Programming Lions

Ep.91 Faith and Politics w/ Pastor Jackson Lahmeyer

• Matt Morstad • Episode 91

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In this episode of the Programming Lions podcast, we welcome Pastor Jackson Lahmeyer, a prominent figure in America's faith and political landscapes. Pastor Lahmeyer, who serves on President Trump's Faith Advisory Council, shares insights into the White House Faith Office, his favorite Bible verse, and the core message of his book 'Chasing After the Wind.' The pastor also discusses the creation and impact of 'Pastors for Trump,' the intersection of faith and politics, and the increasing secularization of society. Join us for this thought-provoking conversation on upholding religious liberty, the role of Christians in shaping policies, and finding true happiness through faith.


00:00 Intro

00:45 White House Faith Office 

02:12 Favorite Bible Verse

03:34 Chasing After the Wind

07:04 Pastors for Trump: Mobilizing

09:02 President Trump's Faith

13:45 Pastor to Politician: A Journey

17:49 The Role of Church in Policies

20:04 Combating Secularism

22:55 Media Portrayal

29:19 Faith-Based Solutions

31:27 Conclusion 

Welcome to the Programming Lions podcast. Today we are honored to be joined by Pastor Jackson Lahmeyer, a bold voice in America's faith and political spheres. He's a leader, a speaker and author, and also serves as a member of President Trump's Faith Advisory Council. Pastor Lahmeyer is known for his unapologetic stance on faith, freedom and the role of church in shaping culture. We're excited to dive into some of those powerful topics today, so let's get into it.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

Welcome to the podcast, pastor Lahmeyer, and we're very excited for you to be on this. So today we are gonna talk about your story and what you do, and yeah. So let's get a right into it. So the first question what does the White, white House Faith Council,

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

Well, that's a great question and thanks for having me on, guys. Very impressed by what you guys do and at your age. And so, congratulations on your success and your podcast. White House Faith Office was an initiative that was started. I. By President Trump since he got elected in November of 24. What the White House Faith Office does is it makes sure that all Americans have religious liberty. One of the most important things that we have as Americans is the ability to choose how we worship that we're not forced by our government to worship or not to worship. The White House Faith Office is to make sure that our. Freedom of religion, freedom of choosing what faith we want to be a part of is protected. Not only that, the White House Faith Office brings up pastors and preachers. Up to the White House to pray for the President, to pray for our country because, you know, there's a lot of things, a lot of responsibilities on the President of the United States and those who are elected in the office up in Washington, dc And so, this office brings up people to pray because we want our president to be guided by God. To be blessed by God. And so those are two of the main things. There's a lot that the faith office does but we wanna protect religious liberty and then we also wanna cover our country in prayer.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

I have another question, just like, out of that standard, but like, what is your favorite Bible verse?

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

Ooh, that's a great question. So I'm gonna go with Romans chapter eight, verse 28, which says, we know. God makes all things Now pop quiz to you guys. What does all things include?

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

Everything.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

All things. So good things, bad things, all things is the, is the good, the bad, and the ugly. God makes all things work together for our good because we love him and we're called according to his purpose. So that means everything that I experience in life, whether it's good, whether it's bad, whether it was my fault, not my fault. God has a unique way. Taking all those things and making them work together for my good, according to his purpose for my life. And so, no matter what you guys are going through, hold on to that one. You can know God's gonna use this. I may not know why I am going through it, but I know God's gonna use it. He'll make it work together for my good. So that's a Romans 8 28, my favorite verse.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

Max has been on a mission this year. He's doing the, what do they call it? Project 365. Yeah. Max. Where you're reading the Bible throughout the year. And there's kind of a, a system to it that Charlie Kirk's wife has set up. And so he's been following that and it's been a good journey. I see your book behind you and chasing After the Wind is a book that you've recently released. Could you tell us a little bit about that? What's in it? Who's it for?

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

Yeah, so chasing After the Wind comes out of the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible where King Solomon is an old man, and Solomon was the wisest person to ever live. He was also at the time he was alive. He was the richest person alive, so Solomon as king, he had power, he had money, he had fame, he had a lot of women. And Solomon looked back on his life and he said, the money, the fame, the power, the women, it was all chasing after the wind. And what he meant by that is Solomon was unhappy in his heart and so he tried to find happiness with money. Building projects, women, all the different stuff that we're told. These things will make you happy. And Solomon said, I had all of them. I was chasing the wind. And here's the thing about chasing the wind. Go try it sometime. You never actually can catch it. It's elusive. It's, it's, that's how happiness is, we think to ourselves, well, if I just had this, then I would be happy. If I, if I just had a new Xbox, then I would be happy. And then you get the new X. Oh, well, if I just had the game 2K, then I would, and it's a continual. Chasing the wind, you never actually catch it. And so this book is about how do you catch the wind? How do you become happy? How? How do you actually find true happiness in life, which all of us were created to be happy. That's how God, God's the happiest being there is in the presence of God. There's the fullness of joy. God's presence is marked by joy. We're created to be happy, but none of us, if we were to be honest. None of us are truly happy because we try everything else to satisfy our heart's desire to be happy. And so, I don't know if you guys are football fans, but coach Lou Holtz, he's a great, great coach. Coach some other places. He's got a great quote here. He said, if you wanna be happy for an hour, go eat a steak. If you wanna be happy for a day, go play around the golf. If you wanna be happy for a week, go on a cruise. But if you wanna be happy for a lifetime, get to know Jesus. And so that's what this book is all about. Darryl Strawberry, the great baseball player, he wrote forward for me because his life encompasses what this book is all about. How can you stop just chasing after the wind and actually catch what everyone is chasing?

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

Wow. Well that's cool and very meaningful. We'll have to dive into it ourselves. And um, interesting you mentioned Darryl Strawberry because the boys wouldn't know him. He's more of a nineties player, but I do, I collected, I collected Darryl Strawberry.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

Yep. Nets he played for the Dodgers, the Yankees, and the Giants.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

Oh wow. Okay. Well, very cool. Glad to see he's involved in this too. And so, it's a good message, right, boys, you can't catch the wind. You could try to, you know, chase it, but you're not gonna catch it. Gotta keep things in perspective in terms of happiness. Sometimes just going outside, trying to. Chase wind. Yeah. Why don't we do it after the podcast? Lemme know if you can catch it. All right, How would you even catch it? That's the point.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

You don't, you always chase, you chase your entire life trying to catch something that you can't and you think you, you know, you think I finally got it and it's gone.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

I am curious. So. What is pastors for Trump?

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

So Pastors for Trump was a coalition or an organization I. That was built for the presidential election that we just had in 2024. And so what it basically was, was to mobilize pastors across the United States of America to encourage their church members to get out and to vote. That as Americans and then as Christians, we have civic responsibilities and duties. And our form of government here in America is that we, the people. We are the government and we choose people to represent us. And so, we wanted to get Christians out to vote and to vote their values. And so one of the best ways to mobilize Christians is to mobilize their pastors because Christians typically will listen to the voice of their pastor because he's their shepherd. And so pastors for Trump was to help get Christians out to vote in 2024. We had great success. We had a major Christian turnout, and Donald Trump was the victor.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

Yeah. Yeah. Incredible success. And I've seen some of the data on this, but Christians. Surprisingly a vote at like relatively low rates. And so this movement really helped get that vote out and secure a lot of Christian values in terms of the votes that were cast, which was great to see.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

You know, it was an interesting thing because voter turnout among Christians is very, very low. So the strategy was, well, how can we get Christian turnout higher? And the thought behind it was, well. Most Christians, they are influenced by their pastor. So their pastor tells them, Hey, you have a responsibility to go and vote your values in November. Um, that was kind of the strategy and praise God, it worked. And we did win.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

yeah. Yeah. Well, good. Congrats. Well, um, well, speaking of Trump, how do you describe his faith with the community and all that?

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

The president is a man that is one of the kindest, also one of the most generous people I've ever met. And he is so excited when pastors are at the White House. Someone who is not a person of faith wouldn't get very excited when a bunch of preachers come up to the White House, but this president does. And whenever he nearly lost his life, did you guys see that video whenever?

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

He really turned to God after that. Mm-hmm.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

he knows that God saved his life with a purpose. And that he firmly believes guys, that God saved his life so that he could help save America as the President of the United States. And so, you know, the President loves to have us come around him and to pray for him which is a really, really big cool thing to go into the office of the president. To pray for the President of the United States. Recently he was talking to us and he made this statement. He said, you know, I'm telling everybody, we don't just want God in America. We need God in America. He's trying to help Americans realize that I. We are a great nation, but the only reason we're a great nation is because God has blessed the United States of America and we want God's blessing on our country. So the President is a genuine man of faith, and he loves preachers and pastors he's a really funny guy too. He's a funny guy.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

Yeah, I can definitely see that side of him. But as you know, he gets a, an incredible amount of opposition, hate and criticism, and certainly he's not perfect and none, none of us we've had discretions and made mistakes and done things that we you know, probably regret. And I guess in some ways that's how we. Learn and evolve and, and build into better people. What you described though is we definitely see that side of him, but, what's your perception on the level of hatred that he gets from the, community

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

he likes to refer to it as TDS Trump. If President Trump cured cancer the left wing media would be in an uproar that he put doctors out of business because there was no longer any patients that had cancer, that that would be the headline. Instead of celebrating like, oh my gosh, Donald Trump cured cancer. They, they can't, no matter what he does, it doesn't matter what he does. It's never going, there's always a spin somebody. Unhappy. And so he calls it TDS. I think there's a spiritual component to it as well, because he has taken certain stands that have spiritual ramifications, such as Easter 2024 under Joe Biden was transgender visibility day well, Easter 2025, president Trump brought up. Some of us pastors, we had an Easter dinner and President Trump preached a flawless resurrection sermon to preachers like me, Franklin Graham, Jensen, Franklin, Paula White. And so, that's in one year. So, so much ha has changed. There's a spiritual side of why they attack him so much because he's also responsible. For undoing Roe v Wade and sending that back to states and states like mine that have advanced very far in nearly eradicating abortion in the state of Oklahoma. And so there are those components. So a lot of it is they just don't like him as the person because you know, he's, he's funny and he's sometimes a very good troll online. He knows just how to, he's a great online. There's that side, but there's also, it's because he's done certain things that they absolutely they hate. And so he's a tough man though, you know, to have gone through what he's gone through, still be standing and fighting and with a smile.'cause if you'll notice, I'm sure you guys have noticed this, the president is smiling much more in this term than what he did in the first one.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

Yeah. Well, and, and they're, well except in his picture for the president. Yeah, that one's pretty serious. That one's pretty serious. but rightfully so. He went through a lot to get back into the White House and what a know wild rollercoaster that he was on there for a few years and what he took including a bullet to the, to the side of his head get back there. And so, yes we're we're. Praying for him and all the success. It's great to see the administration getting a lot done and of course we're still early into things and so it'll be interesting to see how successful they are over the course of four years. This might be a good segue, guys, in turn into the next question. I, yeah, I have a question because obviously you're a pastor and stuff, so how on earth do you go from being a pastor into politics? I'm also curious, it's, it's kinda like a side thing off of this. do you think and how do you see the church like shaping policies like on, in the, on the country kind of.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

Yeah. So those are two great questions and I'll tackle the first one. Right now how does a preacher get involved in politics? Well. It was a very interesting thing. You guys are young, but you're still gonna remember this year. You guys remember 2020, right? You remember 2020 and you remember all the craziness that was happening that year? Well, I pastor a church here in Tulsa. And they wanted all the churches to shut down and to go online. And so our church decided we weren't gonna shut down. I was gonna preach from the roof of the church and let people, we called it drive-in church. We're not shutting down, you know, we we're not gonna shut down, so we're gonna do drive in church. Well, the mayor of Tulsa threatened to arrest me if we did drive in church because we were violating his executive order within the city. And so it was in that moment I realized these politicians have now crossed into my lane. My lane is running this church and now he's telling me he's gonna arrest me if I have church on Sunday morning. Now you guys have to realize something. My church was located right next to, a liquor store right next to a club, and the liquor store and the club they were considered essential. Yet my church was not. And so I said no. We're gonna have church and if you wanna arrest me, there will be a ladder in the back. I'll be on top of the roof. I'm gonna preach. And um, they didn't do it. They didn't follow through with it. So I learned something in that moment. A lot of these politicians are a lot of bark. They don't have any real, he never was going to actually arrest me because. He would've violated the first amendment of the United States Constitution, which would've been a big payout for me when we would've taken it to court later on. And so I learned, I I, I learned some things in that moment. And then 2020 just got even crazier. I mean, you just remember the start of it going all the way through it. And so I was getting involved politically because I realized how important. Our mayor was, I, I honestly didn't know how important a mayor was. I didn't know how important city council was. I didn't know how I always cared about the president, you know, who's the president? Well, it wasn't the president that threatened to arrest me if I had church. It was the local mayor. And so 2020 the political establishment took a step too far, and so they crossed the lane. And so I decided if you're gonna step into my arena. I'm gonna step into your arena and we're going to help shape what's happening over here because 2020 taught us a lesson. Your elected officials actually matter, especially locally, school boards, city councils, mayors, and all that. And so 2020 guys, that was how I got involved in politics because they threatened to arrest me. I mean, come on. Like, oh yeah.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

Yeah. That's a wild story. But good for you for standing up

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

The media picked up the Tulsa, mayor Tulsa. I threatened to sue the mayor, and I said, you guys get a kick out of this one. If they step foot on our church property and they do this, I'll sue the city of Tulsa and when I win, I'll build a brand new building and I will name the building after the mayor of Tulsa so everybody knows who paid for the building and

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

That's clever.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

these things got in the media and all that. And so, that's how I got involved.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

that's clever. And is the, you hear these stories though, at that time, all over the country and so Good, good for you for being one of the exceptions and sticking up and going through with it, especially safely. It's like how, how are people gonna get hurt on a drive-in worship and so the second part of the question, William The second part is how you think the church is basically, like in influencing like policies and stuff. Mm-hmm.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

I think that Jesus gave all of us a mandate. He said to go into all the world, which would include all the areas of the world. So we wanna influence, as Christians, we wanna influence our culture. So we wanna have influence in the media, we wanna have influence in government, business and education, all entertainment. And so, government is an important one because government dictates laws and laws impact all of us. And so, you know, we live in a form of government. That is called a Democratic republic, and we have representatives who represent us and Christians make up the majority of the United States of America. So since Christians make up a majority of America, I. Christians should be shaping the policy in the United States of America, because that's the way our government is formed, and we were founded as a Christian nation. There's no doubt about that. Our founding fathers, about 95% of them are all born again, Bible believing Christians. And so we wanna have engagement, we wanna have involvement. Now, that doesn't mean that we can force everybody in America to be a Christian. That's, that's not what that means. That's where religious liberty. Comes into play. But religious liberty doesn't mean that we, Christians should be shaping policy and issues on abortion or marriage or whatever the case may be. And so we have a voice. We have the largest voice, and if we ever started to act like we have the voice that we actually have, we change this country overnight.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

Well, maybe we should start using our voice a little bit more. already use her voice a lot, as you can tell. Yes. That's a part that's a part of about, and I, yeah, actually it's a very good point because. It seems that Christian kindness gets kind of walked all over, which is a good segue into the next question. So can Christians do in a society that is becoming more secular?

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

That's a great question. Oh man, that's probably the best one of the days so far. What can we do as we see our society going further and further away from God? I mean, we could all agree. Say it's getting darker out there. It's getting, it's getting darker in the world.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

strange.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

Well, the answer is we have to be brave enough to where we don't just keep all of us Christians huddled up in our church buildings and it's really, really bright. On Sunday morning. Each of us, we are light. The light of the world resides on the inside of us and where to go be light in the world that we live in. And so that goes back to what we were talking about earlier. We have to go into all the different arenas'cause they're very dark. Hollywood is dark. The news media is dark. Washington DC trust me guys, is very, very dark. There's dark. Oh.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

very

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

Instead of us running away from the dark, we have to be brave enough to say we're gonna run into the dark, because the only way you overcome darkness is with light. So we have to let you guys sing that little, you know, let this little light of mine shine. You know the song I'm talking about? Simple. I know it's a, it's a little kid's lullaby song, but it's that simple. We have to be the light in this very dark culture. What it will do, it will draw people to light. It will, as we stand out bright. Here's the thing about being a Christian in a dark culture, we are different so that we can make a difference. We don't wanna be like everybody else. You don't, you don't wanna look like everybody else, talk like everybody else. Think like everybody else. You want to be different, to make a difference in the world that we live in. And so my advice is. Yes, go get recharged on Sunday morning with your church body'cause it's very bright in a church. But take what you hear, you take who God is everywhere that you go. That's the answer.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

Okay. All right. I like that it is dark out there. We have a, it's very dark. We, we have a growing social media presence, and that is a dark place, let me tell you. Well, yeah. If you've ever seen a common section on a video, which liberals do not like very much, it's wild. Oh, mo oh boy. That's, I mean, yeah, like even, even posts that Maxwell put out, reading a Bible verse on Sunday, some of the stuff we'll get in there as. It's grotesque

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

Yeah.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

Like it's it's hard to call it anything but evil And anyway, um, but it's dark. So else do we have boys? So I'm wondering do most people misunderstand about the stuff that you have done in the public square? Swear.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

Well, if you go Google my name you'll see a lot of not so nice things from the Rolling Stone and The New York Times and The Washington Post. And so they're, they create a character. Out of who you are because they want to control the narrative, to try to make people think that you're wicked and evil and crazy and all those things. People who probably have taken a not such a good approach to liking me, probably don't understand. I'm just a normal guy. You know, I never wanted to be involved politically. I had no desires to be involved. I wanted to pastor my church and that's what I felt God called me to do. But then I felt God called me to get involved because of what happened in 2020. And so a lot of people, they just say things like, he is just in it to go make more money or what? No, he is that, that's, you know, make probably more money by not being so. Political because you get so backlash from, from people. With that, I understand, um, you know, you just have to do your very best. You can't necessarily control what the media says about you. However, I I will say this, when the Washington Post and the Rolling Stone and the New York Times attacks you my perspective is that probably means you're doing something right. So that's kind of, you know, the way I look at it.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

Yeah. We've of taken the same approach as if people are attacking us, that means we must be making an impact. We must be getting through somewhere to annoy the darkness. So we have these atheists, I think I said that correctly, regular use, like they use Jesus on your channel to basically exploit c Christian kindness. How can we combat this or how can we, like go against this? Yeah. So, Matt, lemme if I, I can, I can summarize this. A lot of people, atheists. Secular progressives, et cetera, use Jesus on their channels. Well, they, yes, they try to use Jesus against Christians to say, oh, Jesus wouldn't do that. They, he would accept everybody and so that is being used more and more, and I think some Christians are falling for it and some are But what's your advice in those situations when people bring that up?

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

Me put my pastor hat on. And boys, I'm gonna give you some pastoral advice that I don't want you to ever, ever, ever, ever forget. Don't let anybody tell you anything about God when they're not serving. God. Don't believe anything they say. Don't let anybody tell you anything about the Bible. When they don't read the Bible. Okay? So that's just something you guys hold onto that if they're not serving God, they don't get to talk about God or for God to you. And if they don't read their Bible, their opinion on the Bible, guys, it doesn't matter at all. And so, yes, there's a lot of people out there who don't believe in the Bible, but try to use the Bible. You know who else did that? His name was the devil. He did it to Eve. God didn't really say. Satan quoted scripture with Jesus to try to get him to fall into temptation and then the sin. And so the devil used the Bible, which means people who don't believe in the Bible can use the Bible against you, but you don't allow those voices to dictate how you see God and how you view the Bible. That's that's the answer. Great question, by the way.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

We'll have to take that to heart'cause we see, we see it a lot and it's frustrating because people will say, well, if you're a Christian then you know, there's this Bible verse and what do you say about this? And usually I, I will also respond with why are you asking about something you don't believe? So your point second is, you know, if I have a belief system and a moral system that is based on a. Christian Foundation, how is that any different from your foundation, which is based on your own self-interest, right? That that's your moral system. At least Mine is built on something

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

Right.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

has a foundation to it, that sends a squash things usually too because people that don't have anything that they believe in. themselves means that they're basing their belief system on the themselves and their own self preference, meaning that their own self preference can change depending on the situation. Their morality can change, lots of things can change. And then you have this, this. spiral that we are seeing in a lot of areas of society. And so it's definitely something that weighs on us because when we look at data, whether it's happiness or families, or rates divorce um, mental health rate, like you can go on and on, right? they're all moving in the wrong direction, and it seems highly correlated with. The departure from, from Christianity. And so, yes, in our view, like if people can get back to faith community, really help people get back to something that they, you know, believe in part of their community they can belong to and have purpose and be useful and be happier. Right? can change some of these outcomes, but

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

Numbers don't even they, the numbers are so clear. People of faith are by far happier, more satisfied in life. They live longer lives. And when you look at the statistics on, like rehabs, faith-based rehabs. So somebody who's got an addiction and they go in for treatment, faith-based rehabs have like somewhere upwards of an 80% success rate. Non-faith based rehabs have 20% or less, so that is a night and day. It's like you got one program that you got like an 80% chance of success and you got another program that you've got like a 20% chance of success. And what would you choose? I'd choose the 80, but our government has only funded the 20. And that's why you see so many people are still broken. They go to rehab 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 times.'cause they're trying to do it on their own, their own beliefs, their own court. It doesn't work. And so yeah, coming back to Faith will make America flourish. In order for America to be saved, Americans must get saved. That's the answer.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

Yeah. Mafa. Yeah. Make America flourish. Do you have any sense of why government does seemingly fund these things that are counterintuitive to nature, faith, productive outcomes?

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

I think there's this battle for. Priority in the lives of people. Government wants to be God, government wants to take care wants to provide, and then wants to ultimately, it's not because of the goodness of the heart of the government. It's to control people. And that's the way it's been throughout human history. And the king was God, you know, the king was your God. And so government wants to control people and so that's why the American system, I think, is so beautiful because we're all about limited. We, we want a limited form of government and allow people to govern themselves for the most part. Obviously you have to have some form of government to punish evil doers, wrongdoers, that's what the Bible says government is for. But there's just this, you see it, communism, Marxism, secularism. It's all about getting God out of the equation because if you can get God out of the equation, people will be unhappy, depressed, easily manipulated and controlled. And so that's, that's the thing. And thank God faith is coming back in style in America. What we're seeing numbers wise, young men coming to Christ like never before. Bible cells are a record high Easter attendance this year, all time high in like 50 years. I mean, just. In like 50 years, highest attended Easter because you had to. I I, I, I know I don't want to, you know, just constantly be bragging about him, but when the president of the United States says to Americans, you should go to church this Sunday, it's going to have a ripple effect. It's just he's the, he has influence. And, um, when the President of the United States says, you should go buy a Bible, well now guess what? We've got the highest recorded Bible cells in decades. And so there is, there is a trickle down. From the very top that influences. And then obviously we understand God's moving in America, God's moving on the hearts of young men, and so good things are on the horizon. I.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

It's really encouraging to hear that. And anecdotally, I would say that's been reflected in our lives. In fact, max got very interested in God and the Bible, and we just got from. nephew bought us a couple of really nice monogrammed leather bound bibles with a study guide.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

Yeah.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

the boys are getting more and more engaged. And so it's a great, it's, it's an anecdotal reflection of what you're saying in terms of the broader spectrum of young men, which are, are getting more involved in their faith. And so it's great to see. It's very encouraging. I think we need it and, tha thanks so much for all the work that you're doing both as a pastor and in the political sphere. We really appreciate you coming on the show and taking the time with us, and we wish you all the luck in your future endeavors.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Jackson_Lahmeyer-webcam-00h_00m_00s_253ms-StreamYard:

Yes. And thank you guys and you guys are rock stars.

Pastor_Jackson_Lahmeyer-Matt-webcam-00h_00m_00s_331ms-StreamYard:

You too. All right. Thanks so much. Thank you. Thank you for coming on.