The $14 Million "He Gets Us" Ad

Hey everybody, today on The Charlie Kirk Show, a full hour with Lance Wallnau.

We talk about Christian nationalism, the He Gets Us advertisement, the call to action in 2024, and more. Email us as always, freedom at charliekirk.com, subscribe to our podcast, and get involved with Turning Point USA at tpusa.com. That is tpusa.com, sorry, high school or college chapter today at tpusa.com. Email us as always, freedom at charliekirk.com, and if you want to become a member, go to members dot charliekirk.com to become a member. That's members dot charliekirk.com, members dot charliekirk.com. Email us as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.

Buckle up everybody, here we go. Charlie, what you've done is incredible here. Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campuses. I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk's running the White House folks. I want to thank Charlie, he's an incredible guy, his spirit, his love of this country. He's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA. We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.

That's why we are here. Noble Gold Investments is the official gold sponsor of The Charlie Kirk Show, a company that specializes in gold IRAs and physical delivery of precious metals. Learn how you could protect your wealth with Noble Gold Investments at noblegoldinvestments.com. That is noblegoldinvestments.com. It's where I buy all of my gold.

Go to noblegoldinvestments.com. Lance, thank you for taking the time. Lots I want to talk to you today about Lance, but firstly, he gets us advertisement.

I want you to really riff on this. This is, I believe it was a $14 million spot, so it cost $14 million to get this. It was a one-minute commercial, and some of the background is the Green family is primarily the funders of this, and I understand there's a split in the family over who's actually supportive of this. There's a brother and there's a son and then there's a patriarch, but it's a hundreds of millions of dollars that are being pumped behind this. And I was approached by the He Gets Us team before it went public, and I had some concerns, but it sounded good.

And as soon as I saw the ads, I said, this is really dangerous. Lance, riff on it. So here's what it is. You got these Norman Rockwell pictures. I mean, they're really a Rockwell-esque, you know, kind of like vivid color of real people with detail in the picture, but it's a series of pictures which are, on one hand, you would love it. So here's an old white guy and here's an older African-American, and both of their feet are in a bucket at the same time. Or there's an interracial, washing of feet is the theme. But then suddenly interspersed in there is some very curious subliminal propaganda. You have a bus which looks like illegal immigrants getting on a bus, but here you have a woman washing the feet of someone who's kind of like illegally entering or getting dispersed to the United States. Then you have another one where you have a guy who is clearly washing the feet of someone who's either trans or gay, flaming or queer or something. And here's the point.

It wouldn't be so bad if you had the visuals and you go, that's kind of weird. I like that one. I don't like that one. But the punchline, the conclusion of the entire multimillion dollar investment is these words that pop up at the end. Jesus didn't teach hate.

He washed feet. And that's what bothered me. What bothered me is they took advantage of the emotion and the yearning in America. The Super Bowl is really the desire of Americans to get away from politics and moralize.

Let me just enjoy a game for a moment, will you? The left ruins everything they touch, and they will ruin even generous philanthropic endeavors like the Green family's doing because somehow the endorsement isn't on speaking truth and restoring America and having grace for our differences. It's condemning those that are speaking truth in order to save the nation. This he washed feet, he didn't teach hate is a misrepresentation of the gospel. When Jesus showed up, they didn't kill him because he wasn't controversial.

Somebody didn't like what he was saying. And so the reality is grace and truth came by Jesus. These people with the woke religious Jesus are presenting another Jesus. It's interesting, the apostle Paul said something in Corinth. And if you want to look it up, you Bible students, go to Second Corinthians, I think it's Chapter 11, verse four.

He said, Be careful, let somebody comes and preaches a different Jesus than the one that I preached or that you listen to a different gospel than the one that I preached, because the gospel of the kingdom right now for America is we are in a critical moment and we need to have truth and grace. We can't have this false religious sentimentality. That's my take. In addition, it also plays into right wing bad, left wing good. If you look at these images, for example, the one that I saw, which was like the climate activist, has her feet being washed by the oil guy. There was one with the abortion.

There's one with like the race relations. So that was a subtext throughout. But also just to make sure we're theologically clear here, there are a couple instances of feet washing in the Scriptures. The most famous is Jesus having his feet washed by, I believe, Mary Magdalene and having the most, you know, expensive perfume being used. The other is him washing his disciples feet of Peter and Judas. Just using that as an isolated theological, what are the takeaways? I know for certain one of the takeaways from the Mary Magdalene example is that some of the other onlookers said, how dare you use the nicest perfume? And Jesus says, effectively, like, hey, you're always going to have poor people, but you only have me right now.

It's about worshiping Christ above all. Lance, was that the takeaway here? This felt social justice-y. Oh, a lot of the commercials were. For me, it was like really painful, because this is so sophisticated. I mean, it's getting at you at so many subliminal levels. But I'm so glad you picked up on the Planned Parenthood was in the backdrop of, and that's the only second time I saw the commercial, because these torment me. Once I don't like them, I hate watching them.

But on TV, I'm constantly having to replay them. But the reality is, they're trying to brainwash America into seeing the MAGA movement, the Trump, Trumpian clarity is going to be coming under attack as hate. And what makes this insidious, Charlie, is let's talk about foot washing for a second. Foot washing is in the Middle East. It isn't common now. It's a bit unusual now. I've done this in churches.

It's a bit awkward. But foot washing in the Middle East is you walk around in the dirt and in the dust with your sandals. So if you're a rabbi or a teacher or a preacher, somebody who would wash your feet was essentially refreshing the messenger. So it was mostly done with believers, as you see there. It was Mary Magdalene to Jesus. It was Jesus to the disciples.

He never did a foot washing ceremony in Galilee as a way of showing that he was against hate speech. And putting it in its proper context, it's to refresh the messenger of God, which would actually mean that this is a misrepresentation because those people getting their feet washed aren't messengers of God. But I put that aside, an act of service, an act of kindness, an act of humility is consistent with Christianity. But to label those that are being truthful, like your show, for instance, you will say hard things. And people that watch that that are religious will say, see, Charlie Kirk isn't a good Christian. Charlie Kirk doesn't represent me. Well, no, because you've got a woke Jesus instead of the real Jesus.

Yeah, and Jesus Christ, the living God, is grace and truth. And I just want to say, I've always gotten along great with the Green family. I understand based on reports that the Green family is divided on these ads, that there is not. Can you comment on that, Lance?

It's only you can get me into these these dangerous waters. It's actually Russell Moore. Russell Moore was the professor for the son-in-law and he was a mentor. And what happens with these great Christian families is somebody on the left works their way into the foundation and starts and starts pitching their, so somewhere the fingerprints of Russell Moore are connected, or his entourage. Including the daughter Lauren Green McAfee, who I've met and I like, she's just so off base on this.

Russell Moore is the suppressive force. I've supported them, I helped do a launching for his ministry, the son-in-law's ministry, I spoke there with Pat Robertson. I support them. And what they've done with the Museum of the Bible is amazing, it deserves credit.

So I champion them. But Charlie, I grieve when I see the resources in the kingdom going to the wrong causes like this. So Lance, imagine if you were given $14 million to tell the world about Jesus.

I want to be positive. Let's just paint an alternative. What would you have done in a one minute Super Bowl ad in front of 100 million people? Well, that's a powerful question. I think what I would do is I would take a segment and start to share how America is in a moment of crises. And like many nations, we could actually go down into oblivion, except for a move of God.

And if you're looking for politicians to solve your problem, that's only one part of the equation. You yourself have got to respond. Billy Graham had his biggest and greatest impact by warning America that nuclear holocaust was possible with Russia, and atheistic communism would take America. He put the fear of God in people and said, and what will happen to you if America goes down? Is your soul right with God?

I mean, boom! People came by the millions, and people forget it was fear that motivated them to repentance. And ultimately the fear of the Lord.

And that's the most important thing that we must understand, that there is a judgment that all of us will face. And I think that's one of the reasons why, Lance, this has been met with such widespread criticism, is that we take our faith so seriously, and we want the best possible representation of our faith and truth to be put on display, and not a watered down social justice version. And I'll just tell you a one-off anecdote, is that a conservative non-Christian friend of mine texted me and he said, is this really what Christianity has become? So here I am trying to win over this conservative guy for Jesus, and he feels as if he's watching like a moveon.org commercial. Oh, you know, it's like the crew thing that you sent me that I looked at the other day, warning about stay away from politics. That's the devil's theme right now with all the churches, is stay away from politics. It's like, don't hang out with Bonhoeffer.

He's going to get you in trouble, you know? What's weird is that Jesus is being misrepresented, and that's the part that bothers me most, because that Jesus, woke Jesus, is not going to excite a movement. But truth Jesus, with grace and truth, I believe is what will cause the multitudes to resonate. Amen. So Lance, shifting gears here, I want to get actually, you know, one last thing on this. We finally have this tape.

Let's play Cut 42. This is from my appearance on the Whatever podcast the He Gets Us style of Christianity. There was a young lady on there who I felt sorry for. She's an online stripper, and she says, well, I know God doesn't want me to do it, but Jesus loves me, so it's just perfectly fine. And she wears a cross while she does her stripping. That is where He Gets Us Christianity leads you. All grace, no truth.

Who cares? I could be a stripper in the name of Jesus. Play Cut 42. Do you wear your cross while you're shooting pornographic content? I probably have, yes.

You probably have? How do you reconcile? Are you Christian? Well, I grew up Catholic. And my mom is, we grew up Catholic because of my dad, and my mom is Christian. Do you think God wants you doing adult content?

Split neck? Probably not. So she wears the cross, Lance. She knows she shouldn't, but she does it in the name of God anyway. Yeah, and my pastoral side, because I've done business, I've pastored, I've done a lot of different stuff in my life. I look at her and I say, okay, you grew up Catholic, your mom's a Christian. That's code language to me that she's probably not had a real personal encounter with Jesus. So I would move from the subject of what you're doing probably, if you were to die while you're stripping, would it embarrass you to go in that condition into the presence of God?

And then go from there and say, why don't we just pray right now so that you'll never, you'll know exactly what God wants to do with you and you won't have these struggles. How do you feel? Well, I feel great. And one of the reasons I feel better is because I take Balance of Nature's fruit and veggies in a capsule. They have an amazing story of how this product was developed by Dr. Douglas Howard.

It's right there on their website. Balance of Nature receives over a thousand success stories every single month. They've had hundreds of thousands of customers who've purchased billions of capsules of fruits and veggies over the past 20 years, and you should check it all out on their website.

Their products are gluten-free and non-GMO, and they contain no added sugars or synthetics. I think if you're looking for something to make you feel better naturally, you should definitely give Balance of Nature a try. In fact, order it today. Whether you order online or call them direct, you must use the promo code Charlie to get the special offer of 35% off. Call them at 800-2468-751 or use discount code Charlie. Order online at balanceofnature.com, discount code Charlie, to get 35% off. So please check it out right now.

That is balanceofnature.com, 800-2468-751, promo code Charlie. Check it out. So Lance, there was this piece that you texted me all about pushing back against Rob Reiner's Christian nationalism. Walk our audience through it. So the left now has got funding, and they are going to be coming after Christians. I mean, you've got the Woke Jesus commercials. I'm going to talk in one segment here about a bombshell revelation on a key leader in the business and church community who is warning pastors not to get involved in politics. But the attack tells me that from a spiritual point of view, the powers of darkness that are trying to take down America recognize that it's Christianity that is their big battle right now.

It wasn't before, and right now we're on the front lines. Rob Reiner is a movie where he is, and thank God it's Rob Reiner because it's totally unsophisticated, and that's good for us because we can tear it apart. But Rob is leading a crusade to educate Americans on the danger of God and country. That's the people that are really all about God and country and Christian nationalism.

And oddly enough, let me just go right to a jugular right here. He says, it's a dangerous movement, these Christians, these what? These pro-life Catholics and shofar-blowing Pentecostals.

They're dangerous, I tell you. And he points out that we have that mass shooter who killed 10 victims in Buffalo, New York in May of 2022. The only problem is the mass shooter had no connection with Jesus, Christianity, or anything.

But like anything else, the back channel was actually to the left. It wasn't actually a Christian, but he's saying, aha, that kind of shooting comes because of the incendiary worldview of Christianity. Here's the reality. Breaking news today, Lakeland Church shooter identified as transgender immigrant from El Salvador. This was a shooting that happened at Joel Osteen's Lakeland Church yesterday. And now it's a transgender immigrant.

Originally, Jeffrey now transitioned, I guess, to a woman and came in and did the shooting. So what do I know? I know that the danger of the Carl Reiner trying to accuse us of being flamethrowers that are inciting violence, is it incites violence against the innocent.

And Rob Reiner needs to be held, he needs to be pushed back on strongly. He says, we've got an agenda to pat the courts and get rid of democracy. He thinks that Roe v. Wade getting overturned was an assault on the freedom of America. And he's convinced that our movement is power worshipers who are into the business of idolatry in politics.

Because we're power worshipers and we can't wait to get power, which is oddly enough a projection of everything the left does. But the trailer has me in it. That's why I'm sensitive. And you know what I say? There's a line where I say, America shall be saved. And they're using it as a warning that people like me exist. And I realized that in their mind, they think when we say America shall be saved, that I guess they think we're like not your library. We're going to force them to be baptized or something like that. But in my mind, I'm trying to I'm looking at a drowning swimmer and saying, don't worry, we're going to get out there and rescue you, America.

You're not going to go under. So they're hearing a totally different thing. So anyway, that's that's my update on on Meathead's movie. And just reiterate something, Lance. This is a well-funded, well-researched campaign.

I believe they think that if Christians continue in their current trajectory, they're going to be unsuccessful in November. Yeah, exactly. I do believe that they see that's why, Charlie, you get I mean, it's a weird thing, isn't it? You get a lot more negative press than the average bear. But it's because I get negative press.

Lance, I've never gotten negative press. I you know, what's funny about your program is I love to watch it when I can. But if I miss it, I can always catch up on the most explosive thing you've said, because I read it in the criticisms that I that I read every day. So it's free. It's free advertising.

It's great. So I know exactly what's going on, even when I'm not watching, because you're you're getting press from the left. Yeah. The basic truth is they're setting us up to look like an irrational, dangerous.

And that's where that that commercial bothers me. The hate movement like they did with Trump. Remember that he's all about hate. He's all about hate. And he wasn't.

The riots that were happening or the incidents in his rallies were planted by the left who, by the way, are burning down cities, burning up limos, police precincts. Not any evangelical has ever done that. So, Lance, what is your response when people say, Lance, I just want to preach the gospel. This is dividing the kingdom.

It's too nasty right now. I just want to preach the gospel. Fascinating study was done by a thesis written by a Ph.D. student who wanted to see what was preached in the United States during the Civil War. In the North, they were preaching the justice and the righteousness of emancipating the South from slavery. In the South, they were preaching the injustice of the North, forcing them to comply with their federal government control. The border states, Charlie Kirk, preached stay out of politics and focus on the kingdom. What that tells me is that almost all churches today are like Maryland or Kentucky or Delaware. They are border state churches that are acting political because the winds of adversity are making them tack in such a direction that they will not provoke anyone by speaking truth. These are border state pastors and churches.

And the psychology is what fascinates me of people that remain on the fence and remain on the border. Where did this begin to go wrong, Lance? Because the American church used to be very political a couple of decades ago. Yeah, I'll tell you where it went south.

It went south when America had a prolonged period of peace and prosperity and didn't recognize the threat of the left. I have a 1983 leadership magazine which captures the seminal moment when Jack Hayford and Rick Warren were discussing that the best way to change America in the culture war is to build better churches and more churches where they preach the gospel. Meanwhile, it was D. James Kennedy and others that said, well, while you're doing that, pray to God that the Marxists don't take over America because they will shut down your church within 30 years if you pursue that. You're called to disciple the nation and win souls, not just build churches.

That moment captured the future trajectory of America. You know, recently, and I would like your response to this, just last couple of days, one of the branches of Willow Creek Community Church is closing. I passively used to attend Willow Creek Community Church in the suburbs of Chicago. Bill Hybels was a great communicator, especially as a new Christian.

But as you dive deeper, you realize that there wasn't a lot of depth there. But initial stages, I have to say he was very helpful to me. Do you think, though, the Willow Creek-ification of the American church was a negative thing where it came in overly corporate, you know, stay away from the controversial issues? Listen, I was I worked for a while as a church-growth consultant.

I was actually in, you know, we had a Wall Street company, I was in the oil business. When I went into ministry, I would moonlight as a consultant and help nonprofits grow. So there was a cottage industry of how to grow a church, just an entrepreneurial phenomena, how to get the traffic in, have seven points of contact, and when they come in, so that they feel as though they're, and there really is a strategy to building a business. So what happened is church growth became a managerial science. But what we didn't recognize is that building bigger churches did not build more influence in culture. We neglected what the left was doing on the campuses that you're making up for now in your generation.

We neglected that media was being taken over by the left. And because we didn't understand how the devil will fill the void of our negligence, we built big churches, and then another mistake happened. Toronto for Pentecostals and Charismatics, the fastest growing wing of Christianity globally, happens to be Pentecostal, spirit-filled and that kind of stuff. And so you have a Toronto Pensacola, various moves of God, and this became the alternative. If you weren't into church growth, you were into the supernatural.

And so both of them created ditches. Neither of them would go into the seven mountains of culture. And so for 25 years, I'd be like the lone prophet saying, if we don't go into media, it's going to be taken over.

We don't go into politics. They're going to chuck you down. And I prophesied it. And now I'm watching it happen. And a little bit late to the game, people are going, you know, I think you have a point. We got to get involved.

Yeah, no kidding. You got to get involved. The globalists are making it very clear that another pandemic could be just around the corner. They want us to live in fear, to be willing to sacrifice our freedoms.

It doesn't have to be this way. You need to be prepared, not scared. That's why you need The Wellness Company. The Wellness Company and their doctors are medical professionals that you can trust. Their medical emergency kits are the gold standard when it comes to keeping you safe and healthy. Be ready for anything. I can 100% endorse this company.

They are amazing. Rest assured, knowing that you have emergency antibiotics, antivirals and anti-parasitics on hand to help keep you and your family safe from whatever the globalists throw at us next. Go to TWC.Health.Charlie. That is TWC.Health.Charlie. Enter promo code Charlie for 10% off. The Wellness Company.

They are licensed doctors and medical professionals you can trust. Again, that's TWC.Health.Charlie. Promo code Charlie for 10% off. C-site for details.

Prescription may be required. Lance, there's a person in major church Christian world that is saying we shouldn't get involved in politics. Do I have that right?

You have it exactly right, Charlie. This is really challenging for me to share this. It's kind of like when a Catholic disagrees with the Pope. You really think about how hard you're going to go on the subject, but I have been a student of leadership development. I've got a consulting company, business background, and one of the key leaders who the church has embraced as an almost Solomon-like guru for success and wisdom has come out powerfully shutting down churches from engagement in the political crises of our century.

So I'll read to you. I found this out from a pastor who had attended, and they wrote to me and said, I was attending a pastor's conference for churches with 1,000 or more people. So we're talking about the strong churches. We heard over and over again, we are not to say anything that could be taken as political or controversial. Pastors are not to be involved in politics at all. Pastors should not be involved in politics because it divides people. And the clear message, just love people, which goes to that, you know, Jesus didn't preach hate thing, right? Just love people and don't do anything that would divide people. John Maxwell stunned me with his strong rebuke of those who take a political stand or position in this hour. We are to be silent in the face of evil. Maxwell made it clear that if you bring up anything political, if as a pastor you bring up anything political, you are trusting politicians rather than Jesus.

We have to deal with that right now. You're trusting politicians rather than Jesus. And so she said the worst part is that pastors at the conference kept leaning over all around me and saying, this is so good. This is gold.

This is so good. They're all like encouraging each other because they all are border state pastors right now. And they're thankful they don't have to deal with the issue of slavery. So it's pretty clear, don't be political, just preach the gospel. Shame on you if you're political. You don't need Christians to be political. Oh my gosh, we don't need Christians to break.

We need Christians to bring people together, not divide. So what is your thought? First of all, how would you answer that, Charlie? Well, I mean, how would answer this?

I'd say, how dare you, John Maxwell? They just locked down the church for a year and a half to two years. And you're telling us not to be political.

I mean, marijuana dispensaries and liquor stores remained open and strip clubs and more people killed themselves and got addicted to alcohol and drugs. And you as a leadership development coach have the gall to get up on stage and tell people to not be political? No, politics came into the church. They locked down the church. They labeled the church not essential. It divides us.

No, they divided us. This is a guy I used to respect. How dare he, honestly? Like he's preaching, he's teaching, I'm going to call him. This is outrageous if he actually said what this person said.

Yes, exactly. And the reason why this is so important is because, you know, you look at the, I remember Rush Limbaugh talked about at the Super Bowl, the NFL owners, he said, they're really stuck because it's like CEOs in America. They're hearing something and they believe that what they're hearing is true and represents America. What these pastors need to know and what John Maxwell needs to find out right now is that the majority of Americans in the pew are not going to be politically correct because political correctness is killing America.

The inability to speak the truth regarding whether a man is a man or a woman is a woman is choking us. So the idea that we are seeking a solution in politics rather than from heaven is the opposite of the reality, which is we are praying to God for help and God is giving us a mechanism with which to influence the future of America by electing people that reflect our values. If you don't show up in this political battle, then you are actually voting for the devil to take over America. And these pastors that are being told not to take a stand, what they should be told is you don't ever have to be obnoxious or divisive. You're not in the business of doing that any more than Jesus was. But you are in the business of learning and developing the skill and the acumen to teach your people how to think biblically and vote biblically.

That's their job. So was this at a this was at a church leadership development conference that he said this? This was at a denominational conference.

Do we have a video of it that we could get our hands on? Well, I'll bet you know, I'll bet you right now, as soon as your broadcast goes out, they'll clamp that thing down. It's a it's an assembly of God denominational conference. I must be the most politically engaged and involved, Lance.

I didn't know that. But but think about that. So it's an assembly of God.

If so, this basically would be the most influential. Here's my here's my point. Everyone listening to this broadcast, if you go to an assembly of God church that has a thousand or more people, you need to let your pastor know that you're standing behind them, speaking boldly, courageously and with wisdom to educate the church on biblical citizenship and what and what the Word of God says on the issues that are going to be debated in this election. You've got to do it because what Maxwell's saying is, ironically, stay out of politics, pastor, which tells the pastor to be a politician in the poll.

It's also but does that so I asked I mean this sincerely. And John Maxwell is welcome to come on the program and defend it. Do you stay out of morality? Do you not teach the Ten Commandments? Do you just say, hey, we're not we don't want to divide people. So we're just going to say that homosexuality is fine and we're going to say transgenderism is fine.

Child rape is fine. I think you're right. I think it goes right to the root of an error my generation committed, which is we thought if we focused on building the church and staying positive and avoiding controversial issues, we could gather a bigger crowd and then influence them to be better Christians. And they would therefore influence the nation to be more Christian.

It didn't work. You'll find Dallas, Texas, for instance, has more mega churches than Mecca has mosques, I assume. But we the church has been absolutely impotent in shaping the influence of the left wing agenda in the schools or in or in Dallas, Texas. And the only time we've ever we ever took ground was when the church raised up an awareness of what's going on in the school boards and took them over. I just want to know very clearly from John Maxwell, is it wrong for a pastor to say from the pulpit that 13 year olds shouldn't get chemical castration or what's called gender reassignment surgery? Is that being political? Or is I mean, does that divide people?

Is it wrong for a pastor to say in an individual counseling session, the position of this church is that your 15 year old should not take hormone blockers or testosterone replacement therapy? I'm just wondering, is that we don't do that because we're not political. I mean, by the way, how many senators I've heard this from people in Congress and Senate, they said, you know what, we'd be a lot bolder if you guys were a lot bolder. In other words, that philosophy takes a person who hears the call of God to run for public office and they courageously go out and get slandered, have research done on their background. Any sin they've ever committed is now public knowledge. And they do it out of obedience to the call of God. And the church doesn't support them because they've been taught by this philosophy that you don't get involved with politics. And because we're not involved in politics, we're creating a vacuum and the devil will fill a vacuum. That's exactly right. And it just it just sounds so good because you stay from stage. Oh, you know, don't get involved in this.

You know, that's my but it's just it falls apart immediately. So my next question to John Maxwell would be, OK, let's say that the city of Atlanta says that church is nonessential again, because there's some abstract virus. How would you react to that, John Maxwell? Do you think it was OK that the church was labeled nonessential? Was it a political statement to respond to that?

Or let's go ahead and say we end up going in the direction of Canada and now it's considered hate speech for you to actually advocate for traditional marriage values, because it's interpreted as as as as intolerant of gay marriage. So are you going to say avoid that subject because or now here's what I think John Maxwell will do, because John is a brilliant guy. I mean, I studied him. He's mentored me. I was almost a Maxwell coach.

I was just too busy to do the certification. Here's what he will probably say. I never said what you said. I merely pointed out that getting involved with and he'll he'll qualify it and then he'll make the statement that, of course, I believe Christians should be vocal in their witness and they could serve in business. I've got all these CEOs, corporations. I believe Christianity fits.

Here's the point that I would make. These pastors did not walk away with that impression. Their 18 year old daughter sat there and instead of getting strength from a leader like Maxwell, instead of these pastors feeling infused with fresh vigor and vitality for the Battle of America, they're all going away, high fiving each other, saying, I'm not going to bring up Trump or anything that's controversial. That 18 year old went with her heart busted up because our generation, my generation, the reason I'm so moved by this is I look at you, Charlie, and I say, you're the generation we screwed up. We're handing off to you our negligence.

It's all the cumulative wisdom of my generation building big churches and seeking revival that has left you a culture and collapse. And I apologize, John, stop saying you didn't say what you said. Yeah, and there's no need to apologize, Lance.

It's because we had a great country and we did what every great country does, which is you get passive and you focus on the immediate and all of a sudden the enemy never rests. And now it's time for action. What I won't accept, though, is I won't accept people living in denial that everything's fine. You know, I, I don't love this idea where, you know, baby boomers need to perpetually apologize for stuff. It's like, OK, if you're in the fight now, no need.

What I can't stand is for people to say, don't fight, don't fight that that I find to be morally repulsive. You know, and that's and that's the reason why you and I are going to be going out this year and for every day that I can get you out there, we're going to be doing a thing called the courage tour, because this kind of max swelling is what produces anxiety. What we need is courage more than ever before. We need to be like Joshua, be bold and courageous, because God is giving us a moment to to let's say that there's an extension of grace coming to America.

There's a period where God is going to push back on the madness. I can see it happening even in the Super Bowl ads as woke as they were. The Bud Light moment did wake up corporate America and they realized maybe we're getting maybe our consultants are out of touch with America because America is not left. America is center right. It needs courageous leadership.

Hey, everybody, Charlie Kirk here, what an unbelievable start to 2024. We had last month saving babies with preborn by providing ultrasounds, and we're doing again this year what we did last year. We're going to stand for life because remaining silent in the face of the most radically pro-death administration is not an option.

As Sir Edmund Burke said, the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing, and we're not going to do nothing. Your gift to preborn will give a girl the truth about what's happening in her body so that she can make the right choice. $280 can save 10 babies, $28 a month can save a baby a month all year long, and a $15,000 gift will provide a complete ultrasound machine that will save thousands of babies for years and years to come and will also save moms from a lifetime of pain and regret. Call 833-850-2229. That's 833-850-2229 or click on the preborn banner at charliekirk.com. That is charliekirk.com and click on the preborn banner.

Also save moms from a lifetime of pain and regret. I'm a donor of this organization. They're terrific. Go to charliekirk.com.

Click on the preborn banner. Lance, I know you have a whiteboard somewhere, right? So we have... I do. Yeah, go do the Karl Rove thing.

All right, Lance is going to get some sort of a whiteboard here. It's the Karl Rove thing. I love it. All right. So here's the deal. I was so upset with this John Maxwell situation that I went to a big church in Carolina, and a lot of them have had John there in their churches. So they were really mad at me, but I said, listen, you have to understand how do you approach the political. You pastors have to have a better strategy. You don't have to approach it the way that they're talking about. Start with what does the word of God say. So here's the Bible.

What does the word of God say? Because that forms your principles. And those that are listening, instead of seeing this, I'm just writing principles. Now your principles should shape your policies. Policies about marriage, policies about life, policies about debt, $35 trillion, policies about your borders. Your policies create a platform. Your platform is what your party is going to run on.

Your candidates are under the litmus test of the platform based on policies rooted in principles that are biblical in their worldview. And finally, you have a personality, and that becomes your politician or your candidate. This is the iceberg. Look at it this way.

The iceberg goes like this. All of this area, platform, policy, the principle is under the surface. Everybody will focus on a Democrat and a Republican. Don't let the battle be about the personality. Focus on the platform, the policies, and above all things, pastors, teach biblical principles, because if you do that, the rest takes care of itself. If you avoid these subjects because it's not good for church growth, you might lose your people to the pulpit that is preaching what God calls them to say. That's my thought, Charlie Kirk.

It's beautifully well done. So Lance, where do most people go wrong on that ladder, that ascension from the Bible? Where is the greatest fault?

The greatest fault? George Barna research. We have the data on this. We study it. Ninety percent of people in the church want to hear their church talk about the biblical basis for heterosexual versus homosexual marriage. The biblical basis for life versus abortion. They're asking their pastors to talk about things the pastor refuses to talk about because John Maxwell says avoid it.

It's amazing. So, Lance, build this out as marching orders. Trump is going to be the nominee there. I truly believe that there is an effort to try to trim the Christian support. What is your argument? How should we approach this strategically? The strategy is, listen, every state you're going to have to engage.

I think sometimes Christians make the mistake of thinking that the national is where their focus is. The truth of matter is you have disproportionate influence locally. Therefore, we believe, and Charlie's kind of convinced me of this in his own persistent way, that there are certain key states and certain key counties.

Therefore, everyone must do a full court press locally. But there are going to be Arizona and Wisconsin and Georgia. I think Michigan's back in play. I grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has a potential there.

Carolina, Nevada. Look, what I'm listing is 19 counties, seven or so key states, and we want to go focus the battle on those very frontline places. And so when you get into the details on this stuff, and you all ought to learn this because you're a smart audience. I love the audience you've got. There are counties where you have underperforming Christians, and it's weird.

We've got data. In other words, conservatives and Christians should be showing up at this level, but they underperform. You know why? Well, maybe they don't know the urgency of the issues. Maybe they're not even involved with the church and they're only listening to the secular news. They're misinformed. Or maybe they need you. So what we're doing, Charlie, is we're working with you guys in order to help mobilize these churches that can be awake, that we can help to strengthen you.

You're going to grow. This year there's going to be church growth for people that are patriots. We want to mobilize the people that are in your church to be able to be strengthened in their worldview, getting those principles, and then mobilized in these counties. We really do want to go out and be able to have an effective impact on getting people that don't vote to vote, and to be educated on a biblical perspective of how to vote. And just for the non-evangelicals in the audience, the non-Christians, talk about how powerful this group once was, Lance, in the 80s and 90s, and if it gets back to where it was, what does that look like?

Well, let me tell you something. When Billy Graham, so I was born in 1956, Billy Graham came on the scene, and the evangelical church and churches' mainline denominations exploded in growth in the 50s and 60s. And the reason why that happened is because there was such a trauma of World War II, and the realization of mortality was on people's minds. The threat of the standoff with a nuclear-powered Russia, the threat of communism, it had so saturated—I remember when I was a kid, we did bomb drills and got under desks. Imagine how traumatizing it is when you're a kid, and it's like, okay, kids, it's time. When the atomic bomb drops, remember, go under your desk. And we all go under the desk till the teacher says, you can come out now.

It's like, okay, that's actually going to stop radiation from touching it. So we were primed to believe in our mortality and that there were nations at stake. Billy Graham came on the scene, Charlie Kirk, and he captured the zeitgeist of that moment, and he preached to America that if it didn't repent, it was on the balance with the judgment of God and atheistic communism was right, ready to take us over. And it could even be a nuclear moment that transitions America. Well, the move of God happened. Billy Graham meets with Eisenhower and says, we need the president and we need a national prayer breakfast.

We need to stand together. So Eisenhower puts, in God we trust, on the currency. Think about this nowadays. This was the influence of Christianity and its strength. And the focus wasn't on forcing people to have to do Christian stuff. It was on giving people the awareness that God is real and that your soul is immortal and that you must walk with the word of God. That's what shaped America. And then we went from the seventies to the eighties to the nineties.

We went into church growth and revival and neglected the culture. Amen. Lance, excellent work.

Thank you so much. And we'll be fighting in the trenches together this year. It'll be fun. Actually, it'll be, I'm looking forward to it. I think it's going to be a great year. Amen.

It's going to be great. Thanks so much for listening, everybody. Email us as always freedom at charliekirk.com. Thanks so much for listening and God bless. For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to charliekirk.com.