the song. And I wanna play for you some interviews. This is before the song went viral.

25:27

I'm not gonna play the whole thing. Here's just a little sample of what Oliver Anthony believes, what he's about, what he says about himself.

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It's August the 7th, 2023. I'm gonna skip ahead a little bit. We're over a minute in.

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I did care about, didn't mean anything to me anymore. And I mean, this is certainly no

25:47

Dr. Phil episode, but I found an outlet in this music.

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And I started uploading a couple of songs, and ain't got a dollar.

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I uploaded spring of last year, and then Rich Man's Gold, Cobwebs and Cocaine, and the list goes on from there.

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And there's probably been about a dozen or so originals that I've put out just off my cell phone. And I started getting messages from people saying like how much the music was helping them.

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And with their struggles in their lives, and that they'd been sitting on the back porch listening to me for the last hour.

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And it just, I don't know, it really gave me a purpose.

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It made me feel like I wasn't just wasting my time. All right,

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I'm gonna skip ahead again. So I wanted to play that clip just to show you that this is a normal average guy in a pickup truck just telling you from his cell phone, and that's how he started recording these, why he recorded them and why he kept recording them because people resonated.

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There's a demand for this kind of stuff. I sit pretty dead center down the aisle on politics, and always have.

27:03

I remember as a kid, the conservatives wanting war and me not understanding that.

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And I remember a lot of the controversies when the left took office.

27:14

And it seems like both sides serve the same master.

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And that master is not someone of any good to the people of this country.

27:29

But I think one of the worst things that a human being can do is take advantage of a child.

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And I can't begin to conceptualize what has to happen to someone in order for them to think that's okay.

27:54

I wanna stop there, listen to what's happening. This is happening all over the country. People are being faced with real evil.

28:01

At least they're recognizing that what's in front of them is real evil. The veil is coming off. And this is one of the things

28:06

I believe the Lord is using in the lives of many. And the thing that kills me, I'll just say this, the thing that absolutely kills me about this is that big

28:15

Eva, and even they call it mid -Eva now, to some extent, mid -Eva.

28:21

But the leaders who, even the ones who didn't necessarily go woke, they are not tapping into this.

28:27

They are content to kick people like Oliver Anthony to the curb, so many of them, to disparage them, to use them sometimes even as a punching bag, especially the woke people do this.

28:39

And these are the people that, these are the common working class people that are now realizing spiritual things are important.

28:50

That they're trying to figure out, how did we get off track? Something's wrong. And Oliver Anthony here, when he says politically,

28:55

I'm down the aisle, centered down the aisle. The example he gives is, well,

29:01

I wasn't really for war in Iraq, I guess, in Afghanistan. And I didn't think we should be doing that.

29:08

And he said, he's against child trafficking. What he's saying is actually, and I hold to this.

29:15

I really think that a lot of the country singers that get kind of unfairly characterized, like I saw this with that Hicklib thread that my brother put out.

29:26

Like people were saying, oh, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash would be in favor of Tyler Childer's song about homosexual minors having a romance.

29:35

And it's like, where are you getting this? And they think that that's what they would be for because, oh, they're for the working man. They're for the little man.

29:40

They're for the little guy. But really what's going on is, no, they're conservative. Those guys were conservative.

29:46

They weren't neoconservatives. They weren't what you think of when you think of political conservatives today. They're people who love their people, love their place, love their way of life, wanted it conserved.

29:56

And they were willing to be critical about their own country at times. But just because they were critical and they didn't match the boomer con or the neocon stereotype, doesn't mean they're not conservative.

30:07

They're probably more conservative. And I think that probably goes for Oliver Anthony. The fact that he wants the money to stay here, the people to take, the country to take care of its own, not to get involved in foreign squabbles when the people controlling the levers are so corrupt, that's conservative, guys.

30:25

That has been conservative for years. It's not until recently that all of a sudden the conservatives are the more hawkish on these things.

30:37

So, yeah, I know he's saying he's a moderate and stuff, but he's interpreting this based upon what he sees from the two major parties.

30:44

And he's saying, they're both corrupt, it's a uniparty. That's where I think conservatives are today. They're saying it's all evil.

30:50

There aren't good guys at the top. And what does that mean for us? Well, let me play you a little bit more.

30:58

And then towards the end of this, I think he talks about religion a little bit. And I'll say this and I'll go.

31:08

I spent a long time being an angry little agnostic punk.

31:15

And I remember talking about Sky Daddy and Cloud Papa. I would get so angry about the concept of God because I had sort of perverted what my vision of God was because I looked at the religion of man as God and not

31:32

God himself. But there is a divine creator that loves you.

31:42

And sometimes it takes falling down on your knees and getting ready to call things quits before it becomes obvious that he's there.

31:55

But he's always there. You just gotta look out for him and listen for him. So I'll see you on the next one.

32:05

Okay, so I don't know. If he's not born again, he may be close, guys.

32:12

Pray for him. Pray for Oliver Anthony. Pray that he would become saved if he's not, that he would have this sense that he has that there's evil, that there's also good, and that he needs to be on the side of good, and that God is on the side of good, that that would be encouraged, that that would prod him closer and closer to Christ.

32:38

And also pray, and this is a big one for me, that he wouldn't be corrupted because the trend is these guys get discovered and then it's too much fame too quick, it's overwhelming.

32:50

It's just money being thrown at them, and there's contracts involved, and there's all kinds of people who don't share his values who are going to make life really good for him on this side of eternity if he plays ball.

33:04

That is an ever -present danger, and hopefully he's strong enough to resist that. Here's another video.

33:10

This is after, now he's very happy in this. I think this was yesterday. Oliver Anthony put this out.

33:17

Y 'all are crazy. Somebody just sent me a screenshot that Richmond, north of Richmond, is number one on iTunes.

33:28

And I don't even have words, I don't even know. So everybody's been asking me about shows.

33:36

I've got one kind of last -minute set up in eastern North Carolina, Currituck, North Carolina, this coming

33:42

Sunday, August 13th, at the Morris Farm Market. So that's the Morris Farm Market, Currituck, North Carolina, August 13th,

33:50

I'm playing from 1 .30 to 2 .30 p .m., and I will stay until 2 .30 a .m.

33:56

if I have to. But I promise, if you show up, if you're willing to come and listen to me,

34:01

I am willing to stay and listen to you. I'm gonna shake your hand, I wanna hear what you have to say, I wanna hear your story.

34:07

And if you're more than a few hours away from Currituck, don't sweat it, don't make this into a big trip. There's no rush with this.

34:14

I'm gonna be playing a lot of shows, a lot of local venues. I'm gonna take my time with things. I wanna get to know all of you.

34:23

This is not about me, this is about you. I'm gonna stop it right there and just say, a guy in front of a barn, fiddling with some straw in his hand, saying he's gonna go play at a farm market, and he's gonna stay there as long as possible because he wants to get to know you, and it's not about him, he's got the right heart.

34:40

This is not the kind of heart you have with the divas who go and seek their own fame and stuff.

34:47

This guy's got a humility about him. Pray that that stays. Pray that that stays.

34:54

This whole industry is fraught with dangers. But I'll tell you right now, I'm a fan. I'm just a fan.

35:00

And yeah, I know, he's got a little bit of profanity in his song and so forth. And I'm sure this is coming from a place of transition where he's waking up more and more to the evil around him and hopefully going closer and closer to God.

35:17

But the message, the overall message, yeah, I'm a fan. And someone is correcting me, it's pronounced

35:24

Appalachia. Appalachia, yeah. You know, my brother lives in Appalachia. And I said,

35:29

I don't know if you were here earlier, but I worked in Appalachia for years. And it was hard for me for some reason.

35:36

My Southern relatives were in Mississippi. So it wasn't really Appalachia where they were, even though my whole family, my whole line traveled down from Appalachia.

35:45

But I just didn't hear it pronounced in a Southern accent so much. So it was that media accent that says

35:52

Appalachia that I learned. And yeah, I know. The people who live there should define it. So Appalachia, you're right.

35:58

Let's go with that. All right, so that's Oliver Anthony. Now I wanted to,

36:04

I'm not gonna spend long time on this, but I wanted to put this in, frame this in another way, just give people resources for understanding this.

36:12

There's an article on the imaginative conservative. I think it might be mirrored, or maybe it was originally at the

36:20

Abbeville Institute. Here it is. American Populism and the Power of the

36:25

State by Clyde Wilson. Now, Clyde Wilson is one of the better historians on American populism, if not the best.

36:34

He's a historian of the South. He's an expert on John C. Calhoun. I'm not gonna read this whole article for you.

36:40

I am gonna read, let's see, the end of it. Well, let's read the beginning and kind of go to the conclusion.

36:46

The beginning is, in populism, we are confronted with a term that raises so many different connotations and different minds that we may well wonder if the term is usable at all.

36:55

It is not quite as bad in this respect as democracy, a word so abused that no honest thinkers employ it anymore.

37:01

Every regime in the world has been declared democratic. Populism implies the people.

37:06

Thus it is, in most quarters, a favorable sign or symbol. I sought after asset in the public forum. Okay, so there's,

37:14

I really wanna read this more, but just because of time, I'm gonna summarize some things.

37:20

Populists have looked at Thomas Jefferson, the great original American critic of consolidated power, as their patron saint.

37:27

So he makes a case, and he crafts this case from history, which is brilliant, that populism in the

37:32

American context is actually right -wing, that populism is a phenomenon also concentrated in the heartland, mostly the

37:44

South, and that this has been channeled politically at various times in our country's history.

37:52

But overall, it's a resistance to consolidated power and the innovations foisted on us from the rich men north of Richmond.

38:00

That's what he's talking about. And he's saying that it is incorrect, which you often hear from progressives who wanna say that, like for example, here's a paragraph.

38:12

He says, in the election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln, an ex -Whig and corporation lawyer, fronting for manufacturing and banking interests, campaigned insofar as his ambiguous and oracle statements can be made to cohere against an imaginary slave power of the

38:25

South that was conspiring to enslave the Northern working man. He also went under the slogan, vote yourself a farm, referring to the contemplated

38:33

Homestead Act. Was this populism? No, just demagoguery. Even the museum specimen, progressive conservative

38:39

Herbert Hoover promised a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage. And a presidential candidate named

38:45

Bush was a notorious investment banking family, was compelled to blather on insincerely about no new taxes and family values.

38:53

The other common form of pseudopopulism practice in that of modern bureaucratic, is that a modern bureaucratic liberalism.

39:02

And I have to close my shades. This is a live broadcast and I have to close them real quick. Hold on. Sorry about that.

39:28

I was definitely gonna get distracted if I kept them open with... There's some people outside right now that are gonna be out there and I don't want the noise bothering the podcast.

39:40

Anyway, so where were we? Populism. So he's saying that there's this false populism. There's this kind of leftist conception of populism that just isn't accurate.

39:51

And because of that, people are confused about this. Now he ends the article saying that populism as I have defined it is still deeply ingrained in the

40:00

American character, though it grows more diluted perhaps with each passing decade. So immigration and other things. It is always faced with John Tyler's dilemma,

40:08

John Tyler Caroline, a Senator during the federal period, which means its successes will always be temporary and limited.

40:16

If one bad agenda and establishment are defeated, there will always be others waiting plausibly in the wings to manipulate the state.

40:23

This is an eternal dilemma of popular government. Okay, so, and he says Pat Buchanan was basically a populist.

40:28

So I would say Trump, I think this was written pre -Trump, but Trump would probably be in this vein too.

40:34

It's evaluation of people in place. It's a prioritization of one's own people.

40:42

And some of the misconceptions will say it's left -wing because there's haves and have -nots. But the thing is in populism, when you say that people are being oppressed or people are, which is basically what

40:53

Anthony Oliver or Oliver Anthony, I keep mixing up the two. Sorry, Oliver Anthony is saying.

41:00

What's happening there, some people will say is, he's doing the whole Hegelian dialectic. He's doing a

41:05

Marxist thing. He's saying that there's haves and have -nots, but he's not calling for a revolution in the sense of, like he's not saying we need a big redistribution scheme or something, or we have visions of utopia, equity, inclusion, diversity, or any of those things.

41:20

What he's actually saying is that he just wants to be left alone. He just wants to be left alone.

41:27

Let me live my life. That's populism. Let me live my life and you can live your life. Stop trying to badger me.

41:35

And yes, this is a complaint against Yankees, basically. This is a recognition that there's people who can't even sweep their own porch and they want to manage your porch.

41:49

They wanna sweep yours. This is the Karen issue on a political level. So anyway, that's

41:57

Oliver Anthony. And I'd say this fits well within the American populist tradition.

42:03

All right, so let's move on. If anyone has any questions or comments, now would be a good time to put them in the chat.

42:10

And of course, if you're a patron, there is an opportunity to come on the show live, if you'd like.

42:16

In fact, I will find the link and I will put it in the live chat right now for everyone so that if you are interested in coming on the chat, you can do so.

42:29

Let's see here. Okay. So the link is now in the chat on Facebook and on YouTube.

42:39

You have to go there. I can't post it to Rumble in real time, at least. But if you wanna be on the chat, check out the link.

42:46

Okay, so let's move on here. And people are saying in the chat how they're giving their

42:55

Southern credentials. So you have one individual here, Ed Schick, I think is how you pronounce your name.

43:02

My hometown is Richmond, Virginia. That puts me on the rich side. Yeah, I mean, look, there's a whole lot of redneck types between Richmond and DC.

43:11

So it's not totally that way. But yes, once you start getting North of Richmond, it changes.

43:19

Fifth generation Tidewater farmer. Hey, neighbor, where is the Tidewater in your farm? Southeast Virginia here, so yes.

43:27

All right, let's talk about some other things. I know I said I was gonna talk about a bunch of things, spending the lion's share of the time on this song, but I want to get to an article.

43:36

I'm trying to think what would be good next. Let's get to this. While we're in the theme of music, let's talk about this article that John Cooper was interviewed for at churchleaders .com.

43:47

John Cooper actually sent this to me. And so I was just, I was really appreciative. I told him really good job.

43:53

I mean, just the answers that he gave to this interview were just above and beyond.

43:58

And he has a command of the facts, which is awesome. He understands what's happening around him in evangelicalism.

44:04

So here is the article, is Christian artists are going to have to say something,

44:10

John Cooper addresses the rot in the music, Christian music. Now, let's see, am

44:16

I on the first page? Hopefully I'm on the, nope, I'm on the third here. Let's start with the first page here.

44:22

There's John Cooper. John Cooper, front man for the double award winning rock band Skillet, recently called out what he labeled the rot in Christian music on his podcast,

44:31

Cooper Stuff, which by the way, everyone should be subscribed to Cooper Stuff. If you like Christian rock music, if you especially want a

44:39

Christian artist who's not woke, Cooper Stuff is a great place to go. Cooper highlighted an article written by Kevin McNeese, founder of Christian music site

44:47

New Release Today, titled, What the Bleep is Happening to Christian Music. I have not read that. In the article,

44:52

McNeese revisited an article he wrote in 2017 in which he discussed a growing trend among Christian artists to use swear words in their lyrics, including

44:58

King's Kaleidoscope. And so he goes on, talks about this, the changes in the

45:04

Christian music industry. Later on this article, we'll also talk about how

45:09

Derek Webb teamed up with a drag queen who goes by the name of Flamie Grant on the song,

45:15

Boys Will Be Girls. And so you have that kind of thing going on as well.

45:21

You have some Christian artists teaming up with, I guess about homosexuals for different things.

45:28

And so there's just, there's sexualized stuff going on. And so all of this is happening. And in this context, enter

45:37

John Cooper. Now, here's the thing I want you to realize. John, this is what we're hoping would also happen for Oliver Anthony, right?

45:47

He is fresh. He's starting out. He's not, we'll say, corrupted by the industry.

45:53

John Cooper has been in the industry a long time and he has to stand against the trend, the current that's around him.

46:01

I'm sure the pressure's immense at times, but he's outspoken. He believes in pleasing

46:07

God and not men. And he said that we will celebrate. Let's see, let me skip ahead here.

46:14

He says, I absolutely think the church should be concerned, but I don't want to be an alarmist about it.

46:20

So he's talking about like Reliant K invited a openly, I guess, gay person to tour with them.

46:29

So more examples of this. Cooper says, here's the thing that really got me. What concerns me the most is that large portions of the church in America just don't really mind that these artists are trying to make their way into the

46:40

Christian market. Cooper asks, how do you expect Christian artists to hold the line on anything when you got

46:45

JD Greer, the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, quoting evangelical leader, Jen Wilkins, saying the

46:51

Bible shouts about materialism, but only whispers about sexual immorality. Now, this shows such a great command of the facts that he knows that the church is not the only place that knows

46:57

JD Greer got it from Jen Wilkins. There are influential leaders like Jen Hatmaker, he says, who praised the

47:03

LGBTQ community, David French, who calls Drag Queen Story Hour a blessing of liberty, and multiple

47:08

Christian influencers who instruct us to use pronoun hospitality for trans identified people. This is so above and beyond what

47:16

I would expect from any Christian music artist. He understands what's happening in evangelicalism and he's standing against it. And the examples he uses are perfect.

47:22

He's not going to the fringes. He's going to mainstream examples and saying, look, it's here, the

47:28

Trojan horse is here. What it really tells me is that the church is so far behind because our Christian leaders are not willing to really speak truth about these sinful immoral things if it offends the world.

47:39

So anyway, the article goes on for, I'm not gonna read the whole thing for a while, but it's really good.

47:47

It's just really, it's a breath of fresh air to hear John Cooper saying these things, to know that there's someone in this industry who isn't going along.

47:57

So next on the list, let's see, there's a few things. I wanna talk about, let's see, where should we go?

48:03

Well, while we're at it, while we're talking about the rot in the Christian music industry, why don't we talk a little bit about the rot in political conservatism while we're at it?

48:14

So here is a clip from Dennis Prager. I think this is recent. It was posted at least recently on Twitter.

48:19

This is what Dennis Prager has to say about, I guess, AI -generated child pornography.

48:27

You heard that right, AI -generated child pornography. And I'll ask you before I play the clip, do you think that that's a right or a wrong thing or amoral, it doesn't have a right or wrong quality at all?

48:37

Is it neutral? You can answer that for yourself. As a Christian, of course it's wrong because God judges the desires of the heart.

48:45

And when the heart wants sinful, evil things, that's evil. If you look at a woman with lust, that's committing adultery in your heart.

48:53

And so the full extent of the sins that would be considered sexual sins in the Old Testament, certainly pedophilia would be covered under this for multiple reasons.

49:05

And so fantasizing about it, apparently though, for some people is not wrong.

49:11

That's the weird part. Here's Dennis Prager. Evil of animated child pornography, because I certainly would.

49:17

No, I would use evil only with behavior. That's where we might differ, forgetting the sex issue. You can't be evil.

49:24

You didn't do evil if you thought evil. You did evil if you committed. If I'm masturbating to animated pictures of pornography, I'm not doing something evil.

49:30

That's correct. Yeah, I think that's despicable, yeah. Really? He's surprised, really?

49:37

Really, that's despicable. I don't think I have to say anything to that clip. I'll just leave that right there.

49:42

This is someone who, I mean, PragerU, I mean, it's big. Dennis Prager is a big deal in the political conservatism movement, if you want to call it that.

49:53

And that is not conservatism. Certainly not Christianity, but that is not conservatism at all.

49:59

If that should be allowed, if it's okay for that to be legal, you can't even say it's wrong for someone to do it.

50:06

That's insane. That's insane. But that's where we are. And I would just beg you who are listening, don't listen to this guy, please.

50:12

If he's that wrong on such a fundamental thing, how can he, I'm not saying he gets other things right.

50:18

I'm sure he does. But this is so fundamental. How in the world can you get that wrong?

50:24

I mean, if you think those desires are okay, that's one step away from saying the actions are.

50:29

Now, he would probably draw the line at the actions. But he doesn't really have much of a reason to, because there really isn't anything that's evil.

50:37

Because even when you're committing those actions, the desires in your heart as you're committing those actions aren't evil. It's only the actions that are evil.

50:44

This gets you into weird places. It undercuts the morality,

50:51

Christian morality. And this undercuts the Protestant country that we've traditionally lived in.

50:57

When you fill it with people who, I mean, if this is the Judeo and Judeo -Christian, which hopefully it's not for everyone, but if this,

51:03

I mean, this is one of the most prominent Jewish conservatives, if that's the Judeo, part of Judeo -Christian, then we need to throw it out.

51:11

Like, and just stick with Christian. Because this is unacceptable. And this is a deviation from the past.

51:18

I mean, liberals, even 20 years ago, I think, would have been aghast at this. And now you have a conservative who's surprised that someone would have a problem with it.

51:27

So speaking of political conservatism, our options are limited.

51:32

I mean, it's the people that you've seen on this podcast, hopefully are good. I mean, you can go and talk to like Aaron McIntyre, right?

51:40

And you listen to his stuff. And he's a Southern Baptist. And he's on the blaze. There's guys like him who get this stuff.

51:46

There's Steve Dace, right? I haven't had him. Maybe I should have him on. I've never invited him. I've actually spoken at a conference with him. I should probably invite him at some point.

51:53

But there are people like that. But there's very few. Here is General Flynn, to just pick another example.

52:00

And this is where things, this is like Boomer Con, Neo Con. I don't know what you've been like.

52:05

It's, it is so stereotypical. It is just, it's cringy. It's so stereotypical. And I, you know, have some respect for General Flynn, or at least

52:14

I did. I still do. But, you know, this is, this should not be allowed in churches. Here's General Flynn.

52:21

And some people are calling this Christian nationalism. I would say not the people who I know who are advocating Christian nationalism, but this is, this is something different.

52:30

Maybe we should have a longer discussion on what Christian nationalism is. I think it's more a populist movement, as we described earlier.

52:37

But anyway, here's General Flynn. Constitution. Our constitution, if you read our constitution, and you should, in fact, you should put the

52:46

Bible aside and read the constitution during some of your sermons. Just read pieces of it. Why?

52:52

Why? Because if you study our, you study our constitution, I mean study, you study the

52:57

Federalist Papers, you study the writings. I can't take anymore. He goes on and basically says all our founding documents came from the

53:05

Bible. And so you should just preach on that sometimes and close your Bible. At first I wanted to, when

53:12

I first heard, like before I got to the end of the clip, I wanted to say, maybe there's like an out here.

53:19

Maybe there's like a, like it's just poorly phrased. And what he meant was like, in addition to the Bible, you should just understand that the constitution also has biblical principles.

53:29

That's not what he said. He's basically elevating the constitution to a level it should never be elevated to.

53:37

And the Declaration of Independence and the Federalist Papers. And these are the writings of men, guys. You can, and this is one of the big problems.

53:45

Some people call it boomer conservatism. I tend to use neoconservatism, but this is the problem with that post -World

53:52

War II consensus thinking, that Cold War era conservative thinking that wants to make the

53:59

United States this idealized creedal nation that doesn't have to speak

54:04

English, doesn't have to be Anglo -Protestant. All it has to do is believe in some vague notion of freedom or equality or something like that.

54:13

And that's what makes us better than the communists. And it's because we have these documents, these words, these, as Abraham Lincoln said in the

54:21

Gettysburg, address these propositions enshrined in documents. And look, those documents,

54:29

I mean, I have respect for them, but I know where they sit, where they stand. They're not innovative. They are restrictive, at least the constitution is.

54:39

The Declaration of Independence is more of a national divorce certificate, but they communicated something at the time in which they were written.

54:48

And as long as the constitution is honored for ourselves and our posterity, it has the validity.

54:55

But as soon as it's not, as soon as it's just not even worth the paper it's written on, then that's not what's guiding our country.

55:02

Do you really think the constitution is guiding the United States right now? No, and do you think, what's the mechanism?

55:08

There's no practical mechanism conservatives have for getting back to that point.

55:14

So are we then obligated to worship this document? I'm all for valuing the constitution, but we need to know what time it is.

55:23

We need to know that this document is so violated and it has been for years.

55:29

I mean, this even predates the civil rights movement. It's just, it's almost not worth the ink it's written in.

55:37

There are certain things, I'm glad are still somewhat in place. I mean, Tennessee is doing their utmost, even

55:42

I think if they haven't passed it, they will next week to undermine the second amendment, which

55:48

I don't wanna get into this. I'm not in a corporation guy. So I think

55:53

Tennessee should be able to do what Tennessee wants. I don't think they should pass any red flag laws, but I think they should, they have the right to under the original constitution if they want to.

56:06

Constitution is because of incorporation has been interpreted so that the bill of rights apply to the states. That's a whole nother conversation.

56:13

But there is, I think on a more root basic level, there is an attack on the founding, the things that were taken for granted during the founding, like you can protect yourself.

56:25

Right, this was most state constitutions have that as well. So there are things like that that are still somewhat holding out, but it's less and less things.

56:35

And so anyway, this kind of thing is not helpful from general Flynn, because what it does is it neutralizes, it takes energy that whatever limited energies we have as conservatives and Christians, Christian conservatives, and it takes that.

56:51

And then it channels it into trying to conserve something that has long been abandoned, has long lost its authority.

57:01

Now, I think there's value in learning about the constitution in using the constitution where you still can use it legally.

57:10

I think there's value in where you can trying to maintain the constitution, but it's not a suicide document.

57:16

It's not a hill to die on. It is not something that the other side honors at all.

57:23

And it's time to realize that they're after power. They have power. And the only thing that will defeat them is power.

57:29

There is no neutral basis by which to actually get along with them.

57:35

There's no, I mean, what do we have in common? Nothing, there isn't, it's war. It's a cold war in our own country.

57:42

Constitution isn't gonna bridge that gap. Okay, let's go on from this and I mean, look,

57:53

I'm doing the 1607 project. I believe the constitution, it's part of our history. It's very important. We're gonna talk about the declaration here just a minute.

58:01

Maybe we'll continue this conversation before we end. So James Lindsay, let me,

58:08

James Lindsay. So James Lindsay, if people can see that, I'm signed in on the

58:13

TruthScript. I'm one of the people that has access to the TruthScript Twitter. So that's where I'm signed in. By the way, I do have my own

58:19

Twitter now. Again, it's, I'm trying to remember the handle. I think it's at JohnHarris89, something like, or not, at JohnHarris1989, something like that.

58:28

I am on Twitter. I wasn't for a while. But anyway, TruthScript, I'm on the

58:34

TruthScript Twitter and that's how I'm viewing this. So I'm gonna go back in this conversation between Nate Fisher and James Lindsay.

58:42

Nate Fisher, it starts off here. The declaration states that governments are instituted to preserve rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

58:50

It does not include political participation. By its standard, a monarchy that preserves these rights is superior to a democracy that fails to.

58:57

He's spot on. The Declaration of Independence is not the Constitution. The Declaration of Independence is not the Articles of Confederation.

59:03

The Declaration of Independence is not any of the state constitutions. It is a certificate of national divorce.

59:09

It is a document that basically says that the

59:15

King of England has engaged in abuses and failed to protect his colonies and not treated them like citizens.

59:22

Therefore, the Declaration of Independence recognizes that, I guess we're not. It's like when you break up with someone or even a friendship and you say,

59:30

I'm just recognizing what's already there. Like you're not treating me as a friend. I guess we're not friends. And the Declaration of Independence says basically we need to secure life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness which they're not being secured.

59:41

And that was the promise of the unwritten British Constitution that's not being implied. And because of that, we are going to, actually, we're going to submit to our state governments that, it doesn't say explicitly that, but that was the context.

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We're going to, among the nations of the earth, take our stand. And we already have governments that will secure these things.

01:00:06

And we're going to secede. That's the Declaration of Independence. And it's proving, most of the document is just proving that King George has usurped the rights of British people.

01:00:18

And so this is, so theoretically, I mean, I don't think Jefferson would have gone for this, but theoretically, yeah, you could have had a monarch.

01:00:24

You could have had another form of government take shape. In fact, we did. We had the Articles of Confederation take shape which was a very loose kind of a confederation.

01:00:34

And then we went to a constitution which was much different. At least it was much stronger. It gave more power to the central authority.

01:00:39

And we see where that's gotten us. So it didn't recommend a form of government necessarily.

01:00:47

It was just saying we need a government that will secure our rights because King George isn't our inalienable rights.

01:00:53

So Ian walks James Lindsay. It's one of the reasons that I could probably point out a million examples from, well, not a million, but I could point out more than one example.

01:01:00

Even from the last week with James Lindsay, just, he knows certain things, but this is, he wants to say he knows things in areas that he's just not, he doesn't know.

01:01:10

He doesn't know the material. And that's, I find that frustrating. If he learned the material or he did the reading or he stayed in the lane where he does know about something,

01:01:21

I think he could be a lot more helpful, but this leads people down the wrong path. So he says this, he responds.

01:01:27

He says, with the consent of the governed is the basis of the just powers to secure those self -evident liberties.

01:01:32

New founding is about establishing a magisterial monarchy in America, which must start by destroying America as it was originally intended and constituted.

01:01:38

So the idea here is that if you're open to the idea of, or that the declaration of independence did not prescribe a specific form of government, then you must be okay with a monarchy forming now.

01:01:50

And not only that, you want a monarchy to form now. I mean, talk about a logical leap, but that's what he's saying.

01:01:57

Now, I think I quote tweeted this, if I'm not mistaken. Oh, there I am. And my handle is at John Harris 1989.

01:02:03

And all I said was Jefferson's point was that the King usurped rights he was to protect. If he had not done so, the

01:02:09

States would be violating the principle that government should not be changed for light and transient causes. Jefferson says that in the document.

01:02:17

He was filing a national divorce, not arguing against social hierarchy. So the revolutionary way of reading the declaration of independence is that it's an argument against social hierarchy, against the divine right of Kings, heredity, which of course

01:02:31

Jefferson was against heredity. He wanted a natural aristocracy. So he was for hierarchy, but he wanted a different kind of hierarchy.

01:02:40

And so he wasn't arguing against those things explicitly in that particular document, but that's the way it's viewed now.

01:02:47

And that the consent of the government, the people choosing is just that that's the basis for all our government.

01:02:53

That's the sacred thing. And that's why the left thinks democracy is so sacred. And so James Lindsay isn't, what he's advocating isn't much different than what the left says when they talk about this.

01:03:03

I don't see at least a big difference. I mean, the left, they deify or they sacralize democracy.

01:03:09

James Lindsay is sacralizing the consent of the governed as if that is the basis of the just powers.

01:03:17

And that as if to say the declaration of independence is advocating for a new form of government that England did not have because it was the right form of government and England wasn't doing the right thing.

01:03:30

And that's not what Jefferson's saying. He's not saying that the problem was that England was not, didn't have the right form of government.

01:03:36

He's saying that England is not being true to the form of government it actually has. It's not treating them like British citizens.

01:03:44

It's not, yeah, it's not a commentary on like social or political theory.

01:03:52

Yeah, there's political theory in it, but that's not the point. So this is a misreading of the declaration of independence.

01:03:59

Hopefully I've made that point clear. If anyone has questions, they can, let's see. They can ask me in the chat.

01:04:07

Let me see if anyone's, yeah, all right. All right, so it goes on. He says, the declaration states, let's see.

01:04:15

That's not what I wanted before. And then after that, Nate Fisher says,

01:04:21

Lindsay intentionally misses the point. The declaration lays out some of the ends of good government, nothing in it requires particular means of getting to these ends.

01:04:28

Most of the founders ended up favoring a Republic as the best way, means of protecting these ends, but they saw this as a deep prudential debate between imperfect alternatives.

01:04:37

Nearly all of them would have agreed with my original post and many of them like Hamilton preferred something closer to a limited monarchy than to popular democracy.

01:04:44

He's spot on with that. And if this were really true, that it was just the consent of the government, right, was the only thing and that meant a certain form of government, then you would think democracy is the best form.

01:04:57

But even in democracy, someone has to run the machines. Someone has to run whatever mechanism channels and evaluates the consent of the governed to know who they're electing or what they're supporting.

01:05:09

I mean, why not just do away with legislatures and have a national vote on every issue?

01:05:14

And whoever wants to log in and vote, they can vote. I mean, if that was theoretically possible, then

01:05:20

I suppose that would be what Thomas Jefferson must've been advocating. That's the perfect form of government. And we know that that's mob rule and that's not.

01:05:26

So consent of the governed in the Declaration of Independence is more just a statement of fact that this applies to all governments, including monarchies.

01:05:37

Even monarchies exist by the consent of the governed. You see this in the Old Testament when even wicked Kings did things that were wicked, the people were also punished.

01:05:45

So this doesn't conflict with that particular form of government. And then let's see, is that it?

01:05:53

Okay, and so then it ends with James Lindsay saying, pay attention to these traitors. So no argument, no addressing the material, just mischaracterizing and then calling them traitors.

01:06:02

This is someone who's not worth your time. And that's really what I wanna say on these matters.

01:06:09

This is just someone who's not worth your time. Lindsay does not understand some of the things he talks, some of them he does, but some of the things he just does not understand.

01:06:18

And when he talks about it, he is causing people to get off track, to get distracted in,

01:06:24

I mean, I think it's like, he would be against what General Flynn said, but it's the same thing in my mind. It's, you're not, you don't know what time it is.

01:06:31

You're not dealing with reality at that point. We need to, it's very simple in my mind, okay?

01:06:38

There's evil going on, it must be stopped. There's wicked evil things that God calls evil that should not be done on a social level and should not be done as widespread as they're being done.

01:06:51

And we need to stop those things from happening. The constitution has been violated to make those evil things in some cases possible.

01:07:00

What do we do right now? I wanted to have Dusty Devers on and I couldn't because I lost my wallet two days ago.

01:07:07

And man, that was a headache all afternoon. I was at a gas station, I put, it was so stupid of me. I put it on my truck and I drove off and someone fortunately reported it and I was able to get it back after I had replaced like everything.

01:07:22

But anyway, I wasn't able to meet up with Dusty. Dusty Devers is one of these guys who signed or created, he crafted the statement on Christian nationalism and he's running for Senate in Oklahoma.

01:07:32

And I wanted to ask him this question. Okay, what do you do? You become Senator of Oklahoma. What now?

01:07:38

What kinds of things do you propose, vote for? What strategies do you use to affect change? I mean,

01:07:44

I think you could probably do more on the state level than on the national level, but maybe that's a stepping stone.

01:07:49

Maybe he wants to be governor, I don't know. What do you do when you get into that position of power? How do you wield it?

01:07:55

That is the question. Do you wield it as Romans 13 says to punish evil and promote good?

01:08:01

Or do you get off track and get distracted by things like we need to, we're chained to some,

01:08:12

I don't wanna say archaic because it's not archaic, but we're chained to some form of government that has long since passed.

01:08:20

And expending all your energy, trying to get that form of government back, not saying it's not wrong to expend some energy on that, but taking those resources that could be used to stop present current evil.

01:08:31

That's the concern I suppose I have. And I'm becoming more practical about politics,

01:08:36

I think the older I get. Because I just realized that things change fast sometimes, but in one man's lifetime, even if they're in Congress or in government for a long period of time, what can they really do?

01:08:49

What kinds of things can they do to roll back? What's their goal in there? And I'm thinking like for me, even on a smaller level, what can

01:08:55

I do to affect change where I am? And for some people, it's gonna be small things.

01:09:03

It's gonna be showing up at your town board. It's gonna be maybe even just praying. I mean, depending on your situation, it's gonna be different things.

01:09:10

But what I don't want is to have these big grandiose, like we're gonna get back to some kind of ideological consent of the governed that's found supposedly in the declaration and manifested in the constitution, that really we don't have a hope of getting back to that, not with our present circumstances.

01:09:28

It was made for a moral and religious people. It was made in an Anglo -Protestant context. It would be great to theoretically get back to that.

01:09:36

It'd be great to, and I think of it that way in a way, I still think of, okay, America, that is the core of what

01:09:42

America is. If you wanna understand what America is, you gotta understand Anglo -Protestantism, but that has been diluted and there's rampant evil.

01:09:51

So the best thing sometimes you can do is stop the evil around you, using whatever means at your disposal to do so.

01:10:01

Okay, that's enough of my practical speak here and meeting the current challenges where they're at.

01:10:07

If anyone has questions about that, no, I'm not against the constitution. On the contrary, I'm for it, but there are things that I think are underlie, there's things that matter more than the constitution.

01:10:17

The constitution was designed to protect and they're not being protected. I think that was the end.

01:10:24

I think, let's see, do I have anything more I wanted to share? No, no, just go to overcomingevilconference .com

01:10:30

if you're interested in the men's conference. And like I said, it's the best bang for your buck. It's the best experience for men that will encourage you.

01:10:38

We have some great speakers and it's coming up September 21st through 24th.

01:10:46

And it's, yeah, I'll be there. So I look forward to meeting you. If you can make it overcomingevilconference .com,

01:10:53

that's overcomingevilconference .com. And let me know if there's anything I can do. If you need financial aid, if you need carpooling, whatever the information's all there.

01:11:02

God bless, more coming. Hope you have a great weekend and pray for me tomorrow. I'm preaching on the