Become Who You Are
What’s the meaning and purpose of my life? What is my true identity? Why were we created male and female? How do I find happiness, joy and peace? How do I find love that lasts, forever? These are the timeless questions of the human heart. Join Jack Rigert and his guests for lively insights, reading the signs of our times through the lens of Catholic Teaching and the insights of Saint John Paul ll to guide us.
Saint Catherine of Siena said "Become who you are and you would set the world on fire".
Become Who You Are
#620 Kurt Mahlburg: Courageous Leadership in Troubling Times: Young People Are Reclaiming Christianity!
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The battle for religious freedom has reached new heights in Australia as New South Wales enacts legislation making it illegal to pray with someone about their sexuality—even if they explicitly request such prayer. Kurt Mahlburg, Australian writer and senior editor at The Daily Declaration, brings urgent clarity to this troubling development and its implications for believers worldwide.
What sounds like dystopian fiction is now reality: Christians face potential criminal charges for practicing fundamental aspects of their faith.
Yet amid this encroachment on religious liberty, something unexpected is happening. Young people across Western nations are rejecting progressive ideologies and returning to traditional values. Having witnessed the cultural chaos resulting from removing God from public life, many in Gen Z are seeking stability in time-tested principles. As Mahlburg notes, "Church attendance and belief in the Bible have essentially spiked in the younger generation" in both America and Britain.
This generational shift suggests hope for cultural renewal through two pathways: spiritual revival in the traditional sense, and a grassroots return to conservative values among youth. Initiatives like the "Open Windows Letter" (where pastors pledge to defy unjust laws) and the "Australian Creed for Sexual Integrity" (uniting Christians across denominations) demonstrate that resistance is not only possible, but growing.
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Read "The future is conservative" By Kurt Mahlburg
Read Jack's Latest In Crisis Magazine: Young Men, Against All Odds, Are Awakening to the Sacred
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Men of Claymore. Happy Friday. Welcome to our usual update. I had a real toss-up. I brought two guests. I recorded two different guests this week One on prayer, mike Pacer, and really good. He wrote a small book but powerful book on prayer. I thought would really help you with your spiritual formation. It's done really, really well and I recorded a show with him. And the next day I recorded one with Kurt Malberg.
Speaker 1:Kurt is somebody. He's a great writer, he's a Christian, he writes on culture and the Christian life in Australia and he's taken some heat for that. Not easy to stand up in some of these countries. You know when you're standing up for what's true, good and beautiful, so I want you to meet him. He's an inspiration and maybe you could follow him and read some of the stuff that he's doing and you know it's crazy things going on in the world. You can really open up your eyes.
Speaker 1:Anyways, I had to do a toss-up on who to put on today and so today's show is going to follow right after this announcement. I'm going to do it with Kurt Malberg. He's an incredible guy. I think you'll like the interview. We'll put some links in the show notes so you can follow him, and then maybe I'll put Monday. I'll try to get Mike Pacer on Monday or Tuesday. I don't want you to have to wait for another whole week to talk a little bit about prayer and his book on prayer. I should buy a couple boxes of these books and when I see some of you guys in the Chicagoland area, at least I can pass them out to you.
Speaker 1:But anyways, I just want to say a quick heads up and thank our sponsor for today's show, aim Energy Advisors. Aim Energy Advisors is an incredible group. They're friends of ours and they are sponsoring today's show. They sponsor some past shows, they're pro-life people, et cetera. So let me ask you this If you know somebody or if you guys have a business, you know we're going to get some energy price increases in June 2025. There's reasons for that. Aim Utility Advisors advisors a family-owned energy brokerage, a consultancy company that's been helping small medium businesses reduce energy costs for over 30 years. Aim will put together a straightforward savings plan tailored to your business needs. When I own businesses, I use an energy broker and they would go out and source the best energy and then maybe uh, you know, if I felt like it or if they told me I should do it, I'd lock in some really, really good rates. So you talk to them, go online, fill out a form. It's free, it's a no-hassle form. Aim operates without a quota so you can request a no-pressure, cost-free analysis. Their website is aimenergygroupcom. That's A-I-M energygroupcom. See the show notes. Tell my friend TJ Lally, who will pick up the phone there. You can talk to him about it. Tell him that Jack said hello.
Speaker 1:One other quick announcement you know, with Men of Claymore, once we get our own hearts back, right, we got our own hearts back and we start to understand this battle of the heart that John Paul talked about with the Claymore sword, that battle of the heart between love and lust, between becoming a self-giving person and finding happiness, joy, peace, this amazing beauty that comes out of living the way you're designed to live, the way you're created to live, with your meaning and purpose. And when you strip that away, when you get into pornography and it's cultures just trying to take your heart. And when you strip that away, when you get into pornography and it's cultures just trying to take your heart. And so it's a battle between authentic love, which is a self gift to other people, and grasping taking. You know, pornography would be the opposite of love is using somebody else as an object, you know. And so once you get that back right, that's our spiritual formation and that'll do it with prayer and some other things Right, you get the battle plan. You can download it right from our website. Just go to resources and download Claymore Battle Plan and you'll have it. Most of you guys know this already.
Speaker 1:One other thing once you get your heart back, we want to change the culture and the way to do that. You have to become pro-life. You know pro-culture of life and the way we do it, as we stand up for life, starting with the infant in the womb and all the way through to my dad's 99 years old, and he's still going, and if we have to take care of him more at the end, so be it. You know that's how you become self-giving. And the other thing we stand up for is marriage and the family.
Speaker 1:And so there is an event if you're in Illinois, we're in the belly of the beast here. I mean it's amazing corruption and how they're distorting and destroying uh, children, young children, children in school, with these gender ideologies, etc. You, you know the routine if you live in this way, if you don't live in illinois, you can hardly believe it. Anyways, there's a illinois right to life event coming up and the john paul to renewal center will be there. I, I'll be there. David Avignone, who most of you probably know, he'll be there. He's our executive director.
Speaker 1:Their annual Leaders Dinner for Life will be held on Thursday, may 15th at the Drury Lane Theater and Events in Oakbrook Terrace, illinois. You're going to feature some big names that you know Abby Johnson, dr Anthony Laventino, dr Linda Corey, father Tom Loya, who just did another event with us. You know Eastern Abyssinian Rite oh my gosh, he's powerful. He loves theology of the body, he loves working with young people, so he's going to be there too. Plus, experience their new Pro-Life Expo, where we're going to be exhibiting Love Ed. Enjoy our open bar prior to starting the program. Get your tickets at IllinoisRightToLifeorg IllinoisRightToLifeorg, and I'll put some information in the show notes. Hey, sorry, I took a couple minutes here. Let's get ready for today's episode. Welcome to the Become who you Are podcast, a production of the John Paul Toury Newell Center. I'm Jack Riggert, your host, and I'm here with Kurt Malberg. Kurt is a writer, author, emerging Australian voice. So, kurt, welcome.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, Jack. It's a pleasure to be with you today.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we'll just have to say so. Kurt's in Australia. It's 530, while we're recording whether this goes out on a Tuesday or not, but this is Tuesday at 5 30 in outside of Illinois. I'm in Chicago, outside of Chicago, illinois, kurt, and you're all the way in Australia, so this is Wednesday morning at eight o'clock in the morning for you. So, uh, thank you for you. Look good man.
Speaker 2:You look like you've been up for a little while already been up for a few hours with the children, so yeah, feeling fresh.
Speaker 1:You call yourself a. I know in some place I read a ghostwriter and some other things. So tell our audience who doesn't know you. They really need to follow you and we'll get some links in on some of the stuff that you've written Very interesting topics. So tell us just a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks, jack. So I am from Australia. I'm from the Adelaide Hills, beautiful Adelaide Hills in South Australia. I'm actually married to an American and she's from Wisconsin, which is just well Milwaukee about an hour and a half north from where you are, by the sounds of it and so we got married in 2020. We have two children and, yeah, navigating two under two, which is both a lot of fun and very tiring and challenging, but, no, it's a massive blessing. And yeah, I work with the Canberra Declaration and one of our big projects, I guess you'd say, is we run Australia's largest Christian news site, the Daily Declaration. So I'm the senior editor at the Daily Declaration. And, yeah, ghostwriting is something I do as a bit of a side hustle, something I really enjoy, an opportunity to help leaders become published authors, and I find that very exciting. But, yeah, my main ministry, I guess you would say, and work is with the Canberra Declaration and the Daily Declaration. How did you meet?
Speaker 2:this girl from Wisconsin, yeah so she was studying YWAM if you've heard of YWAM Youth With A Mission in Australia and friends of mine from church were doing the same course. This is on the other side of the country in a place called Byron Bay, and yeah, a friend of mine basically match made us. She told her, told my wife-to-be, that, oh, I think I've met your future husband Pretty bold move. And then her fiance called me because I was really good friends with him and he's like, oh, you need to meet this American girl. So we ended up meeting at a conference in a different city, melbourne and within a few days I was like convinced that she was the one. And yeah, it just kind of all went very quickly from there. So we've lived back and forth between Australia and the United States, planning to go back to the US again actually in a couple of months' time.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, it's pretty exciting, okay, well, if we can work it out somehow, I'm not too far from Wisconsin, so, depending on where we're at in Wisconsin, I'd love to grab a meal with you, and that would be awesome.
Speaker 1:If we could work it out, I'd love to do that, jack, we'd stay in contact there right meal with you and, uh, that would be awesome if we could work it out. So make sure we trade our stay in contact there, right? So definitely two young children. So tell me this. You wrote a piece. What caught my attention this time. You wrote this piece on australia's most popular state.
Speaker 1:New south wales just made it illegal to pray with someone about their sexuality, even if they ask you to, even if you help them online from outside the state. You know, with two small children, kurt, I mean you know we have to save our freedom, don't we? We have to really save our countries. I mean this is getting serious. I have my eighth grandchild coming and you know I can't give up. You know, see the sword behind me. It's called the claymore. It's a big sword. We have an apostolate within our apostolate called Claymore, miletus Christi. It's a soldiers of Christ. It's really for these young guys. So the second thing we're going to get to today hopefully is you see, the same thing that we're seeing is Second thing we're going to get to today hopefully is you see, the same thing that we're seeing is that if there is any hope, it's going to be with these young people coming up.
Speaker 1:So let me get you started on what's going on with Australia. It sounds, I mean it sounds brutal. I mean we're following the UK. Of course we see this happening in the UK. I think it would have been just like that here in the United States if this election would have went south instead of to Trump. Right. Usually, kurt, I have a hat, a Trump hat hanging up in the back over here, but I'm always afraid to offend people, so sometimes I take it down for a little while. But the young people the reason I have it there is not because we think Trump is Jesus Christ here right, he's a man. We think Trump is Jesus Christ here right, he's a man. But these young guys that voted for him and really pushed him over the edge into the victory lane were young people and they don't know exactly why, but they sensed something about him. You know that. They said you know what, there's some hope there and they voted for him. You know it's amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I think there's a lot of courage that they see in Trump, and I mean, I agree there's plenty of flaws in the man. We don't want to elevate him to the place of God or anything like that. I think that's a criticism that is very regularly made, but I don't think that's generally what people are doing. Young people especially are seeing a courage in Trump and other leaders like him around the world. There's not many, but there's a few key leaders, heads of state of different nations, and there's a courage there that we have not seen, probably in generations.
Speaker 2:There's been a real lack of leadership, a real lack of speaking up against some of these really subversive trends all around the world, and I think there's a lot to like about Trump's presidency and his leadership. And the young people are seeing that, and there might be some older. What I often see is it's the older generations that rely very much on mainstream media who have a real kind of anger or frustration or hatred for Donald Trump even. But I think in a lot of cases that's because they're being told what to think, not even how to think. And the younger people, who are maybe on social media or they're tuned out of the mainstream news sources. They see a quality of leadership in him that they respect and they appreciate, and he's standing up against some of the crazy stuff that's going on in the world, like this conversion therapy ban that we're talking about.
Speaker 1:Yes, you know you can't make this up, can you? When you see this, this is really. You know, we know it's a spiritual warfare out there and when they when I started to read so you had some links in there actually to the anti-discrimination New South Wales piece I went through some of those frequently asked questions. Kurt, can you unpack some of those? I mean this is a serious. They're taking this seriously. I mean they really want to suppress Christianity here and just people in general. They want to control this here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's pretty concerning. So the very pretext of a conversion therapy ban relies on this false idea that and I think often they'll use imagery and suggestions that there's some kind of electroshock therapy going on to try to stop people from being gay. This is certainly the rhetoric that has been very public in Australia, and probably other nations as well, as they've tried to bring these bans through. And the reality is that stuff might have happened in very isolated instances, perhaps back in the 1970s at the latest. Those sorts of things are not happening at all anymore, and so when they're talking about conversion therapy, essentially what they mean is encouraging young people who think they're gay or who who live a gay lifestyle, encouraging them to actually come back to the straight and narrow and follow christ with their life and with their sexuality, and it's it's extremely sad because the same governments who are now banning any help for young people who want to, you know, get their life back on track again, are at the same time encouraging people to live a gay lifestyle. They're putting huge amounts of funding into gay pride events and through health departments they're encouraging this kind of really perverse sexuality. But the second that a young person wants to find help and hope and freedom from these desires and from these lifestyles. And the second that a young person wants to find help and hope and freedom from these desires and from these lifestyles. And the second that pastors or parents or teachers want to help those young people come back on track.
Speaker 2:They are slamming these bans in place, which is incredibly tragic. For that reason, some people have actually called these laws gay apostasy laws. Now, if you're familiar with the Muslim world, it works in a very similar way. In certain very strict Muslim nations it is illegal to become a Christian, it's illegal to convert from Islam and if you do, sometimes there's honor killings, there's retribution from the government, but there's encouragement of all sorts to become a Muslim. So it's essentially you've been channeled in one direction. You have to become a Muslim. It's a good analogy If you do anything, but then there's all sorts of retribution that will come for you. And I think, in a similar way, these conversion therapy bans are trying to channel people, almost funnel them, into a gay lifestyle, and any second that there's pushback against that, there's bans against it. So, yeah, really tragic, and I think gay apostasy laws is a fairly good, a fairly apt description, to be honest.
Speaker 1:Yes, it is. And you know, when we really to today's time, conversion therapy is really talk therapy. I mean, that's really what it is. And they even ban the practice of praying over someone that asks them to pray over them. If you think about the, you know how far they're taking this thing. It doesn't it blow. It has to blow your mind, right.
Speaker 2:It's really crazy. So New South Wales is the state that most recently had this law come into effect. The law was passed actually a year ago, but they put a one year delay on it and I think in some ways that's to sort of strip up the news cycle and almost, you know, cushion the blow so that people aren't so aware of what's going on, and they sort of I think they caused any outrage in the public to peter out by putting that one-year lag in place, which is really quite sad, and that's why we drew attention to it through this article and fortunately it did get a lot of traction. There's a lot of Christians and a lot of secular people in Australia very upset with this law coming into effect. But it's actually the New South Wales law is the fifth law in Australia because it's all state-based. So New South Wales is the fifth state to enact a conversion therapy ban. My own state of South Australia also has one and the New South Wales one is actually not the worst, the one in Victoria, which is the state just south of New South Wales, capital city being Melbourne. They're probably the California of Australia. They've got the most progressive or liberal laws and in the case of conversion therapy, once again extremely liberal laws. And by liberal I mean illiberal, of course, because you can go to jail for up to seven years. In Victoria In New South Wales it's just five years, and in Victoria there are basically no restrictions on the sorts of bans they've got in place, whereas in New South Wales they've worded the legislation such that there are exemptions.
Speaker 2:So if you're a pastor, you're allowed to speak in general terms about following Christ with your sexuality and not living a gay lifestyle.
Speaker 2:You're also allowed to pray in general terms to that effect. But a lot of that stuff, in my view, is essentially the sugarcoating that helped the public swallow the poison pill. Because once you read a little bit further down the legislation, even though it says you're allowed to pray in general terms, you're allowed to preach in general terms about biblical sexuality. If you start applying the Bible's teachings to a specific individual, so you pray over an individual that they would follow Christ and not live a gay lifestyle. Or you, in a counseling session or conversation, are encouraging that young person to give up that devious lifestyle, follow Christ, that young person to give up that devious lifestyle and follow Christ, then all of a sudden you are essentially going against these new laws. So it's very tricky language and the reality is that as soon as you start encouraging an individual young person or person of any age really to follow Christ with their sexuality, you are in contravention of these new laws.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so are people being arrested, kurt, right now for this? Have there been arrests already, or is everybody just, you know, testing the waters here?
Speaker 2:There haven't been any, certainly no high profile arrests that I have heard of in Australia. Yet I'm certain that there are Christians who are, you know, disregarding the laws and praying with and counseling young people regardless, but fortunately we've not seen any of those hit the headlines yet, but I believe it's just a matter of time. Just after this article was published we're not the only outlet to have published on it, there was a few others and it made it all the way to the US. If you know Matt Walsh's blog, or, sorry, his podcast, he was even talking about this a couple of weeks ago on his podcast. So a number of smaller outlets, like the Daily Declaration, made a big song and dance and eventually podcasts like Matt Walsh's addressed the issue.
Speaker 2:But on the back of that media frenzy, I guess you'd say, there were a number of pastors from New South Wales who got together and they wrote a letter and they called it the open windows letter and essentially they were saying to the government you might have brought this ban into place, but we're going to defy it. We're going to be like Daniel, we're going to keep our windows open. We're going to continue praying the way we always have, which means that if a young person comes to us and they want prayer and help with their sexual identity issues, we are going to pray for them, like we always have. We're not going to regard these new laws, because we recognize God's law above this new state law.
Speaker 1:When you're speaking of that right now. Are these evangelical churches? How about the Catholic Church? Are they doing anything there? Are they chickening out Kurt in there, and you know what? And I don't want you to say anything. That's going to get you in, uh, you know, in any more hot water than you probably can get yourself in. So if you want to decline on something or you, just let me know, right oh no, that's not a problem.
Speaker 2:Uh, look, I think it was probably started by evangelicals. This letter, um and perhaps I'll bring up the website just so that I am accurate on it it is called it is. The website is openwindowslettercom and if you scroll down you can see people who have signed it. I would imagine that there's definitely Catholic leaders who have signed it. I've just keyword searched the word Catholic and it's come up 13 times. So there are at least 13 Catholic leaders in Australia who've signed this letter, and I would say that in Australia we are seeing similar things to the rest of the Western world America as well.
Speaker 2:You know, perhaps the majority of Catholics, like the majority of mainline Protestants, and maybe even a significant portion of evangelicals, are simply going along with, you know, these really illiberal laws. But there's a small contingent, those who've not bowed the knee to Baal in every denomination who are saying you know what? We're not going to stand for this. So there are actually some amazing Catholic allies in Australia on these issues. Just to tell you about another initiative that I have been a part of last October, on Reformation Day all hallows Eve for the Catholics we released the Australian Creed for Sexual Integrity. So if you Google search even if you just Google search Australian Creed, it should come up. But the full name is the Australian Creed for Sexual Integrity and this is about a 200 and something word creed, very much in the spirit of the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed. We realize it's 2024, not, it's not going to have that same historic depth to it, but the intention is the same that christians from all around the world would end up coming into agreement with this creed and signing it and and sharing it and even using it in worship services and in discipleship contexts, really. And it's a statement essentially to say this is what the bible has always said about sexuality and, regardless of what else happens, what else the world is saying we're going to stand firm is what the Bible has always said about sexuality and, regardless of what else happens, what else the world is saying, we're going to stand firm on what the Bible says.
Speaker 2:And there have been a number of key Catholic leaders who have signed that creed, one in particular who was really very involved in the drafting process. His name is Archbishop Julian Porteus. He's the Catholic Archbishop of Hobart, which is the capital city of Tasmania, the island state in Australia. So, yeah, there have been some awesome Catholic allies who we have worked very closely with for that creed, so perhaps I can share the website of that with your audience as well. It's simply australiancreedorg, so australiancreedorg.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I encourage your viewers and listeners to have a read of that creed. It's like a one-minute read and if you agree with it and I'm sure many of the listeners will then you can just add your name to the bottom and sign the creed. We've currently got almost 6,000 signers and about 300 initial signatories, so people who either contributed to the drafting process or very early on put their hand up and said yes. As a Christian leader from Australia and from other parts of the world, I definitely stand in agreement with this and I'd love to add my name. So I encourage your listeners to go take a look at that.
Speaker 1:Well, good, good, good. You know, the USCCB here, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, put a piece out. You know, quite an extensive letter out called Male and Female. He created them some years ago pushing back on all this stuff and very, very clear, very beautifully written. So you know, that's why I asked about that. Yeah, we're going to have to stand up for this At the end. You know what would you say underlines all this? You know, if I'm a young person and I'm confused about our sexuality, look, I'm with the John Paul II Renal Center.
Speaker 1:We're speaking to young people all the time about these issues. Most of them, kurt, have been indoctrinated in our school system. The public school system is really bad here as far as pushing these ideologies down. I'm in the state of Illinois. We call it the belly of the beast here where the government is just driving this. We call it the national sex ed standards. They're putting this into the school. They're starting with kids in kindergarten, first grade, second grade talking about this. So we're really in a battle here against all of that too. But the young people that we're speaking to are just really confused most of the time. You know what happens, kurt, from a young person's perspective. They're brought up into this pornographic culture, they're indoctrinated in their school systems and so they're just confused, really. But there's something really nefarious when the government is using them as pawns, you know, to really take control of our voices right and try to stop free speech.
Speaker 1:And I was surprised the first time I heard it was happening in Australia, because you know, I had this picture of Australia from. I don't know if you remember this, I think it was called Crocodile Dundee. It was a show on television that we used to watch as young guys, you know, and he had that big knife. You know we would call it like a Bowie, you know, and he had that big knife. You know we would call it like a Bowie knife here, like a big, long knife.
Speaker 1:Now they don't even let. So I'm thinking that there's no way that the Aussies are going to let this stuff happen. But it just came slowly, came it kind of bubbled in, just like I think it did in Canada, to north of us in the United States. You know Western Europe hasn't been in decline for a long time and just accepted all of this. It's kind of amazing to me. They took your, your guns away, right, and, and I read, and I don't know if this is true but you can't even walk outside with a knife anymore. Right for protection or anything so.
Speaker 2:I don't know the specifics on that one, but certainly Australia has very much moved down that sort of progressive conveyor belt like most Western nations have. The way I probably see it is that Western Europe has gone furthest in that direction, fastest, Second to that probably the UK, and then I'd say Canada is close behind, if not up there with the UK, and Australia would be next and then, I guess, the United States. So where, in terms of going down that progressive Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole, I would say the United States has been the slowest of the Western nations to do that and at a guess Australia would be the second slowest. So praise the Lord for that. But you know we are still moving in the direction of the UK and Western Europe and Canada.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we really see. You know, it's interesting. I did a presentation over the weekend here and it was speaking to a pretty diverse group and I said, you know, we're talking about the spiritual battle, you know. And I said to them, you know, in a way, don't get too demoralized. I said, you know, these were a lot of Catholics but some Christians. You know, we're all Christians but some non-Catholics, I should say Christians, you know, we're all Christians but some non-Catholics, I should say. And so we're in this mixed kind of audience and I said, you know, in a way, if we took God out of our own hearts, kurt, we took him out of our marriages, we took him out of our education system, out of our culture and out of our nation, and nothing happened, nothing bad happened, I would think I'd be a little disappointed in a way. Right, I mean, we hate evil, we hate what's going on, but on the other hand I think, well, maybe we don't need God, you know. But that's not what happened. That's not what happened. That's such a good point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, people get really confused. You know, there's a constitution. There's four constitutional documents that came out of Vatican II. One of them is called Gaudium Espes and in there it says when God is forgotten, the creature itself grows unintelligible. We no longer know who we are. When I first read that, kurt, many years ago, I thought, okay, I kind of get that. But then I went back a couple years ago to look at that again when God is forgotten, the creature itself grows unintelligible. When I'm speaking to young people, that really seems to be happening. We really lose our identity, and when you lose your identity in your inalienable rights given from God, then the power just goes to the government, and the government gives and the government can take away. I think that's where we all find ourselves now.
Speaker 2:I think you're right. And look, there's a mindset, I think, in a lot of Christians that says let the government do what it does, let the church do what it does, separation of church and state, and the church can kind of just go on its merry way. But the reality is and I think behind that view is a very Greek understanding of separating the secular from the sacred and almost this fanciful idea that the church can continue operating as it always has, even as the government encroaches more and more in our lives and becomes increasingly secular. But as you've said, the reality is that when you remove God, not just from obvious places, but you remove him entirely from the state, from the government and from the culture, there are major effects that take place, and this is something that took me a long time as a Christian to realize that was happening, and I think a lot of Christians are very reluctant to acknowledge it, because then all of a sudden it means that Jesus has to be Lord of politics, he has to be Lord of every area of our lives, not just church, not just private worship, but Lord of education, lord of government, lord of all of these realms that we've sort of surrendered to the secular state and when you take God out of all of those parts of our lives and of our culture, there are major, major problems that come about, and the one that you've raised a few times is with young people and the confusion that they experience.
Speaker 2:You know, for generations, really for thousands of years, young people understood that there was male, there was female, that a man marries a woman, that that covenant is for life, that children are born into that marriage, that's a safe place to raise children.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's just in the area of human sexuality and marriage. We could talk about any number of other issues, but just look at that one. Well, for the last, I guess, 10 or 15 years, we've totally scrambled that and essentially the state has wiped the slate clean and said we don't have any rules about male and female, about sexuality, about marriage, and it's absolute cultural chaos as a result. So, as you say, you know you remove God from something as simple as marriage and family and there is absolute cultural chaos that takes place. And I think it's very encouraging to talk to you. I know that you know your audience and many of the networks you're in are willing to speak into culture and into politics, and I think that's something I've become very passionate about, because I realize you take God out of the picture of any number of these issues and we end up in so much chaos.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what we speak to a lot here is that people get to your point. You know the separation of church and state, but what happens is, if I'm a Christian and if I have these beliefs, my job and my task is to take those beliefs into my occupation, you know. In other words, you know we don't want to become a state that says look at, you know, you have a specific religion here in the United States, right, but but it's up to Christians to act like Christians. In my job, if I'm in finance, if I'm in politics, if I work at a hospital, we have to bring that faith out and I think that's what scares people and, on the other hand, really it lifts people up. In other words, if I'm on fire in my heart for Christ, I realize, yes, he's asking me to go out there and speak. There are groups of people, there are these sparks, and we see it in young people. And this is why I think the work that you're doing is so important, kurt, because I almost gave up on some of the boomers, even in many of the millennials, but those young people. So Gen Z is high school here. It would be like 13, 14 years old to maybe 27 or so, but I would even go a little higher. We go up to 30 here. We're speaking to them and they're looking for direction and they're open.
Speaker 1:This is a great time to evangelize. It's a hope. It's a hope for our nation, right? You know these old people are gonna I don't know if we can change them, kurt, but but you, let's talk a little bit about the articles that you wrote about you. You wrote one on the united states that the the future. I think you call it. The future is in conservatism, right, something like, something like that Very good article. I'll link it. And then you wrote also about the UK. So you saw, you know you were talking about the young people in the United States and also in the UK, and there was enough young people. Like I said, they really turned the vote around for Trump. So it's very exciting to see that from an event. You know, when we want to evangelize and people are asking questions and so they're open, right.
Speaker 1:And when you have the answer. When you have the answer, it's really gratifying right to be able to share our faith in those yeah, totally.
Speaker 2:You know, for a long time, jack, I've thought that if the West is going to be saved, it's going to be through some kind of a revival. You know, we look at Christian history and God has moved in powerful ways many times in the past, and so I've long thought that if we're going to see the West saved it's going to be through some dramatic revival, and I still hold out hope for that. But more recently, I guess I've seen another avenue that God could use, and in any case, no matter what happens, it's going to be God.
Speaker 1:If the West is saved, one of the avenues I think he might use Wait hold on to that thought because I don't want people to skip by what you just said. You know this is a spiritual battle and if we're not praying while we're acting right, it ain't going to happen. Kurt, this is really a spiritual battle and you're right, god is going to surprise us. He always surprises us. But I want to interrupt that you just made a great point there that you know this is going to take prayer and action together.
Speaker 1:And the one without the other is not going to make it, but anyways, go ahead. Thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I think revival is still a very possible you know means God will use. But another means I've seen as a possibility rise up in recent years is this younger generation. Like you say, I've written recently both on the US and the UK. I believe it was the New York Times that made the point, or one of the people that we interviewed for an article. They wrote that there's a really strong connection essentially between conservatism and that's not just like the Republican Party or the GOP or anything like that, it's conservative beliefs, conservative cultural understandings of things like sex and marriage and all that stuff. That's where there is a sense that there's some spiritual renewal going on in the culture.
Speaker 2:In America and in the UK there's similar statistics showing that church attendance and belief in the Bible have essentially spiked again in the younger generation. Yeah, so it's dying off. In the older generations, perhaps in the very old ones, it's still strong, but in maybe the baby boomer generation there's been a lot of cynicism. A lot of people walk away and certainly a lot of people embrace progressive politics, often in the name of faith, sadly. But among the young. I think many of the young people throughout the Western world have actually seen the results of some of these progressive policies, and not just that, but the anti-Christian worldview coming to full flower in the culture. And they've said you know what there's no hope there, there's no future, and I need something more stable to build my life on, and we need something more stable to build our civilization on. And fortunately, many of those young people are starting to realize that God is the answer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's amazing, isn't it? When you think about these young people are growing up in the most toxic culture maybe in history, when you add in the phones and the social media and all the ways that this can attack them. Right, and yet the human heart is amazing. I'm looking at a young guy, kurt, in you, and you have the courage to stand up right to do this. I mean, you're going to be a voice for these young people. You are a voice for these young people and that's why I wanted you on this show and I want to make sure we get some links in the show notes for people to follow you and read you, because they need these mentors like you and they need to look at someone that says I have the way. In other words, when we saw these people, these young people, they weren't voting left or right. They weren't voting Democrat or Republican here in the United States. They were voting populist, but they were voting for Trump. They were voting for a person, were voting populist, but they were voting for Trump. They were voting for a person. Now, when you can introduce them to this other person that you and I are talking about here, that also will bring them hope. They hear it. See, here's my point the human heart is made for more. And these young people are now looking. And now, when you can say hey, you know, you know.
Speaker 1:Remember John 1, the first. When I came back into the church, I'm reading through the Bible, right, and I read the first chapter of John, and John the Baptist had said he's baptizing, you know. And Jesus comes down. He says the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He's all excited and two of John the Baptist's disciples start to follow Jesus. Right, and Jesus turns and he says something very cool and these young people love this what do you seek? No propaganda, no ideology, no shoving anything down your throat, no moralizing even. What do you seek? And they said to him Rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying? In other words, we heard something, we feel something. Now let's get a little more. And he just says come and see, come and see the person. Huh. And so I think this is very exciting to me, you know. And who knows what's going to happen? I mean, it's, it's uh, it's a, it's a crazy world. Now.
Speaker 1:Now, before I get too far off, tangent, you have an election coming up. We just have one in canada, right and? And you wrote about this. What did you say? Do you remember what you said about how he got elected? Let's see if I have it. We have an enormous blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I have to read what you wrote. Let me see if I can find it, but you probably. Oh, here it is. They locked us down, tore us apart and said it was for our good. This weekend I'm voting Now. You're talking about Australia here. I'm voting with the economy in mind and for life, family, faith and freedom, but most of all, I'm voting for accountability, for the COVID years. Let them not forget what they did. Now you also wrote that they just did that in Canada. They voted for the most liberal propaganda. I mean, if I was living in Canada right now, kurt, I'd be so depressed I'd be. You know it'd be like Kamala Harris getting voted here. You know I would just be. I'd be drinking all day is what I know.
Speaker 2:So I mean I'm feeling depressed, and I'm not even Canadian. So yeah, I do feel for that nation.
Speaker 1:Now let me ask you this then so do you have a candidate? Like you said, you're gonna vote with the economy in mind, et cetera. Are there candidates there in Australia that you can vote for? You don't have a Donald Trump there yet. I suppose no. Maybe we'll get one, but is there somebody that can get you moving in the right direction? What are we looking at there?
Speaker 2:Look as a Christian and I guess as a conservative, there's someone I'd prefer. His name is Peter Dutton. He's currently the opposition leader and he's standing against our current prime minister, anthony Albanese. So I would certainly hope that Dutton gets in, but the polls are not looking good. Honestly, they're not, I think, a very similar situation to Canada. So the party in power has not it's not the party currently in power, the Labour Party has not been in government for 12 years or whatever that has been the case in Canada. They've only been in for the last four, I believe it is. So it's not quite as bad a situation as Canada in that sense. But the opposition leader is very much mirrors Pierre Polivet's stance, which was that at times he's shown courage, but for the most part he's failed to speak up on some of the issues that really matter.
Speaker 2:And the media is very left-wing here, as it is in the US, as it is in Canada, and at every turn they've attempted to paint Dutton, peter Dutton, as some kind of a Trump disciple or something.
Speaker 2:And he's not, and I actually wish he was, and he's absolutely not. I mean, there's almost nothing that links them in common, but that's been the pitch of the media, and so Dutton has run scared and tried to distance himself from Trump and tried to not speak up on things like women in sport or net zero. You know, climate catastrophe stuff, or the COVID years, or there's any number of issues that he could be bold on and he's chosen not to be, sadly so. There've been occasions where he's shown a bit of courage, but for the most part he hasn't and I think as a result, he's essentially presenting exactly what the other candidate is, but just a sort of a lighter version of it, which means you know, why would you vote for him if there's so little difference? So I think the result I mean I'm praying and we've got a campaign of prayer, we're doing 21 days of prayer and fasting for the Australian election and it is absolutely my prayer that Dutton gets in, but the way the polls are looking, it doesn't look very hopeful.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So what do we do? What do we do? Just keep battling, huh, keep fighting. No-transcript.
Speaker 2:The views that I share are very much standard Christian conservative views, so yes they're.
Speaker 2:At one level, I don't have any fear of being arrested or thrown in jail, but at another level I look at what's happening in Europe and the UK and it does seem like it's not not long until something like that potentially could happen. So yeah, it's scary. I mean it's not an immediate threat, but there's certainly been. You know there's been a lot of people who've lost careers, put it that way Very blessed position to be able to write for a living and commentate, write about politics and Christianity for a living. So that's great. But if I was a medical doctor or a teacher or in some other kind of profession, there's a very high chance I would have lost my career by now. And I know personally know a number of Australians for whom that has been the case. So in certain contexts there's not an immediate threat, but in other ways, yeah, absolutely there is. There's a big cost now to simply speak the truth on things as basic. As you know, a man can't get pregnant, yeah.
Speaker 1:So, as we start to wind down a little bit, you know Australia, you know, would we have considered that a Christian nation at one time?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yeah, there's a myth that says Australia has always been secular, but that is not the case. I've done a lot of writing on this too.
Speaker 1:There's extremely strong Christian roots in Australia and I'd love to share about that more or give you a link to an article about it or something like that. Yeah, I would love to do that because we know that it's disappearing, just like it did. I guess I'm assuming it is because when we start to lose our courage and it's not only courage, it's confusion. And it's not only courage, it's confusion, you know it's going to take. It takes a certain base, a foundation in human dignity, in marriage and the family. It takes an understanding of being created in the Imago Dei right, in the image of God, in order to be able to go out into the culture and fight for these things.
Speaker 1:And I just see so many people here in the United States that are apathetic. And I was a little surprised actually that Trump won to tell you the truth, because, not that I didn't think he would get enough votes, because there's a lot of Christians in the United States. It says you know, you even pointed out in your article as far as the, there was a graph and it was going down. And not only going down, but the people that said they were Christian are living practically not like Christians. But COVID woke us up. Covid woke us up and we said you know what, you know, I don't care what anybody thinks anymore. If anybody is Christian and I don't care who's working with me, kurt, they could be evangelicals, they could be anybody. We're not throwing anybody out, right? We have to unite under this.
Speaker 1:And otherwise you know you can't. They would love to pick us off divide us up into Catholics and evangelicals and Protestants Most of the Protestants here, unfortunately, and I shouldn't say you know I'm generalizing but many of their churches have given in to the gender ideologies.
Speaker 2:They have, sadly, yeah, the mainline denominations. I wrote an article about that on the Daily Declaration recently as well. The PCUSA Presbyterian Church of USA has closed up the United Methodists yeah, yeah, the PCUSA has just closed up its mission arms.
Speaker 2:It's, you know, for 200 years sent missionaries all around the world and they've just shuttered their missions department and said we're not, we're not keeping any missionaries on the field anymore, salaried and at one level. That's very sad and you could look at it as a funding issue and stuff. But more broadly, they've had major decline in their numbers in that denomination for many, many years. And if you look below the surface of even that, what? What's the reason? Well, they've compromised on sexuality, they've compromised on marriage. They've compromised on sexuality. They've compromised on marriage, they've compromised on all sorts. They're ordaining gay and transgender people in that church, if you can even call it a church.
Speaker 1:And they're running. People are running out, kurt, to your point.
Speaker 2:They are, that's right Very quickly.
Speaker 1:If I go to church and you bring the culture into the church, I think, well, why do I need to go to church?
Speaker 2:I can get all of that out out there, you know right, yeah, yeah, exactly, I can just get brainwashed at my local, yeah public school or whatever. Oh, I'd rather go to church on a sunday too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how are the schools, the public schools? Are they also indoctrinated with all of these gender ideologies and things, would you say?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, I would say that maybe the gender stuff has not been pushed as extremely in australia as it has been in the us in our public schools, but there have been other things that pushed very strongly on. So, for example, um, the decolonization narrative, the idea that the white man is evil and we have to perpetually apologize for sins that were committed by our ancestors 200 years ago, and that that sort of narrative has been extremely propagandized to the young people in the public schools. So that's a real battlefront in Australia right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we have some of the same thing. We call it critical race theory, right, crt?
Speaker 2:and gender theory.
Speaker 1:Well, listen, give us some links, because I want people to read some of those articles. And where can they find you at? Because you write for a number. You know, when I start looking at the things that you write, do you have a central place where we can go and find that? Or you tell us how? What's the best way to follow you if people want to follow you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure, thanks, jack. So probably the two places would be the Daily Declaration, so that's dailydeclarationorgau, or if you simply go to your favorite search engine and type Daily Declaration, you'll be able to find that, and I publish probably roughly once a day or a few times a week. So yeah, you can follow me there. That's almost everything I write these days is going on the Daily Declaration.
Speaker 1:Okay, and then going out from there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then social media is the other place, so I'm quite active on x. So if you just look for my name, kurt Malberg, on x, you'll find me there, and I also have some great posting there.
Speaker 1:By the way on x. Thank you, I follow you, and and uh, yeah, I love some of the stuff you put out. I mean it's, it's, it's amazing, uh, and, and where else besides x?
Speaker 2:And then Facebook. I've got a Facebook page, so feel free to follow me there as well, yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, hope they get you on X I'm going to send you I'm going to email you if I didn't already this outline we call Claymore. I want you to look at that. It's just a very, it's a blueprint for young men to disciple other men. What we're finding is, you know, these young men are waking up, but we don't want any of them to fall through the cracks, kurt, and what we find is there are people willing to help them, but they needed a framework. And so we put a framework together here, called this claim work Amiletus Christi, and it's a framework to help me disciple a number of young guys.
Speaker 1:And what we do is we do a podcast every Friday. So I'm telling you this because I'd love to have you back for this, just to speak to these young people every Friday, and it's part of this plan. And so I would tell you, kurt, go listen to this podcast on Friday. I'll listen to it and then call me Saturday and we'll talk, right, and so it's an easy way, simple way at least I don't know if it's so easy, but a simple way and it leads them in the formation, you know, to spiritual formation, doctrinal formation, and it also talks about the things we were talking about. We got to go out and fix the culture too right, and so I want you to just take a quick look at it and see what you think.
Speaker 1:And I'd love to get you on the show. So, if you're willing, take a look at it and to speak to these young people. It's the same podcast. It goes out to other people. It's just that the people on Friday, the younger people, know that we're going to put a message together for them. So it's kind of special and I'd be honored to have you on there. You are, you are, you know you're, you're, you're really inspiring, you know the way you, you, you speak, the way you write and you're bringing a couple of children into this world. You have courage. We know you have courage. You know, and my son is I, one of my kids is is just having his fourth. And I tell him I said, jake, he's 30, probably 38, maybe going on 39 now. And I tell him I said thank you for your courage and I really mean that and as a father and grandfather of these kids, I'm staying in the fight because of that and it's very exciting to me again.
Speaker 2:And I think we owe that to this younger generation.
Speaker 1:So thank you so much for your voice.
Speaker 2:We appreciate it. Thank you, Jack. Thank you for your words of encouragement and for having me on today. It's been a real pleasure.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, don't go away. I'm going to hang up here, but don't go away. Just for a second. All right, Goodbye everyone. Thanks for listening in today. We appreciate it. Talk to you again soon. Bye-bye.