Interview with Michael Kanis

Best-selling author, speaker, and advocate for Christian apologetics, Dr. Alex McFarland.

Best-selling author and apologist, Dylan Burrows. Together, bringing you truth. For a new generation, this is TNG Radio.

The Bible says in Proverbs 14-34 that righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach. To any people, hi, welcome to TNG Radio. Alex McFarland here. And, you know, when you hear this program, I don't know when that is because it's pre-recorded, but when I'm recording it, I'm in California right now, and I'm in Anaheim at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention. And listen, folks, suffering for Jesus back East, it's cold, it's rainy, but we're in sunny Southern California, and it really is a blessing to be here. And I want to tell you why it's a blessing. Every year we go to the National Religious Broadcasters Convention, and we see a lot of great friends like David Jeremiah, Family Talk, and Dr. Dobson's ministry, Tim Clinton.

A lot of great friends that we've been with all week. But one of the great things about NRB is that you meet people and you meet ministries that God is using in amazing ways, and you're about to meet somebody that fits that bill exactly. His name is Michael Canis, and he's going to give you something about the seal of the United States of America that is going to amaze you. And the reason I share the Proverbs 1434 verse to begin with is because, you know, with Truth for a New Generation in all of our conferences, yes, we share the Gospel, and we try to bring people into a relationship with Christ. And we've had great speakers like David Barton and Bill Federer, and we've had Abe Hamilton III, and great scholars, Tony Perkins, to talk about the history of the country, the Christian moorings, the foundation of our country. But I will say, Michael Canis, I was reading his book yesterday, and I thought I knew my share of American history.

I teach on God and government at several colleges, and I thought I knew about the Christian moral foundations of the country. But friends, in the next few moments here on TNG Radio, what you're about to hear I can virtually guarantee is going to be brand new, it's inspirational, it will change your life. So I am so excited to bring to the Truth for a New Generation microphones Michael Canis, and I commend you on a fine book and fine scholarship, and I want to say it's an honor to have you on the program today. Well thank you, Alex. It's like to be here with you. And the title of your book is The Hidden Message of the Great Seal, and it has a subtitle, How Foundational Truth from the Dawn of Liberty May Rescue a Republic in Peril.

Oh, I like it. And before we go too much farther, and I want to get your back story and how you came to write this very important work, what is your website, Michael? HiddenMessage.org.

HiddenMessage.org. How long did you work on the book? Oh, it took five years to write. I actually hesitate to tell people because I'm worried they think I'm a little bit crazy, but it took me between four and five thousand hours to research the book.

I took trips to Washington D.C. and the National Archives. I read thousands and thousands of pages, did hours of research, and then all the writing too. Let me cue this up with a following question. Everybody's talking about millennials, and right now a lot of people, political science experts and everybody is surprised and concerned about the popularity of socialism among 20-somethings and younger. And I know, having spoken at more than 200 universities for a decade, those of us in Christendom have been talking about the rise of atheism. So you've got young people that are a little bit enamored with socialism.

Many of them don't believe in God or Christianity. And then you've got things like the breakdown of the family and a cultural drift, kind of this trifecta of secularism, socialism, even anti-Americanism. So if you could say to the 20-somethings of America, Michael, what is America? Help me understand what is this thing called the United States of America?

Let's begin there. Tell us what America is, and then we're going to get to all the research you've done on the seal and the rest of our country. Okay, thank you so much for that question, Alex. And it's an interesting question, because it actually has sort of two assumptions. One is the America that we think, and the other is the America that we're creating. And what we do matters. So if we have this notion that we want to be this good sort of America, where there's wealth and there's value of the individual and rights for people, but yet we act in a way that doesn't acknowledge the foundation and where those things came from, we won't have that kind of America that we want to imagine. So really, the question is, what is America?

Well, what are we doing right now? And that's who we will be. And I really believe that we're in a state of transition.

There's a state of flux. And I was listening to Schultz, the former CEO of Starbucks, and there was a question about socialism. And he said, well, if you want to see socialism, look at Venezuela. Well, they groaned.

The whole audience groaned. And why is that? Well, because we're not going to be that kind of socialism, is what the thinking is. The assumption.

Right. And actually, that isn't a choice, because there is no that kind of socialism. Socialism takes you. You don't take it. It's like grabbing a hold of an anchor when you're in a boat in the water up to the gunnels. And it just takes you down.

You can't control it. You know, Michael, I'm so glad to hear you say this, because I debate this at university campuses, where we can talk about the Soviet Union, we can talk about China, we can talk about North Korea, we can talk about Venezuela. Massive countrywide power outages, riots, looting, and all of the, I suppose you might call it rose-colored glasses of American academics. They'll say, yeah, but we wouldn't be that way. It wouldn't be that way with us.

You don't have a choice. We've got to take a break. You're listening to Truth for a New Generation Radio, TNG Radio, Alex McFarland, with my very special guest, Michael Canis, HiddenMessage.org. And when we come back, we'll continue this conversation.

Don't go away. Much about the future is troubling. And yes, the ominous events in the Book of Revelation are coming, but wonderful things are also coming. Bible prophecy references the glorious appearing, reward for believers, the wedding feast of the Lamb, and the millennial reign of Christ. And before any of those events, Jesus will come in the rapture to rescue His people.

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That's afastore.net. You know Romans 1 16, it says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. That's what your kids need before they go to college. And that's the theme for the 2019 TNG Christian Apologetics Youth Camp, July 29th through August 2nd at Camp Cale, North Carolina. Speakers include, of course, Alex McFarland, along with Daniel Ritchie, Andy Laurenson, and Miki Addison. Exciting worship every night and rock solid teaching every day.

And yes, it's a summer camp with all the summer camp activities your kids would expect. The TNG Christian Apologetics Youth Camp, July 29th through August 2nd at Camp Cale. To learn more and to register, call 800-YES-GOD-1, 800-YES-GOD and the number one, or email info at truthforanewgeneration.com. Welcome back to TNG Radio.

Alex McFarland here. And before we continue our conversation with Michael Canis, I do want to remind you, coming up very soon is the Truth for a New Generation Youth Apologetics Camp, July 29th through August 2nd, 2019. We've got a five-day camp. We're going to be talking about biblical worldview, discipleship, how to defend the faith. And let me say, Mom and Dad, four years of college can dismantle what you've worked 18 years to instill.

I challenge you. We've got youth groups coming from all over the East Coast. And so go to the website truthforanewgeneration.org truth, F-O-R, truthforanewgeneration.org, and sign up for the camp. Youth groups can come. Parents are welcome to come along.

Last year we had 54 teens from nine states. And I want to encourage you to invest a week that will count for eternity. The theme this year, unashamed, unashamed of God, unashamed of Jesus, unashamed of my faith, and yes, unashamed of America. So help us, help your kids to know what they believe and why, and they can stand strong. Bring them to the TNG summer camp.

We've been doing this for a lot of years, and it's growing and it's getting bigger and better. Go to the website truthforanewgeneration.org for more information. And I want to welcome back to the TNG mic Michael Canis. He's the author of Hidden Message.

It's the facts behind the great seal. And you know, Michael, before the break, we were talking about socialism. On the way to this interview, I was reading Panera Bread, a company we all love, Panera. They opened five stores that were just like all the others, very nice, very well decorated. They were going to be pay what you can or don't pay anything. And they just assumed these would flourish. Well, they became basically homeless shelters. And when they envisioned this, they said, we'll see the wealthy customers that can pay will be happy to come and pay the bill for coffee and bagels for all the homeless people, and they can interact. And they envisioned, and this is kind of the rose colored glasses of socialism, they said it will be a great cross community, cross demographic mingling. Well, the hardworking paying customer no longer went to those. They became homeless shelters that were unmanageable, and they've closed up and the IRS says, look, you're not a 501c3.

So the 10s of millions of dollars you're asking to write off, you can't write off. And Panera's CEO, in so many words this morning on the news was admitting, he said, we tried socialism in a microcosm. And now we got to figure out how to pay for a failed experiment.

Now, Michael, here's my question. What do we say to the 20 million strong right now, largely Democrats that are saying what blew up in Panera's face, let's export it to the whole country. What do we say to that? Well, when we see socialism come in, we see that the value of the individual goes down. That when people are free, it is such as in a republic, that each person is expected to have their own compass, their own values, that they are responsible for their own conduct.

And so they're elevated. And that is the governance of the people. Well, in a socialist experiment, it's the masses, the groups of people that are being managed by a smaller group. Well, immediately you see this decrease in the value of the individual and a decrease in freedom. And what drives each individual in America, we have the choice to determine really, the founders called it the pursuit of happiness. But the word happiness isn't the sort of happiness that we think of as just, you know, felicitous, you know, some light, some giddy joy, right? No, this is profound significance, would be a better way to think about that fulfillment, right? Exactly. So no one is able to determine what that is for an individual, except for the individual themselves. And that's what the purpose of freedom is, to allow individual choice.

C.S. Lewis warned about socialism. So many years ago, there's a book that's a collection of his essays called The Weight of Glory, but he talks about, it's really dark when government says, I know what's better for you than you know what's better for you. You know, what's your highest and best good?

I'll tell you what's your highest. There are two juggernauts arm wrestling for the future of America. There's the iron fist of socialism, statism. There's the iron sword of Sharia.

One power and one power alone is sufficient to hold both of these monsters at bay. And that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that I love that you said we have a representative republic.

And I would I would say it was a republic created on morality and Christianity. Now, so folks, again, the website for Michael Canis is hidden message.org. Let's talk about that seal. Because when I was reading your book yesterday, my heart just leapt for joy at the historical documentation you give.

Friends, you need this book, you need this book. And we've got another segment, but in the remaining time of this segment, talk to me about the seal. What is the seal of America? What does it mean?

Why should I care? Okay, well, the place to start here is forget everything you think you know about the seal. Because there's been so much misinformation, conspiracy theories, association with the Freemasons or Illuminati.

And none of that's true. Now we're talking about the eagle and in its talons it has some arrows. Yeah, that's the front of the seal.

If the listeners want to get a dollar bill out, they can look at the back of the dollar bill and there's two circles on there. On one side is an eagle, as you mentioned, and then on the other side is a pyramid. And so there's a kind of peculiar look to the eye over the pyramid, exactly. And it evokes kind of images of Egypt and the eye of Horus or all these different things. And so people have proposed theories and ideas about what that actually means. Well, that really isn't necessary, Alex, because there is a report to Congress on June 20 of 1782 that tells us definitively that none of that stuff is valid. That any association with the occult or Freemasons or any of that, the eye of Horus, we are definitively told that the eye is the eye of providence in caring for the American people. So right away we can set all that aside. That's what it doesn't mean, and what it does mean is fascinating and quite a surprise. We've got a break, folks.

This is Truth For A New Generation Radio, truthforanewgeneration.com, when we come back more with Michael Canis. Christians don't necessarily agree with one another when it comes to questions of religious pluralism, homosexuality, the role of government, abortion and war. Too often we manage these disagreements by ignoring them. Yet we're called to engage the world for the sake of Christ.

How can we be effective if we avoid society's most pressing questions? In 10 issues that divide Christians, Alex McFarland challenges us to drill down to the biblical core of 10 current issues, such as social justice, evil and suffering, pornography and environmentalism, as he echoes the biblical invitation, Come, let us reason together. Only by engaging the scriptures deeply, thinking clearly and speaking truthfully, can we and God's family address our differences and discover the peace that comes with unity of purpose. 10 issues that divide Christians.

Find this book and many others at alexmcfarland.com. 1 Peter 3.15 tells us to be ready always to give an answer for the hope we have. We're instructed to be prepared to defend our faith. This is Alex McFarland for the Life Answers Teams, students we train at North Greenville University, a leading Christian college in South Carolina. The Life Answers Teams are made up of students who will inspire and equip your congregation. These apologetics teams we train speak in churches to youth groups and train Christians of all ages to address key issues of our times from a biblical perspective. Like, is there a God?

Is the Bible true? What about gender and moral issues? Call me at 864-977-2008 and we will arrange for the Life Answers Team to come to your church and give a presentation that will benefit your people for years to come. 864-977-2008 and always be ready. Welcome back to TNG Radio. Alex McFarland here and I want to say how much I appreciate all of the compliments on the new website we just rolled out a brand new website truthfornewgeneration.com. By the way, we've got 72 questions and answers itemized by categories. Christian worldview, Christian living, morality, current events, and so you can go to the website. You can find my speaking schedule. You can find all the events we're doing in Salt Lake and Columbus, Richmond.

A lot going on this year. Please pray and I do want to remind you all that all of the ministry that we do, three to five thousand a year that are accepting Christ, mostly young people, and the radio, the television, the devotional books that we publish, God's got a lot going on in TNG and we do it folks because of your prayers and support. And we ask that you prayerfully consider supporting this ministry. Yes, we're all about saving souls, but we're all about saving a nation. And we know that it's only the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that can change this country. So thank you for participating with us. Well somebody God is using, I believe, to educate people in a great way is Michael Canis.

His website is hiddenmessage.org. Before the break, Michael, we were talking about the seal of America and the other imagery on the back of the dollar bill. And you were explaining how it's the eye of providence. I think about George Washington and Benjamin Franklin who said that no other nation has as much debt to God and his providence as the United States of America. So I want you to continue because what you've got is fascinating, my friend.

Thank you, Alex. Yeah, the one way that we can try to understand the significance and the depth of the seal is to look at the very beginnings of the seal. And that is that on July 4, 1776, we all recognize that date because that's the date that we ratified the Declaration of Independence.

That was at two o'clock in the afternoon. Well, on that same day, one of the first acts of the new Congress was to call on those three men, so Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson, who had just written the Declaration of Independence, to write the seal of the United States. So if this wasn't significant, why wouldn't they just have said, well, let's just get a graphic artist. Can anybody draw?

You know, lift your hand if you can draw. We need a logo. Make a logo.

Right? But that's not what happened. See, because they chose those men on that day, they were signaling that they wanted it to have a consistent message. And a meaning. And a meaning.

They wanted the seal to be congruent with the declaration. And so the three met right away, and they decided to do something quite extraordinary. They decided to write an allegory. And an allegory is a story told with symbols.

All right? So they came back together, and they made a proposal. And the first proposal of the seal was Moses standing on the shore of the Red Sea, with a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud overhead, with rays of glory extending down to Moses, indicating the divine presence and command, with Pharaoh and his armies being overwhelmed by the sea. Britain.

Yes, leaving Britain and going into America. There's a parallel there, but there's much more depth. And the allegorical message that was in that first seal, which is clearly and obviously an allegorical scene, is continued. And it is the same message that's in that image that you're looking at on the dollar bill right now. So it's surprising. You look at it, and you say, well, how can that be?

They don't look anything the same. Well, that's the joy of discovery that we have. Because as we begin to drill down into the meaning of those symbols, then we get to the root and the core, and we see how it's all connected.

And then we extend the meaning out, and we can interpret the message that's hidden in the seal. And you spent really thousands of hours researching this, didn't you? Yes, I did. Yeah.

So talk to me. Okay, in the eagle's right claw, it looks like a laurel branch. Yes. Okay, so that's actually olive branch.

Okay. Meaning peace? Peace, exactly. But there's a theme of the Roman poet Virgil in the seal. So annuit coeptis, that's from the Aeneid.

In the Aeneid, there's a point at which Aeneas is arriving to the shore of a country, and I think he's talking to Pallas, and he waves the olive branch to show that he comes in peace. And so that's kind of a universal symbol of peace. It actually was in the mouth of the dove.

Remember when Noah sent the dove out? So it universally has meant peace, and it means peace on the dollar bill. But in the left talon, arrows. Yes, so symbolizes war.

And it's a dual function. It both means defending the people of the United States, that it's the power of Congress against foreign enemies, but it also means defending virtue. And so both of those are at risk, and both of them pose equal danger and threat to the United States.

Michael Canis, folks, I beg of you, I would plead, read his book, Hidden Message. Where are we if we don't rediscover a moral compass? Oh, well said.

That is a great question. And it drives back to that question about private virtue. Each person has an obligation and duty to his fellow man. And we can imagine causes, and we can imagine wrongs that are being done out there. But the only thing that we really control is what's in here, in our hearts, in our personal relationships. And so it does matter on a macro level. I'm not saying that. But what I'm saying is that is the expression of collective inner virtue.

So when we do right to each other, and we act in a way that expresses the character of God, virtue and ultimately love, then the summation of that is the expression of justice and right that's done to individuals. And you know, down through the corridors of time, 242 years, the Seal of America calls us back to that, doesn't it? Absolutely, absolutely. I hate we're out of time. You're coming back.

We got to have you on again. And folks, you're listening to Truth for a New Generation. You can listen to the podcast, the recording of this. It's airing on 200 and some stations around America, but it's also archived, and you can find that at truthfornewgeneration.com. Thanks for listening.

Pray for America. And we look forward to being with you next time on TNG Radio. Truth for a New Generation, in association with Alex McFarland Evangelistic Ministries, exists to equip Christians with a biblical worldview through conferences and camps. For information about upcoming events, visit truthfornewgeneration.com or give us a call at 877-YES-GOD-1. That's 877-YES-GOD and the number one. TNG Radio is made possible by the friends of Alex McFarland Evangelistic Ministries, P.O. Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina 27404. That's P.O. Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina 27404. Or give online at alexmcfarland.com or truthfornewgeneration.com. Thanks for listening and join us again next time as we bring you more truth for a new generation on TNG Radio.