Latest / Virtuous Leaders with Dr. Johann D'Souza / Ep.55 - Alex Newman Shares Faith and Truth in Brave Christian Media | Liberty Sentinel | Faith Driven | Christian Journalism

Transcript

Ep.55 - Alex Newman Shares Faith and Truth in Brave Christian Media | Liberty Sentinel | Faith Driven | Christian Journalism · Virtuous Leaders with Dr. Johann D'Souza

• 0:00
  You're the CEO of Liberty Sentinel Media, you've spoken at
• 0:03
  Trump's Mar A Lago estate, you've been interviewed by Glenn
• 0:05
  Beck, you're on a Fox documentary, a lot of things.
• 0:08
  Can you give us a little bit of background on what you do?
• 0:11
  Well, thank you very much for having me.
• 0:13
  I guess primarily I consider myself a Christian journalist.
• 0:16
  Christian first journalist is just my, my day job, I guess, if
• 0:20
  you will, my mission while I'm here.
• 0:22
  And so I've always kind of been guided since I came to know the
• 0:24
  Lord by a verse that jumped out at me from Ephesians chapter 5.
• 0:28
  It's verse 11 talks about having no fellowship with the
• 0:31
  unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reproving them or
• 0:34
  exposing them depending on the translation.
• 0:36
  And so I, I, I think that really should be the mission of all
• 0:39
  true journalists is to. Can you repeat that quote?
• 0:42
  That was so good. Yeah, so it's Ephesians 511.
• 0:45
  It's I have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of
• 0:47
  darkness, but rather reprove them or some translations, use
• 0:50
  the word, expose them. And you know, so much of
• 0:54
  journalism today has just become like public relations, but real
• 0:57
  journalism is taking hidden information that powerful or or
• 1:01
  bad people don't want out there and putting it out there to the
• 1:03
  public so they can make better decisions.
• 1:05
  So I do that. I write books.
• 1:07
  I do a number of TV and radio programs that we produce through
• 1:10
  my company. Education is my passion.
• 1:13
  So I homeschool our six children alongside my wife.
• 1:17
  I serve as a senior fellow at Classical Conversations, written
• 1:21
  two books on education, and I do believe it's one of the most
• 1:25
  important battles, so that's why I spent so much of my time on
• 1:27
  this particular issue. Cool.
• 1:29
  What kind of successes have you experienced along the way?
• 1:33
  Well, I mean, I guess it depends on how you define success, You
• 1:37
  know, in terms of worldly success.
• 1:39
  I, I wouldn't say I've made, you know, huge amounts of money,
• 1:41
  which is one thing that, that the world cares a lot about.
• 1:44
  But I, I would argue, and, and this maybe sounds cliche or
• 1:47
  cheesy, but I would argue that my greatest successes are, are
• 1:50
  my family, right? My children, they're, they're
• 1:53
  growing up, as the Bible teaches, in the fear of the
• 1:56
  discipline, the nurture, the admonition of the Lord, trying
• 1:59
  to do as Proverbs 22 six says, teach them the way that they
• 2:01
  should go so that when they're old, they will not depart from
• 2:03
  it. And so, you know, I would argue
• 2:06
  that that's true success. We've got a little farm that's
• 2:10
  under construction right now. So as far as professional
• 2:13
  success, you know, I've received a lot of accolades.
• 2:15
  I've gotten awards and, you know, quite a few different
• 2:18
  awards. So we've sold a lot of books and
• 2:20
  we reach millions of people every year, but I think those
• 2:22
  things are all secondary to the more important things.
• 2:25
  And, and ultimately, and again, this might sound cliche or
• 2:28
  cheesy, but ultimately I'm not all that interested in accolades
• 2:32
  or, or praises from the world or from humans, although, you know,
• 2:36
  it's, it's nice. But I'm, I'm much more
• 2:38
  interested in the, the primary audience, which is of course, my
• 2:41
  creator and he has put me in, in my family.
• 2:46
  So I see that as my number one responsibility.
• 2:48
  But yeah, it's, it's been a really incredible journey.
• 2:51
  I've been able to speak with, you know, a lot of people.
• 2:54
  I've met President Trump, I've met our governor multiple times.
• 2:57
  I get to interact with, you know, members of the cabinet and
• 3:01
  foreign leaders. I get to go to UN conferences
• 3:03
  and ask questions of presidents and potentates and prime
• 3:06
  ministers. So there there certainly has
• 3:08
  been a lot of fun things along this incredible journey.
• 3:13
  Well done. So you're running a lot of
• 3:16
  different hustles going on your site, Liberty Sentinel, which is
• 3:18
  there in your background, there's number of different
• 3:21
  initiatives. Can you just walk us through how
• 3:24
  you built that up over time, what that journey looked like?
• 3:27
  Sure. Happy to do it.
• 3:28
  So it actually began in college. I got we, I was in journalism
• 3:32
  school and I was connected with other young people, and our
• 3:36
  primary interest was actually liberty.
• 3:37
  I still would have described myself back then as kind of a
• 3:40
  libertarian. And so I, I connected naturally
• 3:43
  with people who kind of shared my views on the role of
• 3:46
  government, the, the role of the individual and, and we had a
• 3:49
  good time. We, we set up Liberty Central
• 3:51
  media origin as a non profit. And our idea was that the, the
• 3:56
  quality of journalism that existed both on campus and in
• 3:59
  the broader community was absolutely atrocious.
• 4:02
  And, and I knew that from experience.
• 4:04
  I had been writing for a number of different publications,
• 4:07
  including the main newspaper owned by The New York Times,
• 4:09
  including the other local publications.
• 4:12
  And I got to see first hand that something was really, really
• 4:16
  lacking in the journalism department.
• 4:18
  You know it. It's one thing to try to be fair
• 4:20
  and balanced and, and include all perspectives.
• 4:23
  It's another thing to try to exclude all perspectives that
• 4:26
  don't fit the narrative. And unfortunately, that's what I
• 4:27
  witnessed. So we decided that a new
• 4:29
  publication needed to exist and we set about to do that.
• 4:33
  We called it the Liberty Sentinel of North Central
• 4:36
  Florida. And I was, it was a ton of fun.
• 4:39
  You know, we started off just a group of, I think we were like 6
• 4:42
  or 7 guys. And then from there we, we grew,
• 4:45
  we got more volunteers. We started off I think our first
• 4:48
  print run, I think we might have done 4000 copies.
• 4:51
  And we realized, wow, those went really, really quickly.
• 4:53
  We were distributing them through local businesses,
• 4:56
  through newspaper boxes that we had acquired.
• 4:58
  We were handing them out on campus and we ran out very, very
• 5:01
  quickly. So by the time we were done, we
• 5:02
  did that for about a year. By the time we were done, we
• 5:04
  were printing 15,000 copies of every edition.
• 5:07
  We were getting hundreds of thousands of views on our
• 5:09
  website. All of the local political
• 5:12
  leaders were banging down our door to have interviews and get
• 5:14
  in our paper. And so it, it taught me that the
• 5:17
  public is really hungry for truth.
• 5:20
  Eventually we we had irreconcilable differences.
• 5:22
  Me and the other folks running the newspaper, I, you know,
• 5:25
  became a Christian and moved in, I would say a more conservative
• 5:29
  leaning direction. Yeah, I'm still all about
• 5:31
  individual liberty, but just, you know, tempered with morality
• 5:34
  and, and recognizing that God's moral truths are superior to our
• 5:38
  perspectives. So we kind of went our different
• 5:40
  ways. I kept the company.
• 5:42
  I spent many years then writing for the new American magazine,
• 5:46
  which I started writing for when I was in college.
• 5:48
  It was the first national publication I became aware of
• 5:51
  where the truth could be published and so started doing
• 5:54
  that as a freelancer, moved over to to Europe overseas to be with
• 5:58
  my girlfriend who who very shortly thereafter became my
• 6:01
  wife and I started writing for diverse publications and kind of
• 6:04
  Liberty Sentinel Media just kind of stayed in the background.
• 6:07
  I kept the company up. I kept filing the the mandatory
• 6:10
  reports for the government and did a little bit of contracting
• 6:13
  work and consulting work through there.
• 6:15
  But as time went on, I realized that there really was a value to
• 6:19
  having my own operation rather than just contributing to other
• 6:22
  public. And I still contribute to a lot
• 6:23
  of other publications. I write for the Epic Times.
• 6:25
  I write for a lot of different publications out there.
• 6:27
  But I realized there was a value in having my own thing that I
• 6:30
  could control that I could do what I wanted with.
• 6:32
  And so when we came back to the United States, started getting
• 6:36
  more and more requests for, you know, could you do a radio show,
• 6:39
  could you do ATV show? Would you be willing to host a
• 6:41
  podcast, things like that. So we have gradually expanded
• 6:45
  and it's really grown very rapidly over the last few years.
• 6:47
  We've built up a a very significant newsletter now.
• 6:51
  And so just grateful for the opportunity to do all that in
• 6:54
  addition to the other things that I love.
• 6:56
  And you know, it's of course a lot of hard work.
• 6:58
  You know, nobody ever said that owning a business or running an
• 7:01
  operation was going to be easy, but it's very rewarding and it's
• 7:04
  incredible to just have of the the freedom and to be able to
• 7:07
  reach millions of people every year with what I consider to be
• 7:09
  important information. One of the purposes of this
• 7:13
  podcast is to inspire the next generation of virtuous leaders.
• 7:16
  What advice would you give to young person who's truth Seeker
• 7:20
  wants to have a bigger impact? Do you have a kind of like a
• 7:23
  blueprint or just general advice you could lay out for them?
• 7:27
  Well, the world will try to convince you that if you don't
• 7:31
  do what they tell you to do, you're going to be a failure.
• 7:36
  And, and I lived that in college, you know, oh, you, you
• 7:38
  have to go get a big corporate job.
• 7:40
  You know, you have to sit in a cubicle.
• 7:42
  You have to do things the way they've always been done.
• 7:45
  You have to compromise your principles if you want to work
• 7:47
  in this industry. And, and frankly, I refuse to
• 7:51
  accept that. Now I, I had some obvious, very
• 7:54
  significant advantages. I had parents who were willing
• 7:57
  to help me and stand by me. I had a girlfriend became wife
• 8:02
  who had a, a very good career. So I, I could afford to take a
• 8:05
  big risk and say, well, I'm not going to serve the man and I'm
• 8:08
  going to go out and, you know, do my own thing.
• 8:09
  And, and thankfully it worked out.
• 8:11
  Whether I would have been able to do that if I had not had, you
• 8:14
  know, that kind of backup plan there, if you will, I don't
• 8:17
  know. But what I would say to people
• 8:18
  is if the Lord doesn't build the house, they who labor, labor in
• 8:23
  vain. And so, you know, follow God,
• 8:26
  trust God. He won't lead you astray.
• 8:29
  The best way to discern his will is actually to read his word.
• 8:32
  So just open up your Bible and be in prayer and and don't
• 8:36
  listen to the voices that tell you you have to go against what
• 8:39
  you know to be right. And the reality is that if you
• 8:43
  follow what you should be doing, God will reward that.
• 8:46
  And that doesn't necessarily mean monetary rewards.
• 8:49
  That doesn't necessarily mean praise from men, but it means
• 8:53
  doing the right thing will be rewarded in in a very real and a
• 8:58
  very tangible way, not just being able to sleep good at
• 9:00
  night. But as the Bible itself says,
• 9:03
  you know, how much more important are you than birds,
• 9:04
  right? If God feeds the birds, he's
• 9:06
  going to take care of you. So don't worry about it.
• 9:08
  So I would say, you know, don't be afraid to take risks.
• 9:12
  Always try to keep the main thing, the main thing, right?
• 9:16
  If you're working to serve men, you're going to fall short.
• 9:20
  Men will always, we live in a fallen world, right?
• 9:22
  Men will always have other ideas.
• 9:26
  Men will always try to to lead you astray.
• 9:28
  And there are, of course, good people, as as the Bible says in
• 9:30
  many counselors, there is wisdom.
• 9:32
  So always good to listen to other people's ideas, listen to
• 9:35
  other people's opinions, but I, I would say just stand firm,
• 9:39
  stand firm on the truth and God will absolutely reward that.
• 9:42
  And what happens is people get inspired by that because like,
• 9:45
  wow, here's, here's a guy who isn't willing to compromise his
• 9:48
  principles to get ahead or to get a good job or to make a lot
• 9:51
  of money. And that inspires other people
• 9:53
  to do the same. And I promise you that the, the
• 9:56
  harvest is plentiful and the workers are few.
• 9:59
  So there's a lot of space on the field to to be doing important
• 10:03
  things. People do get inspired and
• 10:05
  that's exactly why you're on this show right now from the
• 10:08
  entrepreneurial side of things. Any advice?
• 10:13
  Yeah, I mean, there's a lot to be said there.
• 10:15
  I I, I would say relationships are critical, right?
• 10:18
  You want to form and nurture relationships not in a, in a
• 10:22
  kind of a self seeking way, but in a give and take way.
• 10:25
  People can see that when, when you and I see this, when, when
• 10:29
  people just want something from you, it's very obvious.
• 10:32
  And that's not going to be a relationship that's going to
• 10:34
  grow. But when you can help and
• 10:37
  receive help, those are the kind of relationships that end up
• 10:39
  being really, really fruitful down the line.
• 10:42
  So I would encourage people to really focus on relationships.
• 10:46
  Again, always do the right thing there.
• 10:47
  There's going to be times where it's tempting to do the wrong
• 10:50
  thing, where you might be able to get ahead or, or step on top
• 10:53
  of somebody or enrich yourself at somebody else's expense,
• 10:57
  maybe even dishonesty or sin. Shun away from that.
• 11:01
  And, and I would say too, and I realize this probably sounds
• 11:04
  super cliche, but truth is unbelievably powerful.
• 11:08
  And that's not a figure of speech.
• 11:10
  When when you stand on the truth, you become immovable.
• 11:14
  You become powerful in a very real and not not in a worldly
• 11:18
  sense, but but in the sense of you know God is with you when
• 11:21
  you're standing on the truth. So always stand on the truth.
• 11:24
  Always stand on what's right and that may mean short term
• 11:27
  consequences that may mean short term losses, but over the long
• 11:30
  term it will be a huge benefit. Obviously some of the the
• 11:34
  obvious things you know, you want to serve your customers,
• 11:36
  you want to be a servant leader. You don't want to treat your
• 11:39
  employees like garbage. You want to treat them like your
• 11:40
  family. You want to make sure that
• 11:44
  you're treating people with kindness and respect.
• 11:45
  The golden rule, even for non Christians, is a very, very,
• 11:50
  very important thing. Treat other people the way that
• 11:52
  you want to be treated. Love other people, be kind to
• 11:55
  other people and try to serve other people.
• 11:58
  Jesus had some really important advice that those among you who
• 12:00
  want to be great, you need to be a servant, right?
• 12:04
  We're not like the pagans. We're not like the Gentiles.
• 12:07
  We, we're not going to Lord it over each other like some kind
• 12:11
  of dictator, but rather whoever wants to be greatest, you be the
• 12:14
  servant of everybody else. And that, I think, is very, very
• 12:19
  valuable advice. It sounds cliche and you know,
• 12:21
  you hear it and you're like, oh, that's cute.
• 12:23
  But it really is true in in almost a supernatural way.
• 12:27
  So I would encourage people to keep all those things in mind.
• 12:30
  Part of the hero's journey is crossing the threshold.
• 12:33
  If you look at The Lord of the Rings when the Hobbit's left the
• 12:36
  Shire or in the movie at Astra, there's multiple thresholds to
• 12:41
  cross. So in your journey, what were
• 12:45
  some of those thresholds to cross where you you felt like
• 12:48
  you were making a risk, you were taking a leap, you're taking a
• 12:50
  jump. Do I really speak out against
• 12:52
  this organization? Do I really say this?
• 12:54
  This could get me cancelled. This could get me criticized.
• 12:57
  Be curious to know what that what that was like for you, that
• 13:01
  maybe the hesitancy, reluctance, fear you experienced and then
• 13:04
  what happened afterwards once you took that leap.
• 13:07
  Yeah, there, there are so many of the examples that I can think
• 13:10
  of on that front, both in terms of things to speak out about and
• 13:13
  in terms of risks to take. You know, once, once we started
• 13:16
  having children, the the decision had to be made.
• 13:20
  You know, does my wife go back to work or does she stay home
• 13:23
  with the children? If she stays home with the
• 13:25
  children, that means we're going to lose our stable income.
• 13:27
  It means we're going to lose, you know, the whole financial
• 13:30
  stability that we've been used to.
• 13:31
  And then it's all on me. That is a big and very, very
• 13:34
  scary responsibility that you're not just looking after yourself
• 13:37
  anymore. Now you've got wife, you've got
• 13:38
  kids who are depending on you. And, and so that was a maybe
• 13:43
  frightening is not the right word, but intimidating choice to
• 13:47
  make. And I, I look back on it now and
• 13:49
  I am so grateful that we decided to do that.
• 13:53
  And so is my wife and, and so are my children.
• 13:55
  It has been one of the greatest blessings to be able to have her
• 13:58
  at home as a full time homemaker, as a full time
• 14:01
  teacher of our children. And yes, there there's a big
• 14:05
  sacrifice involved. Nobody's going to deny that
• 14:07
  losing a very sizable source of income is, is, you know, a
• 14:12
  difficult sacrifice to make. But the rewards are so much
• 14:16
  greater. And so on that front, I would
• 14:18
  encourage, you know, if you feel led by truth, by what the
• 14:22
  scriptures say, to take a particular risk, do it.
• 14:26
  OK, Not not foolish risks, but intelligent risks that, you
• 14:30
  know, are ultimately for the greater good in terms of having
• 14:34
  the courage to speak out. I'm actually in the midst of
• 14:37
  something to do with that right now.
• 14:39
  It's a very uncomfortable position to be in.
• 14:41
  So almost the entire conservative movement and many
• 14:44
  churches and, and a growing segment of even the homeschool
• 14:48
  movement have jumped on this bandwagon of the government
• 14:51
  ought to be funding our homeschools, The government
• 14:53
  ought to be funding our private schools.
• 14:55
  And people get really emotional about that.
• 14:58
  And so me saying, no, guys, I actually think that we're better
• 15:01
  off not linking up with the government, not taking the
• 15:04
  government's money, partly for moral reasons, right?
• 15:08
  I don't have the right to have the government take money from
• 15:10
  my neighbor and give it to me, partly for practical reasons.
• 15:15
  You know, as soon as the government funds something, the
• 15:16
  government wants to control that thing.
• 15:19
  And this has always been true throughout human history.
• 15:21
  You can see it right now. How did the government take
• 15:23
  control of all our hospitals with federal funding?
• 15:25
  How did the government take control of our state governments
• 15:27
  with federal funding? My dad used to say that to me as
• 15:30
  a kid growing up. With federal aid comes federal
• 15:32
  control. And he meant, you know, I'm
• 15:33
  paying your bills and so you obey me.
• 15:35
  But that was the terminology he used.
• 15:37
  With federal aid comes federal control.
• 15:39
  And so that has been very tough. I've been attacked relentlessly.
• 15:43
  I've been accused of being a stooge of the public school
• 15:46
  unions, which of course nothing could be further from the
• 15:48
  church. Those who know me know that one
• 15:50
  of my biggest missions in life is to try to get children out of
• 15:53
  the public school system. But I think there's a right way
• 15:55
  to do it in a wrong way. And you know, unfortunately I've
• 15:58
  had to go up against a lot of friends who I love dearly,
• 16:01
  people who I know are well-intentioned people who I
• 16:03
  know want ultimately the same thing as me.
• 16:05
  They would, they want kids to get a God fearing decent
• 16:08
  education. So, so that's been tough.
• 16:11
  But of course you see the rewards and, and we see now the
• 16:14
  things that I warned about and the things that there are others
• 16:18
  who've also been sending the alarm about this, the very
• 16:19
  things that we warned about are now coming to pass.
• 16:21
  And so it's not an issue of ha, ha, I told you so, but it's an
• 16:25
  issue of, you know, I can sleep at night.
• 16:27
  I know I did the right thing. I, I had an opinion about this
• 16:30
  and I felt was guided by transcendent truth and I was
• 16:33
  willing to share it. And yes, it caused people to get
• 16:36
  mad at me and it caused people to say bad things about me, but
• 16:39
  that's OK. And there was a similar a few
• 16:41
  years ago where the Convention of States movement was a very
• 16:45
  big deal. And the whole conservative side
• 16:47
  of the American political spectrum started jumping on this
• 16:49
  bandwagon. And having looked at the
• 16:51
  different arguments, having examined what was going on here,
• 16:54
  I concluded that this was a risk that I didn't think we ought to
• 16:57
  take as a country. And that brought me into direct
• 17:00
  conflict with very powerful people in the conservative
• 17:04
  movement who didn't like what I had to say.
• 17:06
  And so it cost me speaking engagements and it cost me
• 17:09
  financially. It cost me some relationship.
• 17:11
  Do so. Well, if you won't get on board
• 17:12
  with this, then you know, we don't want to be associated
• 17:15
  with. OK, it is what it is.
• 17:17
  But for me, it felt like the right thing to do.
• 17:19
  And now, in retrospect, I'm very glad that I did it.
• 17:22
  And, and if we are to lose our constitution as a result of a
• 17:25
  constitutional convention, at least I'll be able to say, hey,
• 17:28
  I spoke out when it was hard to do it.
• 17:30
  I warned about this. And so at least it's not on my
• 17:33
  shoulders that this happened. There have been many other
• 17:37
  things too, going back to the very beginning when we were
• 17:39
  talking about the student newspaper we had, we became
• 17:42
  aware of a story that was absolutely horrendous, involving
• 17:48
  terrible things being perpetrated against children.
• 17:50
  And the more we dug into it, the more opposition we got, the more
• 17:54
  pressure we got. But we decided to continue
• 17:56
  pursuing this. And, you know, yes, there were
• 17:59
  moments of fear and yes, there were moments of intimidation,
• 18:02
  but ultimately, it was the right thing to do.
• 18:04
  It needed to be done. And so I would just encourage
• 18:07
  people, you know, when, when you feel pressure, be encouraged by
• 18:10
  that. When you feel fear, you should
• 18:12
  only fear the Lord. In fact, hundreds of times in
• 18:14
  the Scripture, God tells you not to fear.
• 18:17
  Don't know how how much God frowns upon that.
• 18:18
  Go to Numbers 13 and 14. He almost destroyed his own
• 18:22
  people for for expressing fear after he told them to March into
• 18:26
  the land that he had given them. So that's really ironic.
• 18:29
  Yeah. So, so we do need to be very
• 18:31
  firm that, you know, we, we cannot fall into fear of men,
• 18:35
  only fear of the Lord is appropriate.
• 18:37
  So. So those are a few examples and
• 18:39
  there are countless more. Were there any examples where
• 18:44
  you were concerned that your physical safety might be
• 18:46
  threatened? Oh, absolutely.
• 18:48
  That has happened many, many times.
• 18:51
  And the example I gave in college was just one such
• 18:54
  example. In fact, I got phone calls
• 18:56
  threatening my life. I got phone calls threatening me
• 18:58
  with arrest. And you know, that's scary,
• 19:02
  especially when you're, you know, a punk kid and you know,
• 19:04
  you don't really know how the world works and you know,
• 19:07
  you're, you're finally leaving the nest.
• 19:08
  You don't have your mom and dad to help you anymore.
• 19:11
  And you know what I do in this situation?
• 19:13
  So the first thing I did was call my dad, of course.
• 19:15
  And, and he's no longer with us. But but we have had threats on
• 19:20
  our lives many times and it's become almost a regular thing,
• 19:24
  right? I go for speaking events and
• 19:26
  Antifa puts out things on Twitter and says Alex Newman is
• 19:29
  showing up and we need to go protest.
• 19:31
  I guess that's supposed to be intimidating.
• 19:33
  But for me, it's just an opportunity to reach new people.
• 19:36
  You know, I'll go out and talk to protesters.
• 19:39
  Hey, you know, what is it exactly?
• 19:40
  We had, I spoke at an event here in North Florida last year and
• 19:44
  we had a big group of Democrat protesters.
• 19:48
  They claimed that I was anti education.
• 19:50
  And so I went out and started talking to him.
• 19:52
  Hey guys, you know, what is it that I said that you find so
• 19:54
  objectionable? They didn't really know.
• 19:56
  They had just been told by their party leader.
• 19:57
  So even though that can be scary and intimidating there, there's
• 20:01
  a real value to that And, and of her struggles and overcoming
• 20:06
  fear really is one of the tools that God uses to to make you
• 20:10
  stronger, to give you character. And so I think we need to take
• 20:14
  it all with joy. Well, if you're taking flak, you
• 20:17
  know you're over the target. I think it's a science success.
• 20:20
  Absolutely. And and if nobody was saying
• 20:22
  anything bad about you, if nobody was complaining, then
• 20:25
  you're probably not being very impactful.
• 20:27
  Jesus themselves, that all those who shall live righteously in
• 20:30
  Christ Jesus shall be persecuted.
• 20:32
  So if nobody was saying mean things about you, if nobody was
• 20:36
  lying about you, if nobody was threatening you, you'd have to
• 20:38
  wonder, am I really being effective in this mission that
• 20:41
  I'm supposed? To exactly, Yeah, I'm convinced
• 20:43
  that if we're not persecuted, then we're just not living
• 20:46
  Christian. Absolutely, Absolutely.
• 20:49
  Do you do anything and take any prudential measures to protect
• 20:52
  your safety? I won't go through all of them
• 20:55
  because I know this is going to be in a public forum, but I, you
• 20:58
  know, I am licensed and regularly carry, you know, I
• 21:03
  obviously I take precautions from my family.
• 21:05
  You know, the Bible says whoever doesn't protect and take care of
• 21:09
  and, and support his own family is worse than an infidel.
• 21:13
  And so, you know, I see one of my primary missions in life is
• 21:16
  to, to protect my family. And so, you know, our home has,
• 21:20
  you know, we, we have measures in place to make sure that
• 21:23
  everything that we, we have had crazy people show up at our door
• 21:25
  before. And so we, we take measures to
• 21:28
  try to make it more difficult to know where we're at.
• 21:31
  You know, this whole swatting craze that's been going on
• 21:33
  lately is certainly concerning. So I always say to people who
• 21:37
  are in the spotlight, it's always good to have a
• 21:39
  relationship with your officials, with your mayor, with
• 21:42
  your county commissioners, if you're with your sheriff, if you
• 21:44
  can with your police chief. Because when they know you, you
• 21:47
  know, there's less likely to be misunderstandings.
• 21:49
  If somebody calls and says something crazy, you know,
• 21:51
  they'll they'll know that it's probably not true.
• 21:55
  So, yeah, there there's a lot of that.
• 21:56
  But we also, you know, I encourage people to be prudent,
• 22:01
  not fearful, but to be prudent because of the reality is there
• 22:04
  are wicked people out there. There are, you know, the powers
• 22:07
  and principalities that the apostle Paul talks about in
• 22:09
  Ephesians 6. So we need spiritual protection.
• 22:12
  We need to cover our family in prayer and we need to trust that
• 22:14
  the Lord will, will do his part on that.
• 22:17
  And there are also physical dangers and threats.
• 22:19
  And so I think we need to be not fearful, but prudent in, in
• 22:23
  protecting ourselves from all those.
• 22:24
  And of course I I try my best to to follow that.
• 22:28
  God bless you man. Keep up the good work.
• 22:30
  Thank you. So how can people follow you,
• 22:32
  Alex? There's several ways.
• 22:34
  Our easiest place is just the website libertysentinel.org.
• 22:37
  You can subscribe to our free newsletter there.
• 22:39
  We send it out twice a week. I'm on X at
• 22:42
  alex.newman_joupeoplecanreadalotofmyjournalisticwork@thenewamerican.com I.
• 22:47
  SERVE as senior editor for the new American Magazine I.
• 22:49
  ENCOURAGE people to get a subscription to the magazine
• 22:51
  it's. A great publication classical.
• 22:54
  Conversations Is the homeschool community that my family and I
• 22:56
  HAVE enrolled in I. ALSO work closely with Freedom
• 23:00
  Project Academy and Public School Exit.
• 23:03
  You know, if you need information on how to get your
• 23:04
  kids out of public school, I serve as the executive director
• 23:07
  there as a volunteer. So a lot of different ways, but
• 23:09
  simplest place to start at least is Liberty sentinel.org.
• 23:12
  And I really appreciate you having me on the program.
• 23:14
  It's it's been a great pleasure. This is fun.
• 23:17
  Thank you, Alex. Absolutely.
• 23:18
  Thank you.