Point of View November 3, 2026 – Hour 2 : Why Biblical Citizenship Extends Beyond Political Parties & Election Cycles

[00:00:04] Across America, Live, this is Point of View, Kerby Anderson. Second Hour today, we're going to spend some time, if we can, talking about a case before the Supreme Court, then we'll get back into, of course, the midterm elections, my commentary today, and also we'll be talking about, at the bottom of the hour, with Dr. Troy Miller.

[00:00:33] He's the President and CEO of the National Religious Broadcasters, written a very good piece on what will we leave our children. The American Dream demands more than comfort. I've been writing about the American Dream, but he looks at it in a different way in terms of the real disappointing fact that when you start evaluating the election, you begin to realize that, according to at least Pew Research, only 51% of Christian U.S. citizens voted.

[00:01:01] Last time we had a midterm election, which is 2022. That percentage may be higher this time, but it, I think, reminds us of the fact that we have fallen short. We have squandered a talent that has been placed in our hands, and we were like the unrighteous steward who instead decided to bury the talent rather than to use it. So we're going to get into that a little bit later with him this hour.

[00:01:27] But I thought for just a minute, there are important cases oftentimes before the Supreme Court. And yesterday there was the oral arguments in a case which has the rather long title, St. Mary's Catholic Parish versus Roy. And what it is, is a case out of Colorado.

[00:01:45] Now, if you've been listening to Point of View any length of time, you know that virtually every time we have Lathan Watts, who is the vice president of the Alliance Defending Freedom in this program, he says there are so many of these cases coming out of Colorado, they need to maybe put together an express lane from Colorado to the Supreme Court. Or else maybe they just need to put a branch of the Supreme Court in Colorado.

[00:02:10] Well, even our friends at the Wall Street Journal are starting to get really tired of this. It starts out this way. This is getting old. Three times in the past decade, the Supreme Court has vindicated religious schools excluded from state programs. Colorado, they said, still needs a remedial lesson.

[00:02:33] The state's universal pre-K plan lets religious schools participate only if they agree to enroll families who oppose them on sex and gender. On Tuesday, the justices can reinforce religious liberty in this case, St. Mary Catholic Parish versus Roy. Again, a little history. The program in Colorado, launched in 2023, pays for 15 hours of preschool a week. That's about $6,300 a year.

[00:03:03] Providers are subject to what the state calls equal opportunity requirements, but they've thrown some in that are not required by the federal government. You guessed it. Gender identity, sexual orientation. And so as a result, the Catholic schools asked new parents to sign a statement on community beliefs and commitments, as well as to refrain from publicly undermining the church. That makes sense. You're part of the Catholic church, right? Colorado denied them an exemption from this enrollment.

[00:03:32] And yet, as you might remember, if you've been listening to Point of View any length of time, and I know most of you have, that there was a case that Kelly Shackelford's First Liberty Institute brought about a case in Maine. It's known as Carson versus Macon.

[00:03:49] And in the Supreme Court decision in 2022, four years ago, they very clearly said that you cannot bar an organization, a religious group, a church, Christians, whatever, from your state tuition program. If it's available to everyone, you can't bar it from one particular group because you don't like their stand. Usually it's on sexuality.

[00:04:15] Now, Colorado insists that this is different because it doesn't target religion explicitly. Matter of fact, it makes the case that its program has included more than 40 faith-based providers, and schools may continue to teach and shape their curriculum according to their faith.

[00:04:31] But the bottom line is that you have to comply with their conditions because, again, we are requiring you to make sure that you would never bar somebody because of the parent's sexual orientation. By the way, there's no evidence of anybody going to a Catholic school for that, but I digress a little.

[00:04:55] So, again, religious families get money for education if their church agrees with the government on gay marriage and gender transitions. That's the bottom line. This, again, shouldn't even be a 5-4 or a 6-3. It really should be a 9-0. But we know Ketanji Brown Jackson, at best, it would be an 8-1. But this one is pretty clear.

[00:05:17] And, again, what the Colorado individuals are actually relying on is a case known as Employment Division v. Smith. That's the Smith case we've talked about out of Oregon.

[00:05:30] And I think this is a good example of one of the things that Kelly Shackelford and Jeff Mateer and a variety of others have said might actually be something where the justices, since they got rid of the Lemon test, maybe they could get rid of the Smith test. But just to remind you again, you have all these school choice cases, all these school cases.

[00:05:55] In 2017, the justices said that Missouri can't withhold playground money from a Lutheran school. That's the Trinity Lutheran case. In 2020, they said that Montana can't block tax credit funding to religious schools. That's the Espinoza case. And then, of course, you have the one I just mentioned from Maine, Carson case. And each one of these three separate times made it very, very clear.

[00:06:22] But somehow Colorado just doesn't get the memo. And in case you are wondering how the good friends at First Liberty looked at this case, because it's not one of their cases per se, although they did file a brief in that regard. Kelly Shackelford is on record for saying, quote, this is religious discrimination, excluding religious schools simply because they won't conform to the state's view on marriage and sexuality are wrong.

[00:06:52] Kelly Shackelford says after our Supreme Court victory in Carson versus Macon, which I just talked about a minute ago in Maine, enacted coercive conditions similar to those of Colorado to keep religious schools from being able to participate in its tuitioning program. In this case, the Supreme Court can once again remind state governments that what Maine and Colorado have done violates the free exercise clause of the Constitution.

[00:07:19] Again, I'm pretty sure they're going to strike down Colorado. The real question, and we're going to get one of our lawyers in here maybe in another week or two, because this Friday we're going to really just focus on the midterm elections. But I'd love to see if they think it's possible that you could at least get five justices to actually get rid of the Smith decision, which is the source of some of the problems here.

[00:07:43] And if that's the case, not only do you have a complete win record that First Liberty has had, they've also been instrumental in getting rid of a fairly significant number of bad cases that were rendered in the past by the Supreme Court. So anybody that thinks elections don't matter, just think where we'd be right now if you did not have the three justices that Donald Trump actually put on the court when he was in his first term.

[00:08:12] I think you can begin to see that we are bringing the Constitution back to the Supreme Court, and we're bringing the government back to constitutional interpretation. Well, that's all for that hour, but I just thought I would mention this is a very important case. It's a case that First Liberty didn't actually argue, but actually provided a brief on, and it is one that I am pretty sure the Supreme Court will rule against Colorado.

[00:08:40] It's always Colorado, but anyway, let's take a break. We have a lot more to cover. We'll do that right after this. This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson.

[00:09:06] Today is Election Day. Usually midterm elections are important, but you can't possibly find a more important midterm election in modern history. The control of the House and the Senate are at stake, and we have several candidates from the Democratic Socialists of America. America is divided, and that has intensified the stakes in this election. Republicans control the House and Senate by slim majorities, and that has also intensified the stakes in this election. And the losing party is likely to charge the other party with voter fraud, voter suppression, and a variety of other offenses.

[00:09:35] This has also intensified the stakes in this election. America has had lots of close elections, even at the presidential level. In 2000, George W. Bush led Al Gore in Florida after the first results were tallied, but the outcome of the election essentially came from the Supreme Court. In 2016, Donald Trump won three swing states by a mere 77,000 votes. In 2020, Joe Biden won three swing states by 42,000 votes, and a controversy surrounded both of these elections.

[00:10:04] In 2024, we had a clear winner because Donald Trump won the popular vote by more than two million votes and won seven swing states, but it's worth mentioning that he won in five of those swing states by less than three points. Midterm elections are different. Historically, the president's party usually loses seats during midterm elections. That has been true in 20 of the last 22 midterm elections. Tonight, we'll be watching what happens in the 435 House races and the 35 Senate races,

[00:10:30] and there will be 36 governor's races, along with thousands of state house and state races and local races. We'll have a lot to talk about as the election returns begin coming in. I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my point of view. Go deeper on topics like you just heard by visiting pointofview.net. That's pointofview.net.

[00:11:00] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Once again, let me, if I can, encourage those of you that actually do receive our Outlook magazine. This is the November issue I'm holding up right now. You probably received it in the mail, and if you do not receive it, let me encourage you to think about supporting pointofview, because one of the benefits is the material we provide to you.

[00:11:25] Of course, if you join at the higher level, the, again, $1 a day, $30 a month or more, the truth team level, then you also receive the booklets. And, of course, I've already mentioned a few of those. But in my article, What's at Stake, the Socialist Surge, I talk about a couple of key issues that I thought I'd mention real quickly.

[00:11:46] The first is that if, indeed, you see these victories, now I recognize that in a few cases you are going to have a few more socialists in the House of Representatives because they're in a very definite Democrat district. And so if the Democrat that wins is a socialist, pretty sure that he or she will be in Congress. Don't see that happening in the Senate, especially not in Florida, with, of course, this very good piece by Gary Bauer talking about Angie Nixon.

[00:12:16] I'm sure she will not win in Florida tonight. But, nevertheless, what it does, and my first point, is shift the Overton window. Now, again, as I point out, a lot of politicians use the phrase Overton window, but they really never define it. I've defined it in some of my commentaries, but let's just talk about the fact that it was first developed by Joseph Overton. He suggested that every public policy can be arranged on a scale. One would be taxes.

[00:12:44] At one end is 100% taxation. The other is zero. And there are some windows, if you will, in which you can maybe legitimately talk about that. And he also explained that lawmakers are oftentimes constrained because if they want to cast a vote on a policy they like, they're having to kind of think about how willing will the public accept that.

[00:13:10] And so, in some respects, I use a very good example, and that is the issue of same-sex marriage. If you go back to the 1990s and the early 2000s, very few candidates, even on the Democratic side, were actually promoting the idea of same-sex marriage or even making same-sex marriage legal. Even during the 2008 presidential campaign, both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton said they supported traditional marriage.

[00:13:40] By the time Barack Obama left office, he and most Democrats were promoting same-sex marriage. And, of course, then the Obergefell Supreme Court decision provided that. And then, of course, then open debate even about issues like transgenderism. The reason I'm bringing this up is there used to be a time not so long ago where even if you agreed with and even wanted to promote socialist policies, you probably wouldn't say that in public.

[00:14:09] But now, many of the policies being promoted by the Democratic Socialist candidates, which are radical, are, again, things that maybe two decades ago would never even be mentioned, are now kind of part and parcel with where the Democratic Party is going. And so the election or defeat of some of these Democratic Socialist candidates tonight

[00:14:36] will really determine whether or not we have seen a movement in what you might call the Overton window. Now, that also leads to the next point that I make, and that is, how serious are some of these points? Because if you take the time to read through some of the policies at the Democratic Socialists of America website, you've got to go, it can't be serious.

[00:15:01] Well, again, I remind you that there was a time in which the Fox News anchor Shannon Bream interviewed the national co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, Megan Romer. And also then later, David Remnick also interviewed her for The New Yorker. So one was coming maybe more from a conservative point of view, one from a more liberal point of view,

[00:15:26] but it really didn't make any difference because if you watch the TV interview or you read the published interview, you see that, yeah, she's quite willing to abolish the Senate. She's quite willing to replace the presidency in the Supreme Court. She's also willing to abolish ICE. She wants to abolish the border, give amnesty to anyone currently in the United States who is here illegally. As a long-term plan, she would like to defund the Pentagon.

[00:15:51] And government or public ownership of most corporations, oh, yeah, we need that as well. And in a recent commentary, Charles Cook put together, I think, a great line. He said, Megan Romer, you've got to give her credit for her thoroughness. Then added, she managed in the space of a minute to demand the abolition of every load-bearing structure in America. For example, to abolish the Senate is not only in effect to abolish the states, but to abolish the Union too.

[00:16:21] To abolish the Supreme Court is to abolish the rule of law. To abolish our borders and our military is to abolish our sovereignty. To abolish prisons is to abolish ordered liberty. And to abolish private property is to abolish the economy. And so the point I'm making in here is that Democratic Socialists are absolutely dead serious about this.

[00:16:47] And if there are Democrats who are resisting that, and certainly one that comes to mind is Senator John Fetterman, but not many others. You can see where this takes you, especially if Democrats control the United States Senate. I then go on to spend a little bit of time talking about this whole idea of tax the rich.

[00:17:09] And again, there is a piece that I've been thinking about having come out tomorrow, which has a great title, Gen X Cannot Afford the Culture War. Because if you're talking about Medicare for all, housing for all, Gen X doesn't have the money. Matter of fact, the country doesn't have the money. We're $40 trillion in debt.

[00:17:31] And we are paying a heavy price right now for the fact that one of the largest budget items is for the United States government to pay interest on a debt that we spent years ago. And probably will never get a balanced budget again. Of course, there's also a very good piece in here, which I might mention by Liberty McCarter on the four abortion measures in four different states. And then, of course, a very good piece by Gary Bauer, which is entitled The Socialist Threat is Real.

[00:18:01] And he and she will be joining me tomorrow, so we'll actually have a good roundtable discussion about that. But he reminds us again that when we are looking at some of these candidates, there's no moderate middle. As a matter of fact, you can begin to have the entire Democratic Party come down on your head if you decide all of a sudden no longer to support Abdul El-Sayed. But that's another whole issue that we talked about yesterday.

[00:18:29] And so he points out that the belief that Alexandria Ocaso-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Angie Nixon, Hassan Piker, Abdul Rahman Mohammed El-Sayed are merely few fringe voices is really fallacious. Because there's no massive moderate middle today in the Democratic Party.

[00:18:50] And he says you hear about some great centrists like the governor in Kentucky, Andrew Beshear, or a variety of others that you're hearing about right now. And every single one of those individuals would not necessarily be considered to be a centrist. But I just thought I'd mention that if you have not looked at the November issue, it is maybe a preview of coming attractions. Just before I wind down, let me just mention my commentary today is about Election Day.

[00:19:19] And I point out that usually midterm elections are important, but you can't say that they're as important as this one has become. And we are, of course, divided. So that has intensified the stakes in this election. Republicans control the House and the Senate by slim majorities. So that has also intensified the stakes in this election. And let's face it, the losing party is likely to charge the other party with voter fraud, voter suppression, all sorts of things.

[00:19:47] But I just point out again that whether you look at midterm elections or even the presidential elections, as I mentioned the other day, in 2000, George W. Bush eventually won over Al Gore. But that really had to go to the Supreme Court. In 2016, I point out that Donald Trump won three swing states by a mere 77,000 votes. And in 2020, Joe Biden won three swing states by 42,000 votes.

[00:20:15] So, again, some of these presidential elections have been that. And, of course, Donald Trump likes to talk about the fact that he won the popular vote in all seven swing states. Yes, he did. But if you look at even the seven swing states, in five of those swing states, he won by less than three points. So the bottom line is we have many close elections. Yesterday, my commentary was about two close elections that were ties.

[00:20:42] And this one, of course, that we are talking about is, I think, going to have a few more examples of individuals that win by a couple of votes, maybe as less as one vote per precinct and the rest. So when we come back, we're going to talk about the American dream. We're going to talk about the need for Christians to get involved in the electoral process. We're going to talk about what is happening here.

[00:21:06] And we're privileged to bring to the microphone Dr. Troy Miller, president and CEO of the National Religious Broadcasting Group, as well as we have posted a very good piece that was in Fox News. What will we leave our children? The American dream demands more than comfort. We'll talk about that with Troy Miller right after this. Who can you trust?

[00:21:36] Years ago, many of us could probably have provided a fairly long list. But today, well, today, it seems we almost can't trust anyone. Educators don't even know what a woman is anymore. Many so-called public servants have shown all they care about is themselves. The FBI has been accused of bias, law-breaking, betrayal, and journalism.

[00:22:00] It's largely corrupt with no Clark Kent standing up for truth, justice, and the American way. All of this is why Point of View Radio is more important than ever. And your part in supporting us is more needed than ever. Do your part today in supporting trustworthy truth. Stand with us and help push back the lies and the darkness. Visit pointofview.net. Don't put it off.

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[00:22:59] You are listening to Point of View. The opinions expressed on Point of View do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of this station. And now, here again, is Kirby Anderson. Back once again, we're going to spend some time talking about the American dream and biblical citizenship with Troy A. Miller, who is the president and CEO of NRB. Individual that I followed for many years.

[00:23:27] Served for a while as the executive vice president and chief operating officer for D. James Kennedy Ministries. Spent a decade with Gateway. Individuals that have been on the program with us before. And welcome back, Troy, to this program, Point of View. Great to be with you again. Thanks for having me. Let's, if we can, get into the article. And again, we have posted information about NRB. So you can go to, of course, nrb.org. We have a link there. We also have a link to Facebook and X.

[00:23:55] Also have posted this article that appeared, of course, in the Fox News area. And it is a great piece on the American dream. But again, you were asking a fundamental question. What kind of America are we leaving to our children and grandchildren? And this idea of the American dream, I guess that really goes all the way back to a very famous book by James Truslow Adams on the epic of America. But the American dream is something that we want for our children.

[00:24:24] But it's more than just finances, isn't it? It is more than just finances. You know, if you go back to what the first pilgrims, you know, left Europe, left England and came over here. And we're looking for the core of the American dream is freedom, freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, freedom to pursue those things that we felt individually as the items or as our conviction drove us to pursue.

[00:24:54] And again, as you said, for much of our history, the American dream was rooted in the conviction. The next generation should inherit what? Greater freedom and opportunity than the one before it. So that involved us certainly have a better standard of living and some other things. But there are individuals that crossed oceans, endured hardship. There are individuals who immigrated to this country. And it seems to me that as I read through your article, and I do commend it to individuals, it only takes about two pages to print out.

[00:25:21] It's a real challenge for us to ask the fundamental question. What kind of legacy are we leaving to our children and grandchildren if our goal is always comfort? Right. And if our goal is short-sighted in here and now, you know, it's in really like our forefathers. And as you said, it started off with that pursuit, and many of them knew that they were going to really suffer hardships.

[00:25:48] And they weren't going to see maybe that prosperity, those freedoms themselves. But they were going to pass this on to the legacy of their families, to their children and their grandchildren, and on down the road. And then as it moved in in America, we saw it with the second great wave of immigration that came post the Civil War. That's actually both sides of my family on my mother and father's side came over with this idea of pursuing something better,

[00:26:16] maybe not exactly for themselves, but for the generations to come. But we've sort of bought into this consumer kind of have-it-now mentality in America, and we've lost this view of we are to pass on an inheritance, and that's really passing on our prosperity and those things to our next generation and not consume them all ourselves. Let's talk about religious freedom and religious liberty for just a minute.

[00:26:44] Before you came on, Troy, I spent a little bit of time talking about this particular case that was argued before the Supreme Court out of Colorado. And I love even how the Wall Street Journal started out. This is good and old. Three times in the past, the Supreme Court has vindicated religious schools, but nevertheless, Colorado needs a remedial lesson. And so we are always talking about religious liberty because we have people from First Liberty Institute, Alliance Defending Freedom.

[00:27:09] But you remind us of, of course, this letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptists in 1802. A lot of people, when they see that there was this wall of separation, erect the wall in the wrong direction because if nothing else, religious liberty, you said, was never intended to remove faith from the public life. We should be involved in our public life. And yet, as the latest Pew Research Center points out,

[00:27:38] only 51% of Christian U.S. citizens voted four years ago in the 2022 midterm elections. Yeah, that's right. Only 51% voted. And even in the last presidential election, that number only goes up to about 64%, 65%. And yet, Christians still, even at those numbers, made some of the largest single group of the electorate body.

[00:28:05] And so if Christians really were involved in the public space in their civic duty and very much concerned about how this country was going to be governed and the future of that governance and what kind of governance that was going to have on their fellow neighbors, because, after all, we're called to love our neighbor as ourselves and we're called to sacrifice on behalf of our neighbors, then Christians really would control the direction of this country and the future of this country.

[00:28:34] And again, most of the founders, not all of them, but most of the founders believed that the cultivation of public virtue, values, morality were essential. Some even were very clearly saying that this republic would not work without a moral basis. And so it seems to me that what we need to do, Troy, is come back to what you talk about, a generational perspective and even a biblical perspective and recognize that whether you voted today or not,

[00:29:04] after tonight and tomorrow, we have a very important question, and that is what kind of legacy and what kind of country are we going to leave for our children and grandchildren? And that's, of course, why you wrote this piece in the first place. Yeah, that's exactly right. And I often think sometimes, too, I mean, it's extremely important. I hope people get out and vote today. I hope they exercise that civic responsibility, that duty we have,

[00:29:34] as well as that privilege that those of us who traveled extensively around the world, we know it's not in every country. It's not in every area. And so we have a real opportunity and a privilege here. But it doesn't stop today with just this vote. We're really called to be involved in the process and the civic process at our local level, state level, and such throughout the year because it's the policies and the allocations

[00:30:01] and things that are set by the government that really do set the direction of this government. And, look, you don't have to look, I talk about this, any farther than the national debt to realize that what we have done is not pass on prosperity to the next generations, but we've actually consumed the prosperity of future generations. Well, again, that's one of the things I did want to talk about. It turns out, just as, if you will, an accident of programming,

[00:30:29] I record my commentaries way ahead of time. And my commentary tomorrow is on the American Dream. And it's based upon the fact that Investopedia has done a calculation saying, what would it take for the average American to achieve the American Dream? And they use a lot of milestones and conclude that most Americans aren't going to have that ability. And that brings us back to this issue of stewardship, stewardship of government spending, stewardship of our own financial resources,

[00:30:55] but also the stewardship of the legacy we're going to leave for the next generation. And we have squandered some of those resources. And so it seems to me that from the pulpits of America, certainly in the broadcast through NRB and others, we should be addressing those very important issues. And yet that is something that we need to begin to do. And that, again, is one of the reasons and one of the themes running through your particular article.

[00:31:23] Yeah, and you're exactly right. Right. And it really is, I think, up to the churches and the Christian communicators of this country to really call us back to that duty, that service that we have to those future generations. And not only is it a stewardship issue, but I also think it's just even a basic issue of morality and the fact that we're stealing from the future for today.

[00:31:48] And I think really more Christians need, more pastors need to talk about this to their congregations. Christians need to talk to this to their audiences. But it's really going to take us to go back to those biblical principles, that foundation. As you said, you have the John Adams quote there, that moral and religious people, that moral tethering is what holds us and concerns us about future generations and what legacy are we passing on to them.

[00:32:16] Are we passing on the same freedoms or greater freedoms and greater opportunities? I'm going to take a break, but when we come back, I want to talk about that because at one point you do talk about the fact that pastors and Christian leaders should address these issues, but they also know that there's a lot of pressure to avoid some of the controversy. And whether we're talking about, as we've already talked about, religious liberty or talking about economic opportunity, talking about the indebtedness

[00:32:45] of the fact that we seem to have almost a K-shaped economy. Some are doing very well and others are not doing well in part because of the devalued dollars because we're spending more than we're taking in or the importance of building up strong families, having healthy communities, really having the church become light in a dark world. We're going to talk about that. And during the break, I would encourage you to go to our website, pointofview.net. You're going to find a few things about Troy A. Miller,

[00:33:14] and I would encourage you to click on that. Also, you will see this article, What Will We Leave Our Children? The American Dream Demands More Than Comfort. We come back, we're essentially going to focus a little bit of time just on those of you that are in positions of leadership. Whether you're a pastor, an elder, a deacon, a Sunday school teacher, maybe you're just a leader in your own family. That's very important as well. What can we do to pass on this legacy to the next generation?

[00:33:43] We'll continue that conversation with Troy A. Miller right after this. You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Back for a few more minutes, let me just mention that some of the resources that we've made available here at Point of View, one of those is One Nation Under God,

[00:34:10] and that is one that we have made available in the past, a biblical view on patriot preachers, and then a biblical view on America's founding. And again, I wanted to spend some time talking with him about what pastors can do, but certainly you can read this piece because he goes into some detail about the fact that if nothing else, we've become accustomed to inheriting some of the freedoms,

[00:34:34] and as a result, we have forgotten how hard it took for us to achieve those freedoms. I mean, many generations, for example, endured persecution, extraordinary hardship to secure religious liberty. Today, Christians sometimes hesitate to express their convictions, he says, about doing so might cost them their reputation or their influence or their standing within their circles.

[00:34:59] We should consider what that reveals about, if nothing else, understanding sacrifice. So he makes some very strong points about that. He points out that pastors and Christian leaders know the pressure to avoid controversy. Biblical teaching can offend sometimes cultural sensibilities, challenge prevailing assumptions, or invite criticism. Yet, if we see in Hebrews 4, 12,

[00:35:23] that it reminds us that the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. So, if nothing else, he reminds us also that we are celebrating, as I just pointed out with some of these booklets, 250 years of our history since the Declaration of Independence, and it seems like it is a time for us to rekindle some of that enthusiasm, some of that courage, and some of those actions as well.

[00:35:50] But I think it's also important to recognize that in this article, it cites the latest president of the Southern Baptist Convention, who's really called on pastors to step up and really begin to address some of these issues, even during this midterm election. He goes on to point out, this scripture was never intended to conform to the prevailing opinions of the culture,

[00:36:15] but it was really designed to penetrate the hearts and conscience of those who hear it. Also, the temptation, I think, sometimes to soften the message, or to avoid difficult subjects, or to preserve comfort through silence. Nevertheless, we have not been successful as the body of Christ when we've tried to make faith comfortable. It's really important for us to proclaim biblical truth without compromise,

[00:36:44] equipping believers to live faithfully, and preparing the next generation to understand the convictions entrusted to them. And if nothing else, again, let's recognize that we're having these elections, and after tomorrow, whoever is elected, whoever is defeated, whatever happens in this country, the elections were not going to determine whether or not parents teach their children the value of freedom, or pastors are not going to have to get an up or down vote

[00:37:14] on whether or not they should faithfully proclaim scripture, and Christians should not be willing to just simply settle for comfort. Sometimes it's going to require Christian sacrifice for the next generation, and to not be so tied to the day-to-day, and not begin to think about what we are going to be doing in the future. And those are responsibilities, he points out, should not be delegated to Washington,

[00:37:41] nor do they disappear when an election ends. The American dream, as he says, was never meant to be a purely personal arrangement or private guarantee that each of us in our own lifetime could claim life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. For ourselves alone, it was always a longer and larger promise, and that is a commitment to build and keep a country in which those same freedoms and opportunities will remain available to the generations who follow.

[00:38:10] So if nothing else, he goes on to say, we enjoy the possibility of that dream because early Americans, what, treated it as something worth protecting beyond their own lifetimes. We understood that the real measure of the work was not only what they could enjoy, but what they left standing for those who had yet not arrived. And in this sense, the dream was never finished in a single generation. It was entrusted again and again to the next.

[00:38:35] Very good piece by Troy Miller, and again, I would commend it to you. Let me also mention, since we are talking about the American dream tomorrow, I will be, of course, talking about my commentary, which I required maybe the end of the election to talk about, because, as I point out, one of the themes during the election this year was affordability. And as you have heard me mention before, but I mentioned in this commentary,

[00:39:05] the writers at Investopedia do a calculation of the true cost to actually achieve the American dream. And this last year, they estimated the American dream would cost more than $5 million. And they come to that conclusion by calculating the cost of eight milestone milestones, owning a house, buying new cars, raising two children, and sending them to college,

[00:39:32] retiring, paying for health care, having a wedding, owning pets, and taking a yearly vacation. Now, some of us might not see that as part of the American dream, but it's the criteria, the milestones they've used in the past. And this is something where they begin to calculate this. And once they do, they recognize that that $5 million figure, which would be over a lifetime, is not enough.

[00:39:59] If you take the single wage earner, that individual falls short. Again, if I could quote from them, a full-time worker with a bachelor's degree earns a median of about $3.6 million from age 25 to 64. This is based on a reasonable analysis, if you will, of the Census Bureau data. Even if you add Social Security retirement to that, the worker never really reaches that amount.

[00:40:26] And so, in some respects, you can see why there has been this frustration. I think some of it will surface tonight as we look at some of the results from the election, even though, as I've tried to point out on these particular programs over the last couple of days, that we really do have a number of victories. As again, I would point you to the closing argument on the election that we've posted and some of the paradoxes that Victor Davis Hanson even talks about.

[00:40:55] It is, I think, a sad commentary that many times voters say, well, what have you done for me recently? Forgetting about no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, and a variety of other issues that have actually provided individuals with more money in their pockets, more money in their purse, in their wallet, and nevertheless, vote against the individuals that have provided some of that.

[00:41:23] So we will be following some of that tonight. And let me just mention that tomorrow we will have Liberty McCarter and Merrill Matthews during the rest of the week. We will also do some evaluation on our Friday. I think we have Chelsea and I think Merrill Matthews and a variety of other individuals that will be joining us either in studio or by phone. And so we'll do our best to try to give you as best of coverage as possible. But as we wind down for today,

[00:41:53] let me just mention again that this is going to be a significant election. It's going to be a close election, I think, on a couple of cases, which is one of the reasons why my commentary yesterday was on close elections. My commentary today reminding you even at the presidential election, some of these elections have been close. And so we're going to be watching some of the results, knowing full well that when we gather together tomorrow, we may not have a full accounting,

[00:42:22] but we'll do our best to try to give you an overview on what has taken place and to begin to look to the future of what that's going to mean for this country and what it means for your faith, your family, and your freedom. That's all we have for today. I hope that you appreciated some of the conversation that we've had with a couple of our guests. If you'd like to know more about them, you can go to the website, pointofview.net. If you'd like to listen to it again, you can, of course, download the podcast. And, of course, you can find all of the materials that we've made available.

[00:42:51] All of it available at our website at pointofview.net. And, most importantly, I want to thank Megan for help engineering the program. Derek, thank you for producing the program. See you back here tomorrow right here on Point of View. It almost seems like we live in a different world from many people in positions of authority. They say men can be women

[00:43:21] and women men. People are prosecuted differently or not at all depending on their politics. Criminals are more valued and rewarded than law-abiding citizens. It's so overwhelming, so demoralizing. You feel like giving up. But we can't. We shouldn't. We must not. As Winston Churchill said to Britain in the darkest days of World War II, never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never. Never yield to force.

[00:43:51] Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. And that's what we say to you today. This is not a time to give in, but to step up and join Point of View in providing clarity in the chaos. We can't do it alone, but together, with God's help, we will overcome the darkness. Invest in Biblical clarity today at pointofview.net or call 1-800-347-5151

[00:44:21] pointofview.net and 800-347-5151 Point of View is produced by Point of View Ministries.