42. Is Political Power Devilish with Mark West

In this episode, Craig speaks with author Mark West about his article, Is Political Power Devilish, and his book, What He Said: Living the Sermon on the Mount Transforming American Culture.

As a self-proclaimed Xvangelical(a term for a former Evangelical who now centers all scripture interpretation on the words and actions of Christ, with a focus on living out His kingdom right now), Mark helps us strip back our political attachment to a nation-state so we may return to Christ’s vision for us, not a politician’s. 

Mark does not want us to deconstruct our faith, but rather renovate it from its complexities so we can refocus on what Jesus said and did. Christ’s challenge for us is not easy, it is hard to love one’s enemy, to turn the other cheek, to not worry about tomorrow, to not outsource our responsibilities as Christians through electing “Christian” leaders to politics, but our call will always be greater than any nation past or to come.

Our King and our Kingdom are not of this world and Mark invites us to rise to this challenge to be the body of Christ in our everyday life, not at a ballot box.

You can connect with Mark and read more of his work at mark4libertas.wordpress.com and purchase his book at markwest-author.com.

TIMESTAMPS:

01:52 What Mark has been up to

• Spiritual pilgrimage, culminating in his book

• God Archy, “that’s me in the corner”

  • Mental health advocacy

• IF YOU NEED HELP, PLEASE REACH OUT

  • National suicide hotline: 800-273-8255

06:13 Covid Anxiety

• Some people are afraid to reacclimate to public life   

08:38 Deconstruction/Renovation of Faith

• Not tearing it all down, taking away the bad, but realigning one’s faith with what Jesus actually said

• Jesus did not go around debating people

• We make it more complicated but Jesus keeps it simple

11:02 Love your enemy is a command, not a suggestion

• Your “enemy” should be the hardest person to love, but if you can love them then you can love everyone between you and your enemy as well 

• Keith Giles, Jesus Untangled

• Red-letter Christain heretic

• Simple to understand, hard to do

• Leave the bad beliefs behind, and renovate the misshapen into something better, that more fully honors God  

 13:59 Renovation of Faith and The Political stance of Christian-Anarchy

• If you want no government what would you have done about Nazi Germany or Slavery?

  • Nazi Germany and Slavery were made possible via a goverment that assumed power/authority it did not have

• As Christian Anarchists, we recuse ourselves of using governments to get others to do something, even if it’s the “right” thing

• Christianity comes before the anarchy

  • Craig: “I’m only an anarchist because I’m a Christain”

17:19 Mark’s Article, Is Political Power Devilish

• “Exhausted and defeated” - we are worn out by our current political system

• Mark’s run for Governor

  • Had been preaching twelve sermon series on Sermon on the Mount

  • Felt Christ calling him away from politics, that they were opposite to what Jesus taught

  • Fell into a deep depression 

23:06 Moving away from politics entangled with faith in Jesus

• Chris Polk

• Looking to the early church for a model of how to interact with the state

• The Temptation of Christ

  • Satan tempted him at the end of his fast when he should be weakest

  • Satan offered to give him the authority over all the kingdoms, implying he has the authority over them making them of the devil, not of God

• Daniel’s prophecy

  • Had an image of all the kingdoms that have existed, and smashes them because Christ’s kingdom is different, it is not of this world

• The political systems of our world have a violence based authority, while Christ’s kingdom is the anthesis of this

• “Divine right of kings” is being applied to our political leaders when we think they will lead us to the Kingdom of Heaven

  • Jesus was asked to be king by force and almost killed for refusing, it’s just not our thing as Christians

32:45 Mark’s book: What He Said: Living the Sermon on the Mount Transforming American Culture

• Why he wrote the book:

  • Felt he received a message while preaching the sermon on the mount a message American Christians really needed to hear

    • What we hear: if we get the right politician or policy or program in place then things will be transformed

      • This gets reduced to solganism and hashtags, “make America Christian again”

    • Jesus said plenty that is good enough and we don’t do it--put the slogans down; he’s calling for a whole life transformation

  • Chapter 8 was the hardest to write

  • Dietrich Bonhoeffer: what the world needs to see is a new monasticism, he saw back in Nazi Germany what we are seeing today in today’s Christianity 

    • Bonhoeffer also wrote on the sermon on the mount

36:50 The Early Church did not seek power

• They actively helped others rather than electing people to do it

38:32 Chapter 8 - A series of Don’ts

• Don’t collect earthly treasures, don’t worry about your life, don’t worry about today, and don’t worry about tomorrow 

• Jesus told us not to worry, and when we worry we get distracted from advancing the Kingdom of Christ

39:32 Don’t collect earthly treasures

• Matthew 6:19 KVJ

  • When we collect earthly treasures we want to get something from them, we are focused on the wrong treasure, Jesus wants to give not get

  • All our stuff will sit here, collect dust, and go bad - nothing here last

  • In Christ, we can find things that will last forever

• Pursue the things you can store in heaven

  • The true treasures are the fruits of the spirit in our life

  • The fallacy of the American dream: work hard and get a bunch of stuff, but people are where we get our rewards

• Mammon - God of material wealth and blessing

  • Can’t have two kings God and Mammon(often translated as money)

43:45 Don’t Worry About Your Life

• Matthew 6:25 KVJ

• Jessica Green - being prepared

• If we are working together we should be able to provide for each other and not worry 

  • We like to make sure we are provided for

• Mental illness and faith

  • Mental illness is irrational, takes away the ability to see tomorrow coming

  • Jesus is telling us to look at the flowers, the birds, and everything else that works without worry

    • The worry get in the way, when we go to the store and take more than we need, providing for ourselves at the expense of our neighbor, we all have less in the long run

  • Live the kingdom life by thinking about the other

48:12 Don’t worry about today

•  Matthew 6:31-33 KVJ

  • “Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be provided for you”

• We are called into christ to be a new creature a new creation, all the chasing distracts us and keeps us from what we are supposed to be

• The real issue with Christians in America is we are not living Kingdom lives

  • Blame LBGTQIA community or entertainment or Donald Trump and Joe Biden

  • If Christians in America lived by the sermon on the mount the country would be transformed

50:09 Don’t Worry About Tomorrow 

• Matthew 6:34 KVJ

• “Why worry about tomorrow? Each day has enough trouble of its own”

  • This moment you are in is the most important moment of your life

  • Live in trust that God will keep his promises

51:56 Kindness is Key

• Matthew 5:5 KVJ

  • “The gentle are blessed for they will inherit the earth”

• Inheriting does not mean all the possessions and goodies

• False dichotomy: if I hurt you I will buy you something to make up for it; more stuff makes things better(money, accolades, achievement)

  • All Jesus is calling us to is to be kind

• Humility to not always have the place you think you deserve  

• The only thing we are entitled to in the gospel is to have less than our master did(aka Jesus who they killed)

• Culture of disenchantment among Christians

41. Is the U.S. Constitution a Christian Document? with Mike Gaddy

“We the People..” have you ever stopped to consider who was included in that “we”?  

This week Mike Gaddy returns to discuss the question: Is the Constitution a Christian document? Join us for a trip to 1785 Philadelphia where we look inside “the room where it happened” and uncover the possible motives and supposed religiosity of the 55 white men who devised the system that we, two centuries later, are still trying to untangle our basic Liberties from.

Many Christians on the political right, and even the left, considered the United States Constitution to be a Christian document. Yet, the founders avoided consulting with or even making reference to the teachings of Christ or any Deity, Creator, or Higher Power for that matter, in the formation of the Constitution. When we look at what the founders said and did we are left with a very different image of the motives that may have inspired the document that for too long Christians have been misled to see as divine.

You can connect with Mike at rebelmadman.com. He hosts two radio shows, Addicted to Your Own Destruction, (Fridays at 12 PM EST) Forensic Autopsy of Consitution & its Characters, as well as Addicted to Our Own Destruction (6 PM EST) On Rev radio.

Timestamps:

1:35  Mike’s Episode on Succession (Ep. 24)

2:12 Does the Christian-right view the constitution as God-Breathed?

• It’s important to look at how both sides view the constitution in relation to their Christianity

3:31 What Mike has learned from his studies of the Christian Right and Left

• Jury Duty selection and biases

• We should be led by evidence rather than emotion

5:38 Were all the founders Christain?

• Religious - yes; Christain - not necessarily

• Many came to the US to escape religious persecution

• Monotheism vs. Trinitarianism

• Most popular verses with founders were old testament

  • Leviticus 26 KVJ

  • Deuteronomy 28 KVJ

  • New Test: Galatians 5:1 KVJ

9:59 Why Mike is so passionate about this topic

•  Believing something false is going to affect our decision-making process over and over again

• False narratives don’t bear good fruit

13:10 How did we get to the Constitutional Convention?

• Not everyone came for religious freedom, many came for profits

• After 6 years of articles of confederation, many Federalists had gained power

• John Dickinson - author

• Articles of Confederation would prevent career politicians

17:38 Term Limits

• John Birch Society - against term limits

• People vote on emotion not the Constitution

• Thomas Jefferson - Rotation(term limits) allows the people to benefit from the genius of their community, don’t know it without rotation.

• Articles of Confederation allowed for instant recall - do a bad job get instantly recalled

22:26 Term Limits, Taxes, and the Federalist push for the Amending the Articles of Confederation

•  Unlimited taxes from unlimited sources blocked by Article 134 of Articles of Confederation

• Important question: Did the people who went to Philadelphia for the second constitutional convention go to protect the rights of the people or to destroy them and gain power?

  • Red flag: Secrecy of the Convention

    • Constitutional Convention was made secret for 50 years no one could say anything about what occurred even to constituents

    • Blacked out windows and soundproof attempts

26:24 Did the founders at the Constitutional Convention act like Christians?

• “Thou shall not steal” includes taxes

• Quakers in Philadelphia provided a written proposal to Constitutional Convention asking them to outlaw slavery - given to Tinch Cox (president Quaker foundation) and Benjamin Franklin

  • Was never read to the convention for consideration

  • Antislavery/Abolishing slavery was never discussed

•  When slavery was discussed:

  • Luther Martin - known drunk, longest sitting attorney general in US, not a Christain by any record

    • On the topic of slavery: “the revolution was grounded in defense of the natural god-given rights possessed by all mankind, but this constitution is an insult to that god who views with equal eye the poor African slave and his American slave master.

      • Geroge Mason only one who agreed - calling it a “crime against heaven”

• Gandhi: I like your Christ but I don’t like your Christianity

• Were the founders there as delegates to protect the rights of the people or to protect their financial interests?

• Federalist: Oliver Ellsworth and Robert Livingston “we are not here to discuss moral or religious issues, we are here to discuss commerce”

34:11 Samuel Bryant - The Cloak of Divinity

• Antifederalist

• Federalists will have to “cloak their message in divinity to sell it to the American public”

• The easiest thing is to get people to believe what they want to believe

• Patrick Henry - Federalist used his Christain image to push the constitution, though he was most vocal against it (the invention of fake news) 

• 1 Samuel 8 KVJ - choosing a King other than God(probably a bad idea)

39:57 Daniel Dresback (American University Professor) - “one of the most striking features is the absence of the acknowledgment of a supreme deity…”

• Articles of Confederation and Declaration of Independence included acknowledgments to a supreme being

• Franklin noted lack of prayers in the second constitutional convention vs. first

• Alexander Hamilton referred to it’s lack as avoidance of foreign aid

• 12 of 13 colonies has Christian oaths in their states’ Constitutions; Article 6 Clause 3 Federal Constitution did away with these

• Flip Wilson - Christians and Lions; Christians got a great coach but their team is shaky

53:33 Henry Abbot - North Carolina ratification convention delegate

• Foresaw what Article 6 Clause 3 impact would be

54:59 The Fraud of “We the People”

• The population at the time was about 3 million.

• The “we” excluded: women, non-land-owning white men, and enslaved people(about 700,000 at the time)  

• The “we” was about 65,000-80,000 people were eligible to vote out of the 3 million

 57:00 Have things changed since 1787?

• Constitution created a system

• Voting as states the 55 delegates rejected a Bill of Rights but made provisions for slavery

• The first power they gave congress was unlimited taxation from unlimited sources 

59:19 One Verse from New Testament repeated throughout countries founding

• “Stand fast therefore in the liberty of which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with the yolk of bondage”

• Did they do this, did they protect the individual, or did they protect their own interest?

40. Prepping (without the crazy) with Jessica Green

Jessica Green has a podcast with Cam Harless. They are “The Mad Ones”, an absurdist comedy duo talking about what happened in politics each week and other silly things. Each episode is sprinkled with “white pill” humor based on the fact that the government is exposing itself as a giant monster, which makes spreading truth and anarchy easier. Give them a listen live on Wednesday nights at 10 pm EST. Jessica herself can be found on Twitter as @soupcanarchist.

In this episode, Jessica joins us to talk about emergency preparedness. Jessica got into this realm herself in 2014 when she got trapped in her apartment by a freak snowstorm in Atlanta with basically no food. Since then, she has moved out to the country, started stocking canned food, gotten chickens, started a garden, and began learning how to live off the land so she will never have to depend on government assistance (which usually proves to be too little too late). 

Are you ready for an unexpected event? Look at what happened in Texas, where it never snows. We don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. There are forces outside of our control that directly affect us daily (weather, financial markets, civil unrest, governmental decrees…). We need to learn survival skills and be ready to come together with our communities so we can get through whatever crisis may come. This episode is a good place to start; Jessica is here to teach us how to take small steps every week that lead to our survival.

Timestamps & Key Moments:

4:20 White and black pills

• Black: doom & gloom, no hope

• White: hope & humor, seeing the positives

• The media is pushing defeatist messages

  • Showing that the government sucks/is a joke makes people feel hopeless

  • But why give up? Even if there’s only a small chance you’ll make it, there is a chance. Live.

  • Turn that garbage off

    • Go talk to real people instead; you’ll get along better if the tv is not on

    • “I can hear the birds singing outside; the world is not actually on fire.” -Jessica 

8:58 The lie of Left vs Right

• People get so mad if they have to watch the wrong news channel

• “I think the only people who think that there's a difference between the left and the right politically are the people who occupy the left and right.” -Jessica

• They probably go out for drinks together after debates and laugh about what they’re doing to people

• “They wouldn't allow us to vote if it actually worked too -- if that actually made a difference.” 

10:22 Why prep?

• For COVID lockdown, storms, civil unrest, and other short-term emergencies

  • NOT THE APOCALYPSE

    • No amount of canned food could save you

• The goal is to have at least 2 weeks’ supply stored and then be able to live off the land

  • Canned food

  • Chickens

  • Gardening

  • Water purification

16:54 Survival Skills

• GET TO KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORS

  • Most Americans have never even met the people they live by

  • We’ll need each other when disaster strikes

  • If you don’t have a relationship with them, any supplies you have will just end up in the hands of the guy with the most guns

    • Or you’ll die on your hill of canned beans

20:58 First Steps

• 3 most important needs: 

  • Water

    • 1 gallon/person/day

    • Keep at least 3 days’ worth

    • Don’t store it long-term; it will go bad

      • Fill up containers a couple of days before disaster strikes

      • Learn how to sanitize water

  • Food

    • Only buy things you eat regularly

      • NO CANNED CARROTS, unless you truly love them

    • Once a week, buy an extra can of something

      • Put it in the back of your pantry

      • Eat the older cans now (pantry rotation)

      • Over a year, you’ve stored 52 cans of food

      • And spent maybe $100

    • You’re not trying to live on this for years; just until the storm passes

  • Shelter

• Any additional needs

  • Medical necessities

  • Special diets

33:37 Being able to care for our neighbors

• We need to feed the hungry

• Stone soup

  • When everyone comes together, everyone has more

  • Can’t feed your family well on your last can of beans

    • But if you have beans

    • And your neighbor has a chicken breast

    • And your other neighbor has tortillas… 

    • You’ve got a meal to share

  • Community is not communism

    • It’s voluntary and essential

36:48 Other Essentials (after food, water, shelter are secure)

• Restock first aid kit

  • Get a suture kit and learn how to sew stitches

    • Take just half a week to study/practice skills like this

• Prep before you need it!

• “No matter what, if you prepare just a little bit, you're better off than you were before, so you don't have to be self-sufficient in everything. Just be self-sufficient in something.” -Jessica

• Freezing meat

  • If you have a deep freezer, food will stay good for a week without power

• When to use expired food:

  • If you’re starving

    • If you’re not starving and something’s suspicious, THROW IT AWAY

  • If the food looks, feels, and smells good

  • Cook the hell out of it

• Mormons are really good at this

  • https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/emergency-preparedness?lang=eng 

• Learn skills on YouTube

  • Become an asset to your community

    • Or at least less of a burden

39. Disestablishmentarianism

What is "disestablishmentarianism"? In this episode, Craig speaks with Michael Korbel about his article Against Those Who Are Against the State, where he defines this word(antidisestablishmentarianism) as a mindset of being against those who are against the establishment. Right now, those of us who are refusing to comply with current mandates are being not only ridiculed but actually kicked out of businesses and schools. Together, we explore how we got to this point, what we can do to thrive in this environment, and how understanding the word disestablishmentarianism can help us frame current events.

Michael Korbel is the host of The Invictus Mind podcast where he interviews experts about political, financial, and spiritual freedom for the individual. Invictus is Greek for unconquerable. His main message is that individuals have the power to make changes for themselves in their lives. They just have to take that power from those in the systems who claim it over them. You can connect with and learn more about Michael on Facebook, Twitter, MeWe, Instagram, and YouTube.

Timestamps & Starting Points:

2:18 Mask mandates in March 2021

• Getting kicked out of the post office

• Restaurants making people wear masks to wait, but not to eat

  •  They’re worried about health inspectors

    • “a lot of these people are just concerned about what the government can do.”

6:11 Antidisestablishmentarianism

• means “against those who are against the status quo”

10:03 History of antidisestablishmentarianism

• Henry the 8th in 1533

  • Forbidden to divorce by the Pope

    • Wanted out of several marriages because no sons

    • Created the Anglican Church so he could divorce 

      • Everything the king said became a religion

      • Divine Right of Kings & antidisestablishmentarianism

        • Anyone who opposed him was opposed

• Simultaneously, Luther and others were pulling away from Roman Catholic control

  • Enlightenment

  • Other sects were forbidden by England

14:42 Entanglement

• Are our laws based on Jesus or the 10 Commandments?

  • Sort of… only the commandments about loving other people were made into laws here; nothing about who to worship or how

• Our founding fathers were not all Christians

  • They wanted to create a place where anyone could practice religion however they want

  • Laws were created to keep people safe, not properly religious

  • Compared to England where there was Divine Right of Kings to speak for God and rule the people with His power

18:06 Can morality be legislated?

• “Conservatives believe that without the establishment, morality would cease to exist in society” -Craig

• Mike says draw the line at the government throwing people in cages for not living up to your standards of morality

  • People shouldn’t be allowed to steal or harm others, but why can’t they choose their own relationships?

  • Craig asks how can you judge these people when you don’t even know any?

  • They are suffering in the church and contemplating suicide. We’re doing something wrong.

  • Really, it’s none of our business. Jesus says love people. Period.

• Live by Matt Kibbe’s words: “Don’t hurt me; don’t take my stuff.”

  • If a person is doing something you don’t like, but it doesn’t hurt you, and they’re not taking your stuff… it’s none of your business

• The Left’s way of forcing morality

  • Forcing “charity” through taxes

  • “The left thinks that they can force people through the state to act a certain way, just like the right thinks they can use the state to force people to act a certain way.” -Craig

26:51 Separation of church and state

• We can live with people who have different gods without hurting each other

• The state cannot dictate who or how we worship

29:39 How Involved to be in the state

• The Early Church had nothing to do with the state

  • “Nothing about the teachings of Christ said, get your favorite politician elected so we can legislate morality.” - Craig

    • Christ said to love God; love people

  • If someone really wants to fix a problem using the state, they can’t. Not without unraveling the entire thing. It’s all so connected 

    • For example: if taxes were abolished, at least three other systems would be devastated

• It’s so hard for us to disentangle because we’ve been so tied to the state for so long

• "When there are presidential debates, I'd rather watch wrestling. That's more realistic to me than a presidential debate." -Craig

• Stop voting.

  • But if you just can't, at least choose to only vote for your local community leaders

  • If you must vote at the national level, select a 3rd party candidate

  • “I can't control what they're going to do. So I might as well just stay out of it.” -Mike

40:09 The fall of the empire

• Rulers exploit religion to conquer and pillage

• If it falls in our lifetime, I don't anticipate chaos

  • People will figure out how to adjust

• So many parallels to the Roman empire before their collapse

  • The basement of currency

  • Lack of morality among common people

  • Overreaching government

    • Expanding control to other countries

• People need to find something else to put their faith in because it's going down

• If it's not our generation, it could be your children's or grandchildren's

38. Your Rights with Chris Polk & Jacob Daniel

Chris Polk is a Christ follower, podcast host, father, husband and entrepreneur. He owns a trucking company in West Virginia called Blue Ribbon Logistics. He can be found on Facebook, Instagram, and his podcast. Jacob Daniel is a Christian and friend of the show. He is an Austrian Economist and member of the Mises Caucus. He can be found online on Facebook, YouTube, his podcast, and website.

We discuss answers to the questions: What are rights? Where do they come from? Who has rights? Are there rights being claimed that we do not truly have? Is it really a right if we have to violate someone else’s rights to get it? Who is taking our rights away? How do we overcome tyranny and reclaim our rights? 

Timestamps & Starting points:

1:10 Chris’s journey from staunch republican to anarchist

• 2008 financial crisis

  • 1999 NYT article predicting it based on Clinton’s policies

  • Realized it was caused by the government

  • Everyone changed what they valued under Obama

    • No one in government actually has values; they just pretend to get ahead

  • Heard Ron Paul & Tom Woods interviews

  • Made choice not to worship founding fathers & Constitution

  • Went to his friend’s church where they preached about Jesus & anarchism

  • Today, refusing to be swayed by fear and shame

4:55 Dave Ramsey

• Craig’s journey to financial security

• “Dave Ramsey is the gateway drug to liberty.”

  • He causes people to ask questions and think for themselves

• Too bad he’s still a statist

7:41 Jacob’s progression to anarchism

• 2016 Bernie supporter 

• Voted for Hilary under vegan peer pressure  

• Ben Shapiro-esque  

• Libertarian anarchy

10:01 Shameful old Facebook posts

• “If I saw some of the things I said back then now on someone else’s wall, I would be on them in a heartbeat – like a cheetah in the wild.” -Jacob

• Craig actually started writing a spicy comment on one of his own memory posts

12:06 Larkin Rose quote

• “The truth is, one who seeks to achieve freedom by petitioning those in power to give it to him has already failed. Regardless of the response, to beg for the blessing of authority is to accept that the choice is the master’s alone to make, which means that the person already, by definition, is a slave.”

12:29 What are Rights?

• Chris: 

  • “Something that cannot be taken away from me without there being some sort of harm… simply being able to engage in those rights does not bring harm to anyone else.”

• Jacob: 

  • “Something you’re entitled to.”

  • Positive Rights: 

    • Something society “owes” you

    • Cause you to use force against someone to get them

  • Negative Rights: 

    • Needs we have that can be met without aggressing against someone else

20:35 The right to free healthcare

• “How’s the worker gonna get paid if you want every damn thing for free?” -Chris

• The person paying the bill has the authority

  • Why would we want to give the government power over our medical care?

    • People will fight for women to have the choice of abortion without government regulation, but forget to apply that right to other health concerns

• Doctors are no longer trained to treat whole humans; they’re just parts changers

• They must follow the authority’s guidance, even when it makes no sense

  • If they don’t, they’ll be cancelled

  • But those in authority are not even healthcare professionals

    • They just have money

• Why are big corporations and big tobacco bad, but big pharma is ok?

• Citizens of Canada come to US for emergency treatment because getting it there takes too long

  • But we still don’t exactly have a free market

    • Only big pharma is benefitting

    • There’s a lot of red tape

    • Regulations keep needs from being met

30:52 Environmental emissions regulation example

• LA outlawed most trucks being used

• Big companies bought compliant trucks and leased to smaller companies

  • How else could freight be moved?

• And then the Marxists swooped in and said the corporations were evil for their high lease rates

  • Demanded unionization of truckers

  • But it wasn’t the corporations’ fault

    • It was the government’s

• The laws were not really created to save the environment or lower illness

  • They were to help politicians get elected by making them look friendly to unions

• “The more power we give to the state to try to give us these things that we want, that we think we are entitled to, we're giving the state more and more license and power to go and do things that nobody wants to talk about.” - Jacob

40:16 Where do our tights come from?

• Most Americans, regardless of their religion, believe it’s from the state

• “Every man, woman and child on this planet has the same, uh, individual natural rights that you do.” - Chris

  • When people think their rights come from the Constitution, the idea that humans from outside the States have rights is shocking

• Non-Aggression Principle

  • Found in 10 Commandments & Jesus’ 2nd greatest

    • Love other people

  • Imago Dei

    • If people are made in the image of God, then aggressing against them is like aggressing against Him

    • You’re not loving God when you don’t love people

46:51 How to stop tyranny

• People are so quick to follow the rules

  • “These are not rules. These are the actions of tyrants.” -Craig

  • “I am not waiting for the state in any way to do anything for me. My customers are my heroes. My customers are my thin blue line-- my customers and my associates and our drivers. And that's where my prosperity comes from.” -Chris 

• “There is no state solution. There is no political solution left for this. The only solution is for you to stand up.” - Chris

  • “Take me to jail if you have to. But y'all only got so much jail capacity, so you can't get us all.” -Chris

  • You don’t need everyone’s approval

    • You only need enough people to keep you in business

  • If everyone opposes the bully, he has no power

    • We outnumber the government by so many

    • If we all say no and just keep doing what we want, what can they even do?

  • “The Bible doesn’t say, ‘Go get the state to love your neighbor.’” -Jacob

55:25 “The revolution will not be televised”

• The people standing up against the government are not in the news

• Ian Smith 

• Idiocracy -- made in 2006

58:40 Closing thoughts

• You cannot serve two masters… We all know who offered [Jesus] the kingdoms of the world. Satan did. So, you’re going to serve the kingdoms of the world. Are you going to serve the Kingdom of God? -Jacob

• If we want to actually help people, stop sitting around waiting for the state to do it; go do it yourself. -Jacob

• The state isn’t going to take those resources and do what you want them to do with them. They’re going to squander them. They’re going to take that power you gave them and hurt people. -Jacob

37. Think for Yourself with Karen Keener

Karen Keener, free thinker, natural health advocate, owner of The Sovereign Mom, and head of the Army of None (not yet released) can be found on Facebook, Instagram, and emailed at thekarenkeener@gmail.com.

She joins us today to talk about the denominational and political division among American Christians, the validity of most COVID diagnoses, and the blind compliance of the American public.

Timestamps & Starting Points:

1:35 “A church for smart people”

• Growing up at Christian school, kids would fight about which denomination was right

• She longed for a church without so much dogma, who used critical thinking

  • Without fear of being called blasphemous

• Found Church of Religious Science

  • But politics got in there too

  • “politics gets involved in spirituality and then it's not really spiritual anymore” -Karen

5:39 Churches claiming to be the only valid -- or even the original -- group

• But… many denominations started in the US

  • How can they trace their history back to the Early Church?

  • The Early Church was about Jesus, not doctrinal division

• "I wanted to understand how they related to the state and there was no Baptist or church of Christ or Pentecostal, or none of that mentioned in their writings. It was all about Jesus." - Craig

9:28 Trump is equated with Jesus

• "There was this whole fear that you were going to burn in Hell if you ask any questions." - Karen

• It’s grown up to adulthood where people don’t question authority

  • Don’t question Trump

    • He is fighting the evil illuminati

  • They’ll call anyone who uses their own brain demonic

  • Y’all are crazy

14:11 It’s almost like Borderline Personality Disorder

• Anything I agree with is holy

• Anything I disagree with is evil

• Humans are not seen as complex

  • They are either the embodiment of evil or good itself

  • If you point out a flaw or positive, they’ll say “Nobody’s perfect; only Jesus”

• “This is like saying that Jack Black isn't a perfect replica of Beyonce… like they both can sing high notes, but like they're not perfect.     They’re such a far cry from each other, like Trump and perfection is so far away.” -Karen

  • It doesn’t matter if the person they’re following blatantly does evil, it is acceptable to them. If their enemy did that, they would be so upset

• Young people are not growing up

  • Their parents are paying for everything

  • They’re taught not to think or question

  • They have been taught lies about history

  • Changing any of that is terrifying, so they cling to it

20:55 Craig and Karen’s political journeys

• Guiding resources:

  • Sibel Edmonds’ book

  • Eva Bartlett reporting on Syria

  • Dr. Joseph Mercola on medical freedom

  • Larken Rose

•  “I think taking a nap is way more productive than voting.” -Craig

29:46  COVID theatrics

• Karen’s friend’s dad got it

  • Proved to her that it was a real illness

  • Got sent away from the hospital because he “wasn’t bad enough for a ventilator”

  • Died after being on the ventilator for a month

  • Hospital would not offer any other treatment

• Craig medically can’t mask

  • So he had to find other ways to fight it

    • VITAMINS

  • People with masks were the ones getting sick

  • He never got it, even when he spent time with those who did

• Misdiagnosing COVID

  • Bacterial pneumonia and the flu both fit the diagnostic criteria

  • The actual tests were inaccurate

• Deaths

  • Most people die in hospitals

    • If you diagnose everyone who comes into a hospital with COVID, then a lot of deaths will count towards it

• Kerry Baldwin, The Virulence of Moral Panic

• Misdiagnosing the flu

  • 37:15 Doctors are telling people, “The flu doesn’t exist anymore.”

  • Peter Doshi article from 2013

  • Make a big deal of it every year until now

  • They don’t usually test for Influenza

    • What if the symptoms are caused by something else?

      • Another illness

      • Eating poorly/detoxing from holidays

      • Less sun

      • Cold weather

      • Mold

      • Stress

• Refusing to treat people

  • Hospitals incentivized to have serious cases

  • Didn’t offer typical pneumonia treatments to help

    • Waited for patients to be severe enough for ventilators

41:52 What’s the next thing?

• Karen's episode with Pete Quinones

• People are rule-followers, not boat-rockers

• Changing the rules

  • Little kids need to mask now

• Can they mandate a vaccine for work?

  • Anyone can ask, but they cannot require you to answer

• We have our own authority; we don’t have to follow irrational laws

• But how do we know who is on our side now?

  • People are not wearing masks because they’re vaccinated AND because they just don’t want to

• Maybe an alien invasion to unite us under one world government?

• “Not that COVID was fake, but the pandemic was fake.” -Karen

• They’re timing the changes in law so people will feel grateful and willing to listen

  • Babylon Bee's satire article

  • People believe their rights come from the Constitution, not from within themselves

36. Love Without Borders with Josh Allen

Josh Allen sits down with Craig to discuss his article “Christians without Borders.” Josh is a deacon at his church and focuses his life on doing what’s right and loving everyone around him regardless of nationality, political party, or any other measure. 

Craig and Josh explore the Christian response to people coming across the United States' southern border and how they understand it as christians and anarchists. Regardless of one’s political stance, Jesus taught that everyone is our neighbor and commanded us to love them. Our focus should be on His borderless Kingdom, not on the Empire of America. We need to give ourselves permission to let our love for God and for all people be our priority in life life with others, whoever these "others" may be.

“Anarchist friends. Don't let anarchy be to you what politics is to the folks that we've sort of left behind. Right? Love Jesus. More than you love anarchy or anything else.”

- Josh Allen

Timestamps & Starting Points:

1:30 “a great governor in Texas”

• Craig’s coworker comments how glad he is the National Guard is protecting our border

  • So, Craig tunes him out and decides we need an article

    • Enter Josh Allen

2:37 Who is Josh Allen?

• Floridian

• Deacon

• Republican → Libertarian → anarchist/label-less

• 3:58 “People want to label everyone as either conservative or liberal; you're Democrat or Republican; you're this, or you're that. I'm in the camp of doing what's right.” -Josh Allen

5:00 Who is my neighbor?

• Literally everyone

• 5:53 “[Jesus] didn’t care about nation-states. He said all the time: He has a different Kingdom.” -Craig

• 6:10 “Jesus is essentially telling people to shift their focus, stop caring about what the government says is important and care about what I (you know, the Son of God who sacrificed Himself for the salvation of the entire world) -- focus on what I'm telling you is important. You know, as God-- the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, who is essentially the King of the universe.” -Josh

7:00 Interpreting Scripture

• Most Christians are biblically illiterate; they don’t know how to study the Bible 

• OR they’re proud and think they have all the answers

  • God is mysterious. No one has all the answers

  • They make the entire Bible say what they want about one political issue, like the border

• It's really all quite simple

  • Love God

  • Love your neighbor

  • Love your enemy

9:30 Are borders good or bad?

• I don't know

• But we don't have control over whether or not there are borders, so what's the point in arguing?

  • Why don't we just love the people around us?

• Are the people coming over the border evil? Are they coming to hurt us?

  • They're mostly coming to escape problems caused by our government

  • They're coming over to feed their families

• Threat or opportunity?

  • Christian priority is to tell people about Jesus and spread His love

12:17 Christian identity entangled in the state

• Giant American flag in church's ceiling

• Teaching that America is the new Israel

  • Or was at least created to protect Israel

  • But in reality, America is Babylon

• Religion of the state is blatant, but we don't see it

  • The temple of Abraham Lincoln

• People wrap their identity in who they watch on the news

17:33 Trump vs Biden on the border

• Trump said so many hateful things about the wall

• But Biden has locked up more kids and hurt more people than Trump ever did

  • And the Left is silent! 

  • They are so loyal to their team, they can't admit the evil

18:54 Teams

• People voted solely based on fear of the other side

• Christians latched on to Trump despite his hateful words because the Republican party is "godly"

• Choosing

  • Cannot support the atrocities of the bipartisan options

    • Voted 3rd party in 2016

  • No viable options in 2020

  • If we can’t even be libertarian, who are we?

    • American identity is so wrapped up in political tribes

    • Found anarchist communities

      • Space to actually talk through issues without being accused of hating America

28:09 Childhood Education Propaganda “Truths”

35. All Christians Should be Anarchists with Pete Quinones

Pete Quinones, podcaster on Free Man Beyond the Wall and By Any Memes Necessary, writer for the Libertarian Institute, and documentary producer of The Monopoly on Violence, shares with us his thoughts, as an unbeliever, on why anyone who claims to follow Jesus should be an anarchist.

Timestamps & Starting Points:

3:35 The early Church and anarchy

• “My reading of the Bible is that every Christian should be an anarchist, and I don’t see where the whole bowing to the state, much less worship of a state that I see in the United States [comes from].” - Pete

4:40 Christians aren’t supposed to be involved in the state

• 86% of people in Congress identify as Christian

  • “Anybody who goes into politics is going into politics to get wealth and power... so, I think they would say anything in order to secure that office.” - Pete

6:11 How Christians are perceived by non-Christians

• Divided

• Pete is not upset by hypocrisy because everyone on Earth is a sinner. What disappoints him is seeing Christians wedded to and worshipping the state.

11:39 Reasons Christians Excuse Anything Israel Does

• Dispensationalism 

  • Idea that Jesus won’t come back until the Temple is rebuilt in Jerusalem

  • Christians will forgive anything as long as Israel has power so the Temple can be rebuilt 

  • is only 200 years old, compared to Christianity being 2,000 years old

  • “Israel was never a place; it was the people of God.” - Pete

  • Israel is now populated by white Europeans, and that is who we want to side with over the brown people who don’t speak English

• Ryan Dawson of the Anti-Neocon Report talks about how the Israeli government is running the US government

• “People will say, ‘Well, that’s cool.’ because it’s Israel. Nonono! That’s not how this works. We follow the teachings of Christ, and everything that the United States government and Israeli government’s doing-- that’s not how Christ told us to behave. Ever.” - Craig

• Israel is not a democracy!!

  • It’s a theocratic socialist state

  • They’re welfare queens!

  • “This is theatre.” - Pete

22:46 2020 Theater

• Elites have been buying land to live underground

  • If there was a real dangerous pandemic, they would have disappeared

  • Bill Gates didn’t even wear a mask at all

• Insurrection

  • Congresspeople hid. These are the people who send others to fight in wars that benefit them. They’re cowards.

• If the military was fighting for us, they’d attack the government

  • They’re defending the state.

28:10 FBI infiltrators

• People in the insurrection who are not being charged or even named

• Terror Factory by Trevor Aaronson

  • The FBI groomed kids to become terrorists and then arrested them

  • They don’t hate us for our freedoms. They hate us for killing their people and occupying their land.

33:35 The Constitution

• “This is actually where my rabbit hole started that led me to anarchy. It was my study of the United States Constitution.” - Craig

• “According to the United States Constitution, every war since WWI has been illegal.” - Craig

36:49 People trust cops, even when they don’t trust the government 

• Police are the worst because it’s your trusted neighbor, family member, or friend enforcing unconstitutional laws

• Police disregarding the Constitution

  • If you talk back to a cop, you’ll get thrown on the ground and arrested

  • If a cop sees you have a weapon, he’ll shoot you and/or take it from you

  • If a citizen did what cops do every day, they’d be called a criminal

  • “There’s a class of people above us in this country, and we all don’t have equal rights.” -Pete

  • “The state only protects the state. They have no interest in your rights.” -Craig

  • Duncan Lemp

    • Cops showed up at 4am to confiscate his illegal guns

    • Shot him dead through the window, dragged out his pregnant girlfriend and left her there outside

    • Read More

48:19 Plugs

• Episode 593 with Matt Erickson; talks about religion/Christianity

• Pete on Twitter

• Facebook

34. Divine Comedy with Jason Mock and Rodney Norman

Does God have a sense of humor? What is the role of comedy within society? Craig and Jason Mock are joined by comedian Rodney Norman for a fun(sometimes funny) conversation on comedy, politics, and Christianity. In this episode we are reminded of the importance and the power of joy and laughter. God wants us to be happy, to love one another and be joyous, but politics and fear can get in the way. Rodney helps us remember to laugh and to take life less seriously through comedy and a never ending curiosity. 

TIMESTAMPS AND STARTING POINTS:

00:22 Episode Intro

• Rodney Norman Video - A Sunday Sermon

02:20 Jason’s go to comics

• Mitch Headberg, Jim Gaffagan, Michael Junior

02:53 Rodney’s (fake) Background

• Member of Q

3:36 Rodney’s Real Background

• 20 years in comedy

• Alcoholic grandfather acts

• Philosophy

• Role of Comedian

• Nietzsche is big inspiration

5:57 Inspiration behind Sunday Sermon Video

• State of the world, battles of who is a “real christian”

• All comes down to treating others with love and respect - if we could do this, governments become unnecessary 

• Kill the idiots to stop idiots?

• Gospel isn’t about being right it’s about being nice and loving one another as ourselves

 8:38 Message of Jesus and how government blocks us from attaining the truth of the message

• It’s in our best interest to live in peace with one another

• How much power do you want to give anyone over your life?

• When you have a final authority, they’re the only authority

10:54 Why having more Christians in office won’t make things better

• Christians are called to the fringes of society the the centers of power

12:09 How Rodney uses comedy to spread the message of loving your neighbor

• Memory and emotional connections

• Comedy vs. fear mongering

• Censorship, manipulation, and control 

16:52 Untangling from the american media-political machine

• Faith in God vs. fear of finite political leaders

• Christ and stoicism

• Straw-God, we have watered down and oversimplified who God is and made him into an impossible version

22:22 Politics or WWE - which is more real?

25:22 Why the rise in comedians challenging the system, and how does it affect how Rodney sees the future or social media(censorship, maintaining audience, free speech ect.)

• Comedian is supposed to mock the things in the system to beat the system

• When social media creates taboo, it give the comedian more material

• Allegory and similes 

• Some are trying to be the smart guy vs. a comedian

• Lenny Bruce and George Carlin

• If your playing safe you're not getting anywhere

32:22 Social media and life

• Enjoy our lives vs. let others control it

33:25 Founders of America and what they fought for

• 3% tax

• Patrick Henry, George Mason\

• Oath of to protect Constitution to protect from “enemies foreign and domestic”

 36:21 Jesus was a snark

• Laughter as medicine

39:50 Comedy as medicine

• Bad Gigs Bad Bosses and Dealing with Life

45:17 Mitch Hedberg

• Jokes

• Working with him

48:43 Rodney’s Plugs

• Rodneynorman.com

• Youtube Channel

33. Politics & Religion Roundtable with Two Christian Anarchist & Two Atheist

What does Christianity look like to a non-Christian? How does the secular world view Christian involvement in politics? Craig and Abby Cleckner(well know Bad Roman Christian-Anarchist) sit down with Nick and Josh(self-proclaimed atheist, who come with a mix of libertarian and socialists political views) to discuss faith, the state, and the mixed messages they see from Christians when these two worlds collide. In a true demonstration of how to have a civil conversation, we invite you to join us, from whatever political or faith background you may hail from, to keep asking questions and having hard conversations, especially with those you may assume you disagree with. Maybe God gave us atheists so we never stop asking questions in a pursuit to follow Christ.

Timestamps and Starting Points:

00:22 Episode Intro - What does christianity look like from a non Christian perspective? 

01:28 Josh’s Background

•  Atheist

•  Studies Mathematics at graduate level, undergrad in Physics 

• Libertarian/socialist political views

2:06 Nick’s Background

•  Atheist

• Socialist(technically)

• Non-religious background

3:48 Fundamental opposition to Christianity itself or how Christians behave vs. what they claim to believe?

• Josh’s background with Christianity and religion

  • Science and religion

  • Difference of geography

  • Christian believers and Islamic believers devoutness is the same

  • Poison of religious beliefs in politics

  • “Going to hell for voting for a democrat”

• Nick’s experience with religion

  • Never brought up with the Bible, has not read the entire things

  • Christians seem to not care about Bible in way they act

  • Told he was going to hell the one time he went to church

  • Fear based religion contradicts with idea of “loving God”

13:27 In John 3:6 Jesus says “if you do not remain in me you are like a branch that is withered, such branches are picked up thrown into the fire and burned” - is that not aggressive from a pacifist stance?

• Diversity in Christian Belief, we read the Bible with baggage

• Bible uses hyperbole

• Jesus never said to subscribe to certain beliefs, but to follow him and how he treats people. If you try to rule over them you will experience being “cast out like a branch”

16:55  Abby and Craig’s stance on scientific knowledge, how does it affect your views? 

• Craig keeps it simple, follow Christ is the best he can do

• Abby - the bible is not a scientific document, but science can have religious elements.

  • As anarchist, money for science comes from government which is a contention

21:18 How has Josh’s understanding of science discount the existence of God, why couldn't he be the one who generated the science? 

•  No physical/natural evidence for God

• Perfectly ok imagining God as the master mathematician

• Cannot accept monotheistic view of something that can be a part of the natural world, but also not be

24:02  Mythology & Religion

• Means to explain the unknown(pre-science and pre/within religion)

• Search for simple pleasant answer

28:13 Science is always pitted against religion, but are the two really opposed?

• People have different levels of need for certainty

• It is important to keep asking questions on both sides 

• Religion ask us to follow faith, feelings/belief, to be accepted, while science requires replicable evidence before it is accepted as knowledge 

33:57 Christians and Government 

• Josh - very hypocritical, evangelical shouting

• Nick - sickened on every level by the hypocrisy and lack of empathy for fellow man, amplified even more in evangelical movements

• Praying for votes?

• Equating Trump as chosen by God and America as doomed by his defeat

• The Rapture

39:18 Fear based gospel & the evangelical love for Trump

• Franklin Graham

• Early church and the state

• What does God care about? 

• Romans 13 

41:28 If Christians were not being hypocritical how would they act in the political realm?

• Josh- Government would tend toward a secular system if beliefs were “checked at door” and there would be no issue. The problem begins when a narrow view from the Bible is imposed on laws today.

• Nick - when Christians get into gov’t it’s their rights above all others, which seems to be in bad faith, when rhetoric of the evangelical base seems hate filled.

• Where were the evangelicals speaking out against kids in cages?

44:57 Christians need to understand the Republican party is not pro-life or Liberty

• Why do they care more about fetuses than people who are already alive?

• Never ending wars? 

47:17 Donald Trump is more akin to the antiChrist

• Trump “I never had a reason to ask for forgiveness”

• Is he what Christians actually stand for vs. what they proclaim to stand for?

53:11 People raised in the mindset of all powerful God, adopt a very top-down authoritarian worldview, does this prime these future voters to fall for someone like Trump?

• Mass incarceration, uncountable amount of laws, need for authority

• Theocracy is equally unsettling  

• Avoiding extreme positions, forgetting the nuances - math and life

• Thought crime

• Authoritarian political candidates and authoritarian view of religion

58:10 Is there Hell?

• Universalist Ideal

• Hell is an experience we have in life not eternal torment

• Jewish Mysticism - Kabbalah and Hell

• Worshiping the Bible vs. Jesus

1:01:46 Is the Bible the word of God or translation from others?

• The bible is a translation and collection of stories written by multiple people

• Just follow Jesus

• We are not going to full understand it in today's terms because of its origin

1:03:15  Dangers of having multiple interpretations of the BIble - is this the reason why it needs to be out of politics and why we need some level of secular governance?

• “The evangelical vote”

• Josh - don’t we need government to do some level of things

  • Markets can be forms/sources of authoritarianism?

    • Free market - Libertarian right, eco-libertarian, anarcho-capitalist

      • Monopolies that suppress rights of people

  • Abby - not possible without gov’t support to get Barons of industry, we don’t have true competition in the market because of regulations stopping it

1:07:15 The freer the market the freer the people?

• Josh - market is a tool, in some circles the market becomes the government

  • Things like climate change or harmful products require some kind of oversight to remove dangerous things from being freely traded

• Clear Patterson - geochemist, discovered age of earth and that lead content in water/atmosphere was toxic

• Are oil companies the market? No, because it is controlled by the government, not a free market.

 1:11:05 What can Christians do differently to make non-christians be non-resentful towards Christains? 

• Nick - Christianity is too far gone? 

• Religion vs. Christianity 

• Why Craig is not a big fan or religion anymore 

• Josh - ignoring science in facts is where he loses them, if in any sort of public entity that has to be checked at the door 

• Morality can not be legislated

11:16:16 Outsourcing morality to the state, Is the state evil?

• Nick - tries to be cautious of notions of good vs. evil to avoid black and white dichotomy.

  • Bigger issue is our system is broken on almost every level

  • We all have our individual ideas but putting them into action is what's difficult

  • Is there a system now that truly benefits everyone?

•  Can you change the mafia from the inside?

•  Josh - saying all government does is evil ignores success of government, it is a tool that can be used both for “evil” and “good”; government meaning a collection of people who have come together to navigate something

• Abby - initiating violence is never permissible

1:21:23 Violence by government - what do we define as violence? 

• Josh - harming human beings is violence or but being taxed?

• Craig - majority of taxes go to military to kill people we will never meet in our lives

• Voluntary Taxation Systems - base taxes then option to choose where your tax portion goes

1:24:18 Majority of Christians celebrate war

• Blind patriotism - weird sense of freedom

• Care more about soldiers who have died than those who come back injured

1:29:57 American exceptionalism & Christianity

• God created everybody

• Being a living God means he doesn’t control anything

• Can’t pray cancer away with enough faith

• Story of three boats

1:33:21 Prosperity Gospel - televangelist - the people who exploit people’s faith and profit

1:36:14 Be a Cheerful giver - Doctrines and Children

• Science must exist in free system

• How can a Christian grow in their faith without questioning what is going on? 

 1:39:39 Josh’s Plug’s

• Articles at universe today Josh Campbell

• Journey to the Stars