Tucker on the New Religion of Trump’s America and His Mockery of Jesus Christ

Donald Trump is a famously irreligious. man, just not that interested, basically. secular, a product of his time and. place. If you doubt that, some of the funniest. clips ever of Donald Trump, and this is. not a criticism, they're legit funny, are him being interviewed during the. 2016 campaign and asked basic questions. like, "What's your favorite book of the. Bible?" To which he says, with some. confusion, "Well, the Bible." Maybe. unaware there are component books to it. So, Donald Trump is not someone who.

traditionally, or ever, really, has weighed in on. questions of faith or theology. Kind of. gives it a pass, or smiles. "Yeah, I'm for it. I'm for it. The. Bible.". But, in the space of one week, Donald. Trump, the same famously irreligious. Donald Trump, has weighed in in pretty. specific ways on matters of faith and. theology and religion, publicly. In ways that are disruptive and sort of. hard to understand, but worth trying to.

understand. So, all this began about 10. days ago on Easter Sunday, early on. Easter Sunday, before 9:00 a.m. on Easter Sunday, when. Trump tweeted that he was planning on. destroying civilian infrastructure in. Iran. It was going to be bridge and. power plant day, basically promising war. crimes, crimes against civilians, against the population of the country. And then, in that same tweet, or truth, he used the F-word on Easter Sunday. And. then, he seemed to make fun of Islam. "Praise.

Allah," he said. So, in one short. statement of about 110 words, he seemed to give the finger to the. world's two largest religions, Christianity and Islam. Hmm. That was Sunday. And then, exactly one week later, also. on Sunday, the Christian holy day, he attacked the Pope, the leader of the world's largest. religion and largest Christian. denomination. And attacked him personally and said.

basically he's only Pope because of me. He's bad. The Pope is bad. And then. later that day. maybe most interestingly, bafflingly of. all. he sent out this, this meme. Take a look at this. Now, there are two on the screen. The. one on the right is the one that he sent. out and it's. himself, it's Donald Trump, President of. the United States dressed as Jesus. healing a man. You can see the healing.

power coming off of his right hand. Now, the image on the left of your. screen is the original image and it was. floating around the internet, who knows. exactly where it came from. Uh but it's. been there for quite some time. The one. on the right is the one the president. sent out. White House communications office or. whoever does this. sent out and you'll notice that it's. been changed and the American soldier. over the president's head, the president. as Jesus' head. has been changed and is now, if you look.

very carefully, a demon, some kind of. winged creature of hell. So, it goes from an image that suggests, you know, healing and light to an image. that suggests, I don't know, a scene. from Revelation, John's vision on the. Isle of Patmos, the end times, the. apocalypse, who knows, nothing good. It suggests demonic power because there. is a demon in it. So, he sent that out. And then withdrew it. Deleted the tweet from the internet.

after an outcry, but was asked about it. and he said, "Yeah, I sent that.". Um didn't explain how the demon got in. there, someone at the White House. put it in. Didn't explain why. And he said, "I sent it out, but it. wasn't me as Jesus." The obviously it. is. It was me as a doctor because I heal. people. Jesus, of course, basically described. himself as a doctor, someone who came. for the sick to heal them, which he did. So, maybe distinction without a. difference, but still kind of confusing.

And then today, a day later, was asked. about it again, and he said, "No, no, no, I didn't. I didn't have anything to. do with that. I didn't send it out.". Which wasn't. exactly an answer to the question. Even more confusing, what was that? And. then, to make it even. further mysterious, sent out this meme on Truth Social, retweeting somebody else, and it's him, Donald Trump, being, I don't know,

how would you describe that? Caressed by. healed by. maybe endorsed by Jesus. That's. unmistakably Jesus, the Christian. Messiah, the man-god at the center of. Christianity, with his arm around Donald Trump, basically saying, "You go, Trump. I'm on. your side.". So, all of that in a little over a week. What does it mean? Because it certainly.

means something. This isn't so much a couple of memes, these are. These are icons. This is iconography. These are attempts to send a statement. about faith. What statement is the president sending? Well, not a coherent one. Doesn't actually add up. to a theology. It's mockery. He's mocking Jesus. He's making fun of. Christianity. The central figure of the religion is.

being held up. for mockery. Of course. And his description of how. this got out is itself mockery, mockery. of the idea of truth. One day he says, "Yeah, I did it." Next day he says, "No, I didn't do it.". Both are on video. That's not really a lie. It's more than. a lie. It's bigger than a lie. It's an attack not just on a specific. set of facts. It's an attack on the idea. that there are facts. It's an attack on truth. Openly. No one's hiding this.

So, this was kind of dismissed after a. online kerfuffle for a few hours and. people were outraged and then they. weren't and we've got other things to. worry about they moved on. But, for sincere religious people, for. Christians who care about Jesus and. what's true and what's not, a lot of them went to their Bibles to. try and figure out what are we watching. here? And a lot of them came up with. >> [snorts]. >> a couple of verses that seem to fit what.

we're watching. And if you are a sincere Christian or. know some, maybe you got these texted to. you, but we'll read them just so you. know how a lot of people of faith were. interpreting this. The first is from Paul's second letter. to the Thessalonians, the church of. Thessalonica. Um. chapter 2, very well-known verse in. which he's describing what's going to. happen when Jesus comes back and he. says, "You're going to hear that Jesus is.

coming back. Don't believe what you. hear. A bunch of things have to happen before. he returns to Earth, redeems the world, history ends. Um and you'll know that he's coming by. these events and among them will be the. rise of. a figure he describes as the man of. lawlessness, sometimes describes as the. Antichrist, but the man of lawlessness. is the phrase from his second letter. to the Thessalonians and he says this, "There will be a great rebellion against. God led by that man of lawlessness. This.

man, {quote} will oppose and will exalt. himself over everything that is called. God or is worshipped so that he sets. himself up in God's temple proclaiming. himself to be God. He will pose as God. He will mock other gods and put himself. in their place. That's from the second letter to the. Thessalonians, but it that's not the. first place in the Bible, Old and New. Testaments, where something like this is. described. Variations of this are in a.

number of prophecies in what Christians. call the Old Testament, including. those contained in the book of Daniel. The prophet Daniel describes something. very much like this. at the end of history, and he's. describing this period, really as it's. so often described in the prophets, as. punishment. Punishment for faithlessness and sin. God's people are being punished for not. following God. And that punishment describes in part in. chapter 11 from the book of Daniel, predicts the coming of a king, and we're.

quoting now, a king who will do as he. pleases. He will exalt and magnify. himself above every god. and will say unheard of things against. the God of gods. He will be success successful until the. time of wrath is completed. For what has been determined must take. place. It's all ordained, in other. words, preordained. He will show no. regard for the gods of his ancestors, nor will he regard any god, but will. exalt himself above them all.

So, to a lot of Christians or people who. know the Bible well and believe in it, these predictions. in both the Old and the New Testament, and there are others, seem to fit what we were watching. Here's a leader who's mocking the gods. of his ancestors, mocking the God of gods, and exalting himself above them. Could this be the Antichrist? Well, who knows? At least that's my conclusion. Who. knows? We're also told repeatedly. in the New Testament that you're not.

going to know. That Jesus will return like a thief in. the night, and and you better be ready. because you can't predict it. But we're also told there are signs and. is this one of them? Well, again, unclear. This, by the way, fits the behavior of. other leaders throughout history. who saw themselves. in a kind of rivalry with the gods of. their people and so thought to. sought to. put themselves over those gods, exalt. themselves above God.

That's actually pretty common. That is really the definition of. megalomania. And it's happened before. and will doubtless happen again. But. that's clearly what this is. This is. mockery of God. by a. temporal leader, by a man. This is the leader of our country. saying, "I will take no instruction from. God. because, as he showed in the first meme, I am God.". Okay.

So, that kind of raises the question, is that okay? Seems to be okay. There were no massive. protests in front of the White House. There was no attempt really to do. anything about this. In fact, many. Republican leaders shrugged it off. Self-professed Christians shrugged it. off. No big deal. You know, he's just just true socialing. Don't pay attention. It's just a joke. It's just a joke. What, you have no. sense of humor? Mocking Jesus? Giving the finger to God? You're so uptight.

And as for. his attacks on the Pope, Republican. leader after Republican leader, including just hours ago, the Speaker of. the House, the self-described Christian, fervent. Christian, Bible scholar, joined in attacking the Pope. So, you going to have to wonder, is this. the behavior of a Christian nation? Is. the United States a Christian nation? Well, that depends how you look at it. The United States is the nation with the. most Christians, over 200 million. There. are more Christians in the United States.

than in any other country on planet. Earth. So, it is by that definition a Christian. nation. Of course, it's not officially. Christian. Our Constitution forbids the US. government from creating a state. religion. in the First Amendment in the Bill of. Rights. So, no, it's not officially Christian, but it is fundamentally, materially. Christian because it's majority. Christian still. And once again, it's the country with. the most Christians, but it's not a. Christian country. And in fact, if you.

take three steps back, it's a nation, or it's a government. anyway, that has for a long time really. acted in opposition, explicit opposition to the interests of. Christians, not just the United States, but around the world. Our foreign. policy, for example, seems to target. Christians. And this has happened consistently. enough that it's probably not an. accidental byproduct of the policy. It. may be the point of the policy. Who. knows what the intent is? But certainly. a fact of every foreign policy.

adventure, at least since Vietnam, which in the end, and this is often. forgotten, left the Catholics, and there. were many of them in Vietnam, in concentration camps. Didn't help the. Catholics at all. Vietnam went from a Catholic country to. a communist country. And that's not entirely our fault, but. that is that was the effect. That. happened. The Iraq War. There were millions of Christians in. Iraq when it started. There aren't now.

A lot of them are dead. Our policies in. Syria, today in Lebanon, the only country in the Middle East with. a Christian president, a Christian head. of the military, being bombed with our bombs, dropped from our airplanes. Our. munitions are being used to kill. Christians. Our government is effectively. sanctioning the ethnic cleansing of. southern Lebanon, including Christian. villages, ancient Christian villages. So, our foreign policy abets the murder. Christians. And not just our foreign. policy,

all of our policies. Europe, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, our country as. well, have all changed substantially. demographically and become much less. Christian because of immigration. So, you often hear people complain, "Oh, Europe's becoming Muslim.". Yeah. Why is that? Well, because of mass. migration. We've abetted it. The neocons certainly. have abetted it. They've been in favor. of it. They've attacked anyone who's.

opposed to it. Victor Orbán in Hungary. just lost the other day. The Prime. Minister of Hungary was hated. by neoconservatives in Washington. Why. is that? Cuz he pushed back. against mass mass migration into. Hungary. And he said, "Hungary is part. of Christian Europe. It's a Christian. country. It's one of the main reasons I. don't want mass migration." Well, the. entire foreign policy establishment in. the United States decided he was an. enemy for saying that. So, it's not simply that they haven't.

stopped the destruction of Christian. Europe. They've been fully in favor of. it. They're fully in favor of the war. between Russia and Ukraine. Net effect, millions of dead Christian men. That's not just a again an accidental. byproduct. That may be the whole point. So, the United States government, as. distinct from the people of the United. States who are still majority Christian, United States government has been pretty. aggressively anti-Christian for a very. long time. Donald Trump is not the first president.

to give the finger to Jesus. Hardly. But, he is the first president to do it. in public. And this has been going on long enough. and it's reaching a kind of boiling. point right now that we can begin to see. the outlines of what the actual religion. of the United States government is. Certainly this administration. Because there always is one. There's no. secular government, never has been one, never will be one. A truly secular. government would have no purpose. Its.

leaders would have no destiny. There'd. be no real reason. to continue on. It certainly wouldn't. have any evangelical zeal. And our government does have evangelical. zeal. We're spreading democracy and free. market principles around the world, freedom or whatever. So every government is motivated by. religious impulse, whether the. government admits it or not. And ours certainly is. So what is the. civic religion of the United States? What's the religion of the US.

government? What's the religion, honestly, of Donald Trump? It's not Christianity, clearly. It's Israelism. It's the defense of Israel. Now, how do. you know that? Well, because the United. States has set up as its chief foreign. policy in the defense of Israel. That's. one clue. There's that. But it's much deeper than that. Who are the main enemies, as identified. by the. President of the United States, of his. government domestically? Who are his.

enemies? Who does he dislike? Who does. he attack? Who does he go out of his way. to undermine? Well, it's people who doubt. Israel. People who stand in the way of the aims. of the secular government of Israel. And that would include. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie, and the Pope. Now, how do you know that's what it is? Well, because that's the only thing they. have in common. The Pope, the American Pope, first.

American Pope, Pope Leo, is in American political terms a. liberal. He is, by the way, for mass. migration. Shamefully so, I would say, as a non-Catholic. But. while not anti-Israel, he's not a. Zionist because Catholicism doesn't. recognize Zionism as part of its. catechism. You can there are plenty of. Catholics who love Israel and there are. some who don't love Israel, maybe some. who hate Israel, but it doesn't really. have anything to do with the core. tenants of Catholicism. And unlike so.

many other newer versions of. Christianity, Catholicism has been. around for thousands of years and has a. very clearly articulated catechism. You. know what Catholics believe or what the. church believes. And what it tells its. members, its parishioners, its. Catholics, communicants to believe. It's all. written down. And unwavering support for the state of. Israel is just not on the list at all. At best, it's a faith that's agnostic.

toward the political fortunes of the. Netanyahu government. And that's not going to change because. again, there's a structure. and there is a list of beliefs, a creed. written down. So, it's pretty hard to. force. a church like that to change its views. because. those views are effectively set in stone. and have been for a very long time. So, the president's problem with Pope.

Leo probably has nothing to do with Pope. Leo's views on crime, which may be. annoying, by the way. His views on mass migration are very. hard to defend and very destructive, but. that's not really the problem here. The problem is that Pope Leo criticized. this war with Iran, which was waged in. partnership with Israel on behalf of. Israel at the instigation of Israel. And. he criticized that. That's his problem. So did Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas.

Massie. Thomas Massie made the mistake. of criticizing Israel's lobby in the. United States, AIPAC. That was his sin. Marjorie Taylor Greene didn't say a lot. about AIPAC, but wasn't enthusiastic. about waging wars on Israel. She got attacked, too. That's the only thing all three of them. have in common. Thomas Massie is a pretty strict. libertarian. Marjorie Taylor Greene is. what we used to call a MAGA. conservative. She believed the Trump. program from 2016. Hardly a liberal, totally opposed to. mass migration,

tough on crime as they used to say, has basically every single belief in. common with the Donald Trump who ran for. office in 2016, 2020, and 2024. There's. no daylight between them. She ran for. Congress because she was inspired by. Donald Trump. She was the number one Trump acolyte in. the Congress. Why did they break? Over. Israel. Over Israel's connection to Jeffrey. Epstein and over Israel's push for the. United States to join all kinds of.

foreign wars, particularly a war with. Iran. That's why they broke. That's the. thing that split their relationship and. got the president attacking her and. Thomas Massie and the Pope. So, what. does that tell you? It tells you what the religion is. The. religion is Israelism. It's the support. of Israel. That's why the president is totally. comfortable surrounding himself with. evangelical preachers, every one of whom. has one thing in common, whether they're. word of faith preachers or charismatic. preachers or not. That's a huge split.

among evangelicals. Are you charismatic. or not? Do you believe that glossolalia, tongues, prophecy, seeing. has a role in contemporary Christian. worship, church services? You know, they're mad at each other about that. Trump probably isn't even aware of that. distinction. All of them are welcome as. long as their faith includes unwavering. support for Israel. That's the common. denominator. That's the only thing that. matters. And because that's the only thing that. matters,

the coalition, the ever shrinking, day by day shrinking. coalition that supports this president. is now out in force. explaining that actually the Pope and. Catholics, the Catholic Church itself. which about 20 minutes ago most people. thought was conservative and that it's. pro-life for example, that used to be a. tenant of conservatism before this. president. it wasn't for abortion. that the Catholic Church is somehow.

liberal and not just liberal. anti-Semitic. It's evil. It hates Jews. It's actually pro-Nazi. Watch Lindsey Graham make this case. They're religious Nazis in the Catholic. Church. God bless the Catholic Church. And the third is you didn't really get. Hitler to the Pope. You really don't get. this religious Nazi regime, the. Ayatollah and his henchmen. They are. evil. They will kill all the Jews if we. let them and the Jewish people one.

Holocaust is enough. Oh, see the Pope doesn't really get that. Nazism is evil. Catholics just somehow. missed that memo. Hitler bad. They just. didn't It's been 80 years, but they just. they never really bought into the. proposition that the Holocaust was bad, that murdering Jews was bad. They're. probably kind of for it actually. Now, it's interesting because a year ago. no Republican member of Congress would.

have dared say anything like that. First. of all, that's insane. It's a slander. against Catholics saying this is a. birthright lifelong Protestant, but it's. just not true. It's a horrible thing to say about. anybody. But as a political matter, it would have. been crazy to say that because Catholics. sincere church-going Catholics vote. Republican. In fact, the more often you go to mass, the more likely you are to vote. Republican at that's true across races.

by the way. So, you see all these, you know, Hispanics are voting for Trump. And he got more Hispanics to vote for. him, it is true, in 2024 than any. Republican maybe ever. More than Jeb Bush speaking Spanish, married to a Mexican lady. And well, how did he do that? Well, one. of the reasons he did that is because. a lot of Hispanics are very Catholic. They're Christian. They're religious. They go to mass a lot. And because they do, because their faith.

for some of them, their faith is at the. center of their lives, they voted for the candidate who seemed. most predisposed. to their religious views. Maybe he's not a Christian or a fervent. Christian, but he seemed like a man who. would protect Christians, Catholic. Christians included. And so, they voted. for him. So, a year ago, no and every Republican. knows this cuz there's lots of polling. on it. Because politicians think in. terms of coalitions and who's going to. vote for me and why and.

they know this very well. So, a year ago, no Republican. would ever get up on TV and say, you. know, think about Catholics is they're. kind of Nazis. But there's Lindsey Graham doing it. right there. This is a profound break. And it's a it's a very clear window into. what the actual faith is. Israel is the deal killer. Anyone who doesn't support the military. aims of the modern Israeli government. cannot be part of the mega coalition.

And Lindsey Graham has just told us. can't be a Christian. It's amazing. But it's not just Lindsey Graham. This. is everywhere today, in case you haven't. seen it. Here's Patrick Bet-David on his podcast. a day or two ago. Watch this. I don't. know why Catholics uh. you know, have this issue with Jews. I. don't know what it is. They have this this this you know, it's. I I don't Listen, I get the Jews have. issues with Christians and they'll make.

fun and they'll say stuff like, "Oh, your Jesus is going to do you know, they'll say well, he was a Jew anyways, right?". But then Catholics have that issue with. Jews. And they they act like, you know, they're all innocent and everything. And. then when you look at Catholics, the. amount of centralized power they have. Centralized. If you you know what the. total Catholic population is worldwide? It's like 1 2 1 3. billion. Jews are 15 million. >> 15 million. >> But Jews are decentralized, meaning.

Catholic Jews don't have somebody they. listen to that says, "Hey, you better do. this.". Catholics, God forbid you say something. about the Pope. They're like, "Hey man, listen." Who is that Pope figure in the. Christian community? We don't have one. No. If I ask you right now, who's the. Pope in the Christian community? You. don't have somebody to look at. Who is. it? Which pastor? Yeah, exactly. No, they don't We don't have one. It's an. independent network. So, if you look at Only Catholics and. Muslims have somebody that they look at. as their supreme leader, like, you know,

you got to go to somebody. But even. more, it's Catholic. >> Well, there's only two theocracies in. the world. Catholicism and Islam. I'm sorry, the. the the Islamic Republic of Iran. Yep. And the Vatican. Yeah. Those are the two. major theocracies. >> [laughter]. >> So, [snorts] actually, the Vatican is. very much like the Nazi. Iranian government, the theocratic. government, the mullahs, it's all. basically the same. They've got the.

complicated dress, they hate the Jews, as Patrick Bet-David just said. There's. Catholics have a problem with the Jews. A problem with the Jews. It's. slander. It's an attack on the world's largest. and oldest Christian denomination and. it's taking place openly. And it's all. coming from the same source. Which is.

Israel. The issue is Israel. Anyone who. supports the Netanyahu government, not. Israel as a concept, not all Jews, no. The Netanyahu government, anyone who. ratifies every decision, no matter how. violent or grotesque or genocidal of the. Netanyahu government, those are the good. people. And anyone who doesn't is a Nazi. And by. the way, their religion itself is a Nazi. religion. It's an inherently. anti-Semitic religion. That's what. they're telling you, out in the open.

And the kind of casual dismissal, the. mockery, the loathing. of the oldest and largest Christian. church. is just remarkable. Now, again, Trump is someone who, you know, has a. lot of problems showing respect. to other powerful figures. And this is. it's not just Trump. Most men like Trump are that way. They. get along well with women because.

they're not threatened by women. Woman's probably not trying to like kill. you and become king. They're kind of loyal and. but other men, every other man to a. certain male personality type is a. potential threat. That's why kings kill. their sons. Every man is a potential threat. It's a Trump who is not. on a gut level, instinctively respectful. of anything or anybody. And that's one. of the reasons he was a much-needed. transformative political figure for so.

long in the United States. because he was willing to ask questions. that. most people in Washington had never even. thought of out of deference to the. existing system. Like, why do we have. NATO? Is it really good idea to offshore. manufacturing? Is our immigration. actually. our system helping the United States or. hurting, etc., etc., etc. All famously. the questions that Trump asked about the. way we were doing things were made. possible. He was able to ask those. things because he doesn't have. reflective respect for anybody.

Got it. And so when Trump mocks Jesus and the. Pope and Christians and tweets out the. F-word on Easter morning, kind of like, well, this is awful, but it's also kind of consistent. with the Trump we know. This is just. Trump turned up to 11. But what's interesting is there are. certain circumstances where Trump shows. sincere reverence. There are the outlines of an actual.

religious faith here. And. they're not what you would expect. So. here, for example, is Donald Trump, the month before the. last election, this is October 2020, for. visiting the grave of a man called Rebbe. Schneerson, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, who is. uh was, he's since passed away, the leader of a large Orthodox sect.

He's Eastern European by birth, came. with many of his followers. to New York, to Brooklyn, and built a very successful, though. relatively speaking very small, uh center of religious thought and. political power, actually. He died some years ago. There's the now. president standing there. Um. Looks like maybe Ben Shapiro there, Howard Lutnick, wearing a kippah on his head. As you look at that, ask, is it possible. to imagine Donald Trump ever mocking.

Rebbe Schneerson, who by the way, and. this is kind of the point, is considered by some of his followers. to be the Messiah. And to be completely clear, every American is allowed to decide for. himself who the Messiah is, so that is. not mockery of that belief. I don't personally believe it, but one. of the reasons we've been able to live. with people of different faiths in this. country for. 250 years is we don't mock other.

people's religious faith unless we're. absolutely forced to, unless you're. trying to make me. attend your religious rituals or bow. down before a god I don't consider god. Unless it comes to that, we kind of let. each other have our own religious views. And that has worked. That's changing. very, very fast, however. But ask yourself, can you imagine Donald. Trump sending out a meme mocking Rebbe. Schneerson? And of course under no circumstances. could you imagine that because under no.

circumstances would that ever happen. Trump would not be allowed to do that, and Trump would never even consider. doing it. But sending out multiple images mocking. Jesus? No problem at all. So that gives you a more precise sense. of what our civic religion. actually is. A civic religion, by the way, is not a. conventional religion. Civic religion is. a series of customs, some enshrined in. law, not all, that a society, civilization, and its.

government observe. And it doesn't necessarily mean there's. a god at the center of it. That's why. it's a civic religion rather than a. conventional religion. But our civic religion is, if you again. take three steps back and just assess. the country with the eyes of a visitor, a modern Tocqueville, you can see it really clearly. What are the events? Who are the people. who we treat with reverence? What are you actually not allowed to. make fun of?

What is blasphemy. in modern America? Those are the questions you ask if you. are trying to understand what our. operative religion is. What's the. religion of our leaders? Again, it's not. a conventional religion necessarily. It's not Torah Judaism or. Rabbinic Judaism or Evangelical. Christianity or Catholic Christianity. It's the actual religion, the real. religion. The set of beliefs that we treat with.

reverence. Well, it just so happens there was a. religious ceremony. ongoing today in the United States. Capitol complete with very recognizable. religious iconography, symbolism. You may not even have known this was. happening, but it was happening today as part of an. 8-day celebration of remembrance of the. Holocaust. The period in the 1930s and 40s where. the German government, the Nazi.

government, murdered. in addition to a lot of other people, a. whole bunch of Jews. And that ended. in part because the United States sent. troops to Europe, millions of troops to Europe to defeat. the German government. And with the help. of the Soviets, our allies at the time, we did that. And in the process of doing. that, over a quarter million Americans, American men, were killed. trying to stop the Nazi government from.

doing the evil things that it was doing. A quarter million, more than, American. men died fighting the Nazis. But in today's ceremony in the Congress, there was no mention of them. There was instead this. Watch. Ladies. and gentlemen, a museum leadership program has included. more than 72,000. US military members. Through examination of the Holocaust, they gain insight into their own.

professional and individual. responsibilities. The candle lighters are members of the. United States Army, third infantry. regiment, the Old Guard. >> [applause]. >> I am Sergeant Ethan Autry. I remember.

That is a current uniformed US military. member. from the Old Guard, the third infantry regiment, which is, you know, ever-present at our. public events in Washington,

saying lighting a candle. at the menorah. and saying I remember. No explanation of. I remember. I remember what? What do we What are we. remembering here? And we do have a sense that it's we're. not remembering. the American soldiers who liberated. Dachau, for example. We're not remembering the quarter. million American men who joined a war. they had nothing to do with inherently. It wasn't taking place in North America, it was taking place in Europe. And the. dispute was over Poland and. Czechoslovakia.

And they sacrificed their lives to. defeat the Nazi government that was. murdering Jews and a lot of other. people, Poles and Russians and Gypsies. and Czechs and lots lots of people, but. a lot of Jews. as well. But they gave their lives to stop that, but we're not remembering them, we're. remembering only the victims of one. specific ethnicity during these eight. days of remembrance, as distinct from. the day of remembrance that we also. have, that's also enshrined in American. law, in January. So, there's a total of nine days of.

remembrance of one group of victims in a. war that killed tens of millions of. people globally, tens and tens and tens. of millions, the numbers are actually. not even clear. So many people died, we're not exactly sure how many died, but many tens of millions died. Including close to a half million. Americans, over a quarter million in. Europe fighting this Nazi regime, not. remembered. So, that is not to disrespect the Jewish. victims of the Holocaust or the Second. World War, of course not. Merely to note.

that in this country only one group gets. to be remembered. And remembered with grave solemnity. by uniformed members of our military who. take no credit for ending this. Holocaust. So, it that doesn't make any sense. I. mean, if if you didn't know the. backstory in any of this and someone. wrote that down and told you, you'd be. like, "What did That doesn't What?". And it almost seems like. there's a kind of guilt implied in this,

which is a little weird. There are. countries where, you know, that might be. appropriate. This is not one of them, because again, this was the country that. helped liberate people from those camps. And fought the government that built. those camps. We're the good guys. What is this? It doesn't make any sense. except when you see it in the only terms. in which it makes sense, which is as a. civic religion. Which is what it is, and it comes. complete with blasphemy laws.

Once again, if you want to know what. religion matters, it's the religion that. can't be mocked. So, clearly that's not. Christianity. I'm Jesus today. No, I didn't do that. Oh, he He's your god. Okay, I'll send a. meme out with me posing as your god with. a demon over my shoulder. Nothing you. can do about it. I'm not even going to. explain what that was. I don't need to. because I don't care about your faith at. all.

But there are certain things that are. blasphemy. And at the very top of that list is. something called anti-Semitism. Now, what exactly is anti-Semitism? It's one of those crimes that's a it's a. true crime in the United States and. actual anti-Semitism, hating people. because of their blood is a crime, certainly. In Christianity, that is a crime. That. is wrong. You're not allowed to do that. And but that is a universal crime. It. applies to all people.

Whites, blacks, Asians, Jews, everybody. has a right to be treated as an. individual because everyone was created. by God as an individual. That's the. Christian understanding. It's a. universalist understanding of rights. And that's the old civic religion we. had. The civic religion of civil rights. Now, there was a civil rights movement, which was, you know, fraudulent. Maybe. at its core, maybe its aims were not. advertised honestly. Maybe there was. another point to that.

Just possible. But conceptually, it's kind of hard to argue. with the fact that the assumptions. behind civil rights are Christian. assumptions. They're Western. assumptions. They're the assumptions. upon which our whole civilization is. built. And the core assumption is that. standards, rules apply to everyone. because every human being possesses a. soul given to him by God at creation. Which is not an act that men brought.

about, but that only God can bring. about. God creates life. He endows each. human being with a soul. That soul is. eternal. Therefore, each individual. possesses rights granted him by God, not. government. And a good government protects those. rights. And in so doing, upholds God's. law. That's Western civilization right there. And in a kind of diluted, silly way, the. civil rights movement was upholding. those ideas. The term civil rights, the term human.

rights, reflect that understanding. The. rights apply to you because you're a. human, as they do all human beings. But that's over. That civic religion has. died, and we know that. It's probably. been dying for a long time. Identity. politics is a refutation of that. The. idea that some groups have more rights. than others, that's the opposite of. civil rights. That's the opposite of. human rights. Those aren't human rights, those are group rights. They apply to certain groups. One. bloodline is superior to another. bloodline. Well, that's not.

what we thought we were for. That's the. opposite of what we thought we were for. All of a sudden, you wake up and you. realize not only were we for it, the. government's for it. And that's why they're able to arrest. people not who commit genocide, but. people who complain about genocide. Some of us thought, stupidly, with the. cattle we are, that the real lessons of. World War II were every person has. inalienable rights. That's what we were. taught. That was a pretty common. understanding, I'd say, in the 1970s and. '80s. Nazis are bad because they.

redlined one group and said these people. don't have the same rights as everyone. else by virtue of their blood. And they were really interested in. eugenics. They were interested in people's. bloodline. Who are you related to? We're. going to find out if you're a secret. Jew. Well, that's disgusting. That's We used. to say that's Nazi behavior. And then the next thing you know, every. other federal form you get. asks you what your race is. And you're. thinking, well, why does that matter? I thought you told me it didn't matter.

I thought you told me it was evil to. care about that. But. you wake up in 2026. and our closest ally is using our. weapons to kill and displace people. because of how they were born, and not. only is that okay, the only real crime. is complaining about it. Well, that. tells you Well, it tells you a lot of. things, but it tells you we've got a whole new. set of rules. We have a whole new civic.

religion. And that civic religion, once again, is. called Israelism, and it means that any. criticism of Israel. is by definition bad, and any praise of. Israel is by definition virtuous because. the only truly good thing is Israel. And we know that. by the actual definition, and there is. one, of anti-Semitism. So, what is. anti-Semitism? And if you've been called. it, or if someone's ever implied it, you. you have a problem with the Jews. You're. kind of obsessed with the Jews.

Say people who are completely obsessed. with the Jews. You probably wonder like, what are they. accusing me of? Well, here it is. This. is the. I. H R A, International Holocaust. Remembrance Alliance, IHRA. You may hear. this. The IHRA definition of. anti-Semitism. Do you know what it is? It's on their website. It's worth. looking at. Spent the morning reading. it. Fascinating. So, here's the actual. definition. of anti-Semitism. And by the way, this. is a now globally recognized definition. enshrined in law around the world in.

more than 40 countries. This is the. definition, and I'm quoting. Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of. Jews, which may be expressed as hatred. towards Jews. Huh? So, anti-Semitism is a perception. It's. a feeling. Okay. I thought you were allowed to have any. feeling or perception you wanted. You. could look at facts and come to any. conclusion you wanted. No. No, no, no. Certain perceptions are inherently. immoral. They're, quote, anti-Semitic,

which may be expressed as hatred towards. Jews. Oh, so you don't have to hate the Jews. to be anti-Semitic? No. Well, that answers the question for. those of us who don't hate Jews at all. How could you be anti-Semitic if you. don't hate Jews? Well, you can be. according to the official definition of. it. Continuing the quote, "Rhetorical. Rhetorical meaning talking, words, speech formally protected no longer, rhetorical and physical manifest-. festations of anti-Semitism are directed.

toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals. and or their property, toward Jewish. community institutions and religious. facilities.". Wait a second. So, anti-Semitism is not necessarily. hatred of Jews. and it can be expressed toward non-Jews. So, you don't have to hate Jews and you. don't have to express or have these. perceptions, these feelings toward Jews. You can be non-Jews, too. What is this? Well, the people who wrote. it at the IHRA.

probably anticipated this would be. confusing to you. So, they gave 11 examples of what. anti-Semitism is, just so you know. Like, how do I know if I'm being. anti-Semitic? Well, here are 11. examples. Of those 11 examples, and we did the. math, 2/3. are criticism of Israel, the state of. Israel, the nation. with the prime minister, Benjamin. Netanyahu, Bibi. Criticism of Israel in 2/3.

of the examples that the IHRA gave, that's anti-Semitism. Including, here we. go. Draw quote, "Drawing comparisons of. contemporary Israeli policy to that of. the Nazis.". Oh. In other words, if you think what's. happening in Gaza is genocide, well, Nazis committed genocide. Now, the state of Israel is committing. genocide in Gaza, meaning they're trying. to eliminate people. on the basis of their blood, you're an anti-Semite. Okay. You're an.

anti-Semite if you think that. It also tells us that. the suggestion that Jews killed Jesus is. {quote}. classic anti-Semitism. Classic anti-Semitism. So, there goes. the New Testament. The whole New. Testament is anti-Semitic, too. Read. read read the Gospels. and see if they they fall under that. definition. They do. Why does this matter? Well, because about 40 US states and the. District of Columbia and our biggest.

cities, Miami, Los Angeles, have adopted this. This is their. standard that they voted on and adopted. It's in the law. This standard. The one that tells you that criticism of. the secular state of Israel or portions. of the New Testament are {quote}. anti-Semitism. The government of. almost 40 states in the United States, I. think 39 states, 40 countries around the world, but not. just countries, NGOs, sports teams. The British soccer league.

Chelsea United. All of them have adopted this standard. Now, why would a sports team. adopt this standard? Well, who knows. why? Think about it for a minute. Why? Why would you declare something illegal? Oh, because you want to punish people. who violate it. That's why. This happened today. Ukraine, that. beacon of democracy and freedom that we. sent hundreds of billions of dollars to, just made it law today. that anti-Semitism, in other words,

criticism of Israel is a felony. punishable by up to 8 years in prison. 8 years in prison. How could. a rational person understand that? Well, a rational person could not understand. that. Why would a citizen citizen of one. country be sent to prison. for criticizing the leadership of. another country, a country not his own? Why would a citizen of one country be. sent to prison for having opinions about. historical events that he did not.

participate in and that were almost a. century ago. Does that make any sense? No, except in religious terms. Those are. blasphemy laws, same as the old. blasphemy laws. And for all the talk of. how the mullahs are bad, the mullahs are. bad. Well, the mullahs probably are bad. Not defending the mullahs, but why are. we told the mullahs are bad? The mullahs. are bad because they're religious. extremists. They have blasphemy laws. They'll hurt. you if you say certain things.

Okay. Well, that looks a lot like what we're. seeing here. Almost 40 states. Now, it's interesting, the president has been All of a sudden, it makes sense. This may This may be the. Rosetta Stone that helps us interpret. events we're watching now that are very. confusing. And those would include the. president advocating for re-upping FISA. Now, FISA, without getting too boring.

about it, is the law, which has to be. voted on periodically by Congress, that. allows the US government to spy on. Americans. To spy on them. Now, the whole point of. it is supposed to be to spy on. foreigners who are threatening us, but. the nature of the technology being what. it is, there are cases where we pick up. communications from Americans, and in. order to make that legal, we need this thing called FISA. Now, what's interesting is that the. president himself was a victim of the. misuse of these laws in his first term.

They were used against him. in what became. kind of bureaucratic attempted coup. against him that we call Russiagate. And so, the president was personally. very sensitive on this question. He'd. been the victim of the misuse of these. laws. And so, he said many times, "I'm not for. that. I don't think Americans should be. spied on by their own government. I. don't think you pay your taxes today is. tax day by the way in order to be spied. on by your government when you've done. nothing wrong. But we are, everyone knows that and this.

allows it to be legal. All of the sudden the president. is advocating for this new law. He wants. the Congress to allow the US government. to spy on Americans. Why could that. possibly be? Well, there are a couple of clues. One comes from the documents. unearthed and made public, God bless. him, by Ed Snowden some years ago that. showed that NSA, the National Security. Agency, the largest of all of our spy. agencies, turned over raw data to, can.

you guess? Oh, the Israeli government. that included private information about. Americans. So, they sweep up all this. information, the coms the communications. of American citizens. and they just turn it all over without. taking. private information about Americans, our. citizens, they just turn it all over to. a foreign government and it's intel. service. to be used God knows how. That's one. Two is a very revealing moment. in the Congress.

two and a half years ago. with a man, a congressman from Ohio. called Mike Turner, who at the time was. the chairman. of the House Intelligence Committee. And. he was arguing as chairman of the House. Intel Committee always do. for more spying on Americans. So, the. House and Senate Intel Committee is. supposed to provide oversight of the. intelligence agencies because you don't. really know what they're doing, you. don't know what their budget is, the. whole thing is secret, you can't know. So, your representatives on these. committees oversee just to make sure. that they're not violating the US. Constitution or your human rights given.

to you by God and protected by the US. government. That's the whole point. But for my lifetime, those committees. have worked in concert with the intel. agencies to violate. the civil rights of Americans and. they've almost always been run by some. of the most dishonest and personally. screwed up people in the entire. Congress. So, maybe it's not always. true, but certainly in the case of Mike. Turner, it is true. You know, the guy publicly accused of. corruption with a chaotic personal life,

that guy winds up as the chairman of an. Intel Committee. Hmm, I wonder why? Someone who's vulnerable to control. winds up in charge of oversight of the. Intel agencies. Okay, that's definitely. Mike Turner. So, anyway, Mike Turner's. running this and he's making the case to. about 200 staffers on the hill and he. said, "We got to do this. We got to do. this." And he has a bunch of slides. behind him. And one of the slides he puts up shows. people protesting the murder of. civilians by the Israeli government in. Gaza. Those Gaza protests.

And he says, "We need this because these. people. clearly taking orders from Hamas.". These are like college kids who were mad. about babies being murdered by. the IDF. But because Mike Turner and a lot of. people like Mike Turner cuz look at them. and say, "You've got foreign. connections. You can't have come to this. conclusion on your own. You didn't just choose apostasy. You. clearly were corrupted by some outside. force, some foreign power.

We get to spy on you." He made that case. in the Congress. So, how does this connect to blasphemy. laws as outlined and adopted by almost. 40 states by IHRA? Really simple. If having these quote perceptions is a. crime, then that gives the US government. pretext to spy on you and then punish. you. Another way of thinking about it is. almost no human action or now. perception, thought crime, is ever.

encoded by any legislative body without. an eye toward punishing people who. violate it. Why would you Why would you. vote on it if you didn't intend to. punish people. who go against the standard you set, well, you wouldn't. And so, the point is this new civic. religion is very much the opposite of. the old civic religion in that it. doesn't protect civil rights, human. inherent rights. It is the enemy of. those rights. It is the enemy of.

universalism, the belief that all of us. were created by God and have equal moral. worth. It is the enemy of that. And it's. the enemy of. the understanding of people that led to. the Bill of Rights, which is we have. these rights given to us by God. It does. not believe that, and you know that. because its first command is that you. shut up, and not just shut up, but. change your quote perceptions, change. the thoughts in your head. Change your feelings, your perceptions, your conclusions.

You must change those. It is a. totalitarian. worldview. It is a totalitarian worldview in that. it seeks to control the totality of a. person, not just your actions. You can't. punch someone in the face cuz you don't. like his ethnicity. Fair. Fair. Everyone's for for upholding that law. You can't have a certain perception of. another person. If there's a better definition of a. totalitarian aim, hard to think of what.

it might be. So, that's our new religion. That's. where Israelism gets us. Want to end with. probably the most mocked and yet. clearest evangelist of this new faith, this Israelism. You could say it's Christianity without. the New Testament. And that would be someone again who's. often made fun of for being dumb or he. doesn't know what he's talking about.

But it's sometimes people like that that. give you the clearest picture of what. the people in power really are talking. about. And that person would be Sean Hannity. uh over Fox News. Not a bad guy, not a. mean guy, lifelong Catholic. If you. asked him, "Are you Catholic?". Absolutely. "Yeah, I'm a Catholic." And. and he and he think he is. It's. not an attack or he even a claim to. understand his personal religious faith. But watch Sean Hannity, cradle Catholic,

describe the Pope. This is his reaction. to the President of the United States. attacking the Pope. and the Catholic Church. And here's Sean Hannity's response as a. Catholic to that. Watch. He doesn't want. any conflict anywhere. And he was. talking about violence. And I'm like, have you even read the Bible? Have you. read the conflicts, the wars that were. that the Israeli people that were they. were empowered by God to defeat their.

enemies? Uh did you never did you ever hear the. story about David slaying Goliath. uh through the power of God with a. slingshot against this massive giant? Or. the conflicts and the wars of King Saul. and and so on and so forth. And and. frankly all throughout Israel's history, they've been, you know, surrounded by. enemies. But as God's chosen people, they they against all odds keep winning. Pretty amazing. So it does take a kind of cable news.

mentality. to say of the Pope, "Hey, you ever read. the Bible?". >> [laughter]. >> It's hilarious. I don't know what's Hey, think about the Pope. This guy's never. read the Bible. He's just the Pope. So there's that. Okay, it's funny. But listen to the content, which is. actually more interesting and less funny. and and little meteor than it seems at. first. So the Pope is saying, "Look, I'm a Christian leader, the Christian. gospel, which I represent, however.

imperfectly this Pope may represent it, from my perspective imperfectly, but. whatever. All Christian leaders have a duty to. consult the gospel. as they think about their positions on. things. That's the whole point is the. gospel. And as a Christian leader, the leader of. the biggest Christian denomination, like. I'm. I'm not for war. And maybe some wars are. possibly defensible under just war. theory, which no one ever really. explains. But you can imagine a war of. self-defense.

that most Christians would feel. comfortable with. Being a Christian. probably doesn't. necessarily mean you oppose all violence. in all circumstances. Maybe it should. But in practice it doesn't. But this Pope is just saying something. pretty conventional like that. Nothing. crazy, actually. No name-calling. No great departure from Christian. theology or ethics as as people have. understood it for thousands of years. And the response is, "Hey, YOU HAVEN'T. READ THE BIBLE. THERE'S A TON OF killing. in the Bible.".

Israel's constantly under attack by its. neighbors, the Amalekites, the. Philistines, you name it, and they fight. back with God's blessing, and they kill, and that's what they're supposed to be. doing. Which is true, by the way. It is all in. there. But it's not in the New Testament. And for Christians, that's the. difference. It's not a matter of the Old Testament. being irrelevant, it's certainly not. And Christians understand it as one long. story.

And as Jesus famously said, "I came not. to abolish the law, but to fulfill it, to bring it to its intended. conclusion. I'm here so the law will have its. desired effect on you.". But Jesus never offers a single order to. kill or hurt anybody. And there's no place in the entire New. Testament, the four gospels, the letters that follow, mostly from Paul, and the vision at the end by St. John.

called Revelation, there's not one. page or sentence in the entire New. Testament in which Jesus is recorded. saying, "They're very annoying, or they're a. threat, or they disagree with us, or. they're of another faith, kill them.". Not once. In fact, it's the opposite of that. In fact, it's so clearly the opposite of. that, that you have to wonder who's reading. the Bible and who isn't. In Jesus's very first sermon in the very. first gospel, Matthew,

Matthew 5, the famous Sermon on the. Mount, he addresses this really clearly. And I think anybody reading it for the. first or hundredth time comes away. thinking, well, a lot of things, but. among them would be Jesus is really down. on violence, and he's really down on greed. Very much opposed to both, cuz he says. it really, really clearly. And not just down on violence and greed, but taking the prescriptions against. those things in the Old Testament and.

accelerating them to a point that. shocking, really, to modern ears, to ancient ears, to to. any human being. The demands that Jesus. makes on people are shocking. He says, for example, all in Matthew 5, worth. reading, amazing, really, radical, not really of this world at all, which. is kind of the whole point. He says, "You've been told not to kill, don't commit murder. Moses told you. that. I'm telling you, don't be angry.

If you curse somebody, you risk going to. hell.". That's what he says. So, you can debate what that means. Is. it possible to apply that standard? Can. you actually live up to that? Pretty. hard. But what you can't conclude. is that Jesus is favor of dropping bombs. on kids. Blowing up entire apartment buildings, raping people in prisons.

You can't conclude that cuz it's the. opposite of that. And so if you have concluded that. by reference to Old Testament texts. the book of Ruth. you're espousing the tenets of religion. But it's not Christianity. It's our new religion, Israelism. That's just what it is. Call it that. Call it that. Just be honest about what. you're saying.

Outline it for us. Give us the creed. Think of a new name. for it. Give us 10 points. We can all. recite them. People who don't can be punished. But tell us what the religion is. Be. straightforward with us. Stop playing this head trip on us and. telling us that something that's clearly. anti-Christian is in fact the real. Christianity cuz that's just not true. And this kind of deception is making. everybody crazy. Spring is the most refreshing time of. year. Nothing complements it better than. Black Rifle Coffee, lots of it. It's an.

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should be thinking. right now as the president of the United. States is weighing on theological. matters and the world seems to be moving. towards some great unknown and everybody. feels within him the weight of this. period in history. Everyone feels it. >> [sighs]. >> Father Josiah Trenham is an Orthodox. priest and a pastor in Southern. California who we've spoken to before, who though we're not Orthodox seems like. a really clear voice on matters of. Christian faith and what the Gospels.

actually say. And so, we're really happy. to have him back. Father, thank you very. much for joining us. So, You know, Tucker, I'm uh. I'm a puddle on the ground having. listened to you for the last 45 minutes. I just am a puddle on the ground. I have behind me. an icon that I keep. It's an icon. of Jesus our savior after the. resurrection from the dead.

and he's gathered his disciples. It's. called the Great Commission icon. This. is when he gathered his disciples and. gave them the charge to go into all the. world and to preach the good news to the. whole creation, baptizing everyone in. the name of the Father, the Son, and. Spirit. and promising to be with them, teaching, asking the disciples to teach the whole. world his sacred commandments, and. promising his presence. I think anyone listening to you right. now is going to be massively uh.

tempted to great discouragement by the. truth. that you the many truths you just. articulated. I'm just saying this, it's. Easter right now. Christ is risen. Yes. We we celebrate this. and the conquering of death. Jesus. is not just a great teacher. Jesus is the son of God. who. became a man in order to face our. greatest enemies.

Sin, death, Satan, and to. defeat them, not just a little bit, literally to crush them. And to offer us a life without fear. A life rooted in his presence now and. with a great hope that we say in the. creed we're looking for we're looking. for the resurrection of the dead and the. life of the world to come. This is. why we can be happy.

even in. a complete mess, national mess that. we're in. Is that Christ is with us, Christ is calling us, he's awakening so. many people across our land. I've been a. priest for 33 years. I've never seen. what's going on right now in America. The number of people sincerely engaging. Jesus and his teaching and his life and. choosing to make radical alterations in. their life and to put God where he.

belong where he belongs. in their life which is number one. Number one, not loyalty to the nation. Loyalty to the nation is a Christian. virtue in its proper place. But the loyalty that Christ asks is. loyalty to the kingdom of God. To seek. that first above everything else and to. receive our life from him. He's alive. now at the right hand of God the Father. governing the whole world into all his. enemies. All the demons are made a. footstool for his feet. And then the end.

will come, St. Paul says. So attaching. yourself to him by faith, becoming his, making his kingdom your chief ambition. This is the way to peace. This is the. way not to be destroyed when you see a. country that you love in such chaos as. we have now. We can we can look at what's going on. honestly. and even though it's so sorrowful, we. can still be confident in his presence. and try to serve him and do good to our.

land. >> [clears throat]. >> and to benefit our land. And we don't. know the future. Who knows what's going. to happen? We've had 3 years of unbelievable. renewal, Christian renewal in this land. that has blown away every. other. movement of faith in my lifetime. I was. born in 1967. I think about 3 or 4 years. before you. I've never seen anything like this. So, I'm just I want to lob a bomb a bomb. of hope a hope bomb. after listening to uh.

your powerful but very very discouraging. words. >> [laughter]. >> Sorry. It's my dark Scandinavian soul. raising its ugly head once again. I am. prone to that and I I love your response. to it. So, can you just um can you give me an. outline? You say this is in 33 years of. ministry, this is the most. powerful. moment for God among people you've seen. This is a it seems like a revival. What are you seeing that leads you to. that?

It has always been I've always as a. priest been very interested in people. who are outside my parish. In my local. community, we priests and pastors are. always trying to build connections in. our where we are in the dirt that God. gave us to make his. And the. a normal year to have maybe 25 people. who were signing up for a year-long. catechism in to prepare themselves for.

baptism. That was a good year for much. of my priesthood. Um this year. I catechized 350 people. Wow. And I just. uh. it's it's actually such a fantastic. problem. because our parish is large. We have. maybe about 1,300 active parishioners. and. I can't fit them all in the church. We we have we've had to really.

suck in and I just baptized 115 people. Orthodox Easter was this last Sunday. and I'm used to baptizing, you know, 20, 25, something like that. So, we're. talking a five. fold increase in those that I received. by baptism this year and the numbers. that are lining up for next year are. more than double that. And you know, I can't project that. everywhere and say that's happening. everywhere, but I've been looking at. stats, you know, the.

I've been looking at stats coming not. just from America, but even from Western. Europe. Uh. which I previous to this had pretty much. completely written off. Western Europe. It's just been dying, spiritually dying for a long time. I'm. a fourth generation Southern. Californian, but my family's heritage is. England. I was educated there and I've. gone back to England every year for the. last 30 years. and always it's been. well, religiously discouraging. Spiritually discouraging. Uh but this.

last few years, even in places in. Western Europe that um. were not doing well and have not been. doing well for decades, really, post. World War and on. There are massive numbers. massive numbers of people being baptized. and entering into catechism. It's uh. it can't be denied. That's That's just wonderful to hear. and really the only answer. So, you must. get people who come to you as a priest. and say,

"I'm looking at everything around me and. I see the beginning of the end of. history and the return of Jesus, the end. times.". And. as noted, I mean, the those famous. verses from Daniel and second letter of. Thessalonians, etc., etc. There's a lot. more. It's It's you could certainly fit events. into those structures. What do you think of that? >> have for the last 20 centuries. So, if you read the church fathers, we we have been trying to read our.

history through that eschatological lens. for a very long time. That should give. us some. measure of. discretion. not to make a one-to-one too too too. closely, too intimately. You know, Tucker, the New Testament, the. apostles are very clear that the end of. the world happened already. The end times started as soon as Jesus. dethroned the devil. Yep. As soon as As. soon as he. conquered death. and plundered hell and opened He gutted.

He was crucified on Holy Friday. atoning for the sins of the whole world. He descended into hell on Holy Saturday. And when he went there, he had already. really shaken hell. Uh because just, you know, a week or so. previously, he had raised his good. friend Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus had been dead for 4 days. His sister said he already smelled. And Jesus intentionally took his time to.

come back to Bethany and then to gather. the Mary and Martha and the large. community there around Lazarus's tomb. And then he spoke. And he said, "Lazarus, come forth.". And his words went. through his mouth, through the earth, into the heart of hell. and empowered Lazarus and crushed Satan. and the devils. They couldn't hold his. soul anymore. And his soul came back.

into his body. He was vivified. And the Lord asked him. to come out. The Lord didn't run in. there and. undo his grave clothes himself. He. wanted it to be seen by everyone. So, he. said, "Lazarus, come out." And Lazarus. came walking out. And everyone recognized right then. the ultimate power change, the ultimate. structural revolution had taken place. Death no longer was.

in in charge. Before that, every single person, no matter how great they were, Moses, Abraham, the Buddha, Confucius, everyone that got into the ring. with death was KO'd. Every single one. Didn't matter how much. they how wise they were, how righteous. they were, everyone was slaughtered. When Jesus came. and started raising the dead, and.

especially when he did Lazarus, no one. had ever raised a man four days dead. And then when he himself voluntarily. submitted to death, and he was clear that death had no power. over him. He said, "I have power to lay. my life down, and I have power to take my life up. again.". He went knowingly into death, offered. himself. Uh our liturgical hymns in the Orthodox. Church for for Holy Friday say that. death and Satan ate Christ because they. thought that they had in their jaws a.

man, and they found themselves face to face. with God. You called him the man God, right? That is the actual theological. terms that we use in the church. In. Greek, it's called theanthropos. Theos. meaning God, anthropos meaning man. The. church fathers put those together to. describe Christ. He is the God-man. He became what he was not, a human. being, without ceasing to be what he. was, the co-eternal Son of God. And he. exists since then and forever as the.

God-man. And when they when death ate. Christ, Christ ate death. And he crushed it. And he rose again on. the third day and he asked that that. message be proclaimed by his disciples. uh all over the world. And people who. are being responding to this good news. and are coming into the church, uh this is the ultimate solution uh for. their their terror. It's a legitimate. terror. When you look around and you see. so much darkness.

and killing, violence, it's it's terrifying. People are. terrified. And to have Christ. uh offered to come and be with you, to. live in you and you to live in him, and. to share his life, uh which is sustained in Christian. people by receiving Holy Communion. This. is what receiving Holy Communion is. It's participating in the divine life, Christ's very body and blood sustaining. us in his life until our own.

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seamless to use. Visit. dosedaily.co/tucker. Use code Tucker for 35% off. That's. dosedaily.co/tucker. Code Tucker for 35% off. It's worth it. What What do you make of self-described. Christian leaders glorifying the. violence. around us, endorsing the violence, saying that God wants this violence? How. should we feel about that? You were very articulate, brother.

You were very articulate. But let me. give it a little larger theological. context. Thank you. When. violence. began not on earth, it began in the. heavens amongst the angelic orders. The first act of violence and rebellion. was Satan's himself. And he was cast out together with all. those. angels that were in league with him and. they became what we know as demons.

And then they took their. uh scheme. of rebellion. to the first human beings, right? This. is described in the early chapters of. Genesis in our patriarchal histories. They uh this the Satan the great Satan. approached Adam and Eve. and tempted them uh viciously. and they fell. And they it made. immediately became estranged not just. from God, but from each other. The seeds of.

uh violence erupted and they began to. blame one another. Well, the woman you. gave me, Adam says. Then they have their children, Cain and Abel, and the first act of fratricide takes. place. Cain is shamed by his brother's. devotion to God and his beautiful. sacrifice. Cain's sacrifice to God is. very cheap. The Lord tried to correct Cain. Cain. was hard-hearted and uncorrectable.

and killed his brother. This is the. first act of violence and the scripture. says that God approached Cain graciously. trying to help Cain to repent. and asked him what he did and God said, "Your brother's blood is crying out to. heaven.". Talk about that's one. innocent person's blood. Can you imagine what tens of thousands. of innocent.

blood, what kind of thunderous noise. that makes in paradise? The scriptures then go and describe the. development of Cain's line. Cain's line. produces all the the leaders of earthly. technologies. Abel's dead. They have another child. Adam and Eve have another child Seth and. Seth Seth's line is also described by. Moses and Seth's line is all about. virtue and spiritual technology I would.

describe. How to have a relationship. with God in the world that's correct. And. the line of Cain is all about power. So. for instance, one of Cain's descendants, Tubal-cain is his name. He was a great. master of all. uh metalwork and metallurgy from which. come all of the weapons and. earthly technology especially. for the development of weapons has.

driven technology throughout the entire. history of the human race. Look at our. budget. President Trump uh. wants a larger and larger budget so that. we can develop more and more vicious. weapons to dominate our enemies. We've done this with nuclear weaponry. In. in the World Wars, we were developing. more and more dangerous gases to kill. the largest amount of people possible.

Uh this is. technology. This is that kind of. technology. And then the next thing that Moses. describes in Genesis is the flood. God. just can't take it anymore. It's enough. And he decides that he's. going to start over. and he makes Noah a righteous man of. faith into a new Adam. And the thing that he said to Adam at. the very beginning, be fruitful and. multiply, fill the earth, rule it, and. subdue it. He said the exact same thing. to Noah after the flood. To make him the beginning of the human.

race. And Moses Moses in writing this. says there's one reason God flooded the. earth. I often have asked people this if. they could guess. >> [clears throat]. >> What was the one, the singular sin. mentioned by Moses that caused. the Lord to literally flood the earth. and to restart the human race? I know. Murder. Violence. Violence. It's unique amongst evils.

So, how could a Christian pastor. glorify it? You know, uh. Tucker. uh that there are many. uh who say one thing and do another, right? This is a disease that we all. have. Yes, it's true. >> It is a terrible disease.

And. I always tell people, look, never never say that you don't want to. go to church because you don't there's a. lot of hypocrites there. I said [laughter] that's true though. It's absolutely true. I mean, if there are if there are people. there, then you have hypocrites. >> [laughter]. >> And forgive me, every single one of us. is. Yeah. Every single The only The only. division is not between the hypocrites. and the non-hypocrites. The division is. between those who know they're. hypocrites.

and that it's a terrible sin and disease. and they go to church to work against. their hypocrisy so that they can become. people of integrity and live before the. face of God and other people in love. And then there are people who have no. hope and are just resigned to it and are. very happy to talk about other people's. sins, but don't want to look at. themselves. That's a very dangerous. place to be. So, uh. hypocrisy is certainly uh a chief cause. uh to in answer to your question. So is. false teaching.

So is false teaching. There is a lot of. made-up theology. began in the middle of the 19th century. It got really going uh in the beginning. of the 20th century, particularly in. America, that has created this very. strange. um. theology of uh. what unbelieving Jewish people are, non-Christian Jewish people. Uh and their special relationship with. God. It's very strange. Uh it's uh uh.

Zionism is. has no history uh in the Christian. faith. It's not as though that there are. It's just a matter of denominational. preference. No, you will seek. for in vain for 18 and 1/2 centuries to. ever hear of such things. They It. doesn't exist. The church is very conscious of being. the fulfillment of everything that took. place in the Old Testament. The church is the people of God. Paul. calls the church directly the new. Israel. That's who we are. We are God's. people and we're made up both of Jewish.

people and Gentile people from every. tribe, tongue, people, and nation. It's. not about ethnicity at all. We don't. care. If you came to my parish on a. typical Sunday morning, I mean, you. would need a big piece of paper just to. write the number of. ethnicities that are there. I always tell I've always told our. people, look, our goal should be. that the ethnic distribution of our. county, we are in Riverside County, about 3 million people. I said the ethnic diversity there should. be exactly represented in our parish.

If the church is for everyone and we. want everyone, which means in my county, that's 57% Hispanic, 11% 11%. African-American, about 30% Anglo. I. said that's what it should be. if if a church has been there and has. been successful in. preaching the gospel and helping people. to love God. That's what it should look. like. This is normal. This is our our way of. looking at at things. We don't think. that somehow the Old Testament is. continuing and never came to fruition.

And that somehow a temple has to be. rebuilt or the Old Testament sacrifices. have to begin again, which is. impossible, or the ironic priests have. to come back, or we're going to start. slaying animals. Um all of that. was a picture of Jesus himself. He says. it himself. He told the Pharisees, you. search the scriptures because you think. that in them you have life. It's these. that bear witness to me. Everything in the Old Testament is a. type of Christ. It's all about him.

And if you don't see that, if you think. it's a stand-alone thing, then you're. still living in types and shadows. instead of fulfillment. And we care. about supporting companies whose values. align with ours. We do not want to shill. for sleazy companies. It is better to. give business to like-minded Americans. than people who hate us. That's our. rule. That's one of the reasons we like. Charity Mobile. When you make the switch to Charity. Mobile, the company sends 5% of your monthly. price plan to pro-life, pro-family. charities of your choice. That's. millions of dollars and counting sent to.

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line of service. Visit. charitymobile.com/tucker. How does the. Well, I'll just say one of the most. challenging. themes in the Gospels for me as an. American um are Jesus's prescriptions. against greed. Because I I think that's that's the one. thing American Christians never face. like. like. money is not inherently bad, but the. love of it is bad. Famously the root of all evil. What does. the gospel tell us about greed and how.

does that. How is that reflected in the preaching. you hear uh from the pulpit? You know, one of the most beautiful. things that Jesus accomplished when he. conquered death was that he replanted. uh on the earth the original. relationship of man and woman to God uh. that had disappeared at the fall. And that that was a a life of complete. consecration where uh the happiness of. Adam and Eve was to be called God's.

friend. That was their greatest honor, the church father says, to be called. God's friend. And I I just note that. Jesus said that to his disciples at the. end of his ministry. He said, I no longer call you my. disciples. You're my friends." That was an. incredible honor. Abraham, the great. patriarch, was called the friend of God. In the In the New Testament, as soon as. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit on the day of. Pentecost, remember, he was crucified, he plundered hell, he rose again on the. third day, he spent 40 days teaching us.

how to live in the new resurrection. life, and how to love people and. evangelize the world, and then he. ascended to heaven, right? From the. Mount of Olives. I stood on the spot uh. in. the Holy Land. And in front of his eyes the eyes of his. disciples, and he sat down at the right. hand of God. And then, as a coronation. gift of his enthronement, he sent forth. the Holy Spirit 10 days later on the day. of Pentecost. And the whole community of. Christians, 120 at that time in the. upper room, were became spirit bearers,

something that in the Old Testament only. and kings were. Now, this is the common. patrimony of all believers is to be able. to be indwelt by uh the third person of. the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit. To. have the spirit of God guiding you. Such. that we don't as Christians look for God. out there, we experience God in here. He. takes up his residence in baptism in the. deep heart. St. Paul even says that the. Holy Spirit is in us following baptism,

and that he helps us to pray to God from. the inside with groans that surpass. words. Trying to help us really relate. to God. uh as a father. This is This is our life. Uh and it was only seen uh in the Old. Testament in in little glimpses. This was so radical for for people that. some people gave, and not not a few, by. the way. Some people decided that their. chief ambition was going to be to serve.

God 100%. Not not on not on Sundays. only, right? But completely. St. Paul. describes this in his. uh Epistle to the first to Corinthians, chapter 7. He says that there's two. kinds of life. He says, "I wish everyone. was even as I myself am, unmarried and. completely devoted to God.". He said, "Nevertheless, every person has. his own calling from God. One in this. manner and another in that." And then he. goes on to describe marriage and.

monastic life. These are the two ways of. life for Christians since Jesus. conquered our enemies and gave us the. Holy Spirit. That life of complete consecration for. monks and nuns was so popular in the. early centuries. But, by the time of St. Athanasius the Great, this is 350 or so, right? This is one of the greatest. theologians in the history of the. church. His life is just absolutely. you read it and and weep for its beauty. He said at that time, he was the.

spiritual son of the father of the. desert, St. Anthony the Great. And he. said that at his time, he was also the. patriarch of Alexandria. He said at his time, half of all. Christians lived in the deserts. And so that they could pray. 8 hours a day, serve people, host people. who are coming to see the people who. constantly leave the cities and go see. the monks and the nuns for spiritual. encouragement, for prayer, etc. That's. how powerful that life is. And that.

life, the church fathers say, that life. of complete consecration, which of. course is just an exact imitation of. Jesus' life. This is how our Lord Jesus lived, right? He didn't get married physically, he got. married spiritually to the church. He's. the bridegroom of the church and we're. all his beloved. And we live in that union, right? It. especially guides Christian marriage, right? The husband tries to love his. wife as Christ loves the church, the. wife tries to respect her husband as the. church respects Christ, etc. But, you. see this this enthroned at the heart of. the church, a certain contempt for.

earthly wealth. If the models are if the models are. completely dispossessed for the sake of. the kingdom of God, which is a wealth. that can't be taken away. Modeled by the Lord Jesus himself, who. owned nothing at the time of his. crucifixion. Except his. garment. That's it. And the monks and nuns have have. imitated him to this day. Where I live. in Southern California, we have a number. of monasteries around us and our people. go constantly.

They go in groups, they they visit just. for like a what can I say? A little. boost. A little boost. And they there's. a beautiful symbiosis between the. Christian family that are represented in. the parishes all over the world and. churches all over the world. And then. our monks and nuns who have given. themselves sometimes in the cities. I. mean, all the great cities of the Roman. Empire for the first thousand years were. packed with monasteries. Sometimes. people think monasteries and they think, oh only in the desert. Well, I mean, there are a lot of monasteries in the. desert. And I was just quoting St.

Athanasius about the Egyptian which was. kind of a spiritual guide for the whole. Christian world in the fourth century. But there are also lots of monasteries. in cities. To this day. If you go to any. traditionally Christian city in Europe, you're going to find maybe they aren't. occupied anymore, especially in the. West. But in Central Europe and in. Eastern Europe, still packed with monks. and nuns. This tells you our attitude. towards money. Greed is a tremendous temptation. The model for us is dispossession. St. John Chrysostom, one of the great church. fathers, says for married people,

possessions are justified by use. He says, if you want to be a good. Christian with regards to money and. greed, then make sure that you're using your. money. in a in a beneficial way, such that it's. not he says, if you own a home, make it fit your life. like a good shoe. And you don't want your shoe to be too. tight, too small, lest it crush your. toes, or too big so that you're always. tripping on it and falling down, right?

Possessions are justified by use. Now, forgive me, and that's not much of an. popular message. in America. You know, we have been. famous. We have been famous for at least since. the middle of the 19th century when. Alexis de Tocqueville came here and he. said he had never seen a people in the. history of his travels so obsessed with. money as Americans. There are, of course, some virtues to. that if we use our money to advance the.

cause of beauty and to help people who. are in need. But, money not justified by. usage. will be a testimony against us on the. day of judgment. I agree with that. I agree with that. completely. Um. Just a quick side mark cuz I can't. control myself. St. John Chrysostom, if. I'm pronouncing that correctly. It's. Chrysostom. In Greek, it's Chrysostomos. Chrysos means gold and stoma means. mouth. So, it's actually not his.

surname. People think that that's his. surname, but it just it was a. appellation that was given to him by. Pope Vigilius in 553. Chrysostom died in. 407. Patriarch of Constantinople driven. into exile by. by conflict with the emperor. You know, here it is again, right? Religious conflict. And I hope in a. second that we could talk a little bit. about the important connection between. prophets and political power because. those two in the scriptures always have. to go together if you're going to. succeed. And we terribly need that right.

now. But, go ahead with with your question. >> my I just read. Someone sent me a collection of his. sermons and I know nothing about. Orthodoxy. I knew nothing about him and. I was just so shocked. by how good they were and how resonant. to the modern ear they were. I mean, I. just could hardly believe it. Can you, for anyone who's made it this. far, can you recommend. a collection of his sermons or a. an introduction to him? Cuz what a talented preacher.

Yes, he's not just a talented preacher. He's the most famous preacher in the. history of the church, 2,000 years. No. one is more famous than him. His. collection of sermons in the Greek. language is the largest in Christian. history, comparable only to St. Augustine in Latin. So these are the. predominant influences east and west. I. in fact did my PhD on St. John. Chrysostom at the University of Durham. in northern England. I finished it in. 2003 and I did my my work and published. a text called Marriage and Virginity.

according to St. John Chrysostom. That. was my focus. There are many excellent. books. In almost all of his works are. translated into English. For someone who's just. approaching him, I would say to read his most famous book. which is called On the Priesthood and. it's basically his description of what. Christian worship is, what a priest is, what a pastor is. It's absolutely. magnificent. He wrote it when he was a. young man trying to escape ordination.

He didn't want to be ordained because he. had such respect for being ordained and. he's like he literally. duped one of his good friends named. Basil who was also being courted by the. local bishop to be ordained. So he said, "No, you're totally worthy and I'll do. it after you, but you go first.". So his friend got ordained and then John. disappeared, literally disappeared. He ended up going he lived in ancient. Antioch, right, which is the primary. city of the Roman Empire in the East.

All the emperors would launch their. campaigns against the Persians from. there. That's kind of relevant today, isn't it? Um. and he just outside of the city, I. visited it in 2010. It's in Turkey, southern Turkey now. Yep. It was destroyed Uh that the city was. very damaged by the terrible earthquake. 3 years ago. Just horrible. Uh but. there's a mountain there's a mountain uh. about a mile outside of town. Very. walkable for people like John who lived. in the city. And it's called Mount. Casius. And during his lifetime.

about 300 monks lived in holes and caves. on that mountain. And that's where he. did after he escaped ordination, he went. and lived there for 6 years. And he spent he describes later in his. famous book on the priesthood that. how he spent his time there. He said, "When the sun was out. he studied the scriptures and he. memorized them." There's something like. 11,000 direct quotations in his sermons. from the New Testament and something. like 6,000 from the Old Testament, all. from memory.

He didn't preach with notes. And his. sermons were usually between 30 minutes. and an hour, which is very long. traditionally for a for a priest in the. church to be preaching. Uh and when he would conclude, the. people would boo. And yeah. Please don't stop. Please don't stop. That's That's how great a preacher uh he. was. But he spent the day studying. scripture and memorizing it and he kept. vigil at night. He never laid down for 6. years. He tied a rope around his waist. to a hook in the wall. And so that he could try to keep praying.

at night and take the the minimum sleep. he he needed. Well, you know, sometimes. youthful enthusiasm goes a little too. far. He broke his stomach basically and. his buddy who would come once a week and. leave bread and water at his door up on. the mountain found him. completely ill, picked him up, took him. back to the city in Antioch, and the. bishop grabbed him and never let him go. Ordained him. He ended up becoming the. cathedral preacher for 12 years in. Antioch. And then they kidnapped him and. went to the capital of the Roman Empire. in 397 and made him patriarch of.

Constantinople. And he engaged in the. most incredible revival there. He He. converted The The Easter in which he was. sent into exile, he was uh. preparing 3,000 people for baptism. Yeah, so that makes my 350, you know, that's. nothing. It's nothing. Compared to what. you were doing. He So, he he is uh. you can read his. you can hear his life uh his life we. know in great detail. He's been a.

cherished saint of the church for a very. long time. Uh we have an app. It's called the. Patristic Nectar app. It's on the App. Store. And in there are the lives of the. saints and you can go there and listen. for free to about an hour recording of. his life. Uh you'll just. be absolutely amazed by this man. Well, thank you for telling me that. So, what what is the connection? You said. you wanted to explain the connection. between prophets and political figures. You know, in in the scriptures.

the God would send the prophets to the. kings. And the kings' futures, the success of a. reign depended upon whether the king. would listen to the prophets or not. David had his Nathan. Uh. my patron saint, the great King Josiah. of Israel, uh had the prophet Jeremiah. and the prophetess Holda. And they would. consult good kings would consult. So, there was a a shackling of power which. we know is exceedingly dangerous. Power.

is exceedingly dangerous. I feel very. sympathetic listening to you describe. these. these trials that our nation is facing. and our leaders, including our. president, is suffering so badly and. we're also suffering so badly. Power is extremely dangerous and. Christians learn from the prophetic. influence to use it, but kind of like. this. You've got one hand on power, but you're. being very careful uh because it can do. terrible things to you. Uh if you don't. have someone helping you remind you who.

you are to keep your feet on the ground, that you're humble. When everybody. around you is saying, "Yes, sir. Yes, sir. What do you want to do, sir? You're. the greatest thing that's ever happened. to America." That's poison. of the highest level. In our tradition, uh priests and bishops who are who are. praised by the people we consider it. hatred. >> [laughter]. >> Good for you. I love that. >> We consider it hatred. That doesn't mean. we always succeed in hating it. And the. people mean well. Most of the time they. mean well, but we don't accept it as.

something nice. We consider it a. temptation. It's a temptation. No one is. great. Everyone is a sinner. Only Christ. is our salvation. The best of people. only live by grace and by the love of. God and forgiveness. That's it. So, to. start thinking ideas because you're. really successful or because you have 6. million followers or I have a big. church, come on. Come on. We're Yeah. We're nothing. We're nothing. So, to have a prophet in your life is. exceedingly important and to obey that. prophet. You know, I was very hopeful uh.

when when President Trump established he. took the Department of Faith, which I. think used to be under the Vice. President's office. And it had a. relatively small budget. And then he. made it an executive office, right? He. put it on directly under him and I think. he increased the the budget massively. And uh I I have a few friends who work. on different committees for him. uh like Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, who's the Roman Catholic Archbishop of. San Francisco and is a dear friend of. mine and an incredible person who I.

deeply respect. I I I've been I've taken heart from. that. I'm hoping that that paradigm can. serve our country and that that. Department of Faith can not just be a. genesis for ideas, but our our presidents and our vice. presidents and forgive me, our Congress, they need their pastors in their life. They need their pastors in life. And. when we have a chaplain of the Senate, right? We have a chaplain, but that's. that's not sufficient. I mean, he can't. take care of everybody. You You need. someone who can tell you the truth. And.

your priest is the one who's going to. tell you the truth. You need a priest. This is my prayer really. I make my. cross. asking God to please help our president. and our vice president and all of those. in power to recognize what a dangerous. position they're in. to have so much power. You know, America used to be very humble. about our influence and our founding. fathers considered virtue. to be absolutely essential to political. leadership. And we got this of course.

from George Washington who was such an. exceedingly excellent example of this. himself. The idea though that we are now the. empire of the world and we police people. and we engage in conflicts all over the. world and we have 200 military bases. Forgive me Tucker, this is so pompous. Yes, I agree. So pompous and it's so. unfortunate and there's every excuse in. the world to to justify it. But there's. nothing humble and to to I'm I'm often. called an isolationist because I say. this opinion.

I'm an American and our founding fathers. believed this. This is how they looked. at the world. They did not think America. was responsible. for the world. That is so arrogant. I can't tell you. How [snorts] is arrogance. treated in the Bible? And what's the result of it? You know, this lesson. the lesson for political leaders to. to learn this. It's very hard for them. It's something else for me to learn.

It's something else for you to learn but. for these people who are in this kind of. position. to learn it. This is much harder. Let me. let me give you some examples. We have a. certain type of saint in the history of. the church. that are called righteous kings, righteous kings and queens. So they're. they're saintly political rulers. Now, let me say just out of the gate that. almost all of the political rulers in. the history of Christianity. were awful. >> [laughter].

>> I'm sorry. I just. >> No, I I believe you. I believe you. >> all were awful. Um. and so when I say when I'm going to list. I'm I'll list some saints now. Uh and. then let me qualify it. So, Emperor. Constantine is a saint of the church. Emperor Theodosius the Great, this is. 379 or so. He actually formally. Constantine legalized Christianity. Theodosius made Christianity the. official religion of the empire. He's. called the Great. He was a spiritual son.

of St. Ambrose of Milan, the famous. story where power met priesthood when he. had ordered the slaughter of 7,000. citizens in anger in Thessaloniki, Greece, and Ambrose put him out of. communion. And he was angry and he went to the. church and Ambrose met him at the door. and wouldn't let him in the church. That. was a definitive moment in Christian. history because up to that time no. priest could do that to an emperor. He was considered all powerful and.

but he didn't. He actually did penance. He accepted not entering the church, being put out of communion, and he did. penance. And that established a new. relationship between the clergy in. Christian history and the the power. structure and the politicians. That is a. very important power structure. The the. clergy govern eternal life, right? This. is a matter of the sacraments and we. don't give sacraments to people who are. disrespectful of and and doing great.

sins. It would be a terrible thing to. do. And St. Ambrose. stopped him. Uh there's St. the incredible Justinian the Great. This. is he ruled from 527 to 565. An. incredible man, incredibly talented. He. actually wrote parts of the Eastern. liturgy, parts of the Orthodox liturgy, which we still sing, come from his pen. Uh Uh St. Boris of Bulgaria, this is. 800s, early 800s. Uh St. Vladimir uh of. the Slavic lands. Uh St. Stephen of. Hungary. St. Alfred the Great, who,

forgive me, as an Englishman, he's the. best. He is absolutely the best. You know, Winston Churchill was once. asked was called he he was called the. greatest Englishman. And Churchill. stopped him, he said, "No, no, no. Alfred is the greatest Englishman who. has ever lived." And I say, 100% yes. Um St. Edward the Confessor, right? This. is he died in 1066. These are all. incredible saints who were in positions. of power, and there's a commonality. between them all. All of them submitted.

their agendas, their policies to. their spiritual fathers. They they. respected the guidance of the church. They respected the word of God. And the. priests and the bishops are responsible. for preaching the word of God. And it's very important to believe to. believe that. That is your safety net. when you're exercising power. You need. that blessing to be able not be. destroyed by it. Yes. As as most people were. And and so. to have that kind of relationship is.

important. And I would say, if I could. just move it from the power that the. executive holds to the power of the. military, because those two are very. combined right now in our country. Uh and are the are each other's biggest. fans. Um. we have also in the history of the. church a type of saint that are called. military saints. These are men who were. The church is not pacifist. The church has never been pacifist.

We set standards for the proper use of. force. It has to be a moral use of force. And. we had we have incredible saints like. St. George, St. Theodore. These are. incredible warriors. We have whole lists. of them. I mean, there's hundreds of. military saints. What they have in. common is that they conducted themselves. in a military capacity, not just with. skill, uh but with morality, with virtue. And. that kind of uh example is very, very.

important for America, both in the. executive, in the role of president or. king, and in the role of. uh exerciser of power, which is what our. military is. And wow, do we need it more. than ever right now. Can you just uh end by. you often hear the the phrase just just. war. doctrine, um. without and I without getting in maybe. the specifics of that, but in more. broadly, what does it mean to act as a.

Christian in war? This is a very important subject. And the church has articulated, we did. this within the first five centuries in. a very complex way, uh standards. uh for blessing. This means. if the military does not pursue. their objectives in a way that's. respectable to the eyes of the church,

to the respectable in Jesus' eyes, uh. they don't get blessed. Uh and this has become what we call the. justifiable war dogma. Uh so, we we have. important precedences. One, it can't be. an offensive war. It has to be a matter of defense. Number. two, it can't uh. involve civilians. You cannot fail to. make a distinction. I find this. extremely relevant today. You cannot. make a distinct You cannot fail to make. a distinction between combatants. and civilians. Now, we know this, and.

the whole decimation of Gaza, uh which has completely violated these. norms, by the way, top to bottom, completely violated them. But but always. they try to find a way, the justifiers. of that slaughter, try to find a way to. say somehow that it wasn't a violation. of the principles of justifiable warfare. because. uh they were mili- they were really. militants after all. They're they're giving shelter uh to the. militants, to the terrorists. I mean,

certainly some were giving. uh shelter to terrorists, no doubt, but. that does not justify the raising of. Gaza to the ground and treating everyone. as though they are a combatant. That's. just completely unheard of in the. history of Christianity. Now, you know, there's an incredible. book and I'd love to recommend it to. you. It's by one of the greatest saints. of the 20th century, a man who lived. through. both World War I and World War II, actually got sent to Dachau.

His name is Saint Nikolai Velimirović. He was a Serbian bishop, monk, and an incredible scholar. He had two. PhDs, an Oxford PhD, a PhD from Bern. He. preached uh in World War I and then. again in between the wars at peace. conferences and then through World War. II, uh he preached in all of the. cathedrals of Europe and America. He was. a very well-known, one of the most. famous clerics alive. He spent his last 10 years, unfortunately because of the creation of.

Yugoslavia post-World War II and the. communists, he couldn't return to his. home country. So, we, as we often do in. America, welcomed him here and he loved. us and he spent his last 10 years in. Pennsylvania, uh traveling around. preaching. He preached in Harlem, he. preached Saint John Cathedral in New. York. He preached everywhere in America. He's an unbelievable person. He wrote a book called War and the. Bible. I find it particularly excellent, not just because he's an incredible. incredibly saintly man. and an incredible scholar, but he also.

was a person who lived through World War. I and II. and. is able. to speak. He basically said that the. 20th century. was the triumph of Satan in the. Christian West. And that Jesus was asked. by us to leave. by our behavior and that he did. And I think a lot of what we can see. since 1950 the late 1950s is the.

manifestation of that departure. I think. he's right. Uh. I'm hoping what's going on right now is. our asking Jesus to come back. I want him to come back. And I want him to forgive us uh for what. we've done. Christians killing. Christians World War I and II. The 20th. century was the greatest slaughter. of people in the history of the human. race and it was done mostly by. Christians on other Christians. And I think the Lord left.

and I think St. Nicholas is right and he. will come back cuz he loves all men and. he's trying to redeem and save every one. of us. Well, let's ask him to come back. Let's ask him to come back and ask for. some rebuilding. We have to dig the. wells like Abraham did in the past. He dug all these incredible wells and. then. they got taken over by enemies and. filled up and then his sons had to go. back and redig them. And we need to. redig the wells of a more glorious.

history in the United States of America. where we were more humble. more reasonable and more Christian. You. know, listening to your your monologue. earlier. about. the inescapability of religion. uh in any culture, our our nation was. very comfortable Tucker for the first. 150 years of our our nationhood calling. ourself a Christian nation. Official people, presidents, Supreme. Court justices, we referenced the New. Testament in our Supreme Court documents. for a very long time.

So, this idea that somehow this secular. monster that has eaten us alive and has. decimated our children through the. horror of abortion, destroyed our. families by no-fault divorce, and has left our people addicted to. technology and sad and grieved, that somehow this is America, I don't. accept that at all. I agree. I I want the Lord to come back. I want. us to hold on to love each other again. and to become a more humble.

traditional America. Amen. Well, that is definitely my most. fervent prayer at this point. Father. Trump, thank you so much for spending. all this time and for your wisdom. Appreciate it. God be with you, brother. Amen. And thank you for joining us. We'll be back next Wednesday. See you. then.