The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - The Anchormen Show EP 77 - Duty Beyond the Pulpit w⧸Bishop Art Hodges

00:00:00.000 now it's time for the anchorman podcast with matt gates and dan ball

00:00:11.380 welcome back to the anchorman show i'm matt gates host of the matt gates show every week

00:00:23.860 night nine o'clock eastern 6 pacific here on one american news and on anchorman we get to

00:00:29.020 have a more in-depth discussion with someone we're interested in and i'm so excited i've been

00:00:34.000 waiting to get to the guest today on the program for some time we ran into each other on probably

00:00:39.780 one of my worst days on our way to charlie kirk's funeral and memorial service in arizona and i

00:00:46.840 learned that a very prominent person here in the san diego community in the faith community

00:00:51.220 is running for the state senate and so i thought a great opportunity to talk about where the church

00:00:57.060 stands in america today where the intersections are between politics and our faith and the inner

00:01:03.420 workings of a campaign that sometimes will appear behind enemy lines here in the people's republic of

00:01:09.660 california bishop art hodges thank you so much for joining me we were just chatting before we came

00:01:15.140 on air about your pastoral service coming to an end your political service on the horizon before we get

00:01:22.480 into everything i want to discuss just what was that like delivering your your final sermon uh at

00:01:26.940 the church where you've pastored for some time and and continuing uh to be a source of mentorship

00:01:33.180 to so many other faith leaders in southern california thank you matt great to be with you by the way

00:01:37.940 and uh yeah i'm i'm in a transition time in my heart my mind my soul my spirit uh i have pastored

00:01:45.080 been a senior pastor for more than 40 years and that came to an end on july 19 at i would say my

00:01:51.960 decision let me say god's decision god's leading i actually put that in my heart uh two years ago he

00:01:56.980 said 40 years and that'll be it and uh and so july 19 was my last day as a senior pastor locally here

00:02:03.380 in san diego however i still still serve as bishop i oversee 350 other pastors and ministers and churches

00:02:10.120 here in southern california um so plenty to keep me busy there but that's a major thing i didn't

00:02:15.940 realize how impacting it would be you know when you do something 40 years it really defines you and

00:02:21.580 and that's just you you think that's the norm in fact i speak out a lot and i've been speaking out

00:02:27.380 since july 19 and everywhere i go to churches especially i'm saying listen i never fully appreciated

00:02:32.440 pastors until now yeah i thought my life was normal now that i'm not the pastor i realize that was not a

00:02:38.660 normal life i was not living a normal life and uh but but i'm i'm gratified that god gave me that

00:02:45.160 opportunity to serve people um my dad always said son here on this earth you don't love things there's

00:02:53.060 only two things you can say i love you know so i love that pasta dish no no no no you can like it

00:02:57.460 very much but you only can love god and people and uh so the lord has really put a love in my heart for

00:03:02.360 people and you have to for that for that life's calling because definitely yeah so often when i

00:03:08.360 talk to my pastor it's on a tough day for me you know it's when something hadn't worked out and i need

00:03:14.080 to lean on my pastor for a little encouragement emotional support spiritual guidance and if that's

00:03:21.500 what you're doing all day every day it's got at some point uh become very real that you're carrying

00:03:28.980 the weight of so many others leaning on you you are that that's that's in fact uh dr archibald hart

00:03:35.160 who was the head of psychology over 50 years at fuller theological which is the largest seminary in

00:03:39.800 the world up the freeway from us here in los angeles uh he's the expert um he's written over 40 books

00:03:46.920 on stress and here's what he said he said the number one most stressful job in the entire world

00:03:51.660 is to be a pastor's wife and number two is to be a pastor and number three is to be president of the

00:04:00.060 united states of america and you know when he said that i thought wow okay you know you know pastoring

00:04:05.740 doesn't really fourth is the chair of the building fund probably i thought you know what i don't know

00:04:12.580 how to retire as a pastor like you don't you don't make a lot of money right so what do you do with

00:04:16.540 retirement i thought wow now i know i'll just run for president i only have to work four years and

00:04:21.540 i'm set for life there you go i pastored 40 years well you'll learn that um that public service can be

00:04:27.740 on that list in a variety of ways uh if you're elected to the senate i can't wait to hear your

00:04:32.320 vision for that but you know i did want to reflect for a moment on the degree to which prayer really

00:04:39.140 does interface with decisions in government i was surprised by that in the toughest moments in

00:04:45.120 congress and these highly consequential decisions about who the speaker would be or are we going to fund

00:04:50.200 the government or war powers uh people should take some comfort in knowing that folks are praying

00:04:57.100 and they are praying humbly and seeking guidance from god and i'm sure we made plenty of human errors

00:05:05.060 along the way but uh there was there was something that created unity in a town of such division

00:05:11.740 what role do you see prayer playing in uh how decisions are made in government and and how you've

00:05:20.520 you've guided your life well for me personally obviously prayer is the primary thing in fact that's

00:05:26.620 what that's why we're here sitting about to talk about my next venture in life um i never saw this on the

00:05:33.360 horizon at all but uh february of this year i was uh tag teamed by senator brian jones he's a minority

00:05:41.140 leader in california and senator shannon grove kind of ganged up on me and uh in february they asked

00:05:46.960 me to run for the senate and at first i said now you're joking right they said no we're not joking

00:05:51.380 i said listen i said you hear me speak i've spoken the last four times at the state gop convention

00:05:56.020 and brian jones has followed me on two of those occasions i said you hear my speech almost every time

00:06:01.120 i say i'm a preacher i'm not a politician and and now you're asking me to be a politician

00:06:05.880 and and uh shannon said well you will pray about it right and i said well of course i pray about

00:06:12.580 everything she said well that's all i ask i said okay but don't get your hopes up well four months

00:06:16.500 later yes i feel that god has spoken to me and he's called me to this and and you mentioned

00:06:21.580 washington dc um and the role prayer plays i want to say i appreciate i think with this current

00:06:28.920 administration and i'm not disparaging any other administration at all but i think with the

00:06:33.300 current presidential administration remarkably i have seen more emphasis on prayer more actual

00:06:40.700 praying i was speaking in dc just uh two years ago right after mike johnson was elected leader

00:06:47.660 and he and i were about to speak and pray on the national day of prayer and repentance we're

00:06:52.260 backstage i never met him before and someone came back said we've got a 10 minute delay it left us alone

00:06:57.480 for 10 minutes in the back and i got to have a great conversation with him and i was so impressed

00:07:02.120 mike johnson out of the spotlight away from the crowd nobody there was praying and he had his bible

00:07:07.720 and he was praying and i'm i just am so relieved by that prayer is vitally important in america no

00:07:15.340 matter what the sphere is whether it's politics whether it's religion whether it's anything prayer

00:07:20.300 is just vital it's just vital and i appreciate the re-emphasis on prayer yeah uh caroline levitt very

00:07:27.320 famously prays you know before her briefings to the country and to the press uh the republican

00:07:32.680 conference begins you know with prayer probably can't ever do it enough but absolutely you think

00:07:38.360 about washington as such a soulless and empty place it it does have that but we've also noticed

00:07:44.960 at times a real fear from people in pastoral service to kind of tiptoe into political discussion

00:07:54.340 and uh at my first baptist church that's not a problem in in in uh florida but what do you think

00:08:02.200 about that and what what counsel would you give to somebody leading a congregation and and also feeling

00:08:09.820 you know compelled to speak about issues that oftentimes are also at the forefront of our politics

00:08:14.860 that is probably the number one challenge right there and of course as a pastor and and as a bishop

00:08:20.980 that serving other pastors that is the big challenge um the truth of the matter is here

00:08:26.900 we are in california i think you mentioned it the people's republic of california although i'm not sure

00:08:31.880 it's the people but anyway yeah yeah but anyway um uh and and i am told that there are 15 million

00:08:40.720 evangelicals here in california alone and in fact in fact this is that you can look this up i looked up

00:08:47.460 it's the truth that in the last presidential election president trump received more votes

00:08:52.720 from california than any other state now that gets downplayed because he didn't win california but he

00:08:57.780 received more votes from california than texas or florida so there's a huge constituency here um

00:09:04.000 and and i am told that with the 15 million evangelicals only half of them are registered to vote

00:09:10.200 and of those registered to vote only half of those actually vote so think about that if the

00:09:17.400 evangelicals who are eligible to vote would register and if they would vote godly biblical values literally

00:09:23.820 we could change the state from top to bottom in a single election it's just a matter of the people of

00:09:30.080 faith voting so why is that well i know why that is because pastors are afraid to bring division

00:09:36.660 into their congregation and because politics has become so divisive in our lifetimes more than i think

00:09:44.720 ever probably in america in this regard when i was a kid growing up one side of my family one

00:09:52.260 grandparents were democrat the other side were republicans never conflict or problem not at all

00:09:57.980 because at that time the difference between democrat and republican was the difference in right versus left

00:10:04.080 well yeah it was like where did you think the marginal tax rate should be and you know what

00:10:08.620 should be the conditions for union formation it was very different than it is absolutely the things

00:10:13.540 mattered more in in our neighborhood whether or not you were a gator fan or a seminole fan whether you

00:10:18.620 were a republican or a democrat right things that are not absolutes right you're not going to die on that

00:10:22.440 hill but but that's all shifted now and today it's not right versus left it's become right versus wrong

00:10:28.980 and and it's become actually good versus evil it actually has and and i'm not again putting a

00:10:36.300 painting a whole party in one way or another but i'm just saying that's that's the direction you know

00:10:40.760 the way you describe it pastors not wanting to bring division into their congregation

00:10:45.700 in a way that's almost acting more like a politician than a pastor well i mean imagine if imagine if paul

00:10:52.120 you know would have thought that way right there are a lot of times uh in our in our faith where

00:10:57.460 a moment of division is also a moment of clarity good point so let me tell you how i address that

00:11:02.620 my congregation okay 2016 trump versus clinton hillary clinton donald trump and and i'm laying in my bed

00:11:10.460 now my congregation is very diverse if you talk racially i'm a minority i've always been a minority

00:11:14.380 my congregation i'm here in southern california and and we're a great mixture um and and our

00:11:20.460 congregation is very diverse and very diverse politically as well in fact the the head of the

00:11:25.000 long sherman's union member of my church um so i mean we're just very diverse congregation

00:11:31.040 but i'm thinking i've got to speak out on this election i've got to speak out across the pulpit

00:11:36.380 hundreds of people come up to me privately who are you voting for and why like why not just state it

00:11:42.640 publicly but how can i do it without being divisive i'm laying in bed and a thought comes to my mind now

00:11:48.720 i know it's god that put the thought there but a thought comes to my mind and it says why don't you read

00:11:53.820 the party platforms and i thought okay i'm laying in bed i i quickly look up the party platforms on

00:11:59.960 my phone and and i read the democrat and the republican party platform as i recall 66 pages

00:12:05.360 and 52 pages and when i did a light bulb went off i thought oh my goodness am i seeing what i think i'm

00:12:11.360 seeing i got out of bed i went in the living room so i wouldn't bother my wife i downloaded them into a

00:12:16.220 word processor to my computer and i did a word study and a word search and indeed i was seeing what i

00:12:21.500 thought i was seeing and from that i wrote a little article didn't publish it but i made a

00:12:27.920 personal video of it just a few minutes video played it in my church during the offering time

00:12:33.020 shared it with a few pastor friends could we use it okay it went viral across the country the next

00:12:37.980 thing i know i get a my office gets a call from a group called a salt and light council

00:12:42.540 and uh they're the number one uh website a biblical voter.com number one website for biblical

00:12:48.080 voters they got guides for every state in the nation and we had actually found them just online

00:12:53.040 and we're using their voter guides to give members in our congregation didn't know who they were where

00:12:56.880 they were from they contacted my office they said we saw this video we want to use on our website can

00:13:00.980 we i said no it's not professional it's just made on my phone and they persuaded me to do it they

00:13:05.800 persuaded me to give them the script they persuaded me to allow them to publish it and so now this is a

00:13:10.560 little booklet that they published they were publishing this already but now my article is the

00:13:14.280 centerfold and it takes up most of this booklet and just two weeks ago they decided we're going

00:13:18.520 to print it as its own booklet so that's in process right now but anyway what it is it is a non-partisan

00:13:24.300 view of the two-party platforms let me just give you a quick sample i won't read it all to you there's

00:13:28.980 66 contrasts here but this will give you an idea one party platform mentions the bible the other does not

00:13:34.940 one mentions divine the other does not one mentions creator the other does not one mentions prayer the

00:13:39.640 other does not one mentions praise the other does not one mentions pastors the other does not

00:13:43.680 one mentions preaching the other one does not one mentions fathers the other one doesn't one

00:13:47.920 mentions morality the other one doesn't one mentions strong families the other one doesn't

00:13:51.120 one mentions religious liberty and on and on it goes look at this stat one mentions christian

00:13:56.220 uh eight times a muslim now this one was from i think uh four years ago i've updated it since

00:14:01.460 one mentions christian eight times a muslim one time the other mentions christian one time and muslim

00:14:06.100 eight times. That's changed now. The new party platforms, one mentions Christian,

00:14:10.420 I forget, multiple times. The other mentions it zero times. And the one that mentions Christian

00:14:14.500 doesn't mention Islam or Hindu or any other faith. The one that doesn't mention Christian

00:14:19.780 mentions all of these others multiple times. Look at this stat here. This is amazing. One

00:14:26.100 mentions God 15 times and LGBT zero times. The other mentions God one time and LGBT 26 times. 0.83

00:14:32.600 Jeez. So I'm not even mentioning which platform is which. No, but you're showing where people can

00:14:37.960 be comfortable. That's exactly right. And I think it's not partisan. Oftentimes we would love to

00:14:43.080 probably think that where people arrive at their church home is based on some really precise view

00:14:48.700 of the doctrine at that church. But probably a lot of the times it's comfort and we hope God brings

00:14:54.020 people. Most of the time it starts that way. Yeah. We hope God matches people with their right church

00:14:58.080 home. Right. And that'll be different for different folks. But, uh, you know, what,

00:15:03.040 what politics is about is giving people comfort that they're on the team that is going to advance

00:15:09.600 their interests. Yes. And I think that exercise you just went through really showed that the left is

00:15:15.260 quite unwelcoming to Christians. In the party platform it is. And, and here's the power party 1.00

00:15:20.960 platforms. Uh, congressional Republicans vote in alignment with their party platform 89% of the

00:15:26.860 time. Congressional Democrats vote in alignment with their party platform 74% of the time. So if

00:15:32.140 you don't know the candidate, most people don't. Yeah. Even if you have heard the candidate, you still

00:15:37.380 don't know the candidate. Too many candidates will say whatever they think they need to say to get

00:15:42.080 elected. But the truth is when they actually start voting in their official capacity, that's the truth.

00:15:48.800 So is, have you provided a guidepost here maybe for other pastors who don't want to come out and say,

00:15:54.800 vote for Donald Trump or vote for a particular candidate, but to be able to walk through where

00:16:02.220 people in a congregation would feel comfortable based on the shared values of the congregation.

00:16:07.460 Absolutely. Is that a, is that leading the, leading the congregation to water maybe without

00:16:12.040 dunking their nose in it? Absolutely. And, and, and these are available. Go to biblicalvoter.com. I'll

00:16:16.560 put in a plug. I got to get zero dollars off of this. Sure, sure. But, but I'll put in a plug for

00:16:20.440 them. It's a great resource. Biblicalvoter.com. Biblicalvoter.com. We'll put that out on our social

00:16:24.080 media as well. Now I have a theory as to why Christians don't vote that may be a little different.

00:16:28.480 Okay. And, and, and I want to, I want to test it because I've, I know some of these people. These

00:16:32.580 are a lot of the people I grew up with in North Florida. And when I would go to their house and say,

00:16:37.460 hey, I noticed you haven't gone and like voted in the election, you know, for me, sometimes even

00:16:42.140 people I knew would say, man, that is a very worldly thing. This got, we are in a big battle

00:16:49.020 between good and evil right now. It is a celestial battle. And we are, we have read the book. We

00:16:54.460 know the ending. We know we win in the end. And this stuff where you toil back and forth in the

00:16:59.660 dirtiness and ugliness of politics and win, lose campaign. We're sick of all of it. That's not

00:17:05.340 really the contest we're a part of. We're a part of a far more significant contest. And,

00:17:13.040 and that's going to draw our attention. And, and some even believe that the participation

00:17:17.820 in something as unholy as politics diminishes the holiness with which they try to live their

00:17:24.900 other lives. What, what would you say to a voter or a non-voter like that?

00:17:27.980 Well, two things I would say. Number one, when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray,

00:17:34.300 he said, pray on this wise, our father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,

00:17:40.160 thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as in heaven. We have a responsibility to help establish

00:17:50.340 God's kingdom here on earth. He never intended, he never intended for unrighteous rulers to be an

00:17:58.660 authority in the world. That was never his intention. That is the result of, of evil. So

00:18:03.780 we have a responsibility to stand against it. Totally. We have, we've seen it throughout scripture.

00:18:09.160 How do we reconcile that? Totally. We have. But the reason that you see it in the scripture

00:18:14.000 is because the people of God, what we're talking about right now, abdicated the responsibility.

00:18:18.380 They quit doing things God's way and God said, well, okay, if that's what you want,

00:18:22.320 that's what you get. And it was a judgment and a punishment, but it was not God's ultimate will

00:18:26.200 for them. God's ultimate will is good for everybody, not evil at all, not bad at all.

00:18:30.340 So they brought that on themselves here in America, especially. I mean, we are the most exceptional

00:18:34.200 nation ever. Now Israel's exceptional in its own right, for sure. I wear this flag pin as an

00:18:39.680 acknowledgement of that, but we're exceptional in America because we literally choose our leaders.

00:18:45.300 And the Bible says when the righteous rule, the people rejoice. When the wicked beareth

00:18:50.400 rule, the people mourn. We are, like I said, in California, people of faith could change the

00:18:56.080 election in one, one cycle. So it's our responsibility. Absolutely. It's our responsibility.

00:19:02.680 So that's the first thing that I would say. I think I've lost track of what the, uh, no,

00:19:07.060 no, no, no, no. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My, my, my principal concern is that politics has become

00:19:12.620 so unsavory. It drives people of faith away from even basic participation in a campaign

00:19:18.720 in a neighborhood, uh, door to door Saturday, uh, calling voters and asking them to return

00:19:24.680 ballots in the, in the eighties and nineties. This was the core of the Republican base,

00:19:29.440 evangelical Christians, uh, doing a lot of the tactical campaign work that got people elected,

00:19:35.900 particularly throughout the Bible belt where I've lived most of my life. And I, I sense we have

00:19:41.740 seen a withdrawal at times, uh, from the faith community. You, I've identified it as a core issue

00:19:46.920 in California. And I don't know if I have the diagnosis for it. And, and I do worry that, uh,

00:19:55.240 kind of the dirtier politics gets, the harder it, it is to draw people in, uh, and, and to show them

00:20:01.760 this is a virtuous thing to do. This isn't, I, I know many people who viewed their public service

00:20:06.280 as their ministry. Yes. And, and I think they, they were some of the best public servants.

00:20:12.680 Well, my life has been ministry and now I'm entering this arena. I don't need another job.

00:20:18.320 I just retired. My wife said, I thought we retired. Well, yeah, I don't need a job. I don't need a name.

00:20:23.680 I don't need popularity. I don't need money. I I'm, I'm at the retirement time of my life,

00:20:27.660 but I'm doing it as a calling and as a ministry. In fact, that's one thing Brian Jones and Shannon

00:20:33.200 Grove said. They said, well, don't you think we need a pastor and a bishop and a preacher in the

00:20:36.900 Capitol? I said, yeah, you, you need that for sure. And that California, especially the Republicans

00:20:40.700 in the minority need to do a lot of praying. Exactly. In Sacramento. Well, let's, let's get

00:20:44.720 into that vision you have for California, because, uh, a lot of our viewers around the country will

00:20:50.640 look at this and say, well, uh, art seems like a really nice guy, but what is he doing on this

00:20:55.080 quixotic effort to try to change a place that, that has drifted so far left? Uh, what,

00:21:00.620 what's the message of hope that you give people that this place can be better?

00:21:04.320 Well, here's my message of hope is now, first of all, to people of faith, to people of faith,

00:21:08.740 every story in the Bible that we value and treasure that we learned in Sunday school,

00:21:13.800 Daniel in the lion's den, uh, Joseph in the pit, David and Goliath, every single one of them,

00:21:19.620 the good guy was in the minority. Yeah. The good guy never had the advantage. He was always at the

00:21:26.740 disadvantage. So take heart. That just comes with a territory. God never favors a majority because of

00:21:33.340 majority. All right. He favors even one. If it's just one, we'll stand for right. God's on his side

00:21:38.080 and if God's for us, who can be against us? So that's, that's number one. If we're doing it for

00:21:42.060 the right mode. So embrace the challenge. Absolutely embrace the challenge. And, and it also speaks to

00:21:47.520 the topic we just came off of why people need to get involved and they need to step up, which is

00:21:52.120 another reason I think God has called me to do this. Not, not for me, but for a movement nationwide

00:21:57.580 for others to step up. I mean, I just declared just, just, you know, weeks ago, but, um, I can't tell

00:22:03.780 you how many have contacted me from around the nation saying, you know what? We've been following

00:22:07.800 you since COVID. That's a whole nother story, but we've been following you since COVID. And now we see

00:22:12.960 you're doing this. You know what? I think God's calling me to do something. And I think that's

00:22:18.140 the real key to stand up all over the nation. So back to what we were talking about. Why should

00:22:22.200 we get involved? I think COVID should have taught us that March 5th was the last Sunday that was

00:22:28.920 normal in America. And in California, we were the first in the nation to close the state.

00:22:33.060 I don't know if you were all that normal in California, even before March 5th.

00:22:36.200 Well, we weren't, but we're, but we're less than that after March 5th. And, and long story short,

00:22:40.920 it took me going to the U S Supreme court three times, three times to reopen churches in California

00:22:48.800 and across America. And it's a whole story of how that even came about. But, uh, when Gavin Newsom

00:22:54.580 gave a public press conference, he was going to reopen plan for California, locked everything down.

00:22:59.680 He left churches out of the equation and a reporter asked, what about churches? He said, well,

00:23:04.140 we're not sure they're in the, you know, TBD to be determined. We don't know. Uh, but he said,

00:23:08.780 one thing I'll tell you for sure, they'll never go back to normal. Well, that same afternoon,

00:23:12.600 we filed a lawsuit in federal court, long story short in 15 days, we were for the Supreme court.

00:23:18.060 I mean, fast tracked, we lost that first decision and we stayed in court every month. We had 11

00:23:23.840 federal court rulings in less than a year, four at the ninth circuit court of appeals. I started

00:23:28.660 calling them the ninth circus court of agendas, but, but, uh, and three at the U S Supreme

00:23:33.980 court and our final two were February 5, 2021 and April 26, 2021 resounding victories, the nail in

00:23:40.240 the coffin. And here's what the Supreme court gave us in all churches in America. They said,

00:23:44.180 never again, no matter how emergency a situation, how exigent a situation is, if it requires everything

00:23:50.360 closing, churches will be the last to close and the first to reopen, which is what we asked for in

00:23:55.700 the very first place. But that should have taught us a lesson. The only reason that happened is because

00:24:00.720 of politics, it's because people of faith and biblical values stayed out of politics. And we've

00:24:06.880 got people ruling who are not righteous rulers. And now people are being oppressed as a result.

00:24:12.200 We've got to retake America for the values America was founded on.

00:24:16.900 Here's some, some say, because so much of the craziness started in California,

00:24:21.620 you have to go back to the root of it. That's what I believe.

00:24:24.400 If you fight this thing out in the Midwest, in the, in the Bible belt, 0.96

00:24:27.880 you don't really ever defeat it until you defeat it here in California. And we, we got news today of

00:24:35.720 this corruption indictment regarding a governor Newsom's former chief of staff. There was a

00:24:41.920 campaign account that allegedly had gone dormant and Javier Becerra's chief of staff and governor

00:24:48.280 Newsom's chief of staff created a series of no show jobs and, and lobbying contracts that weren't

00:24:54.840 really for anything under the, under the allegations in this indictment. And I just wonder when you've

00:25:00.680 had one party rule for so long that people, if these allegations are true, feel a comfort level,

00:25:07.880 just putting their hand in the, in the piggy bank and taking out resources for themselves.

00:25:13.680 Do you need something like a, like an ombudsman to go after the corruption? Or what do you think the

00:25:20.160 solution is if you get elected as a minority member of the state Senate, uh, to give people a sense

00:25:26.480 that they're, at least they're getting an honest bang for their buck out of the government?

00:25:30.900 I'm so excited when we get our Merriweather farm shipments in, you get a beautiful piece of ribeye.

00:25:35.640 Look, look at that marbling. Now I take it out of the package, let it get down to room temperature.

00:25:40.880 All I've got on here is a little salt, a little pepper, and then a little avocado oil. And then I've had my pan

00:25:46.320 preheating with a little oil. Head to merriweatherfarms.com and enter promo code

00:25:57.360 Matt G for 15% off your first order. Well, you mentioned the word honest. That's the key right

00:26:02.820 there. The Bible says truth has fallen in the streets. And, and that's where we are, where truth

00:26:08.720 is not valued. To have truth, you've got to have absolutes. And we're in a generation that doesn't

00:26:13.600 want to believe in any absolutes. They want to believe their God themselves. Well, we don't

00:26:17.000 believe that we believe there's a creator God and his word is absolute. It doesn't change. It's the

00:26:21.460 only thing that doesn't change. Everything else changes, but not, not the word of God. And this

00:26:25.360 nation was based on that, you know, statement I made during COVID, during the trial and the lockdowns,

00:26:30.000 I said, America was designed as a nation so that people would never have to make the choice between

00:26:36.320 obeying God or government. Think about that. That's why America was founded. That was the similar

00:26:41.740 reason. America was birthed. But for the first time, at least in my lifetime during COVID, we were

00:26:47.940 forced to decide, will I obey God or government? That should not be. So we've got to have leaders

00:26:53.680 who understand that and leaders who understand that the values that made America great in its

00:26:59.100 beginnings are the values that's going to keep America great. We've got to get back to those

00:27:03.160 values. That's what I'm going to bring to the state Senate in California. And yes, I think you've got

00:27:08.460 to go right to the source. And as goes California in a lot of respects, so goes the nation. I mean,

00:27:14.260 we could go down the political team player list in Washington, D.C. And look at the ones that came

00:27:19.240 out of California, right? To Washington, D.C. The worst ones. You said it. Exactly. And so we've

00:27:26.420 got to do a better job. It starts right here. I think California is the key. California is key

00:27:31.420 spiritually. It's the home of the Azusa Street revival in 1906. Next year will be the 120th anniversary of

00:27:37.680 that that just swept the nation and the world and just renovated Christianity as we know it,

00:27:43.440 you know. Unfortunately, it's also the home of pornography, the largest pornography purveyor 0.84

00:27:49.120 in the world, home of entertainment, home of tech, Silicon Valley. I mean, it's number one in so many

00:27:57.340 things, but it's a bottomless in many other things, which is incongruous, right? How can you

00:28:02.280 be the wealthiest state? I think if we were a nation, they say we'd be number four or something like

00:28:07.360 that in GDP or economy, wealth. How can you be the most wealthy and yet have the most people

00:28:13.180 at a poverty level? How can you be the most wealthy and yet you have people that can't afford

00:28:17.820 a home? My own kids. I've got three grown married children, three grown married children ranging from

00:28:24.560 46 years old down to 33 years old, all with college degrees, one with a master's, all the rest with

00:28:31.080 master's, some universities here in California, and all in wonderful fields. One in the medical field,

00:28:36.160 one in the, well, was in the legal field, but now a pastor's wife, and the other one in the finance

00:28:43.480 world. And all married, all with children, and not a single one have been able to buy a home yet

00:28:49.820 here in California. Do they struggle with affordability? I mean, not like struggle,

00:28:54.240 like don't have a roof over their head, but is affordability something pressing in the minds of

00:28:58.160 your family? On everybody. Yes, it is. I mean, we're making, we're not complaining,

00:29:01.980 we're not complaining. Yeah. But, but with what we earn, if we lived anywhere else in this nation,

00:29:09.300 almost, with what we earn, they would have all owned their own home for the last 20 years.

00:29:14.000 Well, all over the country, people are facing these affordability challenges. You do seem to

00:29:18.200 make it harder on yourselves in California with so many registrations and fees,

00:29:23.520 highest regulations, mandatory tests, highest regulation of any state. Yeah. Highest taxes,

00:29:27.840 highest income taxes, highest gas taxes. Tell me why with the highest gas taxes, we have the worst roads.

00:29:34.360 It just doesn't make sense, right? I mean, these things don't make sense. In Florida, we don't have

00:29:39.040 our state government root around in our cars to do like a smog test. You do that here. It drives up

00:29:45.820 costs for regular people. I don't know that your air is any cleaner than it is in Florida as a

00:29:50.560 consequence. Like, would you vote for a bill to get rid of the smog test? We need to, we need to

00:29:55.740 lower regulations for sure. A few regulations are needful, but we are over-regulated. Yeah. And I,

00:30:03.160 you know, they say, follow the money trail. In my mind, the regulations are just a way of making more

00:30:07.600 money. Look, California. But then you give it away to the illegals on, on, on your Medicaid. Like, 0.98

00:30:12.840 that's the problem. The whole deal was you guys were stacking up big reserves and you were having

00:30:17.460 state sponsored innovation at the highest level. But $68 billion deficit now. Yeah. You're,

00:30:22.200 you're tens of billions of dollars in the hole because you allow people who just jumped the

00:30:26.740 border to get a full suite of healthcare services that working, hardworking Californians don't have 1.00

00:30:31.920 access to. Not just healthcare services. You can get housing, you can get food assistance,

00:30:35.940 you get all kinds of assistance, things that most normal Americans don't get. What do you think

00:30:40.300 those policies should look like? We need a secure border, a secure border that is safe and fair

00:30:47.000 and just good immigration policies. We're a nation of immigrants. I'm married. My wife is Mexican. We're

00:30:53.840 a nation of immigrants. Her grandparents came over the border. We're a nation of immigrants. We're built

00:30:58.860 on, that's our strength, but we're built on good. The Bible says, do things decently in order. We're

00:31:04.400 built on good legal immigration. You can't just have an open border and anybody come in whenever you want.

00:31:10.320 That's what we've done for the last four years. And now we're paying the consequences.

00:31:13.700 One of the big issues in California is that the state government has been really recalcitrant to

00:31:18.080 the deportation efforts that ICE and President Trump have worked on. Do you fully support those

00:31:22.780 efforts? And, and, uh, do you think state government should stand in the way of, of what the Trump

00:31:27.840 administration? I don't think state government should stand in the way. What if I was Trump's advisor,

00:31:31.720 I'm not, we've never met, I've never talked with him, not, not yet, but, uh, but I would advise,

00:31:37.220 you know, follow the plan that you laid out, start with the worst criminals, hunt down every single

00:31:43.620 one of them and get them out there as quick as you can. And then start, you know, going down the

00:31:47.420 list, working your way backwards, uh, give people a path, which I think there are paths. I've got

00:31:51.600 great immigration attorney friends. Uh, Esther Valdez is one, uh, Gonzales in Colorado is another

00:31:57.300 one. And, uh, and there, and there's a path for people to do things right, do things legally,

00:32:01.140 but it's not fair. It's not fair to, to, to my family or any family who have people trying to

00:32:07.100 legally immigrate to America and they're following all the rules and steps. And you're constantly being

00:32:12.020 told, no, you got to back up in the line because we got an illegal we're going to put in front of

00:32:15.320 you. I mean, that's not fair at any level, not at any level. So we need to have fair immigration 0.96

00:32:19.820 policies and we need to enforce those policies. Absolutely. Does part of that enforcement mean not

00:32:24.840 putting illegal immigrants on Cal Med? Well, absolutely. Absolutely. If, if someone is here 1.00

00:32:30.600 illegally, now, if somebody is going to die, we're going to, I know you look at me like it's a silly

00:32:35.020 question, but it's actually a very controversial thing. I mean, there are a lot of people who would

00:32:38.820 say we're hateful for that. And I don't think that, that, that we, uh, wish ill health on anyone,

00:32:44.840 but there are people who've paid into that system here their whole lives. And then when they can't

00:32:51.180 get access to a specialist or a doctor or a nurse, because you've got, uh, you know, you've got all

00:32:56.720 these millions of illegals that you've welcomed here, that just doesn't seem fair to them. 0.99

00:33:00.600 Right. It's pushing everybody to the back of the line. Who's trying to do it right.

00:33:03.720 Trying to do it right.

00:33:04.360 Everyone, whether they're here legally or illegally feels at the back of the line when it comes to your 0.89

00:33:08.320 state's emergency response. And that's what I want to talk about next, because in a campaign like

00:33:12.800 yours and in the statewide Republican campaigns, you've got to be able to convince people who don't

00:33:18.680 like Republicans to vote for one. And that's really not easy, but I would imagine it would be easier if

00:33:24.740 the Democrats can't get the fire hydrants to work. If the voters agreed to indebt themselves

00:33:30.020 for reservoirs and the Democrats didn't build them. Could you talk maybe about just some of those

00:33:34.600 not red versus blue issues, but just like practically speaking, making the state work

00:33:40.440 for everyone who's here, however they're here, uh, for, for a better quality of life.

00:33:44.780 The purpose of government is safety, service, and welfare. That's the whole purpose of government.

00:33:51.800 And so it's our police, it's our fire, it's our ambulance, our hospitals, our first responders.

00:33:57.760 That's the primary role of government is to protection of people, safety of people, welfare,

00:34:03.120 keeping, keeping order, and so on. Um, we have money for that. Our state has more money than

00:34:08.320 any other state flowing through its coffers, but we're finding out that our state is sending money

00:34:14.720 to other nations to promote, uh, like LGBTQ things. Wait, what? I've never heard of this.

00:34:21.220 Oh yeah. California is sending money to other countries? They have sent money. It's not enough

00:34:25.480 that you've invited everyone from every other country to California. You're actually sending

00:34:29.440 your money. What other countries? Well, that's, that's, we need, we need a doge in California.

00:34:34.960 That's what we need. So that's what I will push for. We need transparency. We need transparency

00:34:39.640 and we need, we need to do it. We need to cut out wasteful spending, right? Uh, priority.

00:34:44.180 You just need a brain for that. I don't think you need doge. 0.99

00:34:47.360 Prioritize, prioritize. You prioritize the people who are citizens, like you said, are paying into

00:34:52.320 the system, prioritize that. And, uh, and, and if there's money left over, we can talk about what

00:34:57.940 to do with that money. But right now we've been in deficit for years.

00:35:00.260 You're nowhere near that conversation of what to do with the money left over in California.

00:35:04.320 Well, no, we're not there yet. You're, you're, you're, you're, you're nowhere near that. And,

00:35:08.680 um, you know, do you think that some of the impacts people felt from these fires and natural disasters

00:35:14.360 were worse because some of the leaders valued the, the DEI, uh, virtues of promotion based on

00:35:23.460 immutable traits rather than having people in, in these positions as a consequence of their merit?

00:35:29.240 I'm sure that that has some consequence. Um, I think the greater consequence, frankly,

00:35:34.000 is, is the governor and, and those that are, you know, with him and serving with him and not

00:35:39.600 allowing the local leaders to assess and, and, and, and have the resources that they've been

00:35:46.420 allocated. I mean, we've allocated funds.

00:35:47.600 But there were like three lesbians named Kristen who were running the LA fire department 1.00

00:35:52.280 in the name of equity and they might be wonderful people. I have nothing against people named

00:35:55.840 Kristen. I don't, I try not to, you know, um, cast terrible judgment on people based on how they

00:36:00.500 live their lives. But at the same time, it seemed like something might've been more important than

00:36:05.860 who was a good firefighter. If that was, uh, what we were seeing in this time of great crisis.

00:36:11.560 Yeah. I don't personally know the direct cause and effect and the situation you're mentioning,

00:36:15.760 the fires and, and DEI, uh, personally, and, and, and you'll see this on my website,

00:36:20.340 uh, art Hodges for Senate.com. Um, personally, I'm not for favoring any special group of people.

00:36:26.940 Right. I'm for equal rights, equality. Uh, all such a controversial tank.

00:36:32.500 I think I got it from the constitution. All of us are created equal. So, um, uh, let's not,

00:36:38.780 let's not have inequality in any of these things, whether it's, whether it's a university,

00:36:43.140 you know, insurance acceptance, um, whether it's jobs, whether it's whatever, I mean,

00:36:48.540 God made all of us. It doesn't matter what your color is. It doesn't matter what nation you're

00:36:53.040 born in, what your primary language is. We're all of equal value in God's eyes. And as a government,

00:36:58.600 we should have the same. Everyone's of equal value. Like I said, I pastor a church that I'm a

00:37:03.300 racial minority in. We've never had a single racial issue in our congregation.

00:37:08.780 That I know of in all of my life. I mean, we can do this thing if we just erase all of this

00:37:13.580 inequality by giving special groups, special attention. It's such, uh, an eloquent distillation

00:37:21.320 of how Christianity is inherently, uh, an affront, uh, an attack on racism, right? Because racism,

00:37:29.520 uh, and, and I consider DEI a feature of racism says that it's, uh, your immutable traits. It's the

00:37:36.500 things you, you know, you can't change about yourself. But the core tenant of our faith is

00:37:41.040 that there is, there is God making each person in God's image. There is a part of God reflected in

00:37:47.960 you. And if that's true, you couldn't possibly treat someone as lesser because of their immutable

00:37:52.640 traits because, because what's ultimately the most immutable thing is that we're all created in God's

00:37:58.200 image. Absolutely. In fact, the Bible even says further than that, it says, prefer one another.

00:38:02.960 Yeah. Right. Prefer one another. I mean, the golden rule doing to others as you would have them

00:38:07.140 doing to you. I mean, those are really the answers for good governance. It really is.

00:38:11.280 And a society that's healthy. Well, I hope that's a unifying message. We have a lot of people who

00:38:15.860 watch this program who are, uh, political operatives, political hacks, aspiring candidates or campaign

00:38:22.900 managers, young people who think they might do what you're doing now and run for office. And so I'd

00:38:28.260 love you to take us inside like a campaign itself for the state Senate. Uh, I've run for the state

00:38:33.500 legislature. I know oftentimes it's like you and your 10 best friends, you call to, uh, gather together

00:38:40.980 for community meetings or to go to parades or, uh, contact their network of supporters to, to be a part

00:38:47.860 of your effort. Um, what advice would you give people who are thinking about making that decision?

00:38:52.920 You have to become a candidate and what you have to do to prepare yourself organizationally,

00:38:58.360 spiritually, and physically. Yeah. Well, I'm just getting started in this myself. So I'm,

00:39:03.060 I'm a neophyte here. I'm learning as I go, but God has brought some incredible people into my life.

00:39:08.540 And, uh, right now where we are right now, we have a weekly, I call it my, uh, my Senate strategy team.

00:39:16.360 We have a weekly strategy team meeting and I've got, I won't name any of the names, but I've got

00:39:20.740 several on that, on that group. Um, and a couple of them, not even in the state of California,

00:39:25.560 they, they zoom in from out of state. Um, and so we're building that, you know, from within,

00:39:30.500 uh, now I was actually, I've been an independent. I wasn't registered with any party for many years.

00:39:35.740 Uh, I did register with the Republican party just three years ago. And again, like I said,

00:39:40.240 they're the ones that approached me about, you know, running for the Senate seat, the significance of

00:39:44.440 the Senate seat district 18, which by the way, is all of South County, San Diego, uh, the entire

00:39:49.940 border all the way to Arizona. So it's all of South County, San Diego takes in part of San Diego

00:39:54.540 city, all of Nassau city, all of Chula Vista, all of Imperial beach, all of Otay and everything going

00:39:59.820 East and South. Um, and then all the way North, it's all of Imperial County. And then going North,

00:40:05.920 it takes in part of Riverside County and part of San Bernardo County. It's a huge, it's a huge area.

00:40:10.600 And, um, and, uh, so that's, that's Senate district, uh, 18. Uh, again, this is my first foray.

00:40:16.960 What are you looking forward to most in the campaign? The campaigning itself, meeting people,

00:40:21.020 meeting people. And I'm already meeting great people, amazing people, you know, whatever it

00:40:24.540 comes out of the campaign, whether I win, whether I don't win, I'm believing I'm going to win, but

00:40:28.060 whether I do or not, it's not a loss because I'm, I'm meeting people, people that want to make a

00:40:33.740 difference, not just for themselves, but for other people. I mean, that's what it's about. Like,

00:40:38.700 you know what? I'm okay. I'm at the point of retirement. I could just say, okay, I'm done.

00:40:42.740 I'm not working anymore. I'm good. So why am I doing this? I'm doing this for my kids and my

00:40:48.940 kids, kids and my neighbor's kids. I'm doing it for the future. I want them to have the childhood

00:40:54.300 I had, which is not available here in California today. A lot of people who grew up in California,

00:41:01.400 uh, say to me that they're too hurt to even come back and see what's happened to this place

00:41:07.100 of such wonderment, boundless natural resources, beautiful state, beautiful resources.

00:41:11.940 You talked about the creative class of, I mean, throughout all of human history,

00:41:15.380 people are drawn to others who are making and building. And that has happened here in the arts

00:41:21.140 that's happened here from, from a, uh, technological standpoint. And I, I wonder where you see it going

00:41:28.380 if some of these conservative and Republican efforts aren't successful, like paint a picture

00:41:34.060 for my viewers of what California looks like in five or 10 years, if the current slide continues.

00:41:40.320 Well, if it, if it continues in five or 10 years, we're going to look like a third world country

00:41:46.720 that's under a tyranny. That's what it's going to look like. We've had one, you mentioned it,

00:41:50.880 we've had one party role here for nearly two decades. Uh, the significance of this coming

00:41:55.120 election in 2026 and my seat in particular, my seat, which is for the first time in play in nearly

00:42:01.460 two decades, uh, which is amazing dramatic shift. Uh, Trump lost my Senate district by 40 points in

00:42:09.600 2016. He lost it by 13.5 points last year. Oh, so the swing is coming. The swing. Brian Jones said

00:42:17.560 this might be the greatest shift of any district in the state of California. So for the first time,

00:42:21.740 it's in play. There are two other Senate seats that are in play. If I win my seat and the other two

00:42:27.900 in their seats for the first time in 14 years, we'll break the Democrat supermajority in California.

00:42:32.880 That's why people have been outside our district. Then they have to allow debate. So for our viewers,

00:42:37.600 a voice, one of the, one of the frustrating things about the people who do get elected is

00:42:41.220 when you're in this super minority, there are no rules because if you start to make progress on

00:42:46.760 anything, they just waive the rules and steamroll you. And so breaking that supermajority at least

00:42:53.620 means that in these moments where government is steamrolling people, you have the ability to stand

00:42:58.560 up and force a discussion and put facts on the table. That could be, that could be very significant.

00:43:05.140 It's huge. It's huge. Yeah. So we do need support even from outside the district.

00:43:10.440 Yeah, sure. And if folks see that and see the broader strategic picture, where can they go to

00:43:15.600 donate or otherwise contribute to your campaign?

00:43:18.640 Yes. Yeah. Go to arthodgesforsenate.com. There's a donate button there and arthodgesforsenate.com.

00:43:23.980 Love for you to follow us there. Love for you to help. And I'm getting, I am getting calls and

00:43:27.360 messages from around the country and people starting, again, we're just not getting started,

00:43:31.200 but people starting to donate. And it really is going to make a difference. Again, I'm not,

00:43:36.260 I don't need another job. God knows that. I'm not in it for that. I'm not in it for anything

00:43:41.460 other than to try to make a difference. And I believe there's a hope and a chance for the first time

00:43:46.440 in nearly two decades to actually accomplish that.

00:43:49.640 Well, COVID activated a lot of people.

00:43:52.260 It did.

00:43:52.660 Politically. And it, it focused people's activism on a lot of these policy questions. And I really

00:43:58.580 get the sense that it may have been a part of guiding your life.

00:44:02.600 Significant part.

00:44:03.180 You know, to this decision.

00:44:04.240 Yeah, no question.

00:44:05.100 And it, like you mentioned earlier, Christians felt persecuted and under attack. We unfortunately

00:44:10.720 are still seeing that in the world. Christians persecuted. We've been covering on our program,

00:44:15.900 what's been happening in Africa, tragic, tragic cases in Nigeria. Do you have a thought or

00:44:22.060 perspective as to why Christians face this persecution around the world and what the antidote

00:44:28.000 is?

00:44:28.300 Yeah. And my thought's not going to come across as political. It's going to come across as

00:44:31.560 preacher here.

00:44:32.160 Please.

00:44:32.640 All right. But absolutely. I mean, we are living in what we call the end times.

00:44:37.760 Prophetically, we don't have time to go into all of that, but I'm a, I'm not going to consider

00:44:40.960 myself an expert. Some would probably consider me that I won't say that, but, but I, I, I

00:44:45.520 love the study of, we call it eschatology. It's just a fancy word for like end time events,

00:44:50.760 but let me just boil it down in a nutshell. Um, you know, I'm a, I'm an adjunct professor.

00:44:55.240 I'm a chancellor of a college and so on. And this is one of my, my subjects that I teach

00:44:59.680 and study. Um, we believe biblically that it was prophesied many years ago. In fact, in

00:45:06.460 the old Testament, that there would come a time when Israel, the nation that has a covenant

00:45:11.040 with God, the only nation with a covenant with God, everlasting covenant, that Israel

00:45:14.760 would be blinded for 2000 years. That little tiny prophecy comes from the book of Hosea,

00:45:21.440 a small little book in the old Testament, that Israel would be blind in part for two

00:45:25.140 days. And the third day, God would raise her up to live in his sight. Well, in the Bible,

00:45:29.020 prophetic day prophetically is a thousand years. So for 2000 years, Israel be blind. Israel 0.87

00:45:34.940 was blind when they did not recognize Jesus as the promised Messiah. And then he turned

00:45:40.940 to the Gentiles. We're the Gentiles. If you're not a Jew, you're a Gentile. And so that's where

00:45:45.680 we are. We call it also the church age. The church was birthed in Acts chapter two. So we're

00:45:51.640 living at the end of that. We're about 2000 years since Jesus' death. So we're literally

00:45:57.400 at the end of that 2000 year period, which means everything's going to shift. There's going

00:46:03.180 to be a catching away of the church. We call that the rapture, the world as we know it.

00:46:07.460 So you think the persecution of Christians is a signal of that end?

00:46:12.420 Absolutely is. It absolutely is.

00:46:13.880 Jesus said this.

00:46:14.440 It just seems like a terrible price for people to have to pay for that cosmic and-

00:46:17.480 It is. It's a test of faith.

00:46:19.380 Incredible shift.

00:46:20.280 It's a test of faith.

00:46:21.200 You mentioned the connection we have with Israel, and it's a place with a 4,000 year connection

00:46:26.240 to our faith. Of course, you want to see, we all want to see Israel survive.

00:46:32.160 Absolutely.

00:46:32.600 And at times that is challenging. I think maybe some of these worldly political things

00:46:40.120 really jamming things up. But one thing did bother me. When I saw that Israel's government 0.98

00:46:48.040 had filed paperwork where they were geofencing Christian churches, like, you know, drawing

00:46:54.540 almost a digital line around them, and then plowing message in to churchgoers specifically

00:47:00.600 for whatever their political goal was. I didn't like that. And I probably would have also not

00:47:05.620 liked it if it was Burger King or McDonald's or Cocoa. You know, just the notion that you would

00:47:11.720 ever target worshiping Christians for a commercial or political propaganda campaign. Does that concern

00:47:21.180 you at all?

00:47:22.700 So, I'm not aware of that. I wasn't aware of that. I guess it would depend on the messaging, maybe.

00:47:30.680 Would it?

00:47:32.740 I mean, if it's- Yeah, I think it would depend on the messaging. I mean, geofencing is available

00:47:38.580 to anybody and everybody. True. And everybody's doing it. Even if we don't know it, they're doing

00:47:43.540 it. I mean, you know, I think they're listening to us sometimes. Probably happens if you go to the

00:47:49.560 Costco next door, you're geofenced. Well, that's what I'm saying. But should foreign governments

00:47:52.640 be doing it? Well, I don't think they should be doing it for government purposes. No, I don't think

00:47:59.360 so. But here's the question is about Israel specifically. While I support Israel, I'm not saying

00:48:05.420 Israel's always right. And when they're not right, we need to call them out on it, that they're not 1.00

00:48:10.600 right. And in fact, there's a great rabbi here in San Diego. He and I have lengthy conversations

00:48:14.200 all the time. He just called me a couple of days ago, another lengthy conversation.

00:48:18.020 And we have a great rapport. We consider each other friends. In fact, I think we might have

00:48:21.900 either been interviewed together during COVID, maybe on One American News down at the County Edmund

00:48:25.720 Building. But we have these kinds of discussions. And the reason I support Israel is because in the 0.69

00:48:34.380 Bible, Israel is the only nation that has what's called an everlasting covenant. And that's so

00:48:39.800 important. God said, whoever blesses Israel will be blessed. And whoever curses Israel will be cursed.

00:48:46.400 That's why America has got to remain the friend to Israel. Because Israel is going to survive.

00:48:52.520 They're not only going to survive, they're going to thrive. They are. And if we will stand with Israel,

00:48:57.940 again, that doesn't mean that we condone doing wrong. We need to call them out when they're doing

00:49:02.640 wrong. But we need to stand and support them regardless. Look, if you're a parent,

00:49:07.620 and your kid does wrong things, you're not going to condone that wrong. But neither are you going to

00:49:11.740 say, don't talk to me ever again.

00:49:13.780 Yeah, I think that's actually, I think actually comparing some of the current features of the

00:49:17.980 Netanyahu government to a child that is frustrating you or wayward or misbehaving is actually an apt 1.00

00:49:25.580 comparison. And loving the people of Israel, the Jewish people, I think is something that probably,

00:49:32.640 rewards us all in the end as loving our neighbor is something we're compelled to do throughout our

00:49:38.860 faith. Bishop Hodges, I wish you well on the campaign trail. I'm excited for you. I think that

00:49:44.480 oftentimes we're able to make points in these really swing districts that do dictate the future

00:49:52.820 of our politics. And I also hope that this path you've been on from faith into government service

00:49:58.600 is one that's more well-traveled because it will only make the decisions in government better.

00:50:04.760 And hopefully we'll never have to endure kind of the bizarre COVID stuff that we have before.

00:50:10.520 But thanks for taking the time to come by and chat with us. One more time, your website,

00:50:15.120 if folks are interested in following you on the trail.

00:50:16.880 It's arthodgesforsenate.com, arthodgesforsenate.com. If you forget that, just type in Bishop Art Hodges.

00:50:23.360 All right.

00:50:23.740 There's many Art Hodges out there, but there's only one Bishop Art Hodges.

00:50:26.560 Well, we will follow the campaign closely and we wish you good travels and that God's will is

00:50:34.340 done in this incredible part of your mission that you're on.

00:50:37.720 Thank you, Matt. We appreciate this opportunity and thank you everyone for listening.

00:50:40.800 Thank you.

00:50:41.120 We'll be back next week on Anchorman. Thanks so much for joining us. Leave us a five-star rating

00:50:45.000 or review. And remember, the holidays are here, so it's time to celebrate with family, with freedom.

00:50:50.240 Enjoy all the blessings you do as Americans, but make sure when you're traveling, you don't spread

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The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - November 21, 2025

The Anchormen Show EP 77 - Duty Beyond the Pulpit w⧸Bishop Art Hodges

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