Restoring American Patriotism: A Conversation with Gen. Jerry Boykin

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Hello everyone and happy Fourth of July. I'm Stephen Stratton and welcome to the Stradivarius

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4th Podcast. To commemorate this important holiday, I invited Great American General

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Jerry Boyk as my guest. He understands what it is to be an American and to be proud of

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his reality. During his 36-year career in the U.S. Army, he spent 13 years in the Delta

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Force and was involved in numerous high-profile missions in the 1980 Red Postage Rescue Attempt,

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the 1992 hunt for Apollo-Escobar in Lafayette, and the Black Cocktail Incident in Sebaugia

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in which they made two. After retiring, he became United States Deputy Undersecretary

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of Defense for Intelligence and for President George W. Bush, is the author and visiting

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professor at Hampton City College, Virginia. He is currently the Executive Vice President

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of the Family Research Council in Washington, B.C. He has insights not only about physical

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wars but about spiritual warfare, and he is an astute observer of the chaos that's happening

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in our world. Because of that, it's been helpless to understand what's going on. He is a patriotic

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American. Thank you, Double-A-Miss, I exclusively interview with retired Lieutenant General Jerry

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Boykin. Thank you.

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General Boykin, as we celebrate the Fourth of July that celebrates the founding of our

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nation, why do you think that we see a decline in patriotism, and is that caused by an overall

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decline in America?

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Yeah, Steve, first of all, thanks for having me on the program here today. It's a cause

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and effect issue here. Our founding fathers took some huge risk to allow us the opportunity

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to call ourselves Americans. They had no desire to fight a war, but they did, and that war

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cost us a lot of lives. What we wound up with was the greatest country that has ever been

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on this planet until the last couple of decades. What we're seeing is that we're seeing the

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Marxist movement in America is having a field day. They're becoming stronger and stronger,

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and what that's doing is it is driving today's generation, and a generation before that,

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in fact, away from being patriotic and loving America. My dad was a World War II veteran,

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and he was wounded on D-Day at Normandy, lost his eye, but he was proud to be an American.

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No matter what it cost him, he was proud to be an American, and you better not dishonor

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the flag around him because that was a surprise for you if you did. Today, we have a generation

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of people who have not been encouraged to be proud to be Americans, to be proud of who

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we are, to be proud of the sacrifices that have been made by so many Americans so that

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this nation could be the greatest nation on earth. I think it's very sad, Steve, and you

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can go back, and there's two things that I think are responsible for this, and one of

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them is certainly the education process. Our education today is teaching them all the bad

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things that they can think of that America has been involved in, but the other thing

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is we keep electing these people that are sheep or wolves in sheep's clothing, and they

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are politicians who are just waiting for their opportunity to have their Marxist impact on

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this nation, and I think that's pretty much where we are.

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Well, I agree with you entirely, and during COVID, we saw during the shutdowns how quickly

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some of these politicians you're referring to were very happy to impose really draconian

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measures having to do with COVID, but also take away our rights, such as causing churches

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to not be able to meet when you could go to the grocery store and you could go to the

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gambling casino and the liquor store, but you couldn't go to church. And also, before

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I ask you other questions, I want to mention that my father was also a World War II vet.

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He served in the Pacific in what they called New Hebrides, which was away from the fighting,

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but he was also very proud to be an American, and I was very proud of him.

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Let me ask you about some things that are going on at world events. There are many bad

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actors in the world. Right now, Putin is meeting with North Korea. Russian subs are off the

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coast of Florida. The Israel-Hamas war may escalate. Where do you think this is heading

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and why does this significance?

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Well, I think that we are living in some very perilous days. I don't think anybody would

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disagree with that, except those who are the perpetrators of a lot of this mischief and

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chaos. To be honest with you, Steve, I have just finished reading, if you'll allow me

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to get into this a little bit, I've just finished reading David Jeremiah's book called The Great

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Disappearance. It's talking about the end times. It's talking about the rapture of the

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church. He makes some very good points in there, but I think that if we are honest about

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it and if we understand what the word says, I think what we're seeing is we're seeing

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the end times coming together. Now, it could be another thousand years. Nobody knows, and

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that's... But when you look at the wars and rumors of wars, and you look at what's happening

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in this nation and you say, is it going to get any better? No, it's not going to get

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any better. I think we're going to see more and more of this. Then what you're ultimately

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going to see is you're going to see some of these people that are allied against the United

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States, they're going to turn on each other and that's going to be another war front.

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I think Russia and China are probably the ones that I would see being the first to turn

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against each other. Keep in mind that even though China went over and visited with Putin,

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the very next week, Putin had a big assembly of the Central Asian state leaders to talk

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about the future and he did not invite the Chinese president. Now, that was a snub. So

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these two, regardless of what we may think, they're not close in any way because each

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of them wants to be the world leader. They want to dominate the world, each one of them

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separately independently. In my view, they want to be the world's strong man, if you

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will. I think that that is going to bring about even more war and conflict in our nation,

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in our world. So watch out, there's more coming. And of course, for them to reach that goal,

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there must be a weak United States or they have to somehow get the United States out

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of the position of being the greatest power in the world. And you referred to David Jeremiah

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in his book and that leads to my next question. While it's interesting to understand the geopolitical

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aspects of what we see in the news, do you believe that this is leading to the prophecies

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of the Bible about the end of time on things such as one world government, one currency,

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and of course, wars and rumors of wars? Yeah, and there's another thing that's very important

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too, and that is in Luke, I think it's Luke 22, Jesus told the disciples, but before all

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of this, talking about the wars and rumors of wars, the earthquakes in diverse places

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and all that, he said, before all of this, they will persecute you. They will take you

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before kings and rulers and persecute you on account of my name. Is that happening in

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America? Is that happening in this nation today? And you brought it up when you talked

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about the COVID, where the churches were under greater restrictions than any of the other

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entities in America, and that's just getting worse. And so I think that all of these things

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come together to set the stage, I think, for the end times. And yes, I think it's near.

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I know that you're a spiritual man. You have that reputation and me knowing you personally,

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I certainly believe that, and you have a very outspoken role with the Family Research Council,

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yet you're also a military man. You understand war. You've been in war. You've been a general.

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And I want to ask you about the similarities between what we call spiritual war, where

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the Bible says we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and

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powers. And to compare that and the similarities with strategies in war. What are your insights

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on that?

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Yeah, Steve, when you're in a physical war, the first thing you have to do, and Sun Tzu

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said this, he said, know yourself and know your enemies, and you need not fear 100 battles.

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We have to know our enemy when it's in a physical war or a spiritual war. Both of them are important.

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We put a lot of emphasis on our intelligence community here in the United States. I was

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the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, and I finally got an inside look.

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I spent two years at the CIA also, and they go to great lengths to know our enemy, know

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what they're going to do, to be able to forecast and predict what the enemy is going to do.

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And keep in mind that it all came about because of Pearl Harbor, because we missed that, and

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we lost a lot of lives as a result of that. So since then, we have put a lot of time and

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energy and human resources into this. But in a spiritual war, you still have to know

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your enemy. You have to understand who the enemy is. And not enough people in America

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read the Bible. Not enough people sit down every day and read at least a portion of subscripture.

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And that's how you know your enemy. You know your enemy because you've read what the Bible

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tells us about Satan. It says, he walketh about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he

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might devour. That's start right there. Just start right there. And then people say, well,

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I don't want to study Satan. You better. You better. Because if you don't understand his

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tactics, if you don't understand how he does things, if you don't understand how he will

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get you in a conundrum, and you don't even realize it's happening until it's too late,

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you're not going to win that battle. But let me tell you, I have been in a lot of spiritual

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battles since I've been out of the army, as well as when I was in the army. And I must

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tell you, you learn something every battle. You learn something new. And that's what you

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do in a physical war. You learn something. You learn from what you experience on the

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battlefield. And Americans, Christians all over the world need to be making concerted

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effort. To have two things, and you can go back to Ephesians six about this, two things

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that you've got to have. First of all, you have to have a daily Bible reading program.

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And secondly, you got to have a daily prayer life. It puts you before the Lord and gives

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you the opportunity to thank him for his blessings and to tell him what what you are asking him

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to do in your life. And so what advice do you have for the people that are watching,

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many of whom would agree with what you just said, or at least are open to it? How can

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we grasp hold of winning a spiritual battle? Or even how can we intercede for our nation

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and and for the world in terms of what's happening? Or is it just sort of inevitable what's going

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to happen? Yeah, that's a good question. And it's one that I still ponder today, you know,

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it's getting worse. But look, I think it's very clear that that the Lord told us to occupy

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until I return. Didn't know what he said occupy until I return. And, and he's told us to go

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go about taking the gospel to all ends of the earth, baptizing in the name of the Father

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of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Now, that means we have to do everything that he's called

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us to do. And he is right there in the Bible, we've got to do everything he's called us

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to do. We've got to be vigilant, we've got to be determined, we've got to be energetic

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about it. But we can't just sit back and wait for his second coming or the rigid or the rapture.

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It's going to happen. But we are supposed to be on alert until he comes. And we're on

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alert when we're out there trying to win souls and trying to bring people a better understanding

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of what the Christian life is about and what the expectations are for us.

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You know, and my final question on this short podcast, I want to cycle back around to what

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we started with. And that was talking about patriotism. Because we're of course, airing

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this on the Fourth of July, even though people will be seeing it online much later. What

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do you recommend to restore patriotism in the nation overall? What can the average person

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do? And is there hope if Christians and other conservatives speak up?

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First of all, we need to get people on school boards across America who understand the importance

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of knowing history. That's why when you look at Joshua and Moses, before they died, they

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brought the people together and they gave them a history lesson. They wanted them to

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know where they came from. They wanted them to know who they are. So we have got to get

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people on the school board. Secondly, we've got to get teachers that have not been tainted

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by the Marxist movement, by the Marxist teachings in the colleges and the universities, because

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it's also crept into the lower schools now. And then, as far as I am concerned, moms and

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dads need to recognize how important it is for their son and daughter to know what God

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has done for their family. They need to know who they are, where they came from, and what

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the Lord has done for them. And that's something that just does not happen in the average Christian

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home today. There's not a lot of discussion about that. And then I will say, and the final

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thing is, read. Read history. Read. Because only, what is it, Steve? About 24% of the

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Americans read for understanding. And I don't know how you can stay in business like that,

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but you've put out a lot of books, Steve, and they're good. And we need to read, not

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just the Bible, but we need to read American history so that we develop a pride in what

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America stands for, what America's done, the sacrifices that have been made, and start

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with the Founding Fathers.

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Well, I think what you say is so important, and of course I agree with you. I do publish

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books over 2,000 at this point. And I'm a reader, and I decided this year to keep track.

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So far I've read or listened to an audible 37 books this year. I believe in it. And your

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comments have made me just reflect. And in the last week, I've watched some videos on

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PragerU about history and our presidents and things. And there's a lot of good material

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out there. We don't necessarily get it in the mainstream media, but thankfully we have

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alternative media. And I just want to thank you for what you and the Family Research Council

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are doing. You're a voice. You're a light in the darkness. The darker it is, the more

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a small light shines. And you and Tony Perkins and the others have, are certainly that. So

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I want to thank you for taking time to be on the podcast. I wanted to deal with these

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issues on the 4th of July. And so I want to give you the last word, and then I'll come

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back with some closing thoughts for my viewers.

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The last word, as far as I'm concerned, should be, be proud to be an American. Because there

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are generations of men and women that have served this country to give us the right to

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be proud to be Americans. So lift up your flag on this 4th of July. Let that flag be

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visible from every direction. I saw one today as I was coming back from Bethesda. A car

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came by with a huge flag on the car just blowing in the breeze. And I thought, wait till I

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get out of here. I'm going to go get me a flag and put it on my car. Be proud to be

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an American. That's my message.

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Welcome back. I want to encourage you to subscribe to The Strangler Report. If you don't already

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do so, press the blue bell so you're notified every time that we're live Tuesday and Thursday

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at 4pm Eastern. And click this on social media. It's your way to do something for the 4th

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of July. Post a picture of an American flag. My interview with Jerry Boykin will interest

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those who are in your circle that we all have to do our part to encourage and return it

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our way. Thank you for watching The Strangler Report today. Thank you for subscribing. And

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until next time, God bless.