← I Don't Have Enough FAITH to Be an ATHEIST
I Don't Have Enough FAITH to Be an ATHEIST
What the Media Will Never Tell You About the U.S. Capitol - Speaker Mike Johnson Gives Frank & Friends a Private Tour
01:15:21
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A
Ladies and gentlemen, this is going to be fun. You rarely get to do this. I rarely get to do this. To bring you along on kind of an inside tour, a private tour. In fact, I've never had a private tour of the Capitol, but last week I had the opportunity to get a private tour of the Capitol with none other than the speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson. My friend Matthew Farachi is one of the producers of the Chosen and someone who defends religious freedom and the pro life cause. And he invited me and about 30 other friends of his for this private tour with the Speaker. And typically, you don't obviously get to go with the speaker on a private tour, and typically you can't have it filmed. But a number of us had our iPhones and they were. They enabled us to use the iPhone. So I want to take you along with us on this private tour of the Capitol with Speaker Mike Johnson. This is from Wednesday, May 20. We started out with a meal in a old dining room right there in the Capitol that is actually being renovated, the old House dining room. And when Speaker Johnson came into the room, I was standing right near the doorway and he recognized me. I don't know how he recognized me. Well, I know how he recognized me. We have a great team that puts all of our content online, and it goes far and wide. And I guess the speaker has seen some of it. He is an evangelical Christian. He calls himself a Southern Baptist. I'll tell you more about him a little bit later. Anyway, we had a nice conversation before he got up to the podium. And one of the things I said to him is I said that as an evangelical Christian involved in politics, I'm very. I'm very emboldened and encouraged by someone like you who, like Charlie Kirk, was someone who would not talk about God in vague terms, but boldly proclaim Jesus and the centrality of the Gospel in a secular setting. Now, obviously, when you're in a. What we call a secular setting, we don't mean that our country is necessarily secular, because it's not. It was founded on theism, as we'll see throughout this podcast here. But so many politicians act like it's a secular setting, and they don't want to offend. So they may talk about God, you know, the Creator, as our declaration does, but they may only talk about him in vague terms. But just like Charlie Kirk, Mike Johnson doesn't talk about God in vague terms. He talks about God and Jesus in a very personal way. And you'll see that come through as we go through this particular tour together. So the first clip I want to show you is after we met, he walked up to the podium and told us what the tour was going to be about. And he had, just a day or two before, had given a 10 minute prayer at the America 250 rally. And MSNBC, I think they're called Ms. Now or something. There were people on that network who were criticizing the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, because he said that our rights came from God, not government. And they were just flabbergasted over this. And Mike Johnson explains why it's ridiculous that they're flabbergasted over this because that's straight from the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. It just goes to show you, not only do our school kids not know about history, people on TV who are our news anchors don't know about history. In fact, not long ago, Senator Kaine from Virginia made the same complaint. How could you say that our rights come from God? They come from government. He's from Virginia. That's where Thomas Jefferson was from. Yes, the same Thomas Jefferson that wrote the Declaration of Independence and founded the University of Virginia. Jefferson says our rights come from God. And the senator from Virginia doesn't know that. Anyway, here is Mike Johnson starting out or explaining what the tour is going to be about. Here he is.
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Because the word spread this today that y' all are here and, and we're really grateful. We just have, you know, we don't have a long time together tonight, but I thought what would be fun is has anybody ever been on the house or been in the house chamber for the. Okay, yeah, okay. I got some. Some regulars for the rest of you. What I thought we'd do is make our way to the house floor by way of the crypt. I guess we'll maybe go through there. I'll show you the Billy Graham statue on the way, which is my favorite now. And tell you a quick story about how we got there, which is interesting, but we want to go on house floor. And the whole purpose of this is because the. Would you say the common thread or the. The thing that ties us all together is our commitment to our faith and to our creator, which we're celebrating now on the 250th anniversary. So much. And we just did the big rededicate. 250 Sunday. I'm sure a lot of y' all were out there. I got attacked for. I don't know. Did y. All I did was pray. Okay, 10 minutes. They said pray for 10 minutes. Pray for 10 minutes. I mean, I do it in a prayer closet, but it's not, you know, 20,000 people, but we did. And so in the prayer, I. I literally quoted the Declaration, second paragraph, right? Which is sort of the foundational principle of America. And MSNBC had a whole, like, hit piece things. Y' all see this clips going around. And Katie Turk, who's a primetime television host, she said, can you believe this Mike Johnson, he suggested that our rights don't come from government, they come from God. You know, like. And she said, is he putting the Declaration. I Was he putting God above the Declaration? And we were like, what? I mean, I literally quoted the second paragraph. All these truths to be self evident. I didn't say it. Jefferson wrote it. Okay, I'm just stating the obvious, but these people are so. They're so lost and so uneducated. This woman is on prime time television every night, you know, indoctrinated all generation of people and. And they are. They are what they believe is antithetical to our family. So what I wanted to do, Brian, is take you on the. In the middle of it, right on the house floor in the chamber. And we just spent some time in there looking at all the. The symbols in there to remind everybody what our real foundation is. What a good time to do it on the 250th. So I want to be a good steward of your time. We fed you well, so you can't fall asleep during all this. We're gonna walk a little bit and do that together. So. And I. I don't know if you. How well y' all know Mary mother at Rich McCormick.
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I think we got Marlin here too.
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Oh, Marlon. He's hiding behind Rich. It's those broad shoulders that rich Marlins does. 3. 3. Not just my favorite colleagues, but favorite human beings. These are awesome people who God's raised up to serve such a time as this. And they're holding the line every day and walking out their faith and just being a shining light on Capitol Hill. How many of you know it's a dark place? Sometimes we need all that. But you bring a lot of light here as well. I'm really excited about that. So the idea here is we're going to meander through. We just finished the Last Vote series, so the house should be clearing out. And so we'll go through the. The crypt and make it up to the house floor. And I'll try to point out a couple things on the way, so. Sound good? Don't get lost. If you get lost, meet Us on the House floor. Anything else you want to. Okay, let's do that. Y' all been in here long enough, right? Okay, let's roll.
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All right, so then we went on a tour toward the Crypt. Before we get there, and I'll explain what the Crypt is here in a minute. I want to mention there were a couple of folks in that room who weren't on the tour, but they were just there to greet us. One was Senator Lankford from Oklahoma, a Christian. And another was Congresswoman Mary Miller from Illinois, Republican from Illinois. And she actually said she had been using the I don't have enough faith to be an atheist curriculum with her kids. I guess she homeschooled her kids. So we had a nice conversation. Anyway, there were some great people in that room. In fact, we're going to play a little clip now before we get into the. Before we get into the tour. Ami Kozak, who is a comedian, was there as well, and he was impersonating Trump throughout this tour, as was. You'll see as we go through this, Mike Johnson is actually impersonating President Trump. But here is a little exchange they had before. Before we went on the tour. Here it is with somebody, a great
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speaker, one of the greatest speakers of the House. Let's. We do. He says he does me. I don't know about that. Do we.
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Do you.
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Do you do it? You got to get the hand motion. Oh, the hands. While I'm holding the phone. You got to do it. Look at that. He's got a future as a comedian, but we want him to speak for a lot longer. We do. So let me do the comedy. You do the comedy. Wait, should I do a Mike Johnson here? It's very boring. It's not that boring at all. Basically, you know, we're. We're doing everything we can. And as you know, as you know, Mr. Speaker, we are have a lot of people on this hill, and there
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are a lot of dark and dangerous
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people, but we're standing up for them and we're praying and doing everything we can. Like a TV dad from the 50s, somebody, TV dad. It's got to be deeper, man, a little deeper. Do you know? Well, you know, I'll stick to your favorite president. Speaker Mike Johnson, ladies and gentlemen.
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All right, now, the first stop on our tour was a place called the Crypt. It's directly under the Rotunda. The Rotunda is, of course, where the big dome is, and we're going to go there in a couple of minutes, but below that, the Crypt. And it's called the Crypt because it was originally designed to be where George Washington's body would be interred. It never turned out to actually have Washington's body. I think he's still at Mount Vernon because there were some intervening things that occurred, including the War of 1812. But in any event, there are 13 statues now in the crypt, one from each of the 13 colonies. One of the original 13 colonies is of course, North Carolina, the others being Massachusetts, South Carolina, Maryland, Rhode Island, Virginia, New York, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, New Hampshire and New Jersey, the original 13. Now, the statue for North Carolina was just put in there in 2024. And it is, of, of course, Billy Graham. And as you heard Mike Johnson say, this is one of his favorite spots in the Capitol. His favorite statue certainly is of Billy Graham being an evangelical Christian himself. And he actually, as speaker, had the opportunity to dedicate the inauguration of this new statue into the capital. And so he's going to tell us the story of that here. But before I get there, I apologize in advance for some of the audio. You're going to really have to listen too hard because it's just audio, ambient audio coming on my iPhone. We're doing our best to enhance the audio. We'll try and put subtitles in if you can't hear certain low spots. But here is. And I'm standing right next to him, as you can see the Speaker Johnson talking about the Billy Graham statue.
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B
Hey, guys, real quick. Raise your hand if you've been. You've done Capitol tours before, right? Everybody probably has. Not like this. So I just want to bring you by. This is the crypt. The idea we're trying to get to the House floor, but we were going to go by way of the Speaker's office because I would show you a couple things that most people don't get on where I'll show you the actual Speaker's office because there's some really neat historic things in there. We're gonna go by the House, the chapel that we use, the Leaders Chapel, which most people have never seen before. We'll go to the balcony so you can get the greatest photo op in all of Washington right there. But I wanted to just stop at one statue anyway. As you know, all states have two statues, and on occasion they'll switch them out for history. And so over the last several years, we've had a lot of statues change out. It just so happens in the last three years, I think I've. I think I've presided over maybe four or five of these ceremonies because the speaker does that. Well, one of them I got to do was. Was Billy Graham, North Carolina, finally decided to give a proper recognition to what I think is probably their favorite son. But. But they brought it in, and it's an extraordinary statue. And the whole family was here for the ceremony. And a couple hours before we were doing this was. We filled statuary hall and a lot of, you know, famous evangelists and Christian artists, recording artists and all. We're here for this. But. But Franklin Graham came into my office two hours before the ceremony started, and he said, I won't do his accent, because I can't. I won't do my impression. But he said. He said, speaker, we wanted to bring you something we thought you might want to see before the ceremony. I said, what's that? And he pulls out of this little briefcase, Billy Graham study Bible. Okay. And he hands it to me, and I'm like, you know, it's like the. Like a Shroud of Turin or something. He said, you could just. If you wanted to spend a little time with that. We'll be back, you know, we'll see in a couple hours. So he leaves me with Billy Graham study box. So I was flipping through it. I mean, wow. It's got his. His handwritten study notes and next to the passage of scripture. And I took a bunch of screenshots. I don't know if it's legal or not, but I did it anyway. Some of my favorite passages. And then I turned it back in. So in the end, the ceremony, I used his. Billy Graham's Bible to cite the scripture as we dedicated the scripture statue. And one of my staff members got a really awesome shot where I'm. I'm standing. It just so happened I'm standing just like this, pointing to his Bible, just like that. And it shot up like this. It's my favorite photo of all time. But. But what an icon. I mean, what a great representative for the state of North Carolina. We thought we did the ceremony in statuary hall, and I had not been doing it long enough. I thought he was going to be like. He was. He was sitting right by the door where he walked through, where, you know, thousands of people. People every day walk through. It would have been the most prominent statue. And I was like, what a fitting place. And I went on and on about what a great spot for Billy Graham. And then they moved him to the crypt. I was going to start World War III over this. And then the North Carolina Statue Commission, whatever says no, we chose it intentionally. We wanted it to be right here in the most prominent place where people walk through. And so I can't argue with the people who put it there, but that's. That's pretty awesome. Yes, exactly. Which you want to go this way. Okay, we're going to go up and I'll take y' all through and show you a couple things that nobody ever sees. Russell Brandon.
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All right, so that is in the crypt. And when you walk through the path through the crypt, Billy Graham statue is right on the walkway. You see it right there. Now, the speaker is going to take us up into the rotunda. That's one of the most famous spots, obviously, in the Capitol where the dome is. It's 96ft in deep in diameter. The area there, the. It's 180ft tall. So it's quite an impressive structure when you're inside. And there are paintings all around this rotunda. I believe this is where, if I'm not mistaken, this is where they had the inauguration last January, a couple Januarys ago, because it was so cold outside. And of course, it's much more secure in the capital than outside in this very violent area where you have snipers trying to take out conservatives. So this is where he's going to take us now and tell us a little bit about paintings and other things that go on in the rotunda. This is also where we took a group photo, which we'll show you here. All right, here it is.
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To me, it's like a sanctuary. Especially early in the morning, late at night, it feels not like an almost sacred place. And before I became speaker, I had a lot more time and I would come in here and just pray in the morning. And it's a beautiful place. Obviously, the architecture is unmistakable. The dome is said to be the most recognized symbol in the world, next to the Christian cross and the, you know, the Star of David and the Islamic symbol. And it represents freedom to everybody around the world. Greatest nation in the history of the world. And by the way, it's not even close. We're the most free, most successful, most powerful, most benevolent nation that's ever been. But so much of it is symbolized in this building. And we're going to try to show you as much of that as we can real quick. But these are the, you know, obviously famous portraits were all in our history books depicting various epochs and in the history of the country. And over here, very timely, is the sign of the Declaration. And there's a couple of things that everybody likes to point out about this portrait. We're going this way Anyway, so we'll walk this way and show you. But the. You see the notable figures in the center, Jefferson and Adams in the foreground. Jefferson, obviously the one with paperwork, but if you look under the table, Jefferson is stepping on Adam's toe. Because they were, for much of their life, they were, they were friends and then they were rivals and then they became friends again. They both famously died on July 4, 50 years after the Declaration was signed. And so it's, it's just an awesome rendition. And they got the faces, it is said in history, they got most of the faces very well to depict the actual signers. So we walk all the school kids through here and there's, you'll notice in all, every one. I could. If we had time, I'd tell you all, but in every one of these portraits, there's some recognition of the faith, the deeply embedded religious and moral tradition of our country. This is the baptism of Pocahontas. Right here. Right over here. You see the pilgrims of their Bible. You see crosses, you know, all around. They gave her a name, right? Pocahontas. They gave her a. Yeah, they gave her a. Elizabeth Warren. We're back. Elizabeth Warren. I'm sorry, sir, it was.
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I'm with comedian here.
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We had to get. That was quick. Hello.
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Thanks.
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Elizabeth Morris is the best speaker of the House, I think, literally in our history, the Republic. I've worked with him for years, and I'll tell you right now, what you see is what you get. This is the real deal. When the cameras aren't on, the lights are off. He still loves this country, loves this republic, loves his family more than himself. He really means what he says. He doesn't drink and he doesn't curse. I do that for him.
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This is that guy's job.
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He's a Notre Dame grad. Play football at Notre Dame. Right, I know, I. Convicts right here. Let's go, Irish.
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Convicts over Catholics. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
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This guy, this little young man here, the 19 year old, just got into what, school yesterday? Congratulations. All right, Go Irish. Let me know.
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I think that was Congressman Pat Fallon from Texas. I think that's who it was that just spontaneously walked across the Rotunda when Speaker Johnson was telling us about these paintings. I thought that was quite funny. He doesn't curse, he doesn't drink. I drew that for him. He does appear to be a very genuine man. It's the first time I've met Speaker Johnson, but I was very impressed with his humility and of course, his knowledge and you'll see as we go. He has some amazing stories and some amazing insights, and he is certainly someone that knows the capital and knows the history of our country, including its foundations in Christianity, the Judeo Christian tradition. It's amazing how much he knows. And it's also very sad how many people out there who are commentating on our founding and commentating on our nation don't know history and don't know where we came from. So he showed us the Rotunda, and then he took us to National Statuary Hall. Now, this served as the House of Representatives where they met until about 1864, about the end. Near the end of the Civil War. Because the. The House Chamber, which we'll talk about here in a few minutes, was not finally built. Let me get the exact date on it. The House Chamber was not finally built until 1857, it looks like. But they continue to meet in national statutory halls until it says here, 1864. And then they moved into what we now know as the House Chamber, where they have the State of the Union and all that. In any event, he took us to this statutory hall, and there's some amazing history. He's going to take us to a plaque of where John Quincy Adams, our sixth president, sat. He was also in the House of Representatives and his interaction with a future president, Abraham Lincoln. So here's Speaker Johnson talking about that interaction. Here we go.
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Move the Capitol from Philadelphia to this location. And in 1807, this was completed and they started to meet in this, this small room because we didn't have that many states and representatives at the time. Tons of stories. I mean, we could be here for hours literally talking about all the history in this room. But I want to just show you one thing on the way as we go to the chamber. This is the. The bronze plate of John Quincy Adams. And he sat here. This is where his desk was. He's the only former president who served in the House. After he was the sixth president, he came to. He ran for Congress, and he served in the state of Massachusetts here. And the reason he came is a really important piece of our history. They called him the Hellhound of slavery. They also called him Old Man Eloquent, okay, because he was a great orator. But he came to Congress because he had such a deep moral conviction that we had to end slavery. And sadly, the country was not ready to do that yet. So he kept bringing the resolution over and over and over to do it. And one day, on his, I think, was his 13th attempt, members of Congress and others said, Mr. President, why are you doing it? What is the point? It is going to fail again. And he said, listen to me carefully. Duty is ours, results are God's. A very liberating way to live. That's exactly what the Bible tells us to do. We just supposed to be faithful in a little thing God puts before us today. And we trust him with the rest. John Quincy Adams knew he wasn't the sovereign, but that conviction, that deep clarity and conviction that he had had a huge impression on everybody around him in the country. He died right here. Well, he died in that room right there. He had a. He had a stroke. After the Mexican American War, we the. There was an. A move to push slavery further, expand it into the new West. And he was opposing that vehemently. And in February of 1848, as he was making an impassioned speech, he had a stroke and he fell to the floor. So other colleagues grabbed him and they brought him through those white doors over there. That used to be the speaker's room. Now it is the women's reading room. Okay. And it's locked up tonight. But they took. And they, they brought him in and they laid him on a couch. The couch is still there, reupholstered, but it's still there. And he, he fell into a coma and he lied there for two days until he passed. He died at age 80. His wife was by his side. He was a. He had one of the longest careers in American politics in history, because he was made an ambassador overseas when he was like 14 years old. Right. He was John Adams son, of course, and they were raised in a culture of faith. And he was a deeply convicted believer. Here's what's so cool about the story, though. It was February 21, 1848, they buried him on, on February 26. One of the six pallbearers in the procession was a freshman member of Congress from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln. He was the mentee of John Quincy Adams because Abraham Lincoln was drawn to that conviction, obviously, seeds planted in his heart, big influence upon him. And then the sixth president influenced the 16th president, who ultimately freed the slaves. Right. So you don't never know. We're just supposed to be faithful. We're supposed to sow seeds. We don't know how they're going to be water. We don't know when it's the, the final fruition of that work is done. But God calls us to be faithful. And he was. And that's why we memorialize him here. Every member of Congress who later served as president Has a brass plate around here in the original statuary hall. And this is where he sat. Abraham Lincoln sat right over there. There's a plate on the floor. And that room behind you, you see Lincoln Room. That used to be the, sort of like the post office for the House. And he used to go in there and retire by the fireplace. So it's no longer a post office, but we've now there's Lincoln memorabilia throughout there and all sorts of fun stuff. And when you, when you're here in a longer time, we have the full tour.
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We'll.
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We'll take you on the three hour version of this. Okay. All right, we're gonna go to the House chamber over here. Now.
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What an amazing story that John Quincy Adams, our sixth president, literally had a stroke on that spot. That's where the House met. He was serving in the House after he was president and he influenced Abraham Lincoln. And I love what Speaker Johnson said there that is true, that we are to do what is right and leave the results to God. God has the results. We're supposed to just be faithful and do what is right. And that's, by the way, what William Wilberforce did for years in the uk, In Britain, he tried to get rid of slavery. And it kept failing. It kept failing. But he was faithful. And eventually he succeeded. And he saw the slave trade finally abolished and slavery abolished just a few days before he died. He was faithful to the end. And John Quincy Adams kept bringing it up, we need to get rid of slavery. And it continually got rejected. But he was faithful. So faithful that he inspired a young freshman congressman by the name of Abraham Lincoln, who ultimately did free the slaves. So do what's right, leave the results to God. Doesn't matter if you say, well, politically we're not going to be able to do it. Just do what's right, leave the results to God. Now he also took us to the chapel and we couldn't take pictures or photos in the chapel. There's a small chapel right next to the Speaker's office. It's used by both the House and the Senate. We'll show you some stained glass from that chapel because it's on the Wikipedia page. You can see that Abraham, I'm sorry, George Washington here is kneeling in that stained glass. And I'm reminded that every House session and Senate session begins with prayer. And that started with the Continental Congress and continues to this day. In fact, Benjamin Franklin proposed a prayer on June 28, 1787. Now, a lot of people say Franklin was a deist and he may have been a deist. Deist is someone that believes there is a God who created the world and sustains the world, but he doesn't get involved in human affairs. He's kind of a distant God. And some people say Jefferson was that way and may have been. But it doesn't look like Franklin was a deist toward the end of his life. In fact, he may have been influenced by George Whitfield, who Franklin was enamored with. Whitefield would come and do these great evangelistic rallies, speak to 20,000 people without a microphone. And Franklin was just enamored with Whitfield. He may have become a Christian toward the end of his life. And this prayer that I'm about to read here may indicate that. But before I do, I want to mention one other thing about Jefferson. When you read the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence is not a deistic document. It talks about Providence. It talks about God's judgment. In fact, the Declaration of Independence talks about the fact that we as the colonists are appealing to the supreme Judge of the world with our complaints about King George. And it talks about a day of judgment. That's not a deistic concept. In any event, let me go back to Franklin's prayer. This was the prayer that I believe that he said at the constitutional convention in 1787. Yes, June 28, he said this. I have lived, sir, a good or I have lived, sir, a long time. And the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth that God governs in the affairs of men. Let me stop right here. That's not Deism, ladies and gentlemen. Deism would deny that. That God governs in the affairs of men. They would say, no, God is absent. He doesn't get involved in what we do. But Franklin is saying, yes. He goes on to say this. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings that would be the Bible, that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. And I also believe that without his concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel. I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of heaven and its blessings on our deliberations be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service. Unquote. Now, The Constitution that they came up with has survived. We've been living under this constitution since 1787. Of course, the Declaration of Independence was 1776. We're celebrating our independence this year. 250 years. But the constitution came online in 1787. The Bill of Rights, the first 10amendments, which are basically handcuffs on the government to, to prevent them from usurping the rights of individuals. Those were passed in 1791. Speaker Johnson, during this tour told us that the average age of a Constitution in the world is 14 years, ladies and gentlemen, 14 years. We've been living under one constitution since 1787. What is that? 239 years, am I thinking right here?
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Let's.
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We're rounding off to about 250.
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Right.
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This constitution that they, they developed recognized Lord Acton's famous decree that power corrupts, and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely. So they separated the powers to ensure that human nature. Evil. Human nature would be checked across these separated powers. By the way, we don't have three co. Equal branches of government. What is supposedly the strongest branch of government? No, it's not the presidency. It's not the executive branch. It is the legislative branch, the Congress. Because the Congress has the power to impeach the other two branches. It can impeach the President, it can impeach members of the judiciary, but. But the President and the judiciary don't have that power to impeach the legislature. The legislature is supposed to be the closest to the people, particularly the House of Representatives. And as you may know, for the first 150or so years of our nation, the Senators were not elected by the people. They were elected by the legislatures of the state. So we would elect Representatives, national Representatives, but the state legislatures would appoint the Senators. Now, that changed in the early 1900s, but the idea was, is that the people were closest to the House of Representatives. And so they are supposed to be the strongest branch. They don't always assert their authority because they're like herding cats. Especially now with the bifurcation between the left and the right. But we'll get to that a little bit later. Speaker Johnson then took us out to the balcony. Now, the balcony is, as he says, the best photo op in all of Washington. Now there's construction down on the Mall. You'll see as we'll show you this view. But this is the view that you want to have if you come to Washington D.C. because you're standing in the Capitol looking down the Mall toward the Washington Monument. And then beyond that, of course, is the Lincoln Monument. And here, this is right outside the speaker's office. This is why he says one of the two perks of being a speaker, you got the. You got the balcony with the great view, and then you've got the speaker's office with a lot of sports memorabilia. He'll tell us about this in a minute. But here is Speaker Johnson on the balcony with us.
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Yeah. And the other is collection of sports memorabilia which people send you just. And I'll show you that on the way out. But this is a really awesome thing. On July 4th, every year, we have a big ceremony up here. This will be the biggest one of all time. July 4th, we have wounded warriors and their families up here. We just basically give them the balcony. And then I have just small handful of family and friends. We go all the way down at the end that we entertain everybody. But last year, I mean, it is. It make you so proud to be an American. Last year we were here. That stage was set up, and everyone just like it. We had the Beach Boys playing Washington Monument. It was like. Like America, you know, and the. The National Symphony Orchestra orchestras down there. There's thousands of people just filling all the grass all the way down. This year is promising to be the greatest fireworks display of all time. It has to be. It's going to be so big. Oh, yeah, probably.
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He may do a better Trump.
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B
I think he does.
- [34:41]
A
But I hear you do the best.
- [34:43]
B
I need a. I need a backup. We'll have a truffle fe.
- [34:48]
A
Will.
- [34:48]
B
So it's a great, great photo op. And they're building all this stage right now. This is Memorial Day stuff, as you can see. But I think they'll keep some of that up for a while. But that's cool. This is where we used to do the inauguration. I don't know if we'll ever be able to do it again, but it takes them three and a half to four months to build the platform out, all the way out there. And all the members of Congress sit up here. And the president comes out with a big recession. But we moved it indoors last year in the rotunda. And now in the heightened community threat environment, snipers and everything else. Right. The question is, able to do that outside again? Also, the cold weather's always been an issue, but we'll see. I don't know. It's. It's a crazy times we live in. So. Okay, let me walk. I'm just trying to keep it going because I want to show y' all as much as I can. Short time period okay, we'll go this way.
- [35:35]
A
All right, so here are some pictures from that spot. You got me and Steve Meyer. You've got me, Steve Meyer and Steve Dace. You know Steve Dace from his program. In fact, we're gonna have Steve on the podcast next week. He's got some great new stuff coming out. There are several other pictures. Megan Basham was with us. In fact, let me also show you. I forgot to do this when we were talking. We're in the rotunda, but we got a group shot in the rotunda. So let's, let's take a look at, at this shot right here. All right, Some of these people in the picture you might recognize. We've got, of course, Speaker Johnson in the middle there. To the right of him is with the beard, that's Matt Farace, who organized this whole thing. Ami Kozak next to him. Right to the left of Matt is Megan Basham and I'm right behind her. And you can see Steve Meyer to the right of me. Let's see, Lucas Miles is over Ami's left shoulder and his wife Chrissy. Joel Berry is back there, formerly with the Babylon Bee. Now he's with Jeremy Boring. Who else is in here? Adam. Adam Sass is kneeling. He's with Pat Bet, David. Let me see what else I can see in here. You got Gates Garcia there off the speaker's right shoulder. Then Steve Dace behind him. John Lovell of the Warrior Poets Society was there. Graham Allen is way to the left. Who else can I see here? I'm not getting everybody, but you get the idea. These were the folks that were invited to come and they brought guests and it was just an amazing, amazing tour that the speaker gave us. So we'll throw a few other pictures in here. These are people just taking pictures during the tour which just everybody so thoroughly enjoyed. It was very well done. And then after the balcony, he took us into the speaker's office, which is a place you rarely get to go, as you can imagine. But before we get to the speaker's office, and by the way, there's some, there's an amazing story he's going to tell us in there. Before we get there. Let me mention a couple things that are coming up. One is the Cross Examine Instructor Academy. We do have some seats left both for the presenter and non presenter track of CIA. The Cross Examine Instructor Academy. If you want to learn how to better present and answer questions, you want to be a part of this, it's going to be in Charlotte July 30 to August 1. Myself, Greg Kokel, Natasha Crane, Elisa Childers, Alan Parr, Richard Howe, Jason Jimenez and other instructors will help you get better at what you do to defend the Christian faith. Also want to mention this weekend I'll be in Knoxville, Tennessee at the Colsen event there. This is going to be a great event. It's not just me, there are several other speakers, but it's going to be Friday and Saturday. I'll be there along with other folks like Oz Guinness and John Stone street and Cliff Connectley. So I hope you guys, if you're anywhere near Knoxville, can check that out on our website. Then on Monday, the final session of the Bible you never knew, we're going to be talking about Esther and all the typology we've been through in the Old Testament. Then the following weekend, that is the fifth and the sixth, I'll be out in Denver, Colorado at Brave Church for the Last Stand conference put on by my friend Seth Gruber. He's gonna premiere his brand new movie. I'll be out there with Ali Best Stuckey and several others. You don't want to miss that. If you're anywhere near Denver, the following weekend will be in at Prestonwood Church, the great Prestonwood Baptist Church there with my friend Jack Graham. And I'll be doing the weekend services there with Jack that's down in Dallas, Texas. And by the way, I gotta mention this, I just started reading John Lennox's new book. It's his autobiography called My Story, and I've only been through the first chapter or so, but it's fascinating already. You want to pick up John Lennox's autobiography called My Story, and I'm gonna have him on the show, Lord willing here shortly to talk more about that. All right, let's go back to this of the house. I'm taking you on this private tour. He's now going to take us into his office and then his conference room and he's going to show off some of the sports memorabilia and then he's going to tell us an amazing story about the Jefferson painting and the James K. Polk painting. You're not going to believe how this went down, but here we go. Let's go into his office.
- [40:20]
B
So. So this is the speaker's actual office. Tons of history in here. They, they don't let us touch anything above that, that crown molding there because obviously this, some of this is original stuff, but they let you repaint this part of the wall. And my predecessor had it like a weird blue color. And I came in like no let's try to make it look as original as possible. But this is where a lot of stuff happens. And I mentioned the only perk to being speaker is the balcony and sports memorabilia. So let me. Can I show up a couple things real quick? So. So right over there on this table right here, this is the LSU national championship baseball ring on the side. Like it had something to do with it. But no, I am. That's my CO Gators. That's my LSU jersey up there on the first speaker for Louisiana. So all modern day and things down here, if you follow college football, this is the 2019 National Championship helmet signed by Joe Burrow and Coach O. Y' all know, remember Coach O. There's that. There's my Saints jersey up there. Behind that door is my. My baseball jersey from the national championship team. They gave me that. Over there by the. In that corner over there behind you is a helmet signed by Drew Brees. It's hall of Fame helmet. Pretty cool. Oh, there's a Tim Tebow picture underneath that. I don't know why.
- [41:30]
A
Oh, there we go. Now we're talking.
- [41:32]
B
Yeah. Why is Tim on the floor? I don't know what happened. Let's be new. So. So pretty cool stuff. Last. Last year, lsu, my alma mater, won the national championship baseball and my hometown team in Shreveport, Louisiana, northwest Louisiana, LSUS won the NAIA National Championship. They went 59 and 0. They did not. It's. No one's ever done it in college baseball. It's the greatest season of all time. Great guys are all humble. So many of these guys are believers and they came and hung out. We did the White House thing. We had a joint thing. LSU and lsu, as so many baseball players at the White House, they filled it up.
- [42:06]
A
They won 59 straight.
- [42:08]
B
59 and 0. Never been done before and probably won't be done again. So sorry. The messy desk. I didn't have time to play. Okay. But I'm gonna show you the coolest sports memory yet. Walk in here. I'll show you. This is our conference room. Oh, there's that hilly graphic married. Very good.
- [42:37]
A
Show that one off again, Mr. Speaker.
- [42:39]
B
Oh.
- [42:40]
A
Oh, it came.
- [42:41]
B
Rotates. All right, so. So we had the. We had the State of the Union several weeks ago, y' all remember? And two nights before the State of the Union, which was scheduled on Tuesday, our hockey team wins the gold medal. So the president calls me. It's like he doesn't sleep. As you know, the president doesn't sleep, so he calls me at like 11:30 at night. He's like, mike, we're going to need some more seats for the State of the Union. I said, sir, those seats have been going a long time because the gallery, you'll see, is not large in the House chamber. And he said, mike, the team just want to build. You got to bring them. I said, I mean, how. Okay, how many people are you talking about? Well, the women won, too. I'm like, sir, we have 60 people. We literally didn't have seats. And he goes, I want them on the floor. I said, that's against the law. I can't, because we'll change the law. I said, Sunday night. It's in 48 hours. I'm not. You know. So you. If you remember State of the Union, they came down the press gallery, and they got to wave, okay? But the guys are all really awesome, all American, humble guys. I. I don't know what it is about this hockey team. We really love them. So they came and hung out, and this is a picture of them sitting on my desk. On my desk, literally. And they all signed this thing. But this is what I want to show you. This is one of the 50 pucks that were used in the gold medal game, and they gave me one to memorialize their. So I'm really proud of that. I put it way in the corner so nobody can steal it. That portrait over there is Thomas Jefferson, obviously, and that's probably one. It's one of the three official portraits of him. It might have been in your history book. It wasn't mine. Why is he hanging in the corner? Real quick, one day, this is like, maybe 10 or 11 months ago, the President tells me this medical. He does one. And I said, I'm gring notes for this. Big deal. And he said, mike, we got to make a trade. A trade. And he goes, mike, I need your poke. I said, you need my what? Your poke. Sir, I don't. I'm sorry, what? You're James K. Pop, the curator, said, you have the only portion of poke, and I need it in the White House because you've seen the Oval. It's over. The President said, sir, I don't. I don't. I don't know, but I. We're going to make a trade. I'm so embarrassed. Don't ever tell anybody. Y' all are all recording. And Han said, maybe I shouldn't have shared this. So he goes. He goes, mike, I'm going to give you a Jefferson. Okay? You like Jefferson, right? Declaration. Yes. I love it. It's such a bad trade because nobody Knows Pope, but everybody knows Jefferson. But I'm gonna. So few weeks later, the curators do their thing, we do the trade, we find it. Well, it turns out James Tay Po is the only former speaker who was also President of the United States. So he was hanging. And what I'm fixing to show you is the Speakers Gallery with all the portraits of the former speakers. Well, it's now gone. There's a little sticky note on one of the White House. So. So then I get to Jefferson, this priceless portrait, and I'm like, wait, I can't put him in the public's place because he was not a Speaker of the House. Everything else. So I'm walking around with this. You know, I would not hold it. My friends are. And where are we going to put Jefferson?
- [45:34]
A
The only.
- [45:34]
B
Only place I have is in this corner in the comment room. And so we have historians come in on tours that they're all walking around, they're like, yeah, that's the Battle of Manassas. But wait, is that the. And then they realize it's the original, and they look at me like I've committed a crime.
- [45:49]
A
Why Jefferson in the corner?
- [45:55]
B
So the way I explain it is, I said, you've heard of the. The art of the deal. This was the deal of the art. So he's going to. This is my latest thing we ever got frame. But this is me and Nicki Minaj hanging out, And Polk is behind the door. Let's see if he's in. Oh, no, he's on this side. But Hulk has a very prominent place. You can see every square inch of the oval is covered by scorches. Now, there's that. Okay for going this way.
- [46:30]
A
So James K. Polk, ladies and gentlemen, was the 11th president of the United States. He's the only president born in North Carolina. He was born about 10 miles from where I sit right now. There's a James K. Polk farm on which he was born, and his. The shack in which he was born is still there. He's born in 1795. He became the speaker of the House, and then he became the president, the 11th president. And I just thought it was quite funny that President Trump needed the only Polk, the only James K. Polk portrait in the White House. That. That was in the Capitol because he was the speaker of the House. He needed it. And he traded for Polk by sending Jefferson and a president to be. To be named later. No, just he sent Jefferson to. To Speaker Johnson, who then put it in the corner of his office, the only place he could Put it. So one of the originals. There's only three originals of. Of Jefferson. There it is in Senator. I'm sorry, in Speaker Johnson's office. And there is no speaker of the House portrait for Polk in the Capitol. It's just a stickum that says on loan to the White House. So it wasn't the art of the deal, it was the deal of the art. I just find that funny. Anyway, well done by Speaker Johnson. Now he took us into the House chamber. Now, you cannot bring video cameras or take pictures in the House chamber. So we took a couple of pictures just outside the House chamber. And here is me with Steve Meyer and my congressman Mark Harris from Charlotte. I. He was the only other congressman. Well, we saw that one of the gentlemen. But there were very few congressmen around that afternoon. When we walked out of the House chamber, there my congressman was. What are the odds of that? Anyway, so my friend Mark Harris is the congressman in our district. He used to be the pastor of First Baptist here in Charlotte and now he is a congressman. Here's a picture of him with Megan Basham and Megan's husband Brian. So we took some pictures right outside the chamber. But we did go into the chamber and we sat there just like we were at the State of the Union. Yes, this is where they do the State of the Union. And there's no assigned seating in this place for the State of the Union. So I, since we didn't record it, I'll just from recollection, tell you what Speaker Johnson told us. He said, when you see the president come down that center aisle during the State of the Union, all those people are greeting him. It takes him, you know, he said a half an hour to get down. It takes about 10 minutes. But those people who are greeting him, they. It's almost like a concert. You need to get there in the beginning of the day and save your spot if you want to be there when he comes down the aisle. Because regardless, most congressmen, certainly the conservatives anyway, but even some liberal congressmen want to be seen shaking the President's hand and they want FaceTime for. For national TV. So they will line up on that aisle trying to get that spot. Now, everyone says the same thing. When you walk into the House chamber, it's a lot smaller than it looks on TV. It's quite intimate, actually. The place can seat about 950 people, including the balcony gallery on the floor. As you know, there's only 435 or so seats because it's for the House of Representatives. And in fact, Speaker Johnson told us something funny when he first got elected in 2016. So he shows up in Congress in 2017. He decides, I'm just going to be humble. I'm just going to sit in the back. So he sits in the back, in the corner, and at. At a function where everyone had to be there. And some of the more senior congressmen are, like, laughing at him. And he's. He's sitting in the. In the seat on the end, and literally some guy comes up and pulls on his ear like, you're in my seat. Well, it happened to be Don Young, who was the representative from Alaska, who was an old timer who always sat. He said, sonny, get out of my seat. So he thought he was being humble. He was actually treading on ground he shouldn't have been treading on, unbeknownst to him. But of course, the senior congressmen are just allowing him to get hazed, essentially by Representative Young. He told us a couple of other very interesting things about the House chamber. He pointed up to the ceiling. There's a bullet hole in the ceiling, and there's also a bullet hole in a drawer on a desk.
- [51:08]
B
Why?
- [51:09]
A
Because on March 1, 1954, four Puerto Rican nationalists, before they had metal detectors, went into the House chamber and started spraying the House chamber with bullets. Thirty shots were fired. Five people were shot, one of them seriously. Thankfully, nobody died. But there were 240 members in the chamber that day. Five of those people were shot. All of those four Puerto Rican nationalists were sentenced essentially to life in prison, but their sentences were commuted by President Jimmy Carter after about 20. After about serving for about 25 years. So he showed us, he said, you know, we're. I think we can afford to fix that hole, but nobody has fixed it so far. It's up there in the ceiling. I guess it's just a reminder now when you sit there. He also told us about all of the. Of the historical figures associated with law, that there's 23 of them all around the chamber above the balcony. And the center one, the one staring right at the speaker is Moses. He's looking straight on. All of the other folks, associated historical figures associated with law are in profile. Moses is the only one looking directly at you. And all of the profiled ones are looking at Moses, the great lawgiver. Some of these people, some of the historical figures in the House of Representatives, other than Moses are Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, of course, founding of our country, William Blackstone, who the founders relied a lot on in their political philosophy. Napoleon is up there, hammer Rabbis up there, Maimonides, the great Jewish scholar, and other ancient figures, including two popes. Two popes are on the wall in profile looking at Moses. Now, when Speaker I didn't know this coming in, but Speaker Johnson said that before he went into Congress, he was a constitutional attorney who served for many years as an attorney for the Alliance Defending Freedom. Adf. I love adf. We've been donating to a ADF for years. I've spoken at ADF functions. They're out of Phoenix, Arizona. They have thousands of attorneys around the world who argue for religious freedom. And they've gone to the Supreme Court and won several times. They defended Jack Phillips out there in Colorado and several others. So they're a great organization. As soon as he said he was an ADF attorney, I knew what his worldview was. He is an evangelical Christian who believes that we have to be a Christian 24, 7, 365, 360 degrees. Every area of your life ought to be governed by what Jesus and the apostles say. In fact, he's Mike Johnson said, my faith informs everything I do. His theology is Southern Baptist. My faith informs everything I do. And it's evident and how he conducts himself. Now, there's a lot of questions that people have. We started this talking about his introduction to the tour saying, you know, I just gave a long prayer quoting the Declaration of Independence. And the folks at Ms. Now were upset that I said rights came from God, from our Creator, as our Declaration of Independence says, not from government. And they were all upset. We could not film him saying this. But here is a short clip of Speaker Johnson telling us exactly where our rights come from. And he's saying this on the floor of the House. Here he is.
- [55:05]
B
Friends and colleagues, we are so blessed. We should not take it for granted. We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal. It does not say born equal. It says create created equal. It is our Creator that gives us our rights. We're the first nation in the history of the world that acknowledged that our rights do not derive from government. They come from God himself. Those words up there, that motto, it says in God we Trust right above the Speaker's rostum. Congress voted to put that there as a rebuke to the Soviet's worldview at the height of the Cold War. Why? Because Communism, socialism find their root in Marxism. And Marxism begins with the belief that there is no God. It's wrong. And this Congress made us stand those many years ago and we should do it again. We're different, we're distinct, we're exceptional. Because we acknowledge that right there.
- [55:56]
A
We're different and exceptional not because we're better people. It's because our form of government is better. In fact, it's unique. In fact, Speaker Johnson told us in the chamber that when he speaks, and by the way, he teaches a course in Constitutional law at Liberty University, an online course, believe it or not, which Ryan Helfenbein, who was there as well, said, hey, where do you teach that course? Because he's with Liberty. And he said, oh, I teach it at Liberty. And it's amazing that students don't know who he is until they're in the course and they go, oh, this is the speaker of the House grading my papers. Anyway, Speaker Johnson said that when he teaches this on a. On a whiteboard, he'll put God king. And then people. That's how monarchies were. You know, God gives the king the authority, and then the people are his subjects. Jefferson and our founders said, no, we're going to erase the king. And our. Our rights come directly from God to the people. And the people that serve in government are accountable to the. In fact, our friend Bill Federer put it this way. He said, our system is derived from the ancient Israel period, before they had a king, during the period of judges, before the, as he says, the priest went, woke, and people did what was right in their own eyes. It was working for years prior to that. And he said it was a covenant, like a triangle, that rights come from God and you're supposed to love your neighbor because you're accountable to God. That worked. It was the only country in history not to have a king prior to modern times. And it had God at the top. And then people, but people would vote to put representatives in place in our representative republic. And so the representatives were accountable to the people and of course to God, because God is the ground of all rights. If there is no God, there are no rights. Everything's just a matter of opinion. It's just your opinion against somebody else's opinion. Yet you have people out there arguing they have certain rights and they're atheists. You can't justify rights without God, otherwise it's just a preference. And it turns out that when you erase, you can erase the king, but if you erase God, then you just have the atheistic, communist, Marxist viewpoint that there's no God, there's no standard. It's either mob rule or more often, dictator rule. And here's what Mike said. Don't quote me on this verbatim. Because I can't remember everything he said specifically. But he said, look, I try and be kind to everyone here. I invite everyone to Bible study, whether they're Republican or Democrat. Not very many Democrats come. There's a few that still do. He said the problem is so many of the Democrats are trending hard toward Marxism. There are very few moderates left. And in the primaries that are going on right now or have gone on this spring, the more moderates are being beaten at the primary level by Marxists. And, and, and that's why we're very polarized now. In fact, he said it's a miracle that currently in the House of Representatives we can pass anything. I mean, the numbers don't really work. We only have a couple of seat of advantage, but somehow we can get stuff through that God's providence is working. But he said, if, if the, the Marxists take over the midterms or win in the midterms, this country is going to have even more problems than it currently has. And look, I don't have time to go on a deep dive on this. We've talked about it in the past, but if you look at the, if you look at the platform for the Democrats, it is trending Marxist. And so much of their rhetoric is that way. It's a continual class struggle, struggle between the oppressed and the oppressors. We talked about that in previous podcasts. If you want to see why we're so divided politically, look at this philosophy. This Marxist philosophy is there are oppressed groups and oppressor groups. In fact, we'll put that image up on the screen. We've talked about it before. I won't dwell on it because we've talked about it in previous podcasts. I want to wrap, wrap this one up. But if you think that there are groups out there that are always oppressed, no matter their personal behavior, and there is another group out there that are always oppressors, regardless of their personal behavior, then you're buying into this class Marxist struggle or this Marxist class struggle that is a natural, or I should say a political philosophy of perpetual conflict that will never bring peace. And it's, it's obviously unfair. You're treating people based on what artificial category you put them in, not their personal behavior. And this is where DEI comes from. Diversity, equity, inclusion, also known as didn't earn it. It actually hurts people. It's supposed to help because as soon as you see somebody who's a minority that's in a position of authority, a lot of times you think, oh, you're just the DEI hire when that person may have earned that and didn't require all this DEI nonsense. It's not even fair to them. Equity is not attainable. It's not even going to have equity in heaven, ladies and gentlemen. What we want is equality of opportunity, but not equity of outcome. That's impossible. And you can't continually demonize people. You can't demonize conservatives as not just wrong people who need correction, but evil people who need to be eliminated by calling them Hitler and fascists and oppressors. That's one reason why my friend Charlie Kirk was murdered, because they kept calling him a fascist Hitler. That's why there's been at least three attempts, maybe four attempts on President Trump's life. How do you keep calling people these ridiculous names and not expect some other people in your political wing, some extremists, to not take this kind of violent action? Charlie always said when the dialogue stops, violence begins. I don't believe the other side is evil and needs to be eliminated. I might believe that they're wrong, but we have to have dialogue and work on areas we can agree on and con and stop demonizing people. Now, you can't oppose their ideas. I think Marxist ideas are leading to an evil result because they it misunderstands human nature. We've talked about this so many times before. I don't have time to dive into it here, but it completely misunderstands human nature and it leads to terrible results. So Speaker Johnson went on to say that pastors need to lead and protect their flocks. Christians need to be salt and light. And we're not being responsible as pastors or as Christians by negligently allowing evil to hurt innocent people, including children, and failing to protect our ability to preach and live the gospel. By the way, we're gonna come out in September with a brand new book on this and so many other topics. My co author is my friend Phoenix Hayes, also a graduate of Southern Evangelical Seminary. Here's a cover of the book. It's called the War on Reality. It comes out September 8th. That subtitle is Recovering Truth in a World that Celebrates Lies. And this book is not only going to be hard hitting on so many of these issues, not just political issues, but so many other issues. But it's also a fun book. We have a lot of, let's just say it, we have a lot of jokes, snark in this book that I think it will make it an enjoyable read. My co author, Phoenix Hayes, is very witty on that I threw a couple of my own dad or granddad jokes in there, too. So we're trying to make it a fun read as we all witness the destruction of Western civilization. So check out the War on Reality. By the way, it would help us if you would pre order that, because the more people pre order it, the more Amazon and other, like, Christian book distributors want it, which drives up interest in it and so more people will see it. So Speaker Johnson went on to say that, rightfully so, that the government's main responsibility is to punish wrongdoers, which protects innocent people from evil. And that comes right out of Romans 13. Right out of Romans 13. And when a government doesn't do that, when it doesn't protect innocent people, when it doesn't punish wrongdoers, it's actually not performing as God intended. In fact, as you know, the. As you know, God created three institutions. Family, government, and the church. The church came later. And we can't be 2/3 of a Christian. We can't only be concerned with the family and the church. We also have to be concerned with government. Because if you don't have a good government, the family gets hurt and the church gets hurt. In fact, most of the times it's bad governments doing evil to the church and to the family. In our country, we have the capacity to influence government and even be the government. I mean, obviously Speaker Johnson is an evangelical Christian. He is in a position of power in the government. That's a good use of his time and his talents. I mean, would you rather have somebody that fears God and believes in the Bible in government or somebody that doesn't? If you say I'd rather have somebody that doesn't, then what standard are you using to say that? What standard are you using to say that your guy or gal would provide better policies? And I understand that both policies and personalities are important. Character does matter. But if you only could choose one, you've got to choose policy, because policy is going to affect you a lot longer than personalities will. Now, I think in Speaker Johnson, from what I've seen, and I've only been with him once, but what I've seen, how he carries himself, I think he has both. I think he has proper policies, biblical policies, and a biblical personality as well. Now, when you say this about anyone, especially a political candidate, that of course can be fraught with danger because people think you're endorsing their imperfections and sins. Nobody's perfect. Jesus isn't on the ballot. And so a lot of people say, well, you can't you can't in any way endorse anybody as a political candidate. I understand why people get upset with that and are. Are fr. It's fraught with danger. But let me ask you this. When you endorse your pastor because on balance, you think he's doing his job well, does that mean you're endorsing his imperfections and sins as well? No, of course not. I mean, we have to be grownups here. And we have to say, when I say that such and such a person is doing a good job in government and I endorse what he's doing, that doesn't mean you endorse everything the guy says or does. I certainly don't endorse. Endorse everything Trump says or does. Okay. But I think overall, I think his policies are going in the right direction, certainly as opposed to where Kamala Harris would take the country. But that doesn't mean I endorse everything. You have to be adults, just like you might not endorse everything your pastor may say or do, even though overall, on balance, you think he's a good pastor. And the proverb, Proverbs 29:2, says, when the wicked rule, the people groan. When the righteous rule, the people rejoice. Now, one final thing I gotta talk about here, and this will wrap this whole thing up. We had this just before Memorial Day, this tour, and my friend Josh Howerton of the Live Free podcast tweeted this out on Memorial Day. He said, the grandpa you laughed at behind his back for letting you watch violent war movies as a kid, but who freaked out about the Disney show where the kid had two dads? That guy, your grandpa was right. There was evil in the war movie, but it was genuinely. Or. But it was generally evil depicted as evil in a great struggle between good and evil. And it trained the consciences of a generation to value things like valor, self sacrifice, courage, integrity, honor, patriotism. Yes, patriotism is a good thing. Josh says, my dad used to say, quote, the worst kind of person is the guy who was born on third base and acts like he hit a triple unquote. So Josh said this? Well, he didn't say. Let me comment on that. So many people in our country think this is the worst place. And there's so much evil that our country has done. Yes, every country has done evil. But if you live in America, you're on third base in life. I mean, you are in the greatest country of all time in terms of prosperity and in terms of Benella benevolence, in terms of Freedom. And if you think that there's some place else that does it better, you're welcome to go there. That doesn't mean we're perfect. Doesn't mean we can't improve. We can. But don't try and run down the country that gave you the freedoms that you enjoy to protest against that very country. At least have a little bit of gratitude. You're on third base already. Don't think like it's you that hit the triple. It was people before you that hit the triple that gave their lives to start the country and protect this country from evil. It was Ben Franklin who said, after the Constitution was done, a woman asked him, what kind of government did you give us, Mr. Franklin? And he said, a republic. If you can keep it.
- [70:00]
B
Yeah.
- [70:01]
A
It takes sacrifice to keep something good. Because evil wants to tear things down. That's what Marxism wants to do. It wants to tear everything down. It can take centuries to build a great country. It can take a very short period of time to tear it down. It can take a couple years to build a nice house. You can torch it in five minutes. Evil degrades what is good. You can improve our country, but don't try and tear down its foundations. Its foundations, as expressed in a Declaration of Independence in the United States Constitution, are generally good. So here's what Josh said about a war movie. We watched one last night as well. He said, be wise, but watch a war movie with your kids today and help your American kid understand they were born on third base because a bunch of people died to get them three bases ahead. And this brings me to Memorial Day and what happened in the Civil War when it was reported to President Lincoln that Ms. Lydia Bixby of Massachusetts lost five sons in the Civil War. This inspired the plot of the movie Saving Private Ryan. In fact, there's a scene in Saving Private Ryan where a military officer reads what I'm about to read you. It was the letter that Abraham Lincoln wrote to this woman who had lost five of her own sons in the Civil War. At least that's what Lincoln thought. There's some dispute. She certainly lost at least two, maybe as many as five. Here's what Lincoln wrote to this woman. Dear Madam, I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjunct General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the battle. On the field of battle, I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a Loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. Yours very sincerely and respectfully, Abraham Lincoln. You can't say it any better than that, ladies and gentlemen. You know, Memorial Day is where people. We honor people who sacrifice their lives for freedom in America. That's one reason we're all standing on third base right now. Ladies and gentlemen, Jesus sacrificed his life for freedom for everyone, not only now here on Earth, but for eternity in heaven. As Jesus himself said, there's no greater love than when you lay down your life for your friends. Yes, let's honor those that have gone before us, but let's also remember the greatest hero of all time was Jesus of Nazareth, who went to the cross to took to take our punishment upon himself. Because an infinitely just God can't allow unjust people like me and you to go unpunished. But how can he allow us to go unpunished? Because his love compels us to go unpunished. The only way he can do it is to punish an innocent substitute in our place. And so that's why he came to earth, added humanity to his deity, and allowed us, the creatures that rebelled against him, to torture and kill him
- [74:37]
B
so
- [74:38]
A
he could take our punishment upon himself. And then, by trusting in him, we're not only forgiven, but we're given his righteousness. That's the greatest story ever told, and it happens to be true, ladies and gentlemen. There's evidence for it. And this is why I said at Charlie's memorial, Charlie Kirk's memorial, after mentioning some of the great, admirable things that Charlie had done, I said, charlie Kirk is not in heaven because he died for his Savior. Charlie Kirk is in heaven because his Savior died for Charlie Kirk.