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PHIL ROBERTSON | The Story Behind The Blind (Ep. 506)

September 28, 2023 45m 51s Full transcript available
PHIL ROBERTSON | The Story Behind The Blind (Ep. 506)
0:00 / 45m 51s
In this episode, Kyle Thompson sits down with Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the Robertson family and star of Duck Dynasty, to discuss his new movie 'The Blind,' which chronicles his tumultuous life before finding Christ. Phil shares his raw journey of redemption and the importance of spreading the gospel, emphasizing that no one is beyond the reach of God's grace.
Transcript
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1:18 This is "Undaunted Life" a man's podcast.
1:21 I'm your host, Kyle Thompson.
1:23 Let's get into it.
1:24 All right, guys.
1:25 Dave, we've got a special return guest to the podcast.
1:27 He is the one and only Phil Robertson, so he is a professional hunter, businessman, and
1:32 reality TV star.
1:33 He is the patriarch of the great American family, the Robertson's.
1:36 He is also the founder of the company Duck Commander, and he is featured prominently
1:39 on one of the biggest reality TV shows of all time, Duck Dynasty.
1:43 He's also authored a bunch of books, a bunch of bestsellers like Happy Happy Happy, the theft
1:48 of America's soul, Jesus' politics, and then his book Uncanceled, which is what he talked
1:52 about the last time he was on this.
1:53 But the big reason why we have him back on the show is because there is a brand new movie
1:58 out right now.
1:59 So if you're listening to this on time, it is out right now as in today.
2:02 It's out today called "The Blind."
2:04 So this is a movie about his life.
2:06 It's not a documentary.
2:07 It's like a full feature-length film about his life and the things that he experienced
2:13 growing up, but the thing about this movie is I'm so thankful to his team for sending
2:17 me an advanced screener so that I could watch it, is the movie itself is really, really
2:25 rough.
2:26 And I don't mean like the acting or anything like that.
2:28 Like it covers the roughest parts of Phil Robertson's life, because if you know anything
2:32 about Phil Robertson, he wasn't a Christian his entire life.
2:35 He, for big parts of his life, was a horrible husband, a horrible guy in general, certainly
2:40 a terrible father, and this movie kind of sits in that time period of his life when he
2:46 was being horrible at all these things and it kind of details how he find, how he found
2:51 Christ or how Christ found him, however you want to describe it, and it really gets into
2:55 the nitty gritty.
2:56 The thing about it is this is a faith-based film I guess you could call it that, but it
2:59 doesn't feel like one.
3:00 And by that, I mean, it's actually good.
3:03 The acting is really actually pretty good.
3:05 The storyline is really gritty.
3:08 It isn't one of those movies where it's like it's a little bit edgy, but it's all about
3:11 this kind of weird thing on the back end and kind of this weird goofy ending.
3:15 It's very, very raw.
3:17 It's family appropriate, but it is raw and it's really, really rough.
3:20 And so I actually had the opportunity about a month ago, whenever I was down in Louisiana
3:25 to film for their show, unashamed, we did a couple of episodes for their show and then
3:30 Phil just hung around the studio afterwards and he and I just sat down and had a chat.
3:34 And so we turned it into an interview.
3:36 And so what you'll notice about this interview today is we don't talk about the blind like,
3:40 you know, you would talk during a marketing interview.
3:42 So what was it like, you know, being a part of this?
3:45 And what about the script and what about this and that?
3:47 Every time I think I'm going to have a certain type of conversation with Phil Robertson,
3:51 it goes completely a different way, whether I'm recording it or not.
3:54 And so I just lose all expectations and I just flow.
3:59 I walked into this time period with him with no questions prepared.
4:02 I don't even know if I had like a notepad down in case I got an idea to write it down.
4:07 So this is kind of a free flowing conversation.
4:09 You'll even notice towards the end, you kind of feel like it's wrapping up and then we kind
4:12 of ramp up again before we actually close it out, but I just feel absolutely tickled to
4:16 death to be Phil Robertson's friend, to have him, you know, tell me some of the things
4:21 that he's told me in private just about, you know, his ministry and my ministry and how
4:25 they connect and just the entire Robertson family, whatever they seem like on television, they're
4:30 the same way in person.
4:32 There's some of the nicest, most down home people that you could ever meet, you know,
4:36 Al Robertson hosted me at his house while I was out there, you know, earlier this summer.
4:41 And it's just always great to spend some time with those folks.
4:44 And it's something that I look forward to every summer going down there and spending
4:47 a little time with them.
4:48 So I'm so happy to bring the second interview with Phil Robertson to you.
4:51 So without further ado, let's get into it.
4:55 So Phil, normally I would say welcome back to on Don the Life of Man's podcast, but doesn't
4:59 seem super appropriate because I'm sitting in your studio in your like duck shop and
5:04 all that.
5:05 So what should I say here at the very beginning?
5:08 Well, we just need to remember that all of us are sinners and one day we're all going
5:18 to die physically.
5:21 Yeah.
5:22 So when we read this material, thousands of years ago, the Old Testament, starting with
5:32 Genesis, there come a time when Jesus will crush Satan and everybody says, when's that
5:44 going to be?
5:45 So Matthew starting from the first sentences in the Bible, the whole Old Testament is saying
5:55 to us all, Jesus is coming.
5:59 Jesus is coming.
6:00 When you get to the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you're jumped off of the
6:06 Malachi.
6:07 God hadn't said a word in 400 years.
6:10 And all of a sudden people look up and say, whoa, who is that?
6:15 To get him here, Jesus is coming.
6:19 Then Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus is here.
6:24 He's here.
6:25 The kingdom is near.
6:27 He brought that with him.
6:29 So we read after Jesus is here, we say, who was he?
6:36 So we read the verses from Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, all of them say the same thing.
6:43 Jesus came to die, to be buried, and raised from the dead, all of them say the same thing.
6:51 So if you want to find out about Jesus, just read the last two pages in Matthew, Mark,
6:56 Luke, and John, and you got him, you got him, and there he is.
7:01 When he is saying, when the Apostle Paul is talking about what happened to him, here's
7:09 what he said.
7:10 I thank Christ Jesus, this is his first Timothy, chapter 1, verse 12, I thank Christ Jesus,
7:16 our Lord, who has given me, he came now, the Apostle Paul, during the time Jesus is here.
7:24 But that's a prelude going into the Apostle Paul, just one man's life.
7:31 I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful.
7:39 He was going around having people stoned to death for their belief, and he stood there
7:45 and watched the whole thing, men, women, and children.
7:48 This was one bad dude, the Apostle Paul, Saul.
7:54 He said, he's given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service.
8:02 Even though, when some of you say, I don't know, my life is in shambles, I'm not worth,
8:09 that's what he's saying.
8:11 He wasn't worth it either.
8:13 Even though I was a blasphemer and a persecutor, killing men, women, and children, and a violent
8:21 man.
8:22 I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.
8:28 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that
8:35 are in Christ Jesus, the one he had been getting up and persecuting with everybody he saw and
8:41 having people killed.
8:43 Here's a trustworthy saying, the deserves full acceptance, Christ Jesus came into the
8:47 world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.
8:52 So here's the worst sinner who wrote most of the New Testament, and his background was
8:58 horrendous.
9:00 But for that very reason, I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, I ran
9:08 around for 28 years saying, I've got to be the worst, no good, no count person.
9:15 I was singing the blues that the Apostle Paul was, and when I read what the Apostle Paul
9:21 was guilty of, it's amazing.
9:25 But I said, boy, the 28 years that I wasted on the front end of this, I could somebody
9:35 love me.
9:36 I'm sorry, I lowdown heathen like myself.
9:39 It helped me to see that the one who wrote most of the New Testament was in the same shape
9:46 I was in.
9:47 And that's got to be comforting because part of the reason why we're talking today is because
9:53 about the movie The Blind, that is as of the release of this episode is going to be out
9:59 for people to watch.
10:00 And you mentioned to me at your house this morning, you're kind of a little bit embarrassed
10:05 that, okay, here's this movie.
10:06 It doesn't detail the rise of a little more than a little bit, but this is what I would
10:11 say.
10:12 You know, you would think, okay, this is going to be a movie about the creation of this duck
10:17 call empire.
10:18 And that's not what it is.
10:19 That's like a fraction of the movie.
10:21 The movie is about you and Miss Kay and specifically you and your story to Christ.
10:25 But the thing is, the film does not ignore the really, really dark things that was happening
10:32 in your life at those times.
10:33 And so while I can understand how you would say, hey, that's embarrassing, the rawness
10:40 and the realness and the authenticity of that message is what resonates because there are
10:44 people feeling, you know this, you've done this and you've let a lot of people to Christ.
10:49 They will think that their level of depravity is unique, that they've done stuff that Christ's
10:54 blood couldn't possibly cover.
10:57 And that that's probably the redeeming thing about watching the film, but the film is fantastic.
11:01 So if you like movies, yeah, cinematography is great.
11:04 You know, the acting is fantastic.
11:06 And the gal that played Miss Kay as an adult was tremendous just she nails it.
11:12 But talk to me a little bit more about the message that you wanted to get by because you
11:16 are kind of laying yourself bare.
11:18 I mean, it's not you in the movie, but it is your life that you're laying bare for the
11:22 world to see and judge.
11:24 If you went back 2000 years, if you go back 2000 years, couple of texts, the acts of the
11:32 sinful nature are obvious.
11:36 It's a movie about how obvious it becomes the acts of the sinful nature.
11:44 Sexual immorality, guilty as charge, impurity, guilty as charge on my part, debauchery, idolatry,
11:52 witchcraft, hate, I don't think I ever got into that, hatred there, discord, yell, jealousy
11:58 a lot, fits of rage over and over, selfish ambition, yeah, dissensions, factions and envy
12:06 drunkenness.
12:07 Oh my goodness, I've been commode, I can drunk some up and the like, I warn you as I did
12:13 before that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
12:17 So I'm 28.
12:19 That's my resume.
12:21 And I'm like, good night when I'm reading these texts.
12:26 I said, Jesus, I said, it sounds too good to be true.
12:33 You mean all this can be blotted out, but I didn't know at the time, but the fruit of
12:40 the spirit that you receive when you are converted, you die to sin, you're buried in a poodle
12:47 water and up you come.
12:49 Well, up from the grave here rose, the fruit.
12:55 That's obvious what this information is.
12:58 Now when the red day run up on me, they see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
13:08 faithfulness, gentleness, self control, against such things, there is no law.
13:15 I didn't know that.
13:17 So I started out by saying, from the guy who told me, he showed me that, I said, good night
13:26 I live in.
13:27 I think it's too good to be true.
13:30 All my sins blotted out guaranteed to be raised from the dead, that's what you get.
13:38 I'm like, it's free.
13:41 Yeah, so when I came to Jesus, I was a humble man, and I've made it my goal to be that way
13:53 when I run up on others.
13:55 So now if you lined them up all the way down to the river, where I live right next to the
14:02 river when the backwater is up, I live in the river, but taking people out there, giving
14:08 them that message, and praying for them, and taking them to the river, and baptizing them.
14:15 From the time I was 28, I'm now 77, and we steal or at it.
14:20 We steal or at it.
14:21 Same message, same Jesus, same response.
14:25 We love them.
14:26 We look for the fruit of the Spirit coming forth from their lives.
14:31 So now I went from a rank-heaven to a follower of Jesus, and boy is following Jesus a lot
14:39 better than living a sinful life.
14:43 Is it far better?
14:44 Well, let's actually talk about that, because this is a half a century of being a disciple
14:49 of Christ, not just being a Christian, because that's kind of a nebulous term that you can
14:52 self-define, whatever, but you're a disciple of Christ.
14:55 You're digging into the Word.
14:57 That was the comment I made about our first conversation on my show last year or whenever
15:01 that was.
15:02 Scripture just kind of comes out of you.
15:04 It's like sweat.
15:05 It just comes out of your pores.
15:06 Like you don't even have to think about it.
15:07 You just go from thing to thing.
15:08 But Phil, when some people have been Christians for a long time, they think it's like they
15:14 lose the thread on what the gospel is.
15:17 They get to this point where it's like, okay, yeah, all I have to do is reach out and God's
15:22 going to save me, and I make that decision, and I'm going to repent, and blah, blah, blah.
15:25 But then the further they get away from that moment, that extreme moment, as is depicted
15:30 in the blind, they think they've got to add to it that there's something that they can
15:35 do to make the gospel sweeter somehow.
15:39 And so I guess for you, the thing that I'm so thankful for you is you're in your sage
15:44 stage, but you have not turned the lights out, because there are people that get to your age,
15:49 your stage of, you know, in your fifth decade going into your sixth decade of serving Christ.
15:54 And they think God's done with me.
15:56 It is what it is, but you're still pouring into the younger generations, whether that
16:01 be 60s, 50s, 40s, 30s, where I am.
16:05 But how do you kind of keep sight of, hey, I don't have to do anything extra.
16:09 The message is not complicated.
16:11 The message is right here, and it's that simple.
16:13 I'm not a Bible scholar at all.
16:16 I just have read enough in the Bible to see that finally there is relief and forgiveness,
16:24 and knowing God is there, that He loves you.
16:27 He'll get you out of here alive.
16:29 I'll look at that and I'll say, man, what you get out of it is everything, everything.
16:37 So just think about it.
16:41 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
16:44 If He didn't, there's no hope.
16:48 There's no chance for us to do anything, goodness, madness, that doesn't make any difference.
16:52 So we live in a culture, listen to this, this is a culture that's come on the scene.
16:59 It is now a pile of rubble, the Roman Empire.
17:04 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness
17:09 of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.
17:14 Since what may be known about God is plain to them.
17:18 But my job is to make it plain to them, the truth about God.
17:26 Since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, His eternal power, divine nature,
17:32 have been clearly seen.
17:35 All you have to do is look, being understood from what's been made so that men are without
17:41 excuse.
17:42 Although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their
17:47 thinking came futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
17:50 I've been there.
17:53 The Roman Empire was there by the way too.
17:57 Foolish hearts were darkened, although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.
18:02 The exchange, the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man,
18:07 birds, animals, and reptiles.
18:10 Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity
18:16 for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
18:20 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie.
18:23 They worship and serve created things rather than the Creator.
18:28 Just look at this system, a whole nation that's now a pile of rubble.
18:34 You say, "What happened to it?"
18:37 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lust.
18:42 In their women exchange natural relations for unnatural ones, same way the men abandoned
18:47 natural relations with women.
18:48 They were inflamed with lust for one another.
18:51 Men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the deep penalty
18:57 for their perversion.
18:59 There's a price to be paid to all nations.
19:02 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, I did that
19:08 for 28 years.
19:10 He gave them over to a depraved mind.
19:13 I've been there to do what ought not to be done.
19:16 I've been there.
19:18 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity.
19:24 They're full of envy, murder, arrogant, and boastful.
19:28 They invent ways of doing evil, disobey their parents, their senseless, faithless, heartless,
19:35 and ruthless.
19:36 And you see that in that movie they made.
19:40 They tried to be like that, be like a me, but it's a movie to show people my sins.
19:48 So when you think about it, senseless, faithless, heartless, and ruthless, how in the world
19:54 do you ever end up senseless, faithless, no God, heartless, ruthless, although they know
20:04 God writes us decreed that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue
20:09 to do these very things, but they also approve of them.
20:14 Well, along comes the gospel in the middle of that worldwide.
20:18 So my job is to love my neighbor, share with him Jesus, him crucified, buried, and raised
20:27 from the dead, re-enact that through faith, repentance, and they're born again.
20:35 And for everyone born again, my man, it's worth it.
20:40 Last week, two did that.
20:43 You say, "Are you baptized in them every week, every week?"
20:47 Somebody shows up.
20:49 My job is to reach out to preach the gospel, love my neighbor.
20:56 That's how I show I love him.
20:58 So they can curse me with the naysayers.
21:01 That's all right.
21:02 Let's just take the ramifications from following Jesus.
21:05 I don't hold it against him.
21:07 And we're living in a culture where a lot of human beings are even screwed up between
21:21 what they are and how they operate.
21:24 So our job is to love them.
21:26 I don't hate them.
21:27 I reach out to them.
21:29 I pull them to Jesus and I wait till the next one.
21:32 And it's been ongoing literally ever since I was 28.
21:37 So I'll be doing this as long as I'm able.
21:41 And when I'm done here on the earth, out I go.
21:45 Hey guys, real quick.
21:46 I've talked about this on the show before, but I've been experimenting with the idea
21:49 of getting on the carnivore diet.
21:51 And so I've got a good buddy Chad Robis show who's been on the podcast that he's been on
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21:56 He's seen a lot of great success.
21:57 But the big thing that I've been worrying about is like, where do I get high quality
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22:01 Like where exactly can I get beef where I can trust that's coming from reputable source
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23:52 Well, until I think it's important as well, you've kept your message simple.
23:57 And you say that a lot in your presentation.
23:59 I remember last year when I was here when we were going through Romans 1, which you just
24:02 read from, I read this Malcolm Muggerage quote, which is, until at last, having educated
24:07 himself into imbecility, having educated himself into imbecility and polluted and
24:13 rubbed himself into stupidification, he killed over a weary, battered, old, pranasaurus and
24:19 became extinct.
24:20 We have so many people that are, because me, I'm drawn to these philosophies.
24:25 And I want to study the Klom Cosmological Argument.
24:27 I want to study, study, you know, teleology and eschatology and different views on this
24:32 and that and amylenialism versus post-malenialism and all.
24:36 I think all that's great.
24:37 But sometimes for Christians and on Christians, you lose the thread of, well, what does the
24:41 gospel say?
24:42 And it's not quite so complicated.
24:44 Yep.
24:45 So, look, here's Jesus and he's going to give us a marching order.
24:51 And here's what he says, just after you get to book a Matthew, God hasn't said a word
25:00 to the human race for 400 years.
25:03 You can read about in chapter 27, right at the end of Matthew, the crucifixion, the death
25:10 of Jesus is the next statement, the burial of Jesus, the resurrection.
25:18 Just after the resurrection, here's what Jesus said, "All authority in heaven and on
25:23 earth has been given to me.
25:26 All authority in heaven and earth is a lot of authority."
25:30 Yep.
25:31 "Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations."
25:35 That's what I do, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
25:40 That's what I do.
25:41 And teach them to obey everything I've commanded you.
25:45 And surely, Jesus is talking, "I will be with you always to the very end of the age."
25:51 So in my chapter 12, Romans 12 is a list of different ways we can serve God.
25:58 Well, in that context, my job is to preach the gospel until they put me in the grave.
26:06 So let's talk a little bit more about that, because you mentioned earlier, and I love the
26:09 way you put it, the last two pages of every gospel.
26:12 So earlier this year, you and I had a phone conversation before I went out and spoke before
26:17 the prisoners at Lewisburg Prison in Pennsylvania.
26:20 And I know that you had done a lot of, you know, you had spoken to prisons and I think
26:24 you were at Angola.
26:26 And I knew from reading in one of your books, I can't remember which one, but how you talked
26:30 about to these men, like, "Hey, you can be under lock and key, but you can still be free."
26:35 And I was feeling the weight of that speech, Phil, because it's like, I didn't know what
26:41 it was, but it was just, it was just different than going to speak at a men's event or at
26:44 some church or some, you know, luncheon.
26:47 And so you and I talked on the phone.
26:50 You gave me some really good advice.
26:51 It was basically along the lines of this conversation, which is, "Hey, just keep it simple.
26:55 It's a gospel message, just whatever."
26:57 So I want to, I haven't talked to you since then, so I wanted to kind of give you an update
27:00 as to, as to what happened there.
27:02 So I go out there and, you know, I spoke to a men's event, but then I also did two speeches
27:09 at the prison.
27:10 One of them was inside the walls.
27:12 And you know, I'm interacting with murders, rapists, pedophiles, burglars, armed robbers,
27:20 like the worst of the worst.
27:21 A lot of these men, they don't have the death penalty in Pennsylvania.
27:23 So rounded by iron.
27:25 Right.
27:26 And a lot of these men will never get out.
27:28 They will die inside of Lewisburg prison.
27:31 And again, I'm walking around the, the, the different, the cell block and I'm just kind
27:35 of out there.
27:36 And it was funny because later I was like, man, I was in some compromising positions,
27:39 but it's like, imagine if that was the way I went out, you know, getting killed in prison
27:43 where I was sharing the gospel with people.
27:45 It's like there are worse ways to go out.
27:47 So as I'm going through the cell block, I walked past one cell and there were three men
27:53 inside the cell that were dressed as women, right?
27:56 So they had makeup, long hair, and they were presenting themselves as women and without
28:00 getting too crass.
28:02 They were doing things to remain alive inside of prison and to, you know, I guess thrive
28:08 inside of prison by using their bodies and we'll, we'll kind of go from there.
28:12 So we get to the presentation and you don't have to go to the presentation.
28:16 It's just something you could do.
28:18 Yeah.
28:19 And so this place fills up its gorgeous place, Lewisburg prison.
28:23 And one of the guys, one of the guys that dressed up, you know, as a, as a tranny, he
28:27 was there.
28:29 And there's a part of my speech where I talk about what it means to be a man.
28:31 And I'm like, a man is a male that cultivates spiritual, mental and physical resilience daily.
28:36 And then I even say, and I looked right at him, I feel that it's kind of crazy.
28:39 I have to say a man is a male as the beginning of my definition, right?
28:44 And then I go through and I'll get back to that particular guy here in a second.
28:48 But my big thing is I go to the last two pages of Luke, Phil, and I talk about, and
28:53 I read this to the guys, talk about pilot delivering Jesus to be crucified.
28:57 I talk about the crucifixion.
28:59 I talk about the death of Jesus.
29:00 I talk about him being buried.
29:02 And then I talk about the resurrection, but I left the section out for these men.
29:08 And whenever I went back and I did this for, for effect, and I think it had the desired
29:12 effect, and one thing just as a side note, I always feel the pressure when I'm going
29:16 to speak somewhere because I'm, I'm really type A. I want to, you know, hit all my points
29:19 and I'm going to be so smart and funny and like, you know, that kind of thing.
29:22 This was the first time in my professional speaking career where I was like, I'm just
29:25 going to open up my face and God's, you know, I'm going to do my part.
29:29 I'm going to have my notes and I'm going to be well prepared.
29:32 But you know, this is up to the Holy spirit.
29:34 Whatever he's going to do.
29:35 So I go back.
29:36 We're called to do that.
29:37 Absolutely.
29:38 Absolutely.
29:39 And you helped remind me of that when we talked on the phone, but I go back to Luke 23 and
29:44 then I read starting in verse 39 through 42, one of the criminals who were hanged railed
29:49 at him saying, are you not the Christ?
29:51 Save yourself and us.
29:53 But the other rebuked him saying, do you not fear God since you are under the same sentence
29:57 of condemnation?
29:59 And we indeed, justly for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds.
30:03 But this man has done nothing wrong.
30:05 And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
30:09 And he said to him, truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.
30:13 And I looked at these men and I set it up with some other things that is not important
30:17 for our discussion.
30:18 And I looked at these men, I said, some of you are never going to leave here.
30:22 You will die here.
30:23 Some of you will leave here after having spent decades paying off, paying your penance to
30:28 the people of Pennsylvania or wherever you did your crimes.
30:32 And then I just looked at him, I said, but even though you are under lock and key, you
30:36 can still be free.
30:37 You can be more free than the men that are walking around outside of this place.
30:43 And so that day, about three dozen men made a public declaration for their faith in Christ.
30:49 And it was just, it was overwhelming feel like I wish there was a baptismal there.
30:52 But like, I mean, they've, they spent the next several weeks, you know, figuring out
30:55 what these guys are going to do in their ministry and, you know, getting them baptized and
30:58 all that.
30:59 So I've watched the power of it for 50 years.
31:02 Well, and it's, it's crazy because I got to see the ripple effect that you've been
31:06 seeing for so long.
31:07 And it's, it's kind of like a drug where it's just like, you know, you want to get that
31:10 feeling again, but it's not for your aggrandizement, but it's for God's glory.
31:14 And so one of the best, most incredible and powerful moments in my life, I was so thankful
31:19 to have your help to kind of just get my mindset and my mind right before I went out there.
31:23 Well, about two weeks ago, before coming out here to see you, I get a package in the mail
31:27 that says, do not bend on it.
31:29 I was like, okay, what is this?
31:30 So I rip it open and there's a, I'll show a picture of it to you afterwards.
31:35 There's a, you know, a canvas about this big and it's a, you know, pencil drawing of praying
31:40 hands with a crown of thorns around the edge really well done.
31:45 And then I've turned it over to the back and it's a bunch of notes from the prisoners that
31:50 I spoke in front of at Lewisburg, prison in Pennsylvania.
31:54 And most of it was well wishes.
31:55 They're praying for me and my voice and my throat cause of, you know, my multiple throat
31:58 surgeries and, you know, praying for complete healing and all those things.
32:04 And then the chaplain reaches out to me and says, Hey, did, did you get that, you know,
32:08 thing in the mail?
32:09 Yeah, I did.
32:10 He goes, you get, you want to know who drew that?
32:12 It was that guy who was dressed up as a woman who came to my speech, made a public direct
32:17 declaration of faith in Christ.
32:19 He said from that day, he is not worn makeup.
32:22 He cut his hair.
32:24 He's coming to chapel.
32:25 Like he has completely changed.
32:28 And again, I say this in all humility, power of God, it is the power of God.
32:32 But in not there's, there's no, but it is the power of God.
32:36 It's just a reminder to me that that's not me.
32:40 I didn't do that.
32:41 Like he got me something and drew me something and gave it to me as a gift, which is a tremendous
32:45 blessing that I will cherish forever.
32:48 But all I did, Phil, was go in there and open my mouth and say what the book says.
32:54 Just remember you have been chosen as a ambassador for Jesus.
33:01 Our job is to preach the gospel, we love them.
33:12 Love is patient.
33:17 Love is kind.
33:20 It does not envy.
33:22 It does not boast.
33:24 It is not proud.
33:26 It is not rude.
33:28 It is not self-seeking.
33:31 It is not easily angered.
33:34 It keeps no record of wrongs.
33:39 Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
33:44 Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
33:52 Love never fails.
33:55 So as you go forward, my man, just remember that text right there, 1 Corinthians 13, because
34:02 it's the hardest thing for people to do is to love God and love their neighbor.
34:09 All one is asked to be done here by God, is to love Him and to love your neighbor.
34:16 How hard could it be?
34:19 You saw a man change.
34:22 Now the love of God is in his heart.
34:25 And that's why when you see that, you're seeing the power of God at work.
34:30 But you wouldn't think so from some old scraggly-looking character like me or you, my man.
34:35 No offense.
34:36 I don't take any offense to it.
34:38 I'm glad your voice is back.
34:40 What you do is use it judiciously, but never back off, stand back, just go ahead and preach
34:49 the gospel.
34:50 That's our job.
34:52 And when we find that six foot hold, it's just a temporary stay until we're out of here
34:59 alive.
35:00 It is the greatest that we ever told.
35:03 Well Phil, let's actually wrap with this.
35:07 There are a lot of people that listen to your show and also to my show.
35:11 And there are people that are, I don't know if it's better to say that they're on the
35:15 fence or they're at the precipice of faith.
35:18 And there's something that's holding them back and it could be a myriad of reasons.
35:21 Maybe they look at Christians and they're just a bunch of hypocrites or maybe it's
35:25 their own depravity and they can't see how God could possibly save a sinner as wretched
35:29 as them.
35:30 So if you would in your way as a simple guy with a scraggly beard, how about you lay out
35:35 the gospel for our audience and give them an invitation?
35:40 Mankind, they've sinned.
35:45 The whole of mankind has sinned and they're going to physically die.
35:51 Their job is to go forth, tell them about Jesus, that he loves them, that he has forgiven
36:00 their sins by his death.
36:02 He shed blood.
36:03 The blood of God was what our sins cost Jesus.
36:08 He willingly did that.
36:10 They buried him.
36:12 They're going to bury us.
36:14 Three days later he was resurrected.
36:18 And that's told to a human being and they say, I believe it, I believe it.
36:24 There's a way out of here.
36:25 I said, it's the only way out of here.
36:28 Think about a world where there is no way medically to beat death itself.
36:37 There's a six foot hole waiting on all of us.
36:39 There's a one way out, Jesus the Son of God, it took his death on a cross and the blood.
36:50 They buried him.
36:51 They're going to bury us.
36:54 He was resurrected.
36:56 He said, you want this action or what?
37:00 So it's not hard to understand at all.
37:03 It's the truth that sets people free from sin and from death.
37:10 So when they put their faith in Jesus, they're baptized in water.
37:14 They're buried.
37:15 It's Jesus saying, go make disciples, baptized them in the name of the Father, Son, Holy
37:19 Spirit.
37:20 I'll be with you to the end of the age.
37:22 So that's what my job and your job is.
37:26 We just present the gospel and whether they obey it or not, the next time we see them,
37:31 we present it again and again and again.
37:35 The worst it's been for us, which we're very fortunate, is that we're not killed early
37:41 in the process.
37:43 All these people you read about, all of the ones that Jesus sent forth, every one of them
37:48 but one died where we're killed over this.
37:51 So we actually, you and myself and others like us, that will help make as soldiers in
37:58 a battle when we'll go out and we have the message, the same message they had all these
38:04 years before.
38:06 It's the only way out.
38:07 It is good news, the gospel, that's what it means, good news.
38:12 So we're not going to back up, back down, or back off, we're just not going to do it.
38:18 We love our neighbor and we're going to tell them.
38:20 If they curse us, we just smile and go on to the next one.
38:25 So to the Christians in our audience, let that be an encouragement to you to never take
38:28 your foot off the gas and spreading the gospel and to the non-believers out there.
38:33 This is us imploring you.
38:35 You have to make a decision at some point.
38:37 You have to put your stake in the ground.
38:39 It's either Christ or yourself because as we go back even to Romans 1, Romans 1 is basically
38:45 God saying, "Okay, you can be God."
38:48 That's why they call this little bunch we've got here, the unashamed.
38:53 We're not ashamed of the gospel because it's the power of God for the salvation for everyone,
38:59 Jew or Gentile, for in the gospel a righteousness is revealed.
39:04 It's how to get out of here and live forever.
39:07 So you read these texts, I'm fired up about it, I'm glad I look back to when I was 28.
39:15 They didn't actually ask me what I do, the movie.
39:18 They just said they're going to do the movie, but I want everyone to remember.
39:22 It was not my idea to put my sorrow hide on the way, I don't even own a cell phone so
39:29 I can't look at what they're looking at and they said, "We're going to put you on the
39:34 big screen."
39:35 And I'm like, "Go ahead on."
39:38 I said, "If we can convert one because of the movie," I said, "I'll take it."
39:42 Well, I think that if we convert a hundred, I really can take it.
39:46 Yeah.
39:47 I think there will be a lot of people that will be saved by this and I know when you're a
39:50 humble guy and you're not big on compliments, but you have been an inspiration literally
39:54 to millions of believers.
39:56 You've helped convert a bunch of people.
39:58 You're an inspiration to a guy like me that's just trying to follow after the Lord in my
40:01 own way.
40:03 And I mean, you're a rock through which a lot of ministry says.
40:06 I was a commercial fisherman and we survived, I'd catch the fish out here in the river and
40:11 sell them.
40:12 And I told them a woman, I said, "I'm going to catch these fish and we're going to sell
40:16 them and we'll survive.
40:18 We won't have a lot of money, but we'll make it."
40:20 I said, "While I'm doing that, I'm going to figure out how much it cost me to go into
40:26 business and build my duck calls because I have this thing about listening to birds."
40:32 And I listened to what the sounds are making, "Pintails make one of the duck sounds."
40:38 Mallards or another with teals sounds like ball paint light here, different ones.
40:44 So I figured out how to sound like birds.
40:47 Well, who would have thought that would go out?
40:51 And I ended up a millionaire by building little devices that sound like birds.
40:59 So I look at it, I said, "The almighty has been with me.
41:04 He has, I never dreamed."
41:06 I was showing you a favor.
41:07 The first year, you know, we grossed about $8,000, I said, "Miss Kay, we're on our way."
41:13 And she said, "We're going to starve the death."
41:15 I said, "No, we're not."
41:16 So then the second year was 13, 5, and it was 22 gross sales in about 40 gross sales.
41:25 It hit 100,000 mark.
41:27 We were just shocked everybody running in every direction.
41:30 So I just looked up one day on top of it all and was blessed beyond my, I never dreamed.
41:38 Blessings would come from heaven itself, but I just kept preaching the gospel, kept preaching
41:42 the gospel.
41:43 The more I preached, the more duck calls we sold.
41:48 So I just looked up one day, I said, "Thank you, Lord.
41:51 I'm not going to stop telling everybody I can about you."
41:54 So now if you line them all up from the place down in the river, I tell them now, I say,
42:02 "Listen, you can go to a nice, warm pool of water, and there are no alligators or cotton
42:08 mouths.
42:10 Down on the river, there's both."
42:12 I said, "But so far no one's been bitten by a cotton mouth or inhaled by an alligator,
42:17 but the waters are safer up here in the city."
42:21 It's kind of like that old boy that won them movies.
42:24 He said, "You need to mount out and go out and get out of these mountains, Jeremiah Johnson,
42:30 and get out there and go to a town."
42:33 He said, "I've already been to a town."
42:36 So don't you think it's funny when people go back and think that you shouldn't have
42:40 been, "Hey, they thought you were crazy for not playing football anymore and look at
42:44 the life that you've been able to build and the ministry that you've been able to build
42:47 as well?"
42:48 As it turned out, I ended up being an ambassador for Jesus, which to me, that is, I'm an ambassador
42:57 for Jesus Christ.
42:59 So we all are, but so we just need to tell folks, no matter what shape they're in now, there's
43:05 better days ahead if you just accept Jesus' by faith, die to see and get it behind you,
43:12 get it in your rearview mirror, and your life will be so much better.
43:16 The ones that make the cut and come to see me years later, they say, "Remember me?"
43:22 And I'm like, they go back 20 years to 30, 40, and I can't remember all their names and
43:30 all their adventures.
43:31 I just go forward, they all might know who they are, so it's a field that keeps me out
43:38 there.
43:40 Loving God and loving your neighbor as it turns out is pretty tough but well worth it,
43:49 loving God and loving your neighbor.
43:51 Look what he's done for us.
43:52 We get out of here alive.
43:53 I mean, this thing, it's a serious thing.
43:56 It's quite the deal.
43:57 Yeah, we get out of here alive.
43:58 Well, the thing for you, Phil, is you've got a lot of gas left in the tank and you've
44:04 got a lot more gospel left to spread.
44:06 I'm just happy that you've taken a little bit of time to spread with us and I just wanted
44:09 to thank you to your face again for helping get me set up for those men at that prison
44:13 and that's something-
44:14 I wish you well.
44:15 I wish you that God will put his hand and he has on you as you march forward.
44:21 We understand together, brothers.
44:24 All right, thanks, Phil.
44:26 There you go, guys.
44:29 I hope you enjoyed my time with Phil Robertson.
44:30 But before we let you go, we are going to do a quick resilience boost.
44:31 Add unto the life.
44:32 Our mission is equipping men to push back darkness with content that forges, spiritual, mental
44:36 and physical resilience.
44:37 So the only thing I've got for you today is a link to the blind website.
44:40 So if you need to find a theater near you that is showing it and buy tickets for you, buy
44:43 tickets for your group or your church, whatever, you can go and check it out there.
44:47 Thank you guys so much for listening to this episode.
44:49 Wherever you're listening to this, please subscribe, rate and leave us a positive five-star
44:53 review.
44:54 Please come speak live at your event or on your podcast to shoot me an email to info@undonton.life.
44:59 That's I-N-F-O@undonton.life.
45:02 Follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook and check out our website for everything else,
45:05 including how to donate to keep more content like this coming your way.
45:08 Just go to www.undonton.life and also we want to thank the band Holy Name for allowing us
45:13 to use their music for our content.
45:15 The music on this podcast is our song Perpetua, which is off their self-titled debut album
45:20 on Face Down Records.
45:21 The links are in the description.
45:23 I'm your host, Kyle Thompson.
45:25 Remember, keep pushing back darkness, keep forging spiritual, mental and physical resilience.
45:31 Keep seeking the Lion of Judah.
Key quotes
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Phil Robertson
Mankind, they've sinned. The whole of mankind has sinned and they're going to physically die.
Phil Robertson
It's the truth that sets people free from sin and from death.
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