00:00:10.000Today, an exclusive conversation with my pastor, Pastor Rob McCoy.
00:00:14.000We talk about the church being reopened and quite honestly, just some things I'm struggling with when it comes to pastors and faith and political and civic engagement.
00:01:08.000We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
00:03:20.000So that's a differentiation I think that's important, right?
00:03:23.000That this was not done through a nor should it, nor even if it was done through that deliberative process, would it make it any more or less moral?
00:03:30.000But I think it almost further delegitimizes this kind of dictate from Newsom because this was not voted on by a legislature.
00:03:40.000And in addition, not only is he called the church non-essential in violation of the First Amendment, but allowing cannabis distributors to be essential and abortions clinics to be essential and liquor stores to be essential.
00:03:51.000He declares a church to be non-essential, which is a violation of the First Amendment.
00:03:55.000There's no legislative action, but in a time of pandemic, and it's even hard to justify pandemic at this point.
00:04:03.000And even though the numbers are precipitously dropping in California, case numbers, you know, that's dependent on testing, but hospitalizations and deaths are dropping.
00:04:13.000And yet the draconian measures of the governor are increasing.
00:04:19.000He went from a six-quadrant box where we had fulfilled five of the six boxes, excuse me, five of the six boxes.
00:04:28.000It was number of positive tests per day equivalent with the number of testing.
00:04:32.000So if we lowered the testing to the state limit, of course, the positive tests would drop and we're open.
00:04:38.000Well, he moves that goalpost, gets rid of it, and gives us a four-color-coded tier system, purple, red, orange, yellow, and immediately puts Ventura County into purple.
00:04:48.000Even though we have one 100th of 1% death rate and hospitalizations are down, everything's down.
00:04:57.000The number of hospitalizations is lower than it was in April and March and even going into May and June.
00:08:09.000So, they sent out health officers to the church after the first judge gave the emergency temporary restraining order, and they sent the health officers out to observe us.
00:08:17.000They weren't permitted in the building, but from a distance, they observed us that we were violating the social distancing and the no masks or the mask ruling.
00:08:27.000And so, they had a 61-page report that they put before the judge saying we're in violation of the restraining order.
00:08:33.000Every one of these folks that testified, there were three witnesses, they all perjured themselves because a congregant who was in the parking lot because they didn't want to be in the crowd, they were listening.
00:08:43.000But they were listening to the FM station parked next to the county vehicle and saw these three county workers in the car, not social distancing, not wearing masks, and took a picture, presented it to them.
00:08:53.000They perjured themselves, and yet it was still admissible.
00:09:20.000But I could see them going to that level.
00:09:22.000I hope not, obviously, but that's who these people are.
00:09:24.000When you're trying to prove something nefarious that really you don't have any evidence or empirical data, you got to do something serious if people are going to buy what you're trying to sell.
00:11:03.000Interesting, when they burned the businesses, 75% of the businesses that were burned and looted in Los Angeles were all Jewish-owned.
00:11:10.000Targeted hate crime and nothing said about that.
00:11:14.000And here we are as a church, and they want us to meet outside with masks.
00:11:18.000And I don't know if you know this, but two weeks ago in the Canejo Valley where we reside, it was hotter in the Canejo than it was in Phoenix.
00:11:26.000And they wanted us outside with masks on.
00:11:42.000And if they actually care about health, they'd be talking about how one out of four of young people in this country in the last 90 days have contemplated suicide.
00:12:06.000This is what a lot of, we get emails all the time from our listeners at freedom at charliekirk.com.
00:12:10.000You guys can always email us where they say, Charlie, I love hearing Pastor Rob on your show.
00:12:16.000I love what you guys are doing, but my pastor refuses to open, and he says that it's theologically and biblically immoral to open the church right now.
00:13:35.000We knew about the diamond princess or whatever that is.
00:13:39.000And so I've been telling these pastors, and at this point, when we know the CDC's reported it, we know what I've been facing in the county.
00:13:47.000I'm looking at these guys going, why are you not open?
00:13:53.000There is zero evidence to say that you are helping the community.
00:14:28.000Why would you expose them to this virus?
00:14:32.000I would say to anyone who accuses me of that, the first commandment is love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.
00:15:03.000Our congregation has received, we've had protesters.
00:15:06.000And who's the neighbor that we're loving?
00:15:09.000You talk about being quarantined and sequestered with your abuser as an abused spouse or an abused child, and you're quarantined with them.
00:15:18.000And the two mandated reporting agencies, the church and the schools, have all been closed.
00:15:24.000Your children who have special needs no longer get to go to school.
00:15:28.000And all of the elected officials say, we're in this together, but they've never missed a paycheck.
00:16:19.000All the models they gave us were wrong, and the governor is making this political.
00:16:23.000And I would say, why are you allowing this deception to ruin the state and the welfare and the life savings and the health, both the physical and mental and emotional and spiritual health of the populace?
00:17:34.000I would imagine, though, that I don't understand what would be loving about telling people you cannot do something that brings them to get closer to the Lord.
00:19:19.000And that's what Paul would contend for in Galatians, standing fast, therefore, in the liberty for Christ to set you free.
00:19:25.000I would look at Pastor Rick Warren and say, come on, they are usurping through tyranny the freedom, the God-given freedom, and you're complicit with that.
00:20:47.000And especially in our form of government, if you want to follow Romans 13, Pastor Rick, the authority in Romans 13 is we, the people in a constitutional republic, learn Paul understood his Roman citizenship and appealed to it.
00:20:59.000As pastors, we need to understand our American citizenship and appeal to it.
00:21:45.000And if you want somebody who's educated to speak at a university, I would pick that person as opposed to someone who's ignorant and speaks of something he knows nothing about.
00:21:55.000And I want to, you and I know so many of these pastors, and I mentioned them in a previous little thing we did.
00:22:00.000Sam Musgrave, James Cadiz, Greg Locke, Mike McClure, Cody Kuhl, Jack Kibbs, Ken Graves, Sam Duth, David Engelhart, and many of them have been on our podcast before because there are pastors that are right.
00:22:51.000And so there is something special happening with a certain form of pastors.
00:22:55.000But I'll tell you the frustrating thing.
00:22:57.000And I'm in a very unique position here because I don't see many people in the political world that are trying to get the Christian world activated, like what I'm trying to do.
00:23:07.000And I feel called to do it, and I think we're actually making progress with it.
00:23:38.000Your pastor friend needs to turn off the television and read his Bible because you're being fed and You're being indoctrinated, not educated.
00:23:51.000And so there's a lot of young people that will listen to this, a lot of new parents that are trapped in communities where there are not good, not that many church options, many churches that are closed.
00:24:02.000And so you say, vote with your feet, leave the church.
00:24:30.000Then we went and we met with some folks whose lives have been absolutely decimated as a result of government malfeasance and not prosecuting folks.
00:24:56.000She runs a cheesecake store with her three boys, single mom.
00:25:01.000Her father abused her when she was a child, physically, emotionally.
00:25:06.000He forced her to wear a paper bag and sit on a chair.
00:25:10.000And if she asked for the bag to be removed, he made her wear it longer.
00:25:13.000It became traumatic and claustrophobic, where it paralyzed her.
00:25:17.000She ends up marrying an abusive man who beats the tar out of her, leaves, has her three boys, raises them on her own, puts herself through school, had food stamps for a season, starts her own business, completely off food stamps, employs people.
00:25:33.000She stands in opposition, won't do mass because she knows what rape victims and victims of abuse endure, and says, I will just assume that you have a medical condition.
00:25:45.000You're welcome in here if you're not wearing a mask.
00:28:50.000And when I say I doubt their faith, I do.
00:28:53.000Maybe that's not the right thing for me to say, but explain to me how I'm supposed to explain to the secular world why they believe what they believe.
00:29:01.000Because there's atheists out there that actually are fighting harder to open up the church than the pastors are.
00:29:31.000After Gideon won the first battle, God let him come back.
00:29:36.000Sometimes, I mean, for a long time in America, we have become enamored with thinking a church is successful by buildings, budgets, and baptisms, the three Bs.
00:29:48.000And yet we're responsible for liberty and freedom.
00:29:51.000We're responsible for transforming culture.
00:29:57.000And, you know, we've never owned more real estate, had more attendance, and been so irrelevant to the point where the government would declare the church is non-essential.
00:30:09.000And the church believes itself to be non-essential.
00:32:07.000Maybe it's not for me to judge, but it is for me to just question.
00:32:11.000Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King said when the pastors in Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, I believe it was, said to him, you know, you're on the wrong side of history because you're in prison.
00:32:22.000And his response to those pastors was, no, you're on the wrong side of history because you're not in prison with me.
00:32:42.000And they're going to be discarded into the ash heap of history, forever forgotten.
00:32:48.000Now, they may have done some good things in the course of the ministry and touched certain lives, but the ones who transformed the culture are the ones that would stand now.
00:33:12.000And I also get, and I have to stop myself from this, I get a little bitter when I travel the country so much and I'm fighting for all this stuff.
00:33:19.000And I just got pastors that are just kept bringing in the tides and building the building.
00:34:14.000When they would look back, and there's going to be people who are going to want to take credit and they're going to come after the war's over.
00:34:19.000But, Charlie, everyone who's standing with you now, we have the privilege and the joy to watch God move on behalf of those who would stand and show himself strong like he did for Gideon.
00:34:59.000I remember when they came to steal the republic.
00:35:02.000I remember when they were shooting officers in the street and they were implementing Marxist ideals and the churches were shut and the governors were unifying to destroy America.
00:35:12.000I remember that and I stood in defiance and I was fined and I was put in jail and I went to 40 states in 20 days or whatever and I was exhausted and I did it because I wanted you to have a future, son.
00:35:27.000I look at my kids and I look at my grandkids even now and someday I'm going to look at my great-grandkids and my head's going to hit that pillow with joy because I know I'm doing everything I can for their future.
00:37:45.000And you're telling me you have compassion?
00:37:48.000You believe in the scriptures when the Bible says you've been fearfully and wonderfully made knitted together in your mother's womb before you were born.
00:38:24.000No other religious text gets even close to the scientific prophecy, the earth being round, germ theory, all of that is articulated in the Bible.
00:40:06.000He says you have to come with two or three witnesses to accuse a pastor.
00:40:10.000But when it's proven, you have a public repentance and the cost is greater.
00:40:18.000You're given more favor, but the cost is greater when you fail.
00:40:22.000And you are entrusted with the living, breathing word of God that brings life, liberty.
00:40:31.000And you were entrusted to rightly divide that.
00:40:35.000And if you fail both in your verbally rightly dividing it in your studies and your life and compromise that message for those entrusted by you to serve, be careful.
00:41:36.000I mean, with the guy who was never supposed to be president, who came down the escalator, if that does not motivate you to do stuff you've never done to get him re-elected, man.
00:41:47.000You enjoy the liberty that established by these folks who are fighting for it, but you won't defend it.
00:41:53.000What are you going to tell your kids and your grandkids?
00:41:55.000But they don't care about some of these people, they don't.
00:42:36.000I've gone down the whole list, but I got to tell you this one thing.
00:42:40.000There's nothing that they can take from me that I haven't already given to God.
00:42:45.000And there's nothing that they could take from me that compares to what liberty means to me on behalf of my kids, my grandkids, and generations to come.
00:42:57.000There is such a joy in that, Charlie, that I wish every pastor in the country would realize the significance of what it does to your heart when you can look your kids in the eyes and say, I want you to be free.
00:43:16.000And every business, everything should just, everyone opened their doors at once.