Balancing Act: Combining Politics and Jesus

0:00:00   Oh, you have to listen to my podcast today. It’s going to be so interesting when I talk about mixing the spiritual with the political. And it raised a firestorm. Like, you can’t do that. Well, I’m going to tell you how you can in the next podcast. Hey, everybody. Welcome again to another More Faith, More Life podcast, where we’re going to help you grow your faith so you can live out your life to the fullest measure.

0:00:20   Today, we’re going to talk a little bit about politics, not maybe the way you expected it, maybe the way people are expecting me to do it. Just returned from Washington, DC, where I was at the conservative political action conference called CPAC. And while there, there’s politics, there were politicians. The attorney general from Missouri was there. So that was kind of fun. And Donald Trump showed up. He did a big speech.

0:00:48   So there’s a lot going on. And Zion, you would have enjoyed the secret Service. I ended up having to go through twice because I had to go talk to somebody, go in and go talk. So it was pretty tight, dogs and all, in order to get in. And I got waned a couple of times, but no big deal. Now, we’re kind of used to that, I guess, from the airports. But anyway, I spent several number of days there last week, and it was kind of exciting, kind of eye opening.

0:01:19   I’ve been in the religious world for a long time, and sometimes the arrogance of religious leaders gets on you. Well, there was plenty of arrogance at this conference, but there were plenty of good people, too. It’s just trying to get a message across, a fresh message across to some of the news media that was there was really tough because they already have their agenda. And then we have another problem.

0:01:44   And I ran smack head on into this one, okay? It’s already assumed, if I say, which my book, if you only knew, says, and I say in some papers, and I’m saying it a lot, that I’m trying to combine the spiritual with the political. All right? Now, what that means to most people, they jump to conclusions, not listening to what I’m saying because they think I say, I’m going to start getting involved in the political by pressuring spiritual things to legislate spiritual things, for instance, they think, okay, I’m going to combine the spiritual with the political.

0:02:23   Okay? Next thing you know, he’s going to be talking about abortion and trying to legislate abortion one way or the other, or he’s going to try to legislate how some politicians need to upgrade the court system or crime or whatever and that he’s going to get involved in that now and try to take spiritual principles and apply them to the political. And that’s not it. That’s not so bad, but that’s not what I do. And so it was immediately I kind of ran head on because that was the assumption of what they think everybody does. Because how many over the years do we have politicians that are called Reverend?

0:03:07   Maybe you can think of a couple. And there’s been a number over the years. Reverend so and so, but is really a politician. We have one here in Kansas City that we’ve met with a couple of times. He’s a reverend, but he’s also an elected politician. Well, that’s what they think I’m saying. So it worries them that I’m going to now use what I know and that to now manipulate the political system to make it more conservative or.

0:03:35   Yeah, well, that’d be a good way to say it, more conservative. And so what happened was I was walking down and I got interviewed and I didn’t know they were interviewing me because I guess I’m supposed to see the microphone is on, but they didn’t ask me, can we interview you? They just struck up a conversation with me and asked me some questions. Now, the deceptive part of it was here, I lost it. Let me find it again.

0:03:59   Where to go? Brooke sent it to me and here we are. Okay. The deceptive part of it was Zion, is they said the headline said Trump or Jesus. CPAC pastors ask where they put their faith. Now, what they want to say is us pastors are putting our faith in Trump, not Jesus. So they put the headline, you probably can’t see it. There’s the headline. Yeah, there’s the headline. Okay. So by association they say Trump or Jesus.

0:04:37   Well, then as you read and take the things that I said, you automatically think that’s what the subject is. I’m talking about Trump or Jesus. And so they come away saying that I said, we need Trump more than we need Jesus. Well, that lit up a firestorm, I’ll tell you, by pastors and christians all over the country. But I wrote right here. They quoted me, I’m trying to mix the spiritual with the political.

0:05:03   Okay? That’s exactly what I’m trying to do. I said my church is going great and all that kind of stuff. Then they asked me, does America need Jesus more or Trump more? Well, everybody knows if you take that and you really let listen to what I’m saying, I’m not obviously going to make Trump more important than Donald Trump, more important than Jesus. If I did, why have I given 40 years of my life to Jesus to serve him?

0:05:37   And I said, this is my plain opinion. I said, I’m a big supporter of Trump. And I guess I am big. Maybe I just said supporter, probably. But anyway, and I said, I think the spiritual, wait. I think the spiritual is going to be long term. The political is short term. So what am I talking about there? Time, not person. I’m not talking about deity. Right? I didn’t say he’s a deity. I’m going to go with him. He can solve all our problems.

0:06:06   No, I put the spiritual is going to be long term and the political is short term. So as a president, I said we need him now. You know why? Because the election is now. We got a primary today that I’m talking right now. I think there’s one going on somewhere. So it got all twisted. We need him now. The spiritual, we got, we can work into it. Well, if you’re a revivalist like me, and you’ve written this book like me, you understand that the election is right now. So all of us, we got to decide who we’re going to elect, right?

0:06:41   But we have time to develop the spiritual and talk to politicians and talk to people. We got time. But the election, like I said, if you live in a certain state and there’s a primary today, your time is up. You got to vote today. You have to decide who you’re going to vote for today. Okay? So that’s what it was. It was a time question. Like, well, right now, that’s what I’m here for at CPAC, is to influence politicians, because that’s what we need.

0:07:11   But the spiritual just goes on and on and on. And in fact, the book, if you only knew, went into the hands of a lot of media people. I hope you’ll get it. But if you read this, it’s a small book, if you’ll read it, if you’ll get it and read it. Donald Trump’s not even mentioned in it. Okay, so let me explain what it is, and hopefully we’ll kind of get it down. And on this recording, we’ll get it down.

0:07:35   Here’s what it is. When I talk about combining the spiritual with the political, I’m not talking about politics. I’m talking about people, politicians. There’s a difference, isn’t there, of trying to make the spiritual fit on the political agenda of everybody and make it. Maybe they think I’m going to push my way or conservative ways, but that’s not it at all. No, I’m interested in people. That’s where I work.

0:08:00   And I even say in this article, that’s my lane. The spiritual is my lane. That’s where I go. What I’m trying to do is influence the people with the spiritual, not legislation. I’m not going to try to be my conservative or my morality or what I think is right. And what I think your lifestyle should be. As a matter of fact, a lot of people want me to take a stronger stand against certain lifestyles. And I had somebody say, listen, when those people want to hear my opinion, maybe I’ll give it. I can have opinions, too. But if they’re not asking what I think, then why do I want to push what I think?

0:08:41   I’m not like them, they’re not like me. But can we meet in the middle? Yeah, because I can give my opinion, if you don’t mind, and you give your opinion, but that doesn’t mean I endorse it, but that means that we should be able to talk these things over and give our opinions on it. And so I have an opinion, but I’m not going to give my opinion if you don’t ask me. Why would I go to some other lifestyle and say, hey, I’m here to tell you what God says about the way you’re living.

0:09:07   Well, I don’t even know if they believe in God. What do they care? Right? Maybe they do believe in God and they do care, but if they don’t ask my opinion, then why does religion want to force it, right? We’re supposed to be separate, right? We separate, all right, and live a holy life like that. But in this case, then they believe I’m going to start influencing politics. No, I’m here to influence politicians and Christians, everybody politicians.

0:09:38   And talk to them that if we don’t have a spiritual renaissance, refreshing revival in our country, then we cannot listen. We cannot solve the country’s problems just by politics. That’s the message. They didn’t quite get that outright or ask me the right thing. We cannot solve America’s problems by just politicians. We’re going to need the spiritual, which is going to take some time. You know why? Because people, I mean, they’re ready to vote, but they’re not ready for the spiritual. We’ve got churches that are still lukewarm.

0:10:19   They’re talking more Sigmund Freud. It’s like going to a therapy. I don’t tell me why I’m having trouble loving other people. Well, it’s because your mother didn’t love you. Oh, that’s it. And it’s not my fault. And then the worst one of all, what you need to do is before you can love other people, you need to love yourself. What ridiculous talk is that? Find that in the Bible. But everybody says it. Okay?

0:10:45   So I’m trying to influence spiritual things on people that work in politics, that legislate, that influence other people, big numbers of people. And that’s the only way we’re going to be able to save the nation, the way it needs to be saved. Because right now all it is a mess. All people do is argue. And people hate one candidate, they hate another candidate, and they’re just arguing back and forth.

0:11:14   I enjoyed being there in Washington DC, but I can say this, it was basically most people that I heard speak just repeated the same problems over and over and over. We got border problems, we got inflation problems, we ought to open the pipelines because we got gasoline problems, oil problems and what else? School problems, things like that. And so they all named all the stuff that we need to change, right?

0:11:39   But I didn’t mention any of those things, although I do agree that they are bad symptoms. But what I’m out to do is not change the law. I’m here to change the heart. And if we change our hearts, we’ll make better laws instead of arguing and fighting. Because only the spirit of God can turn a person from one person and make you another person. And you see things differently. I mean, that’s the whole gospel. The whole gospel is when it started with the gospel of Jesus Christ, the kingdom of God.

0:12:10   And then it moved over from Jews, the Jewish people, over to non Jewish people, gentiles. They were coming out of pagan religion altogether. And so they had to learn all kinds of things. But guess what? They were so touched by the power of God, it changed how they viewed idols, spirits, demonic spirits, devil, all kinds of things. They change their minds by the spirit of God, not by a politician and not by a soldier or war or whatever.

0:12:46   And that’s the point that people are not understanding. They think, I’m going to go in now and try to legislate my morality or my spiritual views. And that’s not what I want to do. I want to influence by the spirit of God people, politicians, both sides of the aisle, not just republicans, but democrats too. Because if we can start seeing the necessity to promote the things of God, not be negative about it, not make fun of religion and say, everybody needs to experience the presence of God.

0:13:23   If you could experience the presence of God, it might change the way you’re going to vote. I don’t know. I don’t know how you’re going to vote, but it could change you. It could change the way you feel about our schools. You may think they’re fine and a bunch of noise makers are just causing trouble and all that. Well, then you get touched by the spirit of God and your opinions change. The world might not change, but the way you see it does.

0:13:45   And so that’s what I’m trying to do. And I knew it would be hard, but I didn’t think that people would jump to conclusions that I’m trying to spiritualize. How much time we got? We doing okay? Yeah, we got some time. Well, I had a guy comment then. He was really angry because he thought that I was saying, picking Trump over Jesus and, boy, while he talked like the devil, he was so upset. I chose Trump. Well, I didn’t. But while he thinks I chose Trump, I think he chose the devil. The way he was talking, pretty devilish.

0:14:28   But somebody quoted, I told him, I said, listen, I’m not going to get involved in politics. I’m not going to be political. Well, they came back to me and said, well, listen, if you’re combining the spirit spiritual with the political, then you’re being political. I go, you don’t get it because it doesn’t make sense. So what are we supposed to do with the spirit? Like, spiritually, I want to influence the world.

0:14:55   Okay, so that means by that thinking, if that’s true, then by emphasizing spiritual things to the world, I would be worldly. In other words, I can’t do it without being worldly. Well, yes, I can go back now, back up and you can. You influence spiritual things on the political. But that doesn’t mean I’m political or I’m going to turn worldly or I’m going to be a politician. It means I want to influence politicians. I want to influence influencers, not just politicians, all kinds of people that they just don’t know.

0:15:29   They just don’t know what this really is all about. And the necessity that we need to have a spiritual revival in our nation to help save our nation and to save the things that we hold dear. But I’ve been doing this a long time, and most people, whether they’re influencers or not influencers, politicians or not, rich or poor, they just have not experienced what this is about. Because religious people have turned it into going to heaven or hell, being saved or lost.

0:16:04   Right? And Zion, I prefer to call it inside, outside, because saved is such a hard term. Now, people know saved means you’re going to heaven, and I’m saying no. Are you inside or are you an outsider to God’s kingdom? Are you inside working or you’re really outside? Because you know your position and you can see the position of people. Some people would say, well, you can’t tell whether somebody’s saved or not.

0:16:31   Well, but I can tell whether they’re inside or outside by the way they live and participate, things that they do. I prefer that much better. And so the fact that I want to get the spiritual with the political doesn’t make me political, doesn’t make me a politician, doesn’t make me political any more than putting the spiritual into the world makes me worldly. But listen, there are such great people.

0:16:55   I’m going to open my heart just a second. There’s such great people in this country that do great jobs, they’re talented, they’re influence influencers, entrepreneurs, politicians, musicians, pastors, too. Such great people that have done this for years and years, or they believe in God, but they’ve been so burnt on the heaven and hell thing, not understanding, that’s not. I’m not holding the Bible, I’m holding my book. If I had a Bible, I’d hold it up. That’s not what the Bible teaches and that’s not what happened.

0:17:31   If you look back in history and get a correct theology to the Jews that first became believers in Jesus, or even before that, when you say the word saved, historically, it did not mean go to heaven. Never with our Jewish roots. And then the first century Christians who started all the churches and got us going, right, saved did not mean go to heaven. That’s our modern interpretation. Saved meant to be rescued, healed, delivered, kept from harm.

0:18:11   So if you could ask a Jewish person back then, way back, or a Jewish believer, whatever, are you saved? They would look around and say, yeah, I’m pretty saved. Look, nice house, we’re all healthy, we got a good income, we’ve been rescued, we’re not demonic, we’re not hearing warlock voices or anything like that. We’re not having spiritual spooks in our house or anything like that, or ghosts or whatever in our house.

0:18:44   No, we’re pretty saved. And that’s how they thought. And then when they got themselves in trouble, they would come and say, save us, lord. Well, they didn’t mean go to heaven, they meant rescue us from our enemies. And so America needs to be saved. But that’s such a terrible word now because people think it means heaven or hell. And it doesn’t. It means, God rescue you now, change you now, help you now, take the hurt now. Everything’s now.

0:19:07   Now. Do we get to go to heaven if we die? Yes, but not now. You don’t want to die now, do you? No. You want to live now. That’s why we say more faith, more life to live. So anyways, very interesting, eye opening. I did learn something. I learned how to explain this better and quicker so that people understand the difference between the spiritual and political. I’m not trying to be a politician. I’m trying to touch politicians and entrepreneurs, movie stars, anything, really.

0:19:35   People that influence people and pastors that influence people with the presence of God. And we need a spiritual revival. I’d like you to get the book, if you only knew. A guide for the clueless generation. It’s not expensive. And all these news media people, I don’t know how interested they were because everybody was so busy here. I didn’t just hand them my book, I had a packet tells who I was and the book like that.

0:19:56   But hopefully we’ll hear some response from that. But I’m going to keep going with it and keep doing it. And I learned my lesson about how I got to make sure that I explain myself fully before the guy walks away and makes his own headline to make me say what I didn’t say. All right, well, anyway, we had a little fun with that. It’s no big deal. There’s so much anger out there. It doesn’t matter what you say, people are going to get angry. Anyway, I’ve enjoyed visiting. I hope that helps you and that I would get interested with me, get interested in not so much becoming a politician, but getting the spiritual to influence the political by the spirit of God, right?

0:20:36   Not by might, not by power, but by the spirit of God. And that’s what we want to do. So maybe you’d like to get interested, too. You can donate, go to the website, more faith, more life. Get the book. Find out how you can get involved, how you can connect me to your church or your ministry or your pastor. I’ve been all over the world and I know revival. And if you want to see revival in your church, you should get a hold of me and say, how can you help us? Or when can you come or tell us more?

0:21:06   Have a Zoom conference or something to talk about how we can get revival in America. All right, thanks for listening. Until next time. Bye.