RADIODecember 28, 2023

THIS lesson from the 1970s rings true TODAY

The chaos of 2023 reminds Glenn a lot of the chaos of the 1970s: economic turmoil, despair, an energy crisis, rampant crime. In the 70s, many people stopped believing in America. But in 1978, Glenn heard something that he believes still rings true: Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait," featuring Henry Fonda. After re-listening to it, Glenn used it as a model and rewrote the speech in his own words for our time.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Sometimes, all the time, when you listen to this program. It can kick you to the curb.

It can just kick you in the head, repeatedly, and repeatedly. And you feel like everything is out of control.

Let me start with something that will give you perspective.

In 1978, at a time that was much like this one. See if this sounds family. The country was in shambles. Stagflation. Despair.

Energy crisis. Rampant crime. People were hopeless. Disillusioned. They stopped believing in America. They stopped believing that things will get better.

The greatest city as was declared in the early 1960s. Detroit had fallen from its perch.

The car industry, once the greatest in the world, was in shambles.

America was now being clobbered by a country in the Far East, who were coming here buying our land and our landmarks.

Americans felt America was over.

Does that sound familiar at all?

So at that time, 1978, one of the greatest American composers, Aaron Copland, joined with Henry Fonda, just to remind Americans of who they were, where they came from.

Aaron Copland wrote -- he's just written some of the greatest American music of all time. He had the Philharmonic, playing all of his beautiful music.

And Henry Fonda took to the stage, and spoke. He spoke of the dark times, and the hope of Abraham Lincoln. I listened to that, over the last few days.

And the feeling of 1978, because I remember hearing that, when I was a kid.

And the feeling of that time and the words that he was speaking, rang true to me. I don't have the license to be able to play the Aaron Copland thing with Henry Fonda. But you should look it up and listen to it.

Now, I don't have Aaron Copland backing me up, and I don't have Henry Fonda's voice or credibility. But I do have mine. And I do have my thoughts. And I do know history.

So I took his speech, as a model. And I wrote it anew.

Now, his whole story of Lincoln, but I chose the words of three presidents and one average citizen to tell the story of you and me.

And all of us who are lucky enough, to dare call ourselves American.

In the early dawn of our nation, we stood at freedom's threshold.

That is what he said. That is what George Washington said.

Citizens of a young nation, behold, our path of freedom.

We in this fledgling republic, carry the weight of a new world on you're shoulders.

Our actions, humble or grand, will forge a legacy beyond you're lifetimes. The responsibility of freedom.

The duty of honor. These are the burdens that we bear, for future generations.

Let the standard of the wise, the honest, guide us under the watchful end of providence, he said.

This is what George Washington said. In times of peace and uncertainty, our resolve must never falter.

The sacred fire of liberty, entrusted to the American people, demands our vigilance. In this great experiment of government, our actions will echo through the ages.

Citizens of a young nation, behold the path of freedom.

That is what he said. He was born in Virginia, land of rolling hills and boundless skies.
And this is what he said. This is what George Washington said.

Let us raise that standard to which the wise and the honest can repair. The event is in the hand of God.

Duty, honor, country, these are not mere words. They are the foundations of a life well-lived.

In stature and in spirit, he stood tall. And this is what he said: The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destination of the -- the destiny of the Republican model of government, are entrusted to the hands of the American people. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will only be because we destroyed ourselves.

A leader, a reluctant general, a president, a man of deep honor and integrity. A father of a country. George Washington was a man of few, but powerful words. But when he spoke of duty and honor, this is what he said.

He said, labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.

George Washington, the first president of these United States forever etched in the annals of history.

In the winter at valley forge, this is what he said. He said, perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages.

Let us therefore, rely on the goodness of our cause. And the aid of the supreme being.

In whose hands victory is. To animate and encourage us, to great and noble actions.

Later, admits the turmoil to end an ancient evil, try to right the nation's wrongs. A voice rose again.

A beacon of hope, amidst the sea of despair. And this is what he said: This is what Abraham Lincoln said.

Fondly do we hope. Fervently do we pray. That this mighty scourge may speedily pass away.

Yet, if God wills that it continue until all of the wealth piled by the bondsmen 250 years of unrequited toil, shall be sunk, until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword.

As it was said 3,000 years ago, still it must be said. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

He said, with malice toward none, with charity for all. With firmness, in the right as God gives us, the right to see it.

Let us strive, to finish the work we're in, and bind the nation's wounds. The storm passed. But our nation's wounds were deep.

This time, it took a king to pull us back together. Not like the kings of old, who claimed God gave them the right to rule and be master over men.

This king, quietly, meekly, peacefully, became the servant of God and man.

Martin Luther King, who told us to love and forgive, and live up to our own ideals. To live as one. Not seeing the color of skin.

Almost a century after that great and bloody war, evil in the heart of man, dared showed its face again.

And this king joined Abraham Lincoln, as he too was crowned in glory as a martyr.

But this is what he said: He said, when the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note, to which every American was to fall heir.

This note was a promise that all men, yes. Black as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And it is obvious today, that America has defaulted on this promissory note, in so far as her citizens of color are concerned.

But we refused to believe that the bank of justice is abrupt.

We refused to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.

And so we come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand, the riches of freedom, the security of justice.

This is what he said. This is what Martin Luther King said.

I have a dream today. That all men can live together, live as one. And not be judged by the color of his skin. But by the content of his character.

In the quest for freedom, we stand as one. That is what he said.

That is what Ronald Reagan said. In the quest for freedom, we stand as one. Across the globe, wherever tyranny cast its shadow, here or abroad. It is the duty of every American to be a beacon of hope.

Our nation conceived in liberty, carries the torch that enlightens the world. And in the face of oppression, we shall not waver.

Our resolve is strength. Our unity, our shield.

Born in Illinois, who like Washington, Lincoln, and MLK, never lost his God-given optimism.

Reagan had found it in his upbringing. And he too dreamt of a world unchained.

And this is what he said. This is what Ronald Reagan said.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.

We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for. It didn't be protected.

And then handed on for them to do the same. Standing firm, he looked beyond the horizon, and this is what he said.

He said, evil is powerless. If the good are unafraid.

We are a nation, that has a government, not the other way around.

This is what makes us special among the nations of earth.

Ronald Reagan, once a Democrat, then a Republican.

An American Financing president and leader. A man who saw America not just as a country, but as an ideal.

But when he spoke of Americans duty, this is what he said.

He said, we must always remember, we must always be prepared.

So we may always be free.

Our cause is noble. And it is the cause of mankind.

In his words at the Brandenburg Gate, this is what he said. Let us be a force for good. A force for freedom. A force that fights for peace and justice, in a world too often scarred by the opposite.

And as the dream of freedom endures, its guardians emerge in new forms. This is what Ronald Reagan said. In the quest for freedom, we unite against darkness. The darkness of tyranny.

Our nation, a beacon of hope, stands resilient against the bullies of the world.

We inherit not just a land. But a legacy of freedom. That we must defend with unwavering courage.

He said, let us be unafraid in the face of evil. Our unity is our strength. And in that strength, lies the power to shape a world that cherishes freedom and justice. Our destiny is not predetermined. It is only crafted by our own hands, our hearts, and our unwavering spirit.

And the symphony of our nation's history, these voices blend into a single enduring Melody. From the foundations laid by the vision of Washington to the unyielding resolve championed by Reagan, and the enduring hope of justice. That was articulated by Lincoln. Our journey is one of continuous striving.

We as a people have weathered the storms of change, and stood as a pillar against the tides of oppression.

Together, these voices echo. Our legacy is not merely in the battles won. But in the unrelenting pursuit of a world where freedom reigns supreme.

The spirit of America, resilient. Bold. Inspires us to uphold the ideals of democracy and humanity.

So in unity, we must affirm. As heirs to this great legacy.

We must carry forward the torch of liberty. Let us here and abroad be the keepers of this flame. A light that guides the world, toward a brighter, more just future.

For in unity. In our courage. In our commitment to the ideals that have always defined us. We will find strength to build a world where freedom, justice, and hope flourish for all.

Banned CNN panelist reveals SHOCKING behind-the-scenes of Mehdi Hasan MELTDOWN

CNN has banned conservative commentator and 1776 Project PAC founder Ryan Girdusky over a joke that the network has called “racist.” But Ryan joins Glenn to expose CNN’s hypocrisy. Girdusky’s quip to MSNBC host, Palestine supporter, and fellow panelist Mehdi Hasan that “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off” was enough to get him removed. But Hasan was allowed to call Girdusky a Nazi?! Girdusky also notes that the other CNN panelists had no issue with constantly telling jokes about white people or comparing Trump to Joseph Goebbels. But there was one decision that CNN made that convinced Girdusky to just speak his mind, even if it meant getting fired …

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Ryan Girdusky. You might have seen him. He was the guy. What did he do two weeks ago. We were on, going, yeah. Well, I think he's right about that?

STU: The problem -- he's a major problem. Because he keeps winning arguments at CNN.

And he's not supposed to do that.

He's supposed to be the idiot foil for the rest of the panel.

GLENN: Yeah. So now he's been banned on CNN. Because they're just after the truth.

That's all they want.

Ryan joins us in just a second or two.

Hang on just a second.

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(music)
Ryan Girdusky is on with us.

He's the founder of the 1776 Project PAC and a political consultant. Welcome, Ryan.

How are you?

RYAN: Good. Thanks for having me.

It's been one crazy 12 hours.

GLENN: I'll bet it was. For people who didn't hear it, let me play what happened on CNN.

VOICE: If you don't want to be called Nazis --

VOICE: You're called. Stop calling --

VOICE: Table.

VOICE: People are sitting there.

VOICE: By me -- I didn't call you an anti-Semite.

VOICE: I'm a Palestinian, I'm used to it.

VOICE: Yeah, well, I hope your beeper doesn't go off.

VOICE: You just said he should be killed.

VOICE: On live TV.

VOICE: Guys, let me just stop.

GLENN: So there's this fake outrage, of you said I wanted to be killed.

And Ryan immediately apologized. Okay. Fine. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that. I'm sorry. It was wrong. But the other guy doesn't apologize to you for calling you and people like you, a Nazi.

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: In my book, that's worse than a Hamas member. I mean, they're in the same category. But what's worse?

RYAN: Well, the funny thing, it sounds much funnier in re-listening it than it was live. Because it was going crazy. Well, also the crazy thing was, he also said -- Trump sounded like Goebbels.

Now, I never met him before. I had heard a lot about him. But he was making accusations, that I was calling him an anti-Semite. That I was doing all these things to him. I had never spoke to him before. I didn't even know who he was.

And going on to that show, I decided like so -- so what happens if you don't do cable news, the producers text you all the topics, a few hours in advance. And they could range from people things you know anything about. Things you don't know anything about.

So I was -- so one of the topics they just changed it.

It was two segments on the Trump rally. Because obviously it's the most important thing in the world. They actually scrubbed the thing like war.

So then, we were going on, to do segment at the end, with Brian Stelter about trust and accuracy in the media.

And I just about lost it. And I was like, here's what I'm going to do. Here's what I said to myself, going to the show.

I was going to tell him, you're fake news.

You owe everyone on CNN an apologize for Russia. For Russia gate. For COVID.

For the Stormy Daniels. This is our last episode. Because they will never have me back. After I do what I do.

This was just a throwaway line. Because what happened, I got on set.

The woman sitting next to me. She was outraged. I was speaking to her.

She was making comments.

Like white man. Whole run into the show.

And looked just like -- it freaking irked me. I would never say opposite racial things like that.

But if I did, I wouldn't even make it to the show open.

But it was just like the double standard.

Then I said on the show, that people in the media -- everybody that attended the Trump rally was a Nazi. Abbey said that wasn't true. Totally true.

Abbey has falsely corrected me on things that I said was true, and she said, it was the Ferguson effect.

Which was very clearly -- even though, she was --

GLENN: That's what it was.

RYAN: So, anyway, I did the thing.

It was a throwaway line. Go to commercial. Then throws his mic on the table. Storms out of the place. I'm not going to be on with him. Abbey is like, can you please step aside?

Because Allison was like, he needs to leave. And I was like, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass. I hope you don't get in trouble from corporate. I told the producer, I hope you don't get in trouble. Because it wasn't very lovely to me. And I'm a professional.

And that was that. I was like, okay. Cool.

And you would have thought, you know, I was responsible of the Hindenburg disaster, the way people are responding to it.

I'm like, calm the freaking hell down. I said to somebody, who by the way, always stands up for terrorists.

You know, or sits there -- and kowtows to terrorists, that -- and terrorist-funded countries, that they are -- that, you know, that it's a joke. Whatever.

Like, grow a pair. Like, I don't know. I'm a man. If you sit there and make a joke at my expense and you apologize, I'm over it in 30 seconds.

I'm not going to go storm off and act like, you know what.

GLENN: Right. So go ahead.

STU: Ryan, people probably don't know a lot about this guy. Mehdi Hasan. You know, is he -- I'm sure you've looked into him, a little bit more since all of this has gone down.

He does seem to be well-known for conveniently taking the side of terrorists over and over and over again. What do we know about what his beliefs are?

RYAN: I don't know him. I genuinely don't watch cable news.

I don't watch MSNBC.

I watched him a lot. I don't watch MSNBC. Unless it's an election where they're losing or all crying on set.
(laughter)

RYAN: So I don't know what he's all about. I genuinely don't -- I Googled him a couple of -- maybe a couple of years ago. He said that nonbelievers are all cattle and animals.

And that gays are pedophiles.

And he apologized. And stuff.

But that's basically all you need to know. Is like where they're coming from.

And I think that he was doing a show with the nation of -- I think it was Qatar.

I don't know.

I don't want to say anything.

He was doing a show with a foreign country, at one point.

He was booted off MSNBC.

Whatever. I don't know.

But literally like, I don't know.

I don't want to sit there and say more.

I can't --

STU: Yeah. Yeah.

It seems like, when you're talking about --

RYAN: It's not great. It's not great.

STU: Right. When you're talking about rhetorical flourish of sorts. You know, you can put your comment and him calling you a Nazi in roughly the same category.

RYAN: Right.

STU: It's an overstatement, sure. You're making a point.

It's a debate. But when someone comes after you, and calls you, the worst -- member of the worst group of people that anyone can ever imagine.

Like it's sort of normal to come back and be a little prickly about the situation.

RYAN: Well, also, the thing is they will never know what it is to be a conservative in the media. They will never. The only Democrat in probably the history of the world, know what it's like to be a Republican is Joe Biden. In the one month that they all sat there and said, you have to get out, and the whole media was against him.

They do not know what it's like to show up at your show, where the hosts are biased. And the guests are biased.

And it's three on one screaming at you constantly. And you're like, hey, I read the statistics somewhere, and it doesn't really matter.

Because what's important is the narrative. That's all they care about. It's the narrative. And the narrative and the narrative.

If you sit there and you shoot against the narrative for so long, it is -- you know, they have to get rid of you.

I don't care. It's not like I was going on CNN anyway.

I do school board elections with the 1776 Project.

That's what I do. This is just like something I did for -- well, three and a quarter episode, if you think about it.

GLENN: You were only on three and a quarter episode?
RYAN: Of Abby's show, and then the other show is on twice.

RYAN: I did maybe five and a quarter shows in like three weeks. All of them went viral.

STU: That's amazing. Yeah. I was going to say, I think every single one of them went viral. I thought you were on all the time, because every single time, I turn on Twitter, you're going viral for this.

RYAN: No. I was on -- I was on the whole network, less than a full six episodes.

And, you know, whatever.

I didn't care. I want to give credit to some person, to the booking person at CNN, who originally talked to me.

They said, they are looking for a Republican. You are a Republican, who will apologize for being a Republican.

It ain't me.

That's not what we're looking for.

You can come on.

I said, okay. Great. I told them flat-out who I was, that's I was very open and honest.

I'm not going to apologize for being a Republican. I'm not going to attack Donald Trump. Not on CNN. My grandmother would kill me.

That is not going to be me. And so like, whatever. That's all fine. And they let me on. So I'm lucky to have the opportunity.

Probably could have handled it differently. But at the end of the day, I'm not a Nazi. And the fact that one guest gets to call another a Nazi. And the other can't flip it in a joke. That was funny, by the way.

STU: Objectively a funny line. It is a little roast comedian. Like we just had this experience with the MSG situation. It's in that category, which they might not like, but objectively a funny line.

GLENN: So can I ask you, when producers called, they said you were a little reluctant to come on the air.

Why?

RYAN: When they called about, what?

GLENN: Coming on the air here.

RYAN: Well, like, listen, I didn't want to -- not that I don't want to amplify the story. I don't think it's a story. In 24 hours, someone will find something else to be outraged with.

I don't -- I went to a party literally like a few days ago. A conservative party, and every four seconds, some stranger I didn't know yelled at me, the Ferguson effect!

And I was like, great. And I'm like, okay, great. Now I will be called beeper for the rest of my life. So I didn't want to talk about this forever.

So I said, okay. I will do a few shows today. And then none after this.

And that will be that. And I was like, listen, I have a moment where I can talk about my PAC. My school board election. And mention it while I'm doing it. And that will be that.

I just don't think anyone really care about it, come in a couple of weeks.

And wait. One other thing, by the way, that other segment that I was on. This is the most insane story in the world.

I was on the segment with the Ferguson effect. The two women next to me. Ashley Allison. I don't remember the other girl's name. We only spoke about five minutes together.

We did a segment. For 25 minutes. Almost a half an hour. The one looked at, the one I don't remember. Her -- she looked at Ashley Allison, right on set, points at me, and says, what's his name?

And she goes, I have no idea. We've been on this show 30 minutes before our names were publicly announced. And didn't sit there and say, oh, hi, nice to meet you. Yada, yada, yada.

Lot of just mean girl nonsense like that. So, anyway, I just wanted to --

GLENN: So the 1776 Project.

Is that the 1776 project that was banned or stopped immediately after Biden got into office?

RYAN: No, no, no. It's a PAC to flip school board elections. We've done almost a thousand school board elections in three years.

We put money directly into school board races. To support conservatives for a myriad of issues. Everything from testing standards to, you know, enforcement of school rules.

To CRT, to the trans issue. There's one school board in Texas. That we literally booked every single seat in.

So we have done this.

We have races coming up in Maryland and Arizona next week.

We have hundreds of thousands of dollars into those races. And we're trying to sit there and to get conservatives elected across the country, to protect kid's public education.

GLENN: How do you feel about the election?

RYAN: You know, I'm nervous. I think Trump is doing well. I wrote something for my Substack, two days ago.

The craziest thing in the world. And this will drive you nuts.

In a 2020, the census admitted that they got the data wrong.

And they gave extra seats, Congressional seats to Rhode Island, Colorado, and Minnesota. Over Texas. Was supposed to get one extra. And Florida was supposed to get two.

If Trump wins the Sunbelt and loses the three Rust Belt states, he will lose the election 270-268. Had they not misallocated those seats, he would have won 270 and 267. So things like that, at this point, playing in my head, driving me crazy.

He will win one Rust Belt state. He just has to win Michigan, Wisconsin or Pensacola. Pennsylvania -- Pensacola.

Now, Pennsylvania. I'm thinking of Florida now.

I think things look good. Republicans are voting like their life depends on it.

Just brace into a little bit more, and we just need to get some independents along the way. And he should win one of those states.

GLENN: Let me ask you: What's your take on the support behind Kamala?

RYAN: I think a lot of it is people who hate Trump. I think a part of it is also the AstroTurf, female empowerment nonsense, that she's just so great.

And I mean, look, she went from being Selena Meyers on beat, to being a girl boss in 24 hours in the media.

Everybody remembers. And this is where they hid her for so long. This is why she's keeping her hidden. She has a billion dollars. It's a lot of money. She has all these unions. A lot of effort. What she doesn't have is a lot of support, but she's harping on this fascism and Naziism thing. Because she's got one group. One group that can put her in the White House. And that is suburban moms and dads. Who are very scared of it. And they don't have to worry about tax cuts. Because they make a lot of money. They don't live in a high crime neighborhood.

Their kids go to good schools. They are insulated in a very comfortable bubble.

A lot of them live in places that look like the 1950s.

It means nothing to them.

But Hispanics. Blacks. Muslims. Jews.

People who have a lot of stake on the line, they're living -- deal with 2020. And act towards.

They're increasingly voting for Trump.

That's why she's harping so heavily. That if you don't do this.

If you don't vote for me. You're a bad person. You're a bad white person.

You're a bad mom. You're a bad suburban person.

You're a bad person. You have to vote for me.

That is her closing methods. I don't know how effective it will. These people all vote. They all vote.

The noncollege educated. White working class. Blue-collar guy out in Pennsylvania

There were 2.66 million of them in 2016, who were not even registered to vote.

A lot have registered since then.

Twenty percent of all early votes Republican, are first-time voters. It's got to stay that way, and it's got to increase.

Yeah, that was the data that was released yesterday.

GLENN: Wow.

Ryan, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Hope we talk again.

1776 Project PAC founder, political consultant, and a guy who should wear this as a badge of honor. Now banned from CNN, for telling the truth and telling a joke.

EXPOSED: How HARMFUL chemicals end up in our food

Why are so many potentially harmful chemicals, including food dyes and ingredients that aren't allowed in Europe, EVERYWHERE in the American diet? From cereal to Doritos, much of the food in our supermarkets contains stuff that is likely causing our epidemic of chronic illnesses. So, why does the FDA allow food manufacturers to include all this? Glenn heads to the chalkboard to expose how the system works ... and it sure looks like bribery.

Watch this full episode of Glenn TV HERE.

Pastor EXPLAINS: Does Voting Go Against Christianity?

Should Christians vote in the 2024 election? Some argue that they can't support either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. Others say Christians should stay out of worldly politics. But Pastor Josh McPherson of Grace City Church joins Glenn to explain why he has "a fundamental conviction that we cannot be Biblical unless we ARE political." It's time for followers of Christ - both in the pews and at the pulpit - to stand up, speak out, and VOTE: "When the Church goes silent, a culture loses its conscience and government loses its mind and everyone suffers."

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Josh McPherson is a guy I found online, I don't even know how long ago.

And just I love his sermons.

He's a lead pastor of Grace City Church. Founder of Stronger Man Nation, which is a movement to help men get stronger every day in every area of life, and helping dads raise boys to be stronger men, which is one of our problems, in society today. We are teaching everybody to be weak, and helpless. And that is not the way that God would have us to be. Josh, welcome to the program. How are you?

JOSH: I'm very good, Glenn. Thanks for having me.

GLENN: Yeah, thank you. So I have been hearing from a lot of Christians, that are saying, I just can't vote for either.

JOSH: Yep. Yep.

GLENN: And I don't even know how to -- I don't even know where to start on that.

JOSH: Yep.

GLENN: This is so clear to me, that we are not battling Democrat/Republican.

We are truly battling light and dark. Life and death.

JOSH: That's right. Yep. Yep.

GLENN: Good and evil.

So how do you convince people?

JOSH: It's -- it's -- what COVID revealed in terms of our shallowness in thinking, in relationship to our role as citizens in our nation. This election is revealing it at a deeper level.

I think Christians have been misled and wrongly discipled in relationship to their responsibility, as citizens of heaven, to be engaged here, as citizens of earth.

GLENN: Right.

JOSH: And so with bad teaching.

The kingdom of God is spiritual, not physical. Nowhere in the Bible does it ever say, the kingdom of God is spiritual. The closest it gets is Jesus saying, my kingdom is not of this world when he's speaking to Pilate.

And he's not using that as an excuse to disengage from the world. He's using it as an apologetic to lean into the world.

He's saying, my kingdom is not of this world, which means I'm above your pay grade. And I don't have to answer your petty questions. The kingdom of God does not hover, Glenn, a mile above the earth. It lands in our sex lives, in our marriages, in our dysfunctional family systems, in our relationships, in our entertainment. In our food. And, yes, in our politics. When Jesus says, my kingdom is not of this world, what he's saying, is my people have the authority from heaven to step into the broken systems of earth and be salt and light.

The most basic texts of the Bible. Which Jesus explains how to think as Christians.

You're light. Light exposes lies. In darkness. You're salt.

Salt works against the natural decay of sin in the world. And right now, a pastor trying to convince Christians to be salt, while they're still in the box.

GLENN: And people think, that that adds flavor. No. It stops corruption.

It stops the corrupting of the meat.

BIANCA: That's exactly right.

GLENN: That's the way it was used back then.

JOSH: Yeah, there's this demonic gaslighting, that says that Christians should be political.

I have a fundamental conviction that we cannot be Biblical unless we are political. The entire story line of the Bible, is a story of God against governments. Rogue, empiric governments. Tyrannical. Abusive. Heavy-handed, oppressive governments like Egypt, like Persia, like Babylon, like Rome. And the story is those -- because when you remove God from a society. What replaces it typically is that which is biggest and most powerful, mainly government.

GLENN: God calls governments to submit to his rule of law, just like he calls individuals. And it's the church's job to function as the conscience of a society. And when the church goes silent, a culture loses its conscience. And the government loses its mind. And everyone suffers.

GLENN: I can't understand, when we have -- I mean, when we have one party that is putting up abortion vans for free abortions.

I mean, I wouldn't go to a concert that was doing that. Let alone a political party.

JOSH: No. No. No. Here's what I would say to Christians to wrestle with seriously -- I did five sermons to my church. You see them online if you want. GraceCityChurch.com --

GLENN: I'll tweet them out today.

JOSH: Okay. I wrote a small PDF to help people think through three questions. Should I vote? How should I think about politics? And then how should I vote as a Christian. So I can walk through that very quickly.

Should Christians vote? Here's the deal. 40 million Christians didn't vote in the last election. The last election was decided by 42,000 votes. Your vote matters. When the salt stays in the box, the meat rots.

GLENN: Jeez. Uh-huh.

JOSH: When Christians hold their voice back, culture goes into massive decline. Do you people wish the church would have gotten more political when Hitler squeaked through in an election? And 12 years later, 11 million people were dead.

GLENN: And do you know what the church did?

It stayed silent, and then it went into cahoots.

JOSH: The church abdicated its voice. And then aligned with evil out of fear and deception, and millions of people died.

I have a distinct sense that there are millions of people, the over.

Praying to God Almighty that Jesus Christ would wake up his church in America. Because if America goes off the rails, we haven't seen anything like it historically.

GLENN: Oh, I have heard it from a Chinese dissident, that was in prison in China.

Just because she believed in Jesus. She said, what you know we were praying for in China?

We were praying that you would be humbled so you would wake up to who you are.

JOSH: That's right. Should Christians vote? Here's what I would say, God made three spheres of human sovereignty. The family, the church, and the state. If Christians won't lead their home, Satan will.

If pastors won't lead their church, they become synagogues of Satan.

And when it comes to our constitutional republic, we need to almost stop using the word democracy. We don't want a democracy. We're a constitutional republic.

Which means we're guided by the moral absolutes outlined in the Constitution. Then we vote for men and women to represent us.

To make laws that will reflect the values of that Constitution. If we fail to do our duty in this Constitutional Republic, we are failing our children. And we will pass on to them, a social inheritance. That will bury them.

Right? So when I think about whether or not I should vote. If Christians don't -- if godly voices don't rise up, to speak up.

Godless voices will. And we will be held responsible for what happens. Christians need to carry a burden.

GLENN: People don't understand.

JOSH: For what God holds us accountable for.

I look at it like this.

Christians -- and I want to be sensitive to those who are like, well, I don't want to be partisan. Brother, listen to me. Sister, listen to me.

You cannot follow Jesus. And not be accused of following Jesus.

Because Jesus draws lines, and Jesus takes sides.

Look, I haven't asked the GOP into my heart. I'm a Bible guy. I'm a Jesus guy.

That's my lane.

If a political party happens to step into that lane, I am cheering them all the way. If they step out of that lane, I am prophetically calling them to obedience and submission to God's word. So this isn't me cheering on one particular party.

But let's be honest, one political party is explicitly advocating openly for demonic, horrific, perverse sin, and the other is not.

That's the bottom line. That you have to wrestle with.

What I find most Christians. I find very few Christians.

I'm going to vote for -- I hear a lot saying, but I can't vote for their side. But I don't agree.

Here's the deal. You don't do anything else in life. Was your spouse perfect when you married her or him?

No. You married him anyways.

We don't apply the same standard, where you're using Donald Trump to anywhere else in life. So no matter who is running for office, unless it's Jesus. You would have to hold your nose and vote at some point.

So here's what I would say for Christians to consider who are on the fence. Think of politicians in terms of three tiers.

Tier three is in the category of opinions. In this category, we -- we discuss, and we decide.

This is where the Bible is silent on these issues. And this is like, should Taiwan be granted favored trading status.

GLENN: Yeah.

JOSH: Should feds lower or raise interest rates. Should the post office use planes or horses to go to deliver the mail?

I don't know, but let's discuss. And let's decide.

The Bible will speak to it. I won't stick my nose into it. That's tier three. Tier two is in the category of wisdom.

Okay? We should debate and discern. The Bible speaks to it. But not clearly, how we should go about it. We agree on the goal. But we debate. Have the means. Should we care for the poor?

Yes. We should all agree on that. How do we do that?

Let's have a good debate. Let's pull each other on the extremes, walk in the middle, find the path. We can robustly disagree and debate and then go out and have a beer afterwards.

GLENN: Honestly, that's where we were at one point in our nation.

JOSH: That's Reagan and "Tip" O'Neill. Right?

Where it's like, no. Yes. What? Are you kidding me? I'll buy you a drink.

GLENN: Yeah. Because they had the fellow in common. They vehemently disagreed on how to accomplish it.

The goal was the same.

JOSH: That's right. There was a like-minded shared mindset for life. So what's happened now.

And most Christians are working from that framework. Tier three or tier two politics. It's opinions or it's issues of wisdom, which makes them feel uncomfortable to speak prophetically to it.

Here's the problem. There's a third category. Tier one.

And tier one. If the first -- the third -- the second is to have wisdom.

Tier one is, this is the realm of obedience. This is where we declare and divide. This is thus saith the Lord kind of things. Okay? Where the Bible has spoken clearly to it.

And to discuss -- we don't discuss and debate stuff. We submit to God's word. And we say yes, God, and we obey. These are issues. The sanctity of life. The sanctity of marriage. National sovereignty.

The moral law of God. The rule of law.

Religious freedom. Jurisdictional respect. These are the kinds of things, are the grid through which we think as Christians, where God is clearly and plainly without stuttering spoken, where we must say, thus saith the Lord. Not because it's our opinion.

Because of what we're calling the culture to submit to themselves God himself. Right? When we get into that category, tier one.

A Christian is obligated, I believe to engage. Here's the problem. In politics past, most of the ticket represented tier three and tier two.

And so Christians were reticent to say, thus saith the Lord. The Fed should lower their interest rates.

I agree. Don't stick your nose where God doesn't quote clearly. What's different about this election is almost every issue on the table. Representative on the ticket is a tier one issue, thus saith the Lord. And if the church does not step and up speak boldly through this moment, the vacuum we create will be filled, I believe with the godless and the demonic. Then we will be responsible for having been silent, in a moment where we needed Jesus to speak up.

GLENN: So there are two things that come through my mind, almost every day.

One, we will be held responsible for all of -- are these God's rights. Not ours.

We are put in charge to protect them. Or to elect the government to protect God's rights for future generations.

JOSH: That's right.

GLENN: If we lose these rights here, it's not just here.

It's the entire world could be cast into darkness. And slavery.

And we will be held accountable.

What did you do? And say, well, I just couldn't vote for either one.

It's not going to be an acceptable answer.

JOSH: That's right. Think about the moral dilemma, some Christians are having, about who to vote for right now.

It's nothing. In comparison to the moral dilemma, you'll be facing. If we have an openly rogue demonic evil government. That is using the force of law, and military, to -- to make you disobey, God's law. You will have much bigger moral dilemmas to face then, better to deal with these little ones. Hold your nose and vote.

Rather than, do I need to stand up and do something more than just pray in this moment, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer had to wrestle with in 1940s.

GLENN: Yes. Yes.

The other thing is, when people say, well, my vote doesn't count.

For the first time in my life, I look at that, as a completely different statement.

JOSH: That's right.

GLENN: That's saying, I'm not going to be held responsible.

JOSH: That's right. That's right.

GLENN: This time. This is like 1933.

At this time, if you don't stand, and it goes awry.

JOSH: That's right. That's right.

GLENN: He's not going to accept, that I just didn't invoke.

Because I didn't think my voice mattered.

In Texas, if you want to vote for a Democrat, it may not count.

You know, here in Texas. Because it will go, hopefully, it will go red. But it does count in your first citizenship.

GLENN: When I think about, my vote doesn't matter. Here's what I think.

No, no, no. It matters, because I'm not voting to appease a candidate or a party. I'm voting in response to God's commands. I'm voting for a holy God.

I'm voting to be obedient to my duty to be an active citizen of heaven. In the current citizen, I'm abiding here on earth.

When I think about that, Glenn, no, I'm voting for the sake of keeping my conscience clear. But before God, so I can look in the mirror and say, kids, I preach sermons. I talk to friends.

I wrote stuff. I joined my friends online.

I did everything I could, to move the needle for the sake of our nation. Friends, don't vote -- if we take this pragmatic approach, well, it doesn't matter. Well, we already ceded the battle. No, no, no. It does matter. It does matter.

If not only for you to say, I will not be shaken and silenced by the lies.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote -- I'm trying to think of it. Live not by lies.

GLENN: So good.

JOSH: And in the essay, he said, look, here's the deal. You may feel small in the face of this massive, tyrannical, totalitarian regime.

But -- but you're not as small as you think. You're only as small as the silence that you embrace.

He said, so if you stand up, they may shoot you in the head of the street, but only you can secede or turn over your freedom. So you can die a free man in the street, or you can live as a prisoner in your apartment. You could be freer in prison. Than you are compromising your values living at home.

And so what he said was, essentially, silence in the face of lies, is itself a lie.

Silence in the face of lies, is to perpetuate, and participate in that lie.

We are in a spiral of silence right now.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer talks about.

Eric Metaxas talks about it.

Which means, the less we speak up, the higher the cost for the ones that do.

GLENN: We're seeing it right now.
Hang on, I have to take a break. We'll be back in just a second. You are listening to Josh McPherson.

I will, on my social media, put out on his sermons on this. Share it with every Christian that you know.

GLENN: We're talking to Josh McPherson, about why Christians need to vote.

JOSH: Yes, yep.

I will say two things. If there are those that are sitting on the fence, I get it. There's been challenging things to figure out, sift through. I understand. Three things within one. This is from many conversations, your vote isn't a Valentine.

You know, oh. I just get the warm fuzzies. That died with JFK.

Right? So like don't vote for warm fuzzies or personalities. Think -- be more sophisticated in your thinking. Think about policies. Personalities will come and go. We'll be left with policies, for the rest of our life. Don't think your vote is a Valentine. Secondly, your selection isn't a sacrament.

So many Christians, well, if I vote for them, they might do something immoral, and then I'm responsible.

No, no. Your vote isn't a sacrament. You're essentially exercising your right as a citizen, to -- to advance people, in positions of authority, that you think have the best shot of aligning most closely to a Biblical worldview.

GLENN: And if they don't, then your responsibility kicks in to speak out to stop them.

JOSH: That's right. We're in the most important in a moment our history, coming up in our election.

Then the next week will be just as important. Don't vote and then back off. Get more engaged. Speak up. Say things that are true, longer and louder. So it's not a Valentine.

How do I say it? Your vote is not a sacrament. Then lastly, this is crazy.

The ballot box isn't a mailbox. I heard a ton of Christians going, well, I'm not going to vote and send a message.

Why write an email and never hit send? No one cares that you didn't vote. The only outcome that matters is who wins.

So don't think you're sending a big message by not participating. That's a lie from the pit of hell, to silence the voice of the church. In maybe the most critical moment in the history of our nation.

And I will say this, pastors, you must be bolder. You must speak up louder and longer.

It may feel weird to talk about politics and the pulpit to you. But that's because you're living in this weird bubble and moment of history.

You're out of step with the great preachers of history in the past, who have always thundered from the pulpit, how to be engaged in politics.

GLENN: I am hungry for preachers to speak the truth, based on the Bible. I am hungry for it!

How do I apply these 2000-year-old teachings to what's happening right now?

JOSH: That's right. It's disingenuous to expect the pastors in their church to be bold in the marketplace, when they're failing to be bold in the pulpit.

GLENN: It is so great to see you.

JOSH: You too, Glenn.

GLENN: I actually will meet with the president tonight. And I'm hoping to convince him to do something with TheBlaze and Trinity Broadcasting. And I would love to invite you to be a part of it, if it actually comes through next week. I would love to have you be a part of it.

Because I have seen your social media, and you are right, spot-on.

JOSH: Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.

Ten seconds. We just started a school. Guard City Academy. There's 286 kids in class, listening right now, learning to become Christians and patriots. I want a huge shout-out to those guys. Go Farmers!

GLENN: God bless you. You guys are great.

Thank you, Josh.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

You Have a TRACKER in Your Pocket Sending Data to the Deep State | The Glenn Beck Podcast | Ep 233

Our cell phones are collecting way more data on us than we think, and it’s shockingly easy for Big Tech, government agencies, and a wide array of bad actors to access it. Glenn speaks with Erik Prince, retired Navy SEAL and the founder of the private military contractor Blackwater, and Ryan Paterson, retired Marine and Big Tech insider, about their new venture, Unplugged, which aims to solve as much of this massive personal security breach as possible. Erik and Ryan explain how anyone who buys our data can learn our routines, discover who we are, and even know which side of the bed we sleep on: “It’s worse than George Orwell even imagined.” Erik and Ryan also address excuses like, “They already have all my data,” or, “I have nothing to hide.” But first, Glenn speaks with Erik about his incredible backstory: Why did he, the son of a successful entrepreneur, become a Navy SEAL and start Blackwater? Erik also provides insight on the conflicts around the world: Can Trump stop the war between Russia and Ukraine? Can Israel free Iran from Islamist tyranny? Was America’s war in Iraq for nothing? Is the Chinese Communist Party our greatest adversary? What did Trump’s comments about “the enemy within” really mean? Plus, he shares his plan for how to make the U.S. military both less expensive and more efficient at the same time.