unPHILtered: The Way I See It

by Phil Robertson

  Regardless of what you might have heard or read over the last six years, change comes only by repenting and hope comes only by faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you truly want change and hope in America, we have to put godly men back in Washington, DC. I don’t believe you should vote for a politician unless they will at least mention God. I also believe that at some point during a political campaign, the candidate needs to say, “I’m running because I love you and I’m really concerned about our nation.” I think it’s time for the people that we elect to represent us to tell us they love us. It would make me feel a lot better about the process and what’s going on with our government. If I knew the politicians actually loved me, I might have a better feeling about where our country is headed. I certainly don’t like the direction it’s headed now, that’s for sure.

  When I consider America’s national deficit, our system of entitlements, and all of the problems we’re having around the world, I’m absolutely sick about what’s going on in Washington, DC. But Americans have to realize that whatever happens on Capitol Hill and in the White House is actually a reflection of the ones who put them there. And in America today, there are more ungodly people than there are godly folks. Ungodliness is ruling our country. It’s the electorate that we’re seeing in our nation’s capital. The problem is not just our elected officials—it’s the ones who put them there. Our nation elected them and they are an exact representation of who we are as a country. The people of America put them in office, so we need to quit bellyaching, griping, and complaining about them. The reason they’re in our government to begin with is because ungodly people elect ungodly politicians. Elected officials in a democracy are simply replicas of the electorate. They are a reflection of who our country is made of. We are the problem.

  When people don’t say yes to Jesus, they are unable to say no when they need to. When people lose the ability to say no to sin, they end up with the depraved leading the depraved down the road to tyranny and finally to utter destruction.

  We’re the problem, we really are. It’s America at large that’s at fault. When we evaluate the officials in Washington, DC, we are really only considering the evidence of the problem. When our nation puts them in office, we all feel the wrath of our own sin being put upon us. We say, “Boy, we’re feeling a lot of wrath from this and a lot of money is coming out of our pockets. What in the world?” You have to remember that they are but a picture of the people who put them there. The ungodly put the ungodly in office. And now we’re expecting them to be godly and treat us with love and kindness? It is impossible for the ungodly to elect the ungodly and then expect godliness to come from them. The corrupt elect the corrupt and the corruption continues. The depraved elect the depraved and the depravity continues. If you want kindness, love, peace, patience, goodness, and faithfulness—the characteristics you will find in godly men and women—you better get godly in a hurry and elect as many godly politicians as you can. When the biggest requirement for running for public office in this country is simply stockpiling a huge war chest of money to ensure a candidate can win, it shows that the foundation of our political system is broken. What about a candidate’s character, morals, and integrity? Does what’s inside the candidate’s head not matter?

  There’s no use in arguing about the current state of our government. Political debates in this country have become nothing but televised shouting matches. The political talking heads on TV do nothing more than try to shout over each other. We need to rise above the vitriol and learn to love the people who disagree with us. We need to love our neighbor who believes in abortion, we need to love the atheist who wants to keep creationism out of schools, and we need to love the recent college graduate who wants to take down the nativity scene at the courthouse. It does us no good to argue with them. As it says in Second Timothy 2:23–26, “Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.” All we can do is love the nonbelievers and try to turn them.

  You might ask, “Well, how do we change it and get that bunch out of Washington, DC?” You yourself are going to have to repent, turn to Jesus, and put people in Washington, DC, who fear God and love their neighbors. If we don’t change, we’re going to have more of the same forevermore until it finally collapses. Don’t think it can happen? Look at the Roman Empire. The Romans were the greatest military force in the history of the world. They conquered lands from England to Africa and from Syria to Spain during the first and second centuries. But then Rome rotted from within because of sin, political strife, disease, greed, and corruption. The Romans toppled themselves, and now Rome is only shoving out pizzas.

  I truly believe that America will become ruins if it doesn’t change. We have met the enemy and it’s us. Where there is no Jesus, you end up in a society where everything is political. That’s why there’s so much political correctness in our country today. Our politicians and electorate think all of our problems can be fixed with politics. But politics isn’t the answer; Jesus, repentance, and the elimination of sins are the only answers. Sadly, arrogance, corruption, greed, depravity, and degradation are now the centerpieces of the American dream. America is reeling, teetering, rotting, and struggling within herself. She, America, is fighting for her existence. She is in the beginning of her collapse under the weight of her sin. All of the great republics before us succumbed to the same forces of evil she is now experiencing. Looking at America is like watching a rotting carcass: it smells, and the vultures will gather around her until she finally disappears.

  Now, I’m only an average-intelligence man, and I’m sure the intellectuals and academics are going to disagree with me, but I’m of the belief that two principles are the driving forces behind most of the political structures on earth, especially the current one in the United States. The government puts forth these two principles, marries them, and then believes they can fix anything. It basically comes down to this: give us money and intellect, and we can accomplish anything. That’s pretty much the standard modus operandi of America. The U.S. government tells us they have the best people, the gurus with all of the brains. They tell us to listen to them because they know what’s best for the populace. What do they keep saying? “Trust us! Trust our intellect.” Well, if that in fact is true and all they need is intellect and money, then how in the world are we $17 trillion in the hole and counting? You don’t get that far in the hole by being smart. Find out what the term balanced budget means, Jack!

  Politicians who claim we can spend our way out of debt are at fault. They are sickened fools. What’s the difference between intellect and wisdom? Intellect leads to the slaughter of human beings while they are in their mothers’ wombs. Intellect, as it turns out, has plunged America into $17 trillion worth of debt. Wisdom causes one to fear God! Whoa, even a man of average intelligence can be wise.

  Why does Congress continue to raise taxes? I thought their premise was that if politicians were smart enough and threw enough money at something, they could solve anything. But they haven’t fixed much of anything lately, and they keep dipping into our pockets for more money. Our government officials always say the same thing: give us more money and we can fix it. Our government believes it can fix every one of our enemies worldwide by giving them more humanitarian aid. The U.S. believes it can buy its friends through nation building, foreign intervention, and preemptive war. Well, how has it worked out in Afghanistan and Iraq? We have rapidly growing domestic entitlement programs that aren’t sustainable and rarely accomplish their stated goals. Politicians believe they can fix our educational system with more funding. Yet, according to recent worldwide testing results, American high school stude
nts rank behind students from countries like Slovakia, Portugal, Vietnam, and Russia in math. Our students rank near the bottom in science, too. Are you kidding me? It’s embarrassing. These statistics fly in the face of what the politicians are telling us—that money can solve our problems.

  I understand that a political structure is, in fact, going to be what ends up steering a country in the way it should go—or at least the way the politicians want to make it go. While some issues can be politically fixed, I believe spiritual, godly men would be much more effective politicians and lawmakers than ungodly men. The reason the current political parties rarely, if ever, change their minds is because there is no gospel in any of their arguments—none! Hey, Washington, DC, quit shoveling us horse manure, repent, and turn to God, and our nation might survive.

  Our founding fathers were godly men and created the greatest republic in the history of mankind. It only took us two hundred and thirty-eight years to screw it up! Great men like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Daniel Webster knew that morals and religion were necessary to form the government they were establishing. George Washington, the very first president of the United States, said in a Thanksgiving proclamation in New York on October 3, 1789: “It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor: and whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint Committee, requested me ‘to recommend to the People of the United States, a day of public Thanksgiving and Prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.’ ”

  Washington, who was one of our greatest presidents and generals, repeatedly talked about God’s blessings on America throughout his life. In his farewell address on September 19, 1796, he said: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness.” Washington believed religion and morality were the pillars on which America would stand and flourish. Well, they were for the first two hundred years of our country’s existence, but it’s not that way anymore.

  Washington wasn’t the only founding father who believed religion and morality would be the backbone of America. John Adams, the second U.S. president, wrote to the officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts on October 11, 1798: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any others.” In an August 28, 1811, letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush, Adams also wrote: “Religion and virtue are the only foundations, not only of republicanism and all free government, but of social felicity under all governments and in all the combinations of human society.”

  And there were others. In a speech at Plymouth, Massachusetts, on December 22, 1820, Daniel Webster, a U.S. senator and secretary of state, said: “Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens.” John Jay, the first chief justice of the United States, wrote in an October 12, 1816, letter to Pennsylvania lawmaker John Murray: “Real Christians will abstain from violating the rights of others, and therefore will not provoke war. Almost all nations have peace or war at the will and pleasure of rulers whom they do not elect, and who are not always wise and virtuous. Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest, of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”

  Abraham Lincoln, our sixteenth president and the man who fought to end slavery in America, said in his farewell speech on February 11, 1861: “Without the assistance of that Divine Being, who ever attended [George Washington], I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him, who can go with me, and remain with you and be every where for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell.”

  After reading the ideologies and beliefs of our founding fathers and other U.S. presidents, I’m convinced the solution to America’s problem is not a political fix. It’s a spiritual fix. Therefore, we have to start from the bottom, and the American people have to be won over. We have to elect leaders who are spiritual to become our politicians, and then they’ll fix the country. I’m not suggesting something new. I’m only reminding people of what was said more than two hundred years ago, when our once-great country was founded.

  Of course, you can go back to the Bible and find the same thing. As it says in Exodus 18:21, “Select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.” We have a few good men and women like that in Washington, DC, today, but not nearly enough of them. You get evil leaders in power and the next thing you know the whole thing falls apart. When the populace becomes evil, we elect evil leaders, and there you go. America is still a superpower in the world, but it has third-world leaders. Our leadership has to change.

  I am convinced the battle for America will be won from the bottom up, from the people to the politicians, and not from the top down. When the converted outnumber the corrupt, America will win. Unless the people change, the politicians who are the hogs at the trough will keep going to Washington, DC. When the converted win, our families will be back together under one roof, parents will start raising their children again, and everyone will feel a responsibility to work and contribute to society. It has often been said that America’s political structure is a “government of laws, not men.” But bad men are more than capable of corrupting good laws, and good men will rule well in the absence of good laws. We don’t have enough good men in Washington, DC, anymore.

  Right now, there are enough ungodly people in America to control the country. There are more of them and not enough of us to turn the country around. In fact, there are more of them than us for the first time in America’s history, in my opinion. When Jesus returns, righteousness will rule once again, this time forever. So here’s my advice, America: go forth, do the best you can, and try to turn the population toward God—hoping that when we get enough godly people, we’ll put godly men in government. What if that fails and we’re not able to accomplish it? Well, just remember that you who belong to Jesus are the kingdom of God and the kingdom of God will last forever, even if our beloved America should fall.

  7

  RACE

  Fix No. 7: Judge a Man by His Heart, Not the Color of His Skin

  If you really want to know what kind of a person a particular man or woman is, the best way to do it might be to ask everyone who has ever come into contact with them. What does his wife say about him when he is not around? What does her husband say about her? What do their children say about them? Ask all of their friends and everyone they do business with what kind of person they are. Ask anyone: “Hey, what about this person?” Interview every last individual who has known them over their lifetime, and you would probably be able to come to some conclusion about who they really are. You know what? That is what people should do if they want to find out who the real Phil Robertson is.

  After GQ magazine published a story about Duck Dynasty in December 2013, some people criticized me for quoting Bible verses relating to sin after a reporter asked me a question about homosexuality (you’ll read more about that later). Other people were upset about comments I made about growing up with African Americans in Louisiana during the civil rights era. Look, folks, we can argue until the end of the earth about what constitutes sin in the eyes of God. Our opinions about certain lifestyles might be different, but I can promise you one thing: there isn’t a racist bone in my body. There never has been and never will be. I’m confident anyone who has known me during the last four decade
s, including many African Americans who were and are among my closest friends, would tell you the same thing.

  Before I converted and accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I was sexually immoral and committed a lot of other sins. I was an idolater, adulterer, thief, drunkard, and slanderer. I was guilty of fits of rage, jealousy, impurity, and dishonesty. And to top it all off, I was given to hatred no matter the color, whether someone was white, black, Indian, or Asian. There was no racism in my life even then. I hated everyone equally if they tried to slow down my sinful life. That is the kind of man I was during the first twenty-eight years of my life. But the new me, which came to be because of the grace of God during the last forty years, learned to love. I can’t go back and undo the mistakes I made in the past, but God undid them for me. He can undo yours for you, too. If people are given to racism, whatever color they are, remind them of Acts 17:24–26: “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth.”

  According to the Scripture, God made every nation from one man—Adam. The text says that every one of us—whether our skin is black, white, red, yellow, blue, or green—came from the same dude. That contradicts what my Sociology 101 professor tried to teach me at Louisiana Tech University. He tried to tell me that there are three groups of humans in the world: Caucasian, Negroid, and Mongoloid. But the Bible says God made every one of us from one person, and I don’t know what color skin Adam had and neither do you. However, I doubt very seriously that he was Caucasian because he lived in what is now Iraq, so I’m guessing he looked like someone of Middle Eastern descent.