The Spiritual Condition of America, Politics, Culture, and Current Events Analyzed Through the Lens of Scripture. Welcome to the Alex McFarland Show. Proverbs 14:34 says, Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. Hi, Alex McFarland here. We've got a great show today because we're going to talk about a lot of things and talk about something near and dear to my heart, which is the future of America and how Christians are to be citizens.
Now, if you hear a background noise, it's because we're at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention. You might wonder, why is the studio so noisy today?
Well, we're not in a studio, and NRB is a great convention. We meet so many amazing people God is using, one of whom is with me today, Brad Dakis of the Pacific Justice Institute. He's an amazing Christian leader. You've probably heard his name, and his organization is doing so much to help restore and preserve our country. I think it'll be inspiring.
Inspirational and even motivational for all of us today, myself included. But Brad Dacas, thank you for making time to be with us. Oh, it's great to be on the program. Thank you, Alex. Appreciate it.
Well, thank you. And for those that may be unaware, tell us about PJI, the Pacific Justice Institute. Yeah, we started in Sacramento. I started back in 1997 with the help of Attorney General Ed Mees. And our purpose is to defend religious freedom, parents' rights, the sanctity of human life, all without charge.
And God just did an incredible work. to get it started, overcome a lot of hurdles. Fast forward, that was 1997.
Now we have offices, 37 offices, coast to coast. And we don't just take on a few cases. Our goal is unique in that we want to make sure that everyone gets help, that no one is left on the side of the road. It's a ministry heart, not a business model heart. And God has blessed that so much.
So we now have over 140 cases in active litigation. The last two years, we have a better than a 90% success rate in resolved cases and litigation, two years running now. Which is incredible. And I just see once again God's hand of grace moving ahead on that. And we're just excited about our existing cases moving forward.
We have the best Supreme Court. in my lifetime, and very pro-religious freedom, but also pro-parental rights. And of course they reversed Roe versus Wade.
So we're very optimistic and we've got a number of very hot cases, some big victories recently.
So it's an exciting time.
So much we can talk about, and this is exciting. I want to thank you for understanding something that I think a lot of Christian leaders don't understand is the role of serving God through the judicial process. And through good legislation, because the verse I began with, Proverbs 14:34, righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach or a debasement, devaluing to any people. I believe America has a righteous foundation. Yes.
I mean, speak to, if you would, Brad, how the country. And as you know, this is our quarter millennia birthday, 250 years. The idea that the rights of people come from God, not government. Exactly. As JFK said in his 61 inauguration, that the role of government is not to give you rights, but to guard the rights that God has given.
That is so unique, isn't it? Yeah, today it is, unfortunately. But as a matter of history, it's who this nation is and was and began from the very beginning.
So when we look at the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, We acknowledge that there are fundamental rights and something to be a fundamental right. It cannot be something that's given by man. Hence, it's not It comes from something above man. That's why I get a real kick out of it when I see an atheist leftist talking about some new fundamental right. This is a fundamental right.
I said, really?
So, um, Fundamental rights, so where does that come from?
Well, it's just really important.
So we just, does man just arbitrarily decide this is important? We want to change it. Can we create and repeal fundamental rights? In order to have fundamental rights, you have to believe in something above man.
something that with authority above man. That we can reference, and that is, of course, our founding fathers called it up, they recognize it as our creator with a capital C. Amen. Not a little C, a capital C.
So they knew who the Creator was, the Lord God Almighty.
So the whole concept of civil rights is derived from the understanding of fundamental rights. Fundamental rights. has as a mandatory prerequisite the acknowledgement of our Creator.
something above us that holds us all accountable. And I think the reason that's so important because when we try to use fundamental rights to create New rights, we have to step back and say, wait a minute, is this something that was endowed by our Creator? Is this proven through history and the laws of nature and nature's God? And if the answer is no, then there's probably a good chance that that's really not a true fundamental right as we've seen the left try to push on our society today.
So, this is vitally important, folks. The voice you're hearing is Brad Dacas. I wish we had you for 100 hours. All right, Barack Obama. said health care coverage.
is a human right. Joe Biden said college tuition is a human right. AOC said. Access to Wi-Fi, yes. Access to Wi-Fi is a human right.
She did, honestly. I'm not surprised. Is healthcare coverage insurance, college tuition paid for by the government, cell phones, and Wi-Fi access? If those are human rights, how did we square that before those existed? Because, you know, when Jefferson wrote the Declaration, there wasn't Wi-Fi and cell phones.
So speak, if you would, your response to the assessment or the assertion that those are, quote, human rights. Yeah, it makes absolutely no sense at all. They're not human rights, they are entitlements. And entitlement is a nice way of saying that you deserve something and that you really don't owe a thank you to anyone for it. This is just what you deserve, your entitlement.
I think if the left had their way, we would change our Thanksgiving Day to Entitlement Day. Because if you're entitled to something, you don't have to thank anyone. It's just what you're entitled to.
So, with a socialist. Marxist-communist perspective. Uh they're trying to expand the quote entitlement and by doing so create a people that are dependent on government and not responsible for themselves in their own decisions, facing their own consequences for their decisions. It is very destructive for a healthy, productive society. Europe is paying the price.
for the degree that they have exceeded the United States with regard to an entitlement philosophy and economies. And that's one reason why European businesses and industries will often come to the United States first. to build and develop an idea. before doing it in Europe because of their mindset, which is High taxes, high entitlement, and suppression of individual potential that God has given us to exercise. Robustly in a free society, including in an economically free society.
The voice you're hearing is Brad Daykus. We've got to take a brief break. We're going to come back and talk about this because, quite literally, folks, this relates to all of our futures, but even the saving of the country more after this break. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland, a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this.
Would you like a book to help you understand the biblical prophecies, the passages about the end of time? Hi, Alex McFarland. You know, for well over a decade, Bert Harper and I have been on the nationally syndicated AFR show, Exploring the Word. Over 3,000 shows we've done together, and Bert and I have a brand new book as of fall 2025: 100 Bible Questions and Answers on Prophecy and the End Times. You can get it at booksellers everywhere.
Our brand new book, Bert Harper, Alex McFarland, Exploring the Word, 100 Bible Questions and Answers on Prophecy and the End Times, published by our great friends at Broad Street Publishing. Check it out, and we believe it will help you understand how to live and thrive in these last days. He's been called trusted, truthful, and timely. Welcome back to the Alex McFarlane Show. Welcome back to the program.
Alex McFarland here with Brad Dakis. And before we go too much farther, your website, how can people find you online, Brad? Oh, thank you, Alex. It's simply three letters: P, J, Yeah. Dot org P It stands for Pacific Justice Institute.
We really maybe should change our name because we have more offices on the East Coast than we do on the West Coast. We have offices all over the country, but it's PJI.org. And there they can sign up to get our free e-newsletter, the legal edge. I keep up with our many cases, over 140 cases in active litigation across the country. Free resources that are very empowering, like opt-out forms customized for each of the 50 states, using the new empowerment because of the Supreme Court Mohammed versus Taylor case last summer, and also like 12 steps to protect your kids from being taken by social workers.
Every family should have it, it's all free resources. P-J-I dot O-R-G. And also, if they like one of our attorneys to speak at their group or their church, I do a lot of guest preaching all over the country without charge, no honorarium. I'll pay for my flight. They can just go there, press the button, request a speaker, and we'll take care of it.
Wonderful. What about attorneys maybe that are born-again Christians, constitutionalists, and maybe they want to volunteer or be involved? Oh, absolutely. In fact, we're hiring more attorneys. We want to have more attorneys across the country because we have more cases.
And we want to make sure. My goal, Alex, is for Satan to have no place to go for vacation in the United States. Amen. Anywhere.
So To do that, we have to have the big footprint that we have, and what we have is very unique in and of itself. But South Dakota, I'd like to have an office there. I'd like to have one in Alabama.
So there's some states that we still. Would love to have attorneys in and If they're likely, you can be involved part-time, full-time. We'd love to work with them. They just have to have a heart for the Lord. They have to have a humble heart.
of service And a desire to make a difference with a servant heart.
So, you know what? It's been our joy to interact over the last 25-plus years with. Hundreds of thousands of young people. And, you know, God has called many to the pulpit or to the missions. But I've told many an audience of young people: one of the most powerful ways to serve Jesus and help contribute to the Great Commission is if you feel so led to become an attorney.
Because godly attorneys that really understand our Constitution, and I want to talk about that, and you are certainly the personification of this, but one of the great ways to serve the Lord is through the legal field, would you agree? Absolutely. You know, originally, Alex, I was going to go to seminary. And I was going to be a pastor because that's just what mature Christians do. They become pastors because God's desperate for pastors.
That's just sort of the mindset, okay? Sure. And that's what I'm saying. Understandable. Yeah, and so I thought, okay, that's what I prayed, but I thought I needed to pray about it, make sure I had that calling.
And so I prayed about it.
Sought counsel, fasted, read the word, you know. And the more I sought God, the stronger and stronger my desire was to go to law school. It did not make any sense at all, which is why I thought it was a calling. Because it really, I couldn't rationalize the desire, how things shifted. My dad thought, said, Son, are you sure you got this right?
What does God need a lawyer for?
So as it turns out, I ended up going to law school. And I'm seeing so much impact. For the kingdom, in so many positive ways, both indirectly in terms of serving individuals, churches, ministries, and empowering them and defending them, but also directly because I'm not tied to one church. I get to guest preach and evangelize and see people raise their hands to receive Christ all across the nation. Amen.
And so I encourage people out there: don't limit God, don't let your presuppositions dictate. You see God, where is He leading you? It doesn't have to make sense. It didn't make sense to me at the time. But follow that, trust God.
And you won't regret it. I want to transition to my second most favorite topic in the world. My first most favorite topic is the gospel. Christ, the Son of God, died, rose again. Jesus paid our sin debt on the cross.
We put our faith in Jesus. We're forgiven. That's number one, no question. But my second most favorite topic that we'll get to, I guess I'll queue it up by asking you a question. When Jefferson wrote in the Declaration, we hold these truths to be self-evident.
If you would, and I'm a willing pupil, I really eagerly anticipate your response. What is meant by that? We hold these truths to be self-evident. Self-evident truth. Brad Dakis, what does that mean?
That means We don't have to argue for it, we don't have to prove it. It's self-proven. It's self-evident. we can see it in our society. For example, the right for us to breathe.
We don't have to debate that. We know that we have a right to breathe. That's how God created us. That's how we were inspired to be from the beginning. We have a right to breathe.
In the same way, we have a right to be able to grow up and have a family. We feel so led to get married, to have children. These are things built within the law of our own instinct, the laws of nature. These are all things proven to exist. And so things that are things that we don't have to defend or to prove, they are just Self-evident, they're self-proving, self-validating in and of themselves.
That's what he's talking about. And so it's really important that language is. I'm really glad you mentioned that because it shows that there's no room here. uh for the left or anyone to deny it. Or to take it away.
That's right. Jefferson said: we hold these truths to be self-evident, that we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights.
Now, folks, sometimes people say unalienable or inalienable. Those terms are synonymous, which means they can't legitimately be taken away. Ever. Yeah, right.
Now, somebody could take our life or restrict our liberty.
So, yes, our God-given rights can be taken away, but not legitimately so. Right, not legitimately. Or an individual may relinquish. those rights. For example, let's say someone goes out and murders someone Well, he just relinquished his rights in many states across the country to live.
And that's Romans 13, 1 through 7. Yeah, he may relinquish his, if someone does a crime, they may relinquish their rights to have the same freedom, i.e., spend time behind bars in jail, have their gun license taken from them, for example, when they engage in felony crimes. Or they can't vote. Or they can't vote. But these are things we're talking about them relinquishing something that they already have.
The fact is all of us Already have these rights. They're inalienable and they cannot be legitimately, legitimately taken away by government. And when government does, Our founding fathers recognize the right of we the people. To take those rights back. Sure.
And not to have to surrender them. Indefinitely, but we can take those back. You know, one interesting thing about the Supreme Court. Deal with the COVID vaccine crisis and how the government was just shutting down churches and oppressing people. Is when, and we took a case all the way to the Supreme Court on behalf of churches.
in oppressive states like California, New York to open back up again. John MacArthur was heinously oppressed. Oh, absolutely. So we had five churches we defended, rapid fire of the Supreme Court, and the court ordered Governor Gavin Newsom, one of the most oppressive governors, I think, in U.S. history.
He says, open those churches and synagogues now. And in so doing, the court was basically saying, and they paraphrased this before, the Constitution and the rights contained therein recognize therein. are never to be put on the shelf. No matter what the circumstances, the Constitution must prevail and the rights Not created, but recognized by it, must always be respected, no matter what. And I think that was very much of a landmark for us to reference as we look at future challenges in the future.
We've got to take a break more with Brad Dacas: Our nation's future and your rights endowed by the Creator, God Himself. Stay tuned, we're back after this. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland, a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. Hi, Alex McFarland here.
You know, I was at a college speaking, and I guess we ministers get too wordy.
Somebody said, Can you describe Christianity in only two words? And instantly, this came to me, and I said it: loving substitution. And students raised their hand and they said, What does that mean? Loving substitution. Here's the thing: because Jesus Christ loves you, He was our substitute on Calvary's cross.
The appropriate measure of God's wrath that you and I deserved was put onto Jesus. You don't have to die and suffer for your sins because He was the substitute who died for you.
So, if you call out to Christ, He will save you, He will forgive you. I urge you to do that today because Jesus Christ has a plan for your life, and it begins with you putting your faith in Him. Thank you for listening. Thank you for your support. Learn more about this at alexmacfarland.com.
Producer Mike for the Alex McFarlane Show, listen to this. Alex is the Christian voice we need right now. I love listening to him, and the guests he has on the show are just amazing. I highly recommend his podcast. Great words, Alex.
Well, we give God the glory. We thank the listeners for kind sentiments like that, but we give God all the glory. But, folks, please listen in, spread the word. You're spreading the gospel. Tell others about our programming, and we sincerely thank you.
He's been called trusted, truthful, and timely. Welcome back to the Alex McFarlane Show. Welcome back to the program. We'll resume our conversation with Brad Dakis in just a moment. I do want to remind everybody to please pray.
We have a big, big year. Oh my goodness. We have seven youth camps and then a big youth rally in the fall. We'll have over 2,200 teenagers. And every year, God marvelously saves hundreds and hundreds.
So please pray. The entire schedule is on the website alexmacfarland.com. Also, we have United in Prayer every Tuesday, completely free. We'll send you a prayer devotional because, as you know, folks, prayer is the nerve that moves the muscle of God. And so go to alexmacfarlane.com/slash united in prayer.
I'll be at the Billy Graham Center in July twice, and that's great. We're in a pulpit somewhere every weekend. And so please pray, support as you're able. And you can find our entire ministry at alexmcfarland.com. Brad Dacas, our guest, pji.org.
That is your website, right? That's right, pji.org. And you mentioned the youth and the camps. A wonderful resource we have for teenagers, a book my wife and I wrote called Reclaim Your School: How to Legally and Practically Evangelize Public Schools with specifics. And then we not only say, this is what you can do, we say, and by the way, We'll defend you Pacific Justice without charge anywhere you're challenged in living your faith.
Turning Point USA, we are their legal arm. And we already have to defend every single one of their chapters. We have a case going on in Tucson, Arizona, right now as we speak. And so we're there to provide that support for those young people who want to live their faith and share their faith. And it's so exciting to see the revival taking place.
Gen Zs, Alex, you probably know all about this. Gen Zs have a higher church attendance than baby boomers. Yeah. And are millennials.
So God is doing incredible work, and I'm just excited to hear what you're doing there with the young teenagers. He really is. And by the way, we've done, in 27 years, actually, we have done index card surveys and questionnaires with about 250,000 teenagers. And one thing that I'm seeing is more and more, not only they're in church and they're very serious about their Christianity, but they are skewing more and more theologically conservative. In other words, and in all of our biblical.
Yeah, biblical. They're letting God's Holy Word inform their positions.
So that's good. I do want to, with the time we have left, I want to talk about where I was going in that second segment about self-evident truth or natural law. Not the laws of nature like water boils at 212 degrees at sea level. But I think it's one of the most important topics. It's one of the most ignored topics.
Frankly, I've interviewed many elected officials who have no clue what this is, but I know you will. Natural law. George Washington talked about the laws of nature and nature's God. Alexander Hamilton and many of the founders talked about the Decalogue. But, Brad, it's vital.
Let's talk about natural law and how that relates to our constitutional government. Yeah, and it's a very broad. Very broad concept, which you just mentioned. I mean, so it's, I'm going to try to be very. Succinct with it because it really starts, and this is real important.
You cannot separate The laws of nature and nature is God. from God and specifically from the biblical origins of our nation. Uh you can't separate them.
Sometimes historians like to do that. They like to create this kind of cavern and say, well, these are deists, and they, no, no, no. Thomas Jefferson, all of them. Acknowledge not just a god. but the God, the Lord.
So that's why it's so important because the reference point we have for that is scripture.
Now that gets some people a little nervous. They say, are you creating a theocracy? Are you saying that America is a country everyone has to bow the knee to no, we're not Muslim, we're not Christianity, a Christian nation is one That has to have freedom because Christianity is not based upon bowing the knee to Allah or you get your throat slit. As in the history of the expansion of Islam and much of Islam. Instead, it's about a real relationship.
That you enter into with God. And then to have a real relationship, you have to have the freedom to accept or reject that relationship. Yeah. And so that is a true Christian nation, number one, has to have that freedom to accept or reject God. At the same time, The governance of that institution Needs to be one that recognizes the foundation of freedom, which is a creator, the creator, and the rules and laws of nature that have allowed that creator to, or manifest that creator, and manifest himself and his nature into mankind.
So it's not something that can be separated from God, number one, and number two, it cannot. uh be uh separated from modern day laws and legislation uh either. It all it all literally flows together. You know, we at Pacific Justice have been working and we worked in Texas and we uh and in Louisiana to get passed a law that's that puts the Ten Commandments On the school district, Wallace, every public school. That was one thing we did in our legislative division, separate from our litigation division.
People say, why'd you do that?
Well, it's simple. Um it's not because you know, these kids are necessarily going to abide by them. It's that, and what we've argued is, is these children, kids need to understand our heritage and where we came from. And if they want to move our society in a different direction. That'll be their freedom to do so.
But we owe it to them to understand. May God forbid. May God forbid, but we owe it to them to understand. Where we came from, where all that they experience and the luxuries we experience in our society and the freedoms, liberties, where it came from. And it came from the laws of nature, nature's God, given, created by God, enunciated by God.
through scripture all the way going back into, for example, the Ten Commandments. It's so unique in world history. I mean, for thousands of years of world history, you had a monarchy or an oligarchy, which Rome was very much like that, and laws were. Pretty arbitrary. And then in seventeen seventy-six and seventeen eighty-seven.
The idea that a government would be predicated not on the whim of man, but on the laws of God. I mean, that was utterly unique, wasn't it? Oh, it was very unique. And it was also unique in that the Constitution was there not to empower government to do whatever it wants with a few exceptions of this and that. It was the opposite.
It was to mandate government to install freedom and recognize freedom. And then to authorize what government can do, not what it can't. Can't do. It's very different from the enumerated powers. Yes, it's very, very, very clear and specific.
Also, going back to the idea of the biblical origins of American law and the origins of it as they understood it, as John Locke understood the concept of a laws above man. I encourage people, if they have the time, sometime, to, when they read the Bible, to look at it and apply it to modern day law.
So before I went to law school, I met with Dr. Herb Titus, who was the dean of Regent Law School at the time. He'd just come out with a book. He hadn't even had it published yet. He gave me the draft copy and I read it.
It was the biblical origins of American Law. It's unbelievable, Alex, how Like for example, tort law. That comes from scripture. Property law. It comes from scripture.
Family law comes from scripture. Criminal law comes from scripture. Bankruptcy law. It comes from scripture. And so It's what we have in the way of our legal framework, what we have in terms of our values and understanding of responsibility as citizens.
It comes back from a Judeo-Christian worldview, it comes back to scripture and like I say, people in a free society. They have the ability to reject it. But to not let them have the truth and know the truth is very dangerous for our nation moving forward. It really is. And I was especially burdened when Kamala Harris was running for president.
I mean, I was praying. She would, in a number of speeches, she would get up and she would say, our government promises liberty and the pursuit of happiness. She wouldn't say life. Liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And so, I mean, we could elaborate on that, and by the mercy of God, she did not become our president.
But it was very intentional. I mean, the left and the fact that in our natural rights, our inalienable rights, and of course, the Democrats, they will not recognize the God-ordained right to life. She would say liberty in the pursuit of happiness. We're in a dangerous place, I think. Yeah, and people take the right to life as just sort of a given.
No. Throughout world history and civilizations where the Aztecs sacrificing your baby or whatever, there have been different civilizations with different perspectives on it. We have a Judeo-Christian worldview where it recognizes the sanctity of human life. You know, when I was in law school, they had this table which was save the dolphins. And I thought, oh, this is going to be fun.
So I walked up to him and I said, So why not save the cod? There are many more cod that are killed than dolphins. And they said, well, and they fell right into it. They said, well, the dolphin is much more intelligent, has much higher IQ. I said, oh, so do you value then the value of life premised upon the intellectual level of the capacity of the creature?
And they said, oh, yes. I said, so if we had a dolphin that had a higher IQ than, let's say, a mentally challenged human being, and you had to save only one of them in an emergency, you would save the dolphin then over the human being. Based on your test. And one of them goes, yes. And the other one goes, uh.
And I said, and that is how I believe differently. because the sanctity of human life is separate from intellect or function. There's an inherent value to life that is given by God. That separates human life from all other life in the world.
Something to think about. And one of them, I think, did, the other one just went off in his weird direction. Understanding the concepts is so important in medicine today. We at Pacific Justice Institute have had to intervene on little ones. being killed.
And it's a strong word I know. I'm not talking about abortion here. That's murder too. A little toddler Israel. I had an asthma attack.
had major brain damage. Was in life support. They were going to pull the cord. They said the baby's dead. We need to pull the cord.
The mother says, no, no, I know the baby, I know he's responsive. The little toddler's responsive to me. I know he's responsive. We worked with her, brought in an expert, a neurological expert, says, this baby is not brain dead. Make a long story short.
We prevailed. We saved the life of baby Israel. He then went from there to Stanford for medical rehabilitation. But the mindset in much of our medical society does not recognize the value and sanctity of life in and of itself. But they qualify it in terms of the quality of life, as they wish to say, or really the burden of life.
And in so doing, we cheapen life, and in doing that, it's a very, very dangerous slope. that we're facing today.
Well, we're going to have to hit the pause button. Brad Dakis, I appreciate you so much. And folks, remember that every generation has to come along and be citizens. And more than that, godly informed citizens. We wrote the book, The Assault on America: How to Defend Our Nation Before It's Too Late.
More recently, we've written books to help you 10 issues that divide Christians, where I go through all of the major issues about American exceptionalism, citizenship. And you might have been told that you don't mix religion and politics. Don't you believe it? We are to be salt and light. And like Augustine said, until we're in the city of God, we have an obligation to the city of man.
God bless you. Stay bold. Stand strong for truth. Alex McFarlane Ministries are made possible through the prayers and financial support of partners like you. For over 20 years, this ministry has been bringing individuals into a personal relationship with Christ and has been equipping people to stand strong for truth.
Learn more and donate securely online at alexmacfarland.com. You may also reach us by calling 1-877-YESGOD and the number 1. That's 1-877-Y-E-S-G-O-D-1. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you again on the next edition of the Alex McFarlane Show.
