EDITOR’S NOTE: This transcript was created with ChatGPT and lightly edited for clarity.
The presentation video is about an hour long.
I’m a little bit out of my element here. This will be the first time I have spoken what I would consider to a group of people who are not members of a church that I’ve been a pastor of.
I’ve been a pastor for 42 years. I will retire on June 1. Um, what was stated earlier about getting out and fighting the at will state um has a lot of meaning to me. I was removed from my Tillamook Adventist church on October 7th. I was accused of being political because I stood up against what I consider a false narrative of Christianity and I offended just the right people.
And when I was removed, I will tell you that it was a whole lot harder than I thought. After 42 years of thinking that you could speak and speak the truth, it’s been a very difficult adventure. But when I was hauled into we are a conference system, I was not hired by the local church. Some of them we are hired by a conference. So I’m placed here. So it’s not the people here. But when I was hauled into Gladstone to sit before my bosses per se, they said to me, looked me in the eye and said,
“Washington and Oregon are at will states. we don’t have to tell you why we removed you and we’re not going to.”
And I said to them, I just was very surprised at it. Now, my brother is a union negotiator out of Michigan. He used to be out of New York. Um, he shared with me, he said, Tim, just wake up. You are part of corporate Christianity and they’re treating you like just an average employee. So he said, “Well, actually,” he said, “They’re treating you like an employee.” And Tim, I’ve always told you, you weren’t a very good one. Anyway, my brother is an atheist, union negotiator, and him and I have some of the best conversations together. Um, because we disagree about how you treat people. Um, how you get there might be a little bit different.
Um, a little bit about myself in terms of Tillamook. We started coming to Tillamook 39 years ago when my wife’s parents moved here to Netarts. Uh we would come out and visit and he would often arrange for work because as a pastor I didn’t have a whole lot of money so my vacations were always doing some kind of work. So we’ve been coming here for quite a long time.
13 almost 14 years ago um in October to be 14 years we had the opportunity to move and to pastor the Tillamook 7th Adventist Church. We moved here at that time and we did something that I am theologically opposed to and that is we bought grave plots up at Sunset Heights. I’m one who say don’t buy don’t buy the place you’re parked and yes I am going to be parked. I’m not against cremation. I have some other attitudes about it. I refuse to apologize for being born on this planet and taking up space. So that’s just where it’s at. So you know you want me to pre it. I’m all cool with that.
A mortician told me at one time, cremation is not theological. It’s just the removing of the water quicker because all of your everything that you are is still there. I mean, you don’t burn off in any of those things. Um, anyway, that’s a little bit on that.
So, we love where we live. I live in Netarts. Um, I can just tell you that I drive along the bay on the way to Tillamook and to me Tillamook is just a big city that I try to get out of as soon as I can. So, back to where I belong. So, if I never leave again, I’m very cool with that.
Um, I’ve been married for what has it been now? Cynthia, you’ve been married just about almost as long. Is it 43 now? We all We were born We all got married in ‘ 82. So, um, friend sitting next to my wife back there. My wife’s a registered nurse. She also runs an accounting or a bookkeeping business.
Um, we raised four kids. Um, the oldest one is a pastor down in Lincoln City at the Adventist church down there, Lincoln City, Grand Ronde, and Naka. My second son, who is my biggest pain in the butt son, um, he is a Oregon State Trooper and he lives in Netarts. So, I’m hoping if you’ve ever met pastor or pastor um office Trooper Mayne that he was decent to you.
I not supposed to tell you this because his wife told me last night I’m not supposed to know but he just got a video recording from the Oregon State Police office. A gentleman called in and um I’m going to do it anyway. Bonnie, my wife’s back. My wife usually sits in every one of my sermons and goes like this. And then she does another thing. She goes like this.
He stopped the gentleman who cussed him royal for a long time. Just let him have it. After Tom left, didn’t ticket him. The gentleman called the Oregon State Police and apologized and said, “I have never been more humble because your officer was decent and kind even though I ripped him a new one.” And I just will tell you that I am very proud of my cop son.
Um, he does drive his little silver car around here. If you get stopped by Trooper Mayne, just say, “Hey, I know your daddy.” He told me if anybody pulls that one, he’ll double your fine. He’ll let you go.
So my oldest son’s down Lincoln City. My second son’s a cop. My third son was a high school history teacher for 10 years. He quit because he came to the conclusion that Americans do not want to know history. They want to know propaganda and myth. And he would not do it.
And with that, um, his master’s, he has masters in history. His master’s, um, thesis was the I5 quarter as it passes through Portland. I said, “What an absolute boring subject. How in what in the world?” And he said, “No, it has a lot to do with redlinining. It went well, just let me tell you. I’m not from Portland, so I don’t know anything.”
And so I get to my son and they were talking about stopping the project of expanding the I5 corridor. I get to my son’s house and said, “Have you heard anything about this albino district?” He said, “It’s Albina, Dad. That is what my master’s thesis was about. If you look and see where the stansions of I5 are, they are directed into the poor communities. And what we constantly do is we raid your community and then we blame you why you can’t make match our econom economic prosperity.”
So that’s what my third son did. And then I have one more kid and she is I actually don’t even know what she does. If she sees this I’ll be in trouble. She’s director of marketing and event planning for the Oregon Lions sight and hearing foundation. So, she works at the big office downtown by Good Sam.
Uh, my daughter is also an adopted Korean. Um, so we have a woman of color, so it has great meaning to me. I always start out something like this to let you know I am a white heterosexual male from Michigan. I have a master’s degree. I have lived a privileged life just because of the color of my face. I don’t get harassed by cops much. I have never every job I’ve ever applied for, I pretty much got. Um, I understand that. So, I come from that point.
Um, again, my daughter has helped me a lot. She often will tell me, “Dad, that’s just a white man’s thing to say.” So, I’ve tried to educate myself and to see things a little different. Um, it’s not been that that it’s not been that easy because we realize how ingrained this is.
Part of the reason I’m up here and I’m going to try to keep it as short as possible. I am a preacher. I can go for a couple hours if I know what I’m talking about. And today I’ve had to read too many books on Christian nationalism, on white supremacy, on all of this stuff trying to figure out how I would gel this down to just a few minutes. And I will tell you, my brain is exploded. And to be honest with you, it’s quite discouraging.
I appreciate it, Don, very much your presentation because I think you had the better what people came for because what really has to happen, I’m going to push that out there. You got to get out. The only reason that side is winning is because they stood up as a united front and voted. The problem with my brother who is the union negotiator, he says the problem we have is we’re too fractured and too individualistic on our side.
And when you when with this presentation, I’m hoping to share a little bit about why did they get so united and what are they so united about? And I was talking to is it Romy where? Yeah, right here. Oh, right there. And I got myself in trouble. And the reason why I’m speaking today is because I said I have come to conclusion that most people do not know what they’re fighting and they have little understanding of what’s going on right now.
Part of it is I wanted to start out with this because there’s been a little bit of trouble over it and I’m going to share with you just why sometimes we have this particular trouble.
Oh, and I wanted to start with I had a choice. I thought about putting on a shirt and tie and then I thought, no, I’m going to put on my t-shirt, which is Maryanne Buddy on January, let’s see, I wrote it down to get around January 20, 2025, the Episcopal priest at St. John’s. After the inauguration, Trump and his wife came into the church and she said looked at the president said, “You have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of a loving God, in the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people our country in our country who are now scared.”
So part of what I want to do at the end of this is that we do need to beg people to have mercy because we’re all in this great country together.
Just so you know that um I am a I don’t really claim it all that much but I am a army veteran. I joined in I don’t know if it was 89 or 88 or ‘ 89. I can’t remember which one. I joined because my uncle was one of the last to get drafted into Vietnam and he used to harp at me constantly. All of you should have gone. I had to go. Well, I found out my uncle actually drove a jeep in Germany for he actually never went to Vietnam. He didn’t tell me that part.
So, I called him up one day and said, “Hey, Uncle David, I’ve joined the army.” He said, “Good on you.” I said, “Well, I’m a first lieutenant and in the chaplain corps.” and he said, “Well, that doesn’t count.” I became first lieutenant because I had a master’s degree, so you kind of get out there real quick. But he never had much respect for me, but I learned very quickly I do not have the mindset or the temperament for military. Somebody told me once, one of my biggest problems in life is that I don’t like authority. And I agree with that. I struggle with that particular one.
Um, again, a little bit more. I I like to give a little background so you know where I’m coming from. Um I was raised in the first couple years of my life in the Methodist church. I always tell everybody, not those free Methodist, not the United Methodist. It was a Wesley Methodist, the real ones.
And my mom passed away when I was a little kid. My dad married a 7th Day Adventist, one of the crulest women I have ever met, even to this day. Um but my grandparents to try to save us from this evil 7th day Adventist mother would take us to church every Sunday to the Salvation Army church.
So my background is the theology of the Adventist church combined with the practicality of the Salvation Army Church. I believe that Christianity is best found with a basin and a towel. I believe it is best found on the street. So I pushed my churches for the last many, many years that if you care about widows and orphans, the poor, the immigrant, the disenfranchised, then you are doing the work of Jesus Christ. When you let that go, then you’re just playing games. And so I tried not to play games.
But I wanted to start with a prayer. And I’m not going to ask you to bow your heads. I’m going to read this prayer, which is not my habit.
The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of charity and goodwill shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness. For he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.
Is that a Bible quote? No, it is not. It has some elements that is of course from pulp fiction was quoting from Ezekiel chapter 25 which says I will execute great vengeance upon thee with furious rebukes and they will know that I am the Lord and I shall lay my vengeance upon them. You can go back, read the whole chapter, figure out there’s a whole lot of other stuff going on there.
But not too long ago, Pete Hagstead prayed in front of the SARS group, the search and rescue coast guard search and rescue group, and he prayed a version of this prayer. And people almost lost their minds because they said he’s not quoting scripture, he’s quoting pulp fiction, but he wasn’t.
So part of it is don’t get too lost too quick. Go back and look. There is a version of the pulp fiction prayer or set statement that says the path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and tyranny of evil men. It was an adaptation of the pulp fiction that the Coast Guard SARS actually used just for fun. Now, he didn’t look like he was having fun with it because part of the problem that we have with someone like Pete Hezf is that he is part of our problem right now, which is a misinterpretation of scripture, especially Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Revelation.
Now, we could sit here. I don’t know how many Christians here. I’m not going to ask you to raise your hand. I don’t want to know. But there are about 2,000 different Protestant denominations in the United States alone. And we all think we’re right, including me. So if you want to come up afterwards and argue scripture with me, I can do it. Okay? So it’s not real pretty, but I can.
But tomorrow morning, April 19, 2026, there will be a nationwide Bible reading. I don’t know if any of you have heard about this. Okay. What they’re going to do is they’re going to spend some time over there and have about 500 different people read the scriptures all the way through from Genesis to Revelation.
Great. Mike Johnson is going to read. Oh, Mike. Ted Cruz is going to read. whole bunch of people and pugs in. Donald Trump is going to read. I want to read to you and well, he’s practicing. I And we should not. I actually try very hard not to make too much fun because I don’t think that it does benefit. But I had to laugh.
They are going to have him read 2 Chronicles chapter 7 from the King James easy read version. I’m sorry, but I thought it was funny.
I wanted to read this for you because it does set the stage for what I want to share. Why we are where we are?
Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house. And all that came into Solomon’s heart to make the house of the Lord and his own house. He prospered. And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer. I have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice. I will shut up heavens and there will be no rain. And if I command the locust devour the land, they will do so. And I can send pestilence among my people if I want. But if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Now my eyes will be open and my ears attune to prayer that this is made in this place. For I have chosen and sanctified this house that my name may be there forever and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. And as for you, if you walk before me as David your father walked, I will do according to all that I have commanded you, and I will observe my statutes and my judgments, then I will establish your throne and your kingdom according to what I have coveted with David your father, saying that this will not fail you as the man who is the leader of Israel.
Goes on for a little while longer. The reason why that becomes important is that passage was chosen specifically because Donald Trump sees himself as a messiah.
It was Netanyah Netanyahu when they moved the embassy from Tel Aviv into Jerusalem who proclaimed Donald Trump to be Cyrus, the modern day Cyrus. Does anybody know what that means?
Okay. So in Daniel chapter 1, God gives to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. He gives over the nation of Israel. And he captures the elite of Israel and hauls them off to Babylon. He keeps them there. God said, “I’m going to have you there for 70 years because you have polluted the land and my land needs a Sabbath. It needs to be arrested from you guys.” So they haul him off to Babylon. They stay there through the transition from Babylon to Meo Persia and then Das the me who comes in conquers Ne or not Nebuchadnezzar but his grandson and if you want to play games my brother likes to argue with me about who actually was the right one at the right time and was it biblical and all that good stuff. Uh, we can get into all of that, but Cyrus comes along from the Persian side and he lets the Israelites go home and he gives them the money to rebuild Jerusalem and to rebuild the sanctuary.
So when they proclaim Trump to be the next Cyrus, he sees himself not in terms of just politics and power, but a messianic figure.
This morning I read from a friend of mine who’s a pastor over in Portland, one of the few black Adventist pastors we have in Portland. He wrote this, just got it this morning. Reggie Richardson, fantastic guy. I’ve been working with him at Portland Adventist Hospital as a chaplain, says, “You cannot spend nearly a decade cultivating a political messiah and then recoil when he begins to inhabit the role. What we are seeing is a revelation.”
This image does not distort Magna’s Christianity. It is the clearest visual articulation. And I’m pretty sure that all of you have seen it. This is not a surprise. This has been being cultivated for the last 40 years.
Ronald Reagan learned very quickly that if he could capture the conservative Christian vote, then they could do a whole lot of damage. And this has been going on for quite a long time. and even the development of prayer in the White House and having national prayer breakfasts and gathering around the flag. This is what’s happening here in Tillamook.
I have done this before. I have joined in with them to pray for first responders. My son is a firefighter. My other son is a cop. I have been a volunteer firefighter here in Nears for 13 years. I have a couple of our other volunteer firefighter families here. And so I believe in serving my community and I would stand and I would offer prayer on behalf of the police and the fire because I believe very strongly in good police forces.
Now my son, I want to just put this out there. He is also a riot officer, but he’s a good officer. and he says just don’t hurt people and don’t destroy stuff and you can say whatever you want.
One of the most glorious things my son said, he came back from one particular place that he was at and I asked him, “So what’s it like?” And he said, “Well, they know all about your mother.” Just so you know on Ryan Lines, they never cuss the dad for some reason. And I said, “Well, what was the best one?” And he said, “Well, the best one, this last one,” he said, “we’re not allowed to laugh.” But he said, I started laughing. The gentleman got upset because he was cussing my grandma. He said, “I never had anyone cuss my grandma before.” And then he looked at his mother and said, “And you know what, mom? They’re right about a couple things. She didn’t think they were.”
So, part of what I wanted to do today is that what I when I was um sharing on this, I was saying that a lot of times we come into this without a context of knowing why is why are we where we are? Why is this a polit or a a uh religious movement more than a political movement? What is trying to be done?
And so you probably have heard the phrase from the river to the sea. Anybody heard that phrase before? Okay. What does it mean? What river? Okay. Misconception.
Okay. Here’s Israel. Here’s Gaza down in the corner. Um, Israel right now goes up there. I don’t want to carve out the West Bank. That’s not really to scale. Jordan River comes down through here with the Dead Sea, Sea of Galilee up in the north. And over here is another river system.
So, anybody know what these rivers are? And what is right there? This is great, great mapping. This is good stuff. Okay. Euphrates and the Tigris. And this is old Babylon which during the Gulf um the Gulf War, the Desert Storm, the United States did everything it could to bomb Baghdad, but not across the street. They tried to preserve old Babylon. It’s still there. You can still visit it.
So it sits between those two. Actually David was able to cut off the Euphrates River, dried it up and they went un up through the gutter is how they defeated the city of Babylon.
When it is said from the river to the sea, it is the Euphrates River. All of this there is a group of people who believe that Israel must take over all of that land as a biblical fulfillment of prophecy.
One of the strongest proponents of that is Mike Huckabe. When he got sent to be the ambassador over in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv and moved into Jerusalem, he is there for a very specific reason. He is not there to be a diplomat to make things nice between Jews and Americans. He is there to make sure that Israel establishes its God-given prophecy to own all of this land.
And he needs one other thing to happen, which I’m surprised because this is something that Hegseth has spoken very plainly out loud, which kind of surprises me. They need the reestablishment of the Jewish temple on the temple mount, which means you would have to remove the Dome of the Rock and reestablish the sacrificial system.
This to me, and again, I’m just one of 2,000 different voices, is a misunderstanding of the biblical statement.
what we have in the state of Israel, which I’m okay with Israel, but I am fully in support of a two-state. The Palestinians are people. They are there. This was their land. Now, what do you do after the Holocaust? I don’t really know an answer to that. We got to remember who was in control of Israel at the time of the Holocaust. The British. The British.
So, we I mean, this is just a history of who we are. Okay. I lived for a number of years on the island of Guam, which the only reason why we are on Guam is we needed a station for our Navy ships to get to the Philippines. We cut off Guam from the rest of the Mariana Islands. It’s all one people. And that’s when I first began to learn what it means to stand up and to fight for rights.
Again, a white guy from Michigan, I became very good friends with our tomorrows and the free nation there. It’s just a unique world in which we live.
But to reestablish in Jerusalem the temple mound so that the sacrificial system could begin again. This is part of the issue that Mike Huckabe is after when Heg should never have been elected.
I personally I like the fact that this is nonpartisan. That’s very hard to be today. I think it’s sometimes difficult. Um, I will let you know that at 18 years old, I voted for the very first time. I voted like I thought my family would want me to vote for Richard Nixon.
I told my dad I My dad is a very quiet Wisconsin farm boy. He cussed me out so rough. He said, “There ain’t a man in the world that would vote for a Republican.” So I don’t think I’ve done it since. I didn’t want to receive the wrath of my father.
But it’s an interesting thing because what I believe that Hegseth and Huckabee and a hope and the Turning Point USA issues with all the stuff going on, even Orban himself who just was defeated, which I appreciate that that gives us hope that if we do unite, we might be able to stop some of this.
But the issue comes out is that what they’re doing with is they’re trying to follow a model that comes out of Hal Lindsay. Does that name ring a bell? The late great planet Earth, which is a concept that just before the second coming, a thousand years before the second coming, God will come in and rapture away all the good Christians, they’ll go to heaven and rule there. and the state of Israel will rule on the earth for a thousand years and then Jesus will come and set up his kingdom.
So what Pete Hegseth has said is he wants to start Armageddon. Okay? He wants the apocalypse. Anyone know what apocalypse means? I can tell you there’s a book of the Bible called the apocalypse. It’s the book of Revelation. All the word apocalypse means is to reveal, to show you. It’s a Greek word just means look because actually all you ought to do with the book of Revelation is look.
It’s a history book trying to tell to speak to Christians when you have a Roman Empire who wants to kill you. So we try to interpret it every single day. I always tell people do not do your prophecy by Time magazine or the latest internet, you know, conspiracy. Read your Bible for what it is.
because it’s a revelation trying to get have God show you what he wants which I think you can find in other places also.
I just recently I was down in Lincoln City Thursday night Wednesday night can’t remember when we were down there Wednesday I think it was in Goodwill had in my hand a bunch of books when some members from my son’s church walked in and saw me and one of them said what do you got in your hands I said oh no you don’t want to know so I had the bavita I had the hateful path of Buddhism. I had a Quran because I wanted them in my bookshelf because I think it’s important for us to understand how do people of faith see the world today because we have to live with the simple fact that we live in a country that is mostly Christian of some sort.
Now is this a nation that was founded on Christian principles? Almost every one of the founders were Christians of some sort. But one of the beauties of this country, I’m not one who believes that. I believe that what they did was they said the first amendment is probably the most important amendment that has ever been written in any governmental body that there is. That we will not establish any state religion. We will not establish or hinder it.
The beauty of America to me is you can believe anything you darn well want to as long as it doesn’t cross and affect what I want to believe.
I belong to an organization for the last 42 years who has been a hard component. We have lawyers, we have people who specialize in making sure the separation of church and state is strong, that that wall stays high and wide.
And part of the reason is because I don’t worship like most Christians. I go to church on Saturday. I worship differently. And I like to have that right.
I grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. That’s my home. Grand Rapids, Michigan is, was a blue city. I understand blue laws. As a 7th Day Adventist, we’d make sure we got all of our business done on Friday because we don’t buy and sell on Saturday and they wouldn’t allow me to do it on Sunday. So, it actually was kind of nice because I had a whole weekend where I didn’t have to mess with them.
But I look back now and now and realize that anyone who didn’t believe like I did or who needed something on Sunday should have the right to go and take care of their own needs. I should not put my belief system upon you and what what it is that I want. And I also want the freedom to believe whatever I want to however I want to.
But part of what I wanted to get at here again was some of the stuff that we are dealing with in terms of Mike Huckabe and Mike Johnson and some of the things that I think we sometimes forget. Does anybody know a definition of Christian nationalism?
I stated it last week. It is neither Christian nor is it really nationalist. They’re not interested in your freedoms. I think you brought that up. It was an interesting phrase. I wanted to try to remember it. is that the original founders were in to individual freedoms. Christian nationalism does not believe in individual freedoms. They want to have a Christian nation centered on what they consider to be Christian morality.
Part of their common wants are displays of Christian iconography and public on public property, prayer and school, government funding for religious organizations, Christian interpretation of history in public schools, outlawing of abortion, restrictions on non-Christian immigration, policing, immoral behavior, suppression of LGBT rights, gun rights, death penalty. Individual rights and freedoms are suppressed unless they like them. And the goal is a privileged Christianity in a public square.
I did learn one of the things I had not known is that and I have seen this tattoo is Luke, the Bible book, Gospel book of Luke 22:36 is often tattooed on an arm of somebody carrying an AR-15 because Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane told his disciples, “Hey, if you got a bag, if you got a purse, sell your cloak and go get yourself a sword.”
It’s a misinterpretation of Isaiah. It’s because Isaiah says in Jeremiah, “They’re going to come after me and treat me like criminals and those around me.” He was telling them to go look like a criminal. Grab a sword, not to fight so that you can be arrested like me for what we really are.
And so part of the problem is is that they take this concept of Christian and say we need to fight for morality.
Now I have a book in my library called out of the shadows of hell subtitled what do you do how do you do Christian theology after the holocaust.
Germany was a Christian, educated, industrialized nation. And yet they voted in a fascist leader who told them that he would help them regain their country. What was his slogan? Anybody know? Make Germany great again. And it really was. That’s not just a bunch of nonsense. That’s what he did.
And he fought against LGBT rights. He fought against what he considered depraved art and a lot of Christians went along with it. He also destroyed universities, the free press, just what we see happening today. And standing by and watching that has just been, it blows my mind.
When I first came here to Timok, I became very good friends with a gentleman whose parents left Germany when he was seven after the war. They were unrepentant Nazis. And we spent hours talking together. How did a Christian, educated, industrialized, cultured nation fall into this? And he’d get really angry and say, “Just quit asking me this nonsense.”
And I used to think, “Well, I’m glad I live here.” And yet, we are finding the exact same thing. Because if you have in your mind an idea of what is right and you believe God is behind you, you can do all kinds of violence in God’s name.
I didn’t want to read a whole lot to you, but I’m going to read some because I’m not an expert in most of this stuff. And of course, oh, there it is. Got to have a bookmark there.
Christian nationalism also becoming an umbrella term for all kinds of right-wing zealotry. So it’s not all Christian nationalists by trying to define them. So if we try to put somebody into a particular box, they might not fit exactly.
The fundamental fundamentalists who use faith as a cover for power and control. Spiritual bully bullies convinced that they can be as cruel and judgmental as they want because they already know for a fact that they’re going to heaven. The apocalypse worshippers whose Bible is pretty much revelation duct taped to a left behind book. Pious politicians who brag that they’ve accepted Jesus as their savior while actually only accepting him as their mascot.
The strapped bro dudes for Jesus worshiping the jacked up gun toting ass kicking alpha Christ who doesn’t actually appear to appear in the Jesus parts of the Bible. The Christian supremists who always believe violence is morally acceptable if their side is winning. Holy haters convinced that God despises the same people they do, including LGBTQ people, immigrants, academics, Muslims, Jews, the poor, foreigners in general, environmentalists, Christian or science believers, people who support women’s productive rights, people who think gun safety laws could help save a few lives, racial minorities, liberals, organized labor, feminists, atheists, and any or anyone else who thinks God or who they think God put here by accident.
It’s a long list.
What I tried to teach to the churches that I pastored was if you will learn to love the people Jesus loved, it would change our world because that list is the list that Jesus loved.
A friend of mine wrote a book once and he said the most dangerous place for a Christian is in the pews of a church because you can get away with all kinds of hatred and violence as long as you put on a nice suit, take a shower, put on a nice suit and show up with your Bible in your hand and no one will even question how you treat other people.
So part of where we’re at right now with the Christian nationalism and it has branched. It’s not the only thing out there because you’re dealing also with all kinds of concepts of what Christianity is.
Now, I did quite a bit of work on because his name kept coming up. Uh, let’s see. I wanted to make sure I got it right. I probably already chucked that one. Yeah, Rob McCoy. Does anybody have heard that name?
So when Charlie Kirk st started the turning point USA it was to use Christian concepts with political activism to try to you know get people’s attention. I will give it to Charlie Kirk that he is one of those individuals who discovered quickly that he had the power to control an audience.
You pay any attention which I don’t I didn’t. My neighbor came over the day he got shot crying. I was mowing my lawn. And he literally was weeping. And he came over and said, “Tim, they’ve shot Charlie Kirk.”
I looked at him and said, “I don’t even know who that is.” And he was horrified.
I really didn’t know who he was. I think I’d heard his name, but I didn’t have much time for that kind of stuff. I’m really not interested in one more video online. I just don’t pay much attention to it.
But I’ve had to learn since then what this was. Now my history teacher son told me that the problem is if you pay any attention, he would if he was being overwhelmed by someone who was actually taking him on, he would switch the subject and send you on your way. He picked the most vulnerable people to eat them alive, which is very common. And so I don’t have much use for that.
But Rob McCoy has kind of taken over. We have his wife out there, but she’s not got the charisma that these guys have. Rob McCoy is a pastor of the Have to get it down here. Godspeak Calvary Church in New New Newberry Park, California, which is just outside of Thousand Oaks, which probably doesn’t mean anything to anyone unless you’ve got some 7th Adventist background cuz we were big there and it’s near. So, it’s one of the big ones.
But what he did, he’s the founder of the Turning Point Faith. He actually took some of Charlie Kirk’s things and pushed the Christian agenda even farther.
And I do want to say to anybody here, I tell my church that when you’re done, because I can’t go on forever and you need to tell me when my time is up, you can just get up and leave. My church members do. I saw you back there. I’m cool with that.
I wanted to get out one other thing because what Rob McCoy is doing is he is pushing something called the seven mountains of dominance. Anybody familiar with Seven Mountains? Because Mike um Johnson is into this and Heg is aware of this. I don’t know how much Heg really knows what he’s talking about. I think he just likes the broman He-Man um bunch of nonsense, which is part of it.
Seven rounds of dominance is that and some of it is what you see coming after library boards coming after school boards in local small areas. They are starting small to get dominance in as many areas as possible. The economy, the government, the media, the arts and entertainment, education, family and the church. These are seven areas that they feel that they need to control.
Part of the concept behind family, it is a patriarchal system. The man is in charge and the woman is subservient.
Now, I tell my wife all the time, sometimes I would be nice because I married someone who has her own mind and has no problem telling me what it is. Um, I am a very fortunate person that I married a very strong woman.
And I want to tell you though, when I came to Tillamook, I worked with one of your county commissioners, Erin Skaar. She is on my list of some of the most beautiful strong women I have ever known.
I have I have worked at the hospital because I was on the hospital board for a short time with Mary Faith Bell. I will be writing a letter to the editor because I was deeply impressed with the gathering that I went to last week just to listen to her speak.
and Paul Fournier started out as a volunteer firefighter for Netarts Oceanside where I’ve been. He is county deputy.
Um I have I sat not too long ago because I just got elected to the library board here. I looked around and said, “What do I like?” I like libraries because my favorite day or favorite time of the year is the band book month. You ban a book and I’m going to read it. I banned a book when I was in seventh grade and I read it. It’s the only way you can get me to read a book is ban books and I’ll read them. tell me I can’t do something.
But I just want to say that you have an incredible group of county commissioners. I’m never been this involved with knowing people until I came to Tillamook. But I just want to say that do everything you can to make sure your neighbors and friends get out there and vote. You can disagree. It’s a hard job. It deals with your money and your finances and trying to figure out how do you provide services in a very difficult time. But these are some brave people. And so I really want to put in a plug for all three of them. I have been deeply deeply impressed.
One of the things that I think that you if you get a chance take some time to learn Christian nationalism, learn about um some of these concepts behind what’s taken place.
I thought for a long time when I was working on trying to do this because I knew I was going to run out of time. How do we answer? How do we confront this? Because if you go after my faith, you go after my religion, I can write you off as a pagan, as an atheist, and I can just say you don’t even know what you’re talking about.
The problem is most people don’t read their Bibles anymore. Most people get their religion from either a pastor or from the internet or from what they thought they heard their grandma say. And so, I’ve been trying to figure out how do you deal with it? How do we answer it?
Well, I picked up a book because one of my favorite things to do is once a week I like going upstairs here in this library to the new book B book bookshelf. And I try to find books that are not really of the genre that I normally read. I like to read as much as I can.
And I picked up this one mainly because of the title. Because I’m sorry, I will look up a book by its title. You can know a book by its title, by its cover.
The greatest sentence ever written. I believe this is the answer that we need today. Does anybody know the greatest sentence ever written?
I didn’t know it either until I read the book. And I’ll turn this book back in, but I would highly recommend that you buy this book. Uh Walter Isacson. Don’t really know who he is, but it is exceptional.
Here is the greatest sentence ever written.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed in by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Yes.
If we would come at the economy with that sentence, if we would come at the issues of societal problems with healthcare with that statement, if we would look at everyone around us with that in the back of our heads, I believe we would have an answer to Christian nationalism, to fascism, to um whatever autocracy that we’re looking at.
What most of these people are wanting is pure raw power. It is not Christian. It is not moral. It is about power. And the belief that the more money you have, the more blessed you are. It is totally opposite what I believe the gospel of Jesus Christ even has to say.
that when we go after the least of these our brethren then when we treat them with respect but at the end of this book he’s saying he and he talks about this none talk about Christian nationalism doesn’t talk about religion of any sort what he did was he tore this whole thing apart word by word the fight between Jefferson and Adams and Ben Franklin because they all worked on this thing together how they chose the words
Now, I will tell you my wife did say when I said um what was that sentence in there? Unalable rights. Thomas Jefferson wrote inable rights. And on his memorial, it’s inalienable. On the Declaration of Independence, it’s unalienable because Adams had a problem with it. And he went out on the paper, but Jefferson got it on his monument.
But the reason why that becomes important because when we hold the line that even those we disagree with, even those that we do not understand have the right for life, liberty, and happiness, then I can uphold what you have, even if I disagree with you.
And when your rights and when your needs cross what I need, then that’s where we’re going to need to have this discussion.
But I believe behind what we’re seeing today is a religious movement trying to force God’s hand. He said, “I want to start Armageddon.”
The interesting thing is Armageddon is only one place in all of scripture and it’s a Hebrew word which means har is mountain like Mount Hood, Mount St. Helens. Megiddo is the mountain of Megiddo. There is no such mountain. There is a plane of Megiddo.
And in the plane of Megiddo, the ancient kings would come to take on Israel through the valley of Jezrael. On one side of this valley, you’ve got Megiddo on one side and however you spell it. I told my kids when I was teaching class that if you scribble it really fast, you can make it say whatever you want. I never did well at spelling. And on this side is Mount Carmel.
Mount Carmel. I believe Armageddon is just dealing with one singular issue. It’s not a great battle of people gathering together swords and tanks and giant helicopters that look like grasshoppers and all that nonsense that we have from Hal Lindsay.
It’s a decision. Choose you this day is what Elijah said up there on Mount Carmel. What they’re asking you is to make a choice about who you are.
Are you a decent person? Do you care? I don’t believe you have to be religious to care. I believe that you can give people the benefit of the doubt. That you can support to the best of your ability. That we can live up to the ideals that we haven’t lived up to very well. That these are self-evident truths.
When Jefferson wrote it, he at first said sacred truths. I’m actually glad he changed it. This is who we are. Self-evident that we are all created equal, endowed by their creator, however you see him, with certain inalienable rights. These are rights that you cannot take away. Fascists can’t take them from us. The right can’t take them from you. The left can’t take them from you. They are yours. They cannot be compromised away.
He talks about Thomas Payne in here. the common good. We join together in political activities for the common good. And I give up a little bit of my freedom to make sure that we all have freedom. But there are certain rights that I will not give up.
My right to life and liberty and pursuit of happiness, whatever that is for me, pursuit of happiness is to walk along Netarts Bay. I’ve been there for almost 14 years and I cannot identify any birds except for one. I like king fishers. I don’t know what all those little duck things are. I tried once, but I cannot stand bird books. I’m not a bird. You’re okay with that? Yeah, I know.
But I say find whatever it is. Be happy today because I think part of it is if we get depressed, which I have.
I lost my job the day after Donald Trump was reelected because in a Bible class I kicked out not the student but a Trump 2024 head. I said put it in your locker. I didn’t even remove it. I just put it in your locker. Kid defied me. Three times I said it. Last time I said it firmly. I didn’t touch the kid. I didn’t touch the hat. I just said it could not be in my room.
I wish I had skipped that day only because it was pretty raw. I could not believe America did that again. Most of us sitting in this room can’t believe we did that again.
So when we confront the Christian nationals, got to remember they were willing to take an immoral liar, thief, a convicted criminal, a convicted sex abuser, not offender, abuser, and put him back into that office.
But we’re Americans. This is our country. I appreciate the fact that you say wave the flag. I had a hard time with that because they usurped it. But I have gone back. But I’ve gone back to the concept that it is my flag because I was born here.
And we are all immigrants. We know that unless you’re Native American, which I’m not. My family came straight out of England and didn’t marry anyone else till I married my wife. My wife’s got half German and a bunch of other stuff. My family’s just English. That’s pretty much it. Except I do tell my kids right now that my kids are mixed race. I’m white and their mother is whiter to stay out of the sun.
But part of what I wanted to share with you is it’s a big picture out there. There’s a lot of religious symbolism going on. But the best thing is is to be kind and gracious. They want you to become violent and it will justify their position.
You don’t have to know everything. One of the things I’m taking a couple classes because as I retire I’m going to take on I’m actually just got hired as a hospice chaplain um Lincoln City and up towards this direction. But one of the things I’ve learned in chaplain’s classes is that if I don’t know you, I just ask you to tell me who you are. And if I don’t know what you just said, I ask you to clarify for me what you just said. I don’t have to know everything, but I do need to be kind and decent and treat you like I would like you to treat me. You may not be treating me that way, but I’m still going to do it.
Muhammad Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. learned very quickly that the way to confront racist, segregationists, a society that wants to steal your money and crush you down, is to not play by their tactics. Malcolm X took a little different approach because he got tired. I think there’s a balance.
I want to let you know that Malcolm X was affected. The only white person that was decent to him was a Seventh Day Adventist who lived on the street. So, I’m kind of proud of that. He writes it in his autobiography.
I’m going to end with one last thing. In this book, Benjamin Franklin pictures large. I struggle sometimes with Benjamin Franklin with his personal life. But one of the things that he did in terms of the common good, he was one of the biggest ones in after the revolution to push libraries because he believed in an educated people. And one other thing he did that was extremely important to me, he is the one who first founded volunteer firefighters. So I owe a great debt to him.
I’m retiring from the Netarts Oceanside fire department next month only because I’m tired and I’m old and I want to grow a beard which I can’t have stay on the fire department. Well, you can if you’re chief but I’m actually getting kind of tired and I need to find some other things.
But I want to thank you for your time. Thank you.
I would make one offer is that if at any time anybody wants to talk more about this one-on-one, my wife and I have taken over. Five years ago, we took it over, but we were too busy, but we are now responsible for the Oceanside Chapel. We are going to be working on having it to be more of a retreat center, a respite place. It’s a quiet little church on the hill. We’re going to keep it up. We’ve got some good plans for it. We have created a room where we’re going to concentrate on pastors and chaplain, fire and police who just need a way to get away.
And so, if you want to hunt me down, my phone number is on the Oceanside Chapel site. I’m always happy to sit and talk with someone. Talking is not my problem.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
About Indivisible Tillamook Coast Action:
ITCA is a nonpartisan group that takes action to protect women’s rights, defend civil liberties, and maintain a society based on human dignity and the rule of law. An attack on one of us is an attack on all. Meetings are held the third Saturday of each month at the Tillamook Library. For more information, follow ITCA public events on Facebook Or go to www.indivisible.org