America’s foundation of Freedom and Liberty and why it’s worth fighting for.

Brad Jurkovich discusses all of this and more with Shreveport attorney, Royal Alexander, who worked in D.C. in the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly 8 years for two different members of Congress from Louisiana. Mr. Alexander’s Christian faith and vast knowledge of the Founding of America are extremely valuable for the challenges facing America today.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:04

Well, welcome to the Brad Jerkovich Podcast. I am so excited to have my dear friend Royal Alexander with me today. An attorney in Shreveport, but buddy, you've got a great history, great career over the years, not just as an attorney, but serving our nation's capital. Royal, it's great to have you on the podcast today. We're going to cover a lot of topics. Thanks for coming.

SPEAKER_02 0:23

Absolutely. It's great to be here.

SPEAKER_03 0:24

I love it. And are you from Shreveport originally?

SPEAKER_02 0:27

Born and raised in Shreveport, one of 12 children. Oh, wow. Grew up in a very strict Christian family with a highly disciplinarian father and a loving mother. And that has been my life experience, and it has informed my whole life and and and that of my siblings.

SPEAKER_03 0:43

Yeah. And so you went to where did you go? LSU?

SPEAKER_02 0:47

I went to actually graduate from Southfield High School, LSU Shreveport. Yeah. And then because six of my brothers are also attorneys, I wanted to go where no one had ever heard of the Alexander family. So I went to law school in Oklahoma. Oh yeah. At the University of Oklahoma?

SPEAKER_03 1:01

At Oklahoma City, OCE. Oh wow, very cool. So you've done that for years, but you also served Internation's Capital with a couple of different congressmen, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:11

I did. I I served with the late. My first job was with the late Congressman Clyde Holloway, who was all on the Public Service Commission later, and for almost four years before I went to law school. And then about 10 years after that, when Congressman Rodney Alexander was elected, I had known him. We had lost the race to him. And he called and it surprised me a bit and said, Would you like to serve as my chief of staff? And I was already very familiar with D.C. and the congressional district, so I accepted.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

Royal, one of the things I love about you is you you love Jesus. Your Christian faith is real, but you have such a passion for seeing that Christian faith influence our culture, our country. If we could just kind of spend a few moments from your time in D.C., maybe bring some of that here, maybe some positive things that you've seen. But on our heart, so right now, I just want to kind of bring some of this to bear on this podcast today. You know, our president, President Trump, was literally another assassination attempt on him over this past weekend. And what's going on in our country? I mean, is it is it just rhetoric? Is it an ideology? Is it all of it? Is it just him? You know, what are some thoughts on you've been in DC, you know what leadership looks like for our nation. What's going on? Maybe just a couple thoughts from you know recent days.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

It is far more partisan and vicious than when I was even there the last time, about 10 years ago.

SPEAKER_03 2:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

It is uh because of the moral breakdown in this nation, because of the cultural cesspool that we live in, we see that there's a certain percentage of Americans who are no longer open to hearing any other side of thought.

SPEAKER_03 2:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:53

If it's not my thoughts, then I'm simply not tolerating you saying it. That's a good point. We we I think social media, like there is good to social media, much like the internet, there's also bad. I think social media has a way of ginning up very quickly the ability to demonize your neighbor, somebody you'll never meet. You can say it across the country or across the street on social media, and you've removed any sort of interpersonal connection which might somehow restrain your conduct. That's what we're seeing with President Trump. He is a clarion voice. Again, that inemitable personality of his. Sure. We we know the way he says things and does things, but he is returning faith, he is returning prayer, he is returning a sense of real patriotism in this country, not just in this country, but the world over. And there's a segment of America who don't like that, who don't care that our nation and our framers foresaw a nation based on the Constitution, which to them derives from the Declaration, which derives from natural law, God's law. So there are people, Trump is trying to return that, and I think the fact that he's having such a huge impact really on the world, based on this faith belief we all share. He read scripture the other day in the White House. I think the enemy of every kind, spiritual and literal and human, are targeting him.

SPEAKER_03 4:20

So we need to be praying for him. I mean, obviously. I mean, that's what I'm that's what I'm saying. It's like sometimes, well, I want to pray for him, but boy, he'll do this. Well, yeah, he's not perfect. I mean, everybody gets that, but for the love, this is bigger than just one individual. And when you see these kinds of attempts again and again, I just think it ought to bring us to our knees.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

It has to. I think the nation was praying in 2024 when he I think the nation was praying when Hillary Clinton was defeated.

SPEAKER_03 4:48

Right.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

We all pray differently, but we're asking God in our own way to save our nation, to let it return to a place of prayer, to the constitutional vision of our framers, who very much said we're gonna have a pluralistic society. Free exercise means believing whatever you like or believing nothing. But to say that those men did not come from a Christian perspective is to completely deny history. That's right. It just is. So President Trump is trying to return that to the nation. There, I think at least half the country thunderously agrees with him. But there's a large portion. I mean, the New York Times said this probably five or six years ago, and I was surprised by the Times' candor, New York Times. It said, we really don't get the God thing. I I couldn't believe that statement. We admit we really don't get the God thing.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

I can't imagine. Life is hard enough, Pastor, as you know, having a strong faith. It's still hard.

SPEAKER_03 5:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 5:48

I can't imagine blowing in the wind with no anchor at all.

SPEAKER_03 5:51

Wow. And that's something. Yeah, I feel like, I mean, at the end of it all, it's way beyond politics. It's a spiritual battle. It absolutely is. That's why I would say, too, just to pivot just a little bit, you know, obviously praying for our nation and all of our leaders and everything that we're involved in with Iran, everything like that. Um, but I do sense this rise of the Islamic belief and ideology, something is happening in America, and we need to be wise about this. I mean, I'm you know, when you see Mandani on in New York, for the love of God, I mean, on September 11th, 2001, what are we this is what we're engaged with, attacked with. 25 years later. And 25 years later, this, and he's totally unabashed about it. I know. But what are you sensing just when you when you bring your perspective and background, and you're honestly you're so astute with uh Christian history and American history, what is going on with that in America? Because I think people need to be aware of this.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

I I think God allows evil uh all the time to end up producing good. What Mandami is trying to do, I think, is backfiring. He's driving people and businesses out of that city and therefore out of that state. I think in time, just much like Gavin Newsom is driving businesses and people out of California. My hope is only when they settle in places like Texas and Florida and Louisiana, they don't bring that thinking with them. But I I think the pendulum swings. I I think the the fraud in Minnesota, the Somali fraud, is a huge eye-opener. I think these things President Trump has exposed, we'd never know had he not won the election. So I think that so many people are aware and completely oppose any idea of Sharia law. The fact that a state like Texas would even have to take up the idea we're gonna be governed by any other but state and federal law and our U.S. Constitution is insane. Yeah. It's insane.

SPEAKER_03 7:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

I don't look, and that's why, as President Trump says, the UK, to see the king and queen at the White House, the UK is losing its way with illegal immigration. They're taking over the culture, and they have no we have a connection to the English people. That I mean, the Church of England, it's all a Christian faith, not what's coming into their country. No, it's not. And now I think they're almost intimidated by the Muslim demographic in the UK. That's what the Prime Minister Starmer seems to be saying to me. He seems intimidated. And I'm like, Trump says it in his own way. You're losing your country over illegal immigration. So in history, we both know that there was a rise of Islam in the past and it was defeated, and it's gonna have to be defeated again. Not uh hopefully not with arms, but certainly with prayer. And uh, you know, at this time we have American law and it's not Sharia law. We're not women aren't w w wearing the habits, they're not covered up, can't go to school, we're not bringing that to the United States. And in those places there's an enclave like Minnesota that has those kinds of things, we need to watch very closely.

SPEAKER_03 8:56

Yeah, I think so. And and I think people just need to understand we're defending freedom and any kind of threat to that. It just call it what it is. It's not being, we're not picking on anybody, but it is being honest with what is happening. Right. And my goodness, you're literally looking at Great Britain and England looking, you know, at this point it is exhibit A of this is what's happening, folks, and we've better wise up because there is a spiritual element to it at the forefront. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

And it's not the spirit we worship. It's not. It just isn't. No. I mean, this this is a Christian nation. We were founded on Christian principles. Now, again, part of the freedom of free exercise of religion is that you you're free. God gives all of us free will to choose not to believe. To me, that's the hardest path of all. But we do have free will. But to say that again, what Thomas Jefferson, again, the 250th anniversary is if if you think about it, 250 years compares to other nations, we're still a very young nation. Yeah, that's right. But the things he said in it, that the idea that we hold w we are an we America is taking its place based upon nature and nature's God. Jefferson couldn't even get out of the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence without m saying that America, not only are we created equally, but we're to be created means there has to be a creator. That's right. Boom. I mean, and and and as he sat there with his quill pen, and I've read so much about the founding of the history, Jefferson was brilliant. He knew full well what I'm even writing about equality we don't have right now and probably won't have in my lifetime. And as we know, we didn't have it for another 150 years. But for that ideal to be, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. Well, if you're created equal, you absolutely have to have a creator. And, you know, several places in the declaration, uh you know, when he says we rely on divine providence to possibly make but they didn't know if it was about to provoke a war, which it did when he wrote that declaration. But to base it on such a powerful principle, the founding document of a nation, saying, not only are we all equal, but we were created, and we were created equal. So there is a God, and we were created by that God, and we're equal. Never has there been a founding document of a nation like our Declaration of Independence. And so, to your point, I think about like the United States Supreme Court right now, I'm so pleased because there's been several in the last few years great free exercise cases.

SPEAKER_03 11:30

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 11:31

In Missouri, I think, well, in Missouri, we had the praying football coach, Bremerton. Or maybe that they're all they're all over the country, if it's not Missouri. The Bremerton School District, all the coach did, the praying football coach, was at the end of every game, he had been in poor shape and gave his life to God, and then said, I'm gonna thank you every single day.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

He didn't bring the players with him, that might have been closer to establishment. He went by himself to the 50-yard line and for about 30 seconds said a prayer. Well, he ended up being fired. That made it way to its way to the Supreme Court. And Justice Gorsuch wrote that to to do what you're saying and fire him and not allow a quiet moment of reflection, you're now discriminating against religion. Yes. True, it's not established, but you also can't discriminate against it. And then there's other cases that say, look, state of maybe it's Missouri, if you're gonna give schools money, public schools, to pave their parking lots, you can't then exclude private schools or religious schools. And if you're gonna give vouchers of any kind to parents, the voucher needs to follow the kid. That's right. Including to private and religious schools. So this this Supreme Court, uh, I'm s they're just saying, that and that's all they feared, Pastor. They didn't want a mandated state religion like the one the pilgrims fled when they came in the first. Beyond that, yeah, they wanted the broadest religious freedom possible. And it's there's just no way to dispute it and be truthful about our American history. Now people can say, well, what you know, Jefferson had a wallet. That is the biggest myth.

SPEAKER_03 13:06

Yeah, so don't talk about that for me. So when we talk about religious li liberty and freedom in America, obviously we understand our rights come from God, which is huge. I'm telling you, so many young people are like, we need the government to do this. You don't want your rights to come from the government. Absolutely. Good grief. Absolutely. Why why don't we want our rights to come from the government? Thank you. I had intended to say that.

SPEAKER_02 13:25

Thank you for asking. Our rights don't come from government or from man, they come from God. Our rights, it's natural law. We are made in the image and likeness of God, we are his creation, and our the truth is written in our hearts. We may choose to ignore it at times, but the truth is written in our hearts. The framers fully believed they would be the first ones to say we barely got the country launched, and but for our prayers and those hot days of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, we never would have made it. The Declaration of Independence, they say, is the promise, and the Constitution is the fulfillment of the promise. Those two documents make clear that our rights don't come from government, they come from God. And the reason that's so important is because since our rights don't flow from government, government can't ever legitimately take them away from us. We have inherent dignity merely by our birth, and that's because we're made in in the image of God. And for for young people, because government does too much and it's easy to forget, gov the Constitution is a restraint on government, not a restraint on people.

SPEAKER_03 14:33

Yeah, because what I see in in in our culture, first of all, I'm excited to see more and more reports of young people, especially young men, turning to God in greater numbers. They're hungry for that, which is great. But you also see this rise in our country, socialism, communism. These are things where I feel like because A, they don't want to acknowledge there's a God. So now government becomes their God. That's exactly right. So they want to lean on the government for everything, and that's the answer. That's scary for America. It is.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

That's exactly right, because anything the government gives, it can take away. Yes. But these unalienable, transcendent, God-given rights can't be taken from us. They can't. Merely by virtue of our birth, we possess them. And you're so right. It's this progressivism, and Justice Clarence Thomas gave a great talk about three weeks ago. He never speaks publicly. For years he didn't even speak on the court. Yes. He addressed this group, some college somewhere, and he said, progressivism. He just tied it together so beautifully. He said, progressivism, and I always want to call it regressivism. It's not progress.

SPEAKER_03 15:41

That's a great point.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

He goes, progressivism was intertwined with Hitler, with Stalin, with Mussolini, with Mao, all of the people who ended up, and American uh elites at the time cheered them before they killed tens of millions of their own people. The American left has always been nuts, but fortunately that's never been the majority of the people. We just have to keep speaking truth. And back to the point about Christians. Pastors have to, I I've never one time heard of a church losing its tax exempt status for something a pastor said. And I've I've actually researched that. After what Obama's President Obama's pastors, the vile things he would say in his church, the IRS never touched them. I I've never seen, I hope churches will have courage, because if people feel like, you know, I don't just have an obligation to pray, I have an obligation to do something. What can I do? Vote. Can I tell my little sphere, my circle of my family, we're going to vote this election and we're going to vote as Christians, which means very clearly, with all its flaws, and anytime every political political parties have flaws because they're comprised of men and women who are flawed. But the one at the national level that is most aligned with the Christian view of the world we have is the Republican Party. And I'm not trying to advance the Republican Party. Right, no, I get it. I'm saying across the country, as I mentioned, I think before we went on camera, three or four million devout Christians in the swing states, was about seven states, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, that group of states, Arizona. If those three to four million had voted, it probably they're so close could have swung Electoral College in 2020. And that's a whole different discussion about that election. But Christians have to vote. We have to pray, but then I think we we live in the the real world. We live in a physical world. We live under man-made law for this period of time of our lives, and our obligation is the framers intended for there to be participation and have public virtue and morality. And that was just part of the the duties of a citizen. You have to participate in your government. And the framers, I mean, Adams, Adams said our constitution was written only for a moral people, and it is entirely inappropriate for any other kind.

SPEAKER_03 18:05

Wow. But Royal, you know, one of the challenges that I've seen, okay, so as a pastor, you'll hear people, and I've heard it not just from younger people from older. We don't want pastors speaking on politics. You know, just preach on Jesus, just preach the Bible, and that sounds spiritual, that sounds godly, but I don't, I I'm I'm saying, yeah, I'm gonna preach the Bible, but the Bible addresses every issue that we have, from life to liberty to moral decisions, A to Z. Why aren't we why shouldn't we be speaking out? Why shouldn't we be the most compelling voice in our culture today? Can you speak to that for a moment?

SPEAKER_02 18:42

I would I would love to. I I think issues like traditional marriage, the nuclear family, the breakdown of the nuclear family, the pro-life issue, if the church doesn't address the importance of prayer, the importance of religious liberty, the importance of the pro-life issue, uh it it has to come from the pastors because that is truth. And you and one one of the questions we had discussed previously was what can Christians do? We have to speak the truth.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Right.

SPEAKER_02 19:11

We have to say that this nation was founded on Christian principles, and that that is the direction that God ordained, as President Reagan said, God ordained America and really set it aside to serve as a light to the rest of the world. And we have to stay true to that. And part of that is speaking truth. And it's hard to speak truth, especially on social media, knowing you'll be attacked immediately. Right. And back to Thomas Jefferson and the separation of church and state. All he meant, and and and when Thomas Jefferson, he didn't even care if being president was listed on his headstone. He cared about being known for writing the Declaration of Independence and the Religious Liberty Act he wrote for Virginia. Oh wow. He didn't even care if being president was on there. Religious freedom. This is the man who supposedly wanted the wall between. All he meant was you have to not have a forced state religion because then people can't exercise their free will.

SPEAKER_03 20:09

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 20:10

That is the only thing the framers feared. Beyond that, Jefferson and the rest of them wanted the greatest amount of religious liberty possible. And that's why the Framers wouldn't recognize the hostility today to religion.

SPEAKER_03 20:23

So what about the Johnson Amendment? Is that something that it seems to restrain pastors and ministry leaders from speaking on political things?

SPEAKER_02 20:33

It does. And I think that it is probably unconstitutional.

SPEAKER_03 20:36

I think President Trump wants to remove it or see it done away with. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:40

Um I I I I don't think that holds the Supreme Court up that much anymore. Because the Supreme Court has said very clearly, as long as again, free exercise is one thing, establishment is another. Like the Ten Commandments. I'm so proud of A. G. Merle for advancing the Ten Commandments. Yeah. And and I think she's exactly right. If you had them on the side of a building by themselves going into the Boucher Civic Center or the Shreveport City Court, that would be closer to me to the government establishing a religion. But when you surround it with the Declaration of Independence and the Mayflower Compact and other, you know, of founding the US Constitution, then I think it becomes more of an historical thing. But uh you can't get around the fact that the Ten Commandments are the basis of our civil and criminal law. They just are. And it it's when people try to deny all that, and you know, so speaking the truth, that's what Christians can do. Pray hard and speak the truth. Just say, that's not right. I'm not gonna just sit here in 2026 in my comfortable world in life and say something's okay. President Trump is doing everything he can to hold the line in his own inimitable way, and we also have to hold the line. Because each of us are a sphere, we we have a sphere of influence where we you have a very large one. I I I guess I have one too, doing TV and radio. But everyone in their own way, families, in every way, Christians have to say, I'm sorry, I mean no offense, I still love you, but that's wrong.

SPEAKER_03 22:18

And elections matter. Absolutely. So how as a Christian, how do we need to process that? It's like, you know, if you stay out, you know, I don't want to get involved with that or whatever. There's a real cost to that. There is. If you get involved, there's always, you know, a price to that, but it's worth it. Can you just speak to that for a few minutes? Because I think some people, you know, we're in an election year. We are. You know, midterms this next fall, all kinds of things. You got things locally in our state and everywhere in between. So I'm just curious, just a few thoughts there on why that's important or what are the consequences if we don't.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

When you choose not to vote or when you choose to vote, what you're deciding is the kind of country we're going to live in and state and the kind of laws we're going to live under. I want to live under laws that promote and elect candidates who believe in the free exercise of religion, religious liberty, lower taxes, allowing small business to thrive, because small business supports families. The more you take government off the backs of small business, the further the dollar can go. And maybe the w the mother doesn't even end up needing to work at all and can be a stay-at-home mother if she chooses. I I don't government can't be in the framers exactly intended the opposite of what we have, Pastor. The Tenth Amendment says the states are supposed to be the pre-eminent power in this country. Many of the framers were s were so they barely agreed to the Constitution because they were so suspect that this central government would become what it is today. That's right. All powerful. Yep. And they railed against that, and yet they managed to come together with these powerful rights that we have: freedom of speech, press, petition, religion. Meaning, government can't force me. At the same time, government can't limit me.

SPEAKER_03 24:08

So candidates need to be standing for those things. And that's who we need to be elected for.

SPEAKER_02 24:11

Well, we have to, and not lukewarm. You can be very respectful. And I think Speaker Johnson is a he can be respectful and still be very principled about the fact that and and Mike is very realistic. He understands everyone in this Congress, I I've still got to get a majority together to pass something as close to what we need as possible. He has a margin of three people right now. But he approaches it deep, deep faith, and he bases his worldview on the Bible and on his faith, and he knows I know if I ask for guidance and we we pray and President Trump prays and the Congress prays, there's just no way God is gonna let us drift. He can do things we can't even fathom. Right. But we have to ask him. Lord, we know you ordained this nation and set it aside. Please let us return to your vision of that. We don't know how to get there now. We feel overwhelmed, but we we ask you to guide us. That's prayer and then voting.

SPEAKER_03 25:12

Well, yeah, and and Royal, you know this being uh in Bojar City, Barksdale Air Force Base, B-52, Edo Base of the world largest in the world, and nuclear capabilities, all kinds of stuff. These are real families that who we elect, they need to be for them. Standing with them, praying for them, uh wanting the best outcome for them, not just little chess pieces. You can't. It's like these are real families, real lives. And so there's so many layers to that.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

There is, and it has to start from a place that we are only passing through this life. This is ultimately the it's not this life that's the most important, it's the next life. Right. With that in mind, it's almost liberating to say, you know, I'm gonna do the very best I can here. I'm gonna try to have courage every time I can. I know what the truth is, and I just have to say it, even if it's just to my own family. Then they're gonna hear it and they're gonna go out and say it. And and God will strengthen us if we ask Him, and at times it's very hard. But to me, that's the time more than ever we have to speak the truth. And you can do it in a respectful way. I have nothing against anyone, but I'm not gonna act like the pro-life issue, the pro-life position is not the correct one. I'm not gonna act like traditional marriage is not the correct union. Right. I'm not gonna act like tearing down the nuclear family is not devastating this country because it is. I'm not gonna say America not being militarily strong is safe for America or the rest of the world. I but you can say it respectfully. I I don't want government to keep growing. It soaks up dollars that families could use, and it grows bigger and bigger, and that's why kids think, well, government gives us everything it's not supposed to.

SPEAKER_03 26:51

Yeah, it's such a good word, Royal, because that's what I'm saying. As a pastor, I feel a burden. I and if I could just come full circle with these precious military folks, we hear these guys flying around, right, in these B-52s, and I ask myself, you know, they're out there defending my freedom, but I'm gonna be too scared to speak the truth. Right. I can't do that. These guys are putting on the line. If they're gonna defend my freedom, I'm at least gonna take advantage of what God's given us and speak his truth to our community and nation.

SPEAKER_02 27:17

And that is such a great example, and I think, and and and I'm outspoken too. I try to be very respectful, but I'm outspoken too. But every time I see somebody try to kill President Trump, it it strengthens me. I'm like, all I'm doing is speaking. No one is literally trying to shoot a gun at me.

SPEAKER_03 27:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:35

He risks that every time he goes out. That man is so wealthy he could be indulging himself in any way he chose, anywhere in the world. And yet he he he is really threatening his health, the pressure. He carries it off. Oh yeah. But the enormous pressure is real the threats to his family, his son, every time you saw the look on the first lady's face when she didn't realize what was going on. He's accustomed to it. She's not.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:03

But for him to say that I think, and and and I think, and God has molded, I mean, and you know the Bible far better than me, Pastor, but I think God has taken very flawed people and used them for very great things.

SPEAKER_03 28:17

Oh, yeah. You know, time and again.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

Here is a builder, a builder who was rich and vain and loved our country, but all those things we knew Trump was all of our lives, for God to take him, let him see, really, by turning your head is the only reason you're alive. Yeah. And I think that has life changing for his own. Life changing. And I do think he believes, I think I was spared to save this country and maybe the world. And I I don't think that's wrong.

SPEAKER_03 28:49

Right. And I and that's what I'm saying. I think just people need to be engaged, prayerful, hopeful. We need revival in America. We need our churches to be strong and thriving by the Spirit of God. We know politics isn't the answer, but there's a there's such an enormous opportunity for us to speak into that, you know, and uh pray for for those who are willing to serve, because it is a it's a cutthroat deal, man. Grueling. It is an ugly. Yeah. And so we just need to be engaged. I'm just telling you, buddy, I appreciate your passion because you do have core convictions that stem from the scriptures and stand on your faith, and I've always seen you engage in a in a in a way that would always honor the Lord. And so I just appreciate that, and I appreciate the time because I promise there's people listening to this today, they're gonna be like, well, I never thought about it that way, or never even thought why that would be that important. Or here's some threats we ought to be honest about. And that and that's where we are. So this has encouraged me today.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

While we're in this life, we are create creations of God, while we are in this life, we have to do our duty. Yeah, part of our duty is because we were born in America, the framers said, you have to be an involved, informed citizenry. That means doing the prayer part, being the best people we can be, but then saying, you know what, I have to live under this government, and I'm going to demand at least as best I can with my vote that it reflect my beliefs. That we have an obligation to do that. And I I would uh uh want to share this too. One of the great quotes of Benjamin Franklin was he was at the Constitutional Convention, and there were days when they kept the Pastor, just very briefly, they kept the doors shut in that building in the convention hall in Philadelphia. They couldn't afford to have anyone here. They weren't supposed to be writing a constitution, they were supposed to be revising their articles of confederation. They couldn't afford to have someone come by and say, What are they talking about? That's not in those heavy clothes they wore. It was miserable. I mean, I've read some some really good biographies and sitting in there day after day and they couldn't make progress. The big states didn't care about the small states' delegates. The small states thought, all you care about being the big state, no trust. Benjamin Franklin recommended that they start praying every morning, they begin to make progress again. And he had said at different times, if a sparrow cannot, meaning God's hand is on all this, if a sparrow cannot fall to earth without God's notice, is it likely that a nation can rise without his aid?

unknown 31:16

Wow. Man.

SPEAKER_03 31:18

We were blessed to have some incredible leaders, courageous, absolutely and with a deep uh faith in the Lord. They were. Well, I appreciate your faith, my friend. And I know this won't be the only time we share this podcast together, but boy, what a blessing, man. Thanks for blessing me today. Absolutely. I loved it, Royal. Blessings on you, my friend. Thank you. Listen, thank you guys for connecting with us today. There's a lot going on in our nation. Let's be prayerful, let's be hopeful, let's trust God for great things, and God bless you. Thanks for being on our podcast today.