A Pilgrim’s Odyssey

CS Lewis and The Freeborn Mind

In 1958 CS Lewis wrote an essay titled, “Willing Slaves of the Welfare State”.

Reading through it, I realized just how prophetic it was for the current round of curfews, lock-downs, and restrictions hitting us across the country. We discuss in full in today's podcast, but a few excerpts from the essay to entice!

"I believe a man is happier, and happy in a richer way, if he has "the freeborn mind." But I doubt whether he can have this without economic independence, which the new society is abolishing. "

"The question about progress has become the question whether we can discover any way of submitting to the worldwide paternalism of a technocracy without losing all personal privacy and independence. Is there any possibility of getting the super Welfare State’s honey and avoiding the sting?"

"The modern state exists not to protect our rights but to do us good or make us good—anyway, to do something to us or to make us something. Hence the new name 'leaders' for those who were once 'rulers.' We are less their subjects than their wards, pupils, or domestic animals. There is nothing left of which we can say to them, 'Mind your own business.' Our whole lives are their business."

Gavin Newsom & The Sons of Liberty

The Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, announced a bevy of broad covid lock-downs across the state Monday afternoon. In addition, he announced he was considering a curfew. That is a right, a curfew. Who did he announce was one of the inspirations for this curfew? None other than the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. That is correct, an edict of a king. Our founders are vomiting in their graves.

Considering this craziness, I thought back to our founders and the Sons of Liberty, with their motto, "No taxation without representation." I considered California's one-party rule and what they would think of Newsom's edicts.

Upside Down, And Getting Worse

Who would have thought that the ultimate act of rebellion would be buying the biggest Thanksgiving Turkey you can, one that just shouts, "We are having a huge Thanksgiving dinner and there is nothing you can do about it!"

Hillsong and The Prodigal Son

We’ve learned more about the affair of Hillsong NYC pastor Carl Lentz. He met his paramour Ranin, a designer, in a park. He introduced himself as a sports agent. He wouldn’t give her his last name, and she was okay with that. They were sleeping together before she got forceful enough to learn his last name which led to her finding out his real story. When she did, the affair continued. It only stop because they got caught.

Of course as we examine this fall, we must remember the prodigal, the fallen son, who is ultimately welcomed back with open arms. It seems like our entire world today is a sort of prodigal, how far have we strayed from the roots of our country, the roots of our faith. And what is the path home?

Hillsong, Fake Breasts, and Voter Fraud

Today, in a barrage of raw truth, we examine the recent firing of Hillsong pastor Carl Lentz due to infidelity, voter fraud, and the irony of pastors in tuxedos standing next to their wives who flaunt their fake breasts as they speak of humility and grace.

Join us, you'll have fun!

They Will Lie, And Be Proud

20 years ago at Pendleton Maximum Security Prison. These kids have no morals, no values, no honor. They don’t care if they die young, they have nothing to live for except their desires.

It scared me, because I saw this in all of society, not just in gangs. It was in our schools, in the middle class, all of it encouraged by the elite class who wanted to reap the rewards of an "ends justifies the means" society.

Today, we are seeing the consequences in full living color.

Finding Perspective In Unlikely Places

Some days, you just need perspective on life, a way to focus and just be thankful for a new day. I found that visiting the Terra Haute Maximum Security Federal Penitentiary. It came from a guitar pick and a young man at the beginning of an over 30 year sentence desperate for some hope and humanity.

A Vote for Independence & Red Blooded Americans

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,.."

Famous words from our Declaration of Independence. These were then followed by a list of grievances toward the governance of the King of England. All of them, destructive to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Our founders did not see government as giving us things, but in protecting the things most valuable to us, our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Government was a steward, not an overseer.

But overtime, government has increasingly seen itself as the custodian of our labor in order to impose on us what it sees as necessary to our happiness. In the early 1900s, federal, state and local government took in revenue equal to about 6 to 7 percent of GNP(Gross National Product). And then the 16^th amendment to the constitution, ratified in 1913, allowed government to create an income tax. The flood gates of confiscation were open. By 1950 this number had grown to 24 percent, and by the end of the century it had grown to 32 percent. Since just 2000 it has risen to almost 45%. Unimaginable to our founders.

On Liberty, Faith, and The Election

As we talked about a few weeks ago looking at George Washington’s farewell address, America was built on Liberty and Faith, and the greatest threat to those values was internal politics causing division and resulting in government becoming the ruler of our moral conscious.

This struggle between freedom and morality ebbed and flowed as our country grew. Morality was a check on our individual freedom, but when morality didn’t provide the check, government stepped in and the result was that it grew bigger and more powerful. Our wandering away from a foundation of faith opened the door to tyranny.

This election is about the crossroads of faith and liberty versus a government that is the judge and jury of both. It is that important.

Race, And The Tragic Hope of Gary, Indiana

Gary, Indiana was founded by US Steel in 1906. It bloomed with the steel industry, but in spite of its wealth and promise became a deeply segregated city.

In 1967, when, Richard Hatcher, one of the nation’s first big city black mayors was elected, white flight that had begun in the early 1960’s accelerated.

As this happened, the steel industry contracted and the jobs that had built and supported Gary disappeared.

Today, Gary has a population of about 75,000, down from almost 200,000 in its heyday. Driving around the city, you can still see the empty building and often stunning homes that were built in this heyday. Rows and rows, blocks and blocks, of abandoned, magnificent homes.

What are the lessons?

Racism and poverty are complicated. There was segregation that led to an oppressed people. But when the whites left, bad choices were made. Blight that could have been cleared away still exists. It’s estimated that over 1/3 of all buildings are unoccupied. Driving around, I would say it is more.

Yet, there is a depth and beauty to this community that is hard to properly express. A nobleness to the population I have felt in few other places. It has been a trip I will never forget.