Voluntary Theocracy

My guest today is Kevin Novak. I first met Kevin at my local assembly in north Texas. My parents visited with his family at a potluck and found they had some favorite authors in common. I visited with Kevin a few times and have been shown hospitality at his house several times. Kevin is in the interesting position of being a prosecuting attorney in Ft. Worth, Texas near Dallas, and he has a pretty radical perspective on God's law comparatively speaking. I think that gives him a unique perspective on what goes on locally, and I think he has some wisdom on what to do about it. He actually has a ministry that has nothing to do with criminal justice on the surface, but everything at the root. deconstructingthecoliseum.com Kevin's book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0998078808

My guest is Dr. Gary DeMar whom I was introduced to about 14 years ago through my dad. As a family, we went through a long period of studying America's Christian history as a family, and that led my dad to a book called "America's Christian History: The Untold Story" by Dr. DeMar. We also heard him at a conference Kevin Swanson put on at Generations with Vision. Most recently, I went through his book called "Wars and Rumors of Wars" which is a systematic reasoning of why Matthew 24 can only be speaking of events leading to the destruction of the temple in AD70. My biggest takeaway from Dr. DeMar's work is that if Matthew 24 is not talking about the end of the world, then what are Christians supposed to be doing? americanvision.org

This is a special interview for me. Dr. McDurmon has written several books that have greatly expanded my thinking on the scope of the great commission. The biggest danger to consuming his work is that it will depress you with the magnitude of work there is to be done and decisions to be made about where to start and how; it's called analysis paralysis. The biggest benefit is that he will encourage you to take action doing the next right thing every day (no matter how small) because there's no time to waste. Joel McDurmon has worked for over a decade as a public theologian. He has authored or edited over a score of books and lectured internationally. Joel has featured in variety of other media on topics as diverse as theology, law, history, economics, and philosophy. Joel lives near Atlanta, Georgia with his wife and five children.

Mike Maharrey is the national communications director for the Tenth Amendment Center. He runs a podcast called GodArchy where he and his guests explore Christianity as it intersects with the State. Mike shares his story of how he came to realize that he needed to bring his views on politics and religion into a coherent whole. We also discuss how he became an activist in local movements to nullify unjust laws, as the 10th Amendment gives the states and the people the authority to do so. We cover the process for how you can get involved and make a difference too. tenthamendmentcenter.com godarchy.org

My guest is Dr. Walter Block, a professor of economics at Loyola University in New Orleans. He went to school with Bernie Sanders, and he's the author of several libertarian philosophy and economics books, most notably a set called "Defending the Undefendable" where he lays out acts which may be socially unacceptable or morally corrupt but should not be punishable in court. Some things we touch on are of a disturbing nature: nothing graphic, but I do want to mention that some vocabulary words do come up which may prompt hard questions from children or google searches they may not be ready for.

First solo episode: I cover all the Biblical texts on laws for war, draw some applications for modern-day USA, and provide some insight on the current consequences of nations both obeying and disobeying these commandments. Texts: Numbers 1, Deuteronomy 17, 20-21, Luke 3, John 10

William Reusch is a highschool teacher in LA who is having to deal with the current state of american education and all its flaws. He hosts a podcast called Cylinder Radio, where he basically just enjoys talking to people who challenge his critical thinking on controversial topics. He also brought up an organization I wasn't aware of called the Heterodox Academy. Their homepage sums up his teaching philosophy: "Diverse viewpoints & open inquiry are critical to learning." Doesn't get more straightforward than that. So as I've followed him over the past year or so, it's been so encouraging to me that there do exist teachers out there who share this philosophy and are doing everything they can on the teacher's side of public education, as irredeemable as taxpayer funded education may be. Will acknowledges this, and he's in it anyway. Anyway, he's just a fascinating guy, and I really think he's worth your attention.

Some of the questions we discuss this month: What's our attitude towards the law? Do we assume a commandment is gone unless repeated? What if the American legal system obeyed the law of punishing false witnesses? How do we deal with the deep consequences of driving on "public roads" claimed by eminent domain? Is the government just in building a wall? How do I deal with lonliness in my Christian walk? What can I do to stop paying unlawful taxes? What's a practical application of all believers being priests? What about tassels? Is accelerationism Biblical? How do I plan for the collapse of an earthly kingdom? What examples can we use from the American Arbitration Association? What's the difference between American slavery and Biblically lawful slavery? What is postmillennialism, and how does what I believe about prophecy affect my daily life?

Back in April 2019, I reached out to my guest today, and in October, we finally conducted this interview you're about to hear. I had seen some of his economic theory articles on a website called Mises.org, which I had been turned onto by the Tom Woods show. Anyway, he has the best breakdown of how interest works and and the moral repercussions of biblical lending and unbiblical lending. He didn't say it that way, but I was able to connect what he was saying with God's law, and I knew I had to at least reach out. He's the clearest teacher that I have found on how banking works, and if I can get off track for one second here, here's what he cleared up for me: There's two distinct functions that used to be totally separate in business—1) paying a bank to protect your stuff. 2) Saving money at a bank, lending it your money which they pay interest on. Sort of like the bank buys your money at wholesale prices, lots of small amounts, and it sells your money at retail and splits the interest earnings with you. Look up his lectures on YouTube. Fantastic teacher. Very clear and able to distill ideas to their essence. His name is Robert Murphy. He's a Christian and economist. He's a Research Assistant Professor with the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech, a Senior Fellow with the Mises Institute, and he's a co-host with Tom Woods on their podcast "Contra Krugman." We talk about: Bob's story from nominal Catholicism>atheism>Christ, reconciling Paul's commands to be subject to authority with Christian anarchism and anarchocapitalism, socialism in the early church, mandatory charity enforcement in the Bible, capital punishment, life ransoms for crimes, lawful slavery, negligent homicide insurance, and much more. This same interview is episode 74 on Bob's show. Bob turned the tables on me and started digging in to my ideas, and we had a fantastic time. I think it will be well worth your time, and it was definitely worth my wait.