The Impossibility of Christian Nationalism

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I have the opportunity a lot to talk to founders and co -founders and CEOs of start -up businesses.
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And I get to talk to them on various stages of their journey, whether it's they just started the business, or it's just starting to grow, or it's just kind of experienced that period where there's a lot of investment in it and they're growing a lot, or a little bit, or the whole range.
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I talk to people that are founders in companies and the whole range of stages. And there are certain things about start -up founders that I find annoying, but for the most part,
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I admire them very much. And one of the things I admire the most when
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I hear these people talk is that they've built this unshakable optimism, this unshakable belief in what they're building.
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And a lot of these guys, there's one in particular that I knew well before he started a company that's very successful, it's almost a billion -dollar company right now.
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And I actually knew him before he started that business, and he had tried a couple of other things with varying success, and some of them were just complete flops and things like that.
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But he was always trying to start something new. Anyway, I knew him before, and so we kind of chatted a little bit about the story for this new company that he had built.
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And he kind of mentioned how, in the beginning, you're basically on the street corner with a cup saying, please give me some money,
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I've got this vision in my head of something that I think could really work, and I know it can work,
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I need some investment. And you're just kind of like, you're kind of pulling people along into your vision, right?
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Into your vision. You see it, you know it's going to work, but the people that you're talking to, the people that have the money, oftentimes don't, or they need convincing, and they need to be dragged along, sometimes kicking and screaming and stuff like that.
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But then you get some traction, and that's what happened with this guy. This is almost a billion -dollar company right now.
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And he got some traction, and he got some big customers and things like that, and now everyone's trying to get in on it.
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Everyone's trying to give this guy money, and he's having to be very selective about who he partners with, and who he turns down, and stuff like that.
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But there's something just very inspiring about someone who can just have an idea in their mind, and he would tell me stories, and I just wrote it on a napkin or whatever.
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You've heard stories like this, I had this idea, I wrote it on a napkin, and here we are, we're a billion -dollar company kind of thing.
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It just happened just like that. But it didn't happen just like that. There were struggles, there was frustrations, there were successes, there was setbacks, there was...those
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stories, they even make movies about these kind of stories, because they're just very compelling. But all along the way, while he has this vision in his mind, there were people ready to tell him that he was not going to make it, that this idea didn't make any sense, it was stupid, it was too expensive, it was too different than what came before, it wouldn't attract any customers.
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You'd have a problem with this, you'd have a problem with that, all this kind of stuff. All the time that he was there, people were naysaying, and there was probably opportunities for him to give in to the naysaying.
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But the problem is that he was not built that way, to just give in to the naysayers.
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Now, this is a man who had started other businesses that did end up failing, and so I would imagine that the naysayers would have had an impact on him, and I bet you there were times,
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I've never asked him this, but I bet you there were times that he did want to quit with this billion dollar company.
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I can't tell you what the company is, because I'm sure he would not want you to know. There were times probably where they got to him, and he was able to either pull himself out, or maybe somebody encouraged him right after that, or whatever it was, but he did not quit, and now he's got basically a billion dollar company that he's the
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CEO of. And, you know, part of that is going to be a huge financial windfall, which is great for him, but I'm sure that there is also just a supreme satisfaction in not knowing that this was going to happen for real, but knowing up here, and it actually did come to fruition.
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You know what I mean? It actually did happen. My point is that Christians cannot be less than that.
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We cannot allow naysayers to affect us to such a degree that, you know, we get all in despair.
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And what I mean by despair is not—because Christians, you know, we understand that, yeah, we're going to heaven someday, and that's great, but a lot of Christians, even though they know that, they live their lives in a state that's indistinguishable from despair.
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And so, that's a big problem, because here's the thing. If you would have told this guy, this
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CEO, look, your business will be a billion dollar business one day in 2023.
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You will have a billion dollar business, so don't give up. I guarantee it.
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I foresee it. And it was guaranteed, right? Those naysayers, he would have just laughed at them, because he knew, like if somebody time -traveled, okay, and told them, look, dude, you're going to have a billion dollar business.
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There's going to be trouble. There's going to be problems, but just keep going. Keep changing. You know, keep adjusting.
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Whatever you have to do, you will get there, and you will be a billion dollar business. Those naysayers would have had no effect on him.
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None. And that's the reality for Christians.
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That is the reality. The ruler of the universe. The one who created it all.
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Everything is the way it is, because he created it to be that way. He controls time itself.
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He's told us how things are going to go. We are going to win. We're going to have the proverbial billion dollar business, but it's way more than a billion dollar business.
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We are going to win, and so we are going to live our lives with that in mind.
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I think along the way, if this CEO, in my example, was at the point of almost bankruptcy, but he knew deep down that he was guaranteed he was going to have a billion dollar company, he would never, ever let that get out of his mind.
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He would be thinking about it all the time. He's like, man, I'm on the verge of bankruptcy. What can I do to make sure
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I don't, because I know I'm not going to? It would change everything. It would change his whole perspective.
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We have to be that way. We have to be that way. I admire that so much in people, because they don't know the end from the beginning.
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We do. We do. And this is the thing. The naysayers come in many forms.
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Naysayers will say stuff like, Christian nationalism? Christian nationalism?
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You haven't even won an election yet. And that's partially true. Obviously, that's changing over time, but this is partially true.
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Those are the naysayers, right? Those are the naysayers. A lot of people get really uppity about these pictures, these fantasy pictures.
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Some of them are AI -generated, whatever, and they just say, keep dreaming, stuff like that.
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They make fun of that kind of stuff. Here's an example from Eric Kahn. You believe in democracy. I believe in Christendom.
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We are not the same. And here's this idyllic kingdom, and it just looks so appealing. I mean, if you look at this, and it just doesn't look appealing to you,
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I mean, again, I don't know what's wrong with you. But the naysayers will come out of the woodwork for stuff like this.
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They think Eric is just an idiot. He's just a pie -in -the -sky optimist, you know what
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I mean? It's a self -fulfilling prophecy for a lot of these people because the more that they say, oh, you're never going to get it.
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See, look at the way the world is now. The more you kind of excuse yourself for not having it, right?
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But the thing is, every good idea, every better future comes from someone's mind.
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This is what they want. They want Christendom to be a place where you see it.
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You're just instantly attracted to it. It's appealing to you. That's what Eric wants, and so this is what he's shooting for, you know what
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I mean? Here's another example from Ben Ziesloft. I mean, he's the king of this kind of meme.
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He's got a man who's obviously very well -built, smart guy, and he's in the faith and all this kind of stuff.
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Ben doesn't look like this, you know what I mean? Ben doesn't look like this. Few do, but he's got a goal in mind.
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The first step to getting to the point where you can be a specimen of strength, both physical and mental, the first step towards that is to have it in your mind.
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You know what I mean? You have it in your mind, and then you start to think, okay, what can I do to get to that point?
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You know what I mean? These are goals for a lot of us, right? People, again, the naysayers will come out of the woodwork.
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All these guys, they're all overweight, and they're talking about physical fitness. Are you kidding me? I'd take you more seriously if you looked physically fit.
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It's like, well, the point, though, is not that we've arrived. It's just that we want to have a worthy goal to shoot for that we're working towards and things like that.
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Christian nationalism is like that in total. I mean, right now, we don't have anything resembling a
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Christian nation. And we're at the stage right now where we're working out what that even means, because here's the thing.
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You hit what you aim for. And so we're in the stage right now where we're trying to figure out, okay, well, what are we actually aiming for, right?
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And some people are further along in that than others. But then the naysayers come, and they say, oh, this is completely unworkable.
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I mean, can you see that? I was talking about the 19th Amendment the other day, and all the naysayers came out.
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Oh, yeah, you're dreaming. It'll never be repealed. And I got to be honest. I don't know if it actually ever will be repealed, but I do know that in the future, it won't be enacted either.
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I don't know what that looks like. I don't know what that looks like. Does it mean that we actually get an amendment that we all kind of work together, we all kind of simultaneously agree, and all the states ratify and stuff like that, and that's how we do it?
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Does it mean that that's what's going to happen? I don't know. I don't know. Does that mean that there's something else that happens, maybe externally, that comes here, and we don't even have the
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Constitution anymore, and we organize society in a different way? I don't know what it looks like, but the thing is, the situation as it stands is completely untenable.
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It's unworkable. You know why? It's because it goes against reality as God created it.
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God didn't create the civil governing authority to operate the way it does. And so reality always wins.
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Reality always wins. How people structure, how God created people to work together, men and women and things like that, this is part, it's written into reality.
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It's written into reality how all that works. And so we can ignore it to our peril, and things are going to end up in a disaster, and reality will always check us in that way.
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And so I don't know how it works out, but it's going to happen. I mean, there's just no question about that. The 19th
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Amendment will fall one way or the other. And so here's the thing.
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Here's another one. Here's another one from Ben Ziesloff, and obviously this is more fantasy. We've got modern weapons of war, and then we've got crusaders here and stuff like that.
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There's an element of fantasy to this, but there's an element of truth here, too. This is what Ben wants.
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He wants Christendom to take Ohio, and he wants that to happen in a way that it's just no question that Ohio is going to become
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Christian. That doesn't mean that he's going to go out and buy a tank. I mean, and I would assume that Ben would be against such a thing, as am
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I. I'm against violent revolution. It's as simple as that. I'm against revolution in general. But this is a mental picture of Christians setting out to Christianize Ohio, and then going and getting to work and doing it in a way that is indisputably
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Christian. I am for that, and I think every
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Christian should be for that. But right now, we're kind of in that stage in the startup mode where we've got the idea in our head.
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We know what's going to happen, and we want it to happen. We want to do the things that will progress to that eventual
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Christianizing of the nations. We want that. These are our marching orders.
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We want to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and then teach them to observe everything
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Christ commands. We want to teach the nations to observe everything that Christ commands.
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That is our goal. We know from the Father that that will most certainly happen.
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But right now, we feel like we're at the stage where we had a setback. You know what I mean? Things were progressing, and then we had a setback.
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Maybe it was a product recall or something. We kind of feel like we're on the verge of bankruptcy with a cup in our hands, just looking for someone to give us some capital.
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That's what it feels like sometimes. But we have to have even more tenacity and unction and belief, and faith is really what it is.
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Faith. You have to have more faith than the CEO of a startup company does.
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Because the CEO of the startup, he might believe with every fiber of his being that his product is a good product, but he does not know the end from the beginning.
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That his company actually could fail. Our thing, this thing of ours, can't fail.
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We are going to win. We're going to win. Get that into your mind, man.
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How different should your attitude be when you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the things that you work towards, you know,
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Christianizing the nation, teaching the nations to observe everything that Christ commands, that is guaranteed to happen.
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How much does that change the way you operate? It should change it a lot.
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It should change it a lot. It should make you feel bad for the naysayers. The naysayers, you know, have a very sad lot in life, you know what
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I mean? They're trying to, I mean, look, they're trying to feel better about themselves. That's what they're trying to do.
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They're trying to make sure that they are smarter than everyone else, that they're on the right side of history, that their failures are excused.
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It's really not their fault, it's their circumstances. The naysayers are trying to, it's a cope.
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It's a cope. It's like the saddest of all copes, where you seek an excuse.
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We've all done it. We've all done it. I've done it. You look at those naysayers, and you cannot give them one inch of space in between the ears.
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You cannot give them a foothold at all. You should feel bad every time someone, well, actually, you know, the 19th
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Amendment is ratifying. You should feel bad for people like that, that just, the way things are are just the way things are.
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And, you know, you can't do anything about it. You can't improve your station. You should feel bad for people like that.
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But you should never, ever, not even for a moment, give them quarter in your mind.
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Because unlike the CEO of a startup who does not know the end from the beginning, you do. You do.
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Christ is not giving us a commission that he is not fully intending on realizing.
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He's not the football coach that's telling you to go out there, we're going to, you know, win one for the
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Gipper. Oh, by the way, we definitely are going to lose. Until maybe later when I come back, and then
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I'll win it myself. That's not how Christ is. He will be with us to the end of the age.
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The victory is assured. We are going to win. So, that's,
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I guess that's my message. Hopefully that's encouraging for you. Hopefully some of the naysayers here will, well,
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I guess, I mean, I can't, they're going to naysay. That's okay. But in any case, I hope you found this video helpful.