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It’s time for a new declaration: Pastor Todd Wagner

December 05, 2014
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The Glenn Beck Program

Last night on TV Glenn interviewed Pastor Todd Wagner, who recently did a sermon series called ‘Declaration’ at his church in Dallas, Texas. The founding fathers didn’t just choose to be free, they made a bold declaration and Wagner’s message really resonated with Glenn.

Pastor Wagner: And as any loving father wants, He just keeps saying hey, choose me, come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I’ll give you rest. So one of the things that I just shared, you know, with our body as we look back in history, if you go from Rome to Zimbabwe, it’s never, ever worked for a country to pay its debts by running the printing press. It’s always led to disaster.

Glenn: Right.

Pastor Wagner: I introduced them to a book written by a Harvard economist and a Virginia economist called This Time It’s Different, and what they did is they studied civilization after civilization, and every single one of them fell into the this-time-it’s-different fallacy.

Glenn: We’re hearing it now.

Pastor Wagner: Yeah, we’re hearing it now.

Glenn: The world needs us. China needs us. They’ll never abandon us. This time it’s different.

Pastor Wagner: Right. We’re not an isolated nation. There’s a world economy. And what I’m going to tell you is there are certain laws that are fixed and immutable, and this time is not different. Our own government accountability, okay, the GAO, has said this is unsustainable, and our Congress, our executive branch, didn’t respond to this.

Glenn: Made it worse.

Pastor Wagner: They made it worse, and so they came back, and they defined unsustainable. They said this can’t continue, as if they needed to know what unsustainable meant. And so here’s what I would say, what is a pastor doing talking about the economy, right? Because some guys go I want to be about the gospel. I do too, but the gospel has legs. The love of Christ, what God cares about…economy just means house administration. That’s what it means, this is the way you should run your house, okay? And it’s not going to go well for you.

The borrower is the lender’s slave, and God is a person that rescues us from slavery and bondage to the way that seems right to us but in the end leads to death. And so in the economy one, I just said look, gang, this is what’s going on, and by the way, we can’t get mad at Washington. We are responsible for Washington.

This is a government of the people, by the people, for the people, and I really meant, I want you guys to know, Glenn, I want you to know, I made the case and I make the case all the time that I think the greatest evil in America is not the radical left. It’s not the ultraconservative right. It’s not the abortion industry. It’s not the, you know, people that are trying to redefine marriage.

I really believe the greatest evil in America are the people that have been given the truth that say they know the truth that are supposed to be keepers of the truth that are not faithfully declaring that truth to others, okay?

Glenn: See why I like this guy?

Pastor Wagner: And so we’ve got to quit throwing stones at everybody else and just gotta go, so I’ve told my body this again and again. You want change? Everybody wants to change the world, but nobody wants to change themself, and so we have just continually said what we’ve got to do is draw a circle around ourself and change everything in it, and then as we experience the blessing and the prosperity of living ourselves wisely—

Glenn: The best missionary is one that lives it.

Pastor Wagner: Amen.

Glenn: There’s a great letter we have in the library to George Washington from Aaron Burr. He had just won a battle, got shot in the head, and he writes two lines. He says the fort and the garrison is ours, General. Your men behaved like men determined to be free. That’s why we’re missing it, because we’re not living it. We’re not determined to be free. If we were determined to be free, we would be looking for those things that free us. What frees us? Not having debt frees you. Once you have debt, you’re a slave to the bank or to the lender or to whoever. You’re a slave.

Pastor Wagner: And so one of the things that I would just say to folks because they might go Todd…Glenn, why do you have a pastor on there, right? Why do you have a guy who calls himself an evangelical Christian? You come from a Mormon expression. And there’s so much that we have in common about our desire for truth.

Glenn: And a lot I disagree with you on.

Pastor Wagner: Yeah, and a lot we disagree with each other on, but we love each other, right? Because, you know, love without truth is not love, and truth that isn’t loving is not going to be heard, and that’s one of the things I really appreciate about you. I think you’ve even said hey, I’m learning to be a little bit maybe even kinder about the way that I go about it. That’s my deal my wife would tell me, Todd, you need to learn. That tone helps you with me, right?

Glenn: Right.

Pastor Wagner: And there’s a great quote by a guy named Frederick Faber that was an Anglican gentleman, actually converted to Catholicism in England. He said this, there was a quote when I read it, it just stopped me in my track, and he said kindness has converted more sinners then eloquence, learning, and I even scribbled it down because sometimes I quote…than zeal, eloquence, or learning. And you know what—

Glenn: It’s true.

Pastor Wagner: We try to be zealous for what we believe. We try and learn a lot and be eloquent, but you know what, man, kindness, the Lord leads us to—.

Glenn: The protesters that were on the streets last night, I agree with them last night in New York on what happened. That cop acted wrong. I think that was manslaughter. Now, I wasn’t in with the grand jury, so I don’t know, but it looked manslaughter to me. But they were marching in the streets with signs that said “F” this tree, and they were talking about the lighting of the Rockefeller tree. That’s not going to get anybody on your side. What are you doing?

Pastor Wagner: No.

Glenn: If instead you would have been kind and humble, and you would’ve locked arms, and you would’ve sang Christmas carols, and you would’ve done it, yes, in the middle of the street, the people who were there for the tree would’ve said what’s going on here? What’s going on? And you would listen to them. But we are so full of rage and anger right now, everything that is antichrist, everything.

Pastor Wagner: I’ll tell you why. How much time do we have in this segment?

Glenn: How much time do we have left? Two minutes?

Pastor Wagner: All right, let me in two minutes tell you why I think that we’re filled with rage. I think it’s because of the leaders that we’re choosing, and we’re not choosing leaders that are helping us focus on the thing that ultimately sets us free. And so specifically what used to really affect our country was this thing called Social Darwinism, this idea that individuals are not as good as other individuals because they’re not as fit as us, and so we can hold them down and oppress them.

But what has really started to happen in our society today is more defined by the philosophy, the world view, and not Judeo-Christian ethic, okay, which would say let’s pursue righteousness, peace, love and forgiveness and reconciliation together, but I would tell you it’s more culturally Marxist.

Now, what’s that mean? Marxists always want to push you into classes. It’s going to say let’s separate these people by class, by gender, by race, by sexual preference, and then let’s take you, the persecuted minority, and I will be your advocate. I’m going to get my power by appealing to your plight, and I frankly am going to maintain my power by keeping your plight the issue. And what it does is it pits us all against one another, and it makes us concerned about our own little small area, and it keeps us from working together toward the one thing we all need, which is righteousness, truth, peace, love.

Glenn: How did your church…did you have anybody walk out when you say these things?

Pastor Wagner: No. No. Here’s the thing, I’ve never done it in a series before, but I’m teaching this all the time because I’m teaching God’s word, okay?

Glenn: How’s the health of your church?

Pastor Wagner: Well, I hope it’s really healthy. You know, every year, one of the ways that we keep our church healthy is every year our membership goes to zero. So every December or January, we just say who’s still in for this? Who wants to be about believing in Christ, belonging to his body, being trained in truth, and being strong in life with ministry and worship? And if you don’t, we’re not going to love you more, okay? We’re not going to say you’re going to hell. We’re going to say you’re just saying I’m not going to pursue heaven with you anymore, okay? And so then what do we do? We do what the Scripture says we should do when a person is like that. We love them and call them to repentance.

Glenn: Most people will not say these things because they’re afraid that they’re going to lose their membership or whatever, and I think this is critical for people to say.

Pastor Wagner: Here’s what I would say to my pastor friends, here’s what I would say to leaders in general, here’s what I would say to politicians, we don’t need politicians. We need statesmen, people that are concerned for the state, not keeping himself in office. That’s their job. Here’s what I would say to a pastor, you’re not going to lose your people if you teach truth; you’re going to set them free. That’s not my idea. That’s God’s. Truth sets people free.

And when political correctness replaces theological soundness, what you’re going to have is the greatest problem in America, that the place that people should go to have a revolution from darkness to life is the one place they go to get put to sleep and where the rest of the world looks at them and goes I don’t know what the solution is, but it must not be God, because that church over there, I don’t see anything in there that’s attractive to me.

Glenn: Okay, we’ll come back. I want to talk to you a little bit about immigration and if we have time maybe a little bit of Ferguson and what your thoughts are on Ferguson.

Pastor Wagner: Yeah, I’d be happy to.

Glenn: I will tell you, America, that I did call him America’s pastor earlier. And Billy Graham gave me a book, and it was Billy Graham, America’s pastor. I saw that cover, and I thought who has the guts to put that on a title of their book?

Pastor Wagner: I don’t.

Glenn: Yeah, except for Billy Graham, and Billy Graham was right for doing it. There is a time for a new calling, and I don’t know who the Lord is going to call, but I think you should hear this man’s words. We’ll be back in just a minute.

The Deep State's NEW plan to backstab Trump

Brandon Bell / Staff | Getty Images

We cannot make the same mistake we made in 2016 — celebrating victory while the deep state plots its next move.

In 2016, Donald Trump shocked the world by defeating Hillary Clinton. Conservatives cheered, believing we’d taken back the reins of our country. But we missed the bigger battle. We failed to recognize the extent of the damage caused by eight years of Barack Obama and decades of progressive entrenchment. The real war isn’t won at the ballot box. It’s being waged against an insidious force embedded deep within our institutions: the administrative state, or the “deep state.”

This isn’t a new problem. America’s founders foresaw it, though they didn’t have a term for “deep state” back in the 1700s. James Madison, in Federalist 48, warned us that combining legislative, executive, and judicial powers in the same hands is “the very definition of tyranny.” Yet today, that’s exactly where we stand. Unelected bureaucrats in agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Justice hold more power than the officials we vote for. They control the levers of government with impunity, dictating policies and stifling change.

This is the fight for the soul of our nation. The founders’ vision of a constitutional republic is under siege.

We’ve felt the consequences of this growing tyranny firsthand. During COVID-19, so-called experts ran our lives, crushing civil liberties under the guise of public safety. Our intelligence agencies and justice system turned into weapons of political warfare, targeting a sitting president and his supporters. Meanwhile, actual criminals were given a pass, turning American cities into lawless war zones.

Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1816 that “the functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents.” Today, we see Jefferson’s prophecy fulfilled. The deep state exercises unchecked power over our freedoms, and information itself is controlled by the fourth branch of government: the legacy media.

Even when we win elections, the deep state doesn’t concede defeat. It switches to survival mode. Trump’s first term proved this. Despite a historic mandate to dismantle the bureaucracy, the deep state fought back with everything it had: leaks, investigations, court rulings, and obstruction at every turn. And now, with the possibility of Trump returning to office, the deep state is preparing to do it again.

Progressives are laying out their attack plan — and they’re not even hiding it.

U.S. Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-N.C.) recently boasted about forming a “shadow cabinet” to govern alongside the deep state, regardless of who’s in the White House. Nickel called it “democracy’s insurance policy.” Let’s be clear: This isn’t insurance. It’s sabotage.

They’ll employ a “top down, bottom up, inside out” strategy to overwhelm and collapse any effort to reform the system. From the top, federal judges and shadow officials will block Trump’s every move. Governors in blue states like California and New York are gearing up to resist federal authority. During Trump’s first term, California filed over 100 lawsuits against his administration. Expect more of the same starting January 20.

From the bottom, progressive groups like the American Civil Liberties Union will flood the streets with protesters, much as they did to oppose Trump’s first-term immigration reforms. They’ve refined their tactics since 2016 and are prepared to unleash a wave of civil unrest. These aren’t spontaneous movements; they’re coordinated assaults designed to destabilize the administration.

Finally, from the inside, the deep state will continue its mission of self-preservation. Agencies will drag their feet, leak sensitive information, and undermine policies from within. Their goal is to make everything a chaotic mess, so the heart of their power — the bureaucratic core — remains untouched and grows stronger.

We cannot make the same mistake we made in 2016 — celebrating victory while the deep state plots its next move. Progressives never see themselves as losing. When they’re out of power, they simply shift tactics, pumping more blood into their bureaucratic heart. We may win elections, but the war against the deep state will only intensify. As George Washington warned in his Farewell Address, “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence — it is force; and force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”

This is the fight for the soul of our nation. The founders’ vision of a constitutional republic is under siege. The deep state has shown us its plan: to govern from the shadows, circumventing the will of the people. But now that the shadows have been exposed, we have a choice. Will we accept this silent tyranny, or will we demand accountability and reclaim our nation’s heart?

The battle is just beginning. We can’t afford to lose.

Editor's Note: This article was originally published on TheBlaze.com.

Drone mystery exposes GLARING government incompetence

Gary Hershorn / Contributor | Getty Images

The drone issue is getting way out of hand.

Earlier this month, Glenn first reported on the mysterious drones stalking the night sky over New Jersey, but the situation is increasingly concerning as the sightings have escalated. Not only have drones been seen across the Northeast Coast, including over New York City, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, but recently, they have been spotted over the night skies of San Diego and other parts of Southern California.

It doesn't take an expert to identify the potential dangers and risks that dozens of undetectable, unidentified six-foot or larger drones pose to national security. Yet, our government's response has been one of unimaginable incompetence, leaving us to speculate on the origin and intention of these drones and wonder in astonishment at the government's ineptitude. Here are three examples of the government's lackluster response to the mystery drones:

Iranian Mothership and Missing Nuclear Warheads

- / Stringer | Getty Images

After several weeks of hubbub, New Jersey Representative, Jeff Van Drew gave an interview on Fox News where he claimed that the drones originated from an Iranian "mothership" off the East Coast of the United States. This theory has since been disproven by satellite images, which show that all Iranian drone carriers are far from U.S. shores. Another theory suggests that drones may be equipped with sensors capable of detecting nuclear material and that they are looking for a nuclear warhead that recently went missing! With these apocalyptic theories gaining traction in the absence of any real answer from our government, one can't help but question the motive behind the silence.

Pentagon's Limp Wristed Response

Alex Wong / Staff | Getty Images

In a recent press conference, national security spokesman John Kirby responded to reporters demanding answers about the government's lack of transparency, which has caused increasing public anxiety. He insisted that the drones did not pose a threat and were not assets of a foreign power, such as from Iran or China--even though he is still uncertain about their identity and origin. He also claimed that many of the sightings were simply misidentifications of normal aircraft.

This lackluster answer has only further inflamed national anxieties and raised even more questions. If the government is unsure of the identity of the drones, how do they know if they are a threat or if they aren't foreign assets? If they aren't foreign, does that mean they are U.S. assets? If so, why not just say so?

The Pentagon has also stated that they are leaving it up to local law enforcement to spearhead the investigation after concluding that these drones pose no threat to any military installation. This has left many feeling like the federal government has turned a blind eye to a serious issue that many Americans are very concerned about.

Where's Pete Buttigieg?

Chip Somodevilla / Staff | Getty Images

We are in the closing weeks of the Biden administration, and with the finish line in sight, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg probably figured nothing else could go wrong on his watch—but boy was he wrong. As Secretary of Transportation, Buttigieg is in charge of the FAA, the agency responsible for managing all air traffic across the nation. One would think that mysterious, 6-foot-long, seemingly intractable drones are invisible on radar and flying above major cities would pose a serious threat to the myriad of legal aircraft that traverse our skies. Yet, Buttigieg has been silent on the issue, adding another failure to his resume which includes: malfunctioning airplanes, the train derailment in Ohio, and the Baltimore Key Bridge collapse, just to name a few.

Glenn: How Alvin Bragg turned hero Daniel Penny into a villain

Michael M. Santiago / Staff | Getty Images

We cannot allow corrupt institutions to punish those who act to protect life and liberty.

America no longer has a single, shared understanding of justice. Two Americas now exist, each applying justice differently depending on who you are and where you live. One America, ruled by common sense and individual courage, praises heroes who stand up to protect others. The other, driven by political agendas and corrupted institutions, punishes those same heroes for daring to act.

This stark division couldn’t be clearer than in the case of Daniel Penny, the Marine whose trial in New York City this week drew strong reactions from both sides across the divided line of justice.

If we let this slide, we accept a world in which heroes are treated as criminals and the law is a weapon for ideological warfare.

Penny was on a subway train last year when Jordan Neely — a man suffering from severe mental illness and reportedly high on drugs — began threatening passengers, saying, “I’m going to kill you all.” The fear on that subway car was palpable, but nobody moved. Nobody, that is, until Penny did what needed to be done. He took action to protect innocent lives.

In the America many of us used to believe in, Penny’s response would be heralded as heroic. His actions mirrored the courage of Todd Beamer on Flight 93, who, on September 11, 2001, rallied others with the words, “Let’s roll,” to prevent further tragedy. But in New York, courage doesn’t seem to count anymore. There, the system turns heroes into villains.

Penny subdued Neely using a chokehold, intending only to restrain him, not kill him. Tragically, Neely died. Penny, filled with remorse, told the police he never meant to hurt anyone. Yet, instead of being recognized for protecting others from a clear and present threat, Penny stood trial for criminally negligent homicide.

In Alvin Bragg’s New York, justice bends to ideology. The Manhattan district attorney has made a career of weaponizing the law, selectively prosecuting those who don’t fit his narrative. He’s the same prosecutor who twisted legal precedent to go after Donald Trump on business charges no one had ever faced before. Then, he turned his sights on Daniel Penny.

A jury may have acquitted Penny, but what happened in New York City this week isn’t justice. When the rule of law changes depending on the defendant’s identity or the prosecutor's political motives, we’re no longer living in a free country. We’re living in a state where justice is a game, and ordinary Americans are the pawns.

The system failed Jordan Neely

It’s worth asking: Where were activists like Alvin Bragg when Neely was suffering on the streets? Jordan Neely was a tragic figure — a man with a long history of mental illness and over 40 arrests, including violent assaults. The system failed him long before he stepped onto that subway train. Yet rather than confront that uncomfortable truth, Bragg’s office decided to target the man who stepped in to prevent a tragedy.

This isn’t about justice. It’s about power. It’s about advancing a narrative where race and identity matter more than truth and common sense.

It’s time to demand change

The Daniel Penny case — and others like it — is a wake-up call. We cannot allow corrupt institutions to punish those who act to protect life and liberty. Americans must demand an end to politically driven prosecutions, hold DAs like Alvin Bragg accountable, and stand up for the principle that true justice is blind, consistent, and fair.

If we let this slide, we accept a world in which heroes are treated as criminals and the law is a weapon for ideological warfare. It’s time to choose which America we want to live in.

Editor's Note: This article was originally published on TheBlaze.com.

CEO Brian Thompson's killer reveals COWARDICE of the far-left death cult

Jeff Swensen / Stringer | Getty Images

Early on the chilly morning of Wednesday, December 4th, Brian Thompson, CEO of health insurance giant, UnitedHealthcare, was walking through Midtown Manhattan on his way to a company conference. Suddenly, a masked and hooded figure silently allegedly stepped onto the sidewalk behind Thompson, drew a 3-D printed, silenced pistol, and without warning fired multiple shots into Thompson's back before fleeing the scene on an electric bicycle. After a multiple-day manhunt, a 26-year-old lead suspect was arrested at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania after being recognized by an employee.

This was not "vigilante justice." This was cold-blooded murder.

As horrific as the murder of a husband and father in broad daylight in the center of New York City is, the story only gets worse. Even before the murder suspect was arrested, left-wing extremists were already taking to X to call him a "hero" and a "vigilante" who "took matters into his own hands." Even the mainstream media joined in on the glorification, as Glenn pointed out on air recently, going out of the way to show how physically attractive the murder suspect was. This wave of revolting and nihilistic fanfare came in response to the findings of online investigators who surmised the murder suspect's motives to retaliate against healthcare companies for corruption and denied coverage. The murder suspect supposedly underwent a major back surgery that left him with back pain, and some of his internet fans apparently viewed his murder of Thompson as retribution for the mistreatment that he and many other Americans have suffered from healthcare companies.

The murder suspect and his lackeys don't seem to understand that, other than depriving two children of their father right before Christmas, he accomplished nothing.

The murder suspect failed to achieve his goal because he was too cowardly to try.

If the murder suspect's goals were truly to "right the wrongs" of the U.S. healthcare system, he had every tool available to him to do so in a constructive and meaningful manner. He came from a wealthy and prominent family in the Baltimore area, became the valedictorian at a prestigious all-boys prep school, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a master's in engineering. Clearly, the murder suspect was intelligent and capable, and if he had put his talent into creating solutions for the healthcare industry, who knows what he could have accomplished?

This is the kind of behavior the far-left idolizes, like communists on college campuses who wear shirts that celebrate the brutal Cuban warlord, Che Guevara. Merchandise celebrating the UnitedHealthcare CEO murder suspect is already available, including shirts, hoodies, mugs, and even Christmas ornaments. Will they be sporting his face on their T-shirts too?

This macabre behavior does not breed creation, achievement, success, or life. It only brings death and risks more Americans falling into this dangerous paradigm. But we still have a chance to choose life. We just have to wake up and take it.