Transcription
Okay, I leave for a weekend and everything hits the fan. I see Donald Trump posts this uh controversial, dare I say blasphemous image uh in the midst of his beef with the Pope. Yes, that's right. Uh back and forth with the Pope because the Pope is pushing for peace. He's pushing pushing pee and Donald Trump is um not happy. So, he posted this um which we'll look at his response here in a second, but first let me give you guys a little bit back and forth.
So, this is the Pope responding to him. This is this is his uh initial crash out on the Pope. He says uh which this is all connected. We're going to come back to this, which by the way, all you guys are like, Ron, what are you going to speak on? Like, I have no problem with speaking on this. I shared uh Lord's Giant's video on this on Instagram. Obviously, I think this is utterly outlandish, but I do think the context of all this matters. Okay. He said, "Pope Leo is weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy." I didn't know the I didn't know the the Pope had a uh foreign policy uh agenda, per se, right? I know he's influencing foreign policy, I guess, but I didn't know that was a thing.
So anyway, he says he talks about fear of the Trump administration but doesn't mention the fear that the Catholic Church and all the other Christian organizations had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else for for holding church services even when going outside and being 10 and even 20 feet apart. Uh I like his brother Louie. I guess Louis is a um a MAGA guy. The Pope's brother is a MAGA guy. He goes on to say he gets it and Leo doesn't. He wants to I don't want a pope who thinks it's okay for Iran to have nuclear weapons. I don't want a pope who thinks it's terrible that Americans attacked Venezuela, a country that was sending massive amounts of drugs into the United States. Even worse, everything uh emptying their prisons uh including murderers, drug dealers, killers into the country. And I don't want a pope who criticizes the president of the United States because I'm doing exactly what I was elected in a landslide election in a landslide uh to do setting uh record low numbers in crime and creating the greatest stock market in history. Leo should be thankful because as everyone know as everyone knows I didn't know this but he was a shocking surprise. He wasn't on any list to be pope and uh was only put there in the church because he was an American and they thought the best way to deal with Donald J. Trump uh if I wasn't uh in the White House, Leo wouldn't be in the Vatican. Okay, pretty bold statements. I don't know enough about how popular Leo was in Catholic circles. And in a minute, we're going to hear from some Catholics, former Catholic acquaintance of mine. But first, let's uh let's hear what Pope Leo had to say about this particularly.
Okay, so this is his response to some of this. Once again, what I said in the Urb message on Sunday, asking all people of goodwill to search always for peace and not violence to reject war, especially a war which many people have said is an unjust war which uh is continuing to escalate and uh which is not resolving anything. In fact, we have a worldwide economic crisis, energy crisis, um, situation in the Middle East of great instability which is only provoking more hatred throughout the world. So, come back to the table. Let's talk. Let's look for solutions in a peaceful way. And let's remember, especially the innocent children.
>> Okay. So, the pope is advocating for peace. I don't think there's anything wrong with advocating for peace. I think we should have peace in the Middle East. That's not an endorsement of all Catholics and all pope doctrine or anything like that, but that's his his agenda. He's a religious leader. He's advocating for peace. Um in that though, the Catholic Church got a bit of a wild history when it comes to peace. We're going to be honest. So that's I find that a bit ironic. Um little thing called the Crusades. Okay. So u and I know that the Crusades were in response to Islamic conquest initially. One can argue that this is an a response to Islamic conquest in the Middle East and all the proxy groups that have been agitating America and agitating uh Israel and creating and agitating other Middle East countries and Islamic countries. One could argue that this is a response to that. I don't want to speak on that with too much certainty. Uh and Iran getting a nuclear weapon, I think everybody could agree, is not a good thing. So, I think the Pope is advocating for peace. I think that's a good thing. But I think there could be an argument to be made about this war not being great for the entire region, let alone the entire world. Um, but then other people could say, "Hey, this is necessary. Iran was, you know, whatever at 80% of enrichment, even though I thought we destroyed their nuclear facilities back in June." Um, somehow they're building it. I don't know what's going on. Okay? I don't know what's going on, but uh, I think the Pope is wanting for peace, which is what a religious leader should want. Um and he is saying hey like some some people many people are saying it's an unjust war. Yes I guess some people are saying it's an unjust war. Other people are saying it's a just war. Some people feel like the president is behaving impulsively. My opinion I think there's a massive overh over overcalculation with the people of Iran rising up to overthrow the government. I think I think if I'm being honest I think Trump overcalculated. Maybe Israel overcalculated. They were going to go in, they were going to take out all the leaders and the people were going to rise up and there was going to be an organic movement or they were going to try to bring in the Sha's son. So, I think that's really what happened here and that's why it's being stretched out and that's why there's negotiations going on which could potentially leave this thing worse than initially was. Who knows? But to say that, you know, there wasn't a good desire to go in and uh try and take out the Iranian regime that had just killed, you know, 50,000 of their own protesters. I think that's a bit naive, too.
>> The elderly, the sick, so many people who have already become or will become victims of this uh continued warfare.
>> Yeah. And that and that's true. Pope is saying, "Hey, even if there is a just reason, I'm not sure if he's saying even if there's a just reason." He said maybe people are saying it's just injust but he's like hey but you got to think about the elderly. You got to think about the children. You got to think about the innocent people especially all the the the you know the school that got bombed accidentally right. Um even though it's accidentally that's still school children that got killed.
>> Innocent children,
>> right?
>> The elderly. Yes. Sick. So many people who have already become or will become victims of this uh continued warfare. uh to remind all that uh attacks on civilian infrastructure is against international law.
But >> and and so the concern was what Trump was crashing out saying he was going to obliterate a civilization uh if they didn't come to the negotiating table. They hit pause for two weeks. It's been almost a week. You can't Yeah. You can't I guess international law doesn't allow you to do that. I don't think Trump's concerned with international law. Um and that is a very uh fair thing for the pope to say here
>> but that it is also a sign of uh the hatred the division the destruction that the human being is capable of and we all want to work for peace. People want peace. I would invite the citizens of all the countries involved to contact the authorities political leaders congressmen to uh ask them tell them to work for peace and to reject war always. Thank you.
>> Okay. So reject war always. Now, again, do find that a little ironic coming from the the Pope, but nevertheless, we're here. Okay, so here's the president's response here to the Pope. Uh I don't think he's doing a very good job. He likes crime, I guess. He uh he likes crime, I guess.
>> He doesn't think of it. He's worried about fear. What about the fear when the ministers and the priests and the all of those great people that were arrested during CO and in many cases they're outside 10 ft apart and they were arrested. So we don't like it. We don't like a pope that's going to say that it's okay to have a nuclear weapon. We don't want a pope that says crime is okay in our city. I don't like it. I'm not a big fan of Publio.
>> Okay. So he's not a big fan of Pio. We're going to hear from a Catholic friend of mine uh here in a second. This is the response to this is the image that he posted. And many people are like, "Bro, this is utterly blasphemous." Like, you got these angels coming from the sky. You got the American flag. You got you laying hands and healing on people. And he says that he thought uh this wasn't him being depicted as Jesus. This was something else. So, uh let's hear his response to this. And then we'll look look at a Catholic friend of mine kind of tie into all this and then we'll also look at Mike Winger's response to all this. I thought that was interesting.
>> Mr. president. Did you post that picture of yourself depicted as Jesus Christ?
>> Well, it wasn't depicted. It was me. I I did post it and I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do with Red Cross as a Red Cross worker there which we support. He thought he was a a doctor Red Cross worker. Oh man. Oh, that's so good. He thought that image was a Red Cross. This is This is not a Red Cross worker, President Trump. Oh, man. I literally got tears in my eyes. Oh, I I didn't I didn't watch that clip before I made this video.
>> Um, okay. Mike Winger has a good tie into this that that I think you guys are actually going to like that that that gives the president a charitable response. But no, no, no, no, no. This is this is a clear depiction that is positioning him as having at the very least supernatural healing powers. At the very least, WHAT ARE THE FREAKING WHAT ARE THE WHAT ARE WHAT ARE THE WHAT IS THE LIGHT COMING OUT OF YOUR HANDS, PRESIDENT? What are we talking about? This is craziness.
>> And uh only the fake news could come up with that one. I hate
>> this is see this is this is the part I think of of President Trump people who aren't supporters don't like I don't like is that if you disagree with him you're the fake news. No, we could just objectively come to very different conclusions on this. That doesn't mean that uh maybe he knew what he was posting. Again, we're going to look at a Mike Winger uh tie into all this where Mike goes he thinks that it's not uh it's plausible. Okay, we'll look at that in a second. But this is ridiculous. Like come on. Like let's not be silly here. Someone on your team should have said, "Hey, that's not a good look." Now, he did own up to posting it him. Sounds like he posted it himself. He uh he is in the middle of this back and forth with the Pope and he posts this image and people rightfully so are upset and I think I think he crossed the line here. Personally, I think this is like like historic crash out in the middle where like y'all should be figuring out what the heck is going on in Iran. the miscalculation in Iran. We we wiped them out out and we were done and it was over and and now it's not over and what is is the straight of rem open yet? I thought this was going to be wrapped up by now, right? I thought I thought the people were going to rise up. This is a type of mindset that never apologizes, never takes accountability and responsibility. And I would say this is in congruent with a biblical leader. But by biblically, I don't mean like just in the Bible. I mean someone that is driven by biblical principles.
>> I had uh I just heard about it and I said, "How did they come up with that?" It's supposed to be me as a doctor making people better. And I do make people better. I make people uh a lot better. And me as a doctor. Okay. Uh let's hear uh from my Catholic friend uh Michael Nose.
>> Okay. So, I don't like the pope. Now, you'll remember some of you will remember. Some of you were too young. In the early days of the Iraq war, one of the last things that Pope John Paul II did was speak out against the Iraq war. And you didn't see President Bush say, "I don't like the Pope." Which I hold is spiritually a very bad thing to do.
>> But even politically, politically, I think it's it's not a good thing to do. And I I assume someone has told this to the president already, but if not, you know, I'm as bonafideed a Trump supporter as ever there was. I have voted for Trump in every presidential election that he's run in. And I
>> I did not okay. I did not. I did not vote for him in 2016 or 2020.
>> You know, I really like the guy and I love all the good that he's done. Spiritually, I think this is bad. And politically, this is this is not good. I I get it. There's I get it because there's a tension that goes not just through the Trump era or the Bush era, but goes all the way back to antiquity between the Pope and the emperor. There's a tension that goes back between the spiritual authority and the secular authority all the way back to the beginning of our civilization.
>> But I don't think this is very helpful. Okay, so this is Mike Winger's response to this, which I think is actually a solid response. He says, "It seems plausible that Trump posted that image thinking it was portrayed as a doctor." This is I love Mike and this is one of those very charitable interpretations, right? Or even as some sort of spiritual healer, but not knowing how strongly it implied he was Jesus. Yeah. And and I said that I think like at the very least you got light coming out of your hands. You're clearly projecting yourself as some sort of spiritual healer. at the very least. Okay, it doesn't take away from the blasphemous nature of the image. And I don't say this to say nothing he see nothing to see here, folks. Why is it plausible? Because I think Trump has a shallow understanding of Christianity. Remember when he said two Corinthians instead of second Corinthians, right? When citing his favorite verse, as I recall, it was prior to this that Trump was asked for a favorite verse and didn't have one to state off the top of his head because he did because he doesn't have one because he's not a Christian. Then it seems to me this was embarrassing and he tried to rectify it when someone sent him a verse and he later read it off as uh written and was so unfamiliar with scripture that he didn't know to say second instead of two. Now some scholars will say two instead of second when reading such text but it's very uncommon and I doubt Trump was doing so because he was approaching it from a biblical scholarship perspective. You don't say, Mike. Uh, my point is that he could easily not known that the image there was clearly consistent with hundreds of years of depictions of Jesus. Maybe I'm wrong and he meant to imply that he was Jesus, but it seems unlikely. It's still evil in a reminder of what Nebuchadnezzar said right before he started eating grass. Yeah, if you guys don't know the story in Daniel, um, Nebuchadnezzar loses his mind, which we'll come back to that in a second. Um, but it was likely ignorance and ego. Uh, but not intentional blasphemy. I wonder if Paula White Paula White sent it to him. I wouldn't put such intentional blasphemy pass. Paula White one time for Mike Wigger. Oh man. Okay. Okay. So, this is Daniel 4:24. He says, "This is the interpretation, your majesty, and this is the decree the Most High has issued against my lord, the king." It's a dream being interpreted for Nebuchadnezzar. You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals. You will eat grass like the ox and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes. The command to leave the stump of the tree with its roots means that your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that heaven rules. Therefore, your majesty, be pleased to accept my advice. Renounce your sins by doing what is right and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed people. It may be that then your prosperity will continue. All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. 12 months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal uh palace of the building, he said, "Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?" Even as the words were on his lips, a voice came from heaven. This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar. Your royal authority has been taken from you. You will be driven away from the people and will live with wild animals. You will eat grass like the ox. 7* 7 will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes. So, what's fascinating there is you have King Nebuchadnezzar. This dream uh is interpreted for him. They're basically telling him, "Hey, listen. Uh you're you're you're arrogant. you're out of control. Uh and you know, many of us need to go outside and touch grass. But he ends up losing his mind and eating grass. Why? Because he didn't understand that despite him being king, despite him uh having authority, despite him prospering, at the end of the day, God was provident over all of it. God was provident over his kingdom. And I'm not saying that King Nebuchadnezzar and Trump are a one-on-one comparison, but I do think there's something about ego and pride and picking battles with popes and miscalculating military actions uh that could go very dangerous for the entire world like the global economy of of the oil prices and all that sort of stuff. And if he's not being careful, if Trump's not being careful, he could easily end up in a situation where he's unraveling before the whole world. And that's not good. That's not good. I I think if you are an American, if you're a follower of Jesus, you should pray for the peace and the prosperity of the land which God has called us into. Even this, even though this is not our final home, even though this is not our our our, you know, destination that we're going to land, we're we're sojourners here. We're travelers here. We're exhausted. It doesn't mean we don't try to influence policy. It doesn't mean we just try to make it better. But we should be praying for the president. We should be praying for the leaders. We should be praying for what's going on over there. Uh, but I think the concerning part, man, is Trump posting this and not being willing to apologize and just kind of give this waved off explanation. I don't think that's good. I don't think it's good. I think it's uh I think it's unhelpful and I think uh fighting with the pope is unhelpful. Not an endorsement of the pope. I am not Catholic. Okay. Um but I think this is very unhelpful and I think this could be going a dangerous way uh for him for his spiritual state. Now, I don't know who's in his ear. I don't know Paula White. I don't know what's going on over there. I'm not a fan of Paula White for the record. Um, but I think this is a very dangerous territory that uh he's dabbling in. And the lack of humility. The lack of humility to say, "Hey guys, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to post it that way." It's just like a new tactic that I think a lot of these personalities have with just like never apologize for anything and never take accountability. You have to take responsibility. I don't think it's helpful. So, those are my thoughts on it, man. Those of you guys that were waiting for me, listen, I was on tour. We were over in Chicago. we were over in Pittsburgh having a good time uh when all this stuff was going on and so I couldn't get to it. But now that I'm back uh I wanted to get to it and also wanted you guys to know that we got a couple more shows coming up for the Godly Ambition Tour. We are going to be we're going to be in where Virginia. That's right. We're coming to Virginia uh specifically the DC area April 25th. Okay. It's a Saturday at the ball quarter. Tickets are on sale. Then we head over to New York at Sony Hall in Manhattan in Times Square. Then right after that, we go over to uh May 9th, we're in Los Angeles and then Tampa and uh Atlanta. So this is going to be amazing. The Godly Ambition Tour is crushing. Uh Pittsburgh was phenomenal. I had a blast in Pittsburgh. Um and so if you want to get your tickets, go to rousonkat.com, hit the pin comment, come see me in person, get out of the comments, get out of the chat, get in the room, because there's nothing like being in the room. We're working on a vlog and a recap video of everything that happened. I think you guys are absolutely going to love seeing some of the behind the scenes and seeing what we're what I've been building for you guys in terms of a show where I'm incorporating music. I'm taking your guys' questions. I'm speaking right into some of the tension that many of us face. And uh I'm just absolutely um ecstatic to meet more of you guys on tour. So rousonkat.com for more information on that. All right, peace.