Do Rights Come From God Or Government? Lt. Col. Allen West

We invite you to wrestle with a single question that shapes every debate in America: do our rights come from God or from government. Lt. Col. Allen West challenges us to reconnect Scripture, the founding ideals of the United States, and the courage it takes to live free and live strong. 

• Holy Land tour details, dates, and how to reserve a spot 
• Why churches feel pressure and confusion around politics and media narratives 
• Allen West’s defining question about the source of rights 
• Martin Luther, the Reformation, and conscience before God 
• John Locke and natural rights applied to public life 
• Declaration of Independence language, “nature’s God,” and why “property” changed 
• America as a Judeo-Christian heritage nation and why that matters for law and liberty 
• What “separation of church and state” means and what it does not mean 
• Call for Christian engagement in elections, schools, and local government 
• Warnings about secular humanism, Marxism, and government replacing God 
• Iran, Hezbollah, Sharia law, and why belief systems shape geopolitical threats 
• Closing charge to be strong, study God’s Word, and stand with courage 

If you found any of what you heard today helpful, please share it with others who may benefit. And if you would like to support the content that we put out, please consider making a donation at RealLife Ministry.us. While you're there, check out some of our episodes. And together, let's continue to educate and encourage Christians to live free and live strong. 

Transcript

Welcome And What We Stand For

0:02

Welcome to Real Life Ministry, where we are dedicated to teaching and encouraging Christians to live free and live strong. Your host today is Ryan Rice, a Bible teacher, a pastor, entrepreneur, and a writer. Join us as we dive into various topics and how they relate to faith, values, and making a positive impact in America. Let's dive into it. All right, welcome back to another episode of Real Life Ministry. It's Ryan Rice in the studio, and today I'm going to be walking you through a couple of announcements and then share with you about our special guest that spoke at an event recently called Think Biblical About the Geopolitical.

Holy Land Tour And How To Join

0:54

More about that in a minute. For now, I want to tell you about Israel. We are doing a Holy Land tour, 10-day journey to the Holy Land, September 21st through September 30th, location. Israel, the Holy Land. So, yeah, I know there's a lot of stuff going on in the news. We still have people signing up all the time, and trips are uh going all the time with our best friends over there at Signature Tours. They've been running um educational Christian experiences and educational uh opportunities for folks all around the world, and they specialize in Israel. So you can join us for a lifetime experience as we explore the land of the Bible. We're gonna follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Imagine that. This is gonna be like the fifth gospel: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and then following Jesus footsteps. It's gonna be awesome. In in different sites, we're gonna you're gonna learn about what happened there. You're gonna see the the the Bible come to life through the Holy Land experience. You'll see where the Messiah lived, where he worked miracles. Watch the scriptures, will just come to life. Uh I've got a special book for all that sign up. Uh it's got pictures and scriptures, and it is awesome. You can find out all the information by visiting us at uh reallifeministry.us. When you hit this page, scroll down to the bottom, and that's where you're gonna find the 10-day journey to the Holy Land. And I'll be leading the trip. My wife will be with me as well. And we're gonna have an awesome time. We're not only gonna see, I mean, we're gonna go everywhere. We're gonna go to places like Bethlehem, Jericho, the Mount of Olives, Sea of Galilee, Jerusalem. We'll float in the Dead Sea, we'll um discover Masada and gaze upon the valley of the Armageddon, Armageddon. And I'll share with you as well prophetic implications of some of these sites. It's cool to see, like looking back and then looking ahead and seeing what God's plans and purposes are in Israel and what he's going to accomplish in the days ahead. This trip will be an incredible experience. Uh, forever change your life. And as you read the scriptures and understand the scriptures, it's gonna be quite amazing. So, departure is from the US of A, and uh, we'll arrive in Tel Aviv and on day one, and then uh we'll have a dinner once we get there, and then the very next day we are driving north along the Mediterranean coastline. And uh you're gonna visit all sorts of awesome spots. And uh so anyway, hope that you sign up. And um if you know a friend, uh you can invite a friend. Uh we've spots are limited, uh, but would love for you to go reserve your spot today, real life ministry.us, and then let me know when you'll stop in. If you're in the Phoenix Valley, stop in and grab uh a book from our connection corner. Uh just say Pastor Ryan said, I got an Israel book back here. So uh we'll get it to you. Okay, that's about it on that. Let's

Why Think Biblically About Politics

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talk about uh this think biblical about the geopolitical. What a special event that we had. I mean, today's church is facing just this growing crisis and confusion. You see it all over the news, all over the media. Uh you have guys talking about just all sorts of stuff that doesn't really seem to line up with scriptures. Many believers are unfortunately, I would say, shaped far more by cable news, political talking points, and social media rather than the truth of scripture. And political tension creates this division and tension as well within churches. And so, you know, the the hope would be is that as believers that we think biblical about things of the geopolitical. So we did a special event hosted over at North Valley and uh presented by Real Life Ministry, and it was quite an experience. So have uh three keynote sessions, and uh Del Dr. Del Hussey was in the last one. I made mention of him. Go back and listen to that podcast if you haven't listened to it. He talked about Israel and the church and God's covenants, uh then as well. Uh session two. That's where we're at today. And this is about Lieutenant Colonel Alan West. Uh, what a man. What an awesome, awesome man. I had dinner with him, and uh, he's been a longtime friend of John Smithbaker, a good friend of mine, founder of Fathers in the Field. And I'll just have to say, I think this guy's gonna be just a longtime friend of mine, which I'm really, really grateful for and thankful for. So um, so let me tell you all about him.

Meet Lt Col Allen West

6:19

He is a combat veteran, former U.S. Congressman, national speaker, Christian constitutional conservative, served served 22 years in the United States Army, including combat deployments during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He's continued to speak nationally on faith, freedom, leadership, and America's constant constitutional foundations. In the keynote session you're about to listen to, uh, Lieutenant Colonel uh challenges the audience with this key question. Here it is Do our rights come from God or do they come from the government? He would argue that how a nation answers that question ultimately shapes everything about religious free f liberty and free speech and the future of the constitutional government itself. So it's gonna be an awesome opportunity for you to lean in and listen up. So without further ado, here we go.

The Question Behind Every Freedom

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Thank you. Good to be here in Arizona. Uh, I think this is about my fifth or sixth time. Um, normally, most times I get to go up to uh Yeah, I have to say it right, Yava Pie. Okay, because last time I said it wrong. Uh up to Pres Prescott, not Prescott. Okay. Yeah, you know, this is why I hate Dr. Dale. I come out here, I don't even know what kind of daggum accent y'all got out here, but it's just confusing to a southern boy like me from Georgia. But uh what a pleasure and an honor for each and every one of you to take time out of your Saturday morning to be here. This is an important issue. And really and truthfully, every seat here should be filled up. There should be people outside. Because what we're talking about is where does America go from here? And earlier on, I was talking to my dear friend John Smith Baker. Think about America at our bicentennial and what has happened in 50 years, that now we're in America 250, but yet we cannot define what a man and a woman is. And you can get to sit on the Supreme Court and not be able to define what a man and woman is? That's in 50 years. So the important thing that I want you all to leave out of here thinking about is what will be here 50 years from now? Will there be a North Valley Church? Will we still be able to have the religious freedoms and liberties that we have? Will we still be continuing on as the longest-running constitutional republic that the world has ever known? Or will we go in a different direction? I think one of the great things that when you go to the Bible, you look at and read about Joshua's farewell address. Joshua's my favorite character in the Bible. And he says, choose for yourselves today whom ye shall serve. Being the gods of the Amorites or the gods from across the river, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Every single one of us need to recommit our houses to serving the Lord, recommit our communities to serving the Lord, recommit our churches to serve the Lord. There are too many churches in the United States of America that are afraid to do what Pastor Rod is doing right now. And that should not be the case. But before I fully get started, I want to uh recognize a dear friend of mine, former colleague that is here, where did he disappear to? That's Representative Trent Franks, uh, your former congressional representative from Arizona. Please, he's back there in the back. Thank you so much, Trent, for being here. And also, I would be remiss. If you have ever served or continue to serve in our United States Armed Services, soldier, sailor, airman, marine, coast guards, but I don't know about this new thing, the space cadets, the space, whatever. But if you have served or servant, please stand so we can thank you for what you have done. Okay. In the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln talked about increased devotion to those who were willing to make the last full measure of devotion. But even more so, when you go to the Bible in Isaiah chapter 6, verse 8, when Isaiah stood before the host of the Lord, and the Lord said, Whom shall we send? Who will go for us? Every single one of those men and women who stood up, raised their right hand, and said exactly as Isaiah said, Here am I, send me. And then they were willing to do, as it says in John 15 and 13, no greater love hath a man that he will lay down his life for his friends. So at the end of this month, remember those who laid down their lives for our freedoms as you celebrate Memorial Day. All right, so let's get started. You know, I got set up. They got these two really smart white guys, Pastor Dale here, and then Pastor Ryan, all theological, all smart. And then you put the dumb old paratrooper in the middle. The guy that, you know, was not smart enough to fly airplanes, but he was smart enough to understand red light means you stay in the airplane, right, airborne? And green light means you can jump. I got that figured out. So now I'm supposed to come after this guy who did a brilliant job in presenting an exegesis of why we should support Israel. And I've been to Israel twice. And when you go to Israel, I've always told people that America is my homeland. But if you're a Christian, Israel is your spiritual homeland. And you must stand beside her, you must pray for her so that you can make sure, as I want to do, one day, to take my grandkids to be in that place of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So, Psalm 33 and 12 says, Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance. 2 Corinthians 3 and 17 says, The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So, what I want to do is kind of follow on with what Pastor Dale has done, Dr. Dale has done, and really talk about that last part, and then I'll come back and talk about the Iran issue. Because I think the most important thing that we need to understand is the foundation of this United

Luther Locke And Natural Rights

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States of America. And we need to rediscover it in this 250th year. So what is America about? I want you to think about this. Before there was ever a declaration of independence, there were people that stood on a field on April the 19th of 1775. 77 men led by the deacon of the church, Captain James Parker, who, when they faced 1,000 British redcoats and they were told to put down their weapons, they refused to do so. Now, why would those men take a feel to defend something? There was no America, there was no geographical boundaries, there was an ideal about freedom, about liberty. There were pastors who were preaching about that, probably quoting 2 Corinthians 3 and 17. But there was no army that day at Lexington and then later Concord. There was no Navy that day. There was no Marine Corps that day. There were just people that understood that freedom and liberty comes from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That's what they're endowed with. But if we're to understand truthfully the future of America, we've got to understand how America was established. We've got to understand that foundation. Because if you don't understand that foundation, then some people will come and all of a sudden tell you something different. And that's what we face today. You got to go all the way back. The 31 October 1517. Now that was not the first Halloween. But 31 October 1517, a Germanic monk by the name of Martin Luther went to a church in Wittenberg, Germany, and he nailed on the doors of that church something called the 95 Theses. He nailed on that church complaints against the church. He nailed on that church saying that you do not have the right to be intercessory between God and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and man. Because our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ went to the cross. And in dying on the cross, remember what it said? The veil was torn. What's the significance of the veil being torn? Because with the veil being torn, that meant that each and every one of us could go back behind that veil and we could have communion with the Holy of Holies. We could have communion with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We could have individual freedom by way of him through the salvation of his blood. That's what he was saying. You did not have to go to Pastor Dale and say, Yo, OG. See, I was sitting back here. I was paying attention. Yo, OG, you know, how how how much I gotta pay you for uh my sin last night? You don't have to do that. But that's what they were having people do. You had to pay a priest or somebody in an indulgence. What Martin Luther said is that every single one of us has a right by way of liberty through the shedding of the blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We did not need anyone in between. And there were many people, that institution that he went up against did not like that because that institution was profiting from that. That institution was gaining power and control over you, but that was broken because we already had that covenant. But then it was 1689, a few years later, that an English political philosopher by the name of John Locke, he took that to the next step. He said it's not that just your spiritual rights and your spiritual freedoms emanate from God, the Creator, through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, down to you as the individual. He said that all your rights naturally come from the Creator God. And what a challenge because all of a sudden, this thing called divine rights theory, just the same as Martin Luther nailed those theses, those complaints against the church, that institution which was putting itself in between you and your God. Now all of a sudden, kings and queens, dukes and duchess, princes and princes, lord with a little L, barons, they could not tell you your buy and your leave. You mean actually that the Creator God naturally grants me as an individual the right to life, the right to liberty, the right to property? Those are the original natural rights. What an incredible thought, what an incredible ideal that now we take this thing not just from your own spiritual freedom, we take it to your earthly freedom. Because it all comes from our creator God. Now, of course, kings and queens and dukes and duchesses and things that they did not prefer for that. But why? Because everyone wants to see power and control over the individual. That's just human nature. But they don't have that power and control because our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ broke all of the chains, the physical and the metaphysical. So therefore, these men who stood on that field, 77 of them, they knew that idea, they knew that belief. They knew that they had something that was stronger, something that, if God be for you, who can stand against you? And so they took that field. And so this little fledgling group of 13 colonies took on the greatest military power that the world knew at that time, because we believe that our God is greater than what you are representing. We believe that we have these natural rights, that it's not about the divine right of King George. And they were willing to fight for it. And why do I know that that is the premise of this great nation?

Declaration Roots And Biblical Law

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Because this year we celebrate 250 years of American independence, correct? When you read the beginning of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson refers to the laws of nature and nature's God. And then he goes forth and he states something that is unlike any other nation being established that the world has ever known. Show me another nation that says that you, as an individual, are sovereign, Andy. Because your rights come from a sovereign God. Your life, your liberty, your pursuit of happiness. Now, here's the question maybe some of you astute people here at North Valley Church know the answer. Why did Thomas Jefferson not write life, liberty, and property into the Declaration of Independence? Thomas Jefferson came from a slave state, Virginia. The person who was told to supervise the writing of the Declaration of Independence was Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin was from Pennsylvania. Benjamin Franklin corrected Thomas Jefferson because he did not want anyone in the United States, this brand new country that was supposed to be built on individual sovereignty, individual freedom, to believe that an individual had a right endowed to them by the Creator God to own another person. So property was changed to the pursuit of happiness. That's how God inspired these men are and were. But the thing is that we need to go back and reclaim that. We need to go back and understand that. Because the challenge that we face here in the United States of America, if there's to be a future for America, is that we have to understand that we are a Judeo-Christian faith heritage nation. That forms the basis of who we are. When Trent Franks and I serve in the United States House of Representatives, if you've ever been into that chamber, across the top of the uh the House of Representatives, are all of the faces of the great lawmakers of the world. But all of the faces are side faced along the left and the right. And there's side faced along the back, except for one. There is only one face that looks at the Speaker of the House when he's standing. There's only one face that looks at the president of the United States of America when he is giving the State of Union address. There's only one face that was looking at King Charles last week or this week previously. And that's the face of Moses. Because the Ten Commandments is the basis of law in Western civilization. So again, we're to pray for Israel. But again, understand that the basis of our country comes from the Judeo Christian faith heritage, which means the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of Moses, the God of David, the God of Solomon, the God of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And if we do not hold on to that, if we separate ourselves from understanding that relationship, if we separate ourselves not from, as Pastor Dale so eloquently articulated, not from an Israeli government, but from what we have to continue to maintain and keep established is that relationship that God established with Israel that is passed on to us. Because again, when you talk about all the challenges that the Jewish people and in Israel has faced. Faced. Guess what? Think about what we have achieved in 250 years in this nation. There's a reason why we're saying God bless America. We don't say in government, G-U-B-M-I-N-T, bless America. But you laugh, but there are some people, and you saw some of them on the streets yesterday in our United States of America, because it's May Day, that would rather have government with the little G replace God with the big G. That's the thing that we must understand.

Church State And Christian Civic Duty

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There are people in the United States of America that have embraced this secular humanism, embraced this Marxism, because Marxism does not see God as the grantor of your inalienable rights. Marxism sees government and man as the granter. You don't believe me? Just last fall, Senator from Virginia, Tim Kain, in a Senate hearing said these words don't believe the old colonel, look it up yourself. You got that encyclopedia on your phone called the uh Google. Tim Kane said that your rights do not come from God. Your rights come from government. A sitting United States Senator from the state of Virginia, the state that gave us the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence, the state that gave us the man who is our third president, the state that gave us the man who was our first president, the state who gave us the man who wrote the United States Constitution, a man who was a former governor of that state, almost became vice president of the United States of America, sat on congressional record, and said that your rights do not come from God, the Judeo-Christian faith heritage God. This is why the body of Christ needs to get engaged and gets involved. But too often, too many of us as Christians, we don't participate in the electoral process. I mean, right now in Texas, we've got the municipal level elections going on, city council, school boards, those type of things. What do you normally get in a municipal-level election for a turnout? If you get 6%, I mean, people are happy. 6%. And then you turn around, you ask yourselves, what is going on in our schools? Why is it that my son or my daughter is coming back and they're saying things that go against the very things that I am trying to inculcate into them? Because you're not engaged, you're not involved. See, the body of Christ has to stop listening to the lies of the world. Remember when it says in Romans 12 and 2, you're not supposed to conform to the world. You're supposed to be transformed through the renewing of your mind. But if you don't want to show up on a Saturday morning for something like this and renew your mind, if you don't want to go out and actively stand, and I know that Pastor Ryan, we talk. He's had some people in his congregation said, I don't want to be here in this church anymore. I'm not comfortable with what you're doing. Get going. I'm serious. Because that's right. What did Curla Bill say in the movie Tombstone? Well, bye. So, so if we do not have pastors that are willing to make the stand, because remember, there was a thing called the Black Robe Regiment. There were pastors that came out of pulpit that understood 2 Corinthians 3 and 17, and they were willing to lay down their lives and fight for this thing. As a matter of fact, John Muhlenberg commanded a regiment in the Continental Army, a pastor. That's what you have to start demanding. But when we have Christians that sit back and believe, oh, but Colonel, you know, there's this thing called separation of church and state, and we shouldn't get involved. And, you know, Romans chapter 13 talks about how we gotta be subject to government. Separation of church and state is not in the Declaration. It's not in the Constitution. Separation of church and state was something mentioned by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Convention of Danbury, Connecticut. And why? Because you know, hey, I'm from down south. You know those Baptists. They get a little paranoid, okay? And the Baptists back then were paranoid because they thought the Presbyterians were gonna get a leg up and they're gonna be the governing power in the United States of America. Well, Thomas Jefferson wanted them to understand, unlike England, unlike what we saw with King Henry VIII, when he created the Church of England, he was already the head of state, he made himself the head of church. That is not gonna happen in these United States of America. Your very first liberty that you have in the Constitution, your Bill of Rights, is the freedom of religion and the free exercise thereof, not the freedom from religion. But if we don't have Christians that understand the separation of church and state is meant to protect the church from the state and not opposite, then the next thing you know, you're gonna have people coming down and surveilling your churches, which recently did happen. So I'm trying to implore you to understand that you've got to get engaged, you've got to get involved, you've got to study to show thyself approved. Because if you don't, there are people that are out there, and again, think about the words of the New York City mayor in his inaugural address. When he said we are going to replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism. Now, again, Pastor, I don't think we can all come together and have a group hug collectively and like collectively pray ourselves into heaven. I thought that that was an individual decision that each and every one of us had to make to profess that we believe that Jesus is Lord and that he died and rose again for our sins. But yet you have people that they don't accept that. That's the basic foundation. Our Judeo-Christian faith is the basic foundation. And if we do not honor that God, because what the Marxists want to do, and they're an enemy that we have to confront here, what the Marxists want to do is say that God wasn't smart enough to get Adam and Eve right, man and woman, male and female. God is not omnipotent and omniscient enough to be able to give us a beautiful sunrise or that beautiful moon that I was watching this morning as I got up and ran about four miles. No, we we control that. Just the same as the folks at the Tower of the Bible said, you know, let us come together and build us a tower that goes all the way up so that we can be just the same as God. That's what man believes. That's what man wants. And why do you have people that are seeking and pursuing to do that? Because if all of a sudden God is not smart enough, if you're not made in the image of God, you can be remade in whatever image that you want. Well, he ain't smart enough to give you no inalienable rights. Do y'all say ain't out here? Y'all say ain't, okay. I'm not. All right? He's not smart enough to do that. So if God is not smart enough, this Judeo-Christian faith heritage God is not smart enough to give you your life, your liberty, your property. Who is? That's the grand design. That's what we face in America. And if Christians were to come together, the reason why they call you names, Christian nationalists, all this type of stuff, the reason why they call you, because they fear you. They fear if the body of Christ were to come together and stand for righteous governance, not just government, but righteous governance. Why? I give you the example of Shadderak, Meshach, and Abednego. They said no when they were told to bow down. I give the example of Daniel. He said no when he was told to bow down. You should be looking for righteous governance, not governance that will tell you that, oh yeah, let's dismember a child in the womb all the way up until the time of birth. Because life is given to us as a right from him. Don't believe me? Deuteronomy 30 and 19. Don't believe me? Psalms 127, verses 3 through 5. Don't believe me? Jeremiah 1 and 5. That's what we have to start embracing. And we must be strong. You know, Trent Franks was such a strong advocate for life. I mean, you you need to understand how powerful he was up there speaking on that issue. Because if we don't stand up for that issue, then everything else topples. And if we don't start standing up for the word of God, in the country of Finland, the Supreme Court in Finland just voted three to two. That there are certain verses out of the Bible, if you say them out in public, that's considered hate speech. Namely, if you talk about biblical marriage, or if you talk about life, that's hate speech. Canada to the north just passed legislation that says that the Bible can be considered hate speech. This is what is happening in our country. We don't want to see that happen here because the foundation of America is our faith through our families, and that's our freedom. Let

Islamism Iran And Standing Firm

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me read you something. I think that a lot of y'all know what I'm about to say. I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of the saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen. Apostles Creed. Maybe some of y'all know the Nicene Creed. Infidels are those who declare God is the Christ, the Son of Mary. Surah 5, 17, out of the Quran. Surah 5, 17, out of the Quran. Make war on the infidels who dwell around you. Surah 9, verse 123 in the Quran. The infidels are your sworn enemies. Surah 4101. When you meet the infidel on the battlefield, strike off their heads. Surah 47, verse 4. That's their words. So all of us sitting here who believe in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we're an infidel. And this is what should happen with infidels. Believers, take neither the Jews or Christians for your friends. Surah 5 and 51. Now, of course, someone's gonna say, you know, out there in online land, well, Colonel West, he's he's in this lobophobe. He he just he's a homotransphobic. I'm not. Phobia means you have an irrational fear of something. I don't have an irrational fear. I've been shot at. But what I will do is I will take your very words and I will challenge you. Because this is a Judeo-Christian faith heritage nation. And I will challenge you if you say that just because I believe in this, I'm an infidel, you're supposed to strike off my head. Oh, a little bit of trivia. Why do Marines, why are Marines called leathernecks? Barbary Pirates, 1802. Because a lot of people always refer back and say, well, Thomas Jefferson had a Quran. Well, this is why Thomas Jefferson had a Quran. Thomas Jefferson had a Quran because the Barbary Pirates were seizing our ships at sea and kidnapping Americans and demanding a ransom. So Thomas Jefferson, being the very astute and intellectual guy, he wrote a letter to the Day of Algiers as he said, Sir, kind sir, can you please explain to me why you are attacking our shipping and why are you taking our Americans hostage and asking for this ransom? We are not at war with you. The Day of Algiers replied back, because we are commanded to do so by Allah and by our prophet. So guess what Thomas Jefferson did? He said, Well, I gotta study this dude. I gotta study what he believes in. And when he studied it, he sent the United States Marines. Our very first expeditionary operation. Why did the Marines are called leathernecks? Because they read and saw that they would be struck about the neck in order to take off their head, so they put on leather tunics. So this thing is not new to us in America. It's not new because of 9-11. But if you don't stand up for your faith and what you believe in, if you don't confront people, not saying that we hate people, but I will challenge what you believe if it's a threat to what I believe. Because I am not going to lose my country and my God and our Judeo-Christian heritage to people that don't think that I have the right to this. Palm Sunday this year, 30 of our Christian brothers and sisters were brutally massacred in Nigeria. Just because they were Christians. Which leads me to this thing about Iran. Maya Angelo once said, when people show you who they are the first time, believe them. October the 30th of 1983. I came on active duty at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. I was a young second lieutenant in the United States Field Artillery, drove through Key Gate. A week prior to me coming on active duty, the 23rd of October 1983, 241 Marines, sailors, and a soldier lost their lives at the Beirut Barracks bombing because of Hezbollah. A terrorist organization sponsored by those guys. There comes a time when you have to believe people in what they say. There comes a time when you cannot dismiss it. When people are saying that they want to kill you, when people are going out and doing that which they should not do, when people are promoting a system of jurisprudence, Sharia law, that is antithetical, antithetical to who we are as a constitutional republic, that they don't believe that our constitution is a rule of law. You don't believe that what I'm saying? Then look at what's going on in England. When in England they are arresting people and throwing them in jail because they're basically saying some of the things that I'm saying right now or putting it out on social media, but yet they're not doing anything about rape gangs, then you're losing the foundation of who you are and you're surrendering. And we cannot have that. If we don't stand up against those who shout death to America and death to Israel, why do they shout death to Israel? Because death to Israel, the little Satan, then America's the big the greater Satan. Because there are people that want to destroy the Judeo-Christian faith heritage. And who are the biggest two lights of the Judeo-Christian faith heritage? It is Israel and it's the United States. There are people that want to usher in a new dark age of totalitarianism, of tyranny, and the subjugation of individual rights, freedoms, and liberties. That's what we're standing up against. John and I were talking about what will America will be 50 years from now. Because I was just 15 years of age in 1976 for the bicentennial. And here I am today. And again, think about what has transpired in 50 years in this country. What will happen 50 years from now? You make that decision. But the only way you make that decision is

Courage Closing Charge And Next Steps

38:51

with courage. God told Joshua three times in chapter 1, verses 5 through 9, be strong and of good courage. Be strong and of good courage. But you know what he also said? He said, This book of the law, you shall not turn from it from the right or to the left. You shall meditate upon it day or night. And as long as you do so, you will have success and prosperity wherever you go. We've got to get back to study and understanding God's Word. We got to get back to study and understanding the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. And if you understand what the Declaration of Independence was, it is no different from what Martin Luther did on the 31st of August of 1517. Because the Declaration of Independence were a list of grievances that we had against the divine rights theory of King George in Great Britain. So truthfully, as you leave out of here today, you must understand that America is the manifestation of what Martin Luther did in 1517 by saying that no one stands in between you and your relationship with God. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of Moses, the God of David, the God of Solomon, the God of Jesus. That's the decision that you have to make here today. Will you make that stand? Or we could be as the children of Israel were when Joshua and all the generations of Joshua passed away, and you flip over to the book of Judges and you start reading in chapter 2, verse 10 of the book of Judges, and it says that Joshua and all those generations passed away, and the children of Israel fell down and worshiped the Baals. And the anger of the Lord burned against them. And one of the gods of the Baals, Moloch, the God of child sacrifice. So guess what path that we're on? But it's up to the body of Christ to get us off that path. So that we can make sure that the hand of God is never truly taken off of this great nation. Let me close by reading a little quote, because uh, you know, I went in the Air Force, you know. Air Force people are real smart. I couldn't pass their IQ tests. So uh the Army taught me that you always write stuff down because you ain't that smart. So the quote that I'm about to read to you will be 250 years old this December. These are the times which try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from the service of his country. But he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered. Yet we have this consolation with us that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. We serve a great God. We have a great savior, a great savior who said, If I be lifted up, I'll draw all men unto me. America needs to lift him up, to draw all men unto him and return to being the shining city that sits upon a hill. God bless you all. Thank you. Thank you for listening to Real Life Ministry. If you found any of what you heard today helpful, please share it with others who may benefit. And if you would like to support the content that we put out, please consider making a donation at RealLife Ministry.us. While you're there, check out some of our episodes. And together, let's continue to educate and encourage Christians to live free and live strong.